Chapter 37

It was almost half past one when the cars rounded the final bend and drove slowly past the train station. The majority of houses were darkened and Maurice slowed down to almost a crawl to ensure they didn’t miss the turning.

“Here! Here!” whispered Mike, pointing to his right. Maurice drove past, looking for any signs of life, almost hitting the steep bank that formed the edge of the field.

“It looks more like a farm than a house, not really what I had imagined.” said Maurice, searching for somewhere to turn the car.

“I’ll jump out and get Jim. We can do the same again.” said Mike, opening the door.

“OK. Be careful”

The two boys crouched down by the bank on the side of the road, letting their eyes adjust to the darkness.

“Looks like there’s a long track up the house” whispered Jim. “We could go up there, or go over the fields over there to the left”

“Let’s go over the fields, just in case a car comes. There’s no way off the road because of the fencing”

“Fine, come on!” said Jim, hunched low as he swung athletically over the barbed wire. He landed in long grass and patchy snow. A dog barked in the distance as Mike joined him, the boys making their way quickly in a slight circle towards the house. They looked back and could no longer see the cars. To their right was an large chalet with a central front door. Mike felt Jim grab his arm, and they stopped, lying low in the grass.

“I don’t see any lights, except for that one right up there” said Jim, pointing to the third floor of the house.

“Yeah, but we need to keep going. I get the feeling that this is the place”

They continued on the course staying in the shadows, until they were level with the house and about fifty meters from it.

“Hey, there’s a barn” said Mike.

“Yeah, you’re right, and I see lights”

“I can hear music”

“Shit, this must be it. We need to get closer!”

They crept slowly towards the side of the barn, grimacing as they crunched over the gravel driveway. Four or five cars were parked neatly beside the barn and they offered some cover as the boys approached the windows.

“Oh fuck! Look. There’s Nikki. Shit, she’s tied up!” said Mike.

“We can’t get them out on our own. Let’s get back, quickly.” said Jim, pulling at his sleeve. They took in as many of the details as possible and crawled back into the shadows. They backtracked towards the road, and were back in Andre’s car within five minutes.

“OK, I saw Nikki. She’s tied up, and doesn’t have any clothes on”

“I saw another older girl with ginger hair, also tied up. She wasn’t moving, though” added Jim.

“Rebecca! What about Lauren?” asked Maurice.

“I couldn’t see her” replied Mike, shaking his head.

“How many people were in there?” asked Maurice, his face visibly pale in the light from the car’s instruments. He glanced at Andre.

“Not sure, but not many, maybe ten, twelve.” replied Jim.

“What was happening?” asked Andre.

“She was crying, I think she was sitting on a man and I saw another girl close by.” said Jim.

“Mr. Gisal?”

“Yes, Jim”

“I don’t think we have much time”

Maurice looked at him for the first time that evening. “OK, here’s what we do” he said. He looked towards the house as he laid out his plan of attack.