Chapter 16

Jenny drove as best as she could with the threat of a gun being held up to her, although her movements were jittery, and she knew it. What was worse was that he knew it too, and whenever she glanced around at him, it sickened her to see that he was looking rather pleased with himself. Every now and then, he'd bark an instruction at her to make a turning or what have you, and she obeyed without question, although in her mind, she tried to keep track of which direction they were going for future reference . . . first left, third right, straight down, fifth right . . . but after a while, everything started to blur together in a haze of nameless streets and tiredness.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked him eventually.

"What?" he retorted coldly.

"This," she repeated more forcefully. "You were waiting for our soldiers at the anomaly. Why did you do that if you didn't want to be caught?"

"I didn't say I didn't want to be caught," he replied, his gaze sliding lazily out of the window.

"But I don't understand what you got out of coming to the ARC?" she pushed, wanting to keep him talking now the conversation was flowing.

He looked back round at her and was silent for a moment before answering. "You."

She snapped her head round at him to see if he was taunting her, but his expression was unreadable. "I don't see what benefit my presence will bring you," she replied, her voice trembling.

He laughed slightly. "Oh, you'd be surprised."

"Whatever you need me for, you can go to hell," she retorted, a lot braver than she felt.

Again, he laughed as though he found her insolence amusing, and leaned towards her slightly, talking barely above a whisper. "If I do need something from you, I won't be asking for it, believe me."

"Look, if you're going to kill me, why don't you just get it over with?" she snapped, hating the anticipation of it all more than the fear of what was going to happen next.

"As I said, as long as you do as you're told, you'll be safe," he said in a reluctant tone as he sat back in his seat.

"Yeah right," she muttered.

"It's true," he bit back. "Oh, and take the next left."

She did as she was told, and they drove in silence for a few moments before she had to speak again, finding the tension unbearable.

"So what's your real name then?" she asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Your real name?" she repeated. "You've threatened me, kidnapped me, and now you're probably making me drive to my own death, so the least you could do me is the courtesy of telling me who you are."

He was silent for a moment, as though considering how much to say. Eventually, he cleared his throat. "I changed my name a long time ago. Everybody knows me as Matt. So that's what you can call me."

"Why did you change your name?"

Again, he paused before answering. "I wanted a clean start," he replied, a distant look in his eyes.

"Oh right, I understand," she said sarcastically. "You wanted a new identity to complement your new forte of taking people hostage."

"You know, you give a lot of back chat for a woman being held a gun point," he snapped.

"See, if you pull that trigger, the car would probably crash, killing you along with me," she pointed, more smugly that she really ought to feel.

He smiled slightly. "If you think death scares me, then you clearly haven't seen half the things I have. But believe me, you will."

His cold words sent a horrible shiver down her spine, and all of a sudden, the car felt suffocating and small. She forced her breathing to remain steady and resisted the overwhelming urge to start hyperventilating there and then, telling herself over and over that if she was going to survive this, she needed to keep her head. If she panicked, she'd be no use.

As they drove down a long twisting road, Jenny noticed that they were coming up to a bridge that ran over a massive lake, and suddenly, and insane idea popped into her head. She glanced around at Matt, and saw that he'd lowered the gun slightly, his gaze directed out of his window.

It was now or never.

Her heart bursted it's banks with beating as she tried to work out the right moment to do it. Seconds passed that felt like hours before she finally worked up the courage.

With one jolting motion, she turned the wheel sharply and immediately, the car turned and headed towards the flimsy railings lining the bridge.

"NO!" Matt shouted, trying to grab the wheel off her, but she fought him off and slammed the accelerator down with her heeled foot.

In the confusion, she felt the car crash into the fence, and then a strange sensation in her midriff as the vehicle left the road and hurdled towards the watery depths below. Shouts filled the car, whether her own or Matt's, Jenny could no longer tell.

They both fell forward with the force of hitting the water.

It took a few seconds for the shock of what she had just done to dissipate; all Jenny knew was that in what felt like no time at all, murky water enveloped her, freezing every fibre of her being. It was like being in some sort of eery dream world. Panicking, but forcing herself not to look around at the man next to her, she wrestled with the door handle. Seconds stretched into minutes as she tried to push it open, and her breath was running out . . . her strength leaving her . . . it was only the thought of Ben that allowed her to summon the energy for one last pull, and mercifully, the door opened slowly, and a massive pressure hit her. She fought her way through it, kicking out desperately to try and get to the surface. Eventually, she broke it, and gulped a lung full of crisp, icy air, frantically pushing her sopping wet hair out of her face. Shaking, barely able to move, she thrashed, looking around for any sight of the man she had been trying to escape, but the water now looked as placid as it was before they had disturbed it. Numbly, she kicked out again and swam clumsily towards the nearest bank, her limbs aching with the exertion and the piercing coldness.

She was nearly there . . . nearly there . . .

Suddenly, something grabbed her around her ankle, and she screamed, inhaling a mouthful of filthy water as she was pulled under again. She kicked against the grip fiercely, and she felt it loosen slightly, enough for her to pull herself away and continue on to the bank. When she reached it, she staggered forwards, coughing and spluttering. She was muddy and soaked through, causing her to slip and fall forward on all fours as hands grabbed her again from behind.

She knew who it was.

Her strength vanished, and she couldn't fight him off when he turned her onto her back and pinned her wrists down into the muddy ground.

"Stupid bitch, you could have killed the both of us!" he spat, his face flushed with rage.

"I'd rather die in a watery grave than wherever you were planning on taking me!" she yelled, as she managed to push him off and scramble backwards.

"Are you folks okay?" a strangers voice travelled over to them, making them both turn round abruptly.

A kindly looking old man was making his way slowly down the hill from the road to the embankment, concern written all over his face.

"We're fine!" Matt shouted back, grabbing Jenny by the upper arm and squeezing her in warning.

"I saw the car go over and everything!" the man continued in the same shocked voice. "I've phoned the police and the ambulance, and they should be here any minute - "

Gunshots cut into the air unexpectedly, making Jenny yelp in fright, and the man before them crumpled immediately, falling to the squelching ground hard and moving no more. Her mind went blank with shock as she tried to comprehend what had just happened, before realisation hit her like an asteroid.

Matt had shot him.

She gapped around at him, noticing how he still held his gun up coldly and heartlessly, no remorse in his expression. Jenny wrenched her arm out of his grip and staggered forward towards the man, and fell to her knees beside him, her shaking fingers feeling in vain for a pulse in his neck. Blood seeped from a large bullet wound in his chest and his stomach, and his eyes stared straight up ahead, completely and utterly lifeless.

She let out a dry sob, fighting the urge to retch into the ground as she heard footsteps approach her from behind.

"You've killed him," she breathed numbly, her voice trembling almost as much as the rest of her was.

"I had too," Matt's voice said coldly.

She looked around at him, tears swimming in her eyes. "No you didn't. He didn't do anything wrong, he was just trying to help - "

"I couldn't afford to waste the time to make excuses to him," Matt protested, as though there was any justification for his actions. "He'd alerted the authorities. Come on," he added, reaching forward and tugging on her arm. "We need to go. Now."

"Get off me!" she snarled, pulling herself away from his touch.

"You know, you can be as pissed off at me all you want, but just remember that I wouldn't have had to do this if you wouldn't have driven us into that bloody lake in the first place!" he exclaimed. "Now, get his keys off him and we'll take his car."

"Piss off," Jenny stated with as much venom as she could gather, turning back to the lifeless body.

The unmistakable sound of the safety catch being took off the gun could be heard, and she sensed rather than felt him lift the gun to the back of her head.

"I'm not asking Jenny, I'm telling you!" he yelled, failing to hide the panic from his voice. "Now do it, or you'll be joining him."

A tear cascaded down her freezing cold cheek as she reached forward and closed the dead man's eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered to him, knowing that he couldn't hear her, but finding saying it rather cathartic all the same.

Then, despising herself, she took the keys that were still entwined in the man's fingers and straightened up, thrusting them into Matt's chest with the dirtiest look she could muster.

"Thank you," he sated coolly, reaching up and taking them.

"I don't want your thanks you murderer," she whispered to him dangerously, raising her chin to meet his, all thoughts of trying to keep him sweet forgotten. "And if you were smart you would kill me, because it's now my life's mission to put a bullet in you before this is all over."

He stared back at her, his emotionless expression not quite masking the flicker of something she could quite put her finger on cross his eyes. Then, he sniffed and held his head higher, raising his hand to gesture up the embankment where the man's car was waiting.

"After you," he said curtly.