Free Beyond Fear by Jaye Ford Page B

gravel shift, realised he’d reached the parking pad.
    Jesus, they were boxing her and Hannah in. Jodie touched the cold metal pole she’d felt earlier, closed her fingers around it.
    ‘Hey, look, Hannah. I found the tyre iron,’ she said loudly, holding it up high so the dim light from the verandah could catch it.
    Hannah turned her head towards her briefly.
    The one on the right nodded with his chin. ‘What do you girls need a tyre iron for?’
    To beat the crap out of you if you come too close. ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Jodie tried to keep her voice steady as she swapped it to her right hand. She gripped it low and firm, like a tennis racquet. ‘Maybe a bit of indoor hockey. After twenty-five years running around a pitch, I reckon I could do as much damage with this as your average hockey stick.’ God, she hoped they got that message.
    Hannah turned her head towards Jodie again. Jodie wished she’d look back at the two men. They both needed to be on guard, needed to be ready to move. Jodie’s mind spun through the options. If she moved to her right, around the car, the two guys could go for Hannah. If she moved to her left, towards Hannah, she’d be tripped up in the luggage stacked at their feet and they’d both get grabbed. The car was behind them – not a rock but definitely a hard place and difficult to get under or over in a hurry. Okay, if you couldn’t talk your way out of it or run away from it, the only thing left was to fight. Fast and hard, like she taught her students. It was what an attacker least expected.
    ‘Jodie.’
    It took a moment for Hannah’s voice to register. Not the fact that she’d spoken but the way she’d said it. Her tone was low and quiet, like she was sending Jodie a message. But Jodie didn’t get it. It wasn’t ‘Jodie, be careful’, or ‘Jodie, watch out’, or ‘This is getting serious, Jodie’. It had a question mark at the end. Like, ‘What do we do now?’ No, that wasn’t the question. Jodie replayed Hannah’s voice in her head. It didn’t make sense. It sounded like, ‘What the hell are you doing, Jodie?’ She let her eyes leave the men for a second. Hannah’s face was in darkness but she was looking Jodie’s way. And she was shaking her head.
    ‘It’s cool, Jodie,’ she said softly then turned back to the two men. ‘We’ve got to get inside before we freeze our buns off. Enjoy your camping.’ She bent over, began picking bags up off the ground.
    Jodie studied the two visitors. They were watching her. Hands still in pockets, feet still planted. Ignoring Hannah picking up the bags, just watching her. Waiting maybe or assessing. Jodie straightened, squared her shoulders, raised the tyre iron a little, shook it about a bit, like she was testing its weight. Two men against two women, one with an iron bar that she knew how to use – assess that.
    Hannah nudged her along the car. Jodie took a few stiff steps, kept her eyes on the two men while they kept their eyes on her.
    ‘Don’t forget the icebag,’ Hannah said and pushed it at her empty hand.
    Jodie gripped its handle, thought about how best to swing it if she needed to. She took another sideways step, cleared the back of the car, heard Hannah drop the boot hood and waited until she’d slipped in behind her before she started moving towards the barn.
    The two men watched her all the way to the verandah. She paused at the bottom of the steps, the iron bar still clutched at her side. The man on the right nodded to the other one. They turned and walked in the direction he’d pointed to earlier. Jodie climbed the stairs and waited until she could no longer see their shadows in the dark then went inside, shut the door and turned the deadlock.
    Jodie leaned against the front door and closed her eyes. She was out of breath, the thin cotton singlet under her winter clothes was damp from sweat and her spine shook like a tuning fork.
    ‘What are you doing?’ Louise asked.
    Jodie opened her eyes, saw