,Piss off,' she said again, but under her breath. She cut away down an alley, where Steve couldn't follow. After a hundred yards she came out in Fearley Road, which she knew well. A mate of hers had turned over the offlicence
there a couple of years ago, and got done with community service. She was getting fed up with all this walking about and feeling dizzy, so now she was keeping a sharp eye open for something she could drive away in.
On an impulse she went up to the car park built on the flat roof of the All Nights Market, and started trying the car doors. She wanted a car that was fairly new, not an old heap, but most of the really new cars were difficult to hotwire, unless you knew what you were doing. The last car she was going to try before giving up turned out to be the easiest one to take: a dark red Jreg Austin Montego. There was a wallet in the glove compartment (with forty quid and a Barclaycard), a stereo system and a full tank of petrol. Two minutes later she was driving up Battle Road with music playing, heading back to the house.
Debra came out of the house as she parked. Teresa leapt out of the Montego and broke into a run as soon as she saw her, but Debra dodged away. She was carrying an armful of her clothes, and a Sainsbury's plastic bag stuffed with something.
'Here, 1 want you!' Teresa shouted.
'You fucking leave me alone, you fucking weirdo!' Debra yelled back.
' Get in the fucking car!'
'I've had enough of all that! Fuck off, Gerry!'
She tore away down the hill, dropping garments and stumbling on the uneven ground.
'I'll fucking get you!'
Teresa broke off the chase, and ran into the house. Someone had been in and shat on the floor. She ran up the stairs, kicked open the door of the cupboard, and grabbed her guns and ammunition. lt took her two trips to get everything outside and into the Montego, but as soon as she was ready she drove down the hill in search of Debra. The rifle was hidden in the luggage compartment at the back, but she had put the handgun on the seat beside her.
She knew where Debra would be going: her mum had a
house lower down on the estate. Teresa stopped the car with two wheels up on the pavement and shoved the gun under her jacket. She ran to the door of the house, kicking and pummelling it with her fist.
'They saw you coming, they did!' said a woman, lean'
ing over the wall from next door. 'They've done a runner! Good thing too, you little dickhead!'
Teresa was tempted to blow a sodding great hole in her face, grinning at her over the wall, but instead she whipped out her cock and tried to piss all over the door, but she had dried up.
The woman yelled something, and disappeared. Teresa looked around: she knew Debra's mum's car, and like the neighbour had said it wasn't in sight.
She went back to the Montego, screeched it round in the narrow road and headed away.
She drove fast until she had crossed the Ridge and was going out into the countryside around Ninfield. The sun beat maddeningly down. A police car went past in the opposite direction, blue strobe lights flashing; Teresa instinctively hunched down in the seat a little, but they were obviously going after someone else, and neither of the two cops even glanced in her direction.
The righthand side of the road was thickly forested: Teresa had only a dim memory of having driven along here before, but after a while she saw a sign for a Forestry Commission picnic site next to a layby. She was driving too fast to stop, but she went down to the next farm entrance, did a turn, and went back.
She realized that neither of the guns was loaded; bleeding right! She'd gone after Debra like that!
She skidded into the parking area in a cloud of dust, and angrily picked up the handgun. She slammed in a magazine of bullets.
A path led off through the trees, and ahead of her she glimpsed the bright colours of summer clothes.
She came into a clearing in the trees, where three long wooden tables had been set up. Huge logs lying beside them were used as seats. A young woman was sitting at one of the tables, with plastic cups and plates, scraps of food, and several toys spread all about: a ball, a train, a scribble pad, dozens of coloured bricks. The woman was laughing, and her boy was running around on the grass, pretending to do some stupid thing or other.
Teresa felt sick at the sight of them, stupid middleclass bastards with too much money and spare time. With a deliberate movement she brought the gun out from her jacket with a wide swinging motion of her hand. She had seen that in a movie somewhere. She cocked the gun.
That wonderful sound of efficient machinery, ready for action. She worked the mechanism three or four more times, relishing it.
The noise had made the woman turn towards her. The fucking stupid child just kept on running about, but the woman was calling to it, holding out her arms protectively.
As Grove advanced on them, his gun levelled, Teresa thought, 1 can't take any more of this!
She Located, Identified ... retreated instantly from the scenario and from the mind of Gerry Grove.
Copyright (0 GunHo Corporation in all territories
A silent darkness fell. Teresa walked home miserably to the hotel afterwards, sick at heart.
CHAPTER 29
A Ithough the feeling of being conspicuous never left her, Teresa found that one advantage of her frequent visits to the ExEx building was that the staff began to take her presence for granted. They would let her use the computer 1
