Carruthers' Demise, Chapters Thirty Eight & Thirty Nine (standard:drama, 2453 words) [21/24] show all parts
Author: Brian Cross	Added: Jun 14 2013	Views/Reads: 2349/1810	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Approaching the conclusion of my drama. Carruthers has found Chelsey, his missing novelist wife, but dangers abound.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

Resisting the urge to respond for fear of his voice carrying to Adrian, 
Carruthers' first inclination was to curse his luck yet again. He 
should have known he wouldn't be allowed to simply walk in and rescue 
his – But the lock came away in his hand and Carruthers realised that 
for once, something seemed to have gone his way. In his haste Adrian 
had obviously neglected to secure it. 

Carruthers threw the padlock to the floor, slipping inside a dark void –


‘Chelsey? Where the ...' 

‘Martin – Martin is that you? Oh thank God. Up here ...' the voice
seemed strained, it wasn't Chelsey's refined tone at all, yet how it 
warmed him to hear it again. But he knew he couldn't yield to emotion 
now. He was in a black pit exuding a rancid stench that seared his 
nostrils, and as to where “up here” was he hadn't the slightest notion. 
His disposable lighter was the only thing he could think of – the 
solitary light source he possessed. He fumbled in his pocket, his 
trembling hands almost betraying him and dispatching the lighter onto a 
blacked-out floor. But he clung on, pressed his thumb hard on the 
flint-wheel and produced a flame, woefully weak in the vast interior 
but a light source nonetheless. 

‘Where's up here?' Carruthers craned his neck, willing his eyes to
provide him with the answer, but Chelsey called again. 

‘I'm here – in the hayloft – listen there's a ladder he throws on the
floor. Please Martin, hurry, he carries a gun ...' 

‘Yes, I've found that out.' Carruthers raised his lighter, and as he
stepped back, in its dwindling flame he could barely make out Chelsey's 
crouched figure on an elevated platform above his head. 

‘Where's the damned ladder ...' Carruthers began to panic, kicking out
at the ankle deep straw that carpeted the place. 

And then his foot struck metal, sending a shaft of pain from toe to
heel. He spotted the rungs of the ladder protruding through the straw 
and reached down, barely managing to hoist it with his free hand, 
manoeuvering it painfully slowly to bridge the gap between ground and 
loft. 

Carruthers used his shoulder to force the ladder into position and then,
satisfied it was secure, began the climb. The wavering flame revealed 
Chelsey's face as he neared the top, wide eyed and expectant, but her 
silky blond hair was matted, plastered in parts to her cheeks. He 
scrambled onto the loft and gazed down at Chelsey. She sat on her 
bottom amidst the remains of a straw bale, her hands behind her back, 
tied to a vertical beam. 

Carruthers mopped his sweaty brow, paused an instant, almost giving way
to emotion. ‘How and why has this happened?' 

Chelsey looked him full on. ‘I don't think this is quite the place to
answer that, is it Martin? Please get me out of here.' 

‘Easier said than done.' Carruthers bent down, examined the thickly
woven rope that bound Casey's wrists to the beam. 

He stared at the weak flame from his lighter; soon it would dwindle to
nothing. There was no chance of burning through it, and to unravel it 
would take more time than he had. 

Because outside he heard Casey shout, heard a solid blow. 

Carruthers swung to his wife in alarm. 

  Chapter Thirty Nine 

The door swung violently against its wooden jamb, the resultant crack
resounding throughout the barn, and then came Robin Noades' agitated 
voice. ‘For God's sake calm down!' 

Carruthers turned, gazed below despairingly. Noades stood by the barn
entrance, his left arm clamped around Casey's waist, heaving her off 
her feet and into the blackened interior. He swept blood from his nose 
with the hand that held a torch. ‘The little vixen packs a punch, I'll 
give her that. Now if I put you down will you stop fighting me? I'm 
here to help and we don't have time for this.' 

Carruthers glanced between Chelsey and Casey then glared back at Noades.
He was no fighter but while the oaf was grappling with Casey there was 
a chance of overpowering him. He descended the ladder two rungs at a 
time but Noades had forced Casey onto the seat of her pants, and as 
Carruthers made for him he was ready, easily thwarting the flimsy 
attempts to land a blow on his chin. With one eye on Casey, Noades 
forced Carruthers' arms behind his back, swinging him round and 
thrusting him towards the ladder. ‘Now will you two back off? I meant 
what I said. I'm here to help you and there isn't time to argue. I'm 
going to cut your wife free and then we're out of here.' 

‘Why would you do that?' Carruthers panted, but Noades didn't respond.
In the light thrown by the man's torch Carruthers saw Noades draw a 
knife from a sheath on his waist. A second later he glimpsed Chelsey 
scramble unsteadily to her feet, grasping Noades for support. 
Carruthers saw red for an instant, the dark stain of jealousy cloaking 
his sight, but Chelsey retracted her hand as soon as she'd steadied, 
following Noades cautiously down the ladder. 

The sound of the dog came through on the wind and a man's voice, urgent,
demanding. 

‘Noades, Noades, where the hell are you man?' Carruthers glared
accusingly at Noades. ‘Sounds like your partner in crime has shown up 
...' 

‘He's not my partner in crime,' Noades said flatly, moving deeper into
the barn. He shone his torch diagonally, towards a bottom corner. ‘Come 
on – quickly, there's more than one way out of this place.' But Chelsey 
was rigid, staring down at Casey from her lofty six foot. 

‘How the hell did she get here?' 

‘Oh does it really matter?' Carruthers snatched Chelsey's hand. ‘If this
guy really is on the level we should be right behind him.' Chelsey 
relented, allowing herself to be hustled along the barn, her eyes 
locked on Casey. ‘We'll have this out later.' Casey's eyes were like 
lanterns in the dark as she scrambled through the wicket-gate at the 
barn's rear, behind Carruthers and Chelsey. 

‘We'll make for the gatehouse,' Noades shouted, urging them on. 

‘The gatehouse?' Carruthers creased his brow. 

‘Yes, the gatehouse,' Noades yelled above the wind. ‘Now look we don't
have time to stand around talking. If I can lead us there and fetch my 
car we can have you out of here. The bastard still thinks I'm helping 
him.' 

‘And are you?' 

‘Not any more. I never realised the extent of his intentions ...' Noades
broke off as Adrian's renewed shout filled the air ... 

‘Noades, where are you?' 

Noades turned, pushed Carruthers ahead of him, beckoning the two women
urgently. ‘Get going – while he thinks I'm helping him there's still 
time.' 

Casey pushed past Noades as he swung his torch across the clearing into
the woods. ‘You'd better be on the level buster,' she glared. ‘You were 
lucky I didn't get a good swing just now. I could and would have taken 
you down.' 

Carruthers held back for Chelsey, taking and pressing her closely to him
as they followed Noades' directive through squelching, inhospitable 
woodland. Noades vanished from sight and all Carruthers' misgivings 
resurfaced. 

The beam from the torch had disappeared with him leaving them in
darkness, but barely had he a chance to transmit his alarm than Noades 
re-appeared, leading the way. ‘This is my terrain, not his,' Noades 
called back. ‘He's in unfamiliar territory; if we keep going we'll be 
fine.' 

‘What about the bloody dog?' Casey questioned through gritted teeth. 

‘The infernal barking's sounding close.' 

‘Believe me, he won't get a lot of help out of that animal, not in these
conditions – just a few minutes'll see us through.' Noades threaded his 
way through more dense woodland, forcing aside bracken, Carruthers a 
few strides behind reluctantly releasing his grip on Chelsey's waist 
when the thin track wouldn't accommodate them both. 

‘When we get through this,' he said, his voice taut with emotion, ‘you
can explain your encounter with that madman ...' 

‘And you can explain what Casey bloody Jennings is doing with you,'
Chelsey hissed, just audible enough for Carruthers to hear. But he'd no 
chance to respond because, ahead, Noades threw up an arm and turned to 
them. ‘We've reached the road.' 

Carruthers saw the break in the trees, watched as Noades emerged
cautiously from their cover and then urged them through. ‘There's the 
gatehouse across the way. I'm going to let you in and head back for the 
car, it won't take a few minutes but you'll be safer in there – Adrian 
won't suspect ...' 

‘Let us in?' 

‘Yes, it's my place.' 

‘And you brought Adrian here?' Carruthers swung an arm angrily back
towards the woods – ‘You put my wife's life in jeopardy – all our lives 
in fact – what's your part in this, Noades?' 

‘Look, if I was to try to explain that now, all our lives will be more
than in jeopardy. There simply isn't time – when Adrian discovers I've 
set Chelsey free, and it's only a matter of time before he adds things 
up, our chances will be virtually nil.' Noades marched ahead, towards 
the turreted gatehouse. ‘Now are you coming?' 

‘Do we have a choice?' Casey made a move across the road but Chelsey
grabbed her arm. ‘I tell you what, you head out onto the open road, it 
won't be long before someone slows and picks you up.' 

Casey glared up at the fair haired woman, swung wildly, shrugging her
off and wound up to explode a punch onto Chelsey's chin but Carruthers 
swiftly intervened, knocking her arm away. 

Chelsey snarled. ‘I don't need your help in handling her.' 

‘And we don't need this bitchiness right now ...' Carruthers fumed. 

‘What we do need is out of here.' 

For a second the moon peeped from behind racing clouds highlighting the
whites of Casey's eyes as she bunched her fist before unclenching it 
and raising a finger. ‘Later, buster. You won't know what hit you!' 

‘I can't wait.' Chelsey, some six inches taller stared down as if
assessing her prey, before Carruthers looped an arm through hers, 
leading her unwillingly towards the gatehouse, while Casey stomped 
along behind. Carruthers felt her searing breath. 

‘The best thing you two can do,' Noades uttered through gritted teeth,
‘is to quit your feuding.'  He swung a torch. ‘Stay here, and for 
safety sake leave off the light. If our luck holds and you keep from 
each other's throats we'll be out of here within five minutes.' He 
delved into a draw, producing another torch. ‘Here, I have a spare, 
take it. If I'm not back within five minutes head out into the lane.' 

Before any could answer, Noades stepped into the night. 

  


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