Chapter 25

"Nick, for the last time – it's nothing!" Jenny exclaimed hotly, running her hand through her hair in frustration.

"You're lying!" he accused, jerking the gear stick a little harder than was necessary. "I know you're an expert at it, but you can't fool me!"

Jenny scowled loudly and sank further down in her seat, completely torn. Yes, she was lying, but what other choice did she have? If she told Cutter that Mark had struck her, he'd go absolutely ballistic. She knew he had a tendency to fly off the handle – his fight with Stephen proved that. She half wished she had gone ahead in the car with the others to avoid this never ending interrogation.

"I'm not going to let up on this Jenny!" Cutter continued to rant, making a sharp turn. "Either you tell me the truth, or I'll stop this car right now and wait right here until you feel like talking!"

Jenny sighed, her hand rubbing her throbbing temple. "Fine," she conceded eventually. "If you want the truth Nick, Mark found out about us."

"What?" Cutter gaped, taking his eyes off the road to look at her.

"He had pictures of us together," Jenny explained, her gaze set firmly out of the window. "I think he's had someone following me - "

"No, hang on – I don't give a damn about that," Cutter interrupted in a brittle tone. "Are you saying that he hit you?"

"Well, yes - " Jenny began, but she was cut off when Cutter yanked the handbrake up hard, jolting the wheel sharply so that the car span out on the country lane to face the other way. "CHRIST!" she yelled, clutching the dashboard to stop herself been thrown into the window. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

"I'm going to kill him, that's what I'm going to do!" Cutter bellowed, his face flushed an angry red as he took off back down the road they had just driven down.

"Cutter – you stop this car right now!" she shouted, her pulse racing. "I mean it!"

"No – I'm going to literally kill him!" Cutter roared, gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were turning white.

"We have an anomaly site to get to!" she protested, desperately grabbing at his jacket to stop him. "Just pull over!"

"No!"

Right that was it - she'd had enough of this! In one swift motion, she propped herself up with one hand on his chair and sat half on his lap, slamming her food down on the break. The car immediately jolted, throwing both of them forward.

"Jenny!" he yelled in surprise, trying to push her off whilst keeping one hand on the steering wheel. "Get off! We're going to end up in a ditch - !"

"Then pull over!" she yelled, keeping her foot pressed down on the break.

"Alright! Alright!" he shouted, pushing her back into the passenger seat before pulling the car at the side of the lane.

They both sat back in their seats, breathing hard. Eventually, she brought herself to look round at him, and saw that he was watching her with a slightly softer expression.

"I'm sorry," he said, somewhat reluctantly. "But I can't stand the fact that he - "

"I know," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose to alleviate some of the tension she felt. "And believe me; he won't be doing it again. But if I was in his shoes, I would have probably done worse to me."

Cutter groaned and rubbed his hands over his drawn-looking face. "So what's going to happen now?"

She looked round at him, hitching a forced smile on her face. "Well now, we're going to go and do what we do best, and go and sort out this anomaly alert," she said briskly. "And after it, we'll talk about where we go from here. Okay?"

He hesitated for a moment before replying with a repressed smile, "Okay," he nodded as he started the engine up again. "And by the way," he added as he turned the car back around, "has anyone ever told you that you're bloody crazy?"

"Funnily enough, they have," she smiled across at him. "Now go - we're already late."

Mark watched as the car Jenny was in turned back around the way it had previously been heading before it had abruptly changed direction for reasons unknown. He had stopped his own car and kept out of sight, least he be spotted, but it seemed that whatever had cause the swift u-turn was now resolved. Mark waited a few moments before pulling his car out and following, close enough to see where they were heading, but with enough distance to ensure that Jenny didn't suspect that he was following.

Time for the truth.