A New Dawn Rising

by Michael Joseph

  'That wouldn't be very professional, would it, Sam?' replied Carter, gazing wistfully out of his side window. 'I planted Peter Canning at the Renshaw's house based on good information that Carl was preparing to indulge in criminal activities. Nothing more, nothing less.'

  'Hey,' said Sam. 'There's no need to give me the spiel. I might be dressed in civvies but I know the score.'

  'I'll pretend I didn't hear that, Mr Carlisle,' growled Carter. 'Anyway, look at the situation we've got now. I'd say the end has justified the means, wouldn't you?'

  Neither man spoke any more of it.

  ***

  They were only yards behind now. Starkey was clearly struggling to keep the car on the road. Sam watched it lurch violently from one side of the road to the other, scraping along hedgerows, only avoiding serious impact because of its reduced speed. Sam could make out Carl in the passenger seat, looking back in alarm at the chasing Clio.

  'Starkey can't keep going for much longer,' said Sam. 'He's losing too much blood.'

  'Get ready, then,' nodded Carter. 'Just in case he bails.'

  Sam looked in his mirror.

  'What about Mr Angry back there?'

  Carter turned and looked out the back window. The vehicle behind them had dropped back some way and its driver had eased off the horn and flashing lights.

  'We'll just have to hope he's calmed down and lost interest,' shrugged Carter. 'The last thing we need is him stopping as-'

  'He's going!' shouted Sam, easing gently on his brakes. Up ahead, Starkey had missed a bend. His car was carrying straight on, heading for a small hedge. 'This is it!'

  Sam slowed the Clio right down as Starkey's car left the road and ploughed unceremoniously into the hedge. Fortunately, the sedate travelling speed meant the car came to a genteel stop in the shrubbery. Sam pulled over before the bend, fifty yards or so from the hedge. He jumped out the car and crouched down behind the open door. Carter clambered out the other side and sprinted around to join him. The detective raised his eyes when he saw Sam holding Martyn Taylor's gun.

  Both men fixed their eyes on the stricken vehicle up ahead and waited for Carl or Starkey to jump out. The backdrop of the moonlit sky would show up the silhouette of anybody escaping from the car. Sure enough, moments later, Dave Starkey staggered out of the driver's side.

  'Dave!' yelled Sam. 'Give it-'

  A shot whizzed way above Sam's head. Both he and Carter ducked.

  'Bloody maniac!' complained Carter.

  'The man's not in control of himself,' said Sam, shaking his head. 'He's badly injured and probably scared out-'

  Carter let out a sarcastic laugh.

  'Remind me to console you with that after he's stuck a bullet in one of us.'

  Suddenly, a vehicle whizzed by. Sam raised his head and peeped over the door. A car took the same bend Starkey had failed to negotiate and disappeared from sight. Sam presumed it was the vehicle that had been behind them since leaving the farmhouse. Thankfully, its driver had decided to ignore the stationary Clio and continue with his journey.

  'Dave!' shouted Sam.

  'Stay back!' cried out Starkey. 'Or I'll shoot again!'

  'I told you,' said Carter to Sam. 'We'd better wait until the cavalry arrives. I'll find out where they are.'

  While Carter moved to the back of the car to get on the radio, Sam scanned the scene up ahead. He couldn't see Starkey any more in the darkness. Sam guessed he was cowering behind his car, using it as cover in much the same way Carter and himself were doing.

  'Dave, just give yourself up, will you?' he yelled, aware he had to act fast. Armed police would be flooding the area soon and, in his current state, Starkey was going to end up with a bullet in his head.

  'Why, Sam?' shouted Starkey in reply. 'I've got nothing to lose now!'

  'Don't be daft, Dave! I saw what happened back at the house!'

  'I'm not going down for murder!'

  'Listen, it isn't that simple! Martyn Taylor was intent on taking you out!'

  No reply. Sam gave it a few seconds.

  'I'm coming over!' he announced suddenly, standing upright.

  'What did you just say to him?' asked Carter, returning to Sam's side.

  'I told him I'm going over there.'

  'You're doing what!' cried Carter, looking at Sam in amazement. 'He'll pick you off no problem over open ground...no matter what state he's in.'

  Sam had made his mind up. He walked around the door, escaping Carter's desperate attempt to grab him and pull him back.

  'Sam, get back here, you fool!' hissed Carter. 'We'll have support here any minute.'

  Ignoring him, Sam stepped into the middle of the road and started walking towards Dave Starkey.

  Forty yards.

  Thirty.

  He still couldn't see Starkey.

  Twenty yards.

  Why hadn't he shown himself yet?

  Fifteen.

  Sam saw a movement. Starkey was rising from behind his car.

  'Sam, what are you doing?' he asked, his voice trembling.

  'I'm putting an end to this, Dave. Once and for all.'

  Ten yards.

  Sam caught sight of Starkey's gun being raised. He kept his own weapon down by his side.

  'Why are you doing this?' screeched Starkey, pointing his gun at Sam's head. Fear and confusion were rampant in his eyes. Sam's bold advance had thrown him.

  'Because if I don't,' replied Sam calmly,' you’re going to be a dead man.'

  Five yards.

  'Get back, Sam! I don't want to shoot you!

  Sam didn't break his stride, and in that moment, Starkey realised Sam wasn't going to stop coming. The uncertainty in his face was replaced by resignation. He had run out of options.

  He couldn't run.

  Nor couldn't give himself up.

  He had to shoot.

  Dave Starkey closed his eyes and squeezed the trigger.

  Out of the darkness, a figure threw itself at Starkey and knocked him clean off his feet. Sam heard Starkey and the mystery assailant land heavily on the ground. No shot had been fired.

  Sam shook his head, mystified. Who had jumped out like that? He peered inside Starkey's car and saw Carl wriggling about in the passenger seat, still dazed from the collision with the hedge.

  Sam heard footsteps running towards him.

  'Sam?' called out Carter. 'Are you okay?'

  He ignored the question and went over to the two lifeless forms on the ground. Suddenly, one began to move gingerly before rolling over onto its back. A familiar face grinned up at Sam.

  'Now, that hurt,' said Richie.

  Chapter 79

  'Have you got a death wish?'

  Richie and Carter both asked the question. At exactly the same time. Sam bent down and picked up Starkey's gun. He opened up the barrel.

  'No bullets,' he said, holding up the gun for them to see. 'It only holds six and he fired them all. I took a chance he wouldn't have any spare on him.'

  Carter whistled in astonishment. Richie just smiled.

  'Still prepared to take risks,' he said.

  Sam grinned back at him.

  'Still sticking your nose in where it's not wanted.'

  Both men laughed.

  'You two know each other?' asked Carter.

  'Oh, yes,' replied Sam. 'But what he's doing here is anybody's guess.'

  ***

  Sam and Richie were both leaning on the roof of the Clio, observing the scene in front of them. The road was awash with emergency vehicles and flashing lights. Paramedics and police officers milled about. Sam caught a glimpse of Carl Renshaw receiving treatment in the back of an ambulance. Dave Starkey was being stretchered into another. Sam had been told both would live.

  Martyn Taylor had not been so fortunate. Carter had passed on the message Taylor had died on the way to hospital. Sam wouldn't be shedding any tears.

  'That's some result you got.'

  Sam didn't reply to Richie's compliment.

&n
bsp; 'You haven't lost it, bud. Any chance of you returning to the force. I'm sure they'd take you back after this little-'

  'Not a chance, mate.'

  Richie shrugged. It had been worth a try. Sam gave him a meaningful look.

  'I don't mean to sound ungrateful, Rich, but what are you doing here?'

  Richie tapped lightly on the car roof.

  'I owed you, bud.'

  'You owed me?' asked Sam.

  Richie nodded.

  'I let you down,' he said gravely. 'I wrote you off. So, I decided to make it up to you.'

  'But how did you know I'd-'

  'I know you too well, Sam,' laughed Richie. 'When you started asking me for information I knew you had your teeth into something. I thought I'd come up here and find you. See if I could help. I was on the outskirts of Bursleigh when I rang you with Starkey's address. I guessed you'd head there, so I did the same. Only I wasn't expecting you to nearly crash into me.'

  It was Sam's turn to laugh.

  'That was you back there? The nutter with road rage?'

  'Yeah, that was me,' nodded Richie with a wry smile. 'I was trying to get your attention, but you always were a stubborn so-and-so.'

  Neither man said anything for a while. It was an easy silence. Richie broke it first.

  'What are you going to do now?'

  'I'll give evidence at the trial,' replied Sam. 'Both Carl and Starkey are going down, but I can prevent a murder verdict.'

  'What about Martyn Taylor's friends?' asked Richie, looking slightly troubled. 'They won't take too kindly to you speaking up for Starkey. You'll need witness protection, won't you?'

  Sam took a while to answer. He stared out at the dark, barren countryside and thought of Elizabeth and Danielle. Of Lucy. The people he was supposed to care for and protect.

  He had done nothing of the sort.

  His recklessness had put them in danger.

  And he didn't trust himself to change.

  'I won't need it,' he told Richie, shaking his head. 'I'm moving on.'

  He gave one final, lingering thought to Lucy.

  He was going to miss her.

  THE END

  ###

  Also by Michael Joseph

  DEATH IN JULY

  The follow-up to A NEW DAWN RISING sees the return of maverick ex-cop Sam Carlisle, now free of his demons and living in the bustling seaside town of Newgate, on the East Anglian coast.

  Eighty-seven year old Geoffrey Compton is found dead in his own home, the result of an apparent suicide. However, his son Benjamin believes there was more to his father's death and hires Sam to investigate. Tackling his first mystery as a private eye, Sam discovers a number of Geoffrey's old acquaintances have also passed away recently in suspicious circumstances, leading him to believe someone is exacting revenge on these people, snuffing out their lives in the most calculating manner. To prevent more fatalities, Sam must trawl the past and find the cause of this twisted retribution, putting him on collision course with the elusive figure responsible.

  As well as investigating Geoffrey Compton's death, Sam also finds himself trying to protect a friend from her vengeful ex. Sam is stretched to the limit in Death In July, juggling two separate cases full of intrigue and danger.

  DEATH IN JULY is available now on Amazon Kindle