Johnson had opened the rear drivers’ side passenger door and pushed his captive ahead of him. All four were now in the vehicle and the whole operation had taken less than a minute.

‘Quiet; sit still; Nobody say a fucking word.’

He looked around at the scene alongside the petrol pumps. There was no commotion of any kind, no one looking or pointing in their direction. Everybody was just going about their normal business of pulling up at the pumps, filling up and paying their money at the kiosk. Nobody could see easily into the back of the car with its dark tinted windows and Johnson smiled as he realised that it was the perfect vehicle.

‘Right John boy, nice and slowly, we’re going to drive out the petrol station and back onto the motorway. Don’t be drawing any attention to the car, nice and easy does it. With your left hand, take hold of the blade of the knife loosely between your finger and thumb and pass it back to me. Nothing sudden. Understand?’

John didn’t reply. He just passed the knife behind him. Although he was disgusted at himself for having treated this poor woman in this way, he knew he had no choice. Had she resisted in any way, Johnson would as likely as not have taken great pleasure in causing her real pain.

She still hadn’t said a word.

‘Where’s the keys’ said john quietly. She still said nothing.

‘Just give me the keys and we’ll get going. I’m not going to hurt you.’

The passenger seat was moving as John saw her shaking, her right hand clenched in a fist. Still she said nothing. Where before her mouth had been flapping open and closed. Now, it was locked shut in abject terror. He could see the veins on her face and jaw standing out as she clenched her teeth together. Johnson leaned close behind her left ear and in a deeply menacing voice said,

‘give him the fucking keys or I’ll stick you here.’

She could see the glint of the blade out of the corner of her right eye but she was powerless to do or say anything. The tears streamed down her cheeks but still she could not act. John saw that her clenched fist was holding a key fob and he said to Johnson,

‘it’s all right, she’s got the keys in her hand, don’t hurt her, she can’t do anything. She’s not being obstructive, she can’t help it.’

He took hold of her right hand in both his hands. He tried to be gentle; he knew she was absolutely traumatised. Her hands were closed so tightly around the keys that he had to force her fingers apart. As he opened her fingers one by one, he saw that the key had cut into the palm of her hand. Now that her hand was open, the blood began to freely flow. He shook her gently. No response. He took her face in his hand and turned it towards him and she looked in his direction. She still didn’t speak. Her eyes were screaming at him. She tried to open her mouth but it was as though someone had put a tight band around her chin.

‘Have you got a handkerchief or something in your bag?’

She nodded.

‘Roll it up and put it in the palm of your hand and close your hand again like a fist. Okay?’ At the same time as quietly telling her what to do, he was demonstrating the same using his own hand as a guide.

Again she nodded and began to move. He took the keys from her and started the car. He was hoping that she hadn’t filled up and that they had got her car empty. That way, her ordeal would be over sooner rather than later as they would probably ditch the car for another. No such luck. She had just filled up and had also bought a few sandwiches and bottles of pop for the kids, along with some bags of sweets. Johnson, either by good fortune or good judgement had chosen his new victim well. They had plenty of petrol and food to do them for quite a few hours; John’s heart sank once more as he headed back onto the motorway.

He was trying desperately to think of some way that he could let this poor terrified woman know that he was as much a victim as she was. He couldn’t let her believe that he was part of this evil unfolding before her. He had to make Johnson believe that she was more of a liability by keeping her than by letting her go.

‘Don’t you think it would be better if we dump her?’

Johnson was surprised by the venom in his drivers’ voice. The new captive was shocked and even more terrified than a few moments before. She shrank back in her seat clutching the blood stained handkerchief ever more tightly. The quietly spoken words of a few minutes before were now replaced by an anger and aggression that she heard when her terror first began; she couldn’t come to terms with the split personality. She was completely confused. She had started to think that the man alongside her might not be as evil as the one behind.

‘What, do her and dump her?’ came the voice from the back.

John didn’t want this to get out of hand as he sensed that Johnson, leaning forward to speak to him, was becoming interested in John’s thoughts.

‘No. Just dump her at the side of the road. She’s going to be more of a pain in the arse the state she’s in.’

Johnson sat back in his seat once more as his initial excitement subsided. He thought quietly for a few minutes mulling over his thoughts and options. He could keep her in the car as extra insurance but with the two coppers already, didn’t make much sense to keep her. Yeah, probably better to dump her but where?

‘What did you have in mind?’

They were now passing the Services again at Stafford, going back up North towards Liverpool.

John was grateful that his initial idea hadn’t been dismissed out of hand and might even have whetted Johnson’s appetite for getting shut of his latest hostage and continued.

‘I was thinking that if we dumped her on the hard shoulder somewhere in between a couple of the emergency telephone boxes, it would take her at least half an hour to get to one of them and make any phone calls. We could even tape her mouth and tie her hands behind her back and that would give us even more time to get up the road.’

He couldn’t believe that he was talking in such a way. This was Jonson’s way of treating people not his. He had sworn on oath many years ago to carry out his duty without fear or favour and here he was now talking and acting like the scumbag sat behind him. He knew he was playing out the part, but he still had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.

The woman sat next to him began to cry quietly. Her jaw was loosening and she was able to open her mouth slightly. Her chin was slumped forward on her chest as the tears fell onto the front of her skirt causing another wet patch to form. The words came in short sharp emotional bursts.

‘Please don’t hurt me. My two children, my two kids,  are, are at, are at the nursery, ww, waiting for me. PP’Please let me see them again.’

John hated himself as he looked out of his drivers’ window to his right. He hated being the cause of such anguish and pain.

Johnson began to laugh in the back seat.

‘Shut the fuck up lady, you should be grateful that John boy here wants to let you live. The last woman he had in a car like this, he shagged senseless before stickin her didn’t you mate?’

John couldn’t look in the direction of the woman as she cringed and tried to squeeze further away from the monster in the driver’s seat. Johnson was relishing the humiliation of both the front seat occupants as Dave groaned in semi consciousness alongside him.

‘Yeah, fucked her brains out before slicing her like a kipper. One evil bastard he is. Don’t wanna mess with him love.’

As he looked out the side window, John fought hard to stop the bile rising in his throat. If I get the chance to do you Johnson, he thought to himself, I’ll fucking do it, oath or not.

‘Is this your car?’ john forced his head back to the front and spoke to his passenger.

‘It’s our car, my husband and me.’

‘Is there a toolkit or something in the boot?’