by S Williams
‘But a police officer,’ whispered Joseph. ‘You must have known that to be accepted into such a group he would have had to–’
‘It was believed they could infiltrate without participation. Just watch from the sidelines, as it were. Do menial jobs to show their support, but nothing… unsavoury.’
Joseph couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
‘And it was worth it in the end.’
‘Worth it? What could possibly be worth it?’
Joseph felt ill with disgust. His skin felt like it was contaminated, just sitting listening to this woman.
‘It was Walter who gave us the information we needed to finally shut them down.’
Joseph was staring at the Smart Board. At the pictures of Walter and Daisy. Joseph turned back to Slane, his expression beyond sorrow.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, Joseph, The Fishermen didn’t commit mass-suicide, sending the girls out in a final act of mercy or social seeding.’
She smiled her binary smile. Joseph wondered how he had ever thought she was a normal human being.
‘I’m not following.’
‘They didn’t blow themselves up, Joseph. We blew them up. We set explosives in all their houses, got the children out, and blew them all to hell. That was the intel Walter managed to get to us. The whereabouts of all the houses.’
44
Jay collapsed to the floor, pain exploding in her leg where she had been kicked.
The woman stood over her and, for a brief second, Jay thought it was Daisy. She was around the same size, wearing cargos and a hoodie. Her hair was cut in a similar style. Her eyes were heterochromatic.
But her face was a mask of anger and old hatred, like it had been baked-in over the years.
‘What the fuck are you doing here? Slane said you’d be long gone.’
The woman’s mouth twisted into a sneer, like Jay was a piece of shit that had got stuck to her shoe. The resemblance to Daisy disappeared like a mirage as if it had never been there. The woman raised her foot and brought it down on Jay’s chest. Hard.
Jay screamed, but the only sound that came out was a whistle of air like she was leaking.
‘Doesn’t matter. You’re not going anywhere now. I reckon I’ve fucked up your knee good and proper.’
The woman smiled. Her teeth were yellow, with gum decay clearly visible.
Jay’s knee was a volcano. It was the same one that had been hit before, the night Daisy had gone. She suspected the woman was right and it was proper fucked; possibly even dislocated. Pain ran up her leg and into her hip.
But excruciating pain in one knee probably meant her other knee worked just fine.
Jay brought her boot up and kicked the woman in the crotch with all her force. She actually saw her lift off the ground a little, before collapsing on the floor. Jay crawled on top of the woman and headbutted her in the face. The nose exploded in blood and cartilage, flattening with a crunch. Jay felt it shatter. The reverberation sent a shockwave of pain from her head to her ribs.
‘That’s for making me feel stupid for not checking the bathroom,’ she said, then headbutted her again. Jay had long ago learnt the lesson of overkill. That way they couldn’t give you any surprises. The woman’s eyes glazed over, then rolled back. Jay thought she might have dislocated a retina when she saw something slip out, then realised it was a contact lens.
Blue.
Jay rolled off the woman, breathing heavily.
‘Fake eyes. Fake Daisy. What the fuck?’
After a minute Jay eased onto her stomach and pulled herself up onto her good knee. Her entire left leg was on fire, apart from the knee that had been kicked, which was worryingly empty of any feeling at all and seemed to be swelling in front of her eyes. It was amazing. It was as if it was being inflated.
Using the wall as support, she hauled herself to her feet.
Or foot, as it turned out.
She stayed very still until the room stopped swimming in front of her.
There was no way she was going to be able to put any serious weight on her leg. She lurched to her bag and fished out the painkillers the doctor had given her and dry swallowed a handful. As lightning flashes of agony telegraphed through her body she thought of taking the tablets she’d found in Lawrence’s flat as well.
She looked at the blood-covered woman on the floor.
‘But that would be stupid,’ Jay said.
The unconscious woman didn’t answer.
‘And we’ve already established that I’m as bright as a fucking button.’
Staring at the woman, she swallowed one more tablet.
‘For luck,’ she whispered through the pain.
45
‘You set the explosions? You blew up the cult houses?’ Joseph looked at them in turn. ‘But it was in all the literature. The Fishermen had a resurrection complex; thought that they were seeding for the next phase of the species. They believed–’
‘Planted by us. By F-branch,’ said Slane.
Joseph rubbed his hands on his cheeks, a look of total confusion on his face.
‘But why?’
‘The Fishermen couldn’t be allowed to continue. You’ve seen the footage, Joseph. They were depraved. We had to close them down. But there were so many, and they were well educated.’
‘I don’t understand.’
Collins snorted with exasperation as if he thought Joseph was being particularly slow.
‘You’ve seen what the Muslim militants do in jail. It’s not like a punishment for them. It’s like university, Joseph! It’s a recruitment ground. If The Fishermen had made it to trial then they would have had a platform. Oh, most people would have been abhorred, I know. But a proportion, Joseph, a larger proportion than you would believe, would have been intrigued.’
‘Seduced, even; they ran the houses like places of veneration,’ continued Slane, softly. ‘They organised them like some post-war ideal of family, with everyone having a role and everybody working towards a common goal.’
‘But it was child abuse,’ said Joseph again.
‘But the children were just fish,’ said Slane. ‘Things to be caught and kept. First as pets, then as food.’
Joseph felt clammy in her gaze. Tension ants ate his nerves just under the surface of his skin.
‘And finally transformed,’ finished Collins.
‘The mermaid,’ said Joseph.
‘Exactly. The child would be educated… brainwashed… into believing what was done to it was necessary. To change it, transform it, into a new being. To make it into what it should truly be.’
‘It’s brilliant, really,’ said Collins. ‘The pain the child suffered becomes no longer relevant because the child no longer exists.’
‘It has become something else.’
‘So there is no crime,’ finished Joseph. ‘Is that what you’re saying to me?’
‘Their philosophy was… persuasive to certain groups. That’s why they couldn’t continue to exist, even after their destruction.’
Joseph looked at them. ‘You’re talking about state-sponsored murder of British citizens. On British soil.’
‘As I say, it was a different time. It was considered the most limiting thing to do. If we could get the children out, the innocents, then…’ She spread her hands. ‘This sort of thing still goes on, Joseph. Camps in Afghanistan. Iraq.’
‘But that is in the context of war,’ Joseph’s voice came out as a shocked whisper. ‘This is just…’
‘Pest control,’ said Collins, flatly.
‘And it was war, of a sort. A war against British society. That was the original remit of F-branch. To protect the moral centre of the nation.’
‘And the officers? The people working undercover?’
‘Collateral damage,’ said Slane. ‘Sometimes the soldier dies. Those are the risks.’
Joseph looked from Collins to Slane, then back at the board. His head hurt. The thought of British officers being so f
ar undercover that they’d participate in something so evil as The Fishermen was unthinkable, but then so many things humans did were. Slane and Collins were staring back at him, waiting for him to say something.
Finally, he wiped his hand across his face. ‘This is unbelievable. Shocking and awful. A national scandal. But I still don’t see what it’s got to do with me.’
‘Oh that bit is easy, Joseph,’ said Slane, smiling. The smile was so inappropriate in the circumstances that Joseph felt like screaming. ‘We need you to get Daisy to talk to us.’
For a moment he was too stunned to say anything, but then the full implications of what they meant hit him.
‘Daisy? You know where she is?’
‘Oh yes, Joseph. Of course we do. We have her safe, but she won’t talk to us.’ Slane leaned forward in her seat. ‘And we really need her to. She managed to recognise Walter on the street and it set something off in her. She’s been researching The Fishermen, using their real names. It’s clear she knows far more than we ever believed. She was just a child when she was rescued, and it was assumed she would have erased the memories of what was done to her, or they were rendered useless to us due to the trauma.’
‘Then you need a doctor, surely? Years of psychiatric–’
‘We haven’t got time, professor. We need to know now what she knows.’
‘But why? What’s the urgency?’
‘The names she was researching. The real names of The Fishermen. Some of them were like Walter.’
‘Police officers,’ clarified Collins.
‘Yes, but–’
‘And some of them still are,’ finished Slane.
Joseph looked at her. ‘Still are. What do you mean “still are”?’
Slane raised an eyebrow. ‘You understand me. The Fishermen are alive and well, Joseph. Still operational and still active.’
Slane tapped on her tablet, bringing a new picture up onto the board. Joseph looked at the image of a smiling young woman, fresh and bright in her police uniform. He guessed it must have been taken on her graduation day.
‘This is Jay Starling. We recruited her to watch over Daisy. She was savagely beaten and left for dead. Ms Starling has since gone missing.’
Jay looked so different from when he had last seen her; battered with a buzz cut and limping away from him, shoulders hunched.
But the fire in her eyes was the same. The look that told the world it had better watch out, because she wasn’t taking any prisoners.
‘What are you saying to me?’
‘One of the names Daisy was researching was hers, Joseph. We think Ms Starling is a member of the cult. We think that is why Daisy tried to kill her.’
Joseph was stunned. ‘What?’
‘Jay Starling is a member of The Fishermen. When Daisy found out, she tried to kill her. When we discovered Ms Starling had been admitted to Leeds Infirmary we visited her. It became clear she was compromised in some way, and we arranged to remove her to a safe environment. She escaped from the hospital and went on the run. We hoped Daisy could confirm this, and give us the names of anybody else she remembers.’
In the shocked silence that followed Slane’s statement Joseph’s phone pinged, announcing a text message.
46
23rd October: After the attack
Slane, Collins and Fielding looked at Daisy’s door. The police had padlocked it shut and put hazard tape across it.
‘We’re going to need a key for that,’ said Slane quietly. ‘I want someone to search the flat. The FOSs would have been through everything but they won’t be looking for what we are.’
‘No,’ agreed Collins. ‘But then we won’t know what we’re looking for either, will we? Because Daisy might not–’
‘Exactly,’ said Slane. She turned to Fielding. ‘Can I leave that to you? Lawrence has already fucked up and needs to keep a low profile.’
‘Sure,’ said the young woman. ‘I’ll find the acquisition sheet and see who they used.’
Slane nodded. All police authorities used emergency boarding-up services to secure properties they had had to enter forcefully. Some were national and some were local. Fielding would find the procurement order and collect a spare key.
‘Good.’
‘Upstairs,’ said Collins, looking at his tablet.
Slane looked along the balustrade to the stairs leading up to the next level. She smiled. ‘Really? To Jay’s flat? How absolutely priceless.’
The three of them walked past Daisy’s door and up the stairs. On Collins’ tablet, the position of Jay’s phone announced itself with a pulsing red dot.
As they ascended, Slane marvelled at the idiocy of people carrying little spy-bricks in their pocket, thinking they were merely devices for searching the internet or taking calls. Even when they used a map app and it showed their exact location, they never seemed to worry. That, given the right access, anybody could find you.
Although Slane supposed that the person who took Jay’s phone wouldn’t really understand how the technology worked.
Or how any modern IT system worked.
Because she’d not been brought up that way.
Once at the top of the stairs Slane walked directly to Jay’s flat. She removed a key from her pocket and slotted it into the door, unlocking it slowly so as to create the least amount of noise.
Easing the door open, the inspector signalled that they should maintain silence as they entered.
Collins and Fielding nodded that they understood, and they slipped into the apartment, closing the door behind them.
The flat was in relative darkness, with no lights on. The only illumination came from the Leeds street lamps, visible through the open curtains and blinds. With Jay in hospital, possibly in a coma, no one had been there to close them.
Fielding pointed at the window visible in the lounge at the end of the hall.
It was open.
They walked stealthily down the corridor, their footfall silent on the carpet. Fielding went through the door to the right, into the bathroom. The set-up was the same as Daisy’s, with only the three rooms and the hall.
Collins went through the left into the bedroom.
Slane walked straight on, into the kitchen-cum-lounge.
She was tense, her body wired by adrenalin. It had been a while since she had needed to be in the field and hadn’t realised how much she’d missed it. The experience of fear, and hunting; searching for another human being.
It was like the old days.
She blinked.
There was nobody there.
Jay’s lounge was sparse, with only a low sofa and a table with a laptop.
Slane picked up the laptop, scanning the rest of the space.
The kitchen area was empty, the cupboards too small to hide in.
Slane walked to the open window and looked out. The metal criss-cross of the platform leading to the fire escape was a couple of feet below the sill. Bits of broken glass from one of the windowpanes glittered in the street lamps. Slane saw that the clasp that allowed the window to be opened had been broken, hit with something blunt.
‘Boss?’
The voice was quiet. Slane turned.
Collins was standing in the doorway, a tight smile on his face.
‘We’ve found her.’
Slane followed him to the bedroom. Like Daisy’s, Jay’s mattress was straight to the floor. A duvet neatly covered it.
‘In here.’
She turned to see Fielding standing by the cupboards that covered one entire wall. Unlike Daisy’s these had doors. Fielding’s hand rested lightly on the handle as she gazed in.
Slane walked over and stood next to the woman.
Crammed into the bottom corner of the cupboard was Daisy. She had her legs pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them like she was tying herself together. By her side was Jay’s phone. The device was broken. Slane guessed Daisy must have used it to break the lock on the window.
No matter. It had
displayed its last location tag. It had brought them here.
Slane squatted down.
At the movement, Daisy turned her head.
Slane stared transfixed at her heterochromia. It was the first time she’d seen it up close.
Daisy stared back, vacant.
Slane wasn’t even sure she saw her. ‘Shock?’
‘Possibly. Or maybe the whole experience has made her shut down. Some sort of emotional defence mechanism.’
‘Could be the drugs she’s taking. We’ll need to get a complete list.’
‘Jay already supplied us with that,’ said Slane, never taking her eyes off Daisy.
At the mention of Jay’s name Daisy blinked. ‘Jay?’ she whispered.
Slane nodded.
‘Hello, Daisy. My name is Heather. Jay’s fine. Would you like me to take you to her?’
She held out her hand.
Daisy looked at it a moment, then back at her.
Slane held her breath.
After a long moment, Daisy reached out and took it.
Slane smiled.
47
3rd November
Jay used the baseball bat as a walking stick and staggered forward.
She looked at the ruined bed. Thought about how Lawrence must have come in and watched them, asleep.
When you came back in. Did you remember to lock the door?
That was what Daisy had whispered to her, as they’d fallen unconscious.
Drugged.
Jay thought of him creeping over to the bed and looking at them. Perhaps touching them. And then taking back his foot and kicking her in the head. Stomping down on her ribs and knee. Beating her so badly that if Daisy hadn’t woken up…’
He’d meant to kill her, Jay realised.
Maybe he thought he had.
Maybe that part of Slane’s story was true. Lawrence had come over to beat her to death, and then intended to phone the emergency services so that Daisy was blamed.