Chapter Six: Blood Wedding

'Donna, calm.' Georgia grinned and patted Donna's hair one last time, stepping back to take in the combination of carefully applied make-up and half an hour of hairstyling. I dropped the comb that Georgia had been using back into the bag and joined Georgia.

'You look amazing, Donna,' I exclaimed, not in the least bit exaggerating.

Donna regarded herself critically in the mirror. 'Sure?'

'Positive,' Georgia and I agreed.

'I don't usually make this much of a fuss over clothing and such but-'

'It's your wedding,' Georgia said firmly. 'You're meant to make a fuss.' She busied herself with tidying away all the bottles and jars we'd had out and it was only then I thought about what Georgia must have been going through. I gave her shoulder a squeeze, remembering what she'd told me about her and Roxy's dad. Tears in her eyes, Georgia shook her head, almost in her own world. After taking a deep breath, she turned around and smiled.

'Ready?'

Donna smiled in return, her eyes flickering from Georgia to me. 'As I'll ever be.'

We'd just arrived at the church when I spotted a familiar face. 'Jasper!' I called. He spun around and I waved a hand. As he made his slow way towards me, I frowned. Was he limping slightly?

When he reached me, I gave him a tight hug and he kissed my cheek lightly. That was when I saw his bandaged hand and a new bruise on his jaw. Stepping back, I could hear the worry in my voice as I said, 'You ok?'

Jasper nodded, shifting slightly so his weight was on his left foot. 'Don't worry about me.' He took hold of my hand and we walked into the church. As Jasper swayed with each step and tried hard to put as little weight as possible on his right leg, I gathered that the injured hand and bruised jaw weren't the only injuries he'd sustained since Sunday afternoon.

Despite Georgia's doubts, there were only thirty people or so in the church. Jasper hesitated at the doorway.

'What?' I asked.

'Don't know where to sit.'

I was confused for a split second before realising he meant which side: bride or groom's.

'Who do you know better?'

Jasper shrugged. 'I met them at the same time.' Sizing up the amount of people on each side, he sidled towards Donna's side adding, 'I'm probably a bit closer to Donna any way.'

We sat down, just as Georgia rushed up to me holding a squirming Roxy.

'Watch her for me, will you?' she asked, not giving me much option in the matter as she thrust Roxy into my arms and ran off. Roxy grumbled for a minute before I popped her dummy into her mouth.

'Be a good girl, Roxy,' I whispered as music started playing and Donna emerged at the back of the church. 'Gotta be quiet.'

No traditional da, da, dada, da, da, dada for Donna and Dale. Donna walked down the aisle with White Wedding blaring from some hidden speakers. The two bridesmaids- I only recognised them as Amelia and Georgia at the very last minute- followed, along with two young girls, the flower girls, skipping behind them. It all looked so idyllic, so peaceful, so perfect, like nothing could possibly go wrong.

About five seconds after I had that thought, Donna screamed and staggered backwards, falling to the ground. Her beautiful white wedding dress was no longer just white; a blood red was oozing along the fabric, starting near her stomach and slowly spreading. Dale was at her side in an instant.

'She's been shot!' he shouted, falling to the ground next to his fiancé. 'For Christ's sake, someone call a bloody ambulance!' Dale's voice dropped in volume as he ripped his suit jacket off and made it into a wad, pushing it down on the wound. I turned away, hugging Roxy close, almost unaware of the chaos surrounding me. The person who'd shot Donna must have used a silencer; no one had even been aware that something was wrong until Donna had screamed. A shiver rippled down my spine as my eyes started to dart about of their own accord. A gun with a silencer fitted couldn't fire a bullet over the same distance that a gun without a silencer could. That meant that the shooter had to be very close by.

'Jasper, the-' I broke off as I realised Jasper was no longer by my side. Spinning around, I raised my voice over the increasing pandemonium. 'Jasper!'

Amelia, who had collapsed onto one of the benches when Donna had fallen, pointed with one shaking hand towards the back of the church. Her lips moved but I couldn't hear the words.

'What?' I yelled.

'That way,' Amelia said, her voice shaking.

Still holding Roxy tightly, I sprinted the way Amelia had pointed, not really knowing what I was running into. The church was on a slight hill, woods to the left, near the car park, and a road running along the front. A black van pulled away from the edge of the road as I tore down the hill, but I didn't even make a connection until a familiar Astra roared out of the car park.

'Jasper!' I bawled as the Astra got closer and closer. Through the window, I could see Jasper's face turn towards me, his eyes growing wider as he recognised me. The car squealed as he stomped on the brakes.

'Get in,' he gasped as I pulled the door open. No baby seat in the back and no time meant Roxy would have to get strapped in on my lap. Despite the constant jolting she'd been getting during my mad dash down the hill, her eye were half closed, her head lolling.

Jasper had pulled out onto the road as soon as my bum was on the seat. I slammed the door shut, pulling the seatbelt across Roxy and me. Looking at Jasper's face, I suddenly understood why he was driving so radically. I suddenly understood what the black van had been doing parked on the quiet country lane.

'They've got Georgia,' I said, my flat and almost accepting tone coming as a surprise to my ears.

Jasper's expression flickered through anger, pain and frustration, finally settling on stubborn. 'Not for long.'

Darkness was falling, settling over the land like a heavy blanket. Why did things seem so much scarier at night? Things you wouldn't think twice about during the day suddenly were terrifying. Despite the failing light, Jasper drove like a maniac, taking corners at break-neck speed, not even using the brakes.

'Do you know where we're going?' I asked.

For a few seconds Jasper remained quiet. I somehow instinctively knew that he wasn't just concentrating on his driving. When he did answer, it was in a quiet, sad voice. 'I know where they would've taken Georgia, but there's something we have to do first.'

With no idea what he was talking about, I stayed silent.

Five minutes later Jasper pulled up near a small house. We were out of London, in a quiet area, at night and there weren't any cars on the road. Jasper left the car running but got out and came around to my side, opening the door for me.

'Hop out,' he murmured. I obeyed, wondering what was going on.

As I stood up, Roxy still sleeping in my arms, Jasper held out a small basket and a thick pink blanket.

'This is where my foster parents, Glenn and Vivian, live.' Jasper gently took Roxy from my arms and wrapped her in the blanket, lowering her carefully into the basket when the pink fabric was tucked snugly around her. 'Georgia made me promise, even before Roxy was born, that if anything happened to her, that if things got too dangerous, I'd bring Roxy here. Vivian and Glenn will love her like she's their own daughter and they won't ask any questions. She'll be safer here.'

Wordlessly, I took the basket from Jasper, noticing the small luggage tag attached to handle reading My name is Roxanne (Roxy). There was no doubt: this had been planned way beforehand.

Walking slowly and quietly up to the front door, I felt a mixture of emotions. It just about tore me in two having to leave Roxy there, unsure if she would be ok, but I also felt a responsibility, not just to give Roxy the best possible future, but also to carry out Georgia's wishes. I knew without a shadow of doubt that Georgia loved Roxy more than anything in the world, that she'd give up everything, her life even, to make sure her daughter was safe and happy. I suppose that saying, something about the hardest part of loving someone is letting them go, is correct.

After I'd put Roxy, sleeping soundly in the basket, on the doorstep, I thumbed the doorbell and sprinted for the car, leaping into the passenger seat as Jasper drove it slowly past. As the Astra gathered speed, I peered out the window, just in time to see a woman- guessing it was Vivian- bending down to gather Roxy in her arms.

Half an hour later, Jasper parked in an alley and announced, 'We walk from here.'

Not even bothering to complain or even question why, I climbed out of the car and followed him. Half in a daze, I had no idea where we were going. The thought that maybe this was a really stupid thing I was doing occurred to me just once, but I quickly pushed it aside, along with the thought that I should have called Harry and told him where I was going. Whatever.

How long did we walk for? Five minutes? Ten minutes? Half an hour? I had absolutely no idea. The one thing I did know was we were near the Thames, on the outskirts of a container shipment yard. Huge, metal, rectangular prisms were arranged in neat rows as far as the eye could see, which turned out to not actually be that far since it was almost pitch black and there were barely any lights on.

'This is where Georgia is?' I whispered in Jasper's ear. He nodded, pointing to a container that looked exactly like the rest.

'That one. There's a trapdoor in the floor of it, with a tunnel leading into a building. That's where they'll be holding Georgia.'

Despite the fact that these people were the enemy, I couldn't help but be very impressed by the construction feat.

'Jasper?' I hissed as he started to get up.

'What?'

'How do you know about the container and the tunnel and the building?'

He tapped the side of his nose. 'Hours and hours of surveillance can be incredibly boring but you learn a lot.'

We moved forward, keeping at a crouch and using the numerous containers as cover. When we reached "the Container" Jasper dropped to his knees and started to run his hand alongside one small area.

'Where is it? Where is it?' he chanted. His tone was starting to border on stressed when there was a ping and a little flap fell open. Jasper dove through it and I followed, admittedly with a lot less grace.

Once I'd clambered through, Jasper pulled me out of the way and shut the flap. Finding the trapdoor, also hidden, was a lot simpler. Jasper started to crawl around, running his hands along the floor as apposed to lifting them up and within seconds he'd found the hatch.

'Give me a hand, Annie,' he grunted, struggling to lift it up. Smart ass that I am, I took a step forward and undid the bolt holding the trapdoor down. Jasper was still pulling at the hatch with all his strength and, as the bolt slid free, the hatch flung open, causing Jasper to land flat on his back. I started to laugh, clapping a hand over my mouth in an attempt to squash down the complete hysterics that were building up. Tension did that to me. Give me a slightly funny situation and suddenly I was on the ground, crying with laughter while everyone else stood around shaking their heads and trying to decided whether to give me a paper bag or not.

Jasper rolled his eyes and pushed me down into the hole that was now gracing the middle of the container.

'It's not nice to laugh at other people's misfortune, Annie,' he muttered, though a smile gave him away. I grinned back, dropping the twenty inches or so to the tunnel floor.

'Dark in here,' I hissed upwards. My voice echoed slightly and I quickly shut up, deciding not to speak again. Jasper used the ladder fixed to the side of the tunnel, pulling the trapdoor shut after him. Suddenly dark seemed such an inappropriate word.

Jasper took hold of my hand and we made our slow, careful way along the tunnel. Each time Jasper dragged me around a corner, I hoped with all my heart that the stupid tunnel would end.

It didn't.

After a long, long time, we rounded the final corner.

'I see the light,' I exclaimed.

Jasper squeezed my hand as we walked down the last few metres of tunnel, heading straight towards the people who's one wish was to see us dead.

Valerie sprinted down the hallway, her long blonde hair escaping the tie that held it back. Her boss was going to flip when he heard and as much as she wanted to avoid the fit that was sure to follow her announcement, Valerie knew that time was something which she didn't have.

'When are they going to fix that stupid elevator?' she growled, taking the stairs two at a time. The fourth floor seemed to be miles away and yet right in front of her at the same time. Harry Field's office was behind the last door on the right. Taking a huge breath and attempting to smooth her hair back into what resembled a ponytail, Valerie knocked on the door.

'Enter!' boomed Harry in a cheerful voice.

Valerie pushed the door open and entered, forcing her lips into a tight smile. 'Hello, sir.'

Harry looked up from his cluttered desk, a welcoming smile on his face. 'Valerie! I haven't seen you for ages. How are you? Sit down. Want a tea? Coffee? Maggie can-'

'Please, sir. This isn't a social visit,' Valerie interrupted. 'I was assigned to keep a look out for the officer- Amber, is it?- that you have undercover at the moment.' Valerie took another deep, shuddering breath, lowering her gaze from Harry's face to the floor. 'I was in heavy traffic and suddenly she wasn't there any more. Your target was driving a blue Astra with Amber in the passenger seat. She looked a bit dazed, sir.'

'What are you trying to say?'

Valerie bit her lip. 'Amber's dropped off the radar, sir. We have no idea where she is.'