face. She fell forward, stunned.
‘Stop wasting time. Open it.’
Shaking, she got to her feet. The padlock and the chain came into focus. You could use that chain for something. It was thick and heavy. Griffin was edgy, constantly looking around behind his back, waiting for whoever might try to come up behind him out of the dark. She put the key in the padlock, unlocked it, let the chain slide to the ground with a thud. She unlocked the door. It swung inwards. Griffin grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back and then sideways. Sara came rolling out, staggered to her feet, making noises behind the handkerchief in her mouth. Griffin looked at her and laughed. He pushed Grace forward.
‘Get that handkerchief out.’
She reached and pulled it out quickly, jerking her hand back. Sara spat. There was dirt on her face and in her hair.
‘He hit me!’ she shouted.
‘Why did you open the hut?’ Griffin shouted back simultaneously.
‘Just get these ropes off me.’
Griffin pushed Grace to the ground till she lay face down in the dirt, pointing the gun at her. Sara suddenly kicked her in the stomach. She gasped but kept her eyes open. From where she lay, she could see the chain on the ground. Keep your eyes on it. Don’t let it slip away.
‘Turn around,’ Griffin said to Sara. With the knife in one hand and the gun in the other, he cut the ropes.
Sara turned and directed a few more kicks into Grace where she lay on the ground. She gasped but didn’t call out and kept her eyes open. Have a baby; be in labour for twelve hours before you’re rushed into an emergency Caesarean-it teaches you about pain.
Griffin had put the knife back in his pocket. ‘Go check his car,’ he said.
Sara sprinted up the slope to the car.
‘It’s locked,’ she called back, almost shrieking. ‘He’s out there. Just shoot her. Let’s go.’
Griffin turned towards her, away from Grace in the dirt. Grace pulled herself up on all fours, pretending to retch, edging a little away.
‘I didn’t want to just shoot her. Fuck you, why did you have to open the hut? I told you not to!’ he shouted.
Grace snatched at the chain and was on her feet. He turned and, with both hands, she smashed it across his face with all the strength she had coupled with her desperation. He fell back and she hit his hand, cracking the bone. The gun fell to the ground. Before she could reach for it, Sara was coming for her, screaming. Griffin stumbled back, shouting in pain, one hand on his face. Blood began streaming from his nose. Grace met Sara full on and knocked her back. In this grip, they twisted like mad dancers. In the melee, the gun got kicked away into the dark past the two cars. Grace thought she heard it hit something. Sara struggled like someone possessed but Grace got her on her pressure points, holding her between herself and Griffin.
‘Make her let me go. She’s hurting me,’ Sara wailed.
Griffin had his knife. He was holding it in his left hand, not his right. His mouth was open. Blood was pouring down his face and shirt.
‘Are you going to come at me with that knife?’ Grace shouted at him. ‘Or will you put it in Sara first? I think you would if you wanted to. You make her do everything else. Why not make her die for you?’
‘He’s behind you,’ Sara shrieked as Harrigan came out of the dark, spanner raised to bring it down on Griffin’s head.
Griffin leaped sideways, feinted with the knife, then stumbled backward off balance, falling and twisting one leg. The spanner missed.
Sara tore herself out of Grace’s grip with enough strength to knock her backward. She leaped onto Harrigan’s back and began to claw at his eyes. Griffin got to his feet, scrabbling for his knife. Harrigan dragged at Sara with one hand, pulling her hair, swinging around. She clung on. Then he swung away, falling back heavily against the car, knocking the breath out of her. She lay in the dirt, gasping.
Harrigan still had the spanner. Griffin had the knife. They circled each other, Harrigan with one eye on Sara. He was between Griffin and the car.
Grace had picked herself up. Find the gun. It’s over here somewhere. Find it.
‘You always put her in the front line, don’t you,’ Harrigan said, contempt in his voice. ‘You get women to do your dirty work. What does that make you? A pimp.’
Sara was dragging herself to her feet. Grace scrambled in the dark. Griffin said nothing.
‘You want to get to your car, don’t you?’ Harrigan said. ‘That’s why you’re coming at me. You want to make a run for it. That’s you. You’re a coward.’
Griffin’s face was dead. There was no reaction in it to any of Harrigan’s taunts. He was choking on blood in his nose and trying to breathe through his mouth at the same time. Suddenly he took out his car keys and threw them to Sara. Still shaken, she missed catching them and they landed in the dirt.
‘Get them! Start the car,’ he shouted, but Harrigan ran between her and the keys, still holding the spanner.
‘We can get him,’ Griffin said. ‘You and me. We can.’
Both of them moved towards Harrigan as if to come at him from each side.
‘Get the keys!’ Griffin shouted at Sara.
‘Come near me and I’ll use this spanner on you,’ Harrigan said.
She hesitated, her mouth open.
‘He won’t.’
‘Yes, I will. What are you doing sending a woman to do your work? Face up to it yourself. Put your knife down and fight me man to man. You don’t want to do that, do you? You wouldn’t have an advantage.’
Sara jumped forward, stopped. Harrigan laughed at her.
‘Always in the front line. People see you but not him. He hides where no one can see him. What a cheap piece of shit he is.’
She ran at him again, just a little, stopped. Griffin suddenly raced for the keys. A bullet cracked in front of him. Everybody froze. Grace walked forward carrying her gun.
‘Kneel down,’ she said. ‘Both of you. Get down in the dirt. Now.’
Her voice was unrecognisable with anger.
‘She won’t fire,’ Griffin said, but his voice was shaking.
‘Oh yes, I will. Get down!’
They knelt.
‘This isn’t happening,’ Sara said, and began to cry.
Harrigan walked over to Grace, always keeping an eye on the two people kneeling on the ground. There was a quick glance between them, small emotional electricity communicated.
‘Are you all right, babe?’
‘I’m okay. What happened to your shoes?’
‘Gone.’
‘Like mine.’
Other than the one quick glance, she hadn’t taken her eyes off Griffin and Sara.
‘He’s got a mobile. It’s in the Camry’s glovebox,’ she said.
‘I’ll get it.’ He turned to walk to the car.
‘Eat dirt,’ Grace said. ‘Both of you. Eat it!’
Harrigan stopped and turned. ‘Babe-’
She wasn’t listening. ‘If there was shit, I’d get you to eat shit. But there’s only dirt. Now eat it!’
‘No,’ Sara said.
‘Why not? You’ve done much worse things than that. Eat it!’
Harrigan spoke softly in Grace’s ear. ‘Just keep them under control, babe. That’s all you need to do. Do this and you’ll lose control.’
‘He’s made me kneel in the dirt. He wanted to cut my throat and burn us alive. He said that people always crawl, they always cry. Well, now you can eat some dirt!’
Griffin reached down, scooped up a handful of dirt and began to eat it, his face expressionless. Sara put her
