If getting out of bed yesterday was exciting then going into the village today felt like an event of epic proportions. The twins were putting a lot of preparation into it, everything was arranged with military-style planning that our parents would be proud of. We even had covert signs for danger and a backup rendezvous should we get split up. To ensure I stayed warm they wrapped me up in so many layers I could hardly move.

We were reasonably happy that we had not been followed here from London but we still didn’t want to hang about in the village any longer than necessary. With that in mind, our pub lunch idea was abandoned on safety grounds. When we got to the village we dropped Isla off at the small minimart with a shopping list (lube was at the top, just above wine) while Ava took me to the GP surgery. We arrived on time at eleven o’clock but the place was packed. We spoke to a very harassed-looking receptionist and gave her my name.

“Okay, yup, here you are. Down to see the nurse. Take a seat and we’ll call you.”

As she picked up a seemingly constantly ringing phone a second receptionist sat behind the desk.

“Busy today?” I asked the equally stressed-looking woman.

“Very. Our sister surgery in the next village has had an outbreak of norovirus. They’re not seeing patients so we’ve picked up their appointments here.”

“Any idea how long it’ll be before I’m seen?”

“Which doctor are you seeing?”

“I’m booked to see the nurse.”

“That’s not too bad, she is only about twenty minutes behind, the doctors are all over an hour late right now.”

“Thanks.”

By the time we’d sat down, Ava had already messaged Isla with an update. We waited twenty-five minutes to be seen and the friendly nurse had the stitches out in no time at all. It bloody hurt though, still, it was good to have the bandages off and not look like an extra from a war film any more.

“There, all done,” said the nurse, her smile hiding the stressful day she was having.

“And don’t worry, when your hair grows back you won’t be able to see the scar.”

“I don’t know,” said Ava, running her hand over my shaved head, “I kinda like it.”

The nurse smiled at us and said, “If you don’t mind me saying, you two make a lovely couple.”

I was about to set her straight when Ava said, “Awe, thank you. Right, come on lover, we’ve got to go.”

“Yes dear,” I said

Ava messaged Isla that we were done and our timing proved perfect, we arrived at the car at the same time. I got in the front passenger seat while Ava helped load the shopping in the boot.

We’re not considered residents of the village, we just have this holiday home we visit a few times a year. But we’ve been coming here for as long as I can remember and we know the village very well. Being so familiar with the place means you get a kind of sixth sense when something is a bit off. It’s hard to say exactly what it was about the man that caught my eye. He was tall and broad-shouldered with short-cropped hair, olive skin and a dark leather jacket, he just stood out from the normal villagers. As he got about twenty feet away his already quick pace broke into a run. The panic in me was instant. I shouted our prearranged emergency word as loud as I could just as I heard the boot slam shut.

“INCOMING!”

I looked in the review mirror and froze in fear. The twins were standing a few paces back from the car, their faces were obscured by the roof of the car but I could see each had a bulky, leather-clad arm around their necks. I had been told in the strongest terms that should anything like this happen I was not to get involved. This was namely because in my current state, with a broken arm and leg, I would only get in the way and make the twins' job harder. Despite their orders and my rising fear the instinct to get out and help was overwhelming. Before I could decide what to do my mind was made up for me. The first guy was now sprinting towards my car door. I hit the button to lock the doors just as he grabbed the handle. He shouted something I didn’t understand then started to try and smash the window in with his elbow. As he did a white van screeched to a halt in the middle of the road next to our car.

The two guys holding the twins were heavyset and towered over Isla and Ava. I turned to look behind me just as they sprung into action. Grabbing the arms around their necks both Isla and Ava used the same Judo move, holding the arm and pushing their hips back into their attackers they threw them forward and onto the ground with a thud and out of my sight. A split second later I heard two blood-curdling screams. Then Ava ran around to the front of the car, I unlocked the door and she jumped into the driver's side and started the engine. She was breathing heavily but seemed calm considering what was happening.

Ignoring the driver of the van, who got out and was making his way to his comrades on the ground, Isla stepped toward the man who’d been trying to get in my door. He took two steps towards her and threw a fierce right punch. Isla deftly stepped to one side, grabbed his wrist as it flew past her head and stuck her foot out. The man's momentum sent him flying to the ground, with Isla directing his fall towards the metal pole of a street sign. His face connected with the pole snapping his head backwards at an awkward angle.

What Isla did next had me aghast. Instead of getting in the car she turned and walked calmly over to the driver of the van who was helping his friend into the side door, presumably to make their escape. As he turned to fetch the second injured guy he saw Isla, but far too late. She threw a lightning-quick right punch that connected with the van driver's throat, directly on his Adam's apple. The man dropped to the floor coughing and spluttering. Isla got the van keys out of the ignition and dropped them down a drain, then calmly got in the back seat of the car. Ava hit the pedal and the sporty BMW flew forward with a screech, leaving a scene of carnage behind us.

“I got the lube,” said Isla.

~~~~~~

I was tapping the number plate of the van into my phone so I wouldn’t forget as we sped along the winding road out of the village. We’d only been going a few minutes when Ava suddenly pulled off the road and into the car park of a Pub called The Black Swan. We’d been here many times over the years with our parents.

“Why are we stopping?” I asked, still very panicked.

Isla hadn’t even looked up from her phone, she’d been messaging our parents with an update. Now we’d stopped she put her phone away.

“Good question, why are we stopping?”

Ava pulled the car into a space at the rear of the pub and turned the engine off.

“Everyone okay?” she asked.

“Yup,” Isla and I replied.

“This car park can’t be seen from the road and anyone following us would probably not expect us to stop so soon out of the village. Come on, let's go inside and call the police.”

Such calm, rational thought under pressure was mightily impressive. My instincts had been to keep going as fast and as far as we could. Ava went ahead to order drinks while Isla helped me inside. We found a table in the corner and plonked ourselves down.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine, a little shaken but I’ll be alright.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get out and help, I…”

“Jim…Jim, stop right there,” she said, stroking my shoulder, “It was a lot easier for Ava and me knowing you were safely tucked up in the car, it was one less thing to worry about. You did perfectly, it was exactly as we planned.”

A few minutes later Ava came over with a pot of tea, biscuits and a shot of whiskey each. She insisted we down the whisky and have sickly sweet tea with the biscuits to help with the shock.

While Ava was pouring the tea Isla said, “I’m worried about that guy who hit the sign. He wasn’t moving when we left, I may have broken his neck.”

“That’s his fucking issue Isla, he’d have broken your neck in a heartbeat,” said Ava.

“Yeah, I know, but still...” Isla said, looking very worried.

“We should call the police,” I said, getting my phone out.

“The people watching, the bystanders, they would have already called the local police by now. Here…” Isla fished out a card from her purse, “This is that guy from the Serious Organized Crime Agency running the investigation. He’ll know what to do.”

Isla called him and told him everything that had happened. He told us to stay put and wait for the local police. They arrived soon after and we spent the rest of the afternoon in that pub giving statements and talking to the Serious Organized Crime Agency on the phone. All four of the men who attacked us were arrested and all needed to be taken to hospital.

Isla’s guy who hit the pole was fine, just a concussion. The other two who initially held them both had broken arms but the driver whom Isla punched in the throat was in a bad way, she’d seriously damaged his windpipe. When the local police got to the pub and saw it was the two diminutive twins that caused all the damage, they were truly shocked. They never doubted the necessity of the force Isla and Ava used though. Right now the injured bad guys were staying quiet and there were no obvious links to the gang in London but we were reassured they would find a link eventually. When they searched the van the police found a handgun, loads of those plastic cuff things, gaffa tape and lots of plastic sheeting. That scared the shit out of all three of us.

It had all gone off so quickly that the full force of what happened took some time to hit me. These guys came fully prepared for…I honestly don’t know, were they going to kill us? Was that what the plastic sheeting was about, to wrap our bodies in? And how the hell did they find us? And when did they find us? Had they been watching us since we got here, waiting for us to leave the cottage? The more I thought about it the more scared I got. None of what the police told us made us feel any safer. Ava had been talking to one of the local detectives and then came over to Isla and me.

“I’m sure that fucker knows more than he is saying” she complained yet again.

“Of course he does, he’s not going to tell you everything he knows. You’d get more information flirting with one of the underlings than squeezing him,” I said.

“I’m not in a flirting mood,” she said.

Ava was beating herself up because when she got in the car there were still two active attackers and she had left Isla to deal with them alone. She’d done the right thing, even with the benefit of hindsight Isla and I could not see any way we could have had a better outcome. It still irked Ava though and she was taking it out on the police officers. 

The local police wanted us to stay in the village in case they needed us for the follow-up investigation. But we had long since decided to move on and were just paying the local Bobby’s lip service until we could get away from the village. We did call the serious organised crime agency in London though and inform them we’d be moving on fairly soon. They didn’t ask where we were going and we didn’t offer to tell them. We couldn’t tell them even if we wanted to, our next move was unknown to us.  

Our parents had a plan ready in case we were discovered here. Whilst they were laying a fake family holiday trail in the west country they had not been idle. When we told them what had happened they said that Mrs Coldwell, an old family friend in the village, had a parcel for us with instructions. As it was now clear that the bad guys had not bought the false trail our parents had been laying they were going to head home where they would put pressure on the police and busy themselves with whatever else they thought they could do to help. It may seem like the twins and I know what we’re doing but really we’re just following our parents’ instructions.

Our immediate plan was to finish up with these local police and get back to the cottage so we could pack up and leave. Where we were going even we didn’t know yet, we’d have to get the package from Mrs Coldwell to see what our parents had planned for us. Finally, at just after seven o’clock in the evening, two police cars followed us back to the cottage. They looked around and checked everything over and when they were sure we were safe they left us to it. As soon as the door closed and the last police officer left we got to work. The twins went upstairs and packed our stuff, we didn’t have much so it didn’t take long. I was in the kitchen, hobbling about and filling plastic bags with food and anything else I thought we might need. An hour later the car was packed and we drove across the village to see Mrs Coldwell.

~~~~~~

Mrs Coldwell looked after the cottage whilst we were not there, which was the vast majority of the year. By way of payment, she got free use of the place whenever she wanted. Her large extended family were spread across the country and the use of our cottage had been very handy when they came to visit her. She was a lovely, big round woman with rosy cheeks and a permanent smile. Everyone loved Mrs Coldwell.

We pulled up outside her house, Ava, who was driving, stayed in the car with me while Isla went to the door. We agreed that if Isla was suddenly snatched by the bad guys we’d speed off and call the police. It was a nervous few seconds as we watched from the car, waiting to see who would open the door.

Mrs Coldwell answered the door with her trademark grin. She hugged Isla and handed over an A4-sized Manilla envelope and a cooler bag, the sort of thing you’d take on a picnic. When she tried to give Isla a small white envelope Isla looked like she was protesting and didn’t want to take it. Ava and I were nervously looking around, waiting to be jumped at any moment as Isla stood chatting. Finally, Isla took the small envelope and said her goodbyes. Mrs Coldwell waved at us, we waved back and off we went.

“What the hell was all that about?” Asked Ava as we drove away from the village.

“Don’t. Seriously. I know she means well but I was about to strangle her. I’ve got the envelope from Mum and Dad and a bag of sandwiches and god knows what else from Mrs Coldwell. She tried to get us to stay for dinner and then she forced this on me…” Isla waved the white envelope and then opened it.

“What’s inside?” I asked, looking over my shoulder to the backseat.

Isla spread the notes out in her hand, “Awe, bless her, it’s four hundred quid. I feel bad now, I take it all back, ‘SORRY MRS COLDWELL!’” she shouted at a closed window.

“Bugger Mrs bloody Coldwell and her fucking sandwiches, what’s in the envelope from mum and dad? Where the hell am I driving to?” said Ava.

“Oh yeah,” said Isla, reaching for the large Manilla envelope.

She pulled out a wad of notes and whistled, “Five grand, all in twenties.”

Next, she pulled out a set of keys and a piece of paper, she studied it for a second then said, “Tap this into the sat nav…”

She read out a postcode and the satnav, which was set to speak to us in a female Australian accent, told us our destination was ninety-six minutes away. Isla googled the place and it was a small town we’d never been to before, Tointon. None of us could think of a link to our family, which we supposed was a good sign. Ava switched the radio on and we settled in for the drive.

~~~~~~

We took a lot of deliberate wrong turns and sudden direction changes to make double sure we weren't followed. What felt like paranoia before seemed hardly sufficient now. The one thing that bothered us most was not knowing how they had found us. For all we knew we could be making the same mistakes again. The Aussie satnav woman led us to a well-to-do modern estate on the outskirts of Tointon. The address was a lovely modern semi-detached house in a cul-de-sac. We pulled up into the drive and Isla’s phone rang.

We watched as her face lit up, all she was saying was ‘uh-huh’ and ‘Yes, of course, thank you’, this went on for about five minutes. She put the phone down and screamed, “THEY’VE GOT ‘EM…WE’RE SAFE!”

“We’re safe?” asked Ava, but Isla was already crying, all she could do was nod.

It was too much for me, I burst into tears. I can’t tell you the sheer relief, it all came flooding out. The three of us hugged awkwardly across the car, crying...