‘But you are. You’re totally and utterly insane!’
That got his head turning. ‘I’m not insane.’
‘Yes, you are!’ the woman insisted.
Anarchy had heard enough. Swinging the shotgun, he drove the butt into her stomach, making her curl up and wheeze. Her panting was a pleasant relief from all the overconfident insults. ‘Are you done?’
Now the girl was whimpering again. ‘Why are you doing this?’
‘I don’t have a choice,’ Anarchy told her. ‘You wouldn’t understand.’ The wind picked up, sweeping across the water and howling at them as if trying to force them away. He glanced back up at the trees, where a figure emerged and came dashing toward the jetty. ‘Now, shut up. Your saviour is here… and right on time.’
58
When Mason arrived at the jetty, he dared not go any farther.
‘Mr Black! Good of you to join us.’ It was the man from the hospital, and definitely Anarchy. Mason would recognise those dark, mischievous eyes anywhere. ‘Even on such short notice, you still remain the boy scout.’
Mason’s eyes were fixed on the girls at the end of the jetty. One was a young Asian, barely into her teens. The other, a grown woman with short hair and sleeve tattoos up her bare arms. They were both bound at the wrists, with some sort of metal object at their feet, which was linked to their ankles. ‘What is this?’
‘This,’ Anarchy turned, keeping the shotgun aimed at Mason, ‘is another test. You got so lucky with that last one. I mean, it was by sheer luck that your little girl didn’t take her seat. But still, your failure to get there on time meant that all those other kids had to suffer.’
How does he know when I arrived? Was he watching me somehow? Mason shook his head, raising the revolver to his opponent. ‘No. You did this. I had no part in it.’
‘Oh, spare me the technicalities. We each do what we need to do, Mr Black. For instance, look at her.’ Anarchy turned to the Asian girl. ‘Eleven years old, brought in from China to study at one of our great universities. Turns out she’s a genius, if you’d believe it.’
‘What’s your point?’
Anarchy seemed to ignore him, turning to the other woman. ‘And this beautiful thing is a war hero, She served four tours in Iraq, the latter in which she risked her life to save her entire squad from a burning truck. Her reward? The Congressional Medal of Honor.’
Mason could feel his hands tremble, knowing that it wasn’t just because of the ice-like breeze. His finger was lightly squeezing the trigger behind his back, and as much as he wanted to fire, he couldn’t risk the lives of these innocent people. ‘You’d better get to your point.’
‘So impatient.’ Anarchy snorted before straightening his expression. ‘Okay, so look; you can’t save them both, right? Thing is, you need to make a logical choice. Who would you go for first? The young girl who could go on to cure cancer? Or the war hero, who gave so much for her country? I know who I’d choose.’
‘Who cares who you’d choose?’ Mason spat. ‘You need to stop this. Whatever your reason for all this, just let them go and do what you want with me.’ Perhaps it was a dumb move, but it felt right to him – Mason lowered his gun in surrender. ‘I’m not going to fight you. If it’s revenge for something that you want, come and take it. If it’s to torture, punish or kill somebody for sport, then come and get what you need. Just let them go and cut the bullshit.’
While Anarchy gave a hard look of contemplation, Mason felt the full rush of adrenaline. The next few seconds could determine his life in one way or another. He thought about Amy, who would have to endure the rest of her years without a father, and wondered if Diane would look out for her. He hoped so – he sure believed she would.
‘No,’ Anarchy finally said. ‘You’re missing the point. I don’t want to hurt you – I respect you far too much for that. All I want is to understand what makes you tick. And to truly understand somebody, I think you have to see them at their worst.’ Quickly, he turned, pushing both weights off the jetty.
The girls screamed for only a second before the iron pulled them into the lake. Silence followed, until Mason’s feet hammered along the wooden planks, past Anarchy, and he dived head-first into the water.
59
It was instinct alone that led him to his choice. Mason kicked hard, swimming deeper under the surface and reaching through the murky water. He groped her shirt and tried to pull, but rather than lifting her upward, he was pulling himself down.
I hope the woman can hold her breath.
The young girl looked desperate, begging with her eyes for some sort of rescue. Even death seemed like it would be a mercy right now, but Mason wouldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t – not after he had failed so many children in the past.
Mason yanked at the chains with his free hand, pulling hard as air escaped his mouth in hundreds of small bubbles. It was no use. He had no idea if his gun would fire underwater – he had heard off-putting stories about how these things had backfired and blown the shooters’ hands off – but he had to at least try.
Driving the gun into the weakest link of the chain, Mason pulled the trigger. Although he heard nothing, it was a relief to see that the chain slinked open. The girl was losing her breath. Mason grabbed her under her arms and swam toward the surface.
Up, they went, air running short now. They were five seconds from the surface.
Four seconds, and his lungs felt tight.
Two seconds, and he was kicking as hard as he could.
They broke the surface, each taking deep and desperate gasps of air. Mason paddled toward the jetty and, with all his strength, hoisted the girl up onto the wood. ‘Are you all right?’
The girl nodded, coughing.
Good. But he wasn’t done yet.
Mason dived back down, going for the woman. It wasn’t until he reached the bed of the lake that he could see her. She was still alive, but for how long was uncertain. Mason took aim of the chains and fired.
Nothing.
He tried again, firing two, three shots, but no bullet came. His gun was as useless as the bullets inside it. Discarding the weapon, Mason grabbed the woman and pulled. He didn’t know quite what he had been hoping to achieve, but what else could he do?
Feet sinking into the mud, he pushed harder with his legs, watching the woman’s face fill with an urgency that her life could end at any moment. Mason tried as hard as he could, but there was no lifting her. The weight of the iron was just too much for him.
And then there was a sudden stillness – a peace that shouldn’t have been. The woman let go of his shirt then, as if giving up. Mason looked at her, her face now frozen with an expression of panic, her eyes lifeless as the last of the bubbles escaped her mouth.
I’ve failed.
His heart broken, Mason swam toward the surface before he also drowned. All he could think about as he breached the surface and swam back toward the girl was how Anarchy had won. He had forced Mason to choose, and he had gotten exactly what he wanted.
I’ve failed, he told himself again, climbing out of the icy water and seeing to the girl.
60
Captain Cox had arrived within a half-hour of Mason putting the phone down. She had brought a team, and the Feds were on their way (although they weren’t wanted there). ‘You did the right thing.’
Mason looked up from the motel’s security panel, taking his eyes off the screens for the first time since he’d sat down. ‘I’m not sure I know what’s right or wrong anymore.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Cox pulled out the spare desk chair, lifted up her legs to gain more flexibility, and sat, leaning her chest into the chair’s backrest.
‘I mean, no matter what I do, someone winds up getting hurt. I take this case, someone is killed. I follow that lead, someone is killed. And in the centre of it? Somebody who blames me for something – and sometimes it even becomes justifiable.’
‘Don’t you do that,’ Cox snapped.
; ‘Do what?’
‘Don’t you look for a way to justify their actions. This evil shit they’re doing is on them.’ She looked over her shoulder, ensuring the room was empty. ‘Marvin Wendell was one twisted son of a bitch. He deserved to die. Right or wrong, you made that happen. And that sister of his? She was no better.’
Mason turned back to the screen, resting one hand under his chin and the other on the computer mouse. ‘But Anarchy is–’
‘Anarchy is just as bad. No – worse. He deserves everything that’s coming to him, and believe me, something is coming to him. You just stay focused on the job.’ Captain Cox cleared her throat. ‘And speaking of jobs, have you thought any more about my offer?’
‘Now’s not the time to…’ Then he saw it.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘That’s the guy.’ Mason pointed to the frozen still on the screen – a man climbing into a tow truck and driving out of the motel’s parking lot. His licence plate was visible, even in the dark. ‘That’s Anarchy!’
‘You’re sure?’ Cox touched the radio on her belt.
‘Certain.’
‘Then get your coat.’
Mason pushed back the chair, shooting to his feet. Following Cox out the door, he thanked the owner of the motel and prepared himself for a pursuit.
‘We need eyes in the sky,’ Cox said into her radio, storming out of the building. ‘I want Team A in the car tailing the suspect and Team B in the van. Mason, you’re with me.’
‘Good.’ They had to act now, and he knew that. Even though he suspected it could be a trap, Mason couldn’t leave too much room for doubt. If he wanted to stop Anarchy, he would have to do it now, whether he was ready for it or not.
61
Mason was the first one into the police helicopter, adrenaline fuelling him. He wanted more than anything to catch this sick son of a bitch, and was determined to see it through.
Captain Cox, who slumped in next to Mason, radioed to the cars on the ground, shouting above the roar of the propellers. ‘I want the ground teams to keep their distance. Let the target reach his place of residence. If we scare him off, we risk losing him forever.’
It took only fifteen minutes in the sky to locate the target vehicle. The pilot, upon taking strict orders from the captain, kept way out of sight but didn’t let the distance slip. Watching this, Mason knew that something was wrong.
This is too easy.
‘Don’t worry,’ Cox said. His thoughts must have been visible in his expression. ‘We’re going to get him. He won’t get away.’
Mason wanted to believe it – he needed to believe it. But then, why was there something in the back of his mind telling him that it just wasn’t going to happen? And even if it did, would it be entirely without consequence? There wasn’t a damn thing that made sense about Anarchy so far, so why would it now?
Sometime within the hour, Anarchy’s tow truck slipped down a long lane, surrounded by an abundance of trees on either side. At the end of the dirt road was a manor, dark and sinister in its discretion. Mason still couldn’t shake the feeling that this whole thing felt way too good to be true.
‘All right,’ Cox yelled into the microphone on the headset, ‘I want you to set us down over there and give me the coordinates.’ She raised the radio to her mouth. ‘I want Team A to come pick us up.’
‘Roger,’ came a voice from the other end, though it was barely audible over the noise of the helicopter.
They were lowered slowly onto the uneven ground. Mason jumped out and turned back to offer his hand to Cox, who took the assistance for her own exit. His trench coat flapped like a flag in the wind as they jogged toward the approaching police van. ‘Should we call the Feds?’
Cox shook her head. ‘No. This is our arrest. We’ll get in touch when we’re about to breach, so it will look as though we had to act fast.’
‘We did,’ Mason said.
‘Exactly. We’ve been lucky, and I’m not letting the Bureau mess this up.’ The police van stopped beside them. They were barely inside with the door closed when they sped off toward the manor. ‘Are you armed?’
Mason remembered his revolver at the bottom of the lake. His sidearm had felt like an extension of his own body in his line of work. And now it was gone. ‘No.’
Cox handed him a Beretta. ‘If you’re sure you want in.’
‘I do.’ Mason checked the magazine and slid it back into the gun. ‘I really do.’
62
It was a long stretch of road, but it was far from empty. Anarchy followed it at a reasonable pace, making sure that the police helicopter had plenty of opportunity to keep up.
Easy does it, little bird.
So far, everything was going according to plan. His only regret was that he hadn’t been able to stick around and see what happened with the two girls at the lake. It was all well and good to test a man, but he sure would have loved to see the results – to get to know Mason that little bit better by knowing which one he had allowed to die.
But there was a bigger endgame, and Anarchy had to keep reminding himself of this. The girls were nothing but a lure, and they had served their purpose nicely, for the helicopter was tailing him, and there were probably cars, too.
Almost there now. Stay with me.
Anarchy took the dirt path, which led to the manor he had managed to secure. The owners of the property had been forced to meet their untimely end. He’d had no interest in killing them – in fact, he’d had little interest in anyone since meeting Mason Black – but they had pushed him just a little too far.
When he reached the manor, he looked up to the sky and caught a glimpse of the helicopter swerving out of sight. It was a nice attempt to remain unseen, he thought, but they had failed. Lucky for them, Anarchy wanted to be followed. He wanted them to approach the house.
It was all for the game, after all – the test, the big ultimatum. Who lived and who died would make no difference to him as long as he succeeded in making his point known. Mason would be the one to pay the price for this test, of course, but it was all in the name of good sport… and a little amusement.
Time was running out now, and Anarchy went inside the house to prepare. Here we go, he thought as he opened the front door and invited himself inside, where the big test would take place.
63
They approached through the trees, Cox leading the team with Mason at her side.
Mason, already feeling a little on the nervous side since his last encounter with Anarchy, held on to the gun as if it could slip from his hands at any moment. The building ahead was entirely blanketed in darkness. There wasn’t a single window lit up – not so much as a flash of a TV screen. ‘I don’t like this,’ he whispered.
‘That makes two of us.’ Cox walked on, taking them out of the trees and onto the gravel. It crunched under their feet as they trod over it, giving away their position to anyone who might be waiting for them.
‘Should we split up and approach the building from different sides?’ Mason asked. He sure felt a lot more comfortable with a team behind him, but if they were caught before they’d even reached the building, it would be over immediately.
Cox nodded, standing up straight. ‘We need to–’
The interruption was blinding. Floodlights clunked on in sequence, from one end of the manor to the other. They lit up the property like they were industrial grade. Mason shielded his eyes and turned around fast, but he was still seeing a flood of colours where the backs of his eyelids should have been.
A nearby speaker screeched on, and then a deep, eerie voice spilled from it. ‘Welcome, Mason Black. What took you so long?’
Cox looked to the team, who all looked to Mason, but his eyes were still adjusting to the brightness of the floodlights. He had known something was wrong about this entire night, but he hadn’t expected… whatever this was. ‘What do you want?’ he shouted, in no particular direction.
‘You, of course. Come to the front door, will ya?’
‘Probably. Listen, you don’t have to–’
He removed his coat, handed it to her – sweating profusely now – and began to walk toward the building. Mason was only stopped by the captain’s hand on his arm.
‘I’m going to find a way in, no matter what,’ she whispered in his ear, before returning to the team. Mason believed her, too, as she had never let him down in the past. Even when he’d been hunted by the police a year ago, she had given him the benefit of the doubt.
Mason finally got to the front door. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the handle and let himself in. The hallway was pitch black. A grandfather clock clunked to his left, and the door slammed shut behind him. ‘Okay, I’m here.’
‘Good of you to come.’ The speakers sounded like they were up the grand staircase in front of him. ‘I’ve prepared a series of trials. It won’t be easy, but it will be a true test of your character. Are you ready?’
Mason, paying no mind to his own suspicion that he was being watched, took a careful step forward and examined the hall. ‘And why should I? What’s in it for me?’
Because there’s a bomb in the building,’ Anarchy said, oh-so-bluntly. ‘And you’ll find it right next to Diane, Amy, and your detective friend. Five minutes is all you have.’
What?! Mason felt his heart ready to burst from his chest. ‘You’re bluffing.’
‘No.’ There was a flutter on the speaker, as if the signal was being interrupted. ‘Now, if you walk out the door you just came through, you have my word that I will never bother you again. Your family will die but you will be completely free.’
Mason grunted, picturing his hands around this guy’s throat. ‘Right.’
‘Or you can die trying to save them all. What will it be, Mr Black? Freedom, or die beside your nearest and dearest?’
Mason Black (The Complete Collection): 6 Gripping Crime Stories: The Complete Collection + BONUS Story Page 43