Breaking Bad: 14 Tales of Lawless Love

by Koko Brown

  She shrugged. “As close to the truth as I possibly can. I mean, what else can I say? I know I have to be careful, but we shouldn’t be stupid. This will put more pressure on Chambers to be careful. It shows her that we’re not scared.”

  “Being the first person that’s been attacked because of this…” Andrews began, raising his hand, “…can I confirm that I am shit-scared right now?”

  “Call it in,” Xiu repeated, his voice brokering no further argument. Andrews returned to his seat on top of the gorilla while Xiu pulled Shannon into a hug. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I thought we’d done enough to keep you from being hurt.”

  “Don’t!” she ordered. “This isn’t your fault. You’re battling someone who’s fucking corrupt. And I’m okay. A little battered and bruised, but okay. I mean, the state of Andrews’ face…”

  Xiu winced. The bodies were beginning to pile up. If he included Atarah’s neighbour friend and his daughter, that was far too many people getting caught up in the web of Chambers’ deceptions and never-ending quest to keep the status quo. He needed to be smarter about this, he knew that, and now that he wasn’t technically and physically on his own, he had a better chance of working out what to do.

  The police arrived and arrested the gorilla, who finally woke, only to be dragged out for aggravated assault and false imprisonment. Shannon followed to give her statement.

  “You have to come with me,” she begged, her voice low and urgent. “I’m scared to go to another station alone.”

  “No, I understand. I’ll follow. We need to, anyway.”

  He and Andrews got into his car to follow. Andrews frowned at him as soon as he sat down. “What’s that buzzing?”

  Oh fuck, the phone from Atarah. “Can you reach under your seat and open the box?”

  Andrews did as he said and read out the message. “‘Day of Doom part 2, can we talk?’ Do you know the number?” Andrews asked, reading it out.

  “No, but I know who that’s from. Put it on speaker.”

  Andrews dialled the number directly, listening to the faint humming in the background as the dialling tone rang and rang. Eventually Atarah picked up.

  “Hey listen, there’s a child within hearing, I’m going to the bedroom.”

  Xiu faintly heard a protest. “I can keep a secret!”

  “Of course you can, sweetheart.”

  Jealousy pooled in Xiu’s stomach. She sounded like a mother in the middle of a family meal. He heard a door close and Atarah speak again. “Right, I’ve had a talk with Lonán,”

  “Who’s Lonán?” Andrews asked.

  “Who’s in the background?” Atarah demanded.

  “Andrews. He’s a good bloke, don’t worry. I trust him,” Xiu promised. “What did you discuss? Why would you, he’s just a neighbour?”

  “He’s dealt with Chambers and her ilk before. He gave me an idea. Gael. He’d walk over hot coals to get me to Sybilla.”

  Xiu didn’t like where this was going. “And?”

  “And I figure, just make a deal. Trade for a trade. I turn up and he leaves everyone else alone.”

  “And?” Xiu pressed.

  “And we jump him. He’ll talk his bollocks off. He’s never been tested, because he’s always been behind the protection of a whole police force. His wife.” Atarah took a deep breath. “We draw him out and he’ll leave Chambers exposed. He’d drop her in it himself to avoid a sentence.”

  “And what about you? What if he just shoots you on sight?”

  “He’s not going to do that. How’s he going to prove to Sybilla he got one over on me if he shoots me without having me beg for my life? I am telling you I know this prick, he’ll fall for it.”

  Xiu exhaled deeply. Andrews glanced at him and mouthed, “I think she’s right.”

  Xiu ignored him. “We’re going to have to sort this out properly. We need a plan. We need a handover point where we can cover you.”

  He heard the smile in her face. “See, you’re already formulating clever plans. I have to get back to my friends, but call me in a bit, all right?”

  “All right. Bye now.”

  Andrews pressed the end key and laughed. “I haven’t had to press that hard to end a phone call in years. Maybe we should all go back to old-school phones. Smartphones are the ones causing all sorts of security breaches and ruining relationships.”

  “And with that insight, let’s just get to Shannon. Then we can think about how we target Gael.”

  A gabble of voices made it intensely difficult for Xiu to think. In Andrews’ strangely large house on the edges of Surrey, he and Shannon talked over one another, mainly about what food they needed to order in so they could proceed with their roundtable discussions. Their interviews at the Bromley police station had been brief, exact, and allowed them to leave more quickly than anticipated.

  Shannon decided on Chinese and began ordering everything on the website’s menu with dessert. “Does anyone like those banana fritters, or are we just sticking with ice cream?”

  “This isn’t a conference, this is serious!” Xiu raged at them both. They paused, looking up from Andrews’ iPad.

  “Yeah, we know, but we can deal with this after food. Food is always the pathway to all knowledge. I’ve never ever had a bad idea after food.”

  “That is true,” Andrews agreed.

  Xiu took a seat in the living room and slowly ran his fingers through his hair back and forth until his brain felt less like it swelled against his skull. Thinking hurt, it truly did and he needed it to stop.

  Shannon perched on the arm of his chair.

  “I ordered you some smoked seafood. Are you okay? Because we’re okay. Me and Andrews. We’re okay. Because you thought fast and you cared. None of this is your fault.”

  Xiu winced. “It’s nice of you to say so, but that’s not true. I’ve dragged you both into the firing line. Because I’m more concerned about someone else than either of you. And I don’t even feel guilty. She’s all right and that’s all that matters.”

  Shannon looked away. “Fair enough. But you shouldn’t feel like this is your fault. Honest, you have to stop. It won’t be helpful when we come to do what we need to. Clear head and focused planning. Okay?”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  TWENTY

  Lonán couldn’t take his eyes from hers, a smile hovering over his lips while he took in her rich dark skin, the arch of her eyebrows, and the rose tint of her mouth. He felt in awe of her beauty and even more so in her presence.

  “So?” she prompted.

  “What?” he asked, blinking rapidly to counter her expression of demand.

  “What do you think? About our teleconference? You came up with this idea, so it’s only right that you tell me what we should do. Or at least, give me an idea.”

  Oh.

  Lonán’s hazy, rosy view of Atarah dissolved with the reminder that they were not just a newly formed couple enjoying each other’s company, but that a very real threat against them existed and kept them trapped in a flat. Not ignoring the fact Atarah happened to be correct, he really didn’t want to consider the possibility of her facing some pretty evil people. People who had stood by and watched as a man abused his daughter.

  “I don’t know what you want to do.”

  “Yes, you do,” Atarah countered, sitting up and drawing her knees to her chest. “You just don’t want to give me any ideas. Listen, the only way we can bring both of them down is using Gael’s vanity…”

  “Fair enough, then you know you’re setting yourself up as bait. You have no idea if this man won’t kill you the minute he sets eyes on you.”

  Atarah thought, resting her chin on her knees for a moment.

  He hated saying that to her, but he couldn’t be gentle about it. He had to be honest. Gael might be spineless and vain, but he wasn’t stupid.

  “Maybe. Or maybe not. He’ll want to know what I know. And he’ll probably defer to Sybilla. She won’t want me dead. She doesn’t know what I a
m, she just knows I’m responsible for Nicodeme’s death.”

  Lonán tucked his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. “That or she’ll start thinking about the loss of bodies and that she’s been steadily losing business due to a lack of secured deliveries.”

  Atarah touched a hand to his chest. “I have to be honest. I couldn’t stop a lot of it because I had to get Sybilla’s trust. I traced as many of them as I possibly could, but a lot of them…lost. God only knows where they are.”

  “You can’t rely on that to be so sure that Sybilla trusts you. She knows you’re a source to a copper. Someone in her own unit. That’s got to be enough for her to want you dead.”

  “She’ll want to know what I’ve told him. If I’ve identified her to him. He’s not going to kill me. So, let’s think, where’s best for us to meet him and lock him down?”

  Lonán rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re best doing it where he’s comfortable. Golf club in Surrey.”

  He caught Atarah’s wince and explained himself, “Listen, it will be difficult for him to cover every single angle of that place because it’s so open. Wire up to catch him out and then you’re set. But how you’ll get what you need out of him without alerting Sybilla…”

  “Xiu has a couple of friends on his side,” Atarah told him, a lilt of excitement in her voice. “They’ve been caught up in the darkness that is Sybilla on the warpath and happily escaped. They’re ready to help take her down just as much as I am. Don’t worry. I’ve been doing this long enough to know how to take care of myself.”

  “I haven’t known you long enough to be sure of that,” he countered, reaching over to catch her by the waist. “I’m terrified for you. Feel my heart.” He placed a hand over hers, pressing it to his chest hard enough for her to feel the erratic beat of his heart. “All I keep thinking is what would have happened if you’d stayed at the cottage that night. Or if you’d gone over in the morning instead of me.”

  “What if, what if and what if,” she told him, pressing her lips to his jawline. “We can’t hide here forever. I can’t hide from either of them forever. I have to take a risk, mainly because anyone connected to Xiu is in the line of fire. I can’t have anyone else being injured or worse because I won’t find my balls and do something about them.”

  He sighed, relenting his idea that he could possibly talk Atarah out of doing this. “What do you need me to do?”

  A few minutes later, they were dressed and sitting in the living room with one of the random SIM cards in her phone and on speaker.

  A man’s voice boldly asked, “Atarah, can you hear me?”

  Lonán immediately hated him.

  “Hi, Xiu,” she replied. “Who else is there with you?”

  “I have DC Andrews and DC McRae with me. DC McRae particularly is our key here. She’s going to set up our tech.”

  “Hi!” A cheery female voice burst onto the line. Lonán glanced at Atarah for a brief sign of jealousy and saw her face move in relief instead.

  “Hey. Thank you for doing this. I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything,” McRae said firmly. “Chambers tried to have me killed. I owe her one.”

  Fighting words, Lonán thought with disappointment. They needed sense, not anger.

  Atarah sat back in her chair and tapped her knee. “So, Gael is a regular at St Anne’s Golf Club. It’s just outside London, near Croydon. I know,” she added ruefully, hearing the mild groans in the background. “It’s substantial in size and it’s easy for you to set up without being seen. I don’t know what unit you’ll get authorised without letting Chambers know.”

  “We’ve been going through names and we need to run them past you. Shannon’s going to e-mail you some photos to a secure address for you to log in and see if you recognise any of them…”

  Lonán intervened. “That’s not going to work. Sybilla didn’t bring any of her superiors into her world from the force. If she did, she kept it pretty low-key.”

  McRae interrupted. “The reason I was followed and attacked was because I managed to clone Chambers’ computer. I have a copy of everything in a drive that’s in my safe. I haven’t had a minute to go through it all to verify, but if you can identify any names, then we’re golden.”

  Atarah looked up at Lonán in expectant joy. “That’s incredible! Then we don’t need to…”

  “Yeah, we do,” Xiu interrupted. “If we don’t know who’s backing her, then we’re just handing our whole case over to one of her stooges and we’re all fucked. She must have had someone or she wouldn’t have been so brave to use Met resources to maintain her activities.”

  Lonán was loathe to agree with the man, but he did. Without knowing who on the force supported her or took money from her, what could they do? It could go as far up as Scotland Yard, and then what would they do?

  “Send it,” Lonán suggested. “I could have a look as well. Two heads being better in all.”

  McRae piped up. “Sorry, who are you?”

  “No one you need to be concerned about,” Atarah intervened. “He’s got more in-depth knowledge about these people than I ever could and that’s saying something.”

  Silence ruled briefly, then Xiu spoke again. “Okay, so you’ve both got work to do. Once you’ve let us know if there are any names we should be concerned about, you have to let us know and I’ll drop them in front of Chambers. She’s not good at being poker-faced with me, for whatever reason. I’ll catch her out. Then we’ll set up a task force team to be at the golf club. It can’t be any faster, and we have to be careful. Careful will see us through. Haste will kill us all.”

  “Understood,” Atarah said. “Right. So…the task force is going to be where?”

  “Okay, so are you online?” Andrews spoke for the first time. “Now, the golf club spans a good one hundred acres of forestry and clear lawn. If we stay near the main entrance of the club, we have forestry to protect the task force, and it is close enough for you to get yourself out, Atarah. I think Gael will want to be as close to the exit as possible. The entrance is the only part that is well-lit, and has CCTV, from Google Maps. I’m going to have another look tomorrow morning, take pictures and speak with the general manager…”

  “Be careful with that,” Atarah warned.

  “He knows everyone there,” Lonán added. “If anything, just take the photographs and leave. Don’t talk to anyone, don’t make any enquiries, as they will all go back to Gael.”

  “All right. Fair enough.”

  Andrews sounded deflated.

  “Xiu said it best. Careful will see us through.”

  “Have you got the link yet?” McRae asked them. “I’ve just texted you the e-mail address and password.”

  “Old phones,” Atarah confessed. “I’ll get on it as soon as we’ve finished our conference. Xiu?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “Don’t provoke Sybilla. She may not suspect you but she definitely knows that you know me. You’re now a dangerous, unknown quantity. That puts a target on you. Her mistake was naming you in the press, so if you go missing, that’ll put her in the spotlight. It won’t prevent her from trying to harm you, though.”

  “I get it. Thank you.”

  Again, jealousy reared its ugly head.

  “Right, we’ll reconvene this time tomorrow,” McRae announced. “Good luck.”

  Lonán reached over to press end on the call and turned on his laptop. After re-routing the IP address, he logged into the e-mail address and revealed the unencrypted e-mails. Atarah rested her elbow on his shoulder, and drifted her hand through his hair.

  “Anything ringing any bells?”

  “Here, this name. Sybilla mentioned him as someone who would arrange a new account for me. He had extensive connections with off-shore accounts.”

  Lonán didn’t want to particularly disclose that he had one and had moved his to an entirely different country after everything with Saoirse.

  Atarah tappe
d the name into the phone. It would be for McRae to figure out any algorithms that would lead them to a named officer.

  “This one here. I can’t remember where I heard it…”

  “I know that one. Transport master. He didn’t like me.”

  “How did you know?”

  “Met him. Sybilla asked me to. It was in the early days, when she was still testing me out. Thankfully, he didn’t recognise me. Then again, it’s fascinating what reverting to your natural hair and wearing contact lenses will do.”

  She tapped them off and sent it to McRae. “Anyone else?”

  He shook his head. “No one. I agree with you in that I doubt she would have dug herself in with other officers for fear of being caught out.”

  “A lot of them scalped to get to the top of their profession. It’s probably what’s kept Sybilla at her current rank. Anything higher would have meant she would have given up the trafficking. Too much money to refuse.”

  He closed his laptop and turned to her. “Is it futile to tell you to be careful? To not put yourself at risk to a point where you’re going to have Gael’s gun at your head?”

  “Pretty much,” she said with a grin, leaning forward to kiss him lingeringly. “This is the job I’ve chosen. And it’s important for you and Saoirse to have the freedom to leave an apartment without fear of being killed yourselves. Maybe when this is over, we can go back to Hedley. That school for Saoirse is amazing.”

  “You’d do that?”

  “Without a second thought.”

  She curled her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He couldn’t quite believe that everything that had fallen magically into his lap with Atarah wouldn’t just as magically be taken away from him.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Xiu sat down at his desk, armed with his knowledge, thanks to Atarah and his now-named neighbour Lonán who sounded intensely protective of her. He supposed Lonán had a lot to be grateful to Atarah for, especially considering his young daughter could have been a victim of Sybilla’s sting attack.

  He leaned over and asked Simon, one of the younger officers on the team. “Where’s Chambers?”