she tried to raise herself up to punch through the windows but the claw of the crane had already flattened the roof pinning her left leg perhaps even breaking it she could feel nothing she lifted a hand and managed to pound on the back window, but she coudn't break the glass and even if the workmen were staring at the BMW they would never see anything moving inside
her short flight across the breakers yard ended with a bone-shattering crash as the crane deposited the car on the iron shelves of the crusher Liz tried to fight back sickness and despair and think of what to do
she had seen a car being processed only a few minutes before any moment now the operator would send the car tipping into the coffin-shape trough the machine was a Lefort Shear, slow motion guillotine at the press of a button, the two wings would close on the car
with a joint pressure of five hundred tonnes the car with Liz inside it would be crushed beyond recognition and the broken metal - and flesh - would then be chopped into sections nobody would ever know what had happened
she tried with all her might to free herself but the roof was too low her leg and part of her back were trapped then her whole world tilted and she felt herself falling into darkness the shelves had lifted. the BMW slid to one side and fell the few metres into the trough
Liz felt the metalwork collapsing all around her the back window exploded the glass showered around her head, dust and diesel fumes punching into her nose and eyes there was hardly any daylight now but looking out the back she could see the huge steel head of the piston that would push what was left of the car through the exit hole on the other side
the engine tone of the Lefort Shear changed as it prepared for the final act the metal wings shuddered in a few seconds time the two of them would meet crumpling the BMW like a paper bag
Liz pulled with all her strength and was astonished when her leg came free it took her perhaps a second - one precious second - to work out what had happened when the car had fallen into the trough it had landed on its side the roof had buckled again .......enough to free her
her hands scrabbled for the door - but of course that was useless the doors were too bent they would never open. the back window! with the glass gone she could crawl through the frame but only if she moved fast.....
the wings began to move, the BMW screamed as two walls of solid steel relentlessly crushed it glass shattered one wheel axles snapped with the sound of a thunderbolt the darkness closed in. Liz grabbed hold of what was left of the back seat
ahead of her she could see a single triangle of light shrinking faster and faster with all her strength she surged forward finding some sort of purchase on the gear column she could feel the weight of the walls pressing down on her
behind her the car was no longer a car but a fist of some hideous monster snatching at the insect that it had become, her shoulders passed through the triangle out into the light but her legs were still inside if her foot snagged on something she would be squeezed into two pieces Liz yelled out loud and jerked her knee forward her legs came clear then her feet but at the last moment her shoe caught on the closing triangle and dissapeared back into the car
Liz imagined she heard the sound of the leather being squashed but that was impossible clinging to the black oily surface of the observation platform at the back of the crusher she dragged herself clear and managed to stand up
she found herself face to face with a man so fat that he could barely fit into the small cabin of the crusher the man's stomach was pressed against the glass his shoulders squeezed into the corners, a cigerette dangled on his lower lip as his mouth fell open and his eyes stared
in front of him was a girl in rags of what had once been a school uniform a whole sleeve had been torn off and her arm streaked with blood and oil, hung limpl by her side by her side by the time the operator had taken all this in and came to his senses and turned the machine off Liz was goneshe slambered down the side of the crusher landing on one foot that still had a shoe she was aware now of pieces of jagged metal lying everywhere if she wasn't careful she would cut the other foot open
her bicycle was where she had left it leaning against the wall and gingerly half-hopping she made for it, behind her she heard the cabin crusher open and a man's voice call out raising the alarm at the same time a second man ran forward stopping between Liz and her bike it was the driver the man she had seen at the funeral his face twisted into a hostile frown was curiously ugly; greasy hair, watery eyes, pale, lifeless skin
"what do you think....!" he began his hand slid into his jacket Liz remembered the gun and instantly without even thinking swung into action
she had learned karate when she was six years old one afternoon with no explanation Jeff Ortecho had taken her to a local club for her first lesson and she had been going there once a week ever since. over the years she had passed through the various Kyu - student - grades
but it was only the year before that she had became a first grade Dan, a black belt when she had arrived at Brookland School her looks and accent had quickly brought her attention of the school bullies; three hulking sixteen-year-olds
they had cornered her once behind the bike shed the encounter had lasted less than a minute and after it one of the bullies had left Brookland and the other two had never troubled anyone anyone again
now Liz brought up one leg twisted her body round and lashed out the back kick - ushiro-geri - is said to be the most lethal in karate her foot powered into the man's abdomen with such force that he didnt have time to cry out his eyes bulged and his mouth half-opened
in suprise then with his hand still halfway into his jacket he crumpled to the ground Liz jumped over him, snatched up her bike and swung herself on it in the distance a third man was running towards her
she heard the single word "Stop!" called out then there was a crack and a bullet whipped past Liz gripped the handle bars and pedaled as hard as she could the bike shot forward over the rubble and out through the gates she took one look over her shoulder nobody followed her
with one shoe on and one shoe off her clothes in rags and her body streaked with blood and oil
Liz knew she must look a strange sight but then she thought back to her last seconds inside the crusher and sighed in relief. she could have been looking a lot worse
her short flight across the breakers yard ended with a bone-shattering crash as the crane deposited the car on the iron shelves of the crusher Liz tried to fight back sickness and despair and think of what to do
she had seen a car being processed only a few minutes before any moment now the operator would send the car tipping into the coffin-shape trough the machine was a Lefort Shear, slow motion guillotine at the press of a button, the two wings would close on the car
with a joint pressure of five hundred tonnes the car with Liz inside it would be crushed beyond recognition and the broken metal - and flesh - would then be chopped into sections nobody would ever know what had happened
she tried with all her might to free herself but the roof was too low her leg and part of her back were trapped then her whole world tilted and she felt herself falling into darkness the shelves had lifted. the BMW slid to one side and fell the few metres into the trough
Liz felt the metalwork collapsing all around her the back window exploded the glass showered around her head, dust and diesel fumes punching into her nose and eyes there was hardly any daylight now but looking out the back she could see the huge steel head of the piston that would push what was left of the car through the exit hole on the other side
the engine tone of the Lefort Shear changed as it prepared for the final act the metal wings shuddered in a few seconds time the two of them would meet crumpling the BMW like a paper bag
Liz pulled with all her strength and was astonished when her leg came free it took her perhaps a second - one precious second - to work out what had happened when the car had fallen into the trough it had landed on its side the roof had buckled again .......enough to free her
her hands scrabbled for the door - but of course that was useless the doors were too bent they would never open. the back window! with the glass gone she could crawl through the frame but only if she moved fast.....
the wings began to move, the BMW screamed as two walls of solid steel relentlessly crushed it glass shattered one wheel axles snapped with the sound of a thunderbolt the darkness closed in. Liz grabbed hold of what was left of the back seat
ahead of her she could see a single triangle of light shrinking faster and faster with all her strength she surged forward finding some sort of purchase on the gear column she could feel the weight of the walls pressing down on her
behind her the car was no longer a car but a fist of some hideous monster snatching at the insect that it had become, her shoulders passed through the triangle out into the light but her legs were still inside if her foot snagged on something she would be squeezed into two pieces Liz yelled out loud and jerked her knee forward her legs came clear then her feet but at the last moment her shoe caught on the closing triangle and dissapeared back into the car
Liz imagined she heard the sound of the leather being squashed but that was impossible clinging to the black oily surface of the observation platform at the back of the crusher she dragged herself clear and managed to stand up
she found herself face to face with a man so fat that he could barely fit into the small cabin of the crusher the man's stomach was pressed against the glass his shoulders squeezed into the corners, a cigerette dangled on his lower lip as his mouth fell open and his eyes stared
in front of him was a girl in rags of what had once been a school uniform a whole sleeve had been torn off and her arm streaked with blood and oil, hung limpl by her side by her side by the time the operator had taken all this in and came to his senses and turned the machine off Liz was goneshe slambered down the side of the crusher landing on one foot that still had a shoe she was aware now of pieces of jagged metal lying everywhere if she wasn't careful she would cut the other foot open
her bicycle was where she had left it leaning against the wall and gingerly half-hopping she made for it, behind her she heard the cabin crusher open and a man's voice call out raising the alarm at the same time a second man ran forward stopping between Liz and her bike it was the driver the man she had seen at the funeral his face twisted into a hostile frown was curiously ugly; greasy hair, watery eyes, pale, lifeless skin
"what do you think....!" he began his hand slid into his jacket Liz remembered the gun and instantly without even thinking swung into action
she had learned karate when she was six years old one afternoon with no explanation Jeff Ortecho had taken her to a local club for her first lesson and she had been going there once a week ever since. over the years she had passed through the various Kyu - student - grades
but it was only the year before that she had became a first grade Dan, a black belt when she had arrived at Brookland School her looks and accent had quickly brought her attention of the school bullies; three hulking sixteen-year-olds
they had cornered her once behind the bike shed the encounter had lasted less than a minute and after it one of the bullies had left Brookland and the other two had never troubled anyone anyone again
now Liz brought up one leg twisted her body round and lashed out the back kick - ushiro-geri - is said to be the most lethal in karate her foot powered into the man's abdomen with such force that he didnt have time to cry out his eyes bulged and his mouth half-opened
in suprise then with his hand still halfway into his jacket he crumpled to the ground Liz jumped over him, snatched up her bike and swung herself on it in the distance a third man was running towards her
she heard the single word "Stop!" called out then there was a crack and a bullet whipped past Liz gripped the handle bars and pedaled as hard as she could the bike shot forward over the rubble and out through the gates she took one look over her shoulder nobody followed her
with one shoe on and one shoe off her clothes in rags and her body streaked with blood and oil
Liz knew she must look a strange sight but then she thought back to her last seconds inside the crusher and sighed in relief. she could have been looking a lot worse