Jessie Keane: Black Widow

Annie looked past her at the door, forced herself to think even though her guts were liquid with panic. She’d missed the call. Would they phone back? She took a deep breath. Now she felt really sick. The thought of these people having Layla. She wished Max was here. No hope there, though. No hope at all.

‘Shut the door,’ she told Jeanette, and Jeanette read her look correctly and quickly obeyed.

But then Annie thought about that and wondered if she was shutting the baddies out, or shutting them in , because they could already be here, wasn’t that a cold hard fact?

She thought of the quiet way they had moved Jonjo out of the pool, when she and Jeanette had been right here in the finca , and they hadn’t heard a thing. Four men, wasn’t that what Jeanette had said?

Four men wearing masks.

Four dangerous, deadly men. They could be in here right now, ready to spring out and do damage.

‘They’re not going to ring back,’ said Jeanette, shaking her head in rising hysteria. She was clutching herself and shivering.

Thank Christ, Jeanette hadn’t yet considered they could be shut in here with a clutch of murderers. That would really make her flip.

‘They’ll ring back,’ said Annie, although she also doubted it. ‘They’ve got a bargaining tool. They’ve got Layla. And maybe they were watching us when we went in to find Inez and Rufio. They’ll know where we were and that it was a legitimate delay.’

Legitimate , thought Annie. She was talking as though they were dealing with reasonable people here. Not people who would shoot a man between the eyes, push another off a cliff, snatch a child away from its parents, torture a harmless, good-natured woman like Inez in front of her horrified husband’s eyes.

She bit her lip, folded her arms around herself and watched the phone. Along the hallway, the kitchen door was ajar and she could see in there too. It appeared to be empty. She straightened and moved toward it.

‘Where are you going?’ Jeanette almost shrieked. She was clearly terrified of being left alone.

‘Hush,’ said Annie, and walked on silent feet along the hallway. Jeanette came mincing and clattering along behind her. Annie stopped and turned and looked at Jeanette.

‘For the last time, take off those fucking shoes,’ she hissed at the girl.

Jeanette quickly kicked off the heels. Annie proceeded into the kitchen. Empty. Silent. Cool and almost dark. There was the larder, though. Big enough for a man to hide in, easily. Annie crossed to the drawer by the sink and pulled out the two large sharp knives she knew were in there. None were missing, and that was good. That was very good.

She handed one of the knives to Jeanette.

‘Keep it ready,’ she said.

‘Jesus,’ moaned Jeanette, but she took the knife anyway.

Annie held a knife in one hand and the gun in the other and went over to the larder. She nodded to Jeanette to stand aside, then flung the door wide.

Nothing.

Annie leaned against the door and got her breath back. The kitchen was clear. She rechecked the back door lock and the shutters at the tiny window. Left the larder door wide open, so if anyone got in there she’d know about it. Then she ushered Jeanette out of the kitchen and back into the hallway.

‘Have you ever used a gun?’ Annie asked Jeanette.

Jeanette shook her head, no. She was pale and sweating.

She’s cracking up , thought Annie. She’s taken nearly as much as she can take, and she’s gonna blow.

‘When that phone rings again, I’m going to answer it and you are going to watch our backs with this.’ Annie handed her the gun. It was easier to shoot someone than to knife them. Easier and much more effective, and hey! You could do it at a distance. Triple benefits, no less.

When Annie found herself thinking this way she wondered if she was becoming hysterical too.

‘No,’ said Jeanette numbly. ‘I can’t do it.’

‘Oh yes you can. Think of what they’ve just done here. Now hold it steady. That’s it. Never point it at me or at your foot or anything bloody mad like that, you got that? That’s a hair trigger, it’ll go off at the merest pressure. We’ve checked this end and the kitchen’s clear. So all we have to watch is the doors off this end of the hall, and the main door. If anyone opens that main door, or any of the other doors, don’t hesitate. Just shoot. Aim for the torso.’

The torso was the biggest and the safest target, that was what Max had always said.

Jeanette was gazing in dumb horror at the gun in one hand, the knife in the other.

Annie grabbed her arm and gave her a little shake.

‘Come on , Jeanette. You want to get out of this, I need your help. Okay?’

No answer.

Annie gave her another little shake. ‘Come on, Jeanette. We can do this. Okay?’

This time Jeanette took a gulp and nodded.

‘Good girl.’

The phone started ringing again and Jeanette dropped the gun. The shot was deafening in the enclosed hallway and a bullet thudded into the wall, throwing up a spray of plaster dust.

Nerves jangling, Annie snatched up the phone. ‘Hello?’

She looked at Jeanette, who was whimpering and wailing and bending to pick up the gun as if it was going to bite her. As Jeanette straightened, Annie mouthed, Shut up you fucking idiot at her. Jeanette fell silent.

‘You missed my call.’ It was the same voice, unmistakably Irish and low and menacing.

‘I didn’t mean to,’ said Annie, trying to place the accent. Definitely Southern , she thought.

‘If it ever happens again, the girl will pay.’

Annie swallowed hard. ‘It won’t happen again.’

‘She’s a pretty little girl.’

Annie was silent.

‘A pretty little dark-haired girl.’

Annie said nothing.

‘You haven’t asked the question yet,’ said the voice.

‘What question?’

‘You have to ask “What do you want?”’ he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice; he was enjoying himself here. ‘You asked it last time, not this. What’s changed?’

‘All right,’ said Annie. ‘What do you want?’

‘It’s too early to say.’

He was playing with her. This was a game.

‘Money? I can get it.’

Could she? She wasn’t sure how much Max kept here, but she knew it would be little more than small change. She’d never had to think about money: Max took care of all that. There was no safe here, no cashbox. She felt a shiver of apprehension crawl up her spine.

‘I have jewellery,’ she said hurriedly when he didn’t reply. ‘Expensive jewellery. You can have it.’

Now he was laughing, the bastard. Was he the one who had done that to Inez, to poor harmless Rufio?

‘Check your jewellery case, you’ll find I’ve already got it.’

Christ! Annie looked at Jeanette and nodded at the gun. Her eyes said, Keep watch. Like your life depended on it.

They’d been inside the finca , probably when she and Jeanette were up finding that horror in the smaller building. Annie watched Jeanette. The hand holding the gun was shaking and she had tucked the knife into her waistband. She was eyeing the outside door as if a troop of marauders were about to burst through it.

And maybe they were.

‘So I’m asking the question,’ said Annie. ‘What is it that you want?’

‘Maybe more than you can deliver,’ he said.

‘Anything’s possible. All you have to do is ask.’ Annie’s brain was spinning, but she took a deep breath and said it. He wouldn’t like it, but what could she do? ‘Listen, there’s no money here.’

‘Don’t kid around with me, sweetheart, I don’t like it.’