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“Steph, would you be so kind as to go and notify Martina that…”

“I said, transport it where?”

Kelvin turned to face Thomas.

“That is none of your concern. In fact, I would rather you go and wait inside the house as you are interfering with matters.”

Kelvin tried to turn back to Steph again, but Thomas’s hand pulled him around by the shoulder.

“That thing is completely my concern!” Thomas snapped, his voice raising a couple of decibels. “We have been out there living amongst the animals and this thing and that oversized monster that you call a bear! Now, I want to know why you’d risk our safety over its life?”

Steph caught Michael’s eye. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

“I think you will find,” Kelvin said, his voice gaining a steely edge, “That if you check your contract, it is none of your business once inside this fencing!”

Kelvin swept an arm around the fencing that marked the house boundary.

“I don’t give a damn about your contract!” Thomas shouted. Steph noticed that Calum, on the other hand, still did, as he edged towards the front door of the house.

“Oh, but you should!” Kelvin sneered. “For you see, if you do not adhere to what we contractually agreed, not only will you be out of pocket, but I shall ensure my lawyers do to you what Charles II had done to the men who killed his father – in a legal sense… obviously.”

Calum was at the door now. Steph got it. She was not sure what a court equivalent to being hung, drawn and quartered was, but she doubted either Thomas or Calum could afford the lawyers to prevent it.

Thomas, all sense having floated off with the breeze, pushedKelvin hard in the chest. Somewhat surprised, Kelvin stumbled back. Michael moved forward to catch him, but Kelvin steadied himself and then thrust an arm out to stop any potential aid from Michael. He then inhaled deeply through his nose and rolled up his sleeves on the exhale.

“What the fuck do you think you can do to me?” sneered Thomas, moving forward once more. “You jumped-up tech-nerd prick! Having lots of money doesn’t make you any less of a slithering piece of shit who…”

Thomas bent double as Kelvin’s fist buried itself deep within his stomach. Steph winced. In the background, she noted how Calum had the door open. He clearly wanted to distance himself from his associate. Perhaps his need for the money was more desperate.

Kelvin stood back to let Thomas gain his breath and stand up.

“Sorry, I interrupted you…”

Thomas’s face contorted. It was clear that this was going to get out of hand. He tried to gather himself to his full height. It shamed Steph to admit part of her was somewhat curious as to who would win out of the two men. Even so, a larger part of her felt she should do what was morally right.

As Thomas stepped forward, Steph made to get in the way. However, something stopped her. It not only stopped her, it yanked her back. She turned to see Michael’s outstretched arm. She was becoming sick of this. It was not the eighteen-hundreds. She could not be manhandled every two seconds.

She looked Michael in the face ready to give him a piece of her mind. His expression stopped her.

His pulling of her arm turned into a dragging, his eyes fixed firmly over her shoulder. She allowed herself to be dragged, moving her feet to match the direction of Michael’s desperation. She turned her head over her shoulder which very nearly threw her balance. Her stomach fell.

Kelvin was just turning himself as Steph looked over. His expression was one of panic. Thomas’s was clear enough too. One of scorn. One of disgust. One of petty triumph as his foe ran off.

Why hadn’t the lion been tied down? Why was it free to move?

Steph didn’t think she would ever forget that moment. It etched itself on her memory more like a photograph than a moving picture. Time slowed down to an almost still image. And yet, there was movement. The way Thomas’s glare contrasted with the danger behind him with muscles silently screaming to be allowed to snap. The speed at which Thomas’s expression changed as heavy paws caressed his shoulders and lethal jaws fitted themselves around the back of his neck. That was all Steph saw. She had the sense to turn and run after that. The rest of the memory was all noise. Low focused growls intermingled with high-pitched guttural screams. In the middle of it, Steph was sure that she heard the slamming of a door.

More happened in the moments that followed. They must have done. However, the next thing Steph was conscious of was that she was no longer in the vicinity of the house. Both she and Michael were very much outside the fencing, in amongst the trees and running. There were footsteps behind her. She dared not look back, but Michael did.

“Come on!”

They ran. Steph’s muscles clawed at her for mercy but she would not rest. She could not. She didn’t know how. It was as if her brain had got itself stuck in a single command loop. The message ‘run’ was all that was getting through. It was only when Michael finally shouted at her to stop that awareness kicked in.

She turned around. She had not really noticed that she had put any distance between herself and Michael, but there it was. A figure running out from behind a tree just ahead of Michael made her start, but it was only Kelvin who came to a stumblingstop and put his hands on his knees, panting loudly, matching Michael.

Steph controlled her breathing and put a finger to her lips as she stared back in the direction of the house. At least, she thought it was the direction of the house. Through the trees and the preceding chaos it was hard to tell.

The other two kept their hands on their knees but turned their heads in the same direction, working harder to keep their own breathing quiet. They all listened. Nothing. There was only silence. That was a dangerous sign in itself.