LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER ONE

      THE M23 was coned off all the way to Gatwick, or had been—the wind was playing absolute havoc with the presumably once tidy contraflow arrangement which forced everyone to drive on the hard shoulder. Everyone? There was only herself and that lunatic lorry driver behind her. Well, if he thought she was going to speed up, he was mistaken. Driving in the dark was bad enough. Driving in the dark on a narrow, coned-off lane with the strong wind nudging the car sideways every few seconds and the lorry’s headlights dazzling her was the stuff of nightmares. And if he got any closer he would be in her boot!

      Maniac, Carenza muttered to herself. What had happened to knights of the road? Once upon a time drivers had been kind, thoughtful, helpful. Not this idiot. As she neared the airport turn-off, the coning ended and the lorry thundered past her with a whoosh of displaced air. Watching his tail-lights disappear, she felt suddenly abandoned, and gave a disgruntled smile. Perverse, Carrie. Very perverse. And if she hadn’t forgotten her notebook she wouldn’t have needed to drive in the dark. Or in a hurricane, which was what it felt like.

      Hastily over-correcting as another strong gust punched the side of the car, she was so busy concentrating on keeping straight, she missed the turn-off, and, like a fool, took the next one, stupidly assuming that it would take her back to where she wanted to go. It didn’t, and she drove on too long, searching for a familiar sign instead of turning round and going back. But the road must come out somewhere.

      Calm down, she adjured herself. Relax. Just take it slow. This was West Sussex, not some forgotten outpost, and all roads must eventually lead to a town. Horsham wasn’t that far away. Not that anyone would ever have known it, because there were no lights to be seen at all, which seemed crazy when she was in striking distance of at least two motorways and a busy airport.

      Turning left at the next junction for the simple reason that it felt right, she drove into the forest. Glancing nervously at the trees that surrounded her, trees that were being thrashed into a frenzy, she really did begin to think that she should go home, and ring Beck in the morning. The wind was definitely getting worse. Small branches began to litter the road ahead, swept along in a crazy dance, and the car that always felt so comforting now began to feel very fragile. She remembered all too well the last storm to hit Britain, the damage it had caused, but surely, surely, the weathermen would have been more on their toes this time?

      You didn’t watch the news, Carenza. And although it had been windy when she’d left home it hadn’t been anything like this. A bit late now to berate herself for a fool…Her headlights washed over an old building and she hastily braked to a halt. She couldn’t tell whether it was empty, or abandoned, but it was certainly closed up. An old pub. The Muted Dragon. And absolutely no help to her at all.

      Driving on, she reached a crossroads, and, thankfully, a sign. Horsham was to the right, and so the best thing would be to drive there. She knew her way to Beck’s place from Horsham.

      Feeling more confident, she picked up speed, passed tall gates with the words Dragon’s Rest picked out in gold, and she gave a small smile. What was with the dragons?

      A small animal ran across the road in front of her, startling her. A fox maybe, or a rabbit—and then, over and above the noise of the engine and the wind, she heard a roaring, like an express train thundering out of control.

      Frightened, she glanced frantically round—and didn’t believe what she was seeing. Trees, magnificent old trees that had been standing for hundreds of years, were being toppled like wheat.

      And she was right in their path.

      Realising that she had eased her foot off the accelerator, she hastily jammed it back down, but it was too late. The roaring became a shriek, as though all the furies of hell were chasing her. Then the tree to her right, just a little way in front of her, didn’t merely topple, it was viciously uprooted. She knew that accelerating wouldn’t save her, braking wouldn’t save her, but she tried anyway.

      It hit just behind her head and she frantically threw herself sideways, tucked her upper half into the well of the passenger seat as the giant trunk slowly, and inexorably, crushed the flimsy metal above her.