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FORTY-FIVE

There was a lot to take in. Too much to absorb when just stood still. So Steph walked. Her heart still hadn’t got the message that her legs had stopped pumping, and the air hurt her tired throat with every inhale. Where was she walking? She didn’t know. There was just some innate part of her that knew she must walk. She was dimly aware that Ashley was trailing behind her, his own heavy breathing even more clearly audible than hers. It didn’t bother her that he was following. She assumed he would follow. She was not sure that her being a hostage was really still a lucrative option for him if she was one. Either way, she didn’t care as long as he was quiet. She needed to walk. She needed to think.

Something had snapped within her. She wasn’t broken – there was nothing that dramatic going on – but something had definitely shifted. An understanding. An expectation. An assurance that she thought she had was now gone. When had it happened? Had she noticed it before? Was it when she saw Michael bleeding to death with a bullet in his guts? Stumbling on the tattered human remains of Fergus? Kelvin throwing her life away for that of his own interest? Davey sacrificing himself for… for what?

“Where are we going?”

Steph ignored the voice.

“Hey!”

A hand on Steph’s arm tried to stop her. She wrenched it free and continued walking.

“We need to come up with a plan!”

“We?” Steph shrieked, surprising even herself as she spun around to face Ashley. “What the hell do you meanwe? There is no fuckingwe! If you’ve forgotten, you just had a knife at mythroat negotiating for some bloody car keys!”

She stalked off once more. Behind her, she could hear Ashley’s heavy footsteps.

“Look, whatever was going on, we still need to talk. You knew the situation. You pretended that you didn’t, but you knew. We all just acted in the circumstances as it was. It was business. Business for you; business for me.”

Steph snorted.

“Business? What the hell do you even mean by that? It literally doesn’t mean anything. People are dying! How was this business? Even if by some twisted grasp on things you thought it was business for you, how was it for me? What business was I getting from all this?”

“Book sales,” Ashley shrugged.

The next barrage of words suddenly caught in Ashley’s throat.

“Excuse me?”

“Hanging around longer would make for good material, I’d guess,” Ashley said, looking around and unslinging the rifle from his back.

“How do you…?”

“It’s my job to know,” Ashley replied, checking the rifle.

Ashley’s words were as sobering to Steph as they were shocking. They raised questions. Questions that distracted her from feeling sorry for herself.

“Who do you work for?” she asked, her hand dropping to the hilt of her knife as she pretended to tie her laces.

“That’s not important,” Ashley replied, a practicality returning to his voice. Steph could see that he had sensed his in and was going to be efficient with his words.

“Look, despite appearances, I have nothing against you. Here is the situation and it is nothing you do not already know. I was hired with Baz to collect sample specimens for my employer. Michael was working on the inside looking for a quick payday.Personally, I thought the man was a rat and couldn’t be trusted, but it was Baz who shot him, not me. He tried to be smart; thought he was owed more than he was. Our boss was quite clear on the cost of his previous blunder.”

There was a slight pause. Steph wondered whether Ashley knew about the boy who had paid the price for the blunder; the family that were still paying the price.

“Anyway, the point is that we were to collect samples as and when the opportunities arose. If it was just the lion, then it was just the lion. However, we saw an opportunity for the bear and then you came along. Maybe we were a bit blinded by previous bad feelings with Kelvin, but we allowed you to take us into what we assumed was at least a half opportunity. I thought it was anyway. Goodness knows what was going through Baz’s head, poor man.”

“What was the previous business… with Kelvin?”

Ashley wrinkled his nose for a brief moment. Then he sighed. “All you need to know is that it was a rather well-preserved specimen from Siberia.”

“Of what?”

Again, Ashley paused before saying, “That’s for me to know.”

“How well preserved?” Steph asked, her investigatory habits kicking in.