Spider - Michael Morley [125]
Jack stares into the camera, his eyes brimming with hate, his mind throbbing with fear and confusion.
He walks around to the far side of the bondage table so the camera can clearly see both him and the girl.
Do it! This is your only chance to keep them alive.
Spider leans closer to the monitor.
Jack uses his left hand to brush hair from Lu’s neck and then he tilts her head back. ‘God, please forgive me for this,’ he says. Slowly, he draws the razor-sharp kitchen knife in a bloody cut, straight across her throat.
Spider’s face is only inches from the monitor screen but he still can’t believe what he sees. He gasps as the reality of what has happened sinks in.
Jack King has cut her throat.
The blood is flowing. It’s all over him. He’s cut her throat.
McLeod scrambles into the crater beneath him and rushes to the child.
Mary Mother of God, who could do something like this?
‘It’s okay, son, don’t worry. It’s all going to be all right.’
The child’s eyes are wide with panic. His face is crimson and McLeod can see his chest heaving as he struggles to breathe.
The sticky parcel tape has been looped several times around the boy’s mouth and is plastered to his hair. There isn’t going to be any painless way of removing this. McLeod turns Zack around and searches for the end of the tape. He finds an overlap near the back of the youngster’s right ear. He scratches at it with his fingernails until a flap lifts.
‘Sorry, little man, this is going to hurt a bit.’
McLeod grips the child tight with his left arm and begins to pull the tape free. The first loop comes off easily because it is virtually doubled over itself but the final circle of tape yanks clumps of fine blond hair out of the back of the child’s head. Zack’s whole body jerks with pain as the tape is torn away.
McLeod holds him by his shaking shoulders and looks straight at him. ‘Be brave, little guy, just a bit more and it’ll be off your face.’
The kid is wild-eyed with fright and McLeod knows the best thing to do now is to get it over with as quickly as possible.
He puts one hand against Zack’s face and peels off the last of the wide, heavy-duty tape.
Zack starts crying and gasping for air as soon as the tape comes free of his mouth.
‘M-m-m-mommy!’ he sobs and McLeod holds him tight.
Gradually the child’s crying begins to subside and McLeod wipes his face and comforts him. ‘It’s okay, son. I’m going to get this nasty tape off your hands, and then we’ll find your mom.’
‘P-please help Mommy,’ pleads Zack.
‘Where is she?’ asks McLeod, getting a finger hold on the tape around the youngster’s wrists. ‘Where’s your mom?’
Zack nods towards the thin, black slit in the hillside and his body shakes some more. ‘Mommy’s in there.’
McLeod drags the last of the tape from the boy’s wrists. His skin is red and tender but the hands and wrists don’t seem damaged.
‘I’m going to help your mommy, Zack,’ he says, ‘but first, we’re going to make you safe. Okay?’
Zack is too scared to respond, his eyes never leaving the gap in the hillside.
McLeod hoists him into his arms and hugs him. Then, still holding him close, he heads back up the soil banking. It’s a slow and clumsy climb as the earth shifts and slides beneath his feet.
Breathless, he makes it to the top of the crater and stands Zack up. ‘Run to the house, kid! Run and get help.’
McLeod taps Zack on the bottom, and then the child runs as fast as he can towards the safety of the hotel kitchen. McLeod slithers back down the banking once more, determined to find Nancy King.
Spider almost loses track of time as he stares at Jack cradling Lu’s bloody head in his hands.
He still can’t believe what he’s just seen.
He hits a key on the laptop and the camera remotely zooms in on the heavy flow of blood, dripping through Jack’s hands and pouring on to the table and floor.
He’s cut her jugular. That much blood can only come from a main artery.
On the screen he can see Jack’s body shaking as he tries to gulp back the sobs rising from deep within his chest.
Jack takes half a step back and Spider can now clearly see the