Whale Dentists (aka Bike) Part 636 by Angharad

We did our shopping and I sent the girls into the house ahead of me while I went to collect the last bag of groceries. I bent to pick the bag out of the car and something hard was poked in my back. “Get in the car,” said a female voice.

“So you can kill me?” I spat back.

“If I wanted to kill you, I could have done so already, and also your two children.”

“If I get into the car will you promise me you’ll leave my girls alone?”

“If you don’t get in the car, I won’t promise you anything.”

Hoping that I would be able to work out an escape later. I got in the driver’s seat and the mysterious female got in behind me. In the rear-view mirror, I could see a gun pointed at my head. I swallowed and started the engine. I pulled the car up to the end of the drive, “Where do you want to go?” Presuming she wanted to find somewhere quiet to kill me.

“This gun is pointed at your spine, so don’t do anything foolish, unless you wish to die.”

She seemed to know where she wanted to go and instructed me to drive up to the downs. I felt as if I should be seeing my life flash before me, but keeping my sweaty hands on the wheel was difficult enough.

Finally, she made me turn into a small car park, I’d never seen before, which looked a bit like an old chalk quarry. A good place to shoot someone, I thought.

My mind was racing, trying to work out how to escape, except there was no way. This car would be my coffin, and she might well set fire to it afterwards to destroy evidence. If she did, I hoped she killed me quickly. I felt a tear run down my face as I realised I’d never see the children or Simon again.

I stopped the car and pulled up the handbrake. “Switch off the engine and drop the keys on the floor.” I did as I was told, it seemed to me to be a strange instruction.

“You’re Olga, aren’t you?” I posited.

“Yes, I am.”

“I’d have thought you’d want to be as far away from me as possible.”

“I have unfinished business.”

The tears in my eyes continued to flow, even though I didn’t want her to see me crying. I assumed my execution was the business that wasn’t finished. We sat there for several seconds. There was nothing I could do, belted into the seat preventing me from any rapid moves and besides I’d be dead before I’d half finished them.

“You are a courageous woman, Catherine.”

“You’re hardly short of bottle yourself,” I replied, hoping she understood.

“Two or more weeks ago, I would have taken great pleasure in killing you and all your family.”

“Even my children?”

“Yes, even them.”

“That is a dreadful thing to say.”

“I didn’t think so at the time. I wanted revenge for those of mine your family had caused to be killed.”

“I had nothing to do with it, nor as far as I know did Simon or Henry.”

“So I have since found out.”

“Why are you holding me a prisoner then?”

“Because, it was the only way.”

“Only way to do what, kill me?”

“I have not said I would kill you.”

“You did when we got in the car.”

“I did not, you made that assumption. I have come to say goodbye.”

“Then kill me?”

“If you don’t stop this nonsense about killing people, I will just to shut you up.” I took the hint and kept quiet. “You could have killed me that night at your father in law’s castle.”

“I don’t believe in killing except in self defence and protection of my family.”

“Instead of killing me or allowing me to kill Lord Henry, you threw yourself at me, with sufficient timing for the gun to discharge away from Henry. You could have been killed yourself. It was an act of selfless heroism.”

I said nothing in case I angered her, she was still holding a gun which looked very real to my unpractised eye.

“Your selflessness made me think about what this whole vendetta was about. I sent to Russia for more information, and it seemed that Henry and Simon, were not really involved in the gang war in which we had fared so badly.”

“Your English, is excellent.”

“It should be, I read English at St Petersburg and Cambridge.”

“I went to Sussex.”

“I know, I know all about you, everything there is to know, including your life as Charlie, the name of your psychiatrist and the surgeon who fixed your little problem. I think you are very brave, to have given up first class male status to become a second class female, even if you marry an aristocrat, you’ll still be female.”

“I believe some things are worth doing, that was one of them, besides as a feminist I shall fight for the cause of women all over the world, not just here. I think many women in the Middle East and Afghanistan have a dreadful lot in life. I’d like to help if I can–except the government think fighting wars is the answer, whereas I think education is the answer. It takes longer but has a lasting effect–wars just cause lots of suffering and resentment.”

“Saint Catherine, I’ve heard you called by your colleagues. I can see why.”

“I’m no saint, I can assure you.”

“I know all about you, Santa Catrina, everything. You are too good to die. This feud, it is over. Au revoir.”

I braced myself for the bullet which would end my life, I didn’t believe anything she said. A car came screaming up behind and I heard and felt the rear door of my car close with a bump. The bang of it almost gave me a heart attack. The car roared off and I sat there in stunned silence. The tears really flowed, I was still alive–and I howled the place down.

It took me maybe half an hour to get myself together. I picked up the keys and started the car. Mine was the only car in the car park. Was it some sort of trap? I drove out very gingerly, but there was no one else around. Then I put my foot down and rushed home as fast as I could.

“Where have you been, Mummy?” said Trish running out to the car.

“I forgot the cheese,” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.