“You think I just want to kill you? You’re going to suffer my boy… You’ll have ring side seats for your sister’s rape, torture and death, then I might kill you… after some playtime.” He smirked, running a finger across Sarah’s cheek. “After all, you do want to be a woman don’t you? My dear little David…”

The Road to Haifa
Chapter 22 — Storm Warning
by
Alyssa Plant

 

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Sarah lent back against the closed door as the train began to move. “We are in trouble.” She announced into thin air

“What are we going to do?” Eliana asked meekly, keeping very close to her sister’s side.

“I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go along.” Sarah sighed, “I didn’t get a good look at them, but I can guess who they work for.”

Eliana looked across at Sarah and frowned. “Now would be a good time to tell me why… I’m involved too now … And I don’t think they want to give us a big friendly hug by the way you’re acting!” she hissed.

Sarah looked at her sister “I pissed off some bad people,” she said with a weak smile. “I personally got in the way of a fairly extensive plan to kidnap and potentially murder the prime minister and his family.”

“But they said in the news it was food poisoning?” Eli replied slowly, mulling the news over in her mind.

“It’s not something we want to publicise … not till we destroy the threat.” Sarah muttered. “But it looks like the threat wants to tie up our loose ends, and one of them was a traitor.”

“Really?” Eli gasped. “So it’s even more personal?”

Sarah nodded and peeked around the doorway to avoid further discussion with her sister. She didn’t want to verbalise the fear that it was more that her intervention that made her a target.

The carriage looked normal, so tugging her sister with her down the aisle, they had made it about half way down the coach when three of the men she had seen on the platform appeared ahead of them at the carriage door. A burst of panic ripped through her as she spun on her heels to move the opposite direction. She had just pulled Eli around by the time she noticed men in the far doorway, too… They were trapped…

The morning commuters on the train seemed oblivious to the situation unfolding; reading newspapers, listening to ipods, or chatting to each other. As the men began to close the distance, Sarah had a flash of inspiration; “Oh my God! He’s got a bomb!” she screamed, pointing down the carriage towards the first group of men. The sudden attention fixed on them stopped the men dead in their tracks, and the ensuing stampede utterly blocked them off from Sarah.

Pushing her sister into an empty seat, she slipped through the press of people trying to escape the carriage towards the second group of men, now flattened against the wall near the door.

Coming up beside one of the men, she delivered a swift jab to the man’s temple, robbing him of his consciousness. As his compatriots began to react, she kneed the closest in the groin before elbowing him in the back of his suddenly lowered head, sending him to join his friend. The third man managed to land a punch which stunned Sarah momentarily. As he came at her once more, she ducked his clumsy hook and slipped under his arm and behind him, deftly snapping his neck as his momentum carried him forward. Snapping her brain out of combat mode, she turned and began forcing her way back towards her sister through the now rapidly emptying carriage.

Reaching her sister, she grabbed the girl roughly, pulled her from the seat she had been hiding in and pulled her back along the walkway. Reaching the door, she pushed Eliana through, and slammed the carriage door closed. Through the glass windows, she saw the other group of men elbowing past hysterical commuters trying to reach them. She needed to buy time … Spotting a rescue axe in a safety glass compartment to her side, she smashed the glass and slipped the tool through the handles on the door. Herding her docile sister into the other carriage, she returned to the passageway linking the two cars. The men had reached the door, and were trying to get it open. She didn’t have long, but hey, it worked in the movies didn’t it?

Scanning the floor, she found an access panel and yanked it open. She was greeted by a blast of air and blurred track beneath them. How the heck did you disconnect carriages? The heroes in action movies always knew, she thought…. Spotting a greasy lever on the coupling, she pulled at it but the thing wouldn’t budge, and the axe wasn’t going to hold forever… Placing her foot against the far carriage, she pulled with all the strength she possessed. The lever flew up with a jolt, and the coupling sprang open, sending Sarah sprawling for a handhold to stop her slipping under the speeding wheels of the train.

Pulling herself back into the coach, the gap began to widen as the weight of the trailing carriages began to slow them, now free rolling. The brake line snapped, as the rubber hose became the last thing linking the carriages, spraying hot brake fluid over one of the assailants as he managed to smash through the door. Behind their screaming compatriot, the other men could only watch as their carriage pulled away.

Sarah let out a sigh as she lay sprawled on the carriage floor. Why couldn’t she have had a normal job, left the army after her conscription and just gone to work for her father? Or something safe … like the bomb squad …

Rolling over, she began to haul herself to her feet when she came face to face with the barrel of a pistol. “Very nice, David. A lovely little show.”

Taking her eyes off the mesmerising darkness of the barrel, she looked up, her eyes connecting with the dark soulless pools that belonged to Major Thesik.

“You didn’t think I was dead now did you?” he smiled sadistically. “Aw …” he mocked. “The little tranny looks surprised to see us.” He laughed.

Sarah cast her eyes past the major, and was greeted by a second shock; Eliana was struggling under the grip of Specialist Thomas, who was gripping her by the throat, a gun to her head…

“Let her go, you scum,” she hissed, coming to her haunches.

“Ah, ah, ah,” The major urged, pushing the barrel of the pistol against her forehead. “I’ll have none of your heroics, David. You quite depleted my manpower already, Good help is hard to find.”

“You seem to have interrupted our plans once more David.” The major smiled sardonically, “Regardless, my mission now is something you cannot avert. You cost me dearly … my little retirement package, my bosses’ prize … All I want today … is you.”

“So let her go!” Sarah hissed, looking up at the major. “If you want me, take me, but she’s done nothing.”

“Au contraire,” Smiled the major, “You think I just want to kill you? You’re going to suffer, my boy … You’ll have ringside seats for your sister’s rape, torture and death. Then … I might kill you … after some playtime.” He smirked, running a finger across Sarah’s cheek. “After all, you do want to be a woman don’t you? My dear little David…”

“Enough chatter.” He sighed, straightening up and turning to two of his men. “Bind these two, and get a car to meet us when the train stops.”

A rifle butt smashed down on Sarah’s head, and darkness enveloped her….

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To Be Continued...