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

the drive. She heard his heavy breathing and clomping feet as he raced towards her. Then his sweaty hand was around her wrist, tugging her.

Abbie didn't resist. She spun into his pull and came towards him as though they were dancing.

"You're working with them," Ndidi said, the fear growing as he held Abbie tighter. "A tricked me."

Abbie shook her head. "Quite the opposite. I told you already I know who kidnapped your daughter. His name is Orion Becker, not A, and more than anything, he loves to cause heartbreak and misery. If you do what he says, he'll bring you to him. When you arrive, he'll murder Isabella in front of you, laugh over your tears and desperation, then put a bullet in your head. That's what happens if you do things your way."

Ndidi was shaking his head. Abbie didn't know if he was listening.

"You have no idea. If A brings me anywhere near my daughter, I'll save her. I'll do whatever it takes. No force on this Earth will stop me protecting my Isabella."

"Like you protected your wife?"

Ndidi's hand slipped from Abbie's wrist, and the detective stumbled back as though Abbie had punched him.

A punch would have been better. A fist hurt, but Abbie's words had been a knife in his gut, twisting, pushing, tearing.

"I'm sorry," she said. "That was a despicable thing to say, but you must understand the situation. I know you have the will and determination to do whatever it takes to save your daughter, and that's an asset. But it can only take you so far. I promise if you don't avail yourself of my help, you and your daughter will both die."

"I don't want your help," said Ndidi, without considering her proposition. His anger and fear were stealing his ability to think clearly.

"I thought you might feel that way," said Abbie. "That's why we took the decision out of your hands. You're welcome."

"Fuck you. You don't care about my daughter."

"Wrong. I don't care about Isabella as much as you do because no one could, but I do care. I’d give my life to save hers. You have my word."

Ndidi was breathing heavily. He was staring at Abbie. Still, she stood in the glow of the security light and maybe he could see the sincerity in her eyes. Perhaps he simply realised he could not force Abbie to change her mind. She'd pulled the rug from beneath him and with it taken all the choices he'd thought he had. She was in control.

"You have the woman?" he said. "The one from my boot."

Abbie nodded. "I've a car a couple of minutes walk down the road. Come with me, I'll take you to her. I promise."

Ndidi considered. His mind was racing, he still wanted to discover a way to reclaim control of the situation, but there wasn't one. He wasn't going to talk to his fellow police officers, so he either had to work with Abbie or force her to call her allies back. He was no idiot. The latter option was obviously not going to happen.

“Fine. Let’s go.” He started towards her. She looked him and down. Raised her eyebrows. “What?”

“It’s cold. You don’t want a coat?”

He looked down himself, then back at her. “I didn’t think you’d want to wait.”

Nodding, Abbie gestured to his door. "I will, if you don’t want to freeze to death. Up to you.”

There was a pause, then Ndidi nodded and about turned. He was thirty seconds. Leaving his house, he slammed the door and rushed down the drive. He glanced at his car with his still open boot. Abbie could see what he was thinking.

"We'll take my car," she said, although her car was actually Ana's car. Ana and their new captive had returned to the flat in Christine's Ford. "Come on."

She made to turn again, but he grabbed her once more.

"I don't have a choice, right now, but to try and do things your way. But I warn you, if anything happens to my daughter because of this, I'll kill you. Do you understand?"

Abbie looked into Ndidi's eyes.

"I believe you'll try. And if Isabella does die because of my actions, guilt will consume me, and I might even let you. But for now, let's think positive thoughts, shall we?"

Coat in hand, they made their way along the darkened, quiet street towards where Abbie had parked Ana’s car.

Even in the darkness, Abbie could see the way Ndidi’s fingers twisted around each other, the way he kept looking over his shoulder, left and right. Naturally, he was afraid, and his fear seemed to spiral further out of control with every step. Abbie understood it. By following Becker’s rules, Ndidi had allowed himself to believe he had a degree of control. So long as he did as he was told, he would get back his daughter. Safe. He might not have liked some of the things Becker asked of him, but he could put up with it so long as it offered a clear road map to Isabella.

The problem was, Ndidi had never had the kind of control he believed. Orion Becker had played him from the beginning. Following Becker’s rules wouldn’t guarantee a happy ending. Quite the opposite.

There were no stars in the sky or didn’t seem to be. The moon looked like a torch that was fast running out of batteries. Dim. You got the impression it could go out at any moment. Abbie didn’t mind the dark. Liked it at times. Often she would take strolls in the dead of night. The darkness could offer a level of peace never found in the glare of the sun.

Then again, her first encounter with the Becker’s happened as a result of such a stroll.

The darkness pressed on Ndidi like a weight and wrapped around his lungs like an internal snake. The way he lumbered along, it was as though that weight might crush him at any second.

There was only one way to release the pressure.

“The man I’ve been speaking with