Ruin of Adventure

Part 2

 

The Landrover had darkened windows so that it was difficult for people to see in, but Philip and the others could still see out. The Landrover sped up and as they drew near the station again, Jack, who was sitting next to the window, tried to see where they were going, but the trees by the road whipped past so quickly he couldn't tell.

Philip started to talk amiably to Lucy-Ann and Dinah, to keep their spirits up, but one of the men in front whirled round angrily.

"You lot keep quiet!" he growled. The children nodded and remained silent. The man turned back round and muttered something to his friend. The others looked at each other and Philip gave his shoulders a little shrug to tell the others he didn't know what the men had said.

 

They carried on in silence for another half an hour, not wanting to upset the men in any way. Even Kiki seemed to know there was something wrong, as she didn't try making any of her noises, but stayed quiet hidden inside Jacks jumper. Every time they stopped at a set of traffic lights Philip wondered if it was worth trying to open the door and jump out. However he knew it would never work and didn't tell the others of his thoughts. They were just travelling along the motorway when they heard a groan coming from the boot, followed by a couple of moans and the sound of someone trying to move about.

"Bill's waking up," said Lucy-Ann and they all looked round in the direction of the boot.

"Bill, Bill are you alright?" called Philip and Bill gave what sounded like a kick from the boot.

"Shut up!" said one of the men. Philip ignored him and called back to Bill. "Don't worry Bill, we're all here and all alright."

"I said SHUT UP!" yelled the man producing a revolver and pointing it menacingly at Philip. Philip opened his mouth to say something in return but seeing Lucy-Ann and Dinah's scared faces he thought better of it and fell silent. "Now if you do not remain silent, you will have to be dumped somewhere, and I doubt you will be found in a very long time. So sit still and SHUT UP."

"Silly Billy, Sil-" said Kiki, but Jack tapped her on the beak and she stopped as the man in the front turned round again annoyed, they didn't know about Kiki yet and Jack wanted to keep it that way.

"What?" said the man eyeing the girls, as the voice had sounded high. They all stayed silent, looking at the floor and the man turned back round in his seat. The children didn't know how many hours they were in the car for, but to Lucy-Ann it felt like days. They were all uncomfortable, squashed in the back, and their wrists were beginning to hurt and they were hungry and worried about Bill. He kept making the odd groan and the children were worried he might be seriously hurt. They also worried about Aunt Allie. She would be out of her mind with worry about what had happened to them, as the car would probably have been found in its sorry state by now.

They had left the motorway behind, and were travelling along a little country road when the men pulled the car over and stopped. At once the children became tense as all the men turned round to face them. "We don't want you to know where our hideout is so we are going to blindfold you for the last half an hour," said one of the men. The men took off their ties and used them as blindfolds. As they were one short, one of the men produced a blue handkerchief and used it to blindfold Dinah. Lucy-Ann didn't like not being able to see, but she closed her eyes and put her head on Jack's shoulder and tried to be brave.

At last the car drew to a halt. The last five minutes had been over some very bumpy ground, and they had been thoroughly jolted about. Jack guessed that they had left the tarmac road and were going along a mud track. The children heard the noises of the men getting out of the car, then followed a loud clunk.

"That's the locks," said Jack. "We can't get out, so don't try - it will only anger them."

"You kids stay still!" one of the men shouted through the glass, making them jump.

"Bill!" called Dinah, still facing the front of the car to make it look like she wasn't trying to talk to him.

But before Bill could make any sound back, they heard the sound of the boot opening. They could hear sounds of a struggle. "I can't bear not seeing!" said Jack, frustrated. "I'm going to take the blindfold off. They are probably too busy watching Bill to notice." He raised his tied hands to his face and hooked his thumbs under the blindfold to pull it off, making as little movement as possible. He took a quick look around. "Ok, I think no one will notice if you take yours off," he said.

They all did so, then looked anxiously towards the boot to look for Bill. Philip noticed one of the men standing a little way off, talking into a phone. The other two were leaning over the boot, dragging a struggling Bill out onto the floor. Bill was wriggling like a worm and proving quite hard to lift up. The men finally did so, and dropped him hard onto the ground. The children watched in alarm. "Oh poor Bill!" cried Lucy-Ann. "And he's got a big cut on his face from the crash."

"Be still now!" one of the men yelled. He had yellow blonde hair and was wearing a black jacket. Bill decided to obey.

The man on the phone finished his call and walked over to the car. "The Boss has been delayed," he said. "Two days."

"You tell him about our situation?" the blonde haired man asked, indicating the children in the car.

"Yeah, Gavin, and he ain't pleased," said the phone man.

"Well, did he suggest anything?" asked the third man, who had an earring in the shape of a fang in his left ear.

"Just keep it tight," said the phone man. "All quiet, split at any sign of discovery, after destroying all evidence."

The children in the car didn't like the sound of this. "What does he mean, destroy all evidence?" asked Lucy-Ann nervously.

Jack and Philip looked at one another. They had a fair idea, but weren't about to scare Lucy-Ann and Dinah. "Probably just to make sure they haven't left any rubbish around that might gives clues to who had been here," Philip said.

Suddenly, Gavin opened a car door, and grabbed Lucy-Ann by her arm. He pulled her roughly over to where Bill was lying on the ground, and drew his revolver.

"You let her go!" yelled Philip, jumping from the car. He went towards Lucy-Ann but Earring man grabbed him and shoved him so hard he fell over. A revolver appeared from nowhere in his hand, pointed straight at Philip's head. Philip dared not move. He heard Dinah gasp from the car.

Gavin leaned over Bill. "Now we don't want any trouble. I'm going to cut the ties on your legs and escort you into the house. If you try anything, anything at all, this little red-head gets it. Understand?"

Bill nodded slowly. He didn't doubt the man's claims. They had shown no mercy so far in the handling of them. Phone man cut the bonds on his legs and pulled him to his feet. Then, holding the revolver to his back, he walked him off. Dinah looked around for the first time. They were parked on grass, in front of a large house that looked uninhabited, probably even unfurnished. In fact at closer inspection, it looked like a deserted ruin, although the building was still all standing. The walls were made of a dark stone. At one time, this had probably been a rich and formidable building, but now had fallen into disrepair and been abandoned. All around there was nothing to see for miles except fields and trees. Their situation didn't look very promising.

Phone man pushed Bill in through the doorway and out of sight.

"Come on you lot," snapped Gavin, indicating with his revolver that they should get out of the car. He and Earring man ushered them into the house. They only caught a glimpse of a large hallway and staircase before they were pushed into a room. They all heard the loud click of the door being locked behind them. They were alone in the room, no sign of Bill, and their hands were all still tightly tied.

"Well!" said Jack, "We are in a predicament!"

Nobody could think of what to do for the best. Everything seemed rather dismal to them. Bill gone, no one knew where they were and they were all locked in a room with their hands tied. Philip and Dinah started to squabble about who's fault it was, and poor Lucy-Ann found it all a bit too overwhelming and burst into tears.

"Shut up you two," said Jack to Philip and Dinah. "It was no ones fault. Lucy-Ann, please stop crying, we've been in worst situations than this, and we always come out alright."

"No we haven't," sobbed Lucy-Ann. "You know we haven't Jack. Oh blow these ropes, I can't wipe my eyes." She tried in vain to free her hands, but the ropes were tied too tight. Jack suddenly had an idea, and he called Kiki to him.

"Kiki, Kiki old bird, come and have a little nibble of these ropes," said Jack offering Kiki his tied wrists. "I know you can do it, you've done it once before, remember?" Kiki flew down and rested on Jack's knee and took part of the rope in her beak and started to gnaw on it. Lucy-Ann stopped crying and they all sat in silence and watched Kiki gnawing on the ropes, all willing her to succeed. After ten minutes Jack felt the ropes slacken and then all of a sudden they snapped and Jack was able to pull his hands apart.

"Good Kiki, clever bird, well done!" said Dinah excitedly.

"Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, Polly put the kettle on," said Kiki and then went off into a cackle of laughter. The others shushed her; they didn't want the men coming along.

"Ohh, my hands tingle," said Jack, as some of the blood rushed back to them, and he rubbed them together and flexed his fingers to help stimulate the flow.

"Jack, untie my hands now," begged Lucy-Ann offering her hands to Jack.

"Hang on, I must give Kiki a reward for her help," said Jack and fished in his pocket and brought out a couple of sunflower seeds that he always carried with him. He gave them to Kiki who nibbled them happily. Then he got out his penknife and cut everyone ropes.

When they were all free, they huddled together and tried to think of a plan.

 

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