Read A Rip in the Veil for Free Online Page A

against her skin, and she dropped it with a muffled expletive. Matthew bent down and picked it up, handing it to her before he busied himself coaxing life back into the little fire.
    “I’m sorry that I had to hurt you, but there was nothing we could do for him.” A tremor ran through him as he stared off towards the south. “But there was plenty they could do to me.”
    The thought obviously had him sick with fear, so Alex gave him a nod and sat down, stretching her legs in front of her. Her brain was turning somersaults, and she’d managed to scratch the scab on the forehead open, a trickle of blood oozing its way downwards. She was exhausted and very, very hungry. Never get back, Sanderson had said, there was no way back. Oh God; she bit down hard on her lower lip to stop herself from bawling. Isaac wouldn’t even remember her, growing up alone in the world without father or mother.
    The phone beeped to inform her it had delivered the previous message. It made Alex tingle all over, imagining electronic sound waves bouncing back and forth across the fourth dimension, time. Maybe those wormhole things did exist, random points in universe connecting distant times and places. She wrote a goodbye message to John and sent it off. The mobile vibrated, there was a sizzling sound and the display went black.

Chapter 4
    “Impossible,” Diane said, “people just don’t disappear.” John scrubbed his hands through his hair and shook his head in agreement.
    “I know. But he did.” He nudged the rucksack with his toe. “Look at it, as if it’s been in a fire or something. Hit by lightning, hey?” He gave a shaky laugh. “Maybe that’s what happened, a freak storm of such strength that it sort of buried them both or something.”
    “On the same day? Two people?” Diane snorted with disbelief. “There must be a logical explanation.”
    John hitched his shoulders and yawned. Driving back had been a trial, his eyes blinking shut with a weariness that was more driven by terror than exhaustion. The man had disappeared before his eyes; the expression on Sanderson’s face as he was sucked into the abyss was one he’d never forget. It must have been the ground splitting open and the poor bloke had fallen into a crevice or something. But the light, the noise…Diane handed him a cup of tea and sat down beside him.
    “Of course there’s an explanation,” she said, green eyes meeting his.
    “I’m all ears. I can’t wait to hear how you explain all of this.”
    “I’ll have to see it first, won’t I?”
    John yawned again and nodded. “We have to call the police. They might be able to find them.” He made a face, a tremor running through him at the thought of Alex lying dead and crushed under tons of moving earth. He felt nauseous with loss and shoved the dawning understanding that she might in fact be gone, for good, away from him.
    *
    Next day, Diane looked at the road and then back at John, two brows striving towards her hairline.
    “It’s just as it always was.”
    “I know, I told you, didn’t I?” No wonder the police had been irritated; nothing here corroborated his story. He stared at the bucolic surroundings, at the undulating hills and the straight, undamaged stretch of road that flowed from the crossroads and onwards. Yesterday hadn’t happened. He must have imagined it, but he knew that he hadn’t. He crawled with fear. What the fuck was going on?
    Diane gave him a quizzical look and got out of the car.
    “Well, come on, now that we’re here we might as well take a look.” She tied her trainers and stood waiting for him. At first he was incapable of getting out, his body trembling with remembered fear. Diane tilted her head and studied him, her face pulling together in concern.
    “It’s alright,” she said, jumping on the tarmac. “Look, it’s perfectly safe.” John edged towards her, trying to control the shivers in his legs.
    “Her car was standing over there.” John waved his hand