Samantha had a bad feeling about this. Linda (if indeed it was Linda) had not wanted to get into the car and if the bandage covered a wound from a gun the perpetrator would want to finish the job.
Jacob was driving. Samantha scanned their surroundings for the black car. One minute it was up ahead weaving through traffic and the next it disappeared. They slowed down to search side streets. There was no sight of the Jaguar.
She groaned. “God, where are they?”
The car pulled out from the curb of a narrow lane.
“There,” Samantha snapped, pointing.
With a squeal of tyres Jacob pulled across two lanes, dodging honking cars and settled a distance behind it.
Cruising, as if it had all the time in the world, the car turned off into a deserted country lane and began driving toward a palatial country mansion towering above the grove trees.
The car stopped at the guarded gates and the driver’s window rolled down. There was an exchange of words and the gate hummed open. The car glided through and made its way up the curling driveway, a black beast on red tarmac.
Once safely past, Jacob pulled over and parked.
Without saying anything they both leapt out and ran, bent double, along the boundary under cover of the trees. They clambered over a brick wall and ran to a small grove of trees. They stopped to get their bearings. With a nod to each other they took out their guns and set them. Crouching, they ran to a broken-down shed covered in a canopy of vines.
Jacob pointed, excitement filling his face. They had stumbled upon a crop of marijuana. They exchange a thumbs up sign. They had them.
All was still inside.
They listened. The only sound was that of wind shaking leaves in a nearby tree.
The shadowy form of a man appeared in the top floor window and pulled the curtains shut.
Samantha and Jacob exchanged a look. Time for the last sprint which would get them to the front door.
As they ran, shouting coming from inside filled the air.
A man and a woman were arguing.
“I owe you nothing, dammit,” the man said.
“So why am I here?” a woman retorted.
“You know Serious Fraud are after us?”
“No. Why?” The woman sounded genuinely bemused.
There was a long silence. Jacob and Samantha crept closer to the front door.
A man’s voice growled. “We’re about to go public, we pumped the market up, price of our cannabis soars then drops because some idiot told the market it wasn’t organic.”
“You think I told someone that?”
“Who else would?” the man shouted.
“I stood to lose more than anyone else.” There was a contemptuous splutter. “Is that what all this is about? Abducting me and shooting at me? To shut me up?”
Samantha grabbed Jacob’s arm. “Come on.”
They stormed the house. A gunshot rang out.