by Liz Mistry
Jai nudged him. ‘Ready to go in, then?’
Shahid pointed to the cameras dotted around the building. ‘You managed to disable them? Don’t want to give them a heads-up, do we?’
Jai smiled in a rare display of humour. ‘I was thinking more along the lines of a heads off.’ And he pulled a pistol from his pocket.
Although his heart thumped, Shahid’s mind was crystal clear. He lifted his pistol from his lap and grinned. ‘Right then, we’re ready. Give the signal.’
Chapter 85
22:35 Bradford Royal Infirmary heading to Ingleby Road
‘Compo, you’re sure of their location?’
Compo’s voice, excited and high, came over the airways. ‘Yes, dead sure. It’s the old Pakeezah warehouse. There’s no cameras round the back of the warehouse but, I managed to get GPS on Shahid’s phone and that’s where he is. ACC Kielty has authorised helicopters and they’re on their way, as are armed response. Her instructions are for you to get eyes on but to wait for back-up.’
Holding onto the dashboard for dear life as Alice took a right from Thornton Road onto Ingleby Road at the Morrison’s traffic lights, narrowly missing an oncoming truck, Gus cursed under his breath. Sampson squashed in the back of Alice’s mini gasped and Gus imagined that the other man had closed his eyes and was praying. If he wasn’t so bloody scared he’d have done the same.
‘Grow some balls,’ said Alice, as she straightened the wheel and sped down Ingleby Road. ‘We’re nearly there.’
Seeing a gap in the traffic, she swerved out, accelerated and pulled back in, just in time to make the opening into the road where the warehouse back entrance was situated. Gus reached over and flicked her headlights off. As Alice edged forwards, Gus and Sampson checked the cars lined up on the roadside. ‘All empty,’ said Sampson.
She pulled into the warehouse car park and Gus, hoping they weren’t too late, scanned the windows. ‘I can see lights from inside, faint but they’re there. He flung open his door and, in a crouch, ran towards the building. A sudden gunshot made him duck and run for cover, then as his eyes accustomed themselves to the dimness he saw a group of men huddled in the shadows near the door. One of them was just withdrawing his gun from the door and a taller man, kicked it open before they all filed through.
They’d clearly not opted for stealth thought Gus, realising the gunshot was them firing at the lock. Not waiting to see if Alice and Sampson were behind him, Gus counted to twenty then followed the men through the door and into a spacious but empty room with a staircase in the right-hand corner. Above him he could hear the other men’s feet thudding on the stairs. They were clearly making no secret of their approach. Never a good strategy.
Throwing a quick glance over his shoulder, he saw Sampson just behind him and Alice slightly further back, talking into her phone. Good, she was calling it in. He put one finger to his lip and began to climb the stairs, keeping his back to the wall and making no noise. At the top of the stairs he stopped and listened, but all he could hear was his elevated breathing and Sampson’s heavier pants behind him. He poked his head round and saw that a series of large metal doors lined the walls which, no doubt, accounted for the absence of sound. Creeping closer, he saw that all but the first one had padlocks on. He put his ear close to the door and could hear the faint sound of angry voices. Hopefully they were too busy arguing to hear anything.
Holding his breath, he reached out and depressed the handle, waiting for a sign that he’d alerted those inside. As soon as he pushed the door open the voices became clearer. The door had indeed been heavily soundproofed. Fine, as long as your other security systems hadn’t been disabled… not so good if they had.
As he pushed it open wide enough to see what was happening inside, there was a tumultuous explosion, followed by the rap of automatic gun fire. Puffs of concrete dust drifted through the open door and Gus realised that someone inside the room had fired repeatedly into the ceiling. He heard coughing, followed by laughter, and then a voice he recognised as being Shahid’s, ‘I’ll kill you for what you did, Anastazy, but shooting you will be too quick.’
Gus poked his head through the door. The dust was beginning to settle and he could see Shahid pointing his gun towards a metal pillar. Behind the pillar, Gus could just make out Anastazy. A trio of men, one of whom appeared to have been hit either by a ricocheting bullet or some debris, stood, guns drawn at the ready. On closer inspection, Gus recognised the one who was bleeding as Jerome. Nearer to the door, Jai held his gun to the head of an older man. Shahid stood just in front of him. In the corner, Serafina sat on a chair, her eyes wide. ‘Please don’t hurt my dad,’ she said, but Jai ignored her.
Shahid turned to her. ‘You still don’t get it, do you?’
Gus could see her shaking her head, tears rolling down her cheek as Shahid continued. ‘This is all because of your dad. He set this monster loose on the streets of Bradford and look what he’s done. Your fucking dad couldn’t control him and look what he’s done. He’s hurt your brother, and your friend, he’s stabbed Imti, he’s killed Trixie and some other girls.’
Anastazy laughed. ‘I didn’t kill your whore, Shahid. Someone else did that but yes, I killed the others… or rather I had them killed… all so your dad, Serafina, could be the boss again, like he was in Poland.’
Serafina glanced from Shahid to her father. ‘Dad?’
Her father looked at her. ‘Where did you think all your fine clothes and everything came from in Poland, Serafina? I worked hard for us, for our family. I did what I had to do.’
Anastazy laughed again, ‘Tell her, Old Man, what you did to get your money. How many people you ordered killed. How many people you stole from. How much money you took from people’s investment accounts leaving them destitute. How, when the authorities began to link you to all these activities, you had to flee Poland with nothing but your snivelling family.’
The Old Man, fire in his eyes, took his opportunity and lifting his leg, he kicked Jai in the balls. Jai’s gun clattered to the floor. The Old Man grabbed it and before anyone could react, he shot Jai in the head. Shahid, hand shaking, aimed his gun at The Old Man. Anastazy immediately ducked from behind the pillar and fired a shot, hitting Shahid in the leg. He fell to the one knee. The other three men, raised their guns, but were too slow, as Anastazy with three separate pops floored them. Blood pooled under their bodies leaving Gus in no doubt they were dead.
Serafina jumped to her feet and, hands over her mouth, glared at her father, who now had his gun trained on Shahid. Anastazy approached her from behind and grabbed her. ‘You’re coming with me. That was the deal.’
Her father flinched, but nodded once at Serafina.
She cried out. ‘You sold me? To this monster? Even after what he did to Jacob and Mum? How could you do this. Say you didn’t do all these things?’
Her father’s lips curled and he shouted something in Polish that made Serafina flinch. She pulled her arm away from Anastazy. ‘I won’t go with you. You’ll have to kill me.’
Anastazy put one arm around her waist and lifted her off her feet. As she began screaming, he raised his gun and pressed it to her forehead as he walked across the room.
Gus poked his head through the door and when he was certain Shahid had seen him he yelled as loudly as he could and using all his upper body strength he pushed the door so that it crashed into Serafina and Anastazy. Seeing the Old Man whirl towards him, Gus yelled, ‘Shoot, Shahid!’
From the corner of his eye, he saw The Old Man fall to the ground and he scrabbled across the floor to claim Anastazy’s gun. As he felt the metal of the gun, Anastazy delivered a scissor kick to Gus’ thigh that made him yelp. The gun slipped from his fingers and skittered across the floor. He rolled away and onto his back and, pulling both legs up to his chest, he forcefully propelled his heels down onto Anastazy’s head, thankful that today he’d worn his boots.
Undeterred, Anastazy shook his head and, blood streaming from his skull, he crawle
d towards the gun as Sampson and Alice barrelled into the room. Lifting it with shaking hands, Anastazy, his face a manic grin, extended his hand. Gus on his knees, yelled a guttural cry and lunged for the man as the gun exploded.
For shocked seconds Gus stared at Anastazy as his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the concrete, unconscious as if the final firing of the gun had been all he’d remained conscious for. Gus’ eyes flitted round the room assessing the damage. The old Man lay sprawled in a heap, Serafina, screaming, was in Shahid’s arms. Sampson was crouched over a bundled up pile of dark rags. Gus could see his mouth move but couldn’t hear what he was saying. A cold sweat broke out over his body and without knowing how, he was there beside Sampson looking down at Alice’s small frame lying in a dark puddle.
Dragging Sampson back, Gus knelt beside her and for an instant he was back with Billy. His heart hammered and his breathing accelerated. Then a sudden clarity took hold and he yanked up her clothes looking for the wound. This wasn’t Billy. This was Alice and he wasn’t going to lose her. As he worked, his hands became slick with blood, but he wouldn’t give up. Pressing down on her stomach, he yelled at Sampson to find something to compress her wound.
Pushing down on Sampson’s rolled up jumper, he spoke to her. Begging her… cajoling her… ordering her, to stay with him. Then, when she stopped breathing he made Sampson take over applying pressure and he moved up to her chest, alternating between compressions and mouth to mouth until finally the paramedics arrived and took over.
Unaware of the blood streaking his hands or the tears streaming down his face, Gus stood up and looked round at the carnage. The paramedics were working on The Old Man. The bullet appeared to have hit his shoulder and Jai appeared to have suffered a flesh wound to the head. Strangely detached from the scene, the sounds reached his ears as if through a muffler. He saw Serafina stand up and wobble over to her father. The paramedics moved to allow her to kneel beside him. She whispered something in Polish in his ear and then got back to her feet. Before the paramedics could react, the girl turned and raising her leg, kicked him in the kidneys. ‘That is for Jacob and…’ she kicked him again, ‘that is for my mother.’
Gus knew he should feel a sense of satisfaction at Serafina’s actions but all he felt was numbness. He walked over to Shahid who was applying pressure to his own wound. ‘You know you’re under arrest, don’t you?’
Shahid nodded. ‘Yeah, you always play it by the book, McGuire.’
Gus turned and looked around him. ‘Luckily for you, Shahid, not always. Otherwise you’d be dead.’ He walked away, signalling to a uniformed officer to read him his rights, but was halted when Shahid spoke again.
‘Just promise me one thing, Gus?’
Gus tilted his head to one side. He was tired and the last thing he wanted was to do deals with Shahid Khan. He wanted to get off to the hospital to find out how Alice was. Actually, that wasn’t strictly true. He didn’t want to go anywhere near the hospital. He felt he was cursed and the last thing he wanted was to jinx Alice’s recovery. Deep down he knew he was being a coward. He was scared to go in case Alice was dead. He looked at Khan. ‘Depends?’
‘Make sure Jessica knows the truth about Millie’s death. Don’t let them cover it up.’
Gus’ lips thinned. ‘You should know by now that I won’t let that happen, Shahid. Millie Green’s murderer will be exposed and that’s a promise.’
Hissing Sid arrived to process the scene as Gus was about to go downstairs where Sampson waited to take him to the hospital. ‘Well thank God, no one has to tell your parents you’re in hospital this time.’
Gus shook his head and continued walking. ‘No, it’s much worse this time, Sid. It’s Alice who’s injured.’
Monday
Chapter 86
06:30 Marriner’s Drive to the Fort
Gus hadn’t slept well. A combination of residual adrenalin, a throbbing thigh where Anastazy had kicked him and thoughts of Sadia and Alice had kept him tossing and turning for most of the night. Bingo, sensing Gus’ low mood had tried his best to be endearing, licking his face and wiggling his bottom in a way that normally had him laughing but today he felt flat. He let Bingo out the back, fed him and made coffee on automatic pilot. Finally, knowing he had to do something, he packed his rucksack with work clothes and donned his joggers and trainers and set off jogging to The Fort.
He knew he should go to the hospital to see how Alice was doing but he couldn’t bear it. The sight of her parents, bruised and fragile, keeping a silent watch over their daughter had sent a knife through his heart. This was all his fault. He should have waited for the armed response team instead of bulldozing in and risking his officers’ lives for a bunch of scumbags. If he’d stayed out, with any luck, they’d have killed each other, saved the taxpayer a shed load of money and Alice would be all right.
Entering Lister Park by the bottom entrance, he began a slow circuit of the park, heading round the bottom end of the pond as his warm up, before hitting the hill that would take him behind the imposing art gallery, Cartwright Hall. The Hare and Minotaur Bull were gone. Apparently, they were on loan elsewhere and Gus missed them. He took a detour and jogged slowly through the Moghul Gardens, his feet pounding Imran Qureshi’s artwork commemorating the fallen of World War One. Normally, he appreciated the richness of this beautiful city, but today his heart wasn’t in it. Bradford’s diversity gave the city a heart and soul that Gus usually found warming. Today, he barely felt lukewarm. He continued on, doing two more laps of the park, trailing through the autumn leaves, with squirrels snagging conkers from the ground keeping him company. The slight fog that made trees appear suddenly before him, like floating Dementors. The eeriness of leaves illuminated by white LED lights and falling like engorged raindrops matched his mood.
Sweating and breathing hard, Gus left the park by the top entrance on North Park Road and wound a circuitous route towards The Fort. Heading up Victor Road past The Church of God of Prophecy, its spire protruding like a witch’s finger whilst next door, on Victor Street, was the Jamiyat Tabligh-ul Islam Masjid. Behind these two religious edifices, Lister’s Mill dominated the skyline; a giant’s turret floating off the ground in a cloud of fog.
By the time he reached the Fort he was drenched by the early morning mist as much as by his sweat. His dreads held droplets of moisture which, like a dog, he shook before entering the station. Feeling the need to cool down after his run, he took the stairs, slowing his pace to normalise his breathing. A mere six months previously he would have struggled to cover even half the distance he ‘d done today. But his thigh muscles were stronger and his shoulder had recovered enough for him to carry a rucksack when he jogged. He shrugged. At least some things were improving for him… if only he could say the same about everything else.
The incident room was empty and Gus’ entry stimulated the light sensors. He took a swig from his water bottle and set up the coffee machine before heading through to the male toilets where he showered and changed into his work trousers, T-shirt and his usual crew-neck jumper. Applying moisturiser to his face he realised he looked wan. He always felt that his complexion paled into a jaundiced hue when he was off colour. Sadia had told him he was talking shite. That even when he was paler than usual, his skin was like cappuccino. Studying himself now he wondered if she meant the pale froth on top or the rich coffee underneath. Thinking about Sadia whilst Alice lay in a hospital bed made him feel disloyal. So, shoving his damp clothes into his bag, he wandered through, poured himself a coffee and settled down behind his computer to answer his emails.
As usual, he had loads of emails, some of which he immediately deleted; even Police Yorkshire seemed to get its fair share of spam. Flicking down in order, he came to one dated Sunday at 16:35. Hesitating, with his finger on the cursor Gus frowned. This was completely unexpected. Why the hell would Sadia’s dad have emailed him?
Chapter 87
10:10 The Fort
Gus hadn’t been surpris
ed to get the phone call this morning. After the email from Sadia’s dad, he doubted he’d ever feel surprised by anything again. He’d suspected it would only be a matter of time before guilt made Jessica come clean. She looked waiflike, sitting in the stark interview room, her clothes baggy and less than clean. Her hair fell in rats’ tails, reminding Gus of how her friend Trixie had looked when they’d arrived at her crime scene. The only difference was that Trixie’s hair was wet whereas, Jessica’s was greasy.
He’d taken one look at her through the one-way mirror and ordered one of the uniforms to get her a bacon butty from The Chaat café. Now, with the interview about to start, he wished that Sadia could be here for the girl. He knew she’d want to, but maybe it would be easier for her without Sadia. He would have brought Alice in with him but, hell… she was fighting for her life in BRI. He’d been reluctant to bring Sampson in with him, knowing that both the incident with Sadia’s dad and Alice’s injury had hit him hard. However, Sampson had turned up for work and between the two of them and Compo they were trying to make headway with their workloads. Anastazy and The Old Man were being dealt with by North Yorkshire as a favour to ACC Kielty, who knew Gus’ team was overstretched.
Jessica hadn’t met Sampson in an official capacity, so he hoped it would help her to relax. Sampson had a way about him that relaxed people and made them open up.
The air carried the lingering aroma of Jessica’s meal when they’d entered and the empty wrapper on the table top told Gus she’d been hungry. He pushed a cup of sugary tea across the table and said, ‘It’s good you’ve opted to come in, Jessica. It’ll make it easier for you, you know?’
Jessica nodded and using the cuff of her jumper wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. Gus nodded at Sampson who went to the door and requested a tissue box. With the tissue box in the middle of the table, the tape recorder on and the initial introductions made, Gus read Jessica her rights and offered her a solicitor.