TWO

ESCAPE ROUTE

Ellie noticed that she was impatiently tapping her fingers on her knee and forced her hand to remain still.

Come on taxi. Hurry up.

She was seated on one of the plush couches in the foyer of Hawkins Hall, watching the security staff roaming around the grounds through the open door.

She ignored the cup of black coffee that Bill had left on the small table near her seat. It looked like mud.

How drunk does he think I am?

She hated waiting for anything, and patience was not a virtue when it came to making a clean get away. She knew that the broken tablet could be found at any time. The clock ticked loudly in the foyer, reminding her that another minute of nearly getting caught had passed by. Her hand started tapping on her lap again, and she clenched it into a fist to make it stop.

A few seconds later, she grabbed her cream wool coat off the seat beside her and pulled it on, feigning a shiver for anyone who might be watching and shoving her hands in the pockets to stop herself from giving off anymore tells.

Every time someone walked down the stairs into the large foyer, she hitched her breath.

Anytime now, and I’m busted.

She eyed the staircase as a feeling of doom swept over her. After all the things that had gone wrong, it seemed unlikely that she would be walking out of the front door unscathed.

Hope lit up inside her as headlights shone on the gravel driveway outside. A big black cab pulled up outside the open doors. She rose to her feet and headed toward the car, remembering to put on a drunken stagger as she crossed the marble floor.

Strong hands gripped her shoulders, and she nearly shrieked in surprise. She glanced up to see Bill’s stern face looking down at her.

“Let’s get you in there safely, shall we?” He offered her a sympathetic smile as he guided her into the taxi.

I guess Jacob shunts off a lot of women in taxis late at night.

She nodded and then pulled a queasy expression. “I wanna go home.” She hung her head in mock-sickness.

Bill patted her on the shoulder. “You’ll be okay. Just drink lots of water when you get home. Where do you want the driver to take you?”

“Calerville.” She pointed down the road in the rough direction of the small, rustic village just a mile away from the estate. “Jus” down the road. Home, mmm.” She flopped back into backseat and closed her eyes.

“Take her to Calerville.” She heard Bill say, followed by a sweeping sound.

She opened one eye and saw him pay the driver.

They’re paying for my getaway car!

“Thanks, Billy,” she murmured.

“Take care, Miss.” Bill closed the door and tapped the roof of the cab. It rolled down the driveway, leaving the house behind it.

Ellie sat up after a couple of seconds and cracked open the car window, enjoying the fresh air that was rushing through it.

I made it.

“Don’t let her get away!” A familiar voice echoed behind her.

She glanced back to see Jacob hanging out of his bedroom window, holding what appeared to be the broken tablet in his hands. She was too far away to see his face, but she could guess that he looked pissed.

She bit her lip as a grin spread across her face.

That’ll teach you to treat women like toys.

She leaned over to the driver. “Can we go to Bakerston instead? There’s a party I need to get to. And if you get me there fast, there’s an extra ten quid in it for you.”

“Sure thing.” The driver nodded without glancing back at her.

She flopped back in her seat as the driver slammed his foot on the gas and took a sharp left turn out of the estate. She checked the back window for following cars, but the road was empty.

Hawkins Hall was surrounded by tiny villages, giving her the perfect opportunity to send any pursuers in the wrong direction. She admired the quaint thatched cottages of Bakerston as they passed by.

Maybe one day, when this nightmare is over, I’ll buy a house like this.

She smiled when her car came into view. The shabby black Astra looked out of place on the idyllic street. She’d parked outside of an unlit cottage that had a FOR SALE sign in front of it. “Just here is perfect,” she said, pulling some notes out of her coat pocket and handing twenty pounds to the driver. “Keep the change.”

He nodded. “Have a good night.”

She climbed out of the backseat and shut the door. Then she paused to watch the cab speed off into the night. She waited a beat for him to be gone before rushing to her car. When she got to the car door, she paused.

Keys, where are my keys?

She frowned.

In my bag.

Her eyes widened.

Where is my fucking bag?

She closed her eyes and rubbed her brow.

No, no, no. You idiot!

She knew exactly where her bag was. It was on Jacob Hawkins’s bed.

She would have to berate herself later. At the moment her most pressing concern was getting far, far away from Hawkins Hall. Fast.

She walked to the back of her car and knelt down, pretending to be inspecting the tire. She pulled a slim jim out from the clamp under her bumper.

Dad always said I should be prepared.

She slipped the tool up her sleeve and headed back to the driver’s door. She glanced around at the cottages that were lit, relieved to see no prying eyes watching her from the glowing windows. She slipped the slim jim down the side of the window and jimmied the lock until it clicked.

As soon as she slid into the driver’s seat, she opened the glove compartment and pulled out the spare set of keys she’d duct-taped to the roof of it. She sighed and leaned back in her seat as she started the ignition. All the adrenaline that had been pumping through her veins tonight seemed to evaporate, and she felt bone-tired. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to find her inner calm.

She jerked in her seat when the phone on her dashboard buzzed. She glanced at the screen.

Jimmy, you slow arse!

She picked up the phone and held it to her ear. “Better late than never, is it?”

“Jesus, woman. Can’t I take a crap in peace these days?” The familiar tones of her best friend’s northern accent reverberated down the phone.

“Nice talk! You’ll never get a girlfriend if you say things like that.”

“I have a girlfriend!”

“I meant a real one, not a stranger on the internet.”

“Don’t even start.”

Ellie grinned. Jimmy was the pain-in-the-arse little brother that she’d never had. “Oh, and what are you going to do about it if I do?”

“That depends. Did you pull off the job or, as I suspect, did you mess up and are currently in deep shit?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not in deep shit. It’s more like a detour around it.”

“And where did we detour to this time?”

“Some dude’s bedroom.”

“Ha, that’ll be a first, won’t it?”

Ellie slapped her hand to her forehead. “I didn’t mean it like that. God, you’re such a—”

“Did you get it?” Jimmy interrupted.

“Kinda…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ll tell you when I get back into the city. I’ll be home soon. Bye.” She still had to work out how to tell Jimmy what she’d done. He was going to flip out when he discovered she’d crossed Meyer.

Before she took off, she slipped out of her coat and threw it onto the back seat. She grabbed her black hoodie off the passenger seat and pulled it over her head, keeping the hood up to shadow her face.

Glancing down at her shoes, she shook her head.

Never again. 

She pulled them off and flexed her toes. It felt so good to free her feet, which hadn’t been built to wear heels. She peeled the map out of the right shoe before throwing the heels onto the back seat. She glanced around. She couldn’t think of a place in the car that was secure enough to stow the map. After a moment of contemplation, she zipped it up into the pocket on the arm of her hoodie.

She pulled on her biker boots and then rested her head on the steering wheel.

What else is going to go wrong tonight?

What had started out as a simple plan just seemed to keep getting more complicated. She shook her head.

It’s over now. Just get home, and then figure out how you’re going to avoid Meyer.

There were headlights in the distance, coming from the direction of Hawkins Hall. She slammed the car into first gear and did a U-turn. Then she headed back toward Manchester at full speed.

Once she was certain that she wasn’t being followed, she tried to remember what had been in her bag. No ID or bank cards—she was careful about that kind of thing—but she had a nagging feeling that she’d left something important behind. She couldn’t remember what it was, but she didn’t like the feeling.

She flipped on the radio, and 3 Doors Down’s ‘Not My Time’ blared out of it. She watched the gray landscape flash past the windshield as the song touched something deep inside her. It had always been one of her favorites, but since her dad died, the song had new meaning for her. She didn’t know what she was going to do when she left this crazy life behind. It was all she knew, and it was her last connection to her father.

But working for Meyer was nothing like working with her father. It wasn’t simple cons anymore. It was big business—the kind that could get you killed. Organized crime was taking over. Meyer had shown Ellie respect when Stewart Phillips had been alive, but that died when he did. Meyer did give her the occasional job, but the jobs just seemed to get more and more dangerous. She had thought that Meyer was giving her a break with the Hawkins Hall gig. Now she wasn’t so sure…The only thing she knew for certain was that she had to get out. Her only option was to go for the big prize, one last score that would set her up for life. One easy haul, and then disappear.

“There’s no such thing as an easy job, girl. And the bigger the haul, the harder the grab.” Her father’s words echoed through her head.

She gripped the steering wheel.

I can handle it.

Forget about the charming little cottage in the countryside. She was tired of cold, rainy England. Maybe it was time to make a new start somewhere else.

Loss ached inside her. Maybe it wasn’t the right time to give up her home, her life. The song hit every nerve. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t know how this was going to end. All she had was the map and a plan.

She pressed her foot down the accelerator, blazing down the empty highway. She’d keep on running until she finished this job. It was the only life she knew.