by Taylor Leon
Lee Riley laughed, wiping any residue of tears from the corners of his eyes. ‘Did you say anything to Judith?’
‘No, not yet.’
‘Good, good,’ he said.
‘Why did you do it?’ Bramble asked. ‘Why fake your death and come back?’
‘You know why. Unfinished business.’
Bramble’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what business is that?’
‘This country is still a shit-heap.’
‘And you’re going to change that by yourself?’
Bramble heard footsteps behind him and started to turn.
‘Don’t look at him, look at me,’ Riley said.
‘You are joking,’ Bramble said jabbing his finger over his shoulder.
‘You see, I am not by myself,’ Riley said.
Bramble shook his head. ‘Let the kid go. He doesn’t need to be involved in this.’
As if in reply he heard a gun being cocked behind him.
‘Loyalty is far more common than you think,’ Riley smiled unpleasantly. ‘But of course we already know how little you value that.’
Bramble shuffled on his feet uneasily. He was twice the size of Lee Riley, could rip him apart in seconds if he wanted, but there was nothing he could do about the bullets that would strike him from behind.
‘I mean,’ Riley continued calmly. ‘You left your wife, took mine, ran away together and left the NID. You have no loyalty to anyone, do you?’
Bramble thought he knew where this was going. Could only be one way. Die like a man, he thought.
He straightened up. ‘If you’re going to kill me Lee,’ he said slowly. ‘Just get on and do it.’
Riley shook his head. ‘I didn’t bring you out here to kill you, Christopher,’ he said. ‘I want to offer you a job.’
Riley could have pissed his pants at the look on Bramble’s face. A man who seconds ago was convinced he was taking his final breaths in this world.
‘You want to offer me a job?’ he asked slowly.
Riley nodded. ‘A one off. The kid wants to take a more active role today and so I’ve decided we could do with a little extra help.’
‘I take it, it's an offer I can’t refuse.’
‘Something like that.’
Bramble’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’m out of all the NID shit. If it involves killing people, then no way. I’m clean now. I’m not going back to jail.’
‘Like you said. It’s an offer you can’t refuse.’
‘I’d rather die than go back to jail, so maybe you should just kill me now.’
Riley took a step closer. ‘How old is your son now? Must be eighteen. Heard he’s starting University all supported by your first wife and her new family. Still, you must be a proud Dad.’
‘Leave him out of this,’ Bramble growled.
‘Like I said,’ Riley winked at him. ‘I’m making you an offer you can’t refuse.’
46
WE HAD WORKED right through the night sifting through old files on every known member of the NID. We weren’t after anything specific, just a name, a place, anything that might suggest where Lee Riley was planning his next attack.
We put the word out to our colleagues in Spain to make sure they had Lee Riley’s brother.
I sent a couple of Uniforms to Carl Riley’s home address. Someone needed to tell him that his father was alive. When they called back and said there was no answer I knew there wasn’t a lot more I could do, except call the Cuba coffee shop at seven-thirty and see if he had arrived there. But then the girl who answered told me he didn't work weekends. She laughed and said he struggled to manage with his late Friday and Saturday night partying. It did cross my mind that his father may have made contact already. Sure, there was no love lost between them, but perhaps there was still some sense of loyalty that had prevented him from telling us.
Arnie came through into the open plan.
‘You should go home Erin,’ he said. ‘Get some rest. There’s nothing more you can do here.’
I reluctantly got up, lifting the photo of Lee Riley I’d taken from the files. I wanted to keep this face close. This was the man who had killed Lloyd, Angel and maybe Cade. He’d be in my dreams from now on, standing right next to Edward Cryle.
‘You should look for Carl Riley,’ I said.
‘You think he could be Lee Riley’s partner?’
‘He hates his Dad, but loved his brother.’
Arnie nodded. ‘I’ll put someone on it.’
I admired the way he was holding himself together under the emotional pressure of losing his brother only hours earlier.
The duty sergeant called out to me as I passed the front desk and handed me a large brown internal envelope. I thanked him and took it with me, out to my car.
Once inside, I opened it up. It was the archived info I had requested on Desiree Shields, the member of The Coven that Moira told me had been killed several years ago. I had been curious to see exactly what had happened to her. Of course, other events had taken over since then, and this hadn’t been a priority.
I scanned down the pages thinking that I could read this through properly later. And then I saw the picture at the bottom of the article.
It was the dizzy feeling you get when everything you thought you knew was wrong.
The bond is breaking.
The girl in the picture was Goth-girl.
Goth-girl was Desiree Shields.
A dead girl.
Once a member of The Coven.
Desiree.
Gasping for air I reached for my phone and dialled up Frankie’s number. She was the only one I trusted, and I needed someone to make sense of this before I spoke to Victoria.
But it was Jessie who answered the call.
‘I wouldn't have picked it up,’ she said, ‘except I saw your name flash up.’
‘Is Frankie there?’
‘Frankie’s with me but she can’t talk to you,’ Jessie said. ‘Victoria made us stay up all night. Frankie’s got inside the head of your terrorist. Right now, she’s seeing things through his eyes.’
I felt the photocopies slide out of my hands.
She did it!
We can find anyone.
‘Where is he?’
47
THEIR CAR WAS inconspicuously parked a couple of hundred yards from the shopping centre entrance, just on the edge of the pedestrian square. There was a building society and a sports shop right across from what looked like an old-fashioned tea-house.
Lee Riley leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath. His eyes closed for an instant as he cleared his mind, then they flickered open again.
‘You ready?’ he asked.
Next to him, the kid grunted and climbed out. They walked around the back of the car and flipped the boot open. Riley took a cursory glance around to check no one was watching them, then he heaved a small holdall bag out which he slung over his shoulder. The kid did the same.
They marched across the square, Riley taking the lead, cutting through the long queue that had formed outside a hole-in-the-wall cash point.
Once inside the centre, Lee nodded and grinned as he noticed all the dark skins and pale East Europeans around them. Mark had done his research five years ago. This place was filled with outsiders. He’d chosen well. This would be a fitting finale, and a fantastic way to commemorate the anniversary of Mark’s murder.
‘This is perfect,’ Riley said. ‘Let’s give the place an hour or so to fill up a little more.’
48
I WAS DRIVING around aimlessly, waiting for Frankie and Jessie to give me directions. I’d forgotten all about Desiree. Right now, the only thing that mattered was finding Lee Riley.
‘She hasn't seen anything that tells her where he is yet,’ Jessie explained through the speaker on my hands-free. ‘The things she’s seeing through his eyes could be anywhere. Let me call you back when we have something.’
‘We’re running out of time,’ I told her. ‘Just tell me what can she see?’
I heard them talking in the background, their voices faint and muffled.
‘Shops,’ Jessie said into the phone. ‘He’s inside a shopping centre.’
That hardly narrows it down, I thought.
‘Come on Jessie,’ I snapped. ‘I need more.’
‘We don’t have anything more,’ she shouted back and hung up.
I’d lost concentration for a moment there, and the car swerved to the left. Quickly regaining control, I indicated and pulled over into a side road. I turned the engine off and, leaning forward, rested my head against the steering wheel. I’d been up all night and was so tired. But the stress and adrenalin was keeping me going.
Then: I’ve been an idiot. I’m tired, not thinking properly.
I pulled out the police photo of Lee Riley, took a snap of it on my phone and sent it over to Frankie’s mobile with the message: LEE RILEY. MAIN SUSPECT.
Ten minutes must have passed before Jessie called me back.
‘Okay Erin,’ she said. ‘I’ve taken the shops Frankie’s seen and narrowed it down to four shopping centres in and around the London area.’
She read them out to me. Two of them were on my side of London, I reckoned each one was six or so miles from where I was, but in opposite directions.
‘I’ve hacked into the CCTV cameras inside all of them and have them on my screens,’ Jessie continued.
I could feel my blood pumping through me, my heart thumping against my rib-cage as I waited.
And waited.
‘She’s seen Zen Electronics,’ Jessie said. ‘There’s a Zen Electronics in two of the shopping centres. I’m looking at them right now, but I can’t see him.’ There was a long pause, before she suddenly said, ‘Hold up.’
‘What? WHAT?’ I was screaming down the phone.
‘I've got him,’ Jessie breathed, in a voice that suggested she couldn’t believe it either.
‘St. Joseph’s Centre,’ she said. ‘He’s walking through, dark sweatshirt and jeans, and he’s carrying a bag.’
‘Stay on him Jessie,’ I said, starting the car back up. ‘Whatever you do, don’t let him out of your sight.’
‘Aren’t you going to evacuate the centre?’ she asked.
I quickly thought about it. If an alarm went off it might panic Lee Riley and prompt him to act straight away. Even if he didn’t, he would escape out of the centre and go into hiding, and we might never find him.
‘I have to get there and stop him myself,’ I said. ‘Stay on him and I’ll be there in twenty minutes.’
And pray he doesn’t do anything before I arrive.
‘Bella and Moira will get there at the same time,’ she said suddenly.
I thought I must have misheard her.
‘Bella and Moira?’
‘Victoria’s instructions,’ Jessie said. ‘We’re a team.’
49
I DROVE INTO the last empty space on the second floor of the car park.
I took my phone out of the holder and pushed it deep into my coat pocket, fixed in a Bluetooth earpiece and touched it lightly to turn it on as I climbed out. I pulled my phone back out briefly and redialled the last incoming call, then pushed it back into my coat.
‘You there Jessie?’ I asked.
‘Where are you?’ Jessie said.
‘Second floor car park, getting into the lift.’
‘Okay, I’m tracking him through Pemberton clothing, men’s section, ground floor.’
‘Just stay on him Jessie,’ I said. ‘We can’t let him put that bag down. Where are Bella and Moira?’
‘We’re here,’ Moira said into my earpiece. ‘We’ve both dialled into this line.’
‘We just came through the south entrance,’ Bella added. ‘Coming up the concourse towards Pembertons.’
‘Stay on everyone Jessie,’ I said. ‘I’m on my way.’
50
I KNEW JESSIE was watching everything through all the CCTV cameras in the centre, flipping over from one to the other on her computer screens, as she followed the girls and the terrorist. Almost every area of the shopping centre was covered. She had just watched me get into the lifts in the car park and now she followed Bella and Moira as they closed in on Pembertons, which sat at one end of the ground floor.
‘We’re outside Pembertons now,’ Moira said. ‘You still see him Jessie?’
Jessie followed Riley as he moved through the shop, giving a running commentary as she watched. For an instant, he disappeared behind a pillar racked up with fashion accessories. Then he re-appeared again on the other side but now he wasn't carrying the holdall.
‘He’s dropped the bag,’ Jessie said.
Bella and Moira look at one another as I hurried over to them.
‘We have to clear the shop right now,’ I said into my earpiece. ‘Jessie, you need to hack into the Centre’s system and set off the alarms.’
51
AS SOON AS the alarms went off time seemed to stop. I was inside the store scanning for Riley, and now with a horde of people rushing towards the exit, there was no way I could pick him out. But my priority was the public’s safety.
‘Everyone out!’ I shouted over the wailing siren.
An overweight security guard, dressed in a crisp white shirt and black tie, jogged over.
‘Who are you?’ he said.
I pulled out my ID. ‘We need everyone out right now,’ I said to him. That was enough for him. He didn’t ask anything else, just joined in with me, calling and waving for everyone to get out. He motioned to the three girls on the tills. ‘This isn’t a test,’ he shouted to them. ‘You need to get out as well.’
‘The central pillar with the socks and belts,’ Jessie said into our earpieces. ‘The bag’s behind it.’
Moira was a blur as she moved against, and through, the oncoming rush of people.
I saw her appear next to the pillar, clutching the holdall. Then she was off again. She re-emerged at the back of the store near the fitting rooms which had already emptied out. She went in and deposited the bag, and was a blur as she came racing out. The bag exploded, and the force of the explosion sent her blurred figure skittering off to the left, rolling across the floor, slowing down until she was quite still.
A chorus of even louder screams erupted all around us. Bella and I pushed back through everyone to get to Moira.
She was lying face down.
For a second the alarms and the screaming all faded into nothingness, as fearing the worst I turned her over.
‘Talk to me guys,’ Jessie said in my ear. ‘What’s going on?’
I knelt, and pressed two fingers against Moira’s neck checking for a pulse just as she came to, coughing and spluttering.
‘Thank God,’ I whispered, smiling weakly over at Bella.
Bella took a deep breath, and uttered her own silent prayer of thanks.
I stood back up. ‘Moira’s going to be okay,’ I said to Jessie. ‘But where is Riley?’
‘There’s a massive surge of people coming out of all the shops and onto the concourse,’ Jessie said. ‘I can’t see- whoa, wait a minute.’ There was a short pause. ‘He’s heading towards the lifts.’
Moira stirred, so I bent back down and wiped her forehead. ‘Hang in there,’ I whispered, and she groaned lightly in response.
I touched Bella’s shoulder reassuringly. ‘I have to go,’ I said.
The shop had emptied out, so I raced outside onto the concourse where everyone seemed to have congregated. I pushed my way through the screaming crowd. Lee Riley was somewhere ahead of me in the scrum of bodies.
‘He’s moving away from the lifts,’ Jessie said.
Then I saw him straight ahead, and he glanced back and saw me. His large eyes widened in alarm, before he turned and charged forward.
‘He’s reaching into his pocket,’ Jessie said in my ear. ‘Oh Jeez, he’s got a gun.’
I heard screams ahead and to the right, people throwing themselves back into the shops. Someone shouted, ‘He
’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!’
I pushed against the tide flowing hard against me and I flew at him. As he turned to see where I was, I barrelled straight into his chest, sending him careering backwards. The gun flew out of his hand, and I heard it clatter to the floor, as the crowd parted and formed a large circle around us.
I rolled off him and stretched for the weapon which was just out of reach, suddenly feeling the weight of him on my back. I frantically pushed forward, grabbed the muzzle just ahead of him, and pulled it towards me. I then managed to twist around so I was facing him. A chalk white face and strange owl-like eyes looked down at me as we fought over the gun that was tucked between us. I could feel his fingers curling around the trigger guard, the muzzle pushing into my stomach.
I kept hold of the muzzle and pushed it as hard as I could away from me, both hands twisting it in frantic desperation.
He pulled the trigger, hoping he could get a shot off while it was still aimed at me.
But I had managed to twist it around just in time.
There was a loud bang.
His body bucked and heaved, his mouth opening with an awful gasp that quickly became a wince, as his head fell onto my shoulder.
I rolled his limp body off me and lay there for a moment, catching my breath and thanking God I was still alive. Then, I sat up and looked at him lying face-up next to me with his eyes closed. A crimson stain covered his chest.
There were shadows standing over us, and at first I thought it must be bystanders closing in to help. But when I looked up, there were three suited officers with their weapons aimed at Riley’s prone form. One bent down to carefully remove the gun from his limp hand.
Gregson stepped through them and reached down to put a hand on my shoulder. Only then did I realise that I was shaking uncontrollably.
‘It’s okay,’ he said gently. ‘You got him, Detective.’