Chapter 56
Libby stared at the vacant space inside Jude’s vehicle, her eyes as wide open as her mouth.
‘Where … where is he?’ she gasped and turned to the jurors.
A bewildered Fiona stared back at her, eyebrows arched and shaking her head. Libby looked to the rest of the room in the hope someone else might be able to offer her an explanation. But they were all just as equally dumbfounded, including Jack. ‘Did we miss him in the dust cloud?’ Libby continued. ‘Did he get out and run and we just didn’t see it?’
‘Someone would have spotted him, I’m sure,’ Matthew replied.
‘Then where is he?’
‘I’m sorry, I have no idea.’
Fiona pointed to the screen. ‘Look at the back seats of his car. Didn’t Jude have a rucksack and empty food boxes spread across them? Why are they now empty?’
Libby reached for the rim of the table and grabbed it to steady herself.
‘Take deep breaths,’ said Matthew. ‘Could someone get her some water please?’
‘I’m okay, I’m okay,’ insisted Libby but it was clear to all that she wasn’t. One of Cadman’s assistants obliged and Libby gulped down half a bottle without hesitating.
‘You’re dehydrated,’ said Matthew, ‘and probably a little in shock too.’
Libby looked back towards the screen and into Jude’s empty car. She racked her brain, trying to come up with an explanation. If he hadn’t escaped, there could only be one.
Jude had never been a Passenger.
‘What’s happening over there?’ asked Fiona suddenly, and pointed to the top left-hand side of the screen. Elsewhere, a fire truck had pulled away from the scene and collided with two parked cars. A second truck followed suit, seemingly travelling of its own accord. It was pursued by a handful of cars nudging one another to get out of tight parking spaces. Meanwhile some made it a few hundred metres up the road before they collided with other cars. Some accelerated to faster speeds before hitting random objects. More appeared to be targeting groups of spectators, forcing them to drive to safety.
The footage suddenly returned to a helicopter above the city. Every few seconds it focused on another crash and before long, cameras struggled to keep up with the frequency.
Without warning, a news anchor’s voice returned to the speakers. ‘And we are getting unconfirmed reports of a series of collisions on roads across the country,’ she began. ‘Eye witnesses are telling us they’re seeing cars, vans and buses, some with and without Passengers, driving head-on into other vehicles.’
Suddenly from the street outside came a bang followed by the sound of glass shattering, muffled screams and panicked yelling.
Libby felt any remaining colour drain from her face. ‘This was the Hacker’s plan all along,’ she said in a low voice, the words barely able to escape her constricted throat. ‘It wasn’t to make the Passengers collide, but everyone else instead.’
PART THREE – SIX MONTHS LATER
Chapter 57
WORLD EXCLUSIVE!
‘I wish Ben could have met his son.’
Passenger Claire Arden invitesYes! Magazineinto her newly renovated home to meet Baby Tate.
It’s been a whirlwind six months for Claire Arden since she found international recognition as one of the final five Passengers.
In front of an estimated audience of three-billion people, the former teaching assistant from Peterborough went into labour in her hijacked car, giving birth to her son Tate two months prematurely and moments after being rescued.
And during her ordeal she kept hidden the dead body of her husband Ben in the boot of her car.
In the second part of our exclusive interview, Claire, 27, tellsYes!how she has adjusted to life as a single mum and her plans for the future.
Tate became the world’s most famous baby even before he was born. How will you explain to him the trauma of that day?
Obviously I’ll wait until he is old enough to understand, but I won’t keep anything from him. We went through something unique together and I’ll never let him forget that he’s my little miracle.
