Fic - Call it Fate (part 1 of 6)
She called Matt to see if he’d heard anything from Connor since the reason he’d driven up to Blackburn in the first place was on an errand from Matt. “He did say he would call in on his mum whilst he was up there,” Matt tried to reassure her. “Maybe he’s just lost track of the time?”
“It’s not like him. He’s usually texting me all the time when he’s just gone off to the comic mart with Duncan. Something’s wrong, Matt.”
“Let me call the lab and see what time he picked up the prototypes. I’ll call you back.”
She put the phone down and waited anxiously for Matt to call her. The lab in Blackburn had developed some new devices that Matt had hoped could be used in conjunction with the EMDs. He was going to arrange for a courier to collect them, but when Connor found out where the lab was, he had volunteered to go himself so that he could call in on his mum. Abby knew she should have gone with him, but he’d insisted it wasn’t necessary.
The phone rang and she answered immediately. “Please tell me he’s OK?”
“He’s not showed up at the lab,” Matt said, the concern in his voice obvious. Connor had left London shortly after 7am. Even allowing for bad traffic and the stop he’d made on the way, he should have been there well before lunch. “Have you called his mum?”
“I didn’t want to worry her,” Abby said. She knew Connor’s mum was frail; Connor’s previous disappearance for a year had left her sick with the worry and she’d never really recovered properly. He'd not even told her he was coming to see her since she would she get herself worked up.
“I’m sure everything’s fine. He’s probably sleeping off a huge home cooked dinner and completely oblivious to the fact that he’s forgotten to let you know what he’s doing.”
Abby sighed. What Matt said did make sense but she couldn’t help thinking the worst. How long did it take to reply to a text message? “I hope that’s all it is,” she said.
“I know it’s easier said than done, but try to get some sleep,” Matt said. “If there’s no word from him by morning, we’ll get the big guns onto him.”
She tried to take Matt’s advice and went to bed, but it was too big and lonely without Connor there and there was no way she’d sleep. The last time she’d slept alone was when he was working on New Dawn and he had shut himself in his lab for hours on end. Perhaps that was why she felt so uneasy about this situation? It was ridiculous, all Connor was doing was collecting some stuff for Matt and visiting his mum, probably deciding to stay overnight when he realised the time had run away with him. He’d certainly get a piece of her mind when he finally called her though.
She must’ve dozed off eventually because she woke with a start when the doorbell was rang several times. It was just after 2am when she glanced at the clock as she pulled her dressing gown around her. She was annoyed. Not only had Connor come home in the middle of the night, he’d forgotten his key.
“Connor, you’re in so much trouble…” She stopped. Standing on the doorstep were two police officers, a male and female. They both had their ID badges in their hands, but Abby couldn't focus on them.
“Abigail Maitland?” The female officer said. Abby nodded, her heart leaping into her throat. There was only one reason why the police would call around at this time of night. “Are you Connor Temple’s fiancée?”
“Yes,” Abby heard her voice trembling. “What’s happened to him?”
“Can we come inside, Miss Maitland?” The male officer said.
“Of course.” She stood to one side to let them in, closing the door behind them and then leading them into the lounge. She fumbled for the main light switch and then prepared herself for the bad news.
“There’s been an accident,” the female officer began. Abby let out a sob and felt her knees give way beneath her. Somehow, she ended up sitting on the sofa and the female officer was at her side holding her hand. “His car was found in a field at the side of the road. From the extent of the damage to it, it looks like he left the road at some speed.”
“But is he OK?”
“We don’t know,” the male officer said. Abby looked at him confused. “The car was found by another motorist who called the local police. There was no sign of Connor, and we’ve checked at all of the local hospitals. No-one has been brought in with the kind of significant injuries he would have sustained in the accident. We would have been in contact sooner, but once we'd identified who the car belonged to, we had to get clearance from the Home office to get his contact details for next of kin.”
“Then where is he?” Abby demanded to know, looking from the male officer to the female who stroked her back.
“A team will be out there looking for him as soon as it gets light enough,” she said.
“So, he could be out there, seriously injured? And no-one is looking for him!” Abby couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had to go there now. She stood up and began to frantically search for her car keys.
“Miss Maitland, I understand how upset and concerned you are, but there’s nothing anyone can do out there until it’s light.” The female officer took Abby by the shoulders. “I promise you, as soon as it starts to get light, my colleagues will be out looking for him again.”
“But it might be too late by then!” Abby sobbed. She couldn’t breathe and the female officer tried to calm her.
“Abigail, can I call you that?”
“It's Abby,”
“I'm WPC Laura Greenfield. Is there someone I can call for you, Abby? A relative or a friend?”
“Matt,” Abby said, searching for her phone. He would know what to do, he always seemed calm in a crisis and that was what she needed right now. She found his number easily and dialled it without thinking. He answered within a couple of rings; either he’d had as much trouble sleeping as Abby or he was having a late night working on something as he often did. All she could do was say his name before her emotions took over.
He didn’t need to ask what was wrong. “I’m on my way over, Abby. Give me fifteen minutes.”
-o-
(13 hours previously)
Connor smiled at the sign as he turned off the motorway. He was only about half an hour from his childhood home and the familiarity of his surroundings felt nice. He also began to feel guilty, he hadn’t been to his mum’s in several months and she hadn’t even met Abby yet. He just didn’t think his mum was up to it. She barely recognised him these days anyway and last time she had called him by his father’s name. Getting her head around him being engaged would just be too much. It hurt him of course, and he was fortunate that Abby understood and didn’t take it personally. Her memory had already been poor before he had disappeared for a year in the Cretaceous, but during that time she had deteriorated significantly.
Still, he was looking forward to seeing her again. He’d decided to stop off at the local bakery and get her favourite cake and stay and have lunch with her before he went to find the lab that he was supposed to be picking up the new technology for Matt from. He should be back home by tea time unless the traffic was bad when he got back towards London.
The long country road was a nice stretch where he could put his foot down on the accelerator. He’d only passed two other vehicles on the other side and apart from a large, black 4x4 that had taken the same turning off the motorway that he had, he couldn’t see any other cars on his side of the road. The 4x4 seemed to be doing quite a speed and was almost hanging on to his back end. Connor hated drivers that did that, there was no need to be so close and Connor feared that if he had to brake suddenly for an animal crossing the road, the 4x4 would smash straight into the back of him. He decided to pull over a little and let it pass, and for a moment he thought that was what it was doing. It pulled up alongside him, and then to Connor’s horror it moved closer to him, almost ramming into the side of him.
“Idiot!” Connor yelled, sounding his horn and swerving to get out of the way. The 4x4 seemed to speed up and went ahead, so Connor relaxed a little. It moved directly in front of him and slowed down, so Connor had to slam his brakes on to avoid hitting it. “What the…?” Connor was growing frustrated. He turned his wheel to move into the other lane but the 4x4 did the same and when Connor tried to go back into his previous lane the 4x4 slowed right down so it was alongside Connor again. He tried to look inside to attract the attention of the driver but the windows were heavily tinted. Some idiot rich kid driving a vehicle that’s too powerful for him to control properly Connor supposed. Before he knew it, the 4x4 had hit his front right wing. Panicking, Connor sounded his horn again and tried to slow down to let the 4x4 overtake. It hit him a second time, sending him sideways and almost off the road.
“Stay calm!” Connor told himself. He had to keep his car under control. Gripping his wheel tightly, he tried to work out what his next move should be. If he put his foot down, he could probably speed away, but the 4x4 would soon catch him. It was a chance he had to take. For a moment, he surged ahead but as he’d predicted, the 4x4 caught up with him quickly and hit his right side again. It took everything Connor had to keep his car on the road. He was hit again, and again, and now Connor was growing increasingly concerned. His heart was racing and his head spinning. If it wasn’t for the fact he felt he needed to have both hands on the steering wheel to keep control, he’d have reached into his pocket for his phone and called for help. If only he’d listened to Abby and had set up the bluetooth hands free system in the car. He'd never seen the need for it since Abby was usually travelling with him or they used the ARC's comms.
He was now being hit in the side repeatedly and it was harder and harder to keep control. Then there was an overwhelming fear and Connor felt the car leave the road. His mind couldn’t quite get a grasp on what was happening, other than the fact the car was rolling and he was being thrown around. When he finally came to a stop, there was an eerie silence. His head hurt and he couldn’t feel the rest of his body. Was this what being dead felt like? He tried to call out for help but no sound would come. He really was dead. His thoughts turned to Abby and how she’d take the news.
He was determined not to cry; in the back of his mind he could hear Abby telling him to stay strong. Someone must have seen what happened and there'd be help on the way shortly. He tried to listen for the sound of sirens, or at least somebody coming to inspect the wreckage and see if he was OK, but there was nothing but silence.
“Abby?” His voice was barely there, but he figured if he kept on trying it would come and someone would hear it eventually. The pain in his head was almost unbearable, but he was more concerned about the fact he still couldn't feel the rest of his body. He had no idea just how badly he was injured; perhaps that was a good thing?
Suddenly, he could feel something. A static in the air that was so incredibly familiar it was almost a comfort, yet he knew he should be fearful. An open anomaly in the middle of nowhere; a creature incursion. “Would be just my luck to survive a car crash and then get trampled to death by a T-Rex,” he thought. Just to his left he could see a light, increasing in intensity. He turned to look at it, trying to shift himself to determine if it was an anomaly. Right now, an alarm would be sounding at the ARC but it would be a couple of hours at least until the team got here, and by then... He sighed and bit down on his bottom lip to try and repress the tears he knew were building up in his eyes.
The light wasn't what he would've expected from an anomaly though. It wasn't flickering, but was getting brighter by the second and Connor felt like he was being drawn towards it even though he was trapped in the wreckage. It began to dawn on him what it was; when his father had died, his mum had said he'd talked about a white light and that he wanted to walk towards it. A sense of peace filled Connor and the pain in his head eased. He wasn't afraid of dying; beyond the light his father would be waiting for him.
-o-