A pick-up truck slammed into them, appearing out of nowhere, smashing its bull bars into their right front wing. The tyre burst and their forward trajectory was deflected, and they hit the ditch. The airbags deployed. George, driving, saw a bright flash of light then darkness. The car slid sideways and fell into the ditch, coming to a stop on its side. Ana too had lost consciousness briefly. Her seat belt felt super tight, and she tried to think why her shoulder weighed heavily on the door. Then she realised to her horror they were on their side. Her forward view was clear above the water line and greasy below it. Trickling through the door seal was cold dank water. It pooled in the footwell. Above her, no longer beside her, was George. He was out cold. Blood dripped from a wound to the right side of his head like a bizarre, scarlet-coloured, clotted cream, at first. Then the dripping became like a tap not shut off properly. Onto Ana’s face. It felt warm and smelt coppery. As she looked up to him a drop splashed into her right eye.
An engine roared and something slammed into their wrecked car again, jamming the car into the ditch. Filthy water, dirtier in the bottom of the ditch, was displaced onto the road. A door closed on a car somewhere nearby.
‘What now?’ she thought. As she got her thoughts together, seeing through the shock and trauma of the impact. Head butting the airbag and snapping to a stop in an instant had dazed her.
She saw, past poor unconscious George, the top of a head, with wiry hair. The car was so far over in the ditch that the tall man had to climb to see inside. She decided to fake being out cold. She could hear him clambering over the side. The door handle twanged as he tried to open the door. But the angle and the smashed wing prevented the door from budging. He slid down and stood beside the car.
Ana risked a look and saw the wiry hair again for a flash as he slid onto the road. He walked to the rear of the car, prompting her to act dead, again. The rear hatch was locked, or the central locking had jammed too. The man cursed, in Russian.
‘Blad!’
The voice chilled her to her core. Russian.
Now I’m a whore as well, thought Ana.
Her left foot was wet, and the water leaked in steadily. She was ankle-deep now. Her elegant heels were ruined. Blood dripped, wet and warm and coppery. One big drop caught the corner of her mouth, running along her lips and dropped onto the inside of the door.
She was still so uncoordinated from the impact but the taste of her boyfriend’s blood in her mouth boosted her energy. She was filled with anger and adrenalin. Unsure if she was being observed she unclicked her seat belt while holding the belt tight across her with her right hand. It was so tight, but when released it relieved the tightness across her neck.
Under the floor, she heard a noise, like a metal rod prising at something. With a violent, metallic wrenching, sound it stopped. Immediately she guessed what was happening. There wasn’t much time. A fresh pair of sounds now. A pattering of liquid hitting the road and a tank, discharging. And then a third sound. Another car engine.
This is at the start of Riverfire, mainly set (after this episode) in Brisbane. It is part four of my Spanish House series. here is the cover, for now, but that may change.
To explain, the Australian national anthem talks about it as a land of flood and fire - cyclones and bushfires in other words. Brisbane has a continuous river full of barges laden with fireworks to signify the end of their Riverfire Festival. Like their version on the Edinburgh Festival. Insanely, they have an Air Force jet fly between the shy scrapers as above until it reaches the Story Bridge (lesser known than the other one, Sydney Harbour Bridge). It is shown above. See the link to the YouTube video of the skill involved and the scary flying for the C-17A Globemaster pilot, over the river between the towers. At 2.26 in the video (it’s a 360-degree video too) look over to the right and see the fourteen-storey tower featured in the climax of the novel. I do give you the best locations in this series. Loving Substaack too.
I hope to have given you something new with this post. Imagine this is in the old Health and Safety conscious UK. best of all is the computerised voice warning of the proximity of the buildings.
If you’d like more like this let me know.
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