Miss No One Mark Ayre (children's books read aloud TXT) 📖

to him. Reaching over the gate, she encouraged him with a gentle touch and further protective words.

"I know you're scared," she said again. "But you have to remember you've done the right thing. You want to save a little girl, as you should. Whether we find her or not, you can feel pleased that you're a good guy. A great guy. Now, can you answer my question? What's beyond the building at the edge of the property where you met this mysterious man?"

Abbie's compliments had led Gary into embarrassment. His cheeks had flushed, and he had looked even more wretched than before. Her question gave him something on which to focus, and for this, he looked relieved. Thinking about Ben, Abbie wondered if it was truly worth pushing on with her present course of action.

"Beyond the block where we met is a field," Gary said. "Big. At the end of the field is a line of trees. I don't know if you can get off the school grounds that way."

Abbie turned, put her hand to her brow and looked in the direction of the field and this line of trees. Though she couldn't see either, she guessed the cars and the people she had earlier heard could not be far beyond these trees.

"I've no doubt," she said, "that you can get off the school grounds and back to civilisation that way. If the police arrive, they might try to surround the school, but mostly they'll come from the front. That line of trees will be Orion's escape route if things go wrong. If he's here, that is."

"What if he's not?" Gary asked. The question sounded desperate, possibly hopeful, so Abbie patted the teenager on the shoulder.

"I've already told you, you've done the right thing. If we don't find Isabella today, you must not feel guilty. It is the intention that matters. Don't focus on the outcome, but on the fact you did the right thing. Because you did."

She turned, preparing to move through the school, then stopped and turned back.

"Before we go on, remember this: it's never too late to make a change to your life. You're not too far down any road that you can't turn back. If you're driving towards darkness, note, you always have enough petrol to do a U-turn and return to the light. Understand?"

"I think so."

Abbie nodded and thought of Ana. Did Abbie honestly believe what she said? Did Ana have enough petrol to escape the darkness of what she'd done? Or almost done. That evil intention.

Now was very much not the time for that internal discussion.

"Come on," she said to Gary. "Keep about a metre behind. Do exactly as I say, and run like hell if someone shoots me in the head."

This statement probably unnerved Gary, but Abbie didn't look back to check. She only knew it didn't concern him enough to prevent him following as she made her way deeper into the school grounds.

They passed the first building on the left without issue. After that, the duo came to the line of windows on the right. With the courts on Abbie's other side, she tilted towards those windows, searching for the slightest movement while trying to keep an eye on the building at the end.

No one fired. Abbie saw no movement, and they made it unscathed to the building at the end of the walk. Here, they could turn left or right. Abbie looked to Gary, who pointed left.

A few steps on, and they turned right. Straight ahead was a grey building, low and unassuming, with double doors leading into a corridor. Before they reached that, they had to pass a long red-building to their left and a white building on the right. The building on the left appeared to be a canteen; on the right, more classrooms.

Gary pointed to the end. "Once we reach that grey building, we turn. There's another red building immediately to the right. That's the one."

"Excellent," said Abbie. "Are you excited?"

"No."

"Good. A little girl's life is on the line. Excitement would be in poor taste, don't you think?"

Gary didn't answer, which was fair enough. He was the sort of person who tensed up and fell silent when he was nervous or afraid. As Abbie was proving, she was a babbler.

Abbie was not particularly afraid. She was undoubtedly nervous. The closer they grew to the building, the more Abbie considered failure. She hoped to find Isabella in the block ahead, wanting this to be over.

It wouldn't be, though. This was not Abbie's first rodeo. On waking from a prophetic dream, Abbie entered a two-day window of danger. If Abbie saved Isabella from kidnappers today, it only meant more and probably greater crisis was on its way, set to arrive sometime tomorrow.

But at least the child would be at Abbie's side.

That was why calling the police didn't come into consideration. If the cops swooped in and saved Isabella, Abbie wouldn't get near the little girl.

Unfair as it was, Abbie had developed the belief she could trust no one but herself. Maybe this was changing, with Alice, who Abbie had phoned about a lawyer, and Bobby, who shared her bed. But for now, it pretty much remained the case. The police might save Isabella from her kidnappers, but Abbie didn't trust them to keep the girl safe thereafter.

Burdened by the fear of failure but content in her decision to go it alone, Abbie made her way between the cafeteria and classrooms. It was trickier to keep an eye on all the windows with two buildings to watch, but she did her best. Gary stayed a metre behind, as before. If Abbie had spied the smallest movement behind the windows, she would have told him to run.

But she didn't.

As she moved past the end of the classrooms on the right, Abbie twisted, now raising her gun, pointing it to the block next along from the little grey building.

Gary had been right. Between the grey building and the red at its side, Abbie