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“Right, come on,” said Grace.
Mary was reluctant to move. “Where are we going?” She pulled the blanket tighter around her body.
“Do you want him to come back and catch you?”
“God, no!”
“Then stop asking questions and follow me.”
Grace left the light on and took the stairs two at a time. At the top she opened and reached into the cupboard with the coats, passing one to Mary.
“Get rid of that disgusting blanket.”
Mary held steadfast. “How can I trust you? How do I know he hasn’t put you up to this?”
“You don’t, Mary. Once you put that coat on and walk out of here, you’ll see an Isuzu pickup outside. You’re going to get into that and drive to the police station in Bramfield and tell them who you are and what’s happened to you.” Grace showed Mary the car keys. “Trust me now?”
“But what are you going to do?”
“Don’t worry about me. Just promise me that when you leave here you will not look back.”
“But...”
“We haven’t got time for this,” said Grace. “Promise me, now.”
Mary nodded. Grace noticed tears forming in her eyes. She threw the blanket down the stairs and put the coat on.
“Follow me,” said Grace, replacing the night vision goggles. Although a small amount of light from the basement pierced the living room, the rest of the house was still mostly dark.
As they reached the front door, Grace heard a car engine screaming into the drive, the headlights on full beam.
“Oh, no,” said Mary. “We’re too late. He’ll catch us. We need to hide. We need to get out of here.” Her head was spinning in all directions. She was shaking. “I’m not going back down there. I can’t.”
Grace turned. “Do exactly as I tell you.”
Without waiting for Mary to reply, she grabbed her left arm and pushed her to the front door, forcing her behind it. “Stand there and do not move until I let you know it’s safe to do so.”
“I can’t. He’ll find us, believe me.”
“He won’t.”
There was no further time to talk. The headlights curved all the way round in front of the house, sweeping the whole façade. The engine died.
Grace crossed the room and stood against one wall, behind the bookcase.
The car door slammed. Footsteps urgently ran forward. As soon as he entered the living room, Robbie shouted out, “Who’s in here?”
He tried the light switches. “What the fuck’s going on?” He stepped into the room. Grace saw him peering into the darkness. His head came to rest in the direction of the basement, where a small amount of light filtered through.
“If that fucking bitch has gotten free...” Robbie left the sentence unfinished and ran clumsily forward, knocking into furniture.
Once he was out of sight, Grace moved to Mary. “Get in the truck and do what I said.”
“What about you?”
“Do it now,” said Grace. Mary was visibly shaken. Grace could guess what he’d done to her. “I will not tell you again, Mary. Now go.” As she said it, she pushed Mary out of the door, but Mary turned.
Through clenched teeth, Grace said, “If you don’t move, I’ll put 4.5 million volts through you, and you’ll have wasted your chance.”
