Elysium: Book Six of The Liminality

Chapter 35: Stirling

The fields and meadows outside Stirling gave way to clusters of modest homes with ample yards and rose gardens and then to a continuous row of brick and stone residential buildings interspersed with shops. Alec abruptly pulled his car into a space beside a public park.

Karla, still drowsy and falling in and out of consciousness, now became fully alert. She watched Alec bring up a Google map on his phone, pinching out and switching into landscape mode to better match the trees and meadows of the surrounding plots of land.

"Are we getting close?" Karla asked, wiping her slick palms on a coat sleeve.

"It's not too far. We are in Stirling proper now. Our destination appears to be on the other side of town. It's actually an adjoining village called Cambusbarron."

"Okay. So let's go."

"Not so hasty. I'm thinking we need to strategize. I mean, we can't just expect to barge in there and grab your sister. Her kidnappers might object, don't you think?"

Karla clenched both fists and took a long slow breath.

"Maybe if we take them by surprise."

"Honestly? These are murderers, right? I mean, look what they did to poor Jamie. And wasn't there a homicide or two associated with your father's imprisonment? It's only prudent we take precautions."

"They can't possibly be expecting us. You just drive up in the car. I'll bust in and get her out."

"Hang on! It won't be that easy. Life is not a movie."

He pointed to the map on his phone. "Look, there's a long driveway into the complex. What if there's a gate? We drive in there, they could trap us."

"Knock it down!"

"I'm trying to tell you, this is not a movie. My little Audi is not going to smash through a fence without at least destroying the radiator. And what's more, what if they have guns?"

"So what's your plan?"

"My plan is to gather a little more information to allow us to make a decent plan. I think we should begin with a little reconnaissance on foot. Leave my car someplace safe and secluded. Identify an escape route and create a means to slip away cleanly. The goal here is to not to get ourselves abducted. That would not be very helpful to the cause of freeing your sister."

Karla realized that she had better temper some of her eagerness. It was just every moment of knowing her sister was under the control of these fundamentalist assholes burned a hole deeper into her heart.

"Alright. Let's do it your way. It makes sense."

"Okay. So this means choosing an appropriate entry and exit point. Looking at the map, it appears to be a very large property."

Karla undid her seatbelt and leaned over Alec's shoulder to get a better view.

"So where are we, exactly?"

He jabbed his finger at a point just below the most heavily built-up area on his display.

"We're here, just south of town. Stirling castle is up near the river." He slid his finger left. "The Retreat Centre is here, across this wooded area."

He reverse pinched the map to enlarge a broad area of green space with a cluster of buildings at the end of a long access road.

"Yes. I'm thinking we should avoid that driveway at all costs. It does appear to be gated. However, if we park on this main road opposite the forest, that would give a quick egress to the A9. Thus, we go in and out on foot. I'm assuming your sister will be mobile."