THE SENTINEL 

By Tessa Harvey

    Hot on Tony Smith's trail, Alistair and a team of law enforcement officers were even now heading north to rural Cumbria like old-time cavalry at the eleventh hour, swooping over the hostile hills.....
    Theodor needed help desperately. Fear had robbed him of speech and caused the small battered boy to barricade himself in the pharmacy staff room. 
    He had found a bottle of water, some biscuits and a snack bar. Gulping down the precious liquid, eating the food, then using the toilet had been followed by a collapse from exhaustion - mental and physical. Curled up in a small very soft armchair, he hurtled into a deep slumber and heard nothing.
    Theo had barricaded the door with boxes of medical supplies and never heard the anxious voices outside. The pharmacist locked the shop, phoned for more help and stood guard.
    The lights were dimmed to confuse the male predator who had claimed paternity of a broken boy.  The police officer waited also.

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