Brute Force

119

I lunged at Mairead, screaming at the top of my voice.

Her face didn't register surprise or fear, just anger. She tried to back away. I grabbed the camcorder with both hands. My eyes were fixed on her face as I swung it down onto her head. She screamed and fell, her body colliding against mine as she went down.

Box-cutter was a metre away, going for a weapon in the waistband of his jeans.

I yelled at Dom: 'Take the other one!' and threw the camcorder at Box-cutter. It bounced off his shoulder.

I dived at him as the weapon came up, slammed into him and made a grab for his arm. His roar echoed around the hull as we hit the deck.

I had two hands on his bicep, trying to force his hand down at the same time as he tried to bend his arm to shoot.

The weapon went off.

I dropped my head and sank my teeth into his cheek.

He screamed and bucked like a wild animal, shook his head left and right. His whole body arched, desperate to throw me off.

His left hand swung round and grabbed my hair and wrenched me off his face.

The weapon clattered onto the steel and spun away into the shadows.

I scrambled towards it, kicking and punching behind me as his arms closed round my leg.

Then Tallulah shouted: 'Run! Run! Run!'

A small pair of legs rushed across my field of view, heading for the door.

The sudden pain was excruciating; sharp, deep, intense; exploding outwards from the top of my thigh.

It got even worse as the Stanley knife plunged in again and this time carved its way down the back of my leg.