Ruthless Girl: An absolutely gripping, gritty crime thriller

by Emma Tallon

  ‘Yes, that was all I came for.’ Sarah smiled, a genuine smile this time, and noted that Sophia did not return it. ‘I’ll leave you in peace then. Catch you another time.’ Without waiting for Ali to guide her, Sarah walked back out the way she came.

  Sophia rose from her position on the sofa and glided to the window. Her lips pursed and her eyes turned hard as she watched Sarah leave. The door that led out from the lounge towards the back of the house opened and Jim walked through from where he had hidden away from the unexpected visitor.

  ‘What did she want?’ He sidled up to her as the gate closed once more behind Sarah.

  ‘To compliment me on how I’m raising my children,’ she replied, drily.

  ‘Really?’ Jim asked in surprise.

  ‘No. Not really,’ she answered, her look darkening. ‘We need to pull up the new plan to tonight. We have, as you Londoners say, been made.’

  Sixty-Two

  Freddie hurled his glass across the newly decorated office with a growl and it shattered into pieces as it hit the wall. So it was her. It was Sophia who had killed Sammy. He turned in a slow circle, holding his head in horror. He had been the one to allow her into their lives, into their business. He thought he’d read the situation well. She was just a mother trying to provide for her children, a woman of the underworld making use of the skills and knowledge that she had. Aleksei hadn’t even been a proper husband. The story had been so easy to buy, with her cold indifference to the issues of the past. But he had been wrong. And it had cost Sammy everything. The sickening realisation that this was all his fault hit him like a ton of bricks and he pulled his hands forward over his face with a groan.

  Paul caught on to his thought process almost immediately. ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘Fred, I know what you’re thinking but this ain’t your fault.’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ Freddie groaned through his hands. ‘It is my fault. I fucking fell for it, thinking I knew better, thinking I could trust my gut over pure fucking fact. And the fact is, she’s the enemy. She always has been.’

  ‘You thought she was after the money, which was the logical explanation,’ Paul reasoned. ‘You couldn’t have known she was playing this game.’

  ‘Bill did,’ Freddie replied, looking up at his brother. ‘Bill knew. He didn’t like this from the beginning. He told me not to trust the Russians at any point, but especially not her. I should have fucking listened.’ He closed his eyes in torment, kicking himself for not paying more attention to the warning signs.

  Sarah shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. She had been elated that she had finally figured out who the killer was, but she had not been looking forward to telling Freddie. She had known it wasn’t going to go down well. She eyed the door, wishing she had positioned herself a little closer to it. She could have slipped out unnoticed and carried on with her day. There was still a lot to do and she didn’t want to be missed at the station.

  Paul exhaled slowly. He wanted to make Freddie feel better, to take off the mantle of guilt his brother had decided to adopt, but he couldn’t find much of an argument. Freddie had fucked up. ‘Look,’ he said eventually. ‘Even if you had told her to sling her hook, she still would have been out for blood. Chances are it still would have all panned out the same way.’

  Freddie stared off into space, not really hearing Paul’s words. He frowned. ‘How did she get in? How did she get the information she needed?’ He turned to Paul.

  Paul shrugged. ‘I don’t know, maybe she just chanced it.’

  ‘No.’ Freddie shook his head. ‘Sophia isn’t a chancer. She’s methodical, careful.’ He’d seen as much with the gun-running and in the elaborate set-up to get close to Freddie. It was doubtful that she would then go running in all guns blazing to kill Sammy without a well-thought-out plan.

  ‘It did seem rather convenient that all the cameras were off,’ Sarah remarked. ‘But how would she know where to look? And the fact she never stepped into this room…’ Sarah glanced towards where she knew the closed-circuit cameras were hidden. ‘It was like she knew the cameras in here were on their own loop.’ She frowned and looked at Freddie. ‘Who had access to the security system?’

  ‘No one who would tell her anything about it,’ he replied with certainty. Before he could continue, a message pinged through on his phone. He looked at the screen and his expression darkened. It was Sophia.

  Paul glanced at the screen and his eyebrows shot up. ‘Well, go on, open it,’ he urged.

  Freddie read it out loud. ‘“Mr Tyler, I need to meet with you tonight to discuss some of the details of the next run. Let me know where is best to find you after the clubs close. Sophia.”’

  ‘I suppose asking her to report directly to the shallow grave we’ll be digging for her is out,’ Paul said.

  ‘She’ll be in it soon enough, brother,’ Freddie replied, his expression darkening. ‘But not before I get some answers.’

  Sixty-Three

  Anna sat at one of the empty tables in the bar of The Sinners’ Lounge, her legs crossed and her hands folded in her lap as she waited, hiding the tension she felt running through every inch of her body. Freddie paced up and down the long room nearby, not able to hide his agitation as successfully.

  ‘What time is it?’ he asked.

  Anna looked at the watch on her wrist. ‘Ten to.’

  They heard the door open downstairs and froze. They exchanged grim glances and braced themselves for what was coming. ‘They’re here,’ Anna breathed. She reached under the table and her fingers curled around the handle of the revolver she’d strapped there earlier. Freddie was unarmed, to keep up appearances until things took a turn for the worse.

  Anna strained her ears as they heard footsteps on the stairs. Only one pair, it seemed. She frowned. That was odd. The door opened inwards and as Tanya walked into view she exhaled the tense breath she had been holding.

  ‘Tan, what are you doing here?’ she asked, standing up and walking towards her.

  ‘I had to come,’ she said with a sniff.

  She didn’t look at all like her normal self, dressed casually in a pair of skinny jeans and a khaki hoody Anna had never seen before. Her face was devoid of the usual expertly applied make-up, which made her look younger and more vulnerable somehow, and her arms were wrapped around her torso as if she was protecting herself from the outside world.

  At least, Anna noted, she had showered and run a brush through her hair. And she had left the flat to come here. Which meant that there was still some fight in her, no matter how much she was hurting.

  ‘You shouldn’t be here,’ she said, rubbing Tanya’s arm. ‘This is just going to upset you more.’

  ‘This is just going to anger me more,’ she replied, a hardness breaking through the pain in her eyes. ‘Which is exactly why I should be here.’

  ‘I’m just—’

  ‘No, she’s right.’ Freddie cut her off, his tone full of the fury that was seeping out of his every pore. He began pacing once more, unable to stand still, so strong was the rage running through him. ‘She should be here. She has every right to look that murdering bitch in the eye before she disappears off the face of the fucking planet. Sammy’s been taken from all of us, her included.’

  He glanced over at Tanya and she nodded her gratitude. He looked away and shook his head sorrowfully. He’d suspected something had started up between them anyway, but Anna had confirmed the details. The two of them could have been very happy together, had Sammy not been killed. He knew it was the lost future, as much as Sammy himself, that Tanya was mourning, and he felt her pain. They had been friends for a long time, he and Tanya.

  Freddie searched for the right words, for anything to say that could be of some comfort but there were none. Instead he kicked out at a chair and sent it flying. Anna picked it up and placed it back in its rightful place.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, taking a deep breath. He ran his hands through his dark hair and straightened his jacket. He needed to get a han
dle on himself before they got here. Mixing emotions with business was the fastest way to make a mistake, and none of them could afford to make a mistake tonight.

  After they’d got over their initial shock, they’d started to work through all the possible reasons why Sophia had killed Sammy and a sneaking suspicion had entered his mind. Perhaps Aleksei wasn’t dead. Perhaps this had been the long game and Sammy was just the first to fall. They had never actually found Aleksei, after all. Sophia had told them a neat little story about him being buried in a building site, but what if that had just been to throw them off? Maybe all this time Aleksei had been lying in wait, using his wife to get close to them so that he could pick them off one by one. It seemed like a lot of effort to go to, but it was the most likely explanation Freddie could come up with. Either way, it had stopped him in his tracks. He needed to find out what was behind the killing before he dealt with her.

  When Sophia had messaged, Freddie had agreed to meet, inviting her to The Sinners’ Lounge as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Then they had worked out the best strategy to get answers out of her before dealing with her for good. Now here they were, ready and waiting for her and whoever else she brought along for the ride.

  So many questions buzzed around Freddie’s head. Would Sophia still act as though they were allies for a while longer or was she only coming here to take him out? Was he the next on the hit list or would she still be playing the long game? Would Aleksei come with her, if Freddie’s theory was correct? Why did she take out Sammy first, of all people? What did she have to gain by that? He rubbed his forehead. None of it made sense.

  The door below them opened again and the atmosphere changed immediately. It was time. They all exchanged glances as two pairs of footsteps made their way up. Sophia marched into the bar area, Ali close behind. She stopped dead, just a few steps inside the room, and raised one eyebrow at Freddie.

  ‘I thought we agreed we were to meet alone?’ she asked, nodding towards Anna and Tanya who still stood together by the bar.

  ‘I thought that applied to both parties,’ Freddie responded coldly, nodding towards Ali.

  As he stared at her across the room, he found he could not mask his anger and contempt. Sophia just smirked humourlessly as she read his face. Clearly Sarah had already told him about the bracelet. She could have kicked herself when the penny had dropped earlier. The second Sarah had commented on it, she’d realised her mistake.

  ‘You don’t look very happy this evening, Mr Tyler,’ she said. ‘Is something the matter?’ She walked a few paces forward and then stopped, leaving a few feet between them.

  Her tone was carefully innocent but the mocking challenge in her eyes fuelled Freddie’s rage and he clenched his fist to stop himself lunging for her throat. This was the woman who had shot Sammy and ended his life – who had shot him in the back of the head like a coward. He’d never even stood a chance.

  Freddie deliberated for a few moments over which way to take things. He decided to cut to the chase. There was no point playing around, they both knew what was going on now. What he didn’t know was why – and what or who was behind it.

  ‘Let’s cut the crap, Sophia,’ he said in a low deadly tone. ‘Why did you do it?’

  ‘Why did I do what?’ Sophia asked, cocking her head to one side as if curious.

  ‘Sammy. Why did you kill him?’ Freddie felt the familiar stab of pain as he mentioned his best friend’s name. He saw Tanya twist uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye as if she too was trying to keep her emotions in check.

  Sophia smiled coldly. ‘So we’re not here to talk about the gun-run?’

  Anna studied Sophia as the other woman’s gaze remained locked on Freddie. She reminded her of a snake. Cold, calculated movements and a slyness which held a promise of imminent attack. As the stand-off between the two continued, Anna’s eyes were drawn to the bulge underneath Ali’s jacket. He had a gun.

  Suddenly she remembered the gun underneath the table and she silently cursed. She had planned to sit there with one hand on it, ready to pull it out at a second’s notice. When Tanya had arrived she’d abandoned her post and now it was several feet away. Training her gaze back on Sophia, she began slowly making her way back to the table.

  ‘I don’t think so, Miss Davis,’ Sophia immediately remarked. She reached behind her back and as quick as lightning pulled out her own handgun, pointing it directly at Anna’s head.

  Freddie immediately reacted with an enraged cry, but as he began to lurch towards Sophia, Ali pulled out his gun and turned it on Freddie. He pulled himself up short and swore loudly.

  Her heart racing at the sudden turn of events, Anna raised her hands and backed up against the bar once more. ‘Jesus Christ, Sophia,’ she exclaimed. ‘I was just going to sit down. There’s no need for this.’ She tried to sound reasonable, buying them some time and keeping the pair distracted. ‘We just wanted to talk things out. Surely we can do that like civilised people?’

  Tanya gripped Anna’s arm, murder in her eyes as she stared at Sophia. She wanted to shout and scream at the woman, but she’d caught on to what Anna was doing, so she kept silent for the time being.

  ‘You really expect me to believe that you just want to talk things out?’ Sophia scoffed. ‘Oh please… I just killed someone you all love. Apparently, I was not quite as discreet as I’d hoped,’ she added, ‘but there we go.’ She chuckled and shook her head. ‘Oh no, Miss Davis, you did not bring me here to talk. You brought me here to pay my debt. A life for a life. Let’s be honest, shall we? But you did not plan this out very well, considering we have two guns and you have none.’

  ‘You really expected me not to have arranged back-up?’ Freddie piped up, a glint of triumph in his eyes.

  The tip of Paul’s gun touched the back of Sophia’s head and Ali turned his gun away from Freddie towards Paul in alarm. Freddie saw his chance and started towards the table, but before he could get more than a step Ali realised his mistake and swung back around, stopping him in his tracks. His gaze jumped from Freddie to Sophia and back to Freddie again as he panicked, but Sophia didn’t even flinch.

  ‘Hello, Paul,’ she said calmly, not taking her eye off Anna. He cocked the gun and she smiled. ‘You really expected me not to anticipate this?’ she mocked.

  The sound of the front door being locked and bolted came up through the hallway and into the bar. Paul and Freddie exchanged looks. If the door was bolted, Bill had no chance of getting into the building after whoever had entered made their way up the stairs. That really did put a spanner in the works. Paul gave Freddie a meaningful look and Freddie tensed, ready to leap towards the gun Anna had left under the table. Paul then gave him a curt nod and without removing the gun from Sophia’s head, kicked out at the back of Ali’s knees, hard.

  Ali gave a small cry of surprise as his legs gave way and he crumpled to the floor. He dropped his gun and as he grappled to find it again Paul dove forward, hoping to get to it first. Catching on quickly, Ali grabbed him and the pair ended up fighting with their fists as each tried to get ahead of the other. Freddie jumped towards the table once more.

  ‘Don’t you dare,’ snarled Sophia, swinging her gun towards him and away from Anna.

  Freddie stopped in his tracks, frustration boiling over at how close he’d been to getting the gun.

  Without pausing to think, knowing that she couldn’t afford to lose even a second, Anna dived towards the table. Sophia swiftly turned the gun back in her direction and let off a shot, missing Anna by millimetres. Anna recoiled and put her hands back up, aware of how close Sophia had got to hitting her, and Freddie started forward with a cry of outrage.

  ‘Yebat,’ Sophia cursed angrily in Russian as she swung the gun back round onto Freddie once more. ‘Back up,’ she shouted.

  Freddie did as he was told, anger burning dangerously in his eyes. He had no doubt that Sophia would shoot again without a second thought and this time they might not be so lucky.

  Sophia exh
aled as she tried to collect herself. She was losing control of the situation, which was unacceptable. But she hadn’t anticipated so many people and whilst she did not know exactly why the pair of them kept trying to get to that table, she had a pretty good idea.

  Tanya used the chaos to sidle around the bar and silently picked up a large bottle of vodka. She was just behind the grappling pair and her mind worked quickly as she thought through the ways she could use this to her advantage.

  Ali managed to land a blow that sent Paul reeling and quickly grabbed his pistol. Realising his chance to take Ali out of the equation had passed, Paul jumped up and pointed his gun at Sophia once more. Freddie was still right in her line of fire.

  Ali righted himself a little further away from Paul and aimed at the other man’s head with a growl. His boss seemed to have both Freddie and Anna under control without need for his assistance. Right now, Paul was a more immediate threat.

  Sophia rolled her shoulders, satisfied that she had regained enough control to ensure the situation went her way.

  Anna watched as Tanya crept forward towards Ali, Paul and Sophia. With their focus trained in the other direction, they hadn’t noticed her approach. ‘Sophia, put your gun down now or I promise you that you will seriously regret it,’ she said, trying to keep their attention away from her friend.

  ‘I highly doubt that, Anna,’ Sophia replied, her tone calm and confident. ‘And you’re hardly in a position right now to be making demands, are you?’ She sighed as if the whole situation was tiring. ‘Now, I came here to finish the job I started, and you all came here for answers and to send me along to the next world. Only one of us is going to end up satisfied and I intend for that to be me. So…’ She recocked her gun and her gaze darkened as she focused on Freddie.

  Anna urgently gestured towards Sophia with her eyes, as Tanya looked to her for direction. Tanya mashed her lips into a hard line and hatred burned in her eyes as she lifted the vodka bottle, ready to run forward and smash across Sophia’s arms. If she could just disarm her, they stood a chance of overpowering the two of them. All she had to do was make sure she got there before Ali realised what she was doing.