She finished the call, having achieved as much as she could, and then called Stuart Jennings’ mobile. He answered almost immediately, as he always seemed to, and she explained what had happened.
‘Christ,’ he said. She could almost hear him considering the implications of this happening on his watch. She knew he’d be silently thanking his lucky stars that Annie hadn’t sought his permission before moving Sheena over here. At least he was off the hook for that. ‘And you’ve really nothing to go on?’
‘Not unless one of the neighbours saw something. Zoe’s checking with the immediate ones.’
‘I’d better get on to Andy Dwyer—’
A sudden thought struck her, a cold finger along her spine. ‘Stuart. I’m probably not thinking straight. But it’s just me that Andy Dwyer’s the only other person I told about bringing Sheena here. I thought he ought to be aware of what we were doing.’
‘You’re not suggesting…’
‘I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just stating a fact. Dwyer may have told some of his team, though I told him to be discreet. He knew that the whole point of this was to keep it under wraps.’
‘I know Andy’s got a bit of a reputation for wheeling and dealing when it suits him, but this would be a whole other thing.’
‘I don’t know, Stuart. I just know there’s been something odd about this throughout. Like how someone knew that Sheena was leaving the hospital by that rear entrance.’
‘You can’t seriously—’
‘I don’t know, Stuart. This isn’t the moment anyway. We need to be focusing on tracking down Sheena. It was just an idea that popped into my head. Something for later.’
There was a moment’s silence at the other end of the line. ‘Leave it with me. And I’ll get on to Ops and get everything I can thrown at this. Keep me posted with anything from your end, and I’ll do the same.’
He ended the call in his usual abrupt manner. Her main consolation was that she knew Jennings would be pulling out all the stops to prevent this turning into a monumental fuck-up. He might not care too much about Sheena, but he sure as hell cared about his own reputation.
Zoe reappeared at the front door, breathless. ‘I’m sorry. I’ve got nothing. One of the neighbours saw a car in the drive, but didn’t think anything of it. Couldn’t even tell me what colour it was.’
‘I suppose we can at least tell the dispatchers that we’re looking for a car, but that’s hardly a major breakthrough.’
‘So what now?’
‘Christ knows. All we can do is sit here and pray for a miracle. Or hope that Sheena’s even more resilient than I’ve always thought she was.’
* * *
Greg Wardle was staring at the ground, clearly trying to avoid Clive’s gaze.
‘Greg’s been with us for some time,’ Rowan said. ‘He was the one who first alerted us to your interest in our type of organisation, even before you started making indiscreet calls. He’s the one who told us about your tabloid contacts.’
Greg finally looked up. He looked nervous and embarrassed, his expression suggesting he’d ben dreading this moment of revelation. ‘I’m sorry, Clive. I’d have preferred it not to be like this. But there’s nothing I can do.’
‘I don’t understand.’ Clive was staring at Greg, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. ‘Surely you can’t be part of this.’
Greg shook his head. ‘I don’t have a choice, Clive. You’ve got to understand that. It’s too late now. I got involved with them a while back. They paid me some backhanders for inside info on planning applications and the like. Just pin money, but every little helps when you’re working in the public sector. Well, you know that. But it’s a one-way street. Once you’ve done it, you can’t go back. So I’ve got to go on. It’s a step-by-step thing, the movement. Building trust with them. But tonight’s the big step.’
‘The initiation?’
‘There’s more than one initiation,’ Rowan said. ‘We ask people to do acts that are normally considered taboo. Greg’s already progressed through several levels. Tonight is a chance for him to enter the inner circle.’
‘Christ, you make it sound like a pyramid selling scheme.’
Rowan laughed. ‘Very good. You know, I’m not sure Robin’s entirely right about you. I think you could have worked with us. If you could ever have persuaded yourself to take that first step.’ She gestured to Eric Nolan, ‘Okay, let’s get this done.’
She led the way along a footpath past a row of trees out on to the moorland. Once they were away from the trees, the stiff breeze hit them. The valley was stretched out in the darkness, the lights of the surrounding villages dotted across the landscape. Nolan was half pulling, half dragging Sheena Pearson. Charlie pushed Clive in front of him, and Henley and Greg Wardle brought up the rear.
They continued until they reached an open stretch of moor. The land was uneven, scattered with stone and cairns, but Rowan led them to a comparatively flat patch of ground. ‘Here.’
Nolan pushed Sheena forward. ‘Take off your clothes.’
‘What?’ It was the first word Sheena had spoken since leaving the car. Up to this point, she had seemed cowed, deferential.
‘Take off your clothes.’
Sheena straightened up. ‘I’m not taking off my fucking clothes. I’d rather you just fucking knifed me.’
‘This needs to be done properly.’ Rowan’s voice was gentle. ‘We don’t want to make this any more difficult for you than it needs to be. But if you won’t undress yourself, we’ll do it forcibly.’
‘You can fucking try.’
She looked like a different person now, Clive thought. Perhaps the initial shock of the kidnapping had worn off, but she looked determined, formidable. Her resistance might be short-lived, but it was impressive.
Rowan gestured to Greg Wardle. ‘I think this is for you, Greg. The beginning of the act.’
He reached towards Sheena, who glared back at him. ‘Just fuck off. Don’t even fucking think about it.’
Wardle looked around confusedly, and Nolan handed him the knife. ‘Make her do it.’
There was a long silence. Wardle was holding the knife as if it were some unfamiliar object. After a moment, it fell from his fingers. ‘I can’t do it. I just can’t do it.’
‘Oh, for Christ’s sake—’ Nolan leaned over to retrieve the knife. In that brief moment of confusion, Sheena pulled away.
Nolan made a grab for her, but Clive threw himself forward. His first instinct had been simply to run, seizing the moment as Sheena had done, but he knew that was likely to be futile. His second instinct, unconsidered, was to protect Sheena Pearson.
Sheena was already running, stumbling her way across the moorland into the darkness. Clive was rolling on the ground with Nolan, conscious that the other man was much larger and stronger than he was. Nolan was forcing him back on to the earth when Clive felt the chill of metal under his fingers.
His hand closed on the handle of the knife and, scarcely thinking what he was doing, he plunged the blade into the side of Nolan’s stomach. Nolan gave an agonised cry, and began to writhe above him.
‘Christ, stop the bastard. He’s stabbed Eric.’ The voice was Rowan’s. ‘Charlie!’
Charlie and Henley had already set off in pursuit of Sheena. Now both hesitated and turned back to see what was happening.
Clive was trying to withdraw the knife, but with Nolan’s weight on him he was succeeding only in twisting it. He could already feel the warm blood pouring from Nolan’s body.
‘Shit.’ The voice was Charlie’s. He was standing above them, clearly trying to work out what was happening. ‘What the fuck are we going to do?’
‘Just get the knife off him,’ Rowan said. ‘We need to stop him before he does any more damage.’ Her voice remained disconcertingly calm.
Clive had finally extracted the knife from Nolan’s body. Nolan himself was still twisting on the ground, but Clive managed to extricate himself just as Charlie was b
ending over to intervene. He raised the knife and slashed it at Charlie’s face, catching him across the cheek and nose, the blade slicing neatly through the flesh. ‘Christ, he’s cut me!’ Charlie cried.
Clive was on his knees now, and he took one more lunge at Charlie, driving the knife into his chest. Charlie fell backwards, blood billowing on his T-shirt. Clive pushed himself to his feet, and turned. Henley was already backing away towards the footpath.
Rowan, though, stood, unmoving. ‘Put the knife down, Clive.’
Clive stood with the knife held out in front of him. ‘Just let me go and I won’t hurt you.’
‘We can’t let you go, and you’re not going to hurt me.’ She began slowly to walk toward him, her eyes calmly fixed on his. ‘Just give me the knife.’
As she drew close, he raised the knife, prepared to slash at her as he had at Charlie. But before he could move, she had grabbed his wrist and twisted it, agonisingly. She twisted more and he fell to his knees, the pain now even more intense. The knife fell from his fingers and, still holding him down, she reached for it.
The last words he heard were, ‘If you want a job done properly…’
Chapter Forty-One
The decision to run had been little more than instinctive. Sheena Pearson assumed that they would catch up with her within a few yards. She was an accomplished runner, and had been a sprinter in her younger days. Now, she did relatively frequent marathons for various local charities, and she could still achieve a good balance of speed and stamina. Even so, she’d only had the shortest of head starts, and she didn’t expect to elude the men for more than a few minutes.
She just kept her head down and ran, trying to navigate the rough terrain in the darkness. The last thing she wanted was to trip and damage an ankle.
There was some kind of commotion behind her. She could hear shouting but had no intention of looking back to see what had happened. All she knew was that the expected hand on her shoulder or rugby-tackle to the ground had not yet materialised.
She was running downhill across the moorland. As far as she could judge, her route would intersect with the road eventually, but she wanted to keep to the open country in case any of the group returned to the car with the intention of cutting off her escape. She altered her direction slightly, heading for a patch of woodland that she hoped might provide her with some shelter.
As she reached the edge of the trees, she finally slowed and glanced back. To her surprise, there was no one behind her. She slipped between the trees, trying to move as quietly as possible through the undergrowth. When she was certain that she would be invisible from outside the trees, she stopped.
She had almost forgotten the mobile phone, but by some miracle it had remained firmly lodged in the rear waistband of her jeans. By another miracle, given the remoteness of the location, there was even a signal.
Sheena whispered a prayer of thanks to any gods who might be listening and began to dial.
* * *
Rowan Wiseman stood for a moment, surveying the scene. She had always had her doubts about this, and had expressed them to Robin. But she’d never expected it to end quite like this.
The only option was to clean up as best she could. Nolan was dead, and for the moment Clive Bamford was lying unconscious at her feet. She’d been tempted simply to finish him off, but she knew she needed to think this through properly. Landing herself with a pile of dead bodies wasn’t going to improve anything. As it was, they’d have to find a way of dealing with the bodies of Nolan and Charlie.
As for the other two, Wardle was little more than a mess, curled up on the ground without the will either to flee or fight. Mo Henley had backed away along the path, and she’d thought for a moment that he was simply intending to bugger off and leave her with this shambles. She suspected the thought had crossed his mind, but in the end he’d had second thoughts and had returned to help her.
The question was what next?
Their first priority was to catch up with Sheena Pearson. If she managed somehow to escape, they really would be screwed. She couldn’t have got too far. Wiseman had made a point of scoping out the area in daylight and knew there was a patch of woodland further down the valley in the direction Pearson had been heading. The best guess was that she had hidden herself in that. Beyond the woods there was only the road, and further open moorland where she’d be much more exposed. She had assumed Nolan would have had the nous to check Pearson didn’t have a mobile with her, but she was recognising now that competence was in shorter supply here than she’d realised.
She turned to Henley. ‘We’ve got to get this sorted. First thing is to catch up with Pearson.’ She pointed across the moorland. ‘If we drive down there, we’ve more chance of heading her off.’
‘What about these two?’
‘I’ll get Robin to come up with the van. We’ll have to lock them in the back for the moment. They’ll be secure enough till we work out what’s best to do with them.’
‘And what about Eric and Charlie?’
‘They’re going nowhere,’ Rowan said bluntly. ‘We can decide how to deal with them later. Speaking of which…’ She pulled out her mobile and dialled Kennedy’s number. The call was answered almost immediately.
‘Success?’ Kennedy said.
‘In your dreams, Robin. It’s all gone completely fucking tits-up here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I want you out here now to help us get it sorted.’
‘I don’t think—’
‘I know you like to keep above the fray, Robin, and let your minions take the hit. But we’re past all that now. If you come and help, we’ve a chance of salvaging it. If you don’t, we’re all screwed. And I swear to God, if I go down, I’m taking you with me.’
There was a long silence. ‘What do you need me to do?’
‘Get your arse out here now in the van. First thing is to get Pearson back.’
‘Shit. You mean you’ve lost her.’
‘It was your precious neophyte who lost her, Robin. Now get out here and help us get her back. She’s somewhere in the woodland at the lower end of the moor. Bring the van up here first so we can secure Bamford and Wardle. Then if you take the van down to the road and I head her off in this direction, she’s not going to get far.’ She ended the call without giving Kennedy a chance to argue. ‘Okay,’ she said to Henley, ‘let’s deal with these two and then get after Pearson.’
* * *
Annie had answered on the first ring. ‘Sheena? Thank Christ. Are you okay?’
Sheena had lowered herself to the ground and was sitting with her back to a tree, peering into the darkness for any sign of movement. ‘Not exactly,’ she whispered into the phone, ‘but I’m still alive. And healthy for the moment.’
‘Where are you?’
‘Up on the moorland. Near where you found that first body. Wait…’ She removed the phone from her ear and switched to a mapping application that showed her position in relation to the road. ‘I’ll use the “share location” thing on my phone. That’ll tell you exactly where I am.’ She fumbled awkwardly with the phone, conscious of the trembling in her hands. ‘There.’
‘Okay, got it,’ Annie responded.
Sheena was staring into the darkness, trying to control her rising panic long enough to give Annie a coherent account. ‘I’ve managed to get away from them for the moment. I’m hidden here but the woodland’s not huge, and the landscape around is pretty exposed. I don’t know what they’ll do but, given I can identify them, they won’t be too keen for me to get away. They don’t know I’ve got the phone, so they probably think they’ve a window to track me down before they’re likely to be disturbed by anyone.’ She knew she was gabbling and tried to force herself to be calm.
‘We’re on our way, Shee,’ Annie said. ‘Just hang in there. Ops have already been alerted, so we should be able to get people up there quickly now we know where you are. Leave the line open, so we can keep in contact if you need to move.’
‘Will do.
’
‘Keep strong, Shee. We’ll be there.’
Sheena slipped the phone back into her pocket. The wind was still blowing strongly across the moorland, rattling the trees around her. In the darkness, it was easy to imagine movement, someone slipping silently towards her. She tensed, listening intently, staring into the blackness.
For what seemed like an eternity, she saw and heard nothing beyond the movement of the branches. Then, somewhere beyond the trees, she saw a flash of headlights. She pushed herself back into the undergrowth, on her knees now, watching for any further developments. A moment later, a second set of headlights flickered through the trees. Another vehicle, heading from the opposite direction. As she watched, the lights ceased moving as the vehicle drew to a halt. The lights grew brighter as the vehicle manoeuvred to shine the full beam into the trees.
She moved further back into the woodland, trying to ensure she wasn’t visible. She could see a figure moving now, silhouetted against the headlights. Then she saw a second figure join the first. She could hear some kind of shouted verbal exchange but could discern none of the words.
She pulled out her phone. ‘They’re here,’ she whispered. ‘I’m going to try to stay in the wood, but there’s at least two of them. I don’t know if I can stay hidden for long.’
‘We’re about ten minutes away.’ It was Zoe’s voice. ‘And we were told that there’d be uniforms arriving even sooner.’
‘I’ll try to keep my head down, but I don’t know for how long.’
She could now see two figures moving through the trees in her direction. Both vehicles had been parked so that their lights were shining full into the woods. The two figures had diverged but were both heading steadily towards her, shining flashlights ahead of them. She moved back into the darkness, trying to see if there was any way she could outflank the two approaching figures.
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