by Unknown
Through the park, I could see some of the lights on in Ella’s apartment, but little else. At one point I thought I saw a silhouette in the window but wasn’t sure.
‘I don’t like this,’ Cassie said. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling, big time. There’s another building opposite Ella’s. Maybe we could get SOG to put a sniper on him.’
‘There’s no time.’ I checked my watch and realised I had about five minutes before I had to be in the souvlaki store. ‘I have to move.’
‘We could be playing right into his hands and doing everything he wants.’
‘We are doing what he wants,’ I said. ‘That’s the point. It’s the safest way to stop him killing her.’
‘But how do you know he . . .’ Her voice faltered and she looked away.
‘How do I know he’s not going to kill her anyway? Is that what you mean?’ I grabbed her by the wrist and made her face me.
When she didn’t answer I let go of her wrist and clenched my fists, forcing my anger and frustration into two hard balls.
‘Look, we made a decision and we’re here now. So why don’t you stop questioning me and just fucking help me?’
‘I am fucking helping, you bloody twat. Jesus, all I’m saying is that something like this needs to be surgical, not emotional. No attachment. I mean, what if it all goes wrong? You’ll never forgive yourself.’
‘I don’t want to think about that.’
‘Well, you should.’
I slid out of the car and stood in the shadows of the bus stop, Cassie’s reasoning clouding me like the smoke covering the city.
‘All right,’ I said, taking the laptop off the back seat. ‘I’m not waiting any longer. Let’s do it.’
She got out of the car and followed me into a nearby alley, carrying the knapsack with the two-way radio and mike I’d borrowed from the watch-house.
‘Unbutton your shirt,’ she said, a little too loudly. ‘Put this on.’
A couple strolling past heard her comment and looked into the alley. I stared back until they kept walking, then undid my shirt and tried to tape the mike lead to my chest. It was awkward because I hadn’t shaved my chest hair but it would have to do. I clipped the transponder to my belt and Cassie ran the receiver lead up my back, leaving it disguised under my collar.
‘Put it in your ear now in case there’s someone in there watching you,’ she said, straightening my shirt. ‘I know we have to do this. I just wish there was another way.’
I switched on the transponder. ‘Well, there isn’t. So just keep watch, and remember he’ll probably sneak out the back so be ready. I’ll let you know when Kirzek rings me.’
She nodded, looking concerned.
‘This is my show, Cass,’ I said. ‘You’re not responsible for anything that happens. It’s all me, okay?’
Finally she nodded, wished me luck and went back to the car. I walked out of the alley and crossed Lygon Street towards the souvlaki bar. Standing on the centre median strip, waiting to cross, I used the time to survey the interior of the store and its surrounds. A man with sweat stains under his arms and a white apron carved lamb off a rotisserie. About a dozen punters queued for souvlaki inside the store. Others lingered outside, eating, drinking, smoking. None looked familiar.
I crossed the street and entered the store. The smell of grilled lamb, garlic sauce and alcohol filled the hot air. I lingered in line for a moment, pretending to read the menu board while I scrutinised everyone in the store.
‘No Kirzek,’ I whispered into the chest mike.
‘Received,’ I heard Cassie reply. ‘Nothing here either,’ she added.
I sat at a bench by the window next to a couple of young bucks either winding up a long day on the piss or about to start a Sunday-night bender. They paused for a second while I arranged the laptop at my feet, then continued their discussion about a new nightclub on Chapel Street. I watched the street outside intently, looking around methodically. Predatory.
‘A couple just turned out of the apartment foyer,’ Cassie said. A moment later she added, ‘All clear. It’s not him.’
I tapped my chest twice to indicate I’d heard her. Minutes passed and nothing changed except the beating of my heart, which seemed so loud that I wondered if everyone in the shop could hear it. I checked my watch. Five past midnight. Where the hell was he?
Suddenly my phone rang. I scooped up the laptop, stepped out onto the sidewalk. ‘I’m here. What now?’
‘Go back in shop,’ Kirzek ordered. ‘Put laptop back on bench.’
I scanned the restaurants and bars for a familiar face but found nothing. I looked up at the second-storey terraces above the shops but still nothing. There was movement behind the curtain in one of the motel rooms down the street, but that could have been anything.
‘All right, I’m going back in the shop,’ I said, knowing Cassie would receive the message. ‘I’ll put the laptop under the window bench. Then what?’
‘Buy souvlaki.’
‘What?’
‘Buy souvlaki and do not turn around.’
‘Okay. I’ll buy a souvlaki, but then –’
‘Why do you repeat me?’
‘Huh, I just wanted to make sure I had your instructions correct.’
‘Don’t fuck with me, Mr Rubens. I have your bitch wife, remember?’
‘Okay, I’m in line. What now?’
‘Nothing. Do not turn around. You stay in shop ten more minutes, then collect wife.’
The line went dead. I used the reflection in the glass of the bain-marie to watch the laptop. This was it. Rush point. When the queue cleared I stepped to the counter and ordered a lamb souvlaki.
‘You want the king special?’ the man asked.
‘Huh?’
‘The king special. Souvlaki with the lot.’
Suddenly Cassie’s voice shrieked in my ear. ‘Kirzek just scooped up the laptop. Red dress, blonde wig.’
Pushing away from the counter, I caught a glimpse of someone in a red dress fleeing across Lygon Street, heading away from the store. I waited a safe length of time then rushed outside, almost diving between the two young bucks finishing their souvlaki. Kirzek broke into a jog and disappeared down a side street.
‘He’s on the run,’ I said into the mike. ‘Where are you?’
‘Outside the apartment building. Get back here. Forget about Kirzek.’
I sprinted across Lygon Street, through the playground, meeting Cassie outside the foyer to Ella’s building.
‘How do we get in?’ she asked. ‘It’s all locked up. I’ve tried buzzing her apartment but she’s not answering.’
I cupped a hand to my mouth, sick with fear and adrenaline.
‘Don’t start freaking,’ Cassie said. ‘It could mean anything. Remember the photo? He tied her up, so she probably can’t get to the intercom.’
I looked at the glass entrance and thought about smashing the window but that wouldn’t get us up the lift. There was only one way to get in, and it occurred to me that Kirzek must have somehow bluffed his way up to the apartment.
‘There are four apartments on Ella’s floor,’ I said, typing in one of her neighbour’s numbers.
Nobody answered, so I pressed again. Still nothing. I was about to try another number when a croaky voice rasped through the speaker.
‘Yes, who is it?’
I opened my badge case and looked at the camera next to the speaker.
‘This is the police, sir. We have an emergency and need you to buzz us up.’
I couldn’t see the man or his reaction but guessed he was staring at me on the tiny black and white screen, half-asleep, trying to work out whether I was serious.
‘I don’t need access to your apartment,’ I added. ‘Just your floor.’
‘Ah, I don’t know about this,’ the man said. ‘Where’s your uniform?’
‘We’re detectives, sir. There’s a woman in the apartment next door to you who needs us. Please, let us in. We may also need an ambulance.�
��
‘The woman next door? You mean Ella?’
‘Yes, please let us in.’
The door clicked open and I heard the man tell us he would unlock the lift as we ran through the foyer. In the elevator, Cassie worked the slide on her gun and chambered a round.
‘I don’t have mine,’ I said when she looked at me. ‘Eckles took it.’
The elevator stopped and we eased out into the hall. I stayed behind Cassie as she took the corner with smooth and practised sweeps of her weapon. Halfway along the hall a door opened and an old man I figured was Ella’s neighbour poked his head out. Cassie trained the weapon on him and the door closed immediately without the need for us to speak. Further down, Ella’s apartment door was ajar.
‘Take this,’ Cassie whispered, handing me the gun. ‘You know the layout.’
I nodded, took the Glock and stood in front of her. The entranceway light was off and so was the lounge room’s. The bedrooms were separated by a bathroom and laundry, which we checked and found to be empty. I wasn’t really expecting anyone else to be in the apartment, but my heart was pounding like a kick drum. Just the thought of Kirzek having been here was enough to make me sick.
Finally we came to the master bedroom, where Ella lay bound and gagged on the bed. Cassie rushed forward while I kept cover, the gun shaking in my hands.
‘She’s alive,’ Cassie said as she removed the mouth gag.
‘Oh sweet Jesus.’
Ella moaned and rolled her head from side to side. I put the gun down and tore the tape away from her ankles.
‘It’s okay, babe,’ I said. ‘I’m here. You’re safe now.’
I said it over and over, hugging her like I never had before. Tears poured out of me and I was unable to stop shaking. Cassie called for an ambulance. Somewhere in the relief and confusion I overheard her tell the dispatcher that Ella might have been drugged.
‘We have to keep her in the recovery position,’ Cassie said after ending the call. ‘Roll her on her side with one arm back. Keep the airway open.’
I rolled Ella into position while Cassie went outside to call Eckles. I heard her arranging a search team to track down Kirzek. I sat on the bed, stroking Ella’s face and waiting for what seemed like an eternity before Cassie led the medics into the room. I stood back as they went to work, checking her vitals.
‘Is she gonna be okay?’ I said, panicked.
‘Not sure, sir. She has a low pulse and low blood pressure. We’ll put her on a ventilator and take her into the Royal Melbourne.’
They injected her with something, then lifted her onto a stretcher and carried her out into the hall. Cassie said she’d meet me at the hospital and went back to the car. I insisted on climbing into the back of the ambulance and sat in a corner while they loaded Ella in.
‘I think she’ll be fine, sir,’ one of the medics said as we raced towards the hospital. ‘It’s basically an overdose of some sort, but we got there early enough by the look of it.’
I nodded. Ella looked so vulnerable and yet also strangely at peace.
‘Your colleague told me she’s a nurse, right?’ he said, nodding to Ella.
‘Right.’
‘Don’t worry, she’s one of our own, so she’ll get the best we can offer.’
I found some comfort in this and thanked him, then went back to watching Ella. My relief quickly turned to furious anger. Kirzek would suffer for this. I’d make sure he felt the pain of everything he’d done.
When we pulled into the hospital, I followed the medics in and met Cassie by the triage desk.
‘Both birds are in the air,’ she said. ‘Three German shepherds sniffing the backstreets and every single blue shirt on duty is on four wheels. They’ll find him.’
‘They have to,’ I said angrily. ‘We need to send a message, or every single shithead out there will think they can screw with a cop’s family and get away with it.’
She nodded.
‘There are two rules, Cass. Never fuck with the cops and never hurt a child. This guy broke both, and he needs to pay.’
Cassie looked over her shoulder nervously and I realised my voice had become shrill. People in the triage area were looking at me but I didn’t care. I wanted to shout at everyone.
‘So what do you want to do?’ Cassie said.
‘I want to find him.’
32
‘I NEED A GUN,’ I SAID AS we drove out of the hospital. ‘Let’s head back to my place. I’ve got one under my bed.’
My private gun was a Colt .45 that I sometimes used on the firing range. Although it was fully registered, I wasn’t supposed to carry it around with me, but I didn’t care about that.
Cassie turned the car onto Kings Way. She appeared to be considering my request.
‘You don’t want to get one from the watch-house?’ she said.
‘No. Eckles won’t sign one out to me, so I need my own.’
‘You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?’ she said, edgy.
I didn’t answer her.
‘I can’t talk you out of it?’
‘Nope.’
‘Shit.’
When we pulled up outside my building, I unclipped the microphone, earpiece and transponder and packed them into the glove compartment. Cassie waited in the car while I ran up the internal staircase. The sensor light outside my apartment lit up the hallway as I fumbled with the front door key. Inside, I only had time to register that Prince wasn’t there to greet me when a shadow floated in behind me and a blade pressed against my throat.
‘Do not reach for gun,’ Kirzek whispered in my ear. ‘Put hands on chest.’
I gritted my teeth and did as he ordered, kicking myself for not expecting this. After giving the laptop back I’d assumed he’d go on the defence, disappear into the night. In hindsight, I should’ve realised Kirzek was not a man to run and leave unfinished business. Foolishly, I’d let my guard down and fallen into his trap.
‘Filthy pig. Pity you come home so soon, huh?’ said Kirzek. ‘I figure you would eventually, but not so soon. I am still not caught yet. So what is the matter? Are you weak, McCauley?’
I could smell his body odour, feel his breath on the back of my neck.
‘Perhaps if you had listened to me it could be okay,’ he said.
‘Hey, I did listen. I did everything you asked. I played by your rules.’
‘Ah, you think I am stupid immigrant?’
‘I never said that.’
‘You don’t have to. See, you think you are smarter than me. You think I have no brain. Let me tell you, I have been in police too. In Romania, I am police, like you, but we do things differently. Do you know what my expertise was?’
‘No.’
‘Torture,’ he said, patting down my chest and waist, looking for a gun. ‘And counter-surveillance. You didn’t listen to me. I told you: no pigs.’
‘I came alone for the swap. You saw me. I was on my own.’
‘Then why are helicopters and filthy dogs out there looking for me?’
‘That wasn’t my fault. I kept you out of this until after the swap. That was the deal as far as –’
‘Shut up, shut up! Just walk backwards, slowly.’
The blade pressed against my throat as Kirzek led me into the lounge. Glass lay on the floor and the curtain flapped against the balcony door. He must have scaled the outside of the building to break in. Not bad for a man his size. In the reflection of the television screen I saw that he’d changed into a dark T-shirt and pants. I also caught a glimpse of a bruise on his forehead and a tiny silver crucifix hanging from his left ear. As he pushed me into the sofa, I scanned the coffee table, searching for a pair of scissors, a steak knife, anything to defend myself with. But there was nothing.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ I said. ‘You turn me loose, maybe you’ll get some leniency.’
He laughed. ‘I don’t want leniency.’
‘What do you want?’
‘I want you to scream,�
�� he hissed, pressing the blade harder against my throat.
Instinctively, I spun away from it, scrambled around the coffee table then kicked it over as Kirzek lurched around the sofa. He stumbled at first then charged across the room towards me. I raced to the front door but stopped to avoid having my back to him. Swivelling, I ducked low as he swung the knife in a broad arc. It hit off-centre, slashing the side of my neck, and I was able to sidestep and run down the hall towards my bedroom. My knee crunched against the skirting board as Kirzek brought me down with a crash tackle.
‘Now I will hear it,’ he wheezed in my ear. ‘You will scream like pig.’
My whole body felt like it was squashed in a vice and my knee throbbed in pain. Kirzek twisted my head and forced me to look him in the eye.
‘I gave you plenty chance. Now look what happens,’ he said, a smile spread across his meaty face.
‘You’re a filthy cockroach,’ I snapped back. ‘You won’t be safe anywhere. Even in protective custody they’ll make you eat your own shit.’
He chuckled, wiped at sweat on his forehead.
‘You think I will go to prison? Let me tell you something, I will never go back. Never.’
‘Right.’
‘It is shame about your bitch wife, huh. Pity we not have more time. Pity for her. Maybe I spend some time with her after I finish here.’
‘She’s a grown woman, Kirzek. Don’t you like them younger?’
A look of alarm passed over his face.
‘We know what’s on the laptop. We know about everything. The Holy Brethren’s going down. No one walks away from this.’
Somewhere outside I heard Cassie yelling, but I couldn’t focus on the words. I couldn’t focus on anything any more. All I saw was the knife, smeared with my own blood, striking towards me, then three loud cracks splintered the blackness, jolting Kirzek like a fit. His eyes fixed to mine as the knife fell to the floor. I looked back up the hall and saw Cassie in silhouette, gun trained on Kirzek’s body.
33
AS SOON AS I’D BEEN CLEANED up and had my neck stitched, I checked on Ella, who’d been treated and was under observation in an emergency department cubicle. After that, the questioning lasted three hours. Ben Eckles, Ian Gurt of ESD, Nik Stello, Cassie and I all squeezed into a tiny visitors room at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. I leant forward on my plastic chair and let out a long sigh. I was stiff and rigid and the stitches in my neck pulled tight every time I turned my head. The local anaesthetic had worn off and fatigue left me parched and moody.