Ryan opened the boot and got out a sawn-off shotgun, for Billy, and a bag of tools. Paul went empty-handed, and on Billy’s instructions stayed back a bit, letting Ryan and Billy approach the cottage first. The sun had come up, it was almost six thirty. Looking around, Billy could see that the next house was a few hundred meters away, down the lane; checking there was no one else around, they made their way down the track towards the cottage.
Ryan put his hand on the back door handle and was surprised to find it opened; he wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on but this seemed a little too easy. He didn’t want to call Kate’s name in case it was a trap, he wanted to give the place a once-over first. Signalling to Billy and Paul to follow him, they tiptoed through the kitchen. Looking around, it looked like any normal person’s kitchen, there was nothing unusual and there was no sign of Kate.
Glancing into the next room, Ryan did a double take; he could hardly fucking believe it. Jay Shaw was sleeping like a fucking baby on the sofa in front of him. Nodding at Billy to grab his attention, he gestured him over with his hand and pointed over to where Jay was lying. Billy was gobsmacked; it didn’t make sense; why would Jay send that text and then go to sleep? The realisation hit him like a brick. Tanya. He should have known, of course she was involved; she was probably the mastermind. This was her style. Fucking hell what had he ever seen in her? That piece of shit, Jay, had been well and truly set up and was now lying there snoring, probably dreaming of spending Billy’s money; that mug had not an inkling of what was going on.
As the three men tiptoed into the room and crowded around Jay, he had no idea that his sweet dreams were just about to turn into his worst fucking nightmare. Rubbing the end of the sawn-off shot gun against the tip of his nose, Jay brushed it away, and carried on sleeping. Feeling something rub his nose, Jay put a hand up to itch it and opened his eyes. Billy, Ryan and Paul stared down at him.
“What the fuck?” His whole body jumped so high it nearly hit the ceiling, and he looked like he was actually going to shit himself.
“This is your early morning wakeup call,” snarled Billy as he brought the barrel of the gun down hard on his head. Panicked, Paul looked at Billy’s angry face, the veins were popping out on the side of his head, and he was probably using just about every ounce of willpower he possessed not to shoot the man who was now lying sparked out.
“Do you think that was wise? We don’t even know where Kate is,” Paul said.
“Wise….? I could have blown the cunt’s fucking face off. It was only a tap on the head, he’ll come round in no time, and he looked like he could do with a few extra minutes of shut eye. Shame to disturb his beauty sleep,” Billy said.
He told Ryan to stay with Jay, he would look upstairs and Paul would go to the cellar. The cottage was the size of a shoebox so he figured it would take them all of five seconds to see if she was here.
Paul tiptoed down a flight of stairs that seemed to lead to a cellar. He opened the door, terrified that he might find something that he didn’t want to see. It was cold and damp and the room was dim. In the corner was a mattress, and as he walked towards it, he saw a figure on it, looking as if they were asleep. Kate. Bending down, he could see that her hands and feet were bound with tape. She looked like a mistreated animal on an RSPCA advert. He felt relief as he saw her stir, she looked gaunt and dirty but she was still his beautiful Kate.
“Kate,” he whispered, as he stroked her fringe out of her eyes. Slowly waking up and hoping that she wasn’t still dreaming, she looked straight into his concerned face.
“Paul, oh my God it’s really you, thank God you’re here, where’s my brother? Where are Jay and Tanya?” She had a million questions to ask. Because she was weak and her mouth was dry, she sounded quiet and raspy. He picked up a bottle of water that had been left just out her reach, opened it and poured it into her mouth. She gulped it down as if her life depended on it.
“Billy’s here, he’s just upstairs, you’re okay, Kate, you’re going to be okay.” He was undoing the tape around her feet; they had been bound so tightly that the skin was red and puffy where the tape had cut into her. As Paul was undoing her hands, Kate’s brother rushed towards her.
“Billy, I knew you would find me.” Tears were rolling down her cheeks, throughout her whole time here she had never once been in doubt that he would come, and he hadn’t let her down. He never had, and he never would.
Hugging her to him now, he asked her:
“Are you okay, he didn’t do anything to you, did he?” She shook her head, and the two men in front of her sighed with relief. She was really okay. Paul and Billy helped her to her feet, she was weak and exhausted.
First things first, Billy wanted to get her home and looked after her; she needed a nice hot bath, decent grub and a warm bed. Then, he was going to come back and deal with Jay for the very last time.
50
Sonia was in her element: she had just made the biggest cooked breakfast known to mankind, and there had been more than enough food to feed an entire army had she needed to. It had gone down very well, judging by the content faces that were sitting around the small kitchen table. She had been over the moon when Emma had called early this morning to say that Kate had been found and Billy and Paul were on their way to the house; Sonia had quickly stuffed her bag with everything she could find in her fridge so she could make Kate and the lads something decent to eat. Always the mother hen was Sonia, she had quickly made her way over to the flat so that she could be there when Kate arrived back.
Sonia had been worried sick about the poor girl, and of course she had the whole guilt thing going on, too: Jay was her son, after all, her blood, and she felt responsible for him in some way. The manner in which he had turned out sickened her; she regretted, deeply, leaving him in Den’s hands all those years ago. The damage that man had caused, God only knew. Jay was like his father in every single way: selfish, cruel and motivated by money. He, like his father, would step over anyone who got in his way, no matter what the cost. She would never, as long as she lived, speak to him again. He was dead to her. As far as she was concerned, she didn’t have a son, but she did have a beautiful daughter now: Kate, who she loved like her own. She had practically run around here, and she had smiled when Emma had opened the door and quipped,
“Fuck me, what did you do, Son, get Richard Branson to fly you around?” She had been driving Emma mad these last few days, constantly texting to see if any of them had news. Emma knew the woman was as worried sick as the rest of them, and now they had the best news: Kate was safe and sound and, more importantly, she was coming home.
It had been an emotional reunion, to say the least; Paul had walked in with Kate leaning against him, steadying her while she walked; she had looked as if the life had been sucked out of her. She had lost weight and she had hardly any energy left in her at all. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her skin was grey, no doubt from not having fresh air or proper food all week. There had been tears cried by them all. Mostly now, though, they were tears of joy and relief at her safe return.
Kate was so glad to be back: the last few days had been a living hell, and she wasn’t sure in the end what Jay and Tanya would have been capable of, especially Tanya, that woman was mad. Kate had seen genuine hate radiate from her, and she could admit now that she had been very frightened. Jay was a weak and pathetic man, she could see that now; she had known from the start that it was Tanya who was the one to worry about, Jay was just her little puppet, Kate hadn’t been worried about him at all. Tanya had really lost it, though, she had appeared unhinged with had a few screws loose, and that had scared Kate, Tanya was capable of just about anything.