The Scarlet Web, Prologue

PROLOGUE
Brentford, West London
Shadows shimmered around the subway walls like dying flames from a candle as she hurried into the faltering light. The other end of the underpass was scarcely visible and seemed a quarter mile away, though she knew it could be no more than a hundred metres.
She'd known there was somebody behind her because she could hear the rat-tat-tat of footsteps on stone as she'd headed down the ramp. She didn't pay them too much attention, it was perfectly normal, though she hadn't seen a soul as she approached the subway. She just wished there was more than one miserly bulb working in the subway roof, and that they checked them occasionally. She was cold and soaked through because her father hadn't been able to collect her from the club. Well, he was a doctor, these things happened.
Rat-tat-tat. She heard the footsteps quicken behind her, squelching through the dampness and she increased her own pace. Nearly half way now. Ten minutes and she'd be home.
There was relief in that.
There was a puddle up ahead, one always formed where the subway dipped. She might have ploughed right through it, but these were new shoes bought by her mother only yesterday, so she slowed as she edged around it
Rat-tat-tat.
The footsteps behind her slowed too.
Now her heart started to race a little. She fought to stop her mind playing tricks. She walked faster, the footsteps behind quickened too. So did her heartbeat.
It wasn't her mind playing tricks. There was somebody following. This just wasn't normal. She resisted the urge to turn about as the footsteps continued relentlessly.
Rat-tat 'tat.
Who could it be? All the while her mind was spinning to find an answer, before
settling on one person.
Boots Taylor, the biggest bully in the school. She'd felt his eyes on her all evening at the club, and it wasn't the normal sign a boy gave a girl. There had been anger, perhaps hate in that look.
And she knew why. He'd approached her in the playground that morning, blocking her way; he'd leered at her, made a pass if you could call it that. He wasn't her type and she'd left him in no doubt of that, and his cronies had found what she said funny. Some kids could shrug it off, but not Boots Taylor. She'd known as soon as she'd said what she had, that it wasn't wise.
But she was nearly at the end of the subway now, in a few seconds she'd be up the ramp and out in the open. There were shops and houses above, she'd be safe.
Then she stopped. Frozen rigid. A figure came towards her and she felt her heart pound. She knew this youth, it was the bully's friend. Symes, his name was. She could tell his spotted face, even in this light.
She went to brush past him, to take those few steps into open air, but he blocked her. She felt his hand on her chest. It made her cringe.
'That's right, Symes, keep her there,' she heard a voice say. Her heart, beating hard just a second ago now seemed to stop dead, and then gallop all over the place.
If she knew Sykes' face, she knew Taylor's voice, and even though he was behind her she could feel his eyes burning into her back.
'Street's dead, Boots,' Symes said, close enough for her to smell something on his breath she knew wasn't legal.
'Well that's good then, ain't it?'
'I want a word with you Miss high and mighty,' he came up behind her, she felt his breath down her neck, it smelled the same as his mate's.
'You weren't very nice to me this afternoon love,' he said, grabbing her arm so tightly it hurt.
'Let me go!' she fought to free herself but his grip felt like steel.
'You made me look a mug in front of my mates. I don't take kindly to being made to look like a fool.'
'I didn't ask you to stand in my way,' she swallowed, her throat suddenly felt as dry as a bone.
'And after I paid you a compliment and all, let me remind you.' He yanked her to him so she could feel his cold eyes, smell the stench from his slobbery mouth, 'I said I thought you went like a bat out of hell, and what did you say back?'
'Leave me alone you bastard!' She felt him squeezing his arm so tightly it felt like a blood pressure monitor.
'Tell me what you said.'
'Only what you deserved!'
He snarled, she could see his yellow teeth, she could feel the animal he was. 'You said that I was the right species; that I should know. The whole schoolyard laughed, but I don't see you laughing now, right now you don't seem so high and mighty to me, love. I don't take kindly to being put down by girls, specially snooty little cows like you.'
She felt his hands crawling over her, his fingers like vipers conjured from a basket, and then he pressed his face against hers. Lashing out with her foot she struck his balls and she saw him grimace. She turned to knock Symes aside but she was too late. The youth's hands were pinned to her shoulders like clamps.
'Got her, Boots. She's not going far,' Symes said, driving her back through sheer weight.
Boots' knees had buckled, but now she saw him climb to his feet, his eyes alive with hate. She searched frantically for assistance that wasn't going to come. She should never have used this underpass tonight, but there'd been little choice -
'Fucking bitch!' Taylor lunged, and snatching her from Symes' grasp he flung her
to the floor. Shocked and winded, she rolled over, trying to scramble clear but he was
upon her in an instant, his big hand clawing at her dress and ripping it from shoulder to waist. The stale smell of his breath made her wince as he exhaled, but
it was the sense of hopelessness to prevent him from entering her as he pinned her arms firmly to the ground that distressed her most, as she moaned sobbed and shook.
Symes gave a start at the sound of footsteps along the subway, gesturing frantically to Taylor. She gave a sigh of relief as Taylor rose from her but with new alarm she realised he was not finished. She saw him produce a knife from a sheath on his belt, and as he grabbed her hair she felt its sharp blade cut quickly through it, huge, golden locks falling onto the damp surface.
She cried out in utter desperation at the final insult, and then screamed again as a boot crashed into the side of her head. She felt another blow, then another, a feeling of intense pain. Through eyes screwed with pain she saw them running away, 'Scum, - scum, I'll get you back one day,' she murmured, 'make you regret the day you were born.' Then came the sound of quickly approaching footsteps, and brief, blurred visions of a dark figure kneeling beside her.
'Hey, what the hell's been happening here. Look I'll get help, okay.' She had brief visions of a tall girl running.
Then consciousness lapsed.