She was losing her grip.
The train burst free of the tunnel and Donna shouted in defiance, managing to get her other hand onto the frame, too. But all she could do was hang there from the side of the speeding train, unable to move, knowing her strength would eventually fade. It was only a matter of time before she fell.
‘Grab my hand,’ roared Ryker, extending a hand. ‘I’ll pull the door shut.’
He gripped the open door and pulled, one of his hands closing over Donna’s.
She had visions of him slowly unpeeling her fingers, prising them from the door until she fell.
But instead he used all his strength to heave the door shut, battling against the onrushing wind as the train continued to hurtle along.
Donna felt faint; she thought her grip was failing.
HOLD ON.
Ryker pulled the door another few inches, pulled her closer.
If only she could hang on ...
She felt her feet trailing through the weeds that grew at the side of the track, nettles and thistles tearing her skin as she was dragged through them at high speed.
‘Take my hand,’ Ryker shouted, bellowing to make himself heard. ‘I’ll pull you in.’
Donna didn’t have time to think. She hadn’t the luxury of considering her options.
She gripped his hand as tightly as she could, feeling a terrific wrench on her shoulders as he tried to haul her in, steadying himself against the door to ensure that he didn’t end up suffering the same fate as his companion.
‘Your other hand,’ he shouted. ‘Give me your other hand.’
She had one hand clamped in Ryker’s, the other wrapped round the door frame. If she relinquished her grip on the door she was completely at his mercy.
‘Come on,’ Ryker screamed at her.
There was another tunnel approaching, looming large and dark, ready to swallow her and the train.
She heard a loud roar and realized that the 125 was sounding its air horn. A warning as it entered the tunnel.
She looked ahead, saw the yawning black mouth and the dark hillside around it.
Saw the lights.
Lights which got brighter as they came closer.
There was another train coming the other way on the track next to her.
It would leave the tunnel as her own train entered.
There would be less than five feet between the massive engines.
She would be crushed between them.
Donna let go of the door and allowed Ryker to grab her other hand.
He pulled as the two trains drew closer.
‘Come on,’ he screamed and heaved her upwards, clutching at her dress to pull her inside while she held his arms, squirming her legs through the window.
They both fell in an untidy heap on the floor.
The other train swept past with a roar and a deafening hiss of air. Then it was gone.
Donna rolled onto her back, her eyes half-closed, her limbs numb. She could feel nothing but the cold, that seemed to have filled every pore of her body. Her ankles and shins were scratched and bloodied, her stockings shredded by the trackside weeds and nettles.
Ryker knelt beside her, shook her, rubbed her arms as if trying to restore the circulation. She was still cold. Numbingly, almost painfully cold and some of it was shock.
‘Why did you save me?’ she said quietly, looking at Ryker.
‘Because I need you alive,’ he said, still rubbing her arms.
‘I need information from you.’ He looked worried.
‘Who are you?’ she slurred, close to fainting.
He struck her hard across the face to prevent that.
Then she felt his arms beneath her shoulders, lifting her, pushing her into the lavatory, locking it behind him. He sat her on the seat and stood looking down at her.
She glanced up and saw the knife hidden inside his jacket.
A thought occurred to her and she almost smiled.
Out of the frying pan into the fire.
Don’t all laugh at once.
Donna rubbed both hands across her face, her body quivering as she began to regain some warmth, some feeling in her extremities. Her shoulders ached; her hands and legs were throbbing.
‘I saved your life,’ said Ryker. ‘Now tell me what I want to know.’
She closed her eyes.
The banging on the door made her open them again.
Fifty-Eight
‘Conductor,’ the voice outside called.
Ryker shot an angry glance at Donna and mouthed something she couldn’t make out. She held his gaze then called, ‘Just a minute.’
Ryker looked at her with sheer hatred. For one terrible second she thought he was reaching for the knife.
‘Open it,’ she whispered, nodding towards the door.
‘I’ll kill you and whoever’s outside that door,’ Ryker said.
‘You wanted me alive, you said,’ Donna told him defiantly. ‘Kill me and you don’t get your information. Now open the door.’ They glared at each other for a second longer, then Ryker turned the lock and pushed the door open.
The conductor looked in on them, eyebrows raised.
‘What the hell is this?’ he said irritably, seeing the two dishevelled occupants of the lavatory. ‘What’s going on?’ He saw the cuts and scratches on Donna’s legs. ‘I’ve heard about this sort of thing before,’ he said, as if realizing what he’d stumbled on, or at least what he thought he’d stumbled on. ‘Very funny. I know what you’ve been up to. Another couple tried it on one of my trains a month or so ago. I caught them, too.’
‘It isn’t what you think,’ Donna said, running a hand through her hair.
‘No, I’m sure it’s not,’ the conductor said disbelievingly.
‘I can explain,’ Donna assured him.
Ryker said nothing.
‘I fell, I hurt myself,’ she said. ‘This gentleman,’ she nodded towards Ryker, ‘he helped me. I needed to sit down for a minute. I must have fainted, I think. This was the nearest seat.’ She smiled and patted the toilet beneath her.
The conductor looked at Donna, then at Ryker.
‘Is this true?’ he asked the other man.
‘Yes,’ Ryker said sharply, trying to hide his anger.
‘Then why was the door locked?’ the uniformed man wanted to know.
‘I didn’t want anyone bursting in and getting the wrong idea, like you have,’ Donna said, smiling again.
‘Well,’ said the conductor, ‘it does look a bit suspicious, you’ll admit. Two people in one lavatory, I mean ...’ He allowed the sentence to tail off.
‘I agree,’ Donna echoed. ‘If I could just go back to my seat I’ll be okay. Could you help me, please?’ she asked the conductor.
Ryker regarded her furiously as the uniformed man extended a hand to help her up.
‘Are you two people not together, then?’ the conductor asked.
‘No,’ Donna told him, smiling. ‘It was just lucky for me this gentleman was passing.’ She looked at Ryker. ‘I hurt my ankle when I fell. The floor was harder than I thought.’ She looked down at her scratched and grazed legs.
‘Would you like me to see if there’s a doctor on the train?’ the conductor asked as he walked back through First Class with her. ‘I can get them to call it out over the loudspeaker.’
‘No thanks, I’ll be fine.’
Ryker trailed along behind, his expression one of growing agitation. His chance, it seemed, was gone. How the hell was he going to get the information he required from her with the conductor prattling about? He clenched his fists in frustration and annoyance.
And fear?
What would Farrell do if he failed?
The conductor saw Donna to her seat and ensured she was comfortable.
Ryker sat down opposite her, his eyes still blazing.
‘Would you like a brandy?’ the conductor said. ‘It’ll calm your nerves. I can get you one from the buffet car.’ He winked. ‘On the house.’
‘That’s very kind of you,’ Donna told him. ‘Thank you.’
He scuttled off to fetch it, leaving them to face one another across the table.
‘I’m going to kill you,’ Ryker hissed.
‘You’re not going to do anything,’ Donna told him, anger in her voice. ‘You said you needed me alive, that
you
wanted some answers. Well, so do I. I want to know who you are and who you’re working for, and don’t fuck me around or I’ll have this train stopped. Tell the truth or the law will be here before you can make a move. I’ll tell them you pushed that other bastard out of the train and tried to kill
me.
’ She looked at him with a challenging stare. ‘Who’s Farrell? You said Farrell didn’t want me harmed. Who is he? The man who sent you?’
‘Fuck you,’ Ryker said.
She leaned closer.
‘No, fuck
you.
You’re scared of him, aren’t you, whoever he is? That’s why you didn’t want that other moron to hurt me. It’s why you pulled me back inside the train when you could have left me to die. You’re not going to get another chance to threaten me. This train doesn’t stop until it reaches London now, and I’m not moving from this seat. If you want to risk killing me, that’s fine, but you’re going to have to kill the conductor and the other passengers in this carriage, too. Have you got the stomach for that, or are you only brave when you’re threatening a woman?’ She sat back, smiling. ‘You blew it. You should have let me fall, like your friend. But you daren’t, dare you? You gutless piece of shit.’
Ryker leaned forward menacingly, anger colouring his face.
‘One brandy,’ the conductor announced, returning with the drink and handing it to Donna.
She thanked him.
‘Will you stay with me for a minute? This other gentleman is going back to his seat now,’ she said, smiling at Ryker.
‘I can stay,’ he said through clenched teeth.
‘No,’ said Donna, making a great show of concern for him. ‘I’ll be fine now. Besides, I just need to relax. I might even get a couple of hours sleep before we reach London. Thank you for your help.’
Ryker hesitated a moment, then got to his feet. He paused, looked at her then stalked off down the aisle.
Donna took a sip of the brandy, feeling it burn its way to her stomach.
Most of the chill had left her now and, with Ryker’s departure, she felt more comfortable. Nevertheless, she realized that she was only safe until the train reached King’s Cross. Once in the capital, she was fair game once more. She had to find a way to escape him.
‘Are there phones on board this train?’ she asked.
‘I’m afraid not,’ the conductor said.
Donna felt her heart sink.
‘I’ve got one of these bloody things, though, if you want to borrow it,’ the uniformed man said, pulling a portable phone from his pocket. ‘We use them for getting track information and arrival times, that sort of thing. I can speak to the driver on it if I want to,’ he said, smiling. ‘Not that I want to, miserable bugger.’
Donna felt her spirits rising again.
‘The reception’s a bit haywire sometimes, especially in tunnels, but it should be okay,’ he reassured her.
‘Thank you,’ she said, taking the phone from him. He checked that she was all right, then told her he’d be back in a while and wandered off down the aisle.