The Power of One by Jane A. Adams Page B

re-recording of a poor recording, but unmistakeable. Equally unmistakeable was that he was terrified.
    â€˜Ian?’ Paul called out. ‘What the hell is going on?’ Then the voice was drowned out by an explosion of sound that even Lydia could recognise was a gunshot. ‘What? Oh no, no!’ A second shot and then silence, then the sound of a man breathing hard, gasping as though in pain. Lydia lashed out, sending the machine spinning from the telephone table and across the parquet floor of the hall.
    â€˜We’ve got to get out of here. Now. Edward, we’ve got to go.’ Her voice cracked, verging on hysteria. Her husband didn’t argue. Moments later, in a locked car, willing the gates to open faster than they were ever designed to do, they were fleeing their home.

EIGHTEEN
    â€˜R ina, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know where else to go. We just drove here.’
    It had taken a while to coax from the de Freitas’s exactly what had terrified them so much and longer spent trying to convince them that they should call the police; Mac in particular.
    â€˜We can’t.’ Edward was as adamant as his wife. ‘Rina, one of the last things Paul said was that he no longer knew who to trust. That even the authorities were unreliable. He said he was worried, that he felt he was in danger and he was right, wasn’t he?’
    â€˜Did he say why he felt so threatened?’
    Edward shook his head. ‘He’d taken on some outside work, some special project, that’s all I know. It was something he did from time to time, development work for other companies. It increased our turnover and more important, added to our reputation.’
    â€˜But always before, he’d told us what he was doing,’ Lydia objected. ‘Rina, I’m so scared. Before Paul died we were getting these phone calls, threatening calls, saying Paul was going to die if he didn’t deliver. Deliver what, I don’t know and he wouldn’t tell us. Then afterward, just silence. The phone would ring and then there was nothing. Then this!’ She got up, suddenly. ‘We shouldn’t have come here. What if they come after us here? Oh Rina I’m so …’
    â€˜Sit down,’ Rina said firmly. ‘Drink your tea. We’ve dealt with worse, believe me. Now. What we need to do is find you a safe place to lie low for a while and I think I know just the spot.’
    â€˜We came away with nothing,’ Edward said. ‘We can’t go to a hotel. We can’t …’
    â€˜That can be sorted,’ Rina told him stoutly. ‘Tim and I will go and fetch you some things and bring them back here. Then we’ll need some camping equipment and spare blankets and the like. I’m not sure the power is connected at the place I have in mind, but I believe it has its own water supply and …’
    â€˜I know where we can borrow a generator,’ Tim added. ‘You’re thinking about the farm, aren’t you, Rina?’
    She nodded. ‘Middle of nowhere, I’m afraid, but all the better for that,’ she told the de Freitas’s. ‘And the next thing is to organise some security. If we’re not trusting the regular authorities then we must fall back on our own resources.’
    â€˜Fitch?’ Tim said.
    â€˜Fitch,’ Rina agreed.
    They left Lydia and Edward to the tender ministrations of the rest of the family. The Montmorency twins could be relied upon to keep up the supplies of tea and cake and the Peters sisters were already playing the piano by the time Rina and Tim left.
    â€˜You sure they’ll be all right,’ Tim asked doubtfully. ‘Our lot can be a bit, well, full on.’
    Rina nodded. ‘But can you think of anything more likely to take their minds off current troubles,’ she said. ‘An afternoon being serenaded by Eliza and Bethany and force-fed tea and sympathy by Steven and Matthew will put