Better the Devil

by Solomon Carter

  Kendra raised an eyebrow. “What are you proposing?”

  “I can follow Gerrard. He really needs checking on. We haven’t got a clue where he’s going or what he’s doing?”

  “Hang on. Are you even any good at tailing people? You look like you don’t have a clue,” said Kendra.

  “I love you. Really. You’re so very nice.”

  “Whatever. Maggie, I could go instead! I was trained at that kind of thing.”

  Eva shook her head. “No. Besides, there is always the chance that you could be working together.”

  Kendra snapped, “Shut your mouth, bitch. What the hell do you know?”

  “I know I need to hurry, or I’ll lose him. This is a gamble, Maggie, but I really think I need to go after him. All I need is ten minutes, maybe fifteen like he said. Do you think you’ll be okay, Maggie?”

  “Fifteen minutes. We’ll be fine. What could happen in fifteen minutes?”

  Eva nodded. Kendra shook her head. “I bet he sees you.”

  “I bet he doesn’t. A tenner. How about it?”

  “I’ll take that,” said Kendra.

  “No you won’t.” Eva moved into the hallway, snatched up her handbag and was gone. As soon as she stepped out into the light she was blinking like a mole. She’d been inside for more than 24 hours solid, but it felt so much longer. The garden was a wide open expanse, very good for a sniper or an ambush. She didn’t like the exposure, it felt as if the fatal bullet would be launched any moment, so she hurried.

  In the village street, there were a few houses with big gardens like their house, then the houses got smaller and narrower until the houses met the village centre around two hundred yards ahead. She could see Gerrard’s figure moving not far off, but she would have to canter to keep up with him. Eva moved quickly. But then Gerrard did something distinctly odd. Before the end of the street he took a sharp right and disappeared off the street. Eva’s heart stopped and her temperature dropped. Had he realised he was being tailed? She looked around – there were no people in parked cars, and as yet no moving cars either. She ran towards the place Gerrard disappeared, making her footfall as quiet as she could muster, slowing before she got to where he disappeared. She found the entrance to a narrow country lane. She looked down it and followed the curve. This curve took her in the opposite direction of the shops. She knew the village, and at the end of the road she’d left, the main shops were far on the left. This country lane took her right, away from the shops. Gerrard wasn’t around. Eva was tense and made her way down carefully. Her heart was racing and her spine rigid, but there was nowhere to go but forward. Not far along the road, she heard the noise of someone walking through thicket – a snapping of twigs and the padding of feet on wild grass. She looked left and found a narrow patch of rough wild countryside between two old houses. Gerrard was moving through it hastily. Eva now had a choice. She could go back and confront Gerrard later or she could give pursuit now and discover the truth. How long had she been away from the house already? She had no idea. Eva made the choice, and as the cold air whipped up into a breeze, she moved into the field of grasses, the stiff reeds grazing against her legs through her tights. Gerrard had disappeared into a wall of dark greenery up ahead. She kept going until she reached the trees where Gerrard disappeared.

  The path took her through the mesh of trees through what seemed to be the unkempt area at the rear of another residential garden. There were trees all around here, some small and some taller. Maybe Gerrard had seen her. She had lost him. All she could see was the mess of tree branches around her, and somewhere ahead was the noise of traffic. Her feet were wet from the grass. Now she was angry, with herself and Gerrard. He was the leak, she knew it. She pressed on, concerned about the length of time she’d been away from the house and the risk posed to Maggie. She had been too long. Finally she broke through some bushes and found herself by the edge of the main road into Wakering town as traffic streamed by, innocuous, and probably safe. She looked left and right as the wind whipped her red hair. No sign of him. But there was a small plain white shop across the road, fifty yards to her left. This was the road Gerrard should have gone to earlier, but directly and much further on to the left. This was not the right stretch of the road to shop at. The shops were much further on whereas this end of the road was all red brick housing, box like buildings and odd cottages. Why had he come out here? There. There he was. Gerrard emerged from the small shop with two flimsy white plastic carrier bags. They bore no branding. The shop. Was that the meeting point? The place the assassin was based. Maybe… Gerrard stopped with his back to her and Eva froze, but he didn’t look back. Instead he lit another cigarette, then fussed with his coat before pressing a mobile to his ear. Eva shook her head. Shit. He was calling in to Gillespie. Or maybe he was ordering the hit. She has no ideas, but she knew she had to beat him back. She imagined his words, and they reverberated around her head. Hit the house. Hit it now.

  Eva looked at her watch as she broke back through the wall of bushes, now running. She had been at least fifteen minutes already. Gerrard was lousy at time keeping. She ran through the field and pushed branches out of her face. Nettles stung her angles, bramble tore at her skin. She kept running. She ran so hard her chest was burning for air. She came out on the Little Wakering Road, the road where the hideout cottage was based, and looked back. There was no sign of him yet, so she pushed harder, fearful he could spot her in the distance. She made it to the gate of the old house, and closed the gate behind her. How long had she been? Maybe eighteen, maybe twenty minutes. She took a breath, then moved quickly to the doorway. She moved up to the window and peered in just to see they were safe inside. The brown sitting room was empty. Eva’s mouth dropped open. She pushed at the door, but it didn’t give. She moved around the side door, which led through an old kitchen. It was locked. Damn it. Her eyes scanned wildly. There: a kitchen window was closed but the latch wasn’t locked, which was a major error on someone’s part, or left on purpose for the enemy. Maybe it was too late. Eva opened it with her nails. They didn’t break. Then she pushed herself up onto the ledge and through onto the kitchen counter. She heard something move, but she wasn’t sure where. She slid quietly off the counter and kept deathly quiet, pulling the window to. Were they safe? Eva moved into the hallway, looking all around her. Nothing. She looked into the lilac room. Into the brown room. Nothing at all. There was a creak up above. Eva held her breath and moved quickly up the stairs, careful not to make a sound. Talking, and laughter. Eva drew a breath, finally she could relax.

  And then she couldn’t relax at all. Above her, the door to Maggie’s bedroom opened. Kendra came out naked but for a towel wrapped around her breasts to her backside. Eva noticed now that her strength was no illusion. The woman was well defined and muscular. Her skin was damp and clammy looking from the shower. Maggie peered around the door after, her, her dark eyes following Kendra with a satisfied smile. “That was the best fifteen minutes I’ve had this week,” said Maggie, snickering, and then she closed the door.

  “Of course it was,” said Kendra, joining in the joke. Suddenly Eva was an interloper in the private moments of their affair. She hesitated awkwardly on the stairs, hoping she would remain hidden. As Eva waited, Kendra moved to the hallway window which overlooked the front lawn. She picked up a pack of cigarettes, and lit one. Her blonde hair was slick and wet. Her manner was distracted. Quickly, Kendra moved down the hall, her feet creaking on the floorboards. A second later she emerged by the window again, now with a small phone in her hand.

  “It’s me. I must be quick. Gerrard. The cousin. He’s right-handed. He has a handgun, but he’s not skilled. He mainly occupies the front of the house in the front sitting room or the kitchen. The redhead is trouble. Clever. But no fighter. She’s weak. She’s here because Maggie wants her here….” There was a gap. “You would have thought so, yes. But you know what she’s like. She always wants more. No. The redhead won’t be a problem. She could be armed but no real dang
er. No training as far as I can tell. Maggie? I’ve just seen her. She suspects nothing, but the redhead is stirring up ideas which are unhelpful. When? Today? Yes, let’s get this over with. I could do it for you, you know. It would save any further public drama…”

  The cold bitch. It was Kendra. The cold hearted bitch was Maggie Gillespie’s squeeze, her bodyguard, and just after they’d indulged in some alone time, Kendra was gladly volunteering to kill her. To kill them all in point of fact. Eva was trapped, but at least now she knew the truth. Kendra closed the call, and went back into the bedroom with Maggie, going straight into character with laughter. Eva slid down the stairs, and moved quietly into place in the flock papered brown sitting room. The cheap wine bottles stared at her but the appearance of Gerrard at the gate ended the awful temptation. This was all getting out of hand. If Kendra was the leak, if Kendra was the danger, then what was Gerrard up to? And right now, did it even matter. Kendra had made the dreaded call. It was only a matter of time until death came calling.

  Ten

  It was still before lunch, so Eva used the excuse of taking a morning shower to get some alone time. She turned the shower on then dialled Jess’s number on her phone. As the phone rang and rang, Eva paced around the little old bathroom as steam began to fill the air. She hung up and dialled again. The girl still didn’t answer. Eva hung up and redialled. Thoughts streamed through her head in a raging current. What the hell was she going to do to get them out of this? How could she handle this? Kendra had her down, the bitch knew she was weak. She knew Eva’s limitations almost as well as she knew herself. She wondered how Kendra could see through her bluster to see all her weakness. Was it really that obvious? Eva felt ashamed of herself. Even now the woman might have been preparing to top them all. Eva needed to get her head straight and find faith in herself. At least the same amount that Mad Maggie had in her. But then again, she was known as Mad Maggie for a reason. The tension, the anxiety in her, it locked her body up tight. A part of Eva longed to go downstairs and grab one of those bottles. Or she could simply walk away before the shooting started. Maybe it really was as easy as that. There was even the chance that Kendra might even let her go – believing she had simply quit because of her weakness without really knowing the truth. It was possible. After all, none of them yet knew what she had heard from Kendra’s lips. As Gerrard had returned to the house soon after her, none of them had yet had the chance to question what she had seen on her travels. Walk away. Take the one thousand and move on. Let Mad Maggie get what was coming to her… After all, it had been coming a long time. It all sounded so easy, so very good… and yet Eva knew she would never get away. Not in reality. If Kendra let her get away, if she made it home unscathed and lived to tell the tale, if Brian Gillespie did not immediately seek to exact revenge for her involvement… then Eva’s bad conscience would kill her as stone dead as anything else. The bottle was already tempting enough, yes she could admit that much. And she knew if she lived with an unbearable shame like that, the bottle would be more than tempting… it would have been compulsory in order to live with self-disgust. How much was a villainous person’s life worth? Was it worth less than hers? Eva knew the answer - she’d known it all her life. No. A life was a life, and everyone, including Maggie Gillespie deserved a second, third and fourth chance. No one deserved to be double-crossed, betrayed and then killed by their husband. Not even Maggie. Drowning in the bottle could wait too. Eva pressed the name ‘Jess’ on her phone screen again and the fourth time round the girl finally answered the call. Eva thought the girl’s tone was the same as any kid who knew they’d done wrong.

  “Yes?”

  “Yes? Is that all you can say?” Eva hissed beneath the noise level of the shower. “I’ve been calling you over and over, and you’ve been avoiding my calls and texts. Do you know… can you even imagine what being here is like?”

  “I think I can…”

  “Then you are wrong, Jess. This situation is hell, and it’s getting worse by the second... What have you been doing out there?”

  “Um. Trying to get some resources for help. Back up. Sorting out some back up is the best way to think of it.”

  “Back up? You are my back up, Jess. And when you’re on form you are the only back up I will ever need. Are you on the team, Jess, or have you gone rogue? Are you still with me, Jess? I need an honest answer. Now of all times, I need to know!”

  “Jeez. Calm down Eva.”

  “No. Calming down is not what I need right now, Jess. Level with me. Are you on side?”

  “Eva! Come on! Yes. Definitely. One hundred per cent.”

  Eva closed her eyes in silent relief. With Dan gone, if her last support failed her, she would be lost. But Jess was still there, just.

  “I’ve got two minutes, Jess. That’s all I can afford here. They know where the hideout is. Gillespie’s boys, the hit man too. You remember Kendra?”

  “Uh-huh. The blonde terminator.”

  “Yes, her. She’s screwing Maggie and working for the opposition at the same time.”

  “Euuuurrrrgggh. Yuck. They had better be paying her really, really good money.”

  “Jess. They are going to kill everyone.”

  “Sorry. I was just lightening the tone.”

  “Jess, I don’t need the tone lightened. I need a plan. A fool proof plan.”

  “I’m working on it this end, Eva. That’s why I’ve been out of contact. I’m putting something together… I just need to put it together more quickly.”

  “Put it together? There’s no time for putting anything together, Jess. I need to get my head around this now.”

  “Eva? How long do you think you’ve got before anything happens? Do you want me to come out there?”

  Eva felt like say yes and shedding a tear of desperation, but whatever Kendra had said, Eva knew she was built to be a fighter, not a wimp. These were the cards life had dealt her. And she had played herself into this mess. “No, Jess. I want you to be ready to help, to push buttons, to phone the police if need be… but please… never be out of contact like that again. Not while I’m stuck like this.” Eva was running out of time. She was out of ideas too. “Jess, what do you think I should do?”

  “Eva. I’m sorry. But you’re the clever one and you’re in the thick of it. Run or fight. But only fight if you think you can win, Eva. This doesn’t sound like a game. When Maggie Gillespie is involved, it will never be a game. The only thing I can do is phone the police. Maybe we should do that now. Do you want me to push that button? You tried, Eva. Don’t die for this.”

  Eva listened to the words and blinked. They made her angry. Jess wasn’t wrong, but the thought of giving up made her sick to the stomach. The bottle would get her if she gave up now.

  “No, Jess. Hold fire on that. I need to think. I need to play along… Kendra doesn’t know that I know yet. So maybe I can get the drop on her. I need to check out the other options here. I’ll text you, Jess.”

  “Stay alive, Eva. If you want, I’ll call the police. I’ll keep working this end until you tell me what to do.”

  “Hold fire. I’ll text you.”

  Eva hung up and then stripped her clothing off quickly. She moved into the shower with aggressive speed, simply to get wet, to look a woman who’d had a shower. She doused her hair and daubed her hair with shampoo for effect, then washed herself. The water felt good on her skin, but it did nothing to relax her. Her mind was already in overdrive.

  Maybe, just maybe, Gerrard didn’t know anything about Kendra’s plan. Eva needed to know what was happening with Gerrard, to see if there was an angle there. He was a bastard, for sure, but maybe he was a good kind of bastard. It wouldn’t take too long to suss him out. If he was kosher, there would be a simple explanation for the detour through the field, and if he was lying she would see it in his eyes, in his tells. If he was on side, they could go together and persuade Maggie to discard Kendra before it was too late. Yes, Gerrard may not have been kosher. Gerrard may have been
a part of the problem, but if so then they were all as good as dead already. Eva needed luck on her side. She was going to have to make a gamble. But on the day you are probably going to die, even gambling seems like wisdom. It was time to remove Kendra before she removed them.

  Eleven

  There was hardly any time but Jess didn’t have much choice either way. The masked man had shown his skills in easily spotting her hiding between the cars at the underground car park, but then again, Jess wasn’t going to give the guy too much credit. It wasn’t as if she was hidden very well and the place had been full of bright ceiling lights. This guy may have thought he was a hero, but Jess wasn’t going to credit him super powers either. But she did credit him with attitude. The man was arrogant. He wasn’t Dan, but he was a show-off who liked playing the hero all the same. Jess noticed a change in the masked man’s methods herself. The newspaper reports mentioned the vigilante’s brutal violence in his earliest attacks, yet at the off licence and in the car park, the masked man was content to play the pacifist. Maybe he liked his headlines better this way. Yes, she reckoned that was it. He was an egotist, a showbiz chaser, a glory hunter, the kind of idiot who enjoyed reading about his exploits over breakfast. If so then that was where any similarity with Dan Bradley abruptly ended. For all his many faults, Dan Bradley was no glory hunter. He was stupid, shallow, full of bravado and testosterone, but he never sought the spotlight. The only time he’d ever gotten it - as far as Jess knew – was when he went down for perverting the cause of justice and that brought him the very opposite of glory.

  Jess didn’t have a Dan to save Eva’s hide but she had gotten access to a new wannabe hero. And right now she had something the masked mad probably wanted badly – the chance to save a damsel in distress and bring criminals to justice. The chance to be a hero in a much bigger story than he had been in up to now. He may not have been Dan, but if she could meet the guy and explain the situation Jess guessed there was a good chance the masked man would go for it. Jess wasn’t stupid. This was a total gamble, a ridiculous pipe-dream long shot. For instance: would this hero fancy tackling armed gunmen, assassins on motorbikes, tough girl soldiers and power dressing dykes with violent tendencies? That was a tall order, even for any local superhero. Jess decided she would pitch the guy with the minimum level of need-to-know information. Something like: go to house, beat bad guys, save girl. That was enough, right? It sounded like a nice plan if you ignored the utter absurdity of it, but hey, Eva wasn’t making the right decisions herself lately either. Whatever she did Jess had to do more than simply wait for a call from Eva. Heck, she had to admit she was intrigued too. Finding the masked man would give her something to do. He was a way to pass the time.