Elizabeth Delayne
August 6, 04
lizdelayne@hotmail.com
The large man's hand jerked her arm painfully as he pulled her toward the entrance. The man behind them carried Alex over his shoulder. They were caught ... it all had been for nothing.
She thought back to the reception, before meeting Alex, before all the connections from the past had been made ... to the man and the face that haunted her dreams.
She stumbled, remembering. The man yanked back. She was kept on her feet, but her arm throbbed.
They were nearing the cave's entrance. Then they would what? Take them away? Surely, if they'd meant to eliminate them they would have done so in the caves ...
At least the caves were public. They couldn't get too far from the caves, could they, without someone seeing them?
But it wasn't as if people were always roaming through the caves. The body had stayed hidden for so long.
The body ... they hadn't seen the body. They didn't know the other man they were looking for was dead. And had beend dead for so many years.
The light from the flashlight dimmed as they neared the entrance to the caves. The light was fading. Night was falling. How long had they been in the caves? And where was Joseph?
Mrs Brown
August 13, 04
mrsbrown1@optusnet.com.au
Tulip Fiction.com
Joseph was returning with a friend . . . it was only a matter of time until they arrived, Ally thought quickly, and knowing her brother he’d probably come back armed. Surely between them they’d be able to overpower these men . . . but if they had left this area how would Joseph ever find them?
“Wait! I know what you’re looking for!” Ally cried out with sudden decision as they finally reached the entrance, “And it’s back in the tunnels.”
Her captor swung her around to face him.
“What are you talking about?”
“The red haired man . . . a couple of years ago . . .”
The man grabbed her roughly by the jaw, forcing her eyes to meet his squarely.
“How do you know about this?” His breath smelt strongly of cigars, and although his cold fingers were smooth his grip was like iron. Ally could barely speak from fear.
“I’ve seen his body . . . inside there,” she managed through chattering teeth, “I can show you where.”
“Hear that?” The man turned to his partner, “We’re going back in.”
“You think she tells the truth?” the other man countered, dropping Alex to the ground like a sack of potatoes and rubbing his own shoulders with a grimace.
“If she’s lying, we’ll kill her,” the first man replied shortly, “We’ve still got Mr CIA if we need him. The information wasn’t on him, but he must know where it is.”
The younger man grunted, “I’m not carrying him all the way back in – he weighs a ton.”
His friend shrugged, “Tie him up then – he won’t be going anywhere – but you come with me. I don’t want to turn my back on this girl for as much as a moment.”
Ally’s stomach lurched as she saw the younger man withdraw a strong cord from his pocket and bind Alex’s wrists and ankles together behind him. She couldn’t bear to imagine the pain that must be causing his shoulder . . . if he was conscious at all.
“Now show us where,” Ally’s captor demanded, and she gasped involuntarily as he twisted her arm high behind her back, “And don’t try anything . . . or you won’t be seeing daylight again.”
As Ally descended into the darkness yet again, her heart dropped as she realised the tactical error she had made in her desperate bid to buy some time. While ever the men did not have the documents they were looking for, their own lives may have been safe. But if they found what they wanted still on the red-haired man . . . and she led them right to him . . . she was signing both her and Alex’s lives away.
Elizabeth Delayne
August 24, 04
lizdelayne@hotmail.com
As they decended deeped into the cave, the air seemed to grow thinner, the path rockier. Her shoes that had managed for most of the chase now slipped and tripped. She stubbed constantly, only to be yanked back by the captor.
Fear crawled up her spine, real and suffocating. She felt her palms begin to shake.
As the memories returned.
Rachel Waspe
September 2, 05
Funshine999@aol.com
Alex groaned as he slid reluctantly back into consciousness. The pain in his shoulder was excruciating and there was rope around his ankles and wrists, tied so tightly that it bit into him hungrily.
Ally! The thought pierced his foggy head and he sat up as well as he could and forced his eyes open, willing the dizziness away.
She wasn't there. Where was she? How could she leave him there, trussed up like a bag of turnips? He had thought that he could trust her but what if she were in cahoots with his pursuers. Of course, it didn't seem likely that they would have placed one of their own in a wedding reception, which they had no idea he would gatecrash, but one could just never tell.
Mrs Brown
September 14, 04
mrsbrown1@optusnet.com.au
Tulip Fiction.com
Alex struggled to free his wrists from behind him, but a nearly unbearable stabbing pain seared through his shoulder and he felt himself losing his tenuous grip on consciousness yet again.
Mingled with the smell of the dirt beneath his face and the sound of an owl somewhere in the woods came the snatches of memories floating past his eyes. Ally running like an uncaged panther from him in the forest . . . the feel of her soft lips in the dark . . . the sudden movement as she threw herself down in front of him in the tunnels.
Fear gripped his heart, harder than it had ever done in any other situation he’d faced in his work. He couldn’t believe he’s doubted Ally for even a second – but why had had been left there and where was she now?
Hearing stealthy footsteps approaching from the woods, Alex tensed. He was hardly able to breathe as he awaited his fate, powerless to even turn and see what was coming to him.
The footsteps broke into a run, then a sudden exclamation rent the evening air, the bright light of a torch blinding him a moment later.
“Alex! What happened? Where the heck is Ally?” Ally’s brother Joseph dropped to his knees beside him, hacking at the cords around his wrists with a knife and demanding roughly, “Where is she?”
“Go easy, pal,” an unfamiliar voice chided him and another pair of hands began expertly investigating the wound in his shoulder, “let’s just get his arms free so I can pack this hole more tightly.”
Alex’s vision swam for a moment, then he focussed on Joseph’s sharp eyes as the two men hauled him upright.
“I don’t know,” he confessed, “they found us in the tunnels – but I passed out. When I came to I was here, alone.”
Joseph grunted and bent down to work on the rope around Alex’s ankles while his smartly dressed friend bound his shoulder firmly, strapping his arm against his body. Alex forced his mind to clear.
“Are there any footprints leading past me?”
Leaping to his feet, Joseph raked the ground around them with his powerful torch.
“Nothing but ours.”
“Then they’ve gone back inside,” Joseph’s friend said, running a hand through his fair hair.
“That would be just like Ally,” Joseph replied in annoyance, “to lead them away by taking them on some wild goose chase.”
“Oh, no – not a wild goose chase,” Alex said grimly, his mind suddenly clear. Briefly he explained the connection between his suspect and the dead body in the mine. “She knew exactly what they wanted.”
For a moment Joseph’s face wore a terrible expression, then he shook it off.
“That kid’s got guts. But at least we know exactly where to find her,” he was already striding toward the tunnel mouth, his friend beside him. “Get yourself under cover until we’re back.”
Alex struggled to his feet, “I’m coming too.”
Joseph paused for only a second, “Do what you like – but I won’t be waiting for you. That’s my little sister down there.”
“And that’s the woman I’m going to marry down there,” Alex returned, but he spoke only to the empty darkness. He awkwardly pulled out his torch with his left hand and staggered toward the entrance.
Rachel Waspe
September 27, 05
kulkulu@aol.com
"Oh, God, please let Alex be alright. Let him regain conciousness and be alright. Protect him. And Lord, please be with my bro, Joseph, and let him find me soon. I really need your help and a lot of courage to get through this. Thank you for being with me so far, but I need you very much. Protect all of us and let us get out of this mess...soon, Lord. Please, let it be over soon." Ally prayed under her breath as she led the men further into the tunnel.
Mrs Brown
October 19, 05
mrsbrown1@optusnet.com.au
Tulip Fiction.com
She reached the place where the passage forked and she looked apprehensively towards the one that she knew she must take.
Ally began shaking harder as her blood rushed in her ears. She couldn't go down there again, she couldn't. She stopped dead still, absolutely petrified.
"Keep going girl, we haven't got forever."
"He's down there." Ally pointed with a shaking hand. "But I can't go down there again."
"What do you mean, can't?" one of her captors sneered and pulled her towards the passage she had indicated.
Bile rose in Ally's throat and she screamed.
