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Running Scared

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Chapter 3

Previously...

‘Hello?’ I said hesitantly.

‘Is that Jason or maybe Jennifer?’

It was a female voice.

‘Who wants to know?’ I replied, my voice quavering.

‘It’s Claire, you know about me?’

And now, the story continues...

Her voice sounded soft and pleasant.

‘Claire, Daddy’s girlfriend?’

‘Erm, yes, I suppose I am,’ she replied laughing.

‘Have I said something funny?’ I thought.

‘Sorry, Jennifer, I’m a bit nervous. I always start giggling when I’m nervous. How are you both?’

Hmm, so she assumed that I now was Jennifer and not Jason. Maybe my voice sounded girly – I hoped so.

‘We’re OK,’ I replied after a moment, ‘but have you got any news about our father?’

‘No, not directly anyway that’s why I’m ringing; I wondered if he’s contacted you.’

‘No, he hasn’t; do you know what happened today?’

‘No, I’m in the dark except that earlier he texted me to say that he was in danger and he was concerned about you and that I should ring you using a burner phone. I think that something happened, as he didn’t reply to my texts or attempts to contact him. I’m worried. I assume that you are in that safe place, don’t mention the name of it or anything about where you are. I don’t trust open communications.’

‘Yes, we are here now. Our car was being tailed as we were going on holiday. Daddy tried to get away from them but there were two cars chasing us. We increased our speed and got enough space between them and us for Daddy to get us to a place of safety.’

I wasn’t going to tell her everything, as I didn’t really trust anyone at the moment. I just told her what I thought she needed to know.

‘Anyway,’ I continued, ‘Daddy dropped us off. He gave us his briefcase and told us where to go. We’re here now.’

‘I assume then that you have read Phillips letter to you.’

So she knew about the letter. I wondered just how much she did know.

‘Yes.’

We talked a bit more about how we were doing and the fact that we were worried that Daddy hadn’t contacted her or us.

‘Are you OK for food and stuff?’

‘Yes, we are, but I don’t know what to do. If you haven’t heard about what’s happening and we haven’t, where is he and is even still alive?’

Even I could hear the quiver in my voice. I wasn’t far from crying. I was glad that my sister wasn’t in the room; I didn’t want her to see how upset I was. I was trying to show a brave face all the time but was failing miserably.

‘Look, Jennifer, don’t get upset, I know things are hard for you, but try to think positive, if you can. How is Suzie taking it?’

‘She doesn’t seem too worried and keeps saying that everything will be alright, but I think that she’s as concerned as I am.’

‘Try and stay strong, if you can. There’s no point in thinking the worst. Mind you, what with all that’s happened, I’m not happy that you are there by yourselves. Without any word from Phillip, we have to assume that he isn’t in a position to help you at the moment. I would prefer you to be here rather than alone in that remote spot. Phillip might be out of the picture for a while. I know that you don’t know me, but will you trust me enough to look after you?’

I had to trust someone and if Daddy loved her, I would trust his instincts, despite my misgivings

‘Yes, that would be good,’ I replied without too much hesitation.

‘I would love to come and pick you up, but I can’t right now as I have to stay here. My daughter had a riding accident and she’s broken her leg. She can’t really be moved or left alone. Right, I will order a taxi for you from a random company. Go to Philips’ case. In a pocket, there is an envelope with some money in it. Get your things together and then wait for the taxi. The taxi will take you to the station. When you get there, tickets will be waiting for you under the name of, erm Davison. When you get to Bristol Temple Meads, change for Paignton. When you get there, text me with the words ‘see you soon auntie.’ Use the money you have to take a taxi; you have my address. Do not take the first or second taxi on the rank. Take the third one. I may be paranoid and worrying for nothing, but I want to make sure that you get here safely, without a tail. Will you do that?’

‘Yes, I will.’

‘Good girl, now hang up and don’t use the phone unless absolutely necessary. Oh, by the way, wear the wig; it might disguise you even more. See you soon.’

With that, she disconnected.

I stared at the phone for a moment, my mind in a turmoil. My brief conversation with Claire brought up more questions than answers. Could I trust her? What was this about a daughter? Did she ring true or were we being lured into a trap?

Then I remembered Daddy’s letter, he more or less said that we should trust her. But I didn’t know her and hadn’t even heard of her until today. What was I to do?

I sat there and thought about it. I had no choice, I would have to go with my instincts and trust her. If Daddy did, then so would I.

I remembered seeing the wig in my case. My hair was slightly long and dark, just about passable for a girl - maybe. The wig was a long blond one, not my colour, but beggars can’t be choosers as Mummy used to say. I hadn’t tried it on and to be honest had forgotten all about it, what with everything else that was going on.

‘Suzie,’ I shouted.

A few seconds later, she came in.

‘Yes, big sis?’

‘I haven’t got time to explain too much, but get your things together, we are going to Claire’s.’

‘Claire’s?’

‘Yes, she rang me and explained things. A taxi will be here shortly and we are going to her house. I’ll explain in a minute, let's get our things together.’

As we finished packing, I told Suzie about the phone call. Surprisingly, she was pretty laid back about it all. She seemed to like the idea of meeting Claire and her mysterious daughter and appeared more interested in that than the apparent danger we were in.

I would never understand how her mind worked!

Ten minutes later, we had finished packing. We only took what clothes we thought that we might need. I hated leaving some of my lovely new clothes, but we didn’t have much time and I didn’t want to be laden down with heavy cases, so we made do with our rucksacks and crammed as much as we could into them.

Suzie had a bit of a hissy fit when I told her that she couldn’t take a particular dress, she just didn’t have the room, but she saw sense in the end and with only a minor amount of grumbling she finished packing. Mind you, she thought the blond wig suited me and made me look even more of a girl, if that was possible.

I think that that was a compliment!

We both now had shoulder bags, so we put our personal things in them including, in mine, the money found in Daddy’s case.

I heard a strange noise coming from outside. I looked out of the window to find a helicopter fairly low over the trees on the other side of a field. It was so low that sheep had scattered and I knew how they felt. It was coming our way.

‘Quick Suzie, in the closet now, NOW!’

I hustled her into the closet and shut the door behind us. Thank goodness it was empty and big enough for us both to cram in there.

‘What is it Jen?’ asked Suzie.

‘Helicopter.’

‘Coming for us?’

‘I hope not.’

I held her close and could feel her hot breath on my shoulder.

I had no idea if they could see us. For all I knew, they could have had powerful binoculars or heat-seeking equipment or whatever it’s called. I hoped that we had enough cover now for them to miss seeing us. They might not have been after us and it could just be a traffic or private helicopter, but I was taking no chances.

The sound of the chopper became louder and louder. I held on to Suzie tighter and she was trembling, or was that me?

Soon, by the sound of it, the chopper appeared to be overhead and hovering. I don’t know what Suzie was feeling like, but I was close to wetting my knickers!

After what seemed like ages, it gradually moved on. Maybe it had nothing to do with us…maybe.

I opened the closet a little and listened, I could still hear the helicopter, but the noise of it seemed to be gradually receding. I looked out of the window, but I couldn’t see it, so I went into Suzie room, with her following behind me like a little shadow.

Looking out of the window, I could now see it in the distance. By the markings, I could see that it was a police helicopter. It was hovering over what looked like a farmhouse. In my opinion, they were definitely looking for someone or something. Was it us or perhaps our father?

I now felt that we were in real danger there in that cottage. It would have been easier to hide in a town or city with lots of people around us. I was glad that Claire had told us to get to her house.

The helicopter finally disappeared out of sight and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Suzie just shrugged.

‘That was a lot of fuss about nothing.’

I wished that I could have the same temperament as Suzie, but I was a born worrier. Then I remembered how frightened she has been when we hid in the closet. Was she so unconcerned as she seemed?

After that, it was just a question of us waiting in my room for signs of the taxi, as there was a good view of the lane from there. I wondered if he or she would find the cottage ok.

Just then I saw a flash of something from behind the bushes by the side of the road.

Yes, it was a car with a taxi sign on the roof.

A lady got out of the taxi, opened the garden gate and came up the path.

‘Come on Suze, it’s time to go.’

We went downstairs and I opened the front door and there she was. The lady was quite old, at least thirty, but seemed quite nice.

‘Taxi for the station?’ she asked.

‘Yes please,’ I replied.

‘By yourselves then?’ she asked as we walked back down the path.

‘Erm, yes, we are visiting an aunt. Our parents arranged it.’

That sounded a bit weak, but she didn’t say anything else. Maybe she was forever picking up kids from remote places…

Soon, our rucksacks were in the boot of the car and we were on the way to the station and hopefully safety.

The radio was on in the car and it was just our luck when the announcer piped up.

‘Further news of the accident on the Nettlesham bypass. It has been confirmed that two people died and one was injured in a crash involving a Range Rover and a Jaguar. The names of the dead and injured have not been released, but were all thought to be in the Range Rover. The driver of the Jaguar has not been named but is believed to be a male Caucasian aged between thirty and thirty-five with blond hair. If anyone has information about the accident and the drivers and passengers involved, please contact the police non-emergency line 101.'

‘That was a nasty accident,’ said the taxi driver, ‘another one of our drivers’ saw it happening. He swears that the Range Rover was chasing the Jaguar at a hell of a speed and near enough forced it off the road. He was on the other side of the dual carriageway and couldn’t stop, he did radio it in though.’

Suzie and I looked at each other. I felt a bit sick and Suzie’s face had turned nearly white. I shook my head slightly, warning with my eyes for Suzie not to say anything.

After a few more miles, we arrived at the station and the driver pulled up outside the station entrance.

‘There we are girls. The fare is all paid for, have a nice journey to your aunt’s.’

We thanked her and then made our way into the station. I noted the taxi driver waited until we went into the station before driving off.

We were lucky that the station had a ticket office, a lot of them didn’t any more, so we made our way over there and spoke to the lady behind the counter.

‘Hello, we’ve come to pick up some tickets in the name of Davison.’

‘Hang on,’ she said as she got up and went over to the back of the room.

I looked around nervously, wondering if we were being picked up on CCTV. I was being paranoid but better that than being stupid.

The ticket lady came back and handed us two tickets.

‘There you are love, nothing to pay.’

‘Thanks,’ I replied.

‘No problem, have a nice journey.’

‘Thanks,’ I replied with a smile.

Everything was going well. It had been easy so far and I hoped that our journey to Claire’s would stay just that – easy.

According to the board, our train was due in at 13.53, so about a ten-minute wait. That was good, as I didn’t want to stay at the station any longer than we had to. This thing I had about being watched was getting me down a bit. Suzie wasn’t bothered or didn’t appear to be. She had one of those hand game things that were all the rage and she spent her time sitting on a seat on the platform, swinging her legs, humming quietly to herself and totally engrossed in what she was doing.

Me? Well, I was looking at every face coming on to the platform. No one seemed to be a baddie, but what did I know, they didn’t have a sign saying I am the evil one. Maybe that frail little old lady with the walking frame was an MI5 operative, undercover and was really a criminal mastermind in disguise.

Then there were the CCTV cameras. When I wasn’t worried about them, I didn’t notice them, but now, they seemed everywhere.

I shook my head. I knew that I mustn’t draw attention to myself. I was just an ordinary girl, waiting with my sister for a train to come into the station. Not a boy in a skirt waiting to be found out and exposed for being a fraud. But I was a girl and didn’t Suzie say that I was pretty? It didn’t matter what I had between my legs. It far more important what I had between my ears – the brain of a girl.

Five minutes to go and I was looking down the line to see if the train was coming. No sign yet. At least it was supposed to be on time, no silly delays like the wrong sort of leaves on the line!

I shivered slightly as the breeze whipped up my skirt slightly. That made me smile. I wondered what the kids at school would say if they saw me now.

Someone touched my shoulder and I nearly screamed.

‘I need to use the toilet,’ said Suzie.

‘Oh, don’t creep up to me like that. Go then, but be quick.’

If my nerves were bad before, they were worse now as Suzie dashed into the Ladies and did her stuff. Of course, I could now see in the distance the train coming in and I was effectively Suzieless.

I nearly went into the toilet to gee her up, but once again; I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. The train was getting nearer and nearer and still Suzie didn’t come out. What was she doing in there, touching up her makeup or sitting in toilet playing that damned game?

The train drew into the station and I was having kittens, the last thing I wanted was for us to miss the train. I was reluctant to go into the ladies loo, because I wasn’t officially a girl, no matter how much I wanted to be and how I felt about it. Mind you I was being silly because I would have to use the facilities dressed as I was, there was no way that I would use the Men’s.

She came out, looking breathless.

‘Sorry, no toilet paper.’

‘Come on!’ I said as the train stopped just then.

We clambered in and found some seats. Luckily, there weren’t many people on board so we had a choice of where we could sit. The train was one of those walk-through ones so you could if you wanted, walk the entire length, but we were happy to sit where we were and soon made ourselves comfortable.

After a short time, the train left the station and we were soon up to speed. I had always liked anything to do with trains. We occasionally took trips to the coast and I loved the fact that you didn’t have any traffic jams on a train. Also, as a matter of interest, Daddy had a train set and he used to go up in the loft and play with it on a regular basis. He said that he was just an enthusiast and collector, but I knew better, he liked to play and I have to admit that I liked his train set too!

As the countryside went by in a blur, I tried to think nice thoughts about how everything was going to be okay, but my mind kept returning to my father and where he was. I was still worried that he might be hurt and injured somewhere without any help from anyone. At least we had somewhere to go. I wondered if I would like Claire. What if she was horrible?

‘What are you looking so worried about?’ asked Suzie, looking up from her gamepad thingie.

‘I’m alright.’

‘No you’re not, you’ve been frowning a lot and sighing, you’re making so much noise, you’re putting me off my game.’

‘You know me, I worry a bit.’

‘Well, you can’t change things just by worrying. There’s no point. Worry when you have to. Now can I get on with my game without you sounding like an asthmatic sheep all the time?’

I laughed.

I so wished that I had a bit more of her personality than mine sometimes!

We stopped several times and eventually arrived at Chippenham. There was a bit of a delay in the station, changing drivers or something but soon we were on our way again. Suzie slept through all of this, having become bored with her game. I was concerned that we might miss our connection at Bristol due to the delay. Luckily, the train driver put his foot down and we were soon going along at a good speed and we arrived at Bristol Temple Meads only a minute or two late.

We grabbed our things and made our way onto the platform.

There were lots of people milling around and that was good as there is always safety in numbers. The train we wanted was on platform 4 and we hurried over, only to find that it wasn’t in yet and wasn’t due for another thirty minutes due to livestock on the line or something.

“I’m thirsty,’ said Suzie in that whining voice that she sometimes used to wind me up.

I sighed and looked around. My eyes lit up.

‘Let's go to MaccyD’s then.’

‘Goody!’

I agreed with her sentiments!

It didn’t take us long to demolish double cheeseburgers, chips and strawberry milkshakes and we arrived back on the platform just as the train came in.

After the passengers got off, we managed to get on the train and found seats about halfway up the train. Many others got on just after us and soon the train was quite full. It was a good job that we were there early as otherwise we might have had to stand!

Soon, we were on our way and the train picked up speed. We stopped a number of times and the train gradually emptied, so that by the time we left Exeter St Thomas, I estimated that only about a quarter of the seats were occupied.

It was late afternoon now and the sun was low in the sky. At that time of the year, it got dark early and I was pleased about that. The darker it was when we got to Paignton, the better chance of us getting to our destination unnoticed.

We stopped at a number of other stations; I didn’t notice the names because I was dozing a bit. Everything was catching up with me. Suddenly, I was rudely awoken by a dig in my ribs.

‘Eh, what?’

‘Look Jen,’ whispered Suzie urgently.

I looked around, noticed that we had arrived at Teignmouth Station and then saw, to my horror that two policemen had got on further down the carriage and that they were coming towards us, looking at the passengers and asking what looked like pointed questions.

I looked at Suzie in alarm.

‘What can we do Jennifer?’ she whispered.

I wanted us to get off, but we couldn’t; the train was now on the move and we had nowhere we could go. We couldn’t hide. If we got up and tried to move further down the train, we might draw attention to ourselves.

We were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I hadn’t understood that saying until now.

They got ever closer.

‘Who are they looking for I wonder?’ said a woman sitting opposite us.

I had no idea, but suddenly, one of the policemen looked up and straight at me.

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Please leave comments and let me know if you want this to continue. Oh, and if you can, please do the kudo-thingie...thanks! ~Sue