by Taylor Leon
‘I don’t look anything like her,’ I said, a lump forming in my throat.
‘It’s not the looks. You have her resilience and strength. Rachel relies on Manny for hers. And Toby? Well, he buries his in drink, drugs and God-knows-what. But you just keep going. All by yourself. You screwed up, so what?’ He leaned right into me. ‘I know you do a lot more good than bad. I also know you’ll keep pushing. Keep making a difference. Am I right?’
I nodded and looked down to see his warm hand was resting on mine, in my lap. I hadn’t realised.
‘You really think Mom can hear us?’ I asked, and we both looked across at where she lay.
‘Listen,’ he said.
I found myself holding my breath. As if on cue, a breeze picked up and rustled the leaves of the large oak tree to our left. Sampson, stood up, looked over with me, tilting his head inquisitively.
‘You hear that?’ my Dad whispered.
I looked back at him.
‘She is listening,’ he smiled.
I felt my compact vibrating inside my jacket. My voice wobbled with the emotion of the moment. ‘I have to go.’
His warm hand slipped off mine as I stood up. For the first time he looked old and alone, not the brave, strong father I had wanted to emulate when I was a kid.
‘Don’t wait too long to see me again,’ he said, his eyes pleading.
I nodded and turned away before he could see me welling up like a stupid schoolgirl. I hurried out of the cemetery, with my head down.
I bleeped the car doors open and let Sampson jump up onto the backseat, before taking out my compact and chanting the intonation.
Jessie was there waiting for me. ‘The man who killed Lloyd Tanner,’ she said. ‘I’ve found him.’
37
I DIALLED UP Cade on the hands-free while I drove frantically through the North London traffic. I gave him the address in West London and told him to meet me there, then deliberately cut him off before he had a chance to ask me any questions.
I got to Arlington Road first, a narrow two-way street that ran parallel to Ealing High Street. I parked up outside a small Travel Agents and flipped my compact open.
‘Is he still here?’ I asked Jessie.
‘I think so,’ she said. ‘I listened in when Norris’s driver made the call, and then traced it. That call was made from outside a café in the City, yesterday. Once I had a fix on the receiving mobile I could track it. It kept moving around last night until it settled here this morning, inside number twenty-three.’
I looked ahead at the row of smart terraced houses.
‘Do you know who owns the house?’ I asked her.
‘It belongs to Milton Nichols,’ Jessie said. She’d be using several screens, as she hacked and delved into all sorts of password protected databases to get the information she wanted. ‘He rented it out four weeks ago to a Wayne Young.’
I pulled over and made a quick call, asking someone at the station to run a check on Wayne Young. I got a call back a couple of minutes later to say there was a no Wayne Young in the system.
I looked over my shoulder at Sampson on the back seat. ‘You okay to wait here for a little bit?’
I could have sworn he nodded in reply.
The side of the road in front of me was marked in yellow, “School Keep Clear”, with zig zag lines. The red brick building could be mistaken for residences or offices if it wasn’t for the small white lettering across the front. “St Mark’s School”. Across the narrow street was a large Bingo hall with a standout graffiti-marked white van parked outside. Further down were a few more parked cars and bikes. Behind me, a corner shop, what looked like a small pub opposite, and a couple more residential three storey buildings.
I walked forward past the Mecca bingo hall and the brightly coloured van. I went up the steps of number twenty-three and, seeing there was no bell, I rapped on the door. There was no answer.
Stepping back into the street, I saw a black gate in an archway between two buildings a few doors down. It seemed to lead around the back.
The gate had signs on it. “No pedestrians. Do not restrict. Gateway in constant use”.
‘Jessie,’ I said into the compact. ‘Can you get me through a security gate? It’s between 29 and 31.’
I heard Jessie typing frantically away. ‘Easy-peasy this one,’ she bragged. A minute later there was a loud click and the gate swung open.
I stepped through into a small courtyard that operated as a car port for the residents. There was a large bin just inside. Keeping my foot against the gate I pulled it over and used it to hold the gate open.
A small pathway on my left took you behind each of the buildings, so I went along, counting down until I got to number 23.
I peered through the windows, and found myself looking into a small, empty kitchen
Instinctively, I pulled down on the door handle expecting it to be locked, and surprised myself when it swung open.
I should have waited for Cade, but I was inside now and I had no idea if this Wayne Young was in here or would be back any minute. Either way, this was a chance to have a quick look around.
There was nothing of interest here in the kitchen, so I tip-toed into the front room. The curtains were drawn and it was dark, but I could see a pile of holdalls and a couple of rucksacks, maybe six of them altogether, against the far wall.
I quietly unzipped the top one, leaned in and pulled out a Kalashnikov rifle.
Oh, jeez.
Reaching back in I could feel a couple of guns. I placed the rifle on top, and opened up the next holdall.
Wires and a couple of small metal cylinders.
Explosives.
Screw the warrant, screw my being here off-duty, I need to get the world down here right now.
I put the weapons down and delved into my pocket for my mobile.
But I never made it.
Fast and heavy footsteps came at me from behind, and before I could even turn, I was charged down and pushed to the floor. My assailant was heavy on my back, one strong arm wrapped around my chest, the other hand around my throat, squeezing tight. I was flailing face-down on the floor, choking, desperately trying to draw in some air.
I reached up and pulled at his hand, but he was too strong. Dots started appearing in front of my eyes, and my panic intensified as I could feel myself start to lose consciousness. In desperation, I reached back further, found the side of his neck and dug my nails in as deep as possible, dragging them down and serrating his neck. He screamed out, slightly loosened his grip, just enough that could I swing back with my elbow, feeling it sink into his chest. He released me and when I turned he was on his knees, head bent low, his face hidden as he pressed a hand to the side of his neck.
If I’d caught my breath I would have followed it up with an upper-cut that would have sent him reeling backwards, but instead I paused to take in a couple of huge gulps of air.
That was a mistake
As I quickly started to rise, something heavy smashed against the back of my head, and before I even had a chance to scream out, the world went black.
38
I WOKE UP but I was still in the darkness of the front room, tied to a chair.
My head felt as though it was going to explode clean off my shoulders. The pain of the blow I’d taken was excruciating. I was disorientated, but sure there were two voices in here with me.
As my eyes got used to the dark I saw that both figures in front of me were wearing ski masks.
Maybe they didn’t intend to kill me.
Yet.
Maybe they wanted to know who I was and what I was doing here, first.
‘She’s a cop,’ one of them said and I realised they must have rifled through my pockets and taken my badge.
‘I thought I heard someone knock at the front door. Didn’t you hear it?’
‘No, I was trying to catch up on some sleep like you.’
‘What, with the back door open?’
‘Why didn’t you check it? Besi
des, I wasn’t expecting anyone to come snooping round.’
‘How did she find us here anyway?’
There was a short silence.
‘The Old Man?’
‘He wouldn’t blab.’
‘They must have put a bug in his car and traced the call.’
The Old Man. Anthony Norris.
‘Can they do that?’
‘I don’t fuckin’ know, but she’s here, isn’t she?’
One of them knelt down next to me and whispered in my ear. ‘How did you find us, huh?’ His breath was rancid and his spittle sprayed my cheek through the mask’s mouth-slit.
‘Norris gave you up,’ I lied. Play for time. Give them something to think about.
He swallowed hard, and I could sense the tension, the uncertainty, without seeing his face.
‘No way,’ he said, either to me, or to his colleague, or to both.
‘This place is surrounded,’ I said. ‘You think I’d come here alone?
One of them left the room. He must have stepped outside the building to check, because a minute or so later the front door slammed shut and he returned.
‘There’s no one out there. She came alone.’
‘Then let’s put a bullet in her brain.’
‘I know you’re pissed because she slashed your neck-’
‘Too right, just look at me-
‘Calm down,’ the older-sounding one said. ‘Let’s just load the bags into the car then we can decide what we do with her.’
‘I’m going to the bathroom to fix this mess first,’ the younger one said, pointing at his neck where I’d scratched him. Four deep grooves. ‘Look, I’ve got blood on my shirt. Fuckin’ bitch has claws.’
The older one stayed behind, keeping his gun trained on me.
Then-
‘Hands up where I can see them!’ Cade yelled, and there he was, standing in the doorway, gun aimed at the masked man standing in the shadows. He must have snuck around the back, through the gate I’d propped open.
I could sense my captor smiling behind the mask, and I was about to warn Cade, but it was too late.
The younger one was behind Cade, his gun trained on his back. ‘Drop your weapon,’ he said. ‘Or I’ll kill you and then the girl.’
Cade’s gun clattered to the floor.
‘Go and stand next her.’
Cade sighed and approached me with his arms raised. ‘I could have done with a heads-up,’ he said to me.
‘Shut up!’ the younger one said, coming up behind him.
Cade ignored him. ‘Well, at least one us came armed,’ he added.
‘I said, SHUT UP!’
Cade deliberately paused to let the younger gunman bump into his back. Then he swung around and caught him on the chin, sending him reeling back, the gun slipping out of his hand. He leaped forward onto his would-be assailant lying on the floor, the two men rolling around, grappling, as each tried to gain an advantage.
‘Cade!’ I screamed, pulling at my bonds to try and get free.
The older captor aimed his gun, and calmly watched the fight, waiting for his chance to get a clear shot at Cade
Crack!
There was a smell of gunpowder and Cade’s body slumped over his assailant, who then forced himself out from underneath.
I screamed out in disbelief as Cade lay motionless face-down on the floor, a pool of blood forming under his chest.
‘Je-sus,’ the younger gunman said, rising to his feet. ‘Everyone’ll have heard that.’
‘We have to go,’ the older one agreed. He turned and pointed his gun at me. ‘But first we better deal with her.’
I hoisted myself up with the chair, turned around, and in a blind panic dashed for the large curtained window, the only possible way out. I charged forward, praying the window was large enough and the glass thin enough for me to throw myself through.
The momentum carried me forward, and whether it was me, or the gunshot from behind, the glass shattered.
Then I was outside, still tied down to the chair, rolling through the air.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Part Four
ENDGAME
39
SHE CAME TO me as though I were in a dream. I couldn’t see her, just heard her whisper. Goth-girl calling to me in the darkness.
Don’t give up, Erin.
I’m not giving up, I told her. But I do know when I’m beaten.
You’re not beaten. Not yet anyway.
Am I dead?
No, just unconscious.
‘Am I dreaming?’
Kind of.
Can you get me out of here? I asked matter-of-factly.
No, I’m sorry. I wish I could, but I’m not supposed to even be here.
Then, why are you?
To warn you. To warn Victoria. She can’t see me, neither can the others. Only you can. I don’t know why, but that’s how it is.
Warn us about what?
You need to give Victoria this message.
She made me repeat the message three times back to her.
Who are you? I called out.
She didn’t answer, and I knew she had gone.
****
‘I’ve got you,’ someone said up close, and for an instant I thought Goth-girl had come back.
But this voice was different, deeper.
I was lying down, gently swaying from side to side. It took me a minute or so to get my bearings, and realise that I was lying on a gurney inside an ambulance.
A hand clasped mine.
I thought it had to be Cade, but it was smaller and more delicate than his would have been.
‘John?’ I whispered, forcing my eyes open.
A young woman’s face was looking down at me.
‘You’re okay now,’ she whispered and tried to force a smile.
Cade should be in here with me, I thought.
‘John?’ I strained to ask her again.
‘You’re okay,’ she repeated, with that same re-assuring smile.
‘Where’s John Cade?’
She sat back, still clasping my hand.
‘He’s ahead of us in another ambulance,’ she said. She wasn’t smiling anymore.
They shot him. But he couldn’t be dead. Not Cade. No way.
I tried to sit up. I felt breathless and groggy, the world around me spinning.
‘Why isn’t he in here, with me?’
She sensed my rising panic and squeezed me tighter. ‘We’re almost there.’
The adrenalin kicked in, and even before the ambulance had come to a complete stop I was on my feet, pushing my way past the nurse. I yanked my hand roughly out of her tightening grip and practically tipped out the back of the ambulance and into the waiting orderlies arms, as they opened the doors. They helped me down and then had to prop me up.
The nurse called to them. ‘She wants to see her friend.’
I looked up at their grim faces. Behind them a large entrance into the hospital. ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY.
‘Where is he?’ I asked them.
A voice called my name, and the crowd parted to let Arnie through.
He gripped both my upper arms tightly. His eyes were red.
‘John?’ I whispered.
His voice was trembling as he tried to get the words out. He couldn’t manage it and so he looked me deep in my eyes and slowly shook his head.
40
‘WE’RE THROUGH,’ WAYNE told him.
‘My car was not bugged,’ Norris snapped down the line. ‘No way.’
‘It must have been. There was no way that bitch-cop and her partner could have found us otherwise. This is a new one-off phone. I’m making this one call and then dumping it.’
Norris glanced around the half empty car park he was pacing in, while he waited for a few more people to arrive. The scout hut behind him could hold seventy people but there were less than twenty in there so far who had come to hear him. Barely worth him making th
e effort this afternoon.
‘What did you do with them?’ he whispered.
‘He’s dead. She threw herself out of a window and into the street. She may be dead as well, but we didn’t wait around to find out.’
Norris closed his eyes. Wayne and the boy’s bloodlust was rising along with the body-count.
‘You need to go away,’ Norris said opening his eyes, watching a couple more cars drive in. ‘It was too hot already after last week-’
‘We’re not done,’ Wayne cut across. ‘There’s the grand finale.’
‘You don’t need to do that right now,’ Norris said. ‘I can win a seat here for us. Sit in Parliament. That’s real power.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not. But tomorrow is the anniversary of Mark’s death.’
‘If you do anything more now, it could come back on me. Public opinion will turn against me. They’ll rake up my past again.’
‘They have nothing on you, otherwise they would have picked you up by now. The only problem was Duke Best, and you took care of him.’
‘There are others. The press. Listen to me, no more killing, at least not for a few weeks. Please.’ Norris knew how it sounded, pleading like this. It wasn’t like him, appearing so desperate. But the polls showed how close he was to winning the vote in this constituency. So close he could taste it.
‘You don’t give the orders anymore,’ Wayne said.
‘It’s not an order,’ Norris said, trying to keep his voice level. Start shouting and Wayne would just cut him off. ‘I’m just saying that Mark would have wanted-’
‘Stop right there,’ Wayne said. ‘Never tell me what Mark would have wanted.’
Norris swallowed hard. ‘I didn’t mean anything by that. But we can achieve something special here-’
‘You can achieve something. You’ll be the one sitting in Parliament.’
‘No, this is about us,’ Norris said quickly.
‘You’ll become one of them.’
‘No, I’ll always be one of us. Remember the other night? Remember Duke Best?’
‘This isn’t about you,’ Wayne said. ‘It’s not about us either. This is about Mark. His legacy. Finishing what he started.’