Play Dead (D.I. Kim Stone, #4)(96)

No, Tracy resolved, she had not fought every inch of her life to be snuffed out by some psycho loser now.

The bravado stayed with her for a whole thirty seconds. Right until the car came to a halt.





Ninety





Kim knew the wire was weakening against the gnarly bark.

She had slashed the skin at her wrists in the process, but she could feel the wire beginning to give. Another few seconds and she’d have her hands free.

But she didn’t have a few seconds left, as Catherine yanked her to her feet.

Her left foot slipped on the mud as a clap of thunder sounded overhead. The raindrops were still slow but were much bigger. Round, heavy spots were landing all over her.

In her effort to keep Kim upright Catherine could no longer hold the torch. It tumbled from her hand.

Kim launched herself from the grip and threw herself to the ground. The torch would at least offer her some kind of weapon.

She landed on top of the torch, which dug into her breastbone. Catherine kicked her in the ribs. She coughed but stayed where she was. She would not give up the torch easily.

With her body obscuring the light she had been plunged into total darkness. The damp grass found every inch of her skin through the thin T-shirt. A brittle flower stem dug into her hip and her wrists were on fire, but she could not give up the torch.

A streak of lightning tore across the sky giving them both a clear view of each other. Catherine used the vision to land another kick, which caught her left breast.

Kim groaned out loud as the pain travelled around her torso.

‘Give it up, Inspector,’ Catherine hissed.

Not on your fucking life, Kim thought.

She frantically strained her shoulders pulling at the weakened wire. It was her only chance to stay alive.

The torch was now lodged in her stomach, her arms still tied behind her and her neck craned back away from the sopping mud.

Another kick – this time to her hip. The pain shot straight to her brain and then reverberated back. She was losing track of the pain sites around her body, but she couldn’t think about that now. If she couldn’t get her hands free she was going to die.

She pulled again at the ties. She felt Catherine’s hand on her hip. Fuck, she was being rolled over onto her back.

As she turned she felt the ground disappear. There was nothing beneath her legs and nothing beneath her shoulders.

She tried to visualise it in the light of her memory. Damn it, she’d been rolled onto the bridge between the two graves. Beneath her legs was rotting Vera and beneath her shoulders was rotting Jack.

If Catherine managed to turn her around she’d be heading straight into the sunken grave to join them.

She pulled frantically on the ties as she sensed Catherine bending down towards her. She shuffled away in the darkness, careful not to turn. As long as her back remained on the bridge she was safe.

She felt her feet being lifted from the ground. A strong grip around her ankles.

‘What the hell…?’ Kim cried, but her voice was lost in the deafening thunder roar.

With her arms tied, she couldn’t stop what was happening and she tried to kick out her feet but they grasped firmly. Catherine had a strong hold on her ankles and was using her body like a lever to swivel her around. She felt herself being turned in a clockwise direction.

She had to pull her hands apart. It was the only way she could live.

It was coming. She knew it was coming.

She could feel the sweat mixed with the raindrops travelling down from her hairline. Catherine was using her legs like a wheelbarrow handle to turn her around.

Two more turns and she’d be lying lengthways on the bridge between the two graves and then one good kick would leave her on top of one of the corpses.

The wire would not snap.

Catherine pushed on her feet one more time and Kim realised that the woman needed the rigidity of Kim’s limbs to help her make the turn. The struggling and fighting was helping Catherine to turn her to the exact place she wanted. While she was thrashing around fighting Catherine off she could use the momentum of the movement to manoeuvre her body.

The lightning struck right behind Catherine as Kim stilled her body and bent her knees. The unexpected folding of the limbs caused Catherine to stumble into her. For a brief second, Catherine’s weight was resting on Kim’s folded, limp legs.

She focussed her energy and shot her legs straight back out, catapulting Catherine backwards, giving her a second to try the wire one more time.

‘You fucking stupid bitch,’ Catherine hissed.

Kim worked frantically to weaken the wire. Catherine was disabled for only a couple of seconds. With her hands still tied behind her back, Kim remained the one at a disadvantage.

She pulled frantically at the wire behind her back. Her wrists burned from the hundreds of wire cuts that were deepening with every movement. The scars from a recent knife wound on a kidnapping case were throbbing beneath the pressure.

The first thrust appeared to have no effect on the wire at all.

Her shoulders throbbed from the effort of trying to separate her hands.

On the second burst, it came free, and her arms exploded away from her.

Kim pounced on Catherine’s back and wrapped the string around her neck. Catherine’s hands reached up to try to hook her fingers underneath, but Kim pulled on it hard as she slid down the back of Catherine’s torso.