Game Master Read online

  “No,” the GM replied. “You would know if he did. There’s only you who has figured it out yet.”

  “Why are you doing this? Why?”

  His laugh was cold, and a sinister trickle of liquid ice slid up my spine when he spoke. “Oh, come now, Dr Griffiths, you and I both know that the thrill of the chase, the pursuit of one’s prey, long before the exhilaration of the kill, is the best high known to man…”

  I threw the phone across the room, relishing in the smash when it hit the wall and broke to pieces on the floor, cutting off what I knew his next words would be.

  “Fuck you, you cunt! You need to talk to me again, buy a new damn phone!”

  I couldn’t listen to him anymore. I knew one more noxious word that spewed off his tongue would send me spiralling into the realms of insanity. Towards the dark chasm in my mind that I kept locked away from everyone, including myself.

  Dropping back onto the bed, I placed my hands over my face and let out a silent scream. Yet, to my mind, it was ear-splitting, the deafening sound of slowly and torturously being annihilated, piece by fucking piece. My heart thudded laboriously, the crush of my past crippling it as it grew tired of being used.

  Tears sprung to my eyes, and I quickly wiped them away. I wouldn’t allow him to see my hopelessness, from wherever the hell it was he watched us from.

  The Game Master had just placed a timer above my own head. Except I couldn’t see the minutes ticking by. I couldn’t watch the countdown to my death. I didn’t know how long I had before Caelan Fen destroyed me more than the GM ever could.

  Day 4

  19:45

  “Let’s go to the pub,” Caelan said as soon as I walked into his kitchen.

  “Are we allowed?”

  He shrugged and picked up his keys. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. I need to get drunk.”

  Not having much choice, I grabbed my coat and followed him out of the house that had become our prison cell.

  22:12

  Caelan was drunk. So was I for that matter. His face was becoming a little blurry, and I embraced the numbness the effect of the alcohol had on my mind. I needed a few hours of being a nonentity. I didn’t want to think, or to worry. My mind was as weary as my body.

  In a way, it felt wrong, sat in a pub drinking while our families were going through hell, but I had resigned myself to the fact that even if Caelan and I were sat on his sofa, thick with worry, they would all still be tied to a chair, fearing for their lives. We had both been overthinking the clues, and the answer wouldn’t come while we looked too hard. That much I did know.

  “I don’t know how you do it,” I remarked with a slight slur as Caelan told me about a few of his cases. “When you know they’re innocent, but you still have to lock them up.”

  He shrugged but twisted the corner of his mouth. “It’s the jury that sends them down. Not me. I only have my gut instinct to go on. If I had evidence to substantiate their innocence, then they’d walk. If a case is lacking proof and all indications point to that individual, then it has to go to court.”

  “But surely your opinion matters.”

  “Not always.”

  I got his frustration, and if I was honest, the law had more loopholes than a packet of Cheerio’s, yet I still found it wrong.

  As if he wanted to change the subject, he abruptly asked, “Do you miss him?”

  “If you’re talking about my husband, then yes, of course I miss him.”

  “How long were you married for?”

  He watched me over the rim of his glass as he took a drink. He was always watching, studying everything I did or said. I supposed it was part of his job, but I wasn’t sure I liked being scrutinised so much.

  “We were childhood sweethearts. He was older than me by five years, and I fell in love with him when I was a teenager.” So far nothing I divulged could be delved deeper into, so I allowed him his questioning. Hopefully it would lead him on a different path than the one I didn’t want to venture down.

  “So, you met at school then?”

  Shaking my head, I took a drink then placed my glass back on the table before he noticed the slight tremble of my hands. “No, he worked for my father.”

  Suddenly aware of the silence that had developed in the busy pub, I frowned and looked up.

  “Shit!”

  Frank was leaning on the bar, his massive frame making the other drinkers look like dwarves. He was watching me intently, and when my eyes met his, he lifted a brow and jerked his head towards the door, then pushed off the bar and sauntered out.

  Like he had sucked all the oxygen out of the room when he had entered, the patrons once again took a breath when he left. Frank was notorious in every part of London, the whole of Britain for that matter, and I could only imagine the landlord’s relief when he walked back out without shit kicking off.

  “What’s going on?” Caelan asked when I excused myself.

  “Nothing,” I murmured as I knocked back the last of my whisky. “I’ll be right back.”

  I purposely kept my eyes from his. Caelan had a skill of interpreting someone’s integrity from their body language, and although I could no longer hide the shake in my hands from him, I was determined he wouldn’t see the lie through my gaze.

  The back door to Frank’s car was open, awaiting me, and I climbed inside.

  “Wanna tell me what’s going on, Missy!” Frank barked as soon as I had pulled the door closed. The windows were blacked out, yet the darkness did nothing to shroud the formidable form that took up half of the back seat beside me.

  “I can’t,” I stated, and held up a hand to stop him when he opened his mouth to cut in. “But it isn’t because I don’t want to. Just that, right now, it endangers my life.”

  “That cunt you’re drinking with endangers your life, Ness. Do you know that?”

  “I didn’t, but I do now.”

  He blew out a breath, his frustration growing more with every passing second. Narrowing his eyes, he glared at me. “If he finds out who you are…”

  “He won’t. Not yet anyway.”

  “And your promise?”

  “As if I’m likely to forget!” I hissed out, growing annoyed myself. “It will be upheld, Frank. I made a promise, and you know me by now. I won’t go back on it!”

  Observing me for a moment, he eventually relented and nodded his head. “Okay. I’ll give you four weeks. No longer.”

  “That’s enough time. Thank you.”

  “Nah, don’t thank me, sweetheart. Just give me what I want, and all’s good.”

  I swallowed the lump that had formed. The Game Master hadn’t a clue how much he had changed my life, even after the game would end. I had made a promise to Frank that I would uphold. I had also made one to myself. I would find this fucker if it was the last thing I did. And then I would make him pay in the only way I knew how. With a shit ton of pain!

  Day 5

  15:45

  It was nearly dusk when the Game Master finally decided Game Five was to begin. Caelan and I had sat all day, both eager for and dreading the moment when the iPad would light up.

  When it did, I wasn’t remotely prepared for the sheer horror this next game brought with it.

  ‘Go to Trinity House and the maze within.

  There you’ll find your sister Carolyn.

  But be quick, Dr Griffiths, and ‘bee’ware of game five,

  because, as you know, Carolyn’s allergic to the hive.’

  Trepidation created from the riddle turned to absolute terror when the words on the screen changed to an image.

  Carolyn sat on a chair, enclosed entirely within a ventilated Perspex box. Above her head was a beehive that was suspended from a chain held by what appeared to be an electronic locking device.

  “No!” I could barely voice my fear with the restriction in my throat. Rage mixed with panic and I stood frozen with shock as I stared at the image of my little sister’s tear-ridden face. I was struggling to breathe, and my
legs shook.

  “Nessa!”

  Caelan’s voice broke through the buzzing in my ears, and I looked at him blankly. I couldn’t seem to get a hold of myself. Absolute fright made me deaf, dumb, and blind.

  “I’m guessing by your reaction that Carolyn is allergic to bees?”

  I nodded.

  “Come on!” he urged.

  I stood frozen to the spot and turned towards the sound of his voice. He was by the front door, waiting for me. His coat and my medical bag were in his hands, and the hard lines of his face grew evermore rigid as time ticked by.

  Growling under his breath, he took my hand and physically made me move.

  16:12

  Trinity House loomed high and intimidating when Caelan pulled the car into a parking space in front of the opening for the gardens. Appearing daunting as the sun set behind it, the grand manor cast a shadow across the empty carpark. I shivered with the chill that had settled both inside and outside of me.

  It wasn’t until my door opened that I realised Caelan had exited the car.

  “Nessa, you need to get a grip!”

  He was right, but I couldn’t shake the fear that had burrowed into the marrow of my bones. In some ways, I wanted Carolyn to still be tied to the chair with my mother by her side, and the man in black hovering behind her with the katana. Because it would be a far better death for her than the suffering she would go through with a simple bee sting!

  I gasped when Caelan grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the car. “Get – a – fucking - grip. If you want your sister to live, then you have to bury the anxiety from your fear and use the adrenaline from it!”

  Squeezing my eyes closed, I hunted for that little bubble in my veins, the flicker of fury that my Denny had taught me to draw on. The wrath and hatred that had cursed me since my childhood had, countless times, been the only weapon I had needed. Except, now, I didn’t need ammunition, I needed strength. And hope.

  Carolyn was relying on me. It was that simple. And I couldn’t let her down.

  When I felt the icy trickle of rage slither into my heart, I blew out a steadying breath and reopened my eyes.

  Caelan frowned, as if I were a stranger he’d only just met. He didn’t voice his confusion though, luckily. He wanted the ruthless bitch, well that’s who he got!

  “Come on!” I shouted over my shoulder when I dipped through the archway that led to the vast gardens surrounding the manor house.

  Trinity House was a stately home that opened to the public throughout the year, and, fortunately, I had walked through the gardens on more than a few occasions, and now I knew my way around blindfolded.

  Tears stung my eyes when I ran past the large fountain, and I blinked them away. Misery would do no good now. My heart ached as images of Denny, bent on one knee with a sparkling diamond ring in his shaking hands, forced their way into my mind. Although, I smiled at the memory of him dancing in the cascading water of the fountain after I had said yes.

  A thought tapped on my mind and pushed away the visions. My footing stumbled, and my breath caught in my throat as an icy shiver ran over me, but Caelan caught up with me and grabbed my hand. “Quickly, we only have fifty minutes left!”

  I’d have to deal with my thoughts later because right now my sister needed me, and time was running out.

  Day 5

  16:27

  00:46

  ‘Tamper with the lock until the cogs align,

  for entry behind bars covered in twisted vine.

  There are lots and lots of different ways,

  that lead you to the core of the maze.

  Will you go left, or take the path to the right,

  and make it in time before the bees take flight?’

  Why had the bastard picked the very thing Denny had been unable to teach me? Lockpicking. It was as if he was punishing me for my failures. My husband had grown impatient with me and had given up trying after my numerous disasters at opening the simplest of locks. ‘Never make a safecracker, baby,’ he would say with a frustrated shake of his head. Not that I had ever really needed to crack a safe, but now I wished I’d persevered and mastered the art.

  “Damn it!” I hissed out as I snatched up the lockpick from where it hung on a little hook beside the gate to the maze.

  Caelan reminded me of my husband. His many sighs of exasperation had been heard by my ears too many times, and it just made my attempts all the more unsuccessful. I was becoming as frustrated as he was.

  “Come on then, big guy. If you think you can make better progress than me!” I barked at him with a fierce glare.

  Caelan calmly took the small tool from me and sighed.

  I gnashed my teeth together when after around two minutes, the padlock clicked open. Caelan gave me a smug grin as he pushed open the gate and held out a hand, signalling for me to go first.

  “Used to be a criminal in your past life, huh?” I remarked with a glower as I stepped through the open gateway.

  “Well, you obviously weren’t!”

  Luckily my back was to him when my lips tilted into a knowing smirk. “Oh, you have no idea, Detective,” I whispered to myself.

  My heart raced as I stood at the entrance of the maze. Several times I had done battle with this twisting pathway of hedgerow, and only once had I conquered it.

  “Today,” I said quietly, “I will beat you a second time.” My voice held more conviction than my heart, but once again I called upon the strength I knew I kept deep inside me.

  And I took a step forward.

  00:38

  Caelan passed me my medical bag, and I dipped in and pulled out two prefilled EpiPen’s. Handing him one, he slid it into his jacket pocket and then gave me his pistol. “You know how to fire?”

  I nodded. “But what about you?”

  “I’ll be fine. You need it more than me. The magazine is full.”

  I checked the safety was on and then slipped it into the front of my waistband. “Okay. Thank you.”

  “It will be quicker if we split up. I’ll take the left, you go right.”

  I peered down the right-hand entrance, the long, dark passageway hopefully not hiding any surprises. Then again, we had to prepare for any eventuality where the GM was concerned. Hence the gun.

  “Be careful, Nessa. And good luck. We’ll get to her in time, I promise.”

  I nodded, praying he was right, and then set off running.

  00:32

  The high hedgerow isolated any light that was left of the day, so grabbing my torch, I flicked it on and illuminated my way forward.

  “I won’t let you beat me, not today,” I said to each corner I came across. But my enemy was much smarter than me, and quite a few times I found myself back at the beginning.

  “God damn you! Please.”

  I tore open my shirt, grateful that I was wearing a vest underneath, then zipped my coat back up when the cold winter night assaulted my warm body. Collecting the buttons that dropped to the floor I held them tight in my hand.

  At the next junction, the choice of left or right ridiculing me, I stepped onto the left path and placed a button on the floor. The next intersection of pathways, I stepped right and planted another button.

  A few times I found myself back on the same path, but where I had placed a button left, I went right, and vice versa until I knew I was gaining an advantage on the ruthless labyrinth.

  Not once did I come across Caelan, and I could only pray he had got to Carolyn before me.

  00:17

  Turning a corner, I stopped dead and frowned when I heard a sound. Spinning around, I tilted my head and listened harder. It sounded like panting, extremely heavy panting. Caelan wasn’t that unfit.

  It grew louder. The blood in my veins turned to icy terror, and my heart beat stuttered when the panting ceased, and a long, feral growl took its place.

  “Fuck!” I heard Caelan shout before heavy footsteps rebounded along what seemed to be the adjacent path to me.

  “O
h, shit!” I murmured as I pulled out the gun and set off into a sprint.

  Day 5

  16:58

  Caelan

  00:15

  The beast was hungry, I could tell that much. Although, I could have been mistaken, and he was totally attracted to me in a romantic way.

  My chest was tight, and my lungs burned from the limited amount of oxygen I was able to draw in between each heavy pant.

  Another corner, another never-ending passage.

  Luckily, I had managed to keep hold of the torch; I’d have definitely been fucked otherwise.

  “Caelan?” I heard Nessa shout, but I couldn’t see her.

  I didn’t have enough breath to return her call, so instead, I raised the beam of my torch a little, praying that she would catch sight of it.

  The dog – scrap that, it was a bloody wolf! – Was gaining on me. I could almost smell its rancid breath in the air around me, taste its appetite for blood on the tip of my tongue.

  Another corner. Another dark pathway that appeared to go on for miles.

  Why wouldn’t the fucker slow down? He was insatiable. The sound of it pushing itself closer to me had the muscles in my legs burning with the strain of powering on.

  “Caelan?” Her voice was closer, and this time I caught sight of her torchlight at the end of the pathway.

  I swung my light upwards, trying to get her attention. It was a stupid thing to do.

  Unable to see directly in front of me when a large tree towered overhead, killing what little natural light there was, my foot stubbed a gnarled tree root, and I stumbled. Dropping my torch, I slammed my hands onto the gravel to stop my forehead finding the ground first. The pain in my shoulder from the gunshot wound took my breath and I cried out.