RED MIST FALLING

by Richard T Green

  I didn't know why.

  The drapes were open. I walked to the full-length smoked-glass windows and stood looking across to my own apartment, which felt much closer than it seemed when I’d stood watching for hours through my windows in the other direction.

  Just six-hundred metres away, and yet right then it felt like Zana me and were worlds apart.

  ‘Please tell me you've found something, deWinter.’

  Ryland Cooper's desperate-sounding words jolted me out of the thought-bubble. I lifted my arms from my sides. ‘Not a thing.’

  ‘Fuck!’ He raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘Fuck. Fuck.’

  ‘You're saying fuck a lot, Coop.’

  ‘Sure I fucking am. Scott's going to go ape when we tell him our prime mark is living life like any other thirty-something city bitch.’

  ‘She's not a bitch, Coop. Don't call her that.’

  The big man narrowed his eyes for a moment. ‘Ok, let's do it all once more.’

  ‘Coop - anything that might be of interest to us is probably in those suitcases.’

  ‘Sure. Just do it again, deWinter.’

  We did it again, re-searched every inch of the apartment. It wasn't that difficult; Zana clearly didn't like clutter so there was little to work through anyway. We found nothing. No communications equipment, not a thing to suggest that Red Mist was anything other than a normal human being.

  Whatever secrets she was hiding, Zana was clearly not letting them out of her sight.

  As the car drove away from the apartment, Ryland Cooper studied the expression on the face of the girl in the driver's seat, a slight frown on his face. An uneasy feeling was growing stronger as each hour passed. The reason the seven were here was still just as much a mystery as ever, and the thought of arriving in Duncan Scott's office in a few hours to report a total fail was not a pleasant one.

  But now there was something else giving him concern. The cold, hard emotionless Madeline deWinter was starting to show character traits he never expected her too.

  And that was worrying him most of all.

  Chapter 13

  Ryland Cooper threw a sarcastic grin back to me as he climbed out of the BMW. ‘Don't suppose you feel like accompanying me to HQ later to make our embarrassingly blank report, Maddie?’

  The look that speared into him answered his question. ‘Thought not; see ya soon.’

  An hour later, I stood once more at the big windows in my apartment, brandy glass in hand. Almost five in the morning. I knew I should catch some sleep, but the nausea in the pit of my stomach wasn't going to make that easy.

  I tried to analyze the way I was feeling. There wasn’t much relative experience to go on.

  I’d seen the look on Coop's face when I'd virtually demanded to be the one to search Zana's bedroom; knew just as much as he did I was acting out of character. Goddamnit, I'd even asked to go in the first place because I couldn't bear the thought of a total stranger going through her things.

  Now somehow it felt dirty, like I'd betrayed her.

  'I trust you Madeline', she'd said in the restaurant.

  Stupid girl.

  My anger and confusion boiled over, too much to take. I threw the brandy glass at the wall. As it shattered into a thousand shards and trembling hands covered my face, something else Zana said hammered its way into my memory, and refused to go away.

  'Do you trust your own judgment, Madeline?'

  I spent the daylight hours doing something else I'd never done before.

  Worrying like hell about another human being.

  The DIAL-issued phone with the number I'd given to Zana sat silently on the coffee table. I’d spent half the morning staring at it, willing it to burst into life. In my mind a thousand scenarios got played out, one after the other, again and again as I tried to find one that would feel like a good explanation of what she was up to.

  That only made things worse. There were too many possibilities.

  I considered a session at the gym, sweating off my pent-up frustrations on the machines. Somehow I couldn't be bothered. In the early afternoon I grabbed the brandy bottle, poured a huge glass, and then thought better of it.

  If Zana called, if she needed me, I couldn't be over the limit. I poured it away.

  At two-thirty I jumped out of my skin as the phone rang, adding insult to my already-shattered nerves. My heart skipped a beat as I picked it up. It was Ryland Cooper.

  ‘You ok, Maddie?’

  ‘Will you stop doing that?’

  ‘What?’ said the voice, in an amused kind of way.

  ‘Calling me Maddie.’

  ‘I only do it to wind you up, girl.’

  ‘That's because you envy me.’

  ‘What did I tell you about funny morons? Anyways, just called to tell you that the embarrassingly empty report you bottled out on didn't go down too well.’

  ‘There was nothing to find. That's not down to us.’

  ‘Try telling that to Scott. He's about to have a coronary by the look of him.’

  ‘He's not the only one.’ As soon as I'd said that, I wished I hadn't.

  ‘You mind telling me what that's supposed to mean?’

  ‘Just… just that I'm beating myself up because I didn't get a destination out of Zana.’

  ‘That the only reason, Maddie?’

  ‘Sure.’

  There was silence for a few seconds. ‘You listen good… don't you get drawn into stuff you shouldn't. You's here to extract information out of Zana, nothing more. Just keep that cold unfeeling psyche of yours intact and you'll get through this.’

  ‘Gee, thanks for the compliment, Coop.’

  ‘You will thank me if you listen to what I'm saying.’

  As the sun sank below the horizon, still I'd not left the apartment. As a full moon rose above the London skyline, once more I stood looking out, staring desolately at Zana's dark windows, willing a light to suddenly shine out to tell me she was home.

  I knew there was little chance of that, today was Tuesday and she'd said she wouldn't be back until Wednesday.

  Yet still I watched, until finally I could stay awake no more. Just a solitary hour on the sofa the previous night, and all the newfound emotions, were taking their toll. I crawled into bed fully clothed, pulled the duvet up, and crashed out.

  It was midnight when I woke with a start, sat up instantly and looked around. Had something woken me? I grabbed the phone from the bedside table, there were no calls. The army training kicked in, I flashed the apartment, nothing seemed out of place.

  But something had woken me.

  I sank a glass of iced water, sat on the sofa staring into space, feeling uneasy. The silence was total, not a sound anywhere. There was no logical reason, but I felt spooked. In the dim light of a single table lamp, dark shadows that would never bother me now seemed to be concealing unknown evil.

  Then the phone rang.

  My heart pounding, I picked it up. The number wasn't familiar.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘I need you.’

  Chapter 14

  ‘Zana?’

  ‘Will you come, please?’

  ‘Where…’ I stopped myself, brain suddenly kicking in. ‘Wait Zana. I'll call you back.’

  ‘Madeline?’

  ‘Two minutes… no more.’

  I cancelled the call, crazy thoughts running through my head. This was a DIAL phone. I doubted they were actually listening in, but I couldn't be sure. I fumbled in the bedside drawer for my own phone, praying it was charged.

  ‘Come on!’ It took all the painfully-long time it wanted going through its start-up process. And I shook my head in disbelief, what I was doing was insane. This is what DIAL wanted, Zana's location. Now here it was for the taking.

  I wasn't going to give it to them.

  She’d sounded meek, frightened. She needed me. So right now work could go fuck itself.

  This was personal.

  The phone finally told me it had plenty of charge. S
haking hands pulled up Zana's number on the DIAL phone and transferred it to my own, then switched off the department-issued mobile. Frantically I keyed in the numbers.

  ‘I'm sorry Zana, phone was playing up. On my spare now. What's wrong?’

  ‘I just… need you. Here with me.’

  ‘I'm coming now. Where are you?’

  ‘Dawson'sHill’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘East Dunwich.’

  ‘Wow… what the hell are you doing there?’

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘Ok, I'm sorry. Leaving now.’ I was grabbing the black jacket and car keys as I spoke. ‘It'll take me a good hour, not so much traffic at this time of night though.’

  ‘I'm sorry.’

  ‘No need for sorry. I'm glad you called me. Didn't think you would.’

  ‘Neither did I.’

  ‘Gonna put the phone down now… call you when I'm close. Is that ok?’

  ‘Thank you, Madeline.’

  I thought quickly as I pressed the BMW’s start button. The DIAL phone was left in the apartment; I was pretty sure it would be tagged. They wouldn't be able to trace my movements now. I checked my speed as I pulled out into the road. If someone was watching, screaming away in a hurry would raise suspicions for sure.

  It was almost one in the morning, Soho was still heaving with life. I noticed a car pull out and follow me just after the drive to the apartment. I couldn't be sure but wasn't going to take any chances.

  A small side street helped the cause. Flooring the throttle, the i8 screamed as the twin turbos kicked in. Halfway along I shoved my foot on the brake pedal and turned down an alleyway, switched off the lights. Five minutes in motionless silence, then in the darkness I drove slowly along the narrow alley, relieved that it filtered into another tarmac road.

  No traffic here. I turned the lights back on and crawled along between the terraced houses watching for any sign of a tail.

  All was quiet.

  Avoiding the main roads was essential. If I had been tailed they might still be cruising around looking for me. There weren't that many BMW i8's around yet, so I wouldn't be difficult to spot. I navigated a complicated route through the side streets, watching the moon to be sure I was heading in the right general direction.

  I fought the urge to hit the faster roads. Fifteen minutes now, and the zig-zag route was starting to frustrate the hell out of me, but the Thames was close by and once over that they wouldn't see me for dust.

  Finally I hit Victoria Embankment, crossed the river via Waterloo Bridge and headed south on the A23. Now the road was straighter and less busy, I hit the speed limit and kept it there. Through Brixton, I made the junction with the A205 and turned east.

  I called Zana. She sounded quiet, withdrawn; begged me to hurry. She gave me directions, I floored the throttle a little more and kept a wary eye out for safety cameras.

  Getting caught for speeding would be an epic disaster right then.

  It wasn't long before I saw the left turn into Lordship's Lane.

  Almost there.

  I slowed the car, this was a quieter residential area and it was almost two in the morning. Screaming round corners would attract unwanted attention. I turned right, the road narrower now. Into Dunston's Road, I looked for the entrance to the nature reserve that was Dawson's Hill.

  I let the car roll to a standstill as quietly as possible. On the right side of the road, a fifty-metre unfenced grassed area that served as the park entrance sat next to the pavement, and right opposite was a long terrace of houses. Pathways led into the park, winding upwards and disappearing into a tree-lined hillside.

  I stood on the path, the chill of the mid-November night making me shiver after the warmth of the car. There was no sign of Zana, I called her again.

  ‘I'm here… where are you?’

  ‘On top of the hill. Just keep going up until you can't go any further and you'll find me.’

  I began to walk, taking one of the pathways, wishing I'd brought a torch. Here in the trees that still had most of their leaves it was difficult to see, even with the full moon. The pathway grew steeper. I came to a clearing, the dark hulk of a small building which looked like a park café nestling to one side. A little further on, I cleared the trees and the pathway petered out.

  Now it was just rough grass and shrubland. Dew that bordered on frost glistened on my boots as I carried on upwards. Now I could see the top of the hill, but still no sign of Zana. The familiar feeling was back in my gut… what the hell was she doing up here alone at this time of night?

  And then I could go up no more. I stopped walking, my heart beating out of my chest. A few metres in front of me, a figure was sitting on the ground. Facing away, the red cloak pulled around her head and her knees up to her chin, she looked like a ghost.

  But it wasn't just Zana that made me catch my breath. Stretched out in front of me was the most spectacular view of the city I'd ever seen.

  Chapter 15

  I sat down beside her, didn't speak. I wasn't sure what to say.

  ‘Isn't it beautiful, Madeline,’ she said quietly from inside the hood. ‘Look, you can see the O2, the Shard… everything from here.’

  ‘It is beautiful,’ I agreed. ‘I didn't know this place existed.’

  She turned to me, sad eyes burning into my heart. ‘Will you hold me please?’

  I put an arm around her shoulders, she leaned into me. Gently I touched the side of her face.

  ‘You’re freezing.’

  ‘Its ok; I'm a big girl now.’

  I felt her melt into me, realised how much she needed our closeness right then, held her tight and let my presence give her comfort in silence. For two minutes neither of us spoke. Then she looked up, her eyes misted over.

  ‘Do you remember the olive's story, Madeline? How it was ripped away from its natural home, its heart punched out and then forced to journey to a different land?’

  ‘Yes I do.’

  ‘That's how I feel.’

  She sounded so desperately unhappy. I gently kissed her tears away, feeling her pain. ‘Do you want to tell me about it?’

  She hesitated, looked away. ‘No… not now. You'll know soon enough anyway.’

  ‘I don't understand, Zana.’

  And then she said the words I didn't want to hear, just a whisper that scorched into my heart.

  ‘I'm doing something bad, Madeline.’

  I closed my eyes so she couldn't see my desolation. ‘How bad?’

  ‘Really bad. I'm doing it for you… because of you. Because of what you mean to me.’

  ‘Zana, I can't help if you won't talk to me.’

  ‘It's too late now. But you can help. Just be there for me.’

  ‘You know I will.’

  She struggled to her feet, the cold of the night stiffening her legs and making her stagger a little as she moved a few steps away. ‘How many people do you think we can see?’ She held out a shaking hand at the view across London. ‘How many normal human beings; most of them asleep, some working late, others making passionate love or maybe feeling desperately lonely? How many, Madeline?’

  I stood behind her, slipped my arms around her waist. ‘Thousands… a million maybe.’ I could feel her body trembling. Whether it was the cold or the emotion searing through her I couldn't tell.

  ‘Do you have family out there somewhere, Madeline?’

  ‘My mum cleared off to Ireland when I was little. Got no brothers or sisters. My dad's somewhere but I don't know exactly where.’

  ‘But not in London?’

  ‘No, last I heard he was sunning it in the Caribbean.’

  She turned round to face me, a faint smile on her face. ‘I want to go home now.’

  I smiled back. ‘It is past your bedtime.’

  ‘I can't drive, I've had a bit too much to drink while I've been sitting here.’

  The nausea was back in my stomach, a picture of the bar top with the missing martini bottle flashing in front of
my eyes. ‘I'll drive you. Where’s your car?’

  ‘Back on the road. I took a laboratory pool car. I'll send someone to pick it up tomorrow… sorry, later today.’

  I took her hand, together we walked across the long grass that was now crunching beneath our feet as the frost kicked in, and found the pathway down the hill. We came to the clearing with the closed-up café. As we walked past I felt her hesitate, cast a quick glance at the dark building. It was just a fraction of a second, but significant enough to arouse my curiosity.

  I said nothing, didn't let it show that I'd noticed her waver.

  We reached the road, she led me to a white Ford Mondeo parked a few metres from the BMW. She opened the rear door and pulled out a suitcase; I threw a quick glance onto the rear seat. Now she'd pulled out the case, the back of the car was empty.

  ‘Almost forgot my stuff,’ she smiled innocently.

  I took the case from her and lifted it into the trunk of the BMW, my heart breaking. It was a very smart case; fine-quality blue leather with expensive-looking chrome fittings.

  But it was all on its own.

  Just one suitcase.

  Chapter 16

  The drive back was a silent one, mostly because five minutes in Zana fell asleep. I kept glancing across to her, wondering what pain she was enduring, what secrets she wouldn't or couldn't reveal to me. Part of me wanted her to open up, tell me the whole horrible truth. The other part embraced the silence, too afraid of the horror I might hear.

  It wasn’t a nice place to be.

  There was little traffic on the road now, I didn't have to think too much about driving. Perhaps a good thing, there was enough other stuff pounding away in my head. Stuff I really wished wasn't there. She’d confessed she was doing something bad… really bad. And because of that the goalposts had been moved.

  Now I had a decision to make. Up to now I'd toed the department line; got to know Red Mist as ordered, even managed to get her to trust me. Invaded her apartment, gone to her when she needed me and…

  And discovered she was doing something bad.