close and saw that it was actually a dyke; a steep, man-made embankment. Its apex was maybe fifteen feet above her, and crowned by another tall fence.
Alex’s whimpers became subdued wails as she gazed breathlessly up. She could probably climb it at a push, but how close was he? She looked round again – and was shocked to see that demonic orb of light jolting its way towards her. He was some distance away, but clearly he’d picked up her trail because he was running.
How the fuck had he located her so quickly?
She followed the dyke rather than attempting to scale over it, and almost immediately a tunnel came into sight, leading through to the other side. Scarcely able to believe her good fortune, Alex skidded to a halt. It was a black passage, cylindrical, rimmed with brick. She could just about distinguish a circular blot of grey at the far end. She went through at speed, stumbling on stones, sliding in what presumably was cattle-dung, turning her right ankle but battling through the pain. Emerging at the far end, her eyes adjusted more quickly to the starlight, and she saw that she was in a second field, though this was smaller – more of a paddock. About fifty yards away there was another fence, and beyond that a belt of trees. Even better, a gap in the trees revealed what looked like a track winding uphill towards the straight-edged outline of a building.
With new strength, Alex ran forward. All the time she glanced back, focusing on the black mouth of the tunnel but seeing no light pour out of it. Had he given up? If he knew there was an occupied building near here he might well have done.
She reached the track. This too was muddy, stony and deeply rutted – probably by the passage of tractors and other farm machinery. All to the good. She hurried on, trees enclosing her from either side, but with the building firmly in her sights.
“HELP!” she screamed. “HELP ME, PLEASE! PLEASE HELP!”
It was a risk – if he’d lost her trail, she’d now draw him right to her, but letting the occupants of the house know in advance that she was coming would give them more chance to call the police.
Except that it wasn’t a house.
It was a barn.
She realised this just as she reached it, the rough wooden boards with which it had been constructed emerging like phantoms through the gloom. Her first reaction was to hammer furiously on its nearest wall, crying out in despair. But then it occurred to her that it might only be one of a clutch of farm buildings. She stumbled along the side of the barn, her legs like jelly now that the adrenaline rush was flagging. The palm of her left hand stung fiercely. She glanced down and saw a gash crossing it diagonally. The whole hand was dark and sticky; fresh blood squelched between her fingers. She’d probably done it climbing over the farm gate. It would likely need stitching and a few shots, but there was hardly time to worry about that now.
Wheezing for breath, she reached the other side of the barn, only to find no additional outbuildings save a couple of cowsheds and a gherkin-shaped silage tower. Another track led away from this, again cutting through the encircling woodland. But how far would it go on? How much more running did she have to do? Alex hadn’t done much exercise in recent years and she was now bone-weary, her body damp, cold and stiffening.
She continued probing along the side of the barn, hoping against hope that she’d find something – a tractor, a quad bike, maybe even a tethered horse – anything she could use to affect a getaway. But all she found were two slightly open doors.
She hesitated, peering at the darkness inside with heart pounding. She didn’t like the idea of hiding and possibly trapping herself, but running was getting her nowhere and at least if she was hiding she could rest. She sidled into a dank interior, which, though she couldn’t see it, she could sense was enormous. There was an eye-watering stink of manure, but if she poked around in here there had to be somewhere she could conceal herself. It didn’t need to be the best hiding place on Earth. This guy was surely running out of time; that cop would be missed at some point.
She might even be able to lie low until dawn; though how far off was that? Alex wasn’t sure she could tolerate the stench in here for six minutes. Grimacing, she lurched forward, arms outstretched. Even so, she managed to miss a solid wooden stanchion, which she walked into face first. It caught her right on the nose and brought fresh, hot tears to eyes already swollen with weeping.
Irritably, she wiped them away and glanced back. The entrance was defined by a narrow slice of darkness vaguely paler than the darkness around it. She listened, but there was no sound from outside. Satisfied, she scrabbled leftward of the stanchion, and found an upright ladder. It was firm, secured in place. Without really thinking, she began to climb. No doubt it would lead to a hayloft; there’d be no escape from up there if she was cornered. But at least she’d be looking down on him,which would give her an advantage of sorts. That said, she climbed much higher than she would have been happy with. Eventually, about sixteen feet up, she ascended through a square aperture, and clambered from the ladder onto a straw-covered shelf, though in the pitch dark she couldn’t see how far it extended.
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