‘I’m not going to turn my back on you, if that’s what you were hoping. Go on, get on with it. Or do you want a hand?’ He chuckled. ‘I’ll close my eyes, how’s that?’
He did.
It was only a split second but it was all Donna needed.
She lashed out with her right foot, driving it into Benton’s groin with all the power she could muster. She actually felt the bottom of his pelvic bone thump against her foot as she slammed his testicles up against the bone.
He howled in pain, the sound lost as the train hurtled into a tunnel.
Donna lunged at him, aware that his face was unprotected as he clutched at his genitals with both hands.
She raked his face with her nails, digging at his eyes, making him scream in renewed agony as she sheared a portion from his lower eyelid. Blood ran down his face. He tried to fight back, clutching at her throat and digging his thumbs into her Adam’s apple, but she bit into his thumb until she drew blood, kicking again at the big man. She drove three kicks into his shins and smashed her handbag into the side of his head. Possessed of a strength born of fear and rage, she rained blows onto him, pushing him against the lavatory door, which flew open.
His face scratched and bleeding, contorted in a grimace of pain and anger, Benton toppled backwards, one hand reaching for the knife.
The train was still inside the tunnel, the wind howling like a mad banshee through the open windows. The lights flickered on and off.
Donna threw herself clear of Benton’s groping hands.
She spun round and brought one heel down with tremendous force onto his outstretched hand.
The point of the heel crushed the tip of his index finger, splitting the nail as far as the cuticle. Blood burst from the shattered digit and Benton screamed again.
Donna turned as Ryker came at her, avoiding his clumsy attempts to grab her.
She was not so lucky with Benton, who sprang up and crashed into her, his arms locking around her waist, their combined momentum slamming them against the door.
The impact caused it to fly open. For what seemed like an eternity both of them were suspended in mid-air, filthy fumes pouring into the carriage from inside the tunnel.
Then the second passed.
Ryker tried to grab them but was too late.
They toppled out.
She knew she was going to die.
In that split second, as she and Benton fell from the train, Donna
The stench of the tunnel filled her nostrils; the roar of the train drummed in her ears. She felt weightless as they pitched into empty air.
Benton, in his terror, released his grip on her waist. His scream echoed madly inside the tunnel as he fell was slammed against the brickwork then bounced back against the speeding train, his body pulped by the impact.
Something inside Donna’s mind, some shred of self-preservation, made her shoot out a hand.
She managed to grip the frame of the window on the door which was flying open now, banging against the side of the train.
Hold on, her mind screamed.
She used all her strength to grip the frame, her body buffetted by the high-speed wind that swept against the train as it roared along. Her hair whipped around her face; she felt the icy chill filling her. Her fingers were beginning to go numb.
She was losing her grip.
The train burst free of the tunnel and Donna shouted in defiance, managing to get her other hand onto the frame, too. But all she could do was hang there from the side of the speeding train, unable to move, knowing her strength would eventually fade. It was only a matter of time before she fell.
‘Grab my hand,’ roared Ryker, extending a hand. ‘I’ll pull the door shut.’
He gripped the open door and pulled, one of his hands closing over Donna’s.
She had visions of him slowly unpeeling her fingers, prising them from the door until she fell.
But instead he used all his strength to heave the door shut, battling against the onrushing wind as the train continued to hurtle along.
Donna felt faint; she thought her grip was failing.
Ryker pulled the door another few inches, pulled her closer.
If only she could hang on ...
She felt her feet trailing through the weeds that grew at the side of the track, nettles and thistles tearing her skin as she was dragged through them at high speed.
‘Take my hand,’ Ryker shouted, bellowing to make himself heard. ‘I’ll pull you in.’
Donna didn’t have time to think. She hadn’t the luxury of considering her options.
She gripped his hand as tightly as she could, feeling a terrific wrench on her shoulders as he tried to haul her in, steadying himself against the door to ensure that he didn’t end up suffering the same fate as his companion.
‘Your other hand,’ he shouted. ‘Give me your other hand.’
She had one hand clamped in Ryker’s, the other wrapped round the door frame. If she relinquished her grip on the door she was completely at his mercy.
‘Come on,’ Ryker screamed at her.
There was another tunnel approaching, looming large and dark, ready to swallow her and the train.
She heard a loud roar and realized that the 125 was sounding its air horn. A warning as it entered the tunnel.
She looked ahead, saw the yawning black mouth and the dark hillside around it.
Saw the lights.
Lights which got brighter as they came closer.
There was another train coming the other way on the track next to her.
It would leave the tunnel as her own train entered.
There would be less than five feet between the massive engines.
She would be crushed between them.
Donna let go of the door and allowed Ryker to grab her other hand.
He pulled as the two trains drew closer.
‘Come on,’ he screamed and heaved her upwards, clutching at her dress to pull her inside while she held his arms, squirming her legs through the window.
They both fell in an untidy heap on the floor.
The other train swept past with a roar and a deafening hiss of air. Then it was gone.
Donna rolled onto her back, her eyes half-closed, her limbs numb. She could feel nothing but the cold, that seemed to have filled every pore of her body. Her ankles and shins were scratched and bloodied, her stockings shredded by the trackside weeds and nettles.
Ryker knelt beside her, shook her, rubbed her arms as if trying to restore the circulation. She was still cold. Numbingly, almost painfully cold and some of it was shock.
‘Why did you save me?’ she said quietly, looking at Ryker.
‘Because I need you alive,’ he said, still rubbing her arms.
‘I need information from you.’ He looked worried.
‘Who are you?’ she slurred, close to fainting.
He struck her hard across the face to prevent that.
