As Shepherd opened the Toyota’s door,Wates swung round the shotgun, but he was too slow. Shepherd whipped the barrel of the SIG-Sauer across his face and heard the cheekbone crack. Wates didn’t go down, though, and he brought the gun up again. Shepherd grabbed at the shotgun with his left hand and brought his knee up into Wates’s stomach. Wates doubled over, blood streaming from the cut on his cheek. Shepherd brought the butt of the gun down on the side of his head and kicked the shotgun under the Range Rover. Wates slumped to the ground.
Rose saw the gun in the man’s hand. There was a silencer on the end. He hit the main beam sending a tunnel of dazzling light down the road. There was little an unarmed man could do against a man with a gun but he was damned if he was going to let Marsden take a bullet. He gunned the engine and moved the car forward.
Anderson watched, horrified, as Wates fell, blood pouring from his face. Now Kerr was turning towards Nelson, his upper lip curled back in a sneer, the barrel of the gun pointing up at the night sky. Anderson groped around for his weapon. He knew it had been a bad idea from the start, but now he had to see it through.
Kerr heard Wates go down and faced the Toyota. He brought up his gun. The headlights had dazzled him but he could make out Nelson standing over Wates. His finger tightened on the trigger and he aimed the gun at Nelson’s head. He gritted his teeth, blinking rapidly. The gun fired but the bullet went way over Nelson’s head. Kerr bellowed in frustration and took aim again.
Anderson heard a dull pop and realised Kerr had fired. He transferred his own gun to his left hand and fumbled for the door handle with the other. His bowels felt liquid and he feared that he was going to wet himself. The door opened and he stumbled out into the road.
Rose saw the man lurch out of the driver’s side of the Range Rover. Marsden had hit one of the men but it was still two against one and unless Rose did something, Marsden would die. Then he realised he had a weapon he could use against the men. He stamped on the accelerator and the car leaped forward.
Shepherd heard the roar of the engine as he dropped into a crouch. The first shot had missed his head by inches and Kerr was about to fire again. Shepherd swung up his SIG-Sauer and fired twice in quick succession. Both shots hit Kerr in the chest and he fell backwards, mouth working soundlessly.
Shepherd turned sideways and saw Anderson taking aim, his face contorted by fear or hatred. Shepherd swung his gun round but Anderson had him in his sights. All he had to do was pull the trigger and it would all be over.
Rose gripped the steering-wheel and pressed his foot on the brake, not too hard because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. The car smashed into the man with the gun, hurling him against the door of the Range Rover with such force that it broke off its hinges. The man fell back on to the door, arms flailing. The gun fell out of his hand,and he slumped to the Tarmac.
Rose climbed out of the car. Marsden was leaning against his Toyota, both hands on the butt of his gun.
‘What the hell’s going on?’ asked Rose.
‘We’ve got to get out of here.’
‘You just shot a man,’ said Rose.
‘Rosie, I can’t be caught here,’ he said. He tucked the gun into the waistband of his trousers. ‘I’m not going down for this.’
Rose glared at him. ‘Okay, follow me,’ he said. He got back into the car, reversed away from the Range Rover, then sped off down the road.
Shepherd followed Rose as he drove off the main road and zigzagged through side-streets, his eyes constantly checking the rear-view mirror. They weren’t being followed. Rose parked behind an overflowing builder’s skip, got out of the car, jogged to the Toyota and climbed into the front passenger seat. ‘What the hell was that about, Stu?’
Shepherd couldn’t tell Rose the truth about Kerr, because Shepherd was an undercover cop and Rose was his target. ‘Just leave it, Rosie,’ he said. If Rose reported what had happened, Shepherd’s assignment was over. If Shepherd told Rose who Kerr was, his assignment was over. The only way out would be to use what had happened to his advantage.
‘Leave it?’ said Rose. ‘You just shot a man and I hit one with my car.’
‘They attacked me, remember?’
‘So why aren’t we calling this in?’ asked Rose. ‘Why did we run? And what the hell were you doing with a gun?’
Shepherd shrugged and avoided eye-contact. The pressure had to come from Rose. ‘Just forget it ever happened.’
‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ asked Rose. ‘Have you any idea how much shit we’re in?’
Shepherd’s mind was racing for a workable story. It was always best to go in with the legend in place so that all contingencies could be anticipated. In a good undercover operation every move was planned in advance so that nothing could go wrong. Thinking on your feet got the adrenaline going but it could lead all too easily to disaster.
‘I mean it, Stu. Tell me what the fuck you’ve got yourself into, or I call this in, right now.’
Shepherd took a deep breath.‘I owed them money.’
‘So they were from the Halifax, were they? You behind on your mortgage?’
Shepherd flashed him a sarcastic smile. ‘Good to see you’ve kept your sense of humour,’ he said.
‘It must be one hell of a lot of money for them to come after you with guns.’
‘Thirty grand, and some,’ said Shepherd.
Rose raised his eyebrows. ‘How the hell did you run up a debt like that?’
‘I don’t want to get into this. It was my own fault, and now I’ve got to sort it.’
‘Yeah, regular Gary Cooper, you are.’ Rose leaned towards him and dropped his voice to a low whisper. ‘Think of this as a confession. You have sinned, my son, but by repenting you will be saved.’
‘I’m not a Catholic,’ said Shepherd.
Rose’s voice hardened. ‘And I’m not a fucking priest. I saved your life back there, so spill your guts.’
‘It’s a gambling debt,’ said Shepherd, slowly. ‘At least, twenty grand is. There’s more than ten grand of juice. Interest.’
‘And you can’t pay?’
‘For fuck’s sake, Rosie, didn’t you hear what I just said? Thirty grand. Could you lay your hands on thirty grand cash? That’s more than a year’s salary after tax and insurance and all the rest of the shit they take off us.’
‘Haven’t you got a house you could have mortgaged?’
‘The only asset I’ve got is the car.’
‘How bad a gambler are you? You’re what, thirty-three, thirty-four, and the only thing you’ve got to your name is a three-year-old Toyota?’
‘I had a bad year,’ said Shepherd. ‘Okay, a couple of bad years.’
‘Horses?’
‘Some horses. But football recently. Long-odds stuff. Liverpool to win three–one with Owen scoring twice, that sort of stuff.’
‘Is that why you had to leave Scotland?’
Rose had taken the bait. Shepherd had set up the story and Rose was filling in the gaps, which was always the best way. He nodded.
‘And you thought by moving to London they wouldn’t find you?’
Shepherd nodded again.‘My father’s here,though, and he does need me around. But, yeah, I thought they wouldn’t be able to find me down here.’
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the engine click as it cooled.
‘The gun,’ said Rose, eventually. ‘Where did it come from?’
‘I bought it from a guy in Glasgow. It’s untraceable. I needed protection.’
‘Suppose I offered you a way of getting thirty grand. And more.’
Shepherd knew what was coming next. ‘I’m listening,’ he said.
‘We can help each other, two birds with one stone.’
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘What happened out there, we’re in this together.’
‘No arguments there,’ agreed Shepherd.
‘Are you prepared to take it a step further? Become proactive?’
/> ‘If the rewards are there, sure. Depends what you have in mind.’
‘Remember the pizza place? Mike was saying you made a crack about the money.’
‘It was just that. A crack.’
‘But it was a good point. Drugs money is fair game. You take it, who loses out? Drugs-dealers. Do we care? Of course we don’t. Does anyone?’
‘What are you saying?’ said Shepherd, although he knew exactly what Rose was proposing. It was what he’d been working towards over the past week. The attack on his life had been unforeseen, but it had shown Rose that Shepherd had the qualities to take Andy Ormsby’s place.
‘I’m saying that if the circumstances were right, we could help each other. I need a lot of cash.’
‘For Kelly?’
Rose’s eyes narrowed. ‘Who told you about her?’
‘Mike said she was ill.’
‘That was none of his business. Or yours.’
Shepherd held up his hands. ‘It came up in conversation. But it gives you a reason for needing money, so I see where you’re coming from.’
‘You’ve no idea where I’m coming from,’ he said. ‘You haven’t the faintest idea.’
‘She’s really sick?’
‘She’s going to die unless I do something. But that’s not the issue. The issue is how far you’re prepared to go. I’ve got the weaponry, I’m in the process of gathering the intel. All I need is the manpower.’
‘You mean there’s more than you and me?’
‘It takes a three-man team.’
‘You,me and . . .?’
Rose smiled tightly. ‘Let me talk to the third party first. Just in case . . .’
‘Just in case he doesn’t trust me?’
‘It’s like being in the ARV. We all have to trust each other one thousand per cent. We’ve all got too much to risk.’
‘Assuming he’s okay with me, what’s the next step?’
‘We work out where and when.’
‘And we rip off a drugs-dealer?’
‘That’s the plan.’
Shepherd whistled softly. ‘You are one hell of a dark horse.’
‘I’ll fix up a meet tomorrow and call you.’
Shepherd ran a hand through his hair. ‘How soon before we move?’
‘Next week. I’ve got a deadline, money-wise.’
Shepherd sat in his car for a while, looking at his house. His heart was still racing. He felt guilty, but not because of what he’d done to the men who’d attacked him. He’d reacted instinctively, as he’d been trained. The guilt came from having lied to Rose. He liked the man. He was a good cop, too, reliable and disciplined, and he’d crossed the line because he wanted to provide for his daughter. He’d helped Shepherd in the street, with little or no thought for his own safety. If Rose hadn’t turned up there was a good chance that he would have been killed. Rose had saved his life, but Shepherd didn’t want to dwell on that. Rose’s reward was going to be a long prison sentence, and Shepherd didn’t want to think what that would mean for his daughter.
He let himself into the house. There was a light on in the kitchen and Katra was at the sink, washing up. ‘Hiya, Katra,’ he said. She was wearing a white dressing-gown. For a moment he thought it was Sue’s, but then he realised it fitted Katra perfectly and she was smaller than his wife had been. He switched on the kettle.
‘I’ll make you coffee,’ said Katra. ‘And I have a beef and paprika stew and baked potatoes in the oven.’
‘It’s nearly midnight!’ exclaimed Shepherd.
‘You have eaten already?’ she asked.
‘No, but I worry about you staying up so late on my account when you’ve got to take Liam to school. How was he today?’
‘He is a good boy,’ she said. ‘He wants to spend more time with you.’
‘I know. I won’t always be as busy as this. These shifts are unusual.’ Even as the words left his mouth, Shepherd knew he wasn’t telling the truth. He often worked late, no matter what case he was on, and sometimes he was away for days on end. Villains didn’t work nine to five, and neither did undercover cops. ‘I’ve got to make a call first,’ he said. ‘Thanks for the food.’
She beamed.
‘You go to bed. I’ll get it out of the oven.’
Shepherd waited until she had gone upstairs, then phoned Hargrove. ‘I’m in,’ he said. ‘Rose tried to recruit me tonight.’
‘Excellent,’ said Hargrove. ‘That was quick work.’
‘I had help,’ said Shepherd. He explained to the superintendent about Kerr’s attack and how he’d reacted.
‘What state are the casualties in?’ Hargrove asked.
‘Kerr’s dead, I’m sure. Shot in the chest. I hit Wates hard. Anderson was hit by Rose’s car. I’m sorry it got so messy.’
‘Not your fault, Spider. I guess what we need to worry about is how the hell Kerr found out who you are.’
‘He could have followed me from Manchester. But if he did, shame on me for not spotting it.’
‘The Manchester operation was over and Angie Kerr was in custody. You were heading home.’
‘And I let my guard down.’ It was something he was going to have to think about. If Kerr had followed him to Leman Street, he could just as easily have gone to his home. His carelessness had put his son at risk. That was unforgivable.
‘What happens next?’ asked Hargrove.
‘Rose is going to call me tomorrow and set up a meet with his partner.’
‘We’ll arrange surveillance,’ said Hargrove.
‘No,’ said Shepherd quickly. ‘They’re cops, they’ll know what to look for. I’m not even going to wear a wire for this first meeting.’
‘I don’t think you should go in alone,’ said Hargrove.
‘Rose is convinced I’m with him,’ said Shepherd. ‘He saw me shoot Kerr and I spun him a yarn about gambling debts in Glasgow. Tomorrow’s just about meeting this other guy.’
‘And who do you think it is?’ asked Hargrove.
‘If I had to name a name I’d say Mike Sutherland, but only because he’s so close to Rose. And they were both in the ARV with Ormsby.’
‘We could put a tail on Sutherland.’
‘I wouldn’t,’ said Shepherd. ‘I’d rather see what they’ve got planned.’
‘Catch them red-handed?’
‘Maybe not. But I’d like to know who they’re planning to rip off.’
‘It’s your call, Spider.’
‘As soon as I’ve had the meet I’ll fill you in.’ Shepherd cut the connection, then went upstairs.
Liam was fast asleep, hugging his pillow. It scared Shepherd, how much he loved his son. He would do anything for him. He wondered if Keith Rose was sitting by his daughter, watching her sleep, wanting to be a good father, promising to do whatever it took to ensure that she’d be healthy and happy. He felt uncomfortable. He kissed his son then went to his bathroom. He felt dirty and wanted to shower.
Shepherd got up early and had breakfast with Liam, who asked his father if he could drive him to school. Shepherd said yes. ‘Great!’ shrieked Liam.
‘I could drive you both,’ said Katra.
‘Nah, that’s okay,’ said Shepherd. ‘I’ll take the Toyota.’
‘That’s a horrible old car,’ said Liam. ‘Why are you driving it?’
‘It’s for work.’
‘The Golf’s much better—’ Liam stopped and put down his knife and fork. His lower lip was trembling.
Shepherd laid a hand on his son’s arm.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Liam.
‘I keep doing the same thing.’
Liam pushed away his plate and stood up. ‘I’ll get my bag.’ He ran out of the kitchen and thumped up the stairs.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Katra.
‘His mum drove a black VW Golf,’ said Shepherd. ‘It was the car they were in when they crashed.’
Katra looked horrified. ‘When his mother died?’
Shepherd nodded.
&nbs
p; She wiped her hands on a tea-towel. ‘I’ll go and talk to him.’
‘I will,’ said Shepherd. He hurried upstairs. Liam was sitting on his bed, clutching his schoolbag. Shepherd sat down next to him. ‘I miss her, too,’ he said.
‘I miss her all the time.’
‘We’ll always miss her. That’s what happens when someone you love goes away.’
‘She didn’t go away,’ said Liam. ‘She died.’
‘I know.’
‘Why do people say that? Why do they say she went away when that’s not what happened? Gran says that. So does Granddad. They say she went away but if she went away she’d come back. But she’s never coming back, is she?’
Shepherd felt tears prick his eyes and fought them back. ‘No,’ he said, ‘but that doesn’t mean she’s not in our hearts, because she is. She’ll always be with us.’
‘But not really, right? She’s never going to hug me again, is she?’
Shepherd felt a tear run down his right cheek and brushed it away. ‘No,’ he said. ‘But I’m still here. I can hug you.’
Suddenly Liam reached for him, and buried his head in his father’s chest. ‘I don’t want you to die, Dad,’ he sobbed.
‘I won’t,’ said Shepherd. ‘Not for a long, long time.’
Shepherd held Liam until he stopped crying, then wiped his eyes and told him to go and wash his face. He carried Liam’s schoolbag into the hallway and waited until Liam was ready to go.
Katra was standing at the bottom of the stairs and ruffled Liam’s hair as he went by. She looked up at Shepherd, who mouthed, ‘It’s okay.’
He went after Liam and gave him his bag. As they walked to the Toyota, one of Shepherd’s mobiles rang – his Stuart Marsden phone. He told Liam to go back into the house while he took the call. It was Rose.
‘Where are you?’
‘Home,’ said Shepherd.
‘You up for a meet?’
‘Where?’
‘Wapping High Street. Outside the tube station. In an hour.’
Shepherd glanced at his watch. ‘I’ll be there,’ he said.
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