Ark of Fire

CHAPTER 51

Craning her neck to examine a storefront window display, Edie caught a sudden flash of movement reflected in the plate glass.

She turned her head. First stunned, then shocked.

It was Dr. Padgham’s killer. No more than twenty feet behind them.

Without thinking, she pivoted on her booted heel, placed both hands on Caedmon’s shoulder and shoved him as hard as possible. Right off the curb and into High Street.

“Caedmon, run!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, realizing too late that she’d pushed him directly in front of an oncoming vehicle.

Car horns blared. Tires screeched.

Deciding that Caedmon would be safer in the roadway than in the killer’s line of fire, she took off running, sparing a quick glance over her shoulder.

As hoped for, the killer, forced to choose between the two of them, decided to pursue her rather than Caedmon.

Up ahead, Edie caught sight of an aproned man pushing a wheeled handcart loaded with cardboard boxes. A second later, he disappeared into a building that fronted High Street. Without thinking, she followed the delivery guy, surprised to discover that the entry led to an indoor shopping arcade, its narrow corridors snaking out in several directions. As if he’d vanished into a big, black hole, the delivery guy was nowhere in sight.

Not so Padgham’s killer; the behemoth had followed her into the shopping arcade.

Edie willed her legs to move that much faster as she veered down a deserted corridor. All of the shops were closed, their darkened windows decked out in Christmas greenery. Pet supplies. Home accessories. Jewelry. Leather goods. It all passed in a blurry flash.

Hearing a heavy footfall directly behind her, Edie, frantic, grabbed a carousel of Christmas cards that had been wedged into the doorway of a closed gift shop. With a yank, she hurled it to the ground, spilling the cards willy-nilly onto the floor. Roadblock erected, she kept on running.

A second later, she heard a muttered curse. Then a crash. Evidently, her assailant had slipped on a greeting card.

Good. She hoped the bastard broke his neck.

Catching sight of what looked to be plucked and trussed birds hanging from a wall, she ran in that direction, making a sharp left when she reached the poultry shop. The course adjustment took her down a different corridor, this one well lit. Several shops—a greengrocer, a coffee emporium, and a butcher—were actually open for early-morning business, although paying customers were few and far between. And the ones that were afoot gave no notice to the harried woman running past.

On the periphery of her senses, she became aware of an almost nauseating swirl of fused scents—Stilton cheese, ground coffee, fresh meat. As though a hundred years of smells had coalesced into one uniquely weird odor. She opened her mouth and gulped down a breath of air.

Which is when she ran headlong into a pimply-faced, tattooed youth carrying a wooden box of iced fish.

“Silly cow!” the teen bellowed as iridescent fish and white blobs of crushed ice arced through the air, pelting him on the head and shoulders. A scatologically detailed rant immediately ensued.

Managing to stay afoot after the collision, Edie muttered an apology as she sprinted forward. Her energy flagging, her leg muscles now protested each and every forward stride. And she didn’t have to turn her head to know that her assailant was fast closing in on her, the collision with the fishmonger voiding whatever gains she’d made.

No more than ten yards away, Edie saw what looked to be an exit; the lock bar across the steel door made her think it was intended for emergency use only. Fast running out of options, she raced forward. Slamming her palms onto the metal bar, she pushed for all she was worth.

The door swung open.

A heartbeat later, she emerged into a narrow alleyway. At a glance, she could see that there wasn’t a soul in sight, only a cluster of parked delivery vans.

“Don’t even think about it, bitch!”

Hearing that gravelly-voiced command, Edie spun around. The moment she opened her mouth to scream, her assailant slapped a hand over her mouth as he grabbed a fistful of hair. With one strong-armed tug, he yanked her toward him.

Slamming into his chest, Edie tried to jerk free. Anticipating the move, he let go of her hair and cinched a hand around her wrists. Maliciously smiling, he yanked her arms above her head, pulling her onto her toes. With few defenses left to her, Edie tried to bite down on the hand that covered her mouth. His smile widening, her assailant pushed all the harder, mashing her lips against her teeth. Blood gushed into her mouth. Still grinning, he shoved her between two parked delivery vans, ramming her against a limestone wall. Completely out of sight.

Unable to use her hands, Edie tried to knee him, but discovered she couldn’t move her lower body; her assailant’s hips and thighs were pressed flush against her own.

Oh, God! She was completely immobilized against the wall.

“I’ve got a little gift for you,” the behemoth hissed as he crudely and repeatedly shoved himself against her pelvic bone. “Nice, isn’t it?”

Edie stared into his face—noticing the heavy shadow of whiskers, the flared nostrils, the thick lips—noticing everything and anything in a desperate attempt to block out what he was doing to her.

Still thrusting his hips, he licked her face, his tongue moving from her jaw to her temple. “Baby girl, I’m gonna split ya right in two.”

Like salt on a wound, old memories flashed in front of her eyes.

Terror quickly turned to rage.

This time she’d fight back! No way in hell would she let this animal rape her.

Writhing, squirming, Edie did everything she could to free herself.

But it was like fending off the monstrous devil-dog Cerberus.

Her assailant grunted. “You want it bad, don’t you, bitch?”

Belatedly realizing that her struggles excited him, Edie went still.

Within seconds the dry-humping ceased.

“Fucking cock tease!” Crisscrossed vessels bulged on either side of his head. Ready to blow.

Able to feel that he’d gone soft, Edie contemptuously snorted against his hand. Her would-be rapist removed his palm from her mouth. Fist balled, he reared back his arm.

Closing her eyes, Edie braced herself for what she figured would be a bone-crushing blow.

It never came.

Instead her assailant loudly grunted as he rolled away from her. Edie opened her eyes, surprised to see blood pouring down the side of his face, gushing from those crisscrossed vessels. She was even more surprised to see Caedmon standing a few feet away, a broken bottle gripped in his right hand. Lurching forward, she ran to his side.

A tense stalemate ensued.

Then, like the coward he was, the bloodied behemoth scurried down the alley. Edie saw what looked to be a gun protruding from his waistband. She and Caedmon stood silent, watching him depart. When he reached the end of the alleyway, he vanished.

“Did you see that? He had a gun! Why didn’t he use it?”

“He may yet.” Caedmon tossed aside the broken bottle. Edie could see that he was furious.

“How did you find me?”

“I simply followed the swath of destruction that followed in your wake.” As he spoke, Caedmon glanced up and down the alleyway, his eyes settling on a deliveryman who’d just exited the market.

“The upended box of fish was an accident.”

“Tell that to the fishmonger. Come on! We’re wasting time!” Grabbing her by the elbow, he steered her toward a black service van, the words Morton & Sons emblazoned on the side panel in a fancy Edwardian script. Exhaust fumes snaked from the muffler.

Caedmon reached for the chrome handle on the back door.

“Get in!” he brusquely ordered. “Before the driver takes off!”

Edie glanced inside, surprised to see a row of trussed fowls swinging from a metal rod.

“You’re kidding, right? There’s no way I’m hitching a ride with a bunch of dead birds.”

“Don’t make me put my boot to your arse.”

Having been manhandled enough for one day, Edie wordlessly climbed into the back of the van.