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“I really don’t know!” Steph panted, trying to subdue the sobs. “I promise, I don’t know. They didn’t tell me!”

“But you were happy to lead us here, weren’t you? Happy to bring us here for your friends to smash our heads in!”

“I didn’t know the plan, I swear! I thought they were just going to knock you out or… or tranquillize you or… I swear on my life!”

“Well, your life isn’t worth much right now, is it?” the man snarled.

“Put her down, Ashley!”

Both Steph and who she assumed was Ashley snapped their head in the direction of the voice. From the right of the cave, carefully edging down a sharp slope, came Kelvin followed by Martina. Ashley eased the pressure of the blade a touch but didn’t remove it from Steph’s neck.

Kelvin made sure to stop a short distance from the pair. Steph appreciated a ten-yard gap would allow him some sort ofcomfort. Even so, he had what looked like Davey’s revolver held loosely in his right hand, just to be sure.

“I should have known you two might resurface at some point,” Kelvin said in a bored sort of voice.

Steph could sense Ashley’s body tense.

“You killed Baz!” snarled Ashley, rather pathetically.

“You killed Michael,” Kelvin shrugged.

“He was going behind your back.”

“Still my man though. If anyone had a right to kill him, it was me!”

There was a small pause as Ashley assessed the situation.

“In fairness, you had this coming after what you did,” Ashley said, flicking his eyes left and right.

“Fairness?” Kelvin scoffed. “You andBazwere paid the amount agreed upon in the contract you signed. It is the definition of fair!”

“We didn’t know the market value of what we were dealing with!”

“Not my fault,” Kelvin shrugged again.

“Not that you seem to have been able to make use of it,” Ashley replied with an undertone of satisfaction.

Kelvin’s eyes flashed. He opened his mouth, but the words snagged in his throat as a new thought crossed his mind. His expression changed and his body eased.

“Yet,” he replied. Both he and Martina began to move in their direction whilst keeping their distance as if they meant to go around. This put Ashley on edge even more, spinning his head in the direction they were heading before turning the other way to look over his shoulder. Steph felt the knife ease in the distraction. She considered whether she should pull her own knife out of the sheath on her ankle. No. She wouldn’t have it halfway out before she felt Ashley’s blade warming her with her own blood.

Perhaps sensing Steph’s thoughts, Ashley raised his knife once more and began pulling Steph in the direction of the slope.

“I guess we have no more to say to each other then, for now,” he said to Kelvin, clearly disturbed by his heading towards the slope.

“Oh, I’m not completely sure about that,” Kelvin said. Ashley stopped guiding Steph towards the lip of the plateau but said nothing. “For one thing, I am very interested in where you are going.”

“What do you mean?”

“With Steph, I mean. Well, in general really.”

“What do you mean ‘in general’? I’m not an idiot. I know you’ll have someone waiting for me somewhere. The moment I let her go, I’m gone. I know you never did Baz in; you don’t have the stomach for it. Besides, you don’t like to get your dainty hands dirty!”

Kelvin laughed, the revolver still loose in his hand. Martina, Steph noticed, was less at ease. Much like Ashley, she continued to flick her eyes in numerous directions.

“Even so, could you tell me exactly where you’re taking her?” Kelvin asked.

“Let’s not play more games here than we need to. You know where I’m taking her.”