Road Closed Read Online Free PDF Page B

carried on, muttering softly.
    ‘It’s taking too long,’ Ray whispered. The security lights had made him nervous.
    ‘Nearly done,’ Cal insisted. He pressed harder against the glass. The cut out panel broke away with a soft snap. He reached in to release the window catch.
    Cal and Ray were in a large kitchen. The wall to their right was covered in pristine white cupboards, a gleaming glass fronted oven stood in the corner, and in the middle of the floor stood a central island with a stainless steel gas hob. On the far side of the room an open door led into a dining area. They could dimly make out a table and chairs through the opening. To their left a back door led out on to the garden. Cal crossed the room and closed the door to the dining room. Then he tried the door to the garden. It was locked.
    Ray put his bag down on the hob and waited as Cal picked at the lock, his eyes screwed up in concentration. There was a click when he gave the door handle a wrench and it responded. He straightened up with a grin. ‘Come on, let’s see what we can find.’ Their exit secure, they were ready to explore the house. Ray reached for his bag. Cal crossed the kitchen. He opened the door to the dining room.
    And heard footsteps.
    He closed the door.
    In the light of his torch, Ray saw Cal’s eyes, white and angry. ‘What now?’ Ray whispered hoarsely.
    ‘Go!’
    Ray grabbed his bag from the hob. There was nothing in it, but Ray wasn’t going to leave his bag behind again. He grabbed at the strap. It had caught on something. He jerked it free. There was a soft click and a faint hissing. Cal had disappeared. Ray ran after him, closing the back door behind him as he escaped into the night. They sped down the side passage, careless of the security lights. Cal forced his way through the hedge on to the next door drive and sprinted down on to the road. Ray raced across the front of the house and made for the safety of the street down the drive of the property they had just broken into. A car shot out of the driveway behind him just before he reached the pavement. He spun round, startled. For a second its lights shone straight at him before he slipped round the hedge and away.
    ‘Bugger!’ Cal snarled as the van started up. ‘Bloody waste of time.’
    ‘At least we got away,’ Ray mumbled. He was still shaking. ‘We’re safe and no harm done. And I got the bag, Cal.’ He held it up. The strap was broken. Cal scowled. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and they roared away into the night.

8
    Night
    The telephone shook Sophie awake. It was nearly two thirty in the morning. For a second, she was confused. She had been running along an empty beach, searching for Tom. Through a slit in the bedroom curtains a splinter of moonlight shone into the room. Beside her, Tom rolled over on to his side and groaned in his sleep. She reached for the handset.
    ‘Yes?’ She listened. ‘I’ll be there in half an hour.’ Some technical problems could be resolved remotely from her laptop at home. On this occasion she knew she would have to go in. She hung up and wriggled round to look at Tom. He was still asleep, peaceful as a child. Sophie smiled. After two years of marriage, she still couldn’t believe her luck.
    ‘Are you sure he’s not just after your money?’ her mother had asked with a quizzical smile when Sophie had announced she was getting married. ‘You’re a relatively wealthy woman, Sophie, and you’ve only known him for a few months.’
    Sophie hadn’t admitted that she had no idea how much Tom earned. It wasn’t something she could explain to her mother. Her parents were dutiful but distant. Until she met Tom all her passion had been channelled into her studies and her work. Tom had transformed life into something miraculous. She had never realised how lonely she was until she met him.
    Sophie would have liked to speak openly to Tom about her feelings, but was afraid he would laugh at her for being sentimental. In