The Sh0ut
Page 32
He had taken an involuntary step back when she had switched the light on and she had smiled at his confusion. He had crept into her house thinking that he was the attacker and she was the victim and had been blindsided by the role reversal.
‘I’m guessing you’re not here to bring me chocolates, are you?’ She scowled when she saw the piece of steak in his hand. ‘And you were going to drug my dog? Like you drugged your victims. You bastard.’
‘What’s going on, Vicky?’ He tossed the meat back into the conservatory. He was wearing gloves, she noticed. Blue latex gloves.
‘I think I’m the one who should be asking you that, Matt.’
‘You set me up? All that crap about the interview, you made it up?’
‘No, the interview’s real enough. The Standard wants to do a story. You set yourself up, Matt.’
Matt took off his backpack and put it down on the floor.
‘What is that, your rape kit?’ she asked. ‘Everything you need to start a fire and make it look like an accident?’ She smiled thinly. ‘Des always says there’s no such thing as accidents. Just actions and consequences and sometimes those consequences lead to bad things happening.’ She put the thermal-imaging camera down and stood up.
Matt said nothing. He squatted down, unzipped his backpack and pulled out a stun gun. He pressed the trigger as he straightened up and blue sparks arced between the two prongs. ‘I’m sorry it’s got to end like this, Vicky,’ said Matt. ‘It’s not what I planned.’
‘What’s your plan? Burn me alive?’
‘The smoke will kill you while you’re unconscious. If you’d been asleep you wouldn’t have felt a thing. Same with Des. Now …’ He shrugged. ‘This will hurt a bit but you’ll still be unconscious when you die.’
She sneered at him contemptuously. ‘That’s the plan? Stun me and then kill me?’
Matt grimaced. ‘I’m afraid so.’ He pressed the trigger again and sparks arced.
‘I’m not sure how that’s going to work out, Matt,’ said a voice at the far end of the room. Matt whirled around to see Farmer in the hallway, holding a Halligan bar. He was hefting it in both hands. ‘Lovely bit of kit, this,’ said Farmer. ‘Nine pounds of hardened steel and you can do so much with it. You can force open doors and windows, break padlocks, take the hinges off doors, breach drywalls, secure ground ladders, use it as a foot brace on a roof, lift up manhole covers, shut off gas meters, remove battery terminals, prop open car bonnets, you can stab ventilation holes … the list goes on and on. Oh yes, and I forgot, you can use it to beat the shit out of a cowardly serial killer and rapist.’
‘It’s over, Matt,’ said Vicky. ‘Just accept that. Please.’
Matt looked at Farmer and shook his head. ‘I should have used the stun gun longer. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t phoned her.’
‘Should have, would have, could have,’ said Farmer. ‘You’re just too clever for your own good. You should have just killed me when you had the chance, but with you it’s all about proving how clever you are.’
‘But you’re not half as clever as you think you are, Matt,’ said Vicky. ‘You gave yourself away. I thought maybe it was you because you were the only one I told about Des’s off-the-books investigation. But you confirmed it in the bar. When you said that Des was unconscious. Nobody else knew that, Matt. We hadn’t told anybody, but you knew. You knew because you were the one who attacked him and drugged him. And we knew it was only a matter of time before you tried to finish the job. I still hoped it wasn’t you, I really wanted you to be for real.’
Matt turned to look at her, still holding the stun gun. ‘I was never for real,’ he said. ‘You must have known that.’
‘You were just using me to find out what was happening in the investigations team?’
Matt sneered at her. ‘What, you thought I was attracted to you? Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?’
Farmer took a step forwards and Matt turned to look at him and pressed the stun gun trigger again. Vicky took out her mobile phone. ‘I’m calling the police. It’s over.’
Matt transferred his stun gun to his left hand and reached into his jacket pocket with his left. It reappeared holding a small can of pepper spray. He rushed towards Farmer, spraying the corrosive liquid over Farmer’s face.
Farmer staggered back and Matt continued to spray. The Halligan bar fell from Farmer’s hands and clattered on the floor. Farmer put both hands up to his face to protect his eyes but Matt carried on spraying. Even on the other side of the room the fumes stung Vicky’s eyes.
She ran towards Matt but he heard her coming and raised the canister. She put her gloved hand over her face just as he pressed the button and she managed to block some of the spray but not all. He kicked her in the stomach and she staggered back, coughing and spluttering. The phone fell to the floor.
Matt turned back to Farmer, this time using the stun gun. He rammed the prongs against Farmer’s side and pulled the trigger. Farmer went into convulsions and his legs collapsed underneath him. He fell on top of the Halligan bar.
Matt tossed the pepper spray on to a chair and grabbed at the Halligan bar. He pulled it but Farmer was too heavy.
Vicky’s eyes were streaming with tears. Even with her hand up the spray had got to her and she could barely see. There was a crystal vase containing the flowers that her mum had brought in from the garden and she fumbled for it. She tipped out the flowers and poured the water over her face.
Matt twisted around and grinned when he saw what she was doing. ‘Clever girl,’ he said, standing up. He held up the stun gun and pressed the trigger. Blue sparks crackled. ‘You are making this so much more difficult than it needs to be,’ he said. ‘Just let me put you to sleep then I can start the fire and get the hell out of here.’ He smiled. ‘I might even put you and the Grouch in a compromising position. That’d get them talking back at the station, wouldn’t it?’
He pulled the trigger again, and stepped forward. Vicky raised the vase. She would only get one chance. If he got her with the stun gun then it would all be over. He stopped, waiting for her to throw. From the confident way he was grinning, she reckoned he figured he could duck in plenty of time. And he was probably right. Then she remembered his injured knee, the injury that had kept him from being a firefighter. Left or right? Her mind raced. Left. His left? Her left?’
He grinned as he sensed her hesitation. ‘Come on, Vicky, throw the bloody thing and then we can get this over with.’ He pressed the stun gun trigger again and she flinched. Farmer was still on the floor, unconscious and breathing heavily.
She raised the vase, faked that she was going to throw it at his face and then hurled it with all her strength at his left knee. He wasn’t expecting it and the crystal vase hit his knee hard. There was a splintering crack that suggested the kneecap had broken and he screamed in pain. He didn’t go down but he transferred all his weight to his right leg and he cursed loudly.
Vicky ran towards Farmer. She grabbed the end of the Halligan bar but Farmer was just too heavy. She knelt down and started to roll him over but then she heard Matt limping up behind her. There was a crackle from the stun gun and she threw herself to the side. The stun gun missed her by inches and Matt cursed.
Vicky rolled over and crawled into the hall. Matt followed her, dragging his injured leg after him. She got to her feet and staggered along the hallway to the kitchen. Matt followed, grunting each time he moved his left leg.
Vicky burst into the kitchen and looked around for something to use as a weapon. A knife. She ran to the knife block but then saw the fire extinguishers. She grabbed the bright red carbon dioxide cylinder, and pulled out the safety pin, breaking the tamper seal. She turned and pointed the black horn at Matt and pulled the trigger. He was only a few feet away and the freezing carbon dioxide hit him full in the face.
His face and shoulders were covered in the white spray and he swallowed some, making him cough and retch. He waved his arms around but Vicky
kept the spray going and soon he was covered in it, unable to see and barely able to breathe. He stumbled backwards and yelped as he put his weight on his left knee. Opening his mouth to scream let in more of the freezing foam and he began to choke.
Vicky released the trigger, upended the cylinder and slammed the base into Matt’s face, enjoying the crack of his nose shattering and the way the foam on his face turned a frothy red. Matt hit the wall and slid down it, covered in pink foam. Vicky stood looking down at him, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She raised the cylinder again. She wanted nothing more than to smash his head to a pulp.
‘Best not, sweetheart,’ said a voice to her right. Farmer had crawled into the hallway and he was blinking up at her. He pulled himself into a sitting position and wiped his streaming eyes with his sleeve. ‘Let the boys in blue do their job, yeah.’
Vicky put the fire extinguisher down on the floor. ‘I suppose you’re right, guv.’ She went back into the sitting room and picked up her phone. She dialled 999 and the operator answered almost immediately. ‘Do you need the police, the fire brigade or an ambulance?’ asked the operator.
Vicky took a deep breath and smiled. ‘Just send all three,’ she said.
If you enjoyed The Shout, you’ll love this heart-pounding standalone thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author Stephen Leather
TAKEDOWN
When a British Special Forces soldier goes rogue, carrying out an attack at a US army base in Syria leading to the death of two men, ex-MI5 controller Charlotte Button is hired to work out what his plan is and to take him down before he can carry it out.
Charlotte puts her best man on the case – hitman Lex Harper. It’s up to Lex to assemble a crack team and get to the soldier before he carries out what could be a massive terrorist attack. But Charlotte might require Lex’s help with a more personal problem too …
As ex-MI5, Charlotte holds information on thousands of the agency’s dirty operations, and keeps a store of those secrets in three flash drives hidden in separate safety deposit vaults. Now someone is taking extraordinary measures to recover the secrets through Hatton Garden-style robberies. So far two vaults have been raided, and two flash drives have gone. If the third is stolen, Charlotte’s life will be in jeopardy. While it’s down to Lex to prevent a potential terrorist attack on British soil, Charlotte must work out who is after her and what they want.
Table of Contents
Contents
Also by Stephen Leather
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Read More …