Page 69 of Replay
Spook tensed, bracing himself from the impact of a body hitting him from the side, but it didn’t come.A quick turn of his head established why.The scream wasn’t courtesy of a fan.It was AvabloodyLeigh.She grinned at him from the doorway of the bar, drink in hand, looking immensely pleased with herself.She really was a vindictive cow.No one had paid him any heed until that point.Nowen masse, conversations had stalled, and phones were being drawn from bags and pockets.Click, click, clicka thousand flashes illuminated him.Then, hello Snapchat.Hello Instagram.OMG, Spook Mortensen’s in the bar I’m at!
“Walk,” he commanded Alle, keeping a fierce grip on her hand.“Don’t turn around.Make like they don’t exist.”
“Ava?I didn’t realise she was here too.”
“She’s like a rat.Never more than a few metres away.She’s been here the whole time talking to somebody.”
That somebody was now gliding along in a parallel line to them.At first, he figured she was another member of theBang!brigade, although it was possible she was just a fan.He had a few, and in any crowd there was always one soul braver than the rest, who wasn’t content with merely snapping a commemorative picture, but who wanted more.An exchange of words.Physical contact.Intimacy.
Heart rate quickening, Spook picked up the pace, while keeping his eyes front and his head down.The hotel really wasn’t far.Just around the corner.Once he was inside, it’d be fine.There’d be Black Halo security on hand, and the rest of the band was already there.Safety in numbers.
Stay away.Stay away.Keep your distance.It wasn’t that he objected to fans wanting something from him.It was the chain reaction stampede that inevitably resulted after the first polite request.One demand became two, and then four, and then everything snowballed.
“Spook!”
He didn’t look, but he knew they had a pack following them.
Scarily, and he didn’t quite understand how the lady had got ahead of them, but she stepped in front of him as they turned the corner.There was no choice other than to stop so as not to run into her and push her over.She was dressed all in white.Leggings and some sort of white overcoat, with a cap upon her head.Not obvious reporter gear.She reached up and removed the cap, freeing sheets of ivory blonde hair from its confines and dispelling the shadows across her face.
“Jan?”she said, staring right at him, making every hair on his body rise.No.It fucking couldn’t be.It couldn’t be.Somewhere behind him, he knew Ava Leigh was grinning manically.Bitch.“Jan.”
**
With a crowd of smiling eager faces swarming up behind them, it finally dawned on Alle how daunting it must have been when Spook had been mobbed outside the stadium in Genoa.He was speed-walking now, and any moment she was sure he’d break into a run.Thank heavens she had some height, and the long legs that went with it, else she wouldn’t have kept pace.
“Once we’re at the corner, then we make a dash for it.”
“Okay.”
Her heart was already pumping hard, gearing up for the anticipated extra work she’d demand of it.One pace.Two.They turned the corner, but there was a woman in the way.Rather than weave around her, Spook stopped dead, then jerked like he’d been tasered.Alle stared as shock fizzled through him and dispersed into her, wondering if he’d actually been stunned.His hands opened, and his arms flopped to his sides
"Jan!Herregud!Det är du.Känner du igen mig?"said the woman.
“I don’t know you,” he mumbled, and banked abruptly sideways, straight into the oncoming traffic.One car slammed the brakes on, another swerved around him.Spook didn’t pause.He didn’t even seem to notice the traffic chaos he’d created.Head down, he sprinted in the direction of the hotel tower block.
“Spook?What?”Alle stared at the woman, who was already walking away, back towards the bar.“Wait.Who are you?What did you do?”
Meanwhile, the landslide of Black Halo fans reached the intersection at that very moment, picking them both up in its currents and tearing them away from one another.It was several frantic minutes before Alle managed to extract herself into the safety of a shop doorway.She hoped Spook had reached the hotel.He’d be safe there.
Once the crowd had passed, Alle crossed the street.Security were lining up outside the hotel doors as she arrived.She had to wave her festival lanyard in their faces in order for them to let her through.Spook must have alerted them, or maybe hotel staff had cottoned on.
At least she didn’t have to wait around to check in.Cave Troll had dished out room keys earlier in the day.Whether it was Spook’s doing or someone else’s they’d been booked into different rooms again.No matter, she went straight to his and let herself in.
“Spook?What the hell just happened?Did you know that woman?”
He was standing in the centre of the suite, splinters of a smashed mirror all around him, a shard of it clutched within his bloodied fist.
“Oh my God.Spook!”
