Private Monaco

Chapter 26

Justine’s fingers were raw and the muscles in her arms ached. Her clothes — jeans and a T-shirt provided by her captors — were damp with sweat, and more poured out as the sun neared its high point, but she pushed on, driving the chair leg into the gap she’d gouged around the large stone. It had taken hours and hours of near-constant labor, with brief breaks to throw the guards off her trail when they checked her cell or to sleep when she was near to collapse.

The mortar was harder in some places, more impacted, less affected by rain and atmospheric conditions, and her progress had slowed when she’d hit those. She’d wanted to weep at her painstakingly slow progress and at times had wrung her hands and paced the room in frustration, but she always came back and pushed on, driven by a hunger for freedom and a thirst for her normal life. Her life, not the captivity imposed on her by others.

There was about an inch of mortar left to be ground away. The remainder of the join was wafer-thin, ready to crumble the moment she tapped it away, but there was still an inch of almost solid mortar connecting the stone to the rest of the wall. No matter how hard this section was, though, Justine’s spirits soared because she knew it wouldn’t take her much longer to dig through it.

The chair leg had been ground down to about half its starting length and was now the size of a large chisel, which suited her fine. It was easier to handle, and she’d settled into a steady rhythm, scraping away millimeter after millimeter. The motion was almost automatic now, and her focus on the mortar bordered on meditative, but thankfully she retained enough connection to the outside world to register noise nearby.

“Get everyone set to go.”

She recognized the voice of Roman, the man who’d forced her to record the proof-of-life video.

“We’re moving out in twenty minutes. Make sure she’s ready.”

They were moving. Why?

Justine was filled with panic and despair. She was so close! If they took her somewhere else, there was no guarantee she’d get another chance to escape. She had to go now.

She dropped the chair leg and pushed against the stone.

It didn’t budge.

She heard movement outside. Footsteps coming closer. She listened, straining to discern what was happening. No, they weren’t coming toward her, but there was activity near the building. Footsteps and the sounds of gear being moved. The muffled chatter of multiple voices.

She didn’t have long.

Justine lay on her back on the dirty floor and placed her feet on the wall. She put her palms flat against the floor to either side of her and tried to find some sort of purchase before pressing against the selected stone with all her strength.

It didn’t budge. She looked up at the underside of the table and took a deep breath. She was running with sweat again and wiped her brow before pushing on the stone with renewed determination.

She felt the slightest movement and heard a cracking sound. A tiny shift in the stone’s position sent her heart flying, infusing her with new energy. The stone was moving now. She had no idea what it weighed, but couldn’t recall doing anything quite so physically demanding before.

She focused on the fact it was sliding away from her and kept up the pressure, ignoring the burning ache in her thighs. There was a sudden grinding sound and more movement as all the mortar fell away and the stone came completely free. She forced it out and pushed it to one side to create a gap in the wall she thought she could squeeze through.

Outside, there were voices and more footsteps, and these were definitely coming her way.

Her dress and heels had been taken so she was barefoot, but she didn’t care. She had to escape.

She moved to her hands and knees and then slid onto her belly to ease herself through the hole. She put her head through it, squinting into the bright sunlight that greeted her.

She heard a key in the padlock behind her, and forced her shoulders through a gap that was millimeters too small for them. The stone tore at her T-shirt and flesh as she wriggled through, but she didn’t care about the pain. The feel of the sun against her skin and the sight of a nearby treeline spurred her on.

She squeezed herself out as she heard the padlock clinking; got to her feet and took her first few free steps as she heard the door swing open and a voice cry out in surprise.

She sprinted across the cobblestone yard, onto dusty, rocky ground beyond, ignoring the stabbing pain of each step as her soft feet found jagged pebbles and shards of cracked stone. She kept her eyes fixed on the bushes beneath the trees and her mind on freedom.

She heard cries and men mustering on the other side of the building as she made it into the nearest undergrowth. She glanced back through the thick foliage and saw a man push his head through the hole in the wall. He scanned the yard but didn’t see her. He withdrew and yelled at his accomplices.

“Spread out and search the area. She can’t have gone far!”

Justine didn’t wait to hear any more. She pressed on through the scrub and, once she’d cleared it, started sprinting through the woodland on the far side.