Page 43 of The Secret Librarian

Chapter Twenty-Two

Avery

Avery edged backwards until her shoulders touched the wall. William had known the moment he’d walked into the room, his eyes flashing with recognition, like a wolf cornering its prey.

He reached behind him and pushed the door shut, and Avery tried to count how many steps it would be if she ran to the bathroom. But William was tall, and she imagined he was fast, and even if he didn’t manage to intercept her, he’d surely grab hold of the door and stop her from slamming it shut.

Her heart was pounding, her fingers reaching behind her for something, anything , that she might use to protect herself, but all she had was the coat-hanger, and she doubted that was going to do her any good against a man considerably bigger than her.

‘Avery, Avery,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I never thought you were the kind of girl to snoop, otherwise I wouldn’t have left you in here alone. But you couldn’t help yourself, could you?’

‘I went to hang your jacket up,’ she said, hating the shake in her voice. ‘That’s all.’

‘But you had to take a look in the pocket, is that it?’

‘Why do you have Camille’s name on your list?’ she asked, deciding there was no point in pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about.

He edged closer, moving slowly, his eyes never leaving hers, and for the first time in her life, Avery understood fear.

She understood what it was to see her life flash before her eyes, to wonder if she was ever going to see her parents again; her sister, Jack.

All the things she wished she could say to them echoed through her mind.

You need to talk him down. Focus on calming him. Make him think you’re on his side. Don’t ask him anything.

‘William, you can trust me,’ she said. ‘The way I feel about you hasn’t changed, I just want to understand what I’m getting myself into, what you’re involved in. That’s all.’

His smile scared her, and she knew then that he wasn’t going to let her out of this room. The only way she was leaving was if she could find a way past him, to fight her way to the door, and if she’d been a betting woman, she wouldn’t have liked the odds.

‘William, please. Can we not sit down and talk about this like adults? Can we not just have a conversation?’

‘It didn’t have to be like this, Avery,’ he said, taking another step forward and placing the champagne bottle on the bedside table. ‘We could have been happy, you and I, but now I have to figure out what to do with the American girl who ruined everything.’

Anger flared inside of her, and she realised that if she had no chance of making it out there alive, then she wasn’t going to waste her last breaths trying to placate him.

‘I could never be happy with someone like you, William. The kind of weak, despicable man who would turn his back on his own country, who could have blood on his hands, and for what? Money? You make me sick.’

He laughed and started to clap, and she moved when he did, edging her way along the wall.

‘What a courageous speech. Bravo, Avery. Who would have thought you had that in you?’ His grin chilled her to the bone.

‘A weak man wouldn’t make a deal with the devil though,’ he said, his voice getting louder and louder until he was almost shouting.

‘A weak man wouldn’t be rolling in seized jewellery or have priceless French paintings being shipped to his house in London.

Do you hear me? Only a man with a backbone could do what I’ve done. Could get away with what I’ve done.’

Avery took her chance when he lunged forward, darting to the right, taking her further away from the bathroom but closer to the door of the room. She moved as quickly as she could, a scream lodged in her throat as William reached out to catch her.

He missed, tripping as he did so, but just when the door handle was almost within reach, he caught her around the ankle, his fingers closing tightly around the bone as she fell and hit the ground, landing hard on her hip.

William dragged her towards him as she clawed frantically at the ground, kicking as hard as she could and hearing a grunt from him that suggested at least one of her feet had connected.

But he was too strong for her, and his knee was on her thigh, digging into her flesh, his hands reaching for her throat.

‘No!’ she screamed, finding her voice, crying for help. ‘Get off me!’

But his hands found their target then as he straddled her, as she kicked and flailed and tried with everything she had to get away from him while he pressed so hard on her windpipe that she thought it would snap.

Do something! Fight harder! Make him stop!

The voice in Avery’s head became louder, and as he choked her she reached up and clawed at his eyes, stretching so far and so hard that it felt like her shoulders were going to pop from their sockets.

But she was not giving in this easily. He was not going to strangle her on the floor of his hotel room and get away with her murder and everything else he’d done.

Her nails connected with his eyes and his howl of pain gave her the strength she needed, and as his fingers loosened she kept on clawing, a wild cat fighting for her life.

Avery scratched and kicked, sinking her teeth into his arm when it came close enough.

And it was all she needed to get away, kicking hard at him when he lunged at her, scrambling on her hands and knees towards the door.

He caught her but she kept on kicking with all her might, knowing that if she didn’t get away this time, she might not have another chance.

She reached for the door, her fingers closing around the knob, and she turned and yanked it open, pulling herself up and falling into the hallway, landing hard and slamming her head against the opposite wall as he grabbed her.

She felt her body being pulled back into the room as she frantically tried to dig her nails into the wallpaper so he couldn’t get her in there again.

‘Let go!’ she screamed, fighting with everything she had as William hauled her into the room.

But as he pulled her, as Avery frantically looked up for help, screaming, she saw James running towards her.

‘Let go of her!’ James shouted.

William didn’t relent, and when she glanced at him, kicking as hard as she could, she didn’t see the man she’d only an hour earlier been sitting with in the hotel bar: charming, engaging and sophisticated.

The man who’d so easily convinced her to come upstairs with him.

Now, she saw a man with his hair sticking up and his eyes wide, his mouth pulled back into a sneer.

This man was fighting for his life as much as she was fighting for hers.

‘I said let go of her!’ James shouted again, as he grabbed hold of her arms.

But it wasn’t James who stopped William.

A gunshot echoed out, the noise so loud that Avery felt as if the bullet had whirred past her head.

It was a bang that reverberated through her and left her ear ringing, her jaw aching as she tried to move it up and down to clear her ear canal; as if she’d travelled up a mountain and it was blocked.

But it was the violent hold on her ankle disappearing that surprised her the most, then the feeling of James pulling her forward, tugging her to the safety of his arms, holding her against his chest.

Avery stared over his shoulder at Camille, who was standing, her arm raised, a pistol held steady in her hand, until her shoulders slumped as if she couldn’t believe what she’d done. Or perhaps she did know, and she was collapsing in relief. It was William she’d shot, and not James.

‘You bitch.’

Avery had just closed her eyes when she was yanked backwards, and she turned in horror to see William, blood soaking through the shoulder of his shirt, trying to pull her away from James.

She was flung to the floor when James shoved him, the two of them tumbling backwards into the hotel room, a blur of limbs as punches were thrown and they fought on the ground.

Avery scrambled back on her heels, palms to the floor, scooting close to Camille who had the pistol raised again. But Camille didn’t have a clear line of sight. If she fired, it would be anyone’s guess who she would shoot.

‘Camille, no,’ Avery cried.

But James was on the ground now. William was taller and bigger than him, and even with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, Avery knew there was a chance that he could kill James with his bare hands and then come for her again.

She wanted to run and scream for help, couldn’t stop wondering how no one had come out of their rooms, but it was mostly men staying here and she could only guess that they were downstairs in the bar.

Avery closed her eyes, too scared to watch, wrapping her arms around her knees and squeezing as hard as she could, trying to ignore the searing pain from where William had grabbed her.

The pain in her throat was even worse, on fire from when he’d tried to choke her, and she wondered if her voice would ever return to normal.

But then the pistol fired again. The noise was as loud as the first time, but it sounded different, as if it had been fired at close range. When Avery opened her eyes, she saw William had fallen, blood seeping through his shirt, but he wasn’t the only one bleeding.

Somehow, while Avery’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut, he’d turned the gun on Camille.

Camille was staggering towards her, her dress pooling with blood, her hands already red from pressing against her wound.

William’s eyes were open but vacant, as if they were made of glass, and James was lying on the ground, breathing heavily, a knife beside him.

‘Camille?’ Avery cried, forcing her legs to work as she launched herself forward to catch her, guiding her body to the ground.

‘Shot me,’ she whispered. ‘The bastard shot me.’

Avery placed Camille’s hand firmly over her wound, cradling her for a moment, easing her back so she could lean against the wall. Then she got up and raced over to James, just as he was getting up, his cheek bruised and his eye already swelling over.

‘James?’ she whispered, hovering over him. ‘Where are you hurt?’

‘I’m fine. You?’ He ran his eyes over her, as if to inspect every inch of her to make sure she was intact.

‘Go to her,’ he urged, his fingers against William’s neck.

Avery had to look away. She couldn’t stand to see William’s body like that, his eyes open, the blood pooling on the carpet beneath him. But she knew she had to have a stronger stomach for Camille – her friend’s life might depend on her being capable, and she had no intention of letting her down.

‘You saved my life back there,’ Avery whispered, scared to see how much blood was trickling through Camille’s fingers as she held her wound.

‘You would have done the same for me,’ Camille whispered back.

Avery didn’t know what to do. She crouched down, her hands fluttering, wanting to take care of her friend but not knowing how. She looked back to James and saw that he was now striding towards them, his face tense, set in a line that told her he was as worried as she was.

‘You need to get Camille out of here,’ James ordered, as he tore off his jacket and shirt, ripping it in half to tie it around her wound, stemming the blood flow. ‘Take her somewhere safe and do everything you can to stop her bleeding.’

Avery could only imagine how helpless she looked as she stared up at James, but he caught her hand in his and stared deep into her eyes.

‘I don’t have any medical training other than basic first aid,’ she said quietly, not wanting Camille to hear. ‘She needs to go to a hospital, she needs a doctor or at the very least a nurse who knows what she’s doing, but that person isn’t me.’

‘No hospital,’ Camille whispered.

Avery shook her head. ‘No, she needs a hospital. I don’t see that it’s a choice!’

‘Hospital means questions, and I’m guessing you’re here on false papers?’ James asked, looking past Avery to Camille. ‘She’ll be arrested if we’re not careful, we all could be, and you’re more capable than you’re giving yourself credit for.’

Camille nodded, then groaned as she writhed on the spot, her hands still pressed against her side as Avery watched, feeling more helpless than she ever had in her life.

‘Your job is to stop the bleeding, make sure she’s warm and keep her fluids up,’ James instructed.

‘I can’t do this without you, James. You need to help me, to—’

‘I have to clean up here, Avery. There are going to be questions, and if I don’t stay here and deal with the mess, the PVDE will be searching for all three of us and charging us with murder,’ James said.

‘You need to get her out of here before anyone sees you, and leave the rest to me. I’ll be there to help just as soon as I can, but you can do this. I believe in you.’

He went into William’s hotel room then, stepping over the body and emerging with a coat.

‘Put this over her so no one sees the blood, and take her to the bookshop. Do you hear me?’

Avery swallowed, tears burning her eyes as James hauled Camille to her feet, and Avery put her arm around her friend to support her weight.

‘I’ll help you get her into the elevator, then it’s over to you.’

She nodded, keeping a hold around Camille’s waist, knowing that she’d find the strength to carry her if she had to, to get her to safety. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, she just had no idea if she’d be able to save her.

Camille wobbled to the elevator, her feet dragging. James took most of her weight, pressing the button then standing back, his eyes meeting Avery’s.

‘You can do this, Avery. You’re all she’s got. Now go.’