(2013) The Catch

by Tom Bale

  ****

  The traffic thinned out as Dan joined the A283 south of Petworth. He was able to drive at between forty and fifty miles an hour, a speed that normally was quite fast enough for him. It was a meandering single-lane road with only occasional stretches where overtaking was permitted.

  At the first opportunity, Dan shifted into third gear and moved up tight on the car in front, nudging out towards the centre line to make his intentions clear. Several cars passed in the opposite direction, and then there was a gap of several hundred yards, although he could see the headlights of more oncoming traffic in the distance.

  Had to risk it. He floored the accelerator and moved out, passing a couple of cars easily, then ignored a chance to slip into the gap behind a high-sided lorry that was doing about forty-five miles per hour.

  Dan was squarely alongside the lorry when he saw that he wouldn’t make it. The first of the oncoming cars had reached the same conclusion, the driver flashing his main beams in warning. Dan moved in closer to the lorry, his wing mirror almost touching the side of a massive wheel arch as he willed the Corsa to find a little extra speed. He could hear the long blast of a horn as the approaching traffic had to veer on to the grass verge to avoid a head-on collision.

  Then he was past the lorry, with a clear road ahead. He pushed the speed up from sixty to seventy, then to eighty. He met the next group of slow vehicles on a straight section and this time he didn’t hesitate, sailing around them as if the road was his alone to command.

  He was driving like a maniac, breaking every rule imaginable, and he knew full well that if he resembled anyone right now it was the man whose driving had robbed him and Louis of their mother and father.

  ****

  Stemper noted the burst of speed, the reckless overtaking, and he was intrigued. He didn’t think this was merely an urge to flee from his friend’s murder. More likely that the young man saw himself as the white knight, riding to Cate’s rescue.

  That explained where he was heading. Not back to Brighton, but to the most credible hiding place within close range.

  ****

  Jerry was on his trail. That was Dan’s assumption, although he hoped that the way he’d driven for the past few miles had been enough to open up a good distance between them. He needed to buy some time.

  He’d concluded that the rendezvous in Midhurst hadn’t just been about handing over the paperwork. It was also a chance to lure Robbie’s partner into the open – and Dan had walked right into that trap.

  The road conditions forced him to trundle slowly through the villages of Pulborough and Storrington, but he managed one or two more bursts of speed. It was around seven-thirty when he reached the Steyning bypass, and a few minutes after that he was racing north along the same road where, six days before, a moment’s foolishness had set so much tragedy in motion.

  Dan slowed for the tight turn into the lane that led to O’Brien’s farmhouse. He was obsessively checking his mirror, but there were no other vehicles in sight.

  He rolled along the lane until the farm’s double gates came into view. They were standing open, which meant either Robbie had left them like this after the Fiesta had been collected, or else it was another trap.

  Dan had to take the chance. He sped up, crossing the driveway and on to the grass. The sky overhead glowed with the last of the light, a subtle purple-blue sheen, while the trees and bushes around him were retreating into the gloom.

  He parked behind the barn, cut the engine and got out, armed with the wheelbrace. He ran back the way he’d come, listening for an approaching car, but all he could hear was some sporadic birdsong and the distant thrum of traffic.

  The farmhouse seemed like the ideal place to hide Cate away until Dan had been captured. He felt sure she would be kept alive until the last possible moment: Jerry needed her as an insurance policy, as well as a source of information.

  Now, having lost his target, what could Jerry do but come here and force his hostage to reveal Dan’s identity?

  There was a hedge bordering the driveway. Dan managed to hide himself in a gap close to the gates. He crouched down, confident that he would be hard to spot in the growing darkness. He’d decided to wait here for fifteen minutes. If no one turned up he would search the property, and if that proved fruitless he’d have no option but to phone the police and tell them everything.

  It was less than three minutes before he heard the engine, then saw the prowling lights of a car.

  CHAPTER 101

  Stemper pulled up on the driveway and peered into the dark. The Corsa was nowhere to be seen. He’d lost sight of it fifteen minutes ago but had assumed it was heading this way. Had he got it wrong?

  He picked up the gun, removed the magazine and checked how many shells remained: six. Plenty.

  He looked around cautiously as he climbed out of the car. There was no sign of life, no lights on in the house. He opened the back door, untied the rope binding the woman’s feet, then moved to the other side, removed the hood and tore off the tape over her mouth. Caitlin spat and coughed, blinking in surprise that he had shown her his face again.

  ‘I was expecting to find your friend here,’ he said. ‘Clearly self-preservation overcame chivalry.’

  Once he’d released the ropes, he hauled her out of the car. Cramp made her wince and gasp as she stood upright, stretching and flexing her muscles. Stemper kept one hand on the rope around her wrists, while the other held the gun at waist height.

  ‘My patience is running low,’ he said. ‘Who is he?’

  ‘Just one of Robbie’s friends.’

  ‘I saw him visit you yesterday afternoon. Think harder.’

  A surly silence. He glanced at a line of bushes flanking the driveway. When he turned back Cate was shaking her head, a sudden defiance in her posture.

  ‘No. I’m not telling you.’

  ‘So you do know? That’s progress.’ He kicked the side of her knee. Her leg buckled and he forced her to the ground, driving the Glock into the back of her neck.

  ****

  Cate felt the gun digging into her skin and thought: This is my moment to die.

  She swallowed, took a breath. ‘You’re going to kill me anyway. Go ahead. But I won’t tell you. That way he wins, you lose.’

  She forced her head up, turning so she had sight of the bland face gazing down at her, the pale eyes strangely expressionless, as if nothing ever truly mattered to him.

  ‘A fine speech, but I suspect your courage will be no match for the reality.’ A pause. ‘I can shoot you without killing you,’ he declared. ‘I can inflict half a dozen non-fatal wounds and still keep you conscious.’

  She had the impression that the threat wasn’t intended for her ears. Sure enough, he spun and fired a shot into the bushes. Cate flinched, even though the noise was no louder than a click.

  ‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

  Ignoring her, he called out: ‘I know you’re here. Are you prepared to see her suffer?’

  ****

  Dan’s legs were starting to cramp, but he didn’t dare move an inch. The man – Jerry – had the gun aimed in his direction. The bullet had missed by a couple of feet; it was only when he heard it thudding into a tree that Dan understood he’d been shot at. If not for the silencer, the noise would almost certainly have freaked him into revealing his position.

  Now he assessed the threat to Cate. She hadn’t been a prisoner in the house: Jerry had kept her with him all along. And if Dan was right about the gunman’s priorities, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her the moment that Dan showed himself.

  Jerry was standing over Cate, some twenty feet away. The only weapon Dan had was the wheelbrace. He knew he couldn’t throw it with any accuracy; nor could he hope to get close enough to use it before Jerry opened fire.

  The only option was to stay put and watch him carry out his threat, or take action, but accept that it was a suicide mission. At least Cate could use the distraction to make a run for it.

&nb
sp; ****

  Cate realised that Dan must have come here after all. She had no idea why, but she wasn’t about to let this bastard kill them both. If she had to die, so be it, but she was going to die fighting.

  Jerry was still staring at the bushes when she sprang up. Remembering how she’d made a mess of it earlier, she drove her head into his groin. Her arms were useless behind her back, so there was little chance of wrestling the gun away from him. All she could do was go on pushing forward and hope he would lose his footing and perhaps drop the gun as he fell.

  ****

  Dan saw Cate fling herself at Jerry. She rammed her head into his midriff, driving him backwards, but although he stumbled he was better placed than Cate to keep his balance. He grabbed at her hair, meaning to take her with him if he went down.

  As Dan burst from his hiding place Jerry struggled to raise the gun and let off a shot. It went past Dan at chest height, no more than inches away, and he was sure he felt its lethal power in the rush of displaced air.

  But he kept on moving, head forward, the wheelbrace raised in his right hand. If he could cover the distance in time, he would take Jerry’s head off, even if it meant he ended up dead.

  ****

  Cate turned to track the bullet’s trajectory, saw Dan and understood that Jerry was trying to get a better aim. She was already losing the battle to stay on her feet, but as her knees hit the ground she managed to throw her upper body against Jerry, clamping her mouth on his arm, just above the wrist.

  She bit down with all her strength and felt skin split and tendons crush and blood begin to flow. She heard him scream and his other hand pushed against her forehead, his thumb seeking her eye socket, trying to blind her.

  But he hadn’t dropped the gun. He let off three more shots, thankfully wasted, all of them driving into the ground a few yards away. And then Dan was on him, swinging some kind of metal bar, and Jerry twisted round, tearing his arm free of Cate’s mouth, and her teeth were dripping with hot blood as she collapsed and instinctively rolled to avoid smashing her face on the tarmac.

  ****

  Dan’s swing was fast and strong but too well-telegraphed. Jerry dodged the worst of it, but still caught a heavy impact on his upper arm, the wheelbrace pounding against his bicep with a deep thwack. It should have knocked him off his feet but somehow he only reeled back, blood pouring down his other wrist from Cate’s attack.

  He had dropped the gun. Both men saw it at the same moment, but Jerry was closer.

  ****

  Stemper knew he’d never retrieve the gun in time to fire it: the instant he bent down his assailant would crack his skull.

  Plan A had failed, just as he’d feared it would. Time for Plan B.

  He kicked the Glock away from him. It went skittering over the driveway and the young man watched it go, seemingly stunned by what he was seeing. Then he made a belated lunge for it, and that was Stemper’s cue to run.

  Cate was quicker, and smarter, snatching at Stemper as he fled. But she couldn’t move freely, and it was easy enough to evade her as he dashed to the car.

  He threw himself in and started the engine. The young man had picked up the gun and was standing about fifteen feet away, slightly behind and to the left of the Ford Focus.

  Turning the car was impossible. Stemper put it into reverse and revved the engine. Heard a shout and realised the gun was coming up.

  The man yelled at him: ‘Stop!’

  Six rounds. Stemper had fired once into the bushes, once at his assailant, then three times at the ground, deliberately leaving only one shot.

  He prayed that the young man would use it.

  ****

  Dan thought he was capable of shooting. But now the moment had come, he wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do. He wanted justice, which meant a trial. It meant keeping this man alive.

  But not letting him escape.

  The Ford Focus reversed about six feet in a single jerking movement. It brought the driver level with Dan. He was a bland-looking man in his fifties; the sort of face that would melt into a crowd.

  Dan used both hands to steady his aim. He didn’t want Jerry to see how much he was shaking.

  ‘Get out of the car,’ he ordered.

  Jerry turned away, his gaze calm but distant, as if he required a second to reflect on the instruction he’d been given.

  He’ll see sense, Dan thought. He’ll surrender.

  Then the man reversed again, wildly, the wheels screaming for traction as the Focus wobbled and swerved and raced backwards through the gates and down the lane.

  For an instant Dan was frozen with indecision. Then he turned, lined up on the figure silhouetted at the wheel, and fired.

  He thought the bullet hit the windscreen, but the car didn’t slow down or deviate from its path. Dan ran forward a few paces, aware that he had only a split second to get off another shot before the Focus was gone. He aimed, pulled the trigger, but there was only an empty click. He tried it again, realised he was out of ammunition.

  The killer had got away.

  CHAPTER 102

  But we’re alive. That was his next thought. We’re alive.

  He ran to Cate, who was struggling to stand. He helped her up and saw that her hands were bound with nylon rope, knotted too tightly to prise apart with his fingers.

  As he groped in his pocket for his keys, Cate was spitting frantically. ‘Wipe it off, wipe it off!’

  Dan tore his shirt open and used it to clean the blood from her mouth and chin. Her face was bruised and scratched, but she didn’t seem to be badly hurt. She leaned to see past him, while he dug a key into the knot to loosen it.

  ‘He’s gone, hasn’t he?’ she said.

  ‘Yes. It’s safe.’

  ‘But he might come back.’

  ‘I know. We have to get out of here.’

  ‘What’s happened to Robbie? I thought he’d ...’ The words petered out as she read the expression on Dan’s face. Her shoulders dropped. He caught her as her legs gave way, her body almost deflating before his eyes.

  ‘Oh no. No.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Cate. I really am. But we need to hold it together for a bit longer.’

  ****

  The warning made her unreasonably cross. ‘You don’t have to tell me that.’

  ‘God, no. I’m sorry.’ The rope came free and Cate let out a groan of relief as she brought her hands in front of her and rubbed some life into them. Fighting back tears, she said, ‘I heard the phone call, when he was arranging to meet Robbie. It was a trap, wasn’t it?’

  ‘I’m afraid so. And now he’s got away, and we don’t know the first thing about him.’

  ‘He told me his name was Jerry ...’

  Dan nodded. ‘I don’t think that’s true. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t the man I saw ...’ He faltered.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m sorry. Robbie did pocket the money on Tuesday night. I didn’t find out until Wednesday, after we’d seen you. I made him take it back, but someone was lying in wait. He tried to photograph us.’

  ‘So you knew there were people looking for you?’

  Another nod, forlorn and apologetic. Cate realised this wasn’t the time for recriminations. With his help, she tried to take a few steps, her knee throbbing from where she’d been kicked. Dan led her into the darkness beyond the house and explained that Jerry, whoever he was, had been trying to kill all three of them, probably to frame them for a number of other deaths.

  Cate confirmed it. ‘He killed the people he was working with. I saw one of the bodies at the house where they were holding me.’

  ‘So how come he wasn’t able to identify me?’

  ‘Because I swore that I didn’t know you.’

  ‘And Jerry believed you? He didn’t threaten to torture you or something?’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ Even she was surprised by her matter-of-fact tone. ‘He hurt me. But I didn’t tell him.’

  ****

  They exchanged what
other information they had while they hurried to the Corsa. Dan couldn’t dispel the fear that Jerry had merely gone off to regroup. What if he’d kept a spare gun in the car and was hiding in the lane?

  ‘You know we could be driving into an ambush,’ he said as he started the car.

  ‘I don’t care. We can’t stay here.’ Cate gasped. ‘Oh God. I have to tell Mum about Robbie ...’

  ‘The police might beat us to it, if the body’s been discovered by now.’ Dan sighed. ‘I wonder if we should call them right away, from here.’

  Cate shook her head. ‘No. Let’s go. Take our chances.’

  He steered the car past the barn. The echoes of last week’s dispute with Robbie didn’t immediately occur to him, but the thought must have been lurking at the back of his mind.

  We’re doing it again. We’re running away.

  He leaned forward as they reached the driveway, craning to see into every shadow. Once they were through the gates he accelerated, and they raced down the lane to the main road without incident. It was only when they’d gone a mile or so towards the A283 that the reality of it struck him. He swore under his breath.

  ‘What’s the catch?’

  Cate looked at him, confused. ‘Dan ...?’

  The shock was so profound, he wasn’t sure if he could put it into words for her. ‘He’s got us. This is no different than if he’d killed us back there.’

  Cate made a sceptical sound. ‘Well, it is. Because we’re still in one piece.’

  ‘No. In terms of his objectives. The set-up is the same. We’re going to take the blame for this.’