Four Warned (Quick Reads 2014) Read Free Page A

but once again she managed to gain only a few yards, and she knew that within seconds he would be back in place. He was. For the next few hundred
yards they remained within feet of each other, and she felt certain he would run into the back of her. She didn’t once dare to touch her brakes – if they crashed in that lane, far from
any help, she would have no hope of getting away from him.
    She checked her mileometer. A mile to go.
    ‘The gate must be open. It
must
be open,’ she prayed. As she swung round the next bend, she could make out the outline of the farmhouse in the distance. She almost screamed
with relief when she saw that the lights were on in the downstairs rooms.
    She shouted, ‘Thank God!’ then remembered the gate again, and changed her plea to ‘Dear God, let it be open.’ She would know what needed to be done as soon as she came
round the last bend. ‘Let it be open, just this once,’ she pleaded. ‘I’ll never ask for anything again, ever.’ She swung round the final bend only inches ahead of the
black van. ‘Please, please, please.’ And then she saw the gate.
    It was open.
    Her clothes were now drenched in sweat. She slowed down, wrenched the gearbox into second, and threw the car between the gap and into the bumpy driveway, hitting the gatepost on her right-hand
side as she careered on up towards the house. The van didn’t hesitate to follow her, and was still only inches behind as she straightened up. Diana kept her hand pressed down on the horn as
the car bounced and lurched over the mounds and potholes.
    Flocks of startled crows flapped out of overhead branches, screeching as they shot into the air. Diana began screaming, ‘Daniel! Daniel!’ Two hundred yards ahead of her, the porch
light went on.
    Her headlights were now shining onto the front of the house, and her hand was still pressed on the horn. With a hundred yards to go, she spotted Daniel coming out of the front door, but she
didn’t slow down, and neither did the van behind her. With fifty yards to go she began flashing her lights at Daniel. She could now make out the puzzled, anxious look on his face.
    With thirty yards to go she threw on her brakes. The heavy estate car skidded across the gravel in front of the house, coming to a halt in the flower bed just below the kitchen window. She heard
the screech of brakes behind her. The leather-jacketed man, unfamiliar with the terrain, had been unable to react quickly enough, and as soon as his wheels touched the gravelled area he began to
skid out of control. A second later the van came crashing into the back of her car, slamming it against the wall of the house and shattering the glass in the kitchen window.
    Diana leapt out of the car, screaming, ‘Daniel! Get a gun, get a gun!’ She pointed back at the van. ‘That bastard’s been chasing me for the last twenty miles!’
    The man jumped out of the van and began limping towards them. Diana ran into the house. Daniel followed and grabbed a shotgun, normally reserved for rabbits, that was leaning against the wall.
He ran back outside to face the unwelcome visitor, who had come to a halt by the back of Diana’s Audi.
    Daniel raised the shotgun to his shoulder and stared straight at him. ‘Don’t move or I’ll shoot,’ he said calmly. And then he remembered the gun wasn’t loaded.
Diana ducked back out of the house, but remained several yards behind him.
    ‘Not me! Not me!’ shouted the leather-jacketed youth, as Rachael appeared in the doorway.
    ‘What’s going on?’ she asked nervously.
    ‘Ring for the police,’ was all Daniel said, and his wife quickly disappeared back into the house.
    Daniel advanced towards the terrified-looking young man, the gun aimed squarely at his chest.
    ‘Not me! Not me!’ he shouted again, pointing at the Audi. ‘He’s in the car!’ He quickly turned to face Diana. ‘I saw him get in when you were parked on the
hard shoulder. What else could I have done? You just