The Rattler (Rattler Trilogy Book 1)

by P. A. Fielding

  “OK, sir; how many are injured? Can you smell petrol fumes?” she asked, calmly.

  “No, I’ve cut the engine. And it’s just me, Billy-no-mates esquire.” Lucy laughed. “At least you sound alright. I’ve just dispatched the paramedics and police to your location. They should be with you soon.”

  Once again Teddy’s eyes scanned the wrecked car and the roadside. “I can’t see my attacker, though,” he said warily, staring into the darkness, hoping not to catch a glimpse of the assailant. However he was alone – the road was deathly quiet.

  “Did someone attack you?” asked a concerned Lucy.

  “Yes, someone broke into my car and hid on the back seat. She then tried to fucking kill me!” Wow, thought Lucy, someone certainly pissed you off.

  “Sir, I understand it’s been a shock, but I need you to remain calm. Where is she now?” said Lucy, her fingers beginning to type frantically.

  “I don’t know! I passed out, and when came round I was alone. Tell them to hurry; I can’t feel my legs,” he said, as a feeling of dizziness overcame him.

  “Do you think you could describe her to me?”

  “She looked like a bad-ass witch!”

  “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t quite catch that.”

  “She was a hag,” he rasped weakly. “An old woman with black and white hair, and deep-set black eyes!” He paused for breath; a chill raced down his spine, and a question spun around his head. How did she get into my car? The security on this thing makes it almost impossible! He glanced at the windows; yes, they were all smashed now – but he tried to recall if they were intact prior to the accident. He couldn’t remember. As well as the excruciating pain in his shoulder and legs, his head was banging and throbbing, as if it was the base line for a dance track. “Hello? Mr Carr, are you still there?” Lucy stopped typing. She feared the worst. “Mr Carr? Teddy?”

  Teddy finally spoke. “Yes, that’s all I can remember.” He glanced at the passenger side door; it was open. “She’s gone, and my car’s fucked by the way.” Lucy ignored the swearing as she continued to type into her computer. “Teddy, this is important,” she said, calmly, “can you see if there’s a blood trail leading away from the car?”

  “Listen, she tried to kill me! I hope so. I hope she dies out there.” Desperation now crept into his voice; the fact that he was still trapped in his wrecked Aston only heightened his anxiety. Once more he scanned the woodland for any sign of her. Nothing. “I know you’re here somewhere! You bitch! I’m gonna slap you silly when I get out of here! You hear me! Slap you silly!”

  “Mr Carr, I need you to calm down. The paramedics should be with you soon. Please try not to move. I’ll stay on the line ‘til they arrive.”

  “That’s easy for you to say ... ” He flinched and took a deep breath. “Jesus! That arse-bubbling hurt!”

  “Teddy, what’s happening?” No reply. Teddy felt a strong pain in his side. It was Hagatha! What the heck is going on? thought Lucy. Has his attacker come back to finish him off? Lucy suddenly had an image of Hagatha in her mind; icy chills raced down her spine.

  With her hands wrapped tightly around his waistline, Hagatha’s sharp fingernails dug deeply into his flesh, seeking out his kidneys. He felt her cold breath on his neck. Teddy instinctively glanced in the rear-view mirror. Hagatha’s black eyes stared intensely down into his soul. “Miss me, Teddy Bear?” she asked, with a roguish smirk rapidly spreading across her face. “You’re going to slap me silly, hey? Let’s see you try then.” She grinned. He jerked his head backwards as hard as he could muster, hoping to hit her. He missed. Teddy screwed-up his eyes; the pain was unbearable. “Help me! Somebody help me!” he screamed.

  Lucy had heard every word that had rasped out of Hagatha’s mouth. She shivered. “Teddy? What’s happening? Who’s that with you?” As soon as she spoke, screeching rang into her ears, causing her to jump up and stagger backwards. She threw the headset down onto the desk, and hit the speaker button. Her colleagues turned round and looked at her with puzzled faces. “Teddy, answer me! Is that her?” she shouted, anxiously. “Is she back?” Teddy didn’t respond; his left hand dropped the iPhone. All went black.

  Hagatha laughed.

  1: Just take it easy, will yer!

  1

  “Mr Carr? Teddy? Can you hear me?” demanded Jackie, a twenty-something blonde, slim, with bright green eyes. Teddy shook his fuzzy head; he had the mother-of-all headaches. He was looking directly down a spiral black hole. At the bottom a white light flashed constantly, left to right. He tried to move his right hand. Nothing – not a sausage! “Shit, that hurts,” he mumbled. “Bollocks! My legs are even worse!” he moaned.

  “Good. He’s coming round,” said June, a brunette, probably in her thirties; she still hadn’t lost her good looks. Teddy slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was still on Tree Lane. He was lying on a stretcher that was being pushed towards an ambulance. A foggy mist covered the entire area. “I’m not in hospital yet? Jesus, I thought I’d wake up, maybe feeling better, at least fixed – and ready to fuck!” The two paramedics just looked at each other. This wasn’t the Teddy Carr they recognised – a former footballer and TV host – very polite on TV, but lying here with a foul mouth. He must be a lookalike! thought Jackie. “You’re certainly not the guy I watch every Saturday night,” remarked June.

  “That’s me being nice. I have to be. I’m paid to sit there, give a running commentary, have a chit-chat, and then F-off home.” Teddy was now wide awake.

  “Can we please keep the swearing down to a minimum? Because if you don’t, you see that big fella speaking to the firemen ... ?” June pointed to Earl, a bald, fat man. Teddy frowned, “Where’s this going?”

  “Well, he’s a huge Fulham fan; do you really want me to tell him you moved to his beloved club just for the money? He’ll make your journey to hospital a bumpy one! He’ll find every exposed pothole in the road just to make you feel a tad more pain,” she grinned.

  “How could you possibly know I went to Fulham for the cash?”

  “Come on! Do I really have to spell it out for you? It is obvious! The expensive cars, the women, the nightclubs – they all benefited from your move! Don’t you remember tipping a woman £50 at McDonald’s just because she cleared away your table?”

  “I was drunk, and besides, she’s now my wife! So what? If someone wanted to pay you £150k a week, after tax, you’re telling me you would turn it down?”

  “Well ... no, I wouldn’t, not when you put it like that.”

  “Enough said,” he replied as his eyes returned to his beloved Aston, the roof of which was now resting beside it on the floor as Teddy had had to be cut from the wreckage. He watched as the firemen shared a joke with Earl, the Fulham fan. “That’s right you bastards!” he yelled. “You laugh at me, and my car – but you didn’t have to cut the bloody roof off!” Earl and the firemen turned and stared at him. We’ve just saved your rich, so-called ‘celebrity’ life – give us some respect here, thought Earl as he watched the girls push Teddy into the back of the ambulance.

  The road was now sealed off. There were police officers everywhere, some gathered around two squad cars, and others, obviously a forensic team dressed in white boiler suits, collecting evidence. A small set of muddy footprints at the entrance to the woods was their main focal point. Detective Fairway examined the indentations in the sloppy mud. He froze. “Perhaps they belong to the suspect?” commented a grey-haired man, who was a forensics examiner. “Possibly, but I’ve seen this print before,” Fairway replied, as he looked closer at the impression. He took out a black Parker pen from his pocket and placed it next to the footprints for scale. Then he took out his mobile and snapped a photograph for his records.

  “Where, sir? Show me and I’ll plastercast them once I’ve finished this mould.”

  “No, not here,” said Fairway firmly. “I mean I’ve seen prints similar to these at another crime scene. Ms Wilson’s murder case; the Savoy Hotel.”

&n
bsp; “The Savoy Murderer?”

  “Yes. I want the perfect cast of this. Please don’t, for Christ’s sake, balls it up.” With that, Fairway walked off to address his troops, leaving the man to prepare the mould for the Plaster of Paris. “Balls it up? When was the last time I did that? Oh yeah, never!” he muttered under his breath.

  2

  A little while later and the manhunt had started, complete with a helicopter hovering above, its rotor blades making the deafening whup-whup sound and its spotlight aimed down into the woods. “OK. She can’t have gotten too far. I want K9s to start a search inland from here.” Fairway pointed to the location of the footprints, which had now had a mould taken of them. “I want roadblocks set up within a two-mile radius. Apparently, according to Mr Carr, she’s an old woman. Nevertheless, whether she’s an old model or a young one – she can’t have gotten too far.” Just then a voice could be heard coming from a radio on the bonnet of the squad car. “We’re tracking a heat signature; 50 yards due north,” said the chopper’s co-pilot.

  “Understood; keep tracking.” Fairway returned his attention to his officers. “Right, we’re getting somewhere. Have a patrol car intercept at this location,” he said, pointing at a map being displayed on a tablet computer. “We’ll force her into this bottle-neck.”

  Hagatha observed the policemen from deep within the woodland. She watched as Teddy’s ambulance sped down the road. Suddenly, several flashlights in the distance gained her attention. “She’s sent the wolves onto me,” she said huskily, referring to Lucy. “You don’t line up against me in a duel and expect to live.” Hagatha slowly moved backwards and hid behind a tree. She didn’t fret, not even for a second, as the lights came closer and closer.

  The policemen were accompanied by three dogs, all barking loudly as they hunted down the old hag. Visibility was poor and all the four policemen, who were heading directly for her, could see was low-lying fog swirling silently over the ground. The sky was black and the leaves on the trees gently swayed and whispered in the cold breeze which shot across the men’s necks. They shuddered. Paddy, the leading officer, held a dog leash in one hand and a heat sensor in the other. The other three men covered him; they each held a gun that had a flashlight attachment on the barrel. Paddy waved his hand for them to slow down, and pointed to a heat source directly behind a tree. The purple image showed an outline of a figure crouching down, trying to stay out of the officer’s line of sight. Paddy stopped his men and then signalled a circling motion with the heat sensor. He then quickly unleashed the dog, which bounded noisily towards Hagatha’s location, whilst the other policemen encircled the area. Hagatha was technically trapped. The men began to close ranks; the helicopter’s spotlight now hovered directly above. Suddenly, the policemen heard the dog squeal and yelp; it was in agony. Without hesitation, the three police officers opened fire as they ran towards the dog’s location. “Ceasefire,” commanded Paddy as he hastily ran towards the howls of the injured K9. The dog lay panting on the ground; his right leg had been broken, but he was still alive. “Don’t worry, pal; we’ll get you fixed-up,” said Paddy. He glanced anxiously around. “Where’s she gone?” he asked, scanning with his heat sensor. “She should be directly here.” The purple mist had disappeared. He once again scanned the area with the sensor, moving it around in a circular motion. No sign of her until suddenly a purple cloud dashed behind a tree. Unexpectedly, the three policemen fell to their knees, their hands frantically clutching at their throats. Paddy watched on in horror as blood poured down the men’s chests.

  “Officers down! I repeat, officers down!” he yelled into his radio. The cloud moved again. He frantically moved the sensor around in circles looking for her. “Where did you go?” he whispered. He was alone. His heart was pounding; he had just witnessed three of his men being taken down; all of them dead; all within a blink of an eye. He knew he would be next.

  The crackling sound of branches snapping made him spin around. His training kicked in. He quickly unholstered and raised his Glock 19. Stay focused. She’s here somewhere. He stopped. A heat signature briefly lit up the screen, and then it vanished amongst the thick vegetation. He couldn’t see it anymore. “I know you’re hiding! Put your hands up and slowly come out. You’re surrounded. You can’t escape!” Just then Hagatha leapt on top of him, pinning him to the muddy ground. Her hands locked around his neck. He managed to fire off three rounds. The bullets went straight through her chest and lodged in a horse chestnut tree behind her. He was stunned. “What the Hell are you?” he gasped as he struggled to fight her off. He could feel his windpipe tighten with every passing second.

  “Death,” replied Hagatha.

  She snapped his neck as if it were a twig.

  2: In the middle of the road...

  1

  “So, you lovely ladies; how long have I got your company for?” said Teddy as he removed his oxygen mask. “Are you actually hitting on us?” replied Jackie. “You’re like 58!” Teddy almost choked at the thought. “Pardon! I’m 49! But, seriously, relax. I’m old enough to be your dad.” The ladies and Teddy shared a few jokes and the odd bit of banter. Teddy was just glad, really, to be out of that car and in the safe company of two attractive ladies. However, his rude jokes had started to become annoying and when Jackie placed the oxygen mask back over his mouth, telling him, “You need to remain calm,” June felt relieved. However the silence was short-lived. “What’s this woman doing?” yelled Earl. The ladies exchanged a look and frowned. Teddy felt sick. He had a sinking feeling; his stomach turned. He knew exactly who she was, and what she was doing. “What’s up Earl?” shouted Jackie.

  “A woman! Standing directly in the middle of the road. She’s pointing at me ...”

  “What?” frowned Jackie. “She must need our help. Is she signalling you to slow down?”

  “No. She’s just standing there. She looks like a ghost! Shit! I’ve heard bad stories about this road, and I don’t like this feeling I’m getting – she’s creeping me out!”

  “Earl, just relax! She’s not a ghost! She just needs help.”

  “I don’t know, Jackie!” he said wearily. “Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”

  Teddy’s head was now spinning. He removed the oxygen mask. He tried to speak but his throat was dry and hoarse. “Teddy, this isn’t the time for any more jokes!” insisted June as she stood up and peered out of the front screen. Teddy could feel his blood pressure rising. He swallowed hard. “Earl, what does she look like?” he croaked.

  Hagatha’s image popped into Earl’s head. “Like a hag; an old, tatty-looking woman.”

  “Shit! She’s found us! Earl, listen to me. Don’t stop. Run her down!” he yelled.

  “Teddy! What are you saying! Earl, don’t listen to him. Pull over, she’s obviously injured. We have to stop!” commanded Jackie.

  “Are you kidding? She’s the one who wrecked my car and tried to kill me!” Teddy winced. “For God’s sake, Earl, if you want us all to live, run the bitch down!” he screamed.

  The ambulance was getting closer and closer. 40, 30, 20 metres. Hagatha stood her ground. Her black eyes bored into Earl. He could feel his blood boiling with every second that passed. He beeped the horn and flashed the headlights furiously but still she stood, eyes fixated on him. Earl tried to turn to avoid her but, as he did, Hagatha slowly waved her hands in a fish-like motion. To Earl’s horror a ripple effect appeared, heading in their direction. There was a loud bang. “Brace! Brace!” panicked Earl. “We’re crashing!” Metal bent and crumpled. The windscreen smashed. The ambulance spun 360 degrees, rolled over and over until it came to rest at a tree on the side of the road.

  Hagatha smiled. “You’re all mine,” she croaked. She started to walk towards the crash site. Hagatha showed no remorse. Her face looked cold, yet joyful. She broke out into a little skip. “You shouldn’t have listened to him, Earl! If you had just stopped, you wouldn’t be in the land of the dead. Yes, I would have had to knock you out cold, but surely
a cut face is better than being dead!”

  Inside the ambulance, Earl was indeed dead; his face locked in the death stare. A shard of metal had pieced his heart. In the rear, Jackie, June and Teddy were lying motionless on the floor, in a heap. Their clothes were soaked in blood. Suddenly, the rear doors were peeled back like a tin can. With a slight movement of her hands, Hagatha levitated Teddy from the wreckage and flung him against a tree. She heard his femur snap. “A fallen star,” she laughed. “I feel privileged to be in your company.” Teddy slumped to the ground; his head lolled precariously onto his left shoulder. “You can run like a rabbit and then hide in a burrow – but I would always find you!” she croaked. She walked menacingly towards him, stopped, looked to the sky ... and vanished.

  2

  The helicopter’s spotlight lit up the area. A police car containing Fairway and his Officers raced towards the scene of the accident. He could not believe the mayhem that followed what he thought was just a routine search and arrest. He had seen four of his men murdered, and now his eyes were locked on what remained of the ambulance. Could this really be the Savoy Murderer? pondered Fairway. The footprints had got him thinking. What have I stumbled into? However, what had him even more puzzled was the rear of the ambulance. He had never seen that sort of impact damage on any vehicle before. “What could have caused the folding of the rear doors, Detective?” asked the policeman who was driving. “I don’t know. Unless a canister exploded inside whilst the ambulance was rolling,” Fairway replied. However he knew now that he was hot on the trail of the Savoy Murderer.