Everything to Lose

by Gordon Bickerstaff

  Toni explained that Gavin Shawlens had left the University soon after Zoe but didn't follow her back to the flat. Instead he drove into Portsmouth and shopped at Gunwarf Quays. Toni reported that Gavin Shawlens was atop the Spinnaker Tower taking in the view.

  It was a clear bright day and Gavin Shawlens stood on the view deck of the Spinnaker Tower 100 metres above sea level. He saw sandy beaches of the Witterings and Selsey Bill to the east, and the green countryside of the New Forest to the west. He watched large sea going ferries pass through Portsmouth harbour and smaller ferries zip back and forth to the Isle of Wight.

  "ETA at the nest?" Zoe asked.

  "No idea. Not soon I think."

  "What kind of shopping?"

  "He bought female underwear in M&S."

  "Awwh that's sweet."

  "Is he gay?" Toni asked.

  "No. He broke the washing machine in the flat. So he's on laundrette duty and he lost three pairs of my knickers in the last wash," Zoe said.

  "Idiot how did he do that?"

  "God only knows. Anyway what kind of new underwear am I looking at?"

  "Think Sigourney Weaver at the end of Aliens the sequel. When she's getting ready for the hypersleep stasis pod. Not the light grey but powder blue."

  "Okay I think I can live with that."

  "I thought you said he was having nightmares."

  "He is. Well obviously not every night. I'll need to keep an eye on him."

  "By the way," Toni added.

  "What?"

  "He only bought you one set."

  Zoe heard Toni and Scott guffawing and laughing at the other end of the phone.

  "What's going on?"

  "Sorry boss. SLIP One has just taken his shoes and socks off to walk on the glass plate sky walk."

  "Where are you?"

  "We're on the ground. Scott has deployed a BHN," Toni replied.

  When Gavin Shawlens took the thirty-second elevator to the view deck of the Spinnaker Tower, Toni and Scott remained at ground level. Scott fetched a Black Hornet Nano from their car. It was a small four inches by one-inch helicopter drone camera that relays video images to a tablet control terminal and display. It was hovering twenty metres from the Tower and the camera zoom provided a clear picture inside the Spinnaker Tower sky deck.

  "Okay fun is over," Zoe told Toni.

  Zoe called Gavin Shawlens and brusquely informed him that dinner would be served at 18.00 hours. Toni and Scott watched Gavin juggle with a shopping carrier bag and his phone in one hand, audio guide handset in the other hand and shoes & socks under his arm before Scott piloted the BHN back to their position.

  Back at the Reagal Close flat Zoe and Gavin had just started to eat their skinny chilli con carne when they received a RED FLASH emergency contact. Immediately they got up and prepared to leave. Zoe contacted Lambeth Group control and the duty officer told her Rolley Morgan had not reported in and had not responded to an emergency call-back.

  The duty officer told Zoe he'd switched Rolley's phone to listening mode and heard horrendous screaming in the background. Zoe ordered the duty officer to send armed backup. Zoe and Gavin were five minutes away by car so they scampered over to Rolley's flat.

  When they reached Rolley's flat Gavin banged on the door while Zoe picked the lock with two lock pics she had in a small wallet. Inside they found Rolley lying on his back naked at the end of a trail of water from the bathroom.

  "Has he been shot?" Gavin asked.

  "Check his pulse. I'll start CPR," Zoe ordered as they dashed over to his body.

  Gavin put his fingers on his carotid artery.

  "Oh!" he recoiled as he saw a flash of yellow light escaped from his open mouth.

  As she placed her hand on his chest to lean down she felt strong heat. Before she could withdraw her hand his abdomen exploded causing flames and boiling fat to splash out onto her hands and clothes.

  Her jacket sleeves caught fire from the burning fat and she ran to the bathroom. The bath was full with cold water and she plunged her hands and arms into the water to put out the flames. Gavin stared at the hole in Rolley's abdomen as flames desperately grasping for air lashed out from inside.

  A crackling sizzling noise from the body reminded him of a spit roast he'd seen when he was a child. Zoe plunged a bath towel into bath and placed the soaking towel over his chest to smother the flames. The choking smell became worse. Zoe extended the bath towel over his head to smother the flames in his mouth.

  Toni and Scott weapons in hand bounded into the flat and Scott collided with Rolley's bike parked in the hallway. With hand signals Zoe directed them to check other rooms in the flat. They were dressed in civilian clothes. Gavin closed the front door.

  Zoe lifted the towel to check that the flames were out and a plume of white smoke escaped into the air. A smell of burning ash in the air caught her throat so she covered her mouth while she examined the damage in Rolley's abdomen.

  She saw numerous small red embers still smouldering in his body. Toni fetched a bottle of water and poured it over the hot embers. The water frizzed and hissed as it doused the flames.

  The hole in his chest was four inches in diameter. Gavin looked inside and said his lungs, stomach and small intestine had been destroyed by fire. Toni asked him what he thought had happened. Zoe spoke first and said the body was intact when they arrived with no entry wound on his chest and the fire escaped when she leaned on it to start CPR.

  Scott called in to report the loss of Rolley. He handed his phone to Zoe and told her the boss wanted a word. Zoe walked around the room and told Alan Cairn what she'd seen.

  "The boss needs to know if Rolley was attacked. A forensic team are on their way," Zoe said as she returned Scott's phone.

  Gavin and Scott looked around the flat for signs of forced entry or disturbance and gave headshakes to Zoe when they found nothing. Toni found Rolley's spandex racing clothes and his cycling shoes scattered on the bathroom floor. There were no other clothes.

  "Looks like he came in from a bike run and ran a bath," Toni said.

  Toni saw the under seat race bag on the bike was open. She lifted the flap and saw Rolley's wallet and a personal mobile phone. She lifted a compartment and found what looked like a mini first aid kit. Inside she found a blister pack of six vials with only two remaining.

  "The flat was locked, no forced entry. No obvious wounds on the body, no damage to the flat. The body was intact until it burst into flames," Gavin said.

  "From the trail of water and the bath full of water, it looks as though he tried to cool himself in the bath then got out. The bath water looks greasy and oily," Toni said.

  Zoe noticed Scott staring at the body, thinking deeply. She asked him what he was thinking about.

  "When I was in Fire and Rescue one of the old guys showed me a picture. A picture he had of the remains of an SHC."

  "A what?" Zoe asked.

  "Spontaneous human combustion."

  "What did it look like?" asked Gavin.

  "A pile of ash where the body lay, one foot and one hand were all that was left of the torso. Furniture nearby were untouched by fire and there was no fire damage to walls or ceilings," Scott explained.

  "I don't see how that's possible you need at least one thousand degrees C to cremate a human body. That's going to set a room on fire," Gavin said.

  "The old guy said they thought it was a sort of wick and candle effect. Slow burning fat."

  "Even so. Would that reduce bones to ash? I don't think so," Zoe said.

  "Rolley's body fat was burning. We saw it but what started it. It takes a lot of heat to get fat up to its ignition point," Gavin said.

  "Fat burning produces a lot of smoke doesn't it?" Toni added.

  "Cooking fat does. Human fat is a different kind of fat," Gavin replied.

  "If I came in here now I'd say someone put a blow-torch to his chest and tried to set him alight," Scott said.

  "When we arrived his body was intact. The fire was
inside. I can't smell any alcohol or accelerants. It doesn't make sense," Zoe said.

  "Find his SEM phone. I want to track his last movements," Zoe ordered.

  "His phone isn't in the bike bag," Toni said and looked puzzled at Rolley's body.

  "What?" Zoe asked Toni.

  "I think I told you that on my first tour in Iraq when we were entering Basra I saw a sapper get some shrapnel in the chest from an incendiary device. A chunk of white phosphorus not bigger than a sugar cube got inside his body armour and set his chest on fire. We tried to smother the flames but couldn't get it to go out, burned his chest right out," Toni said.

  "Okay enough guessing we'll leave the figuring out to the forensic people. A pile of tests will tell us what happened. Until we know otherwise we assume it's an attack on the team so we all move to high alert," Zoe commanded.

  "What about Elaine?" Gavin asked.

  "Toni?" Zoe fielded the question.

  "Already done boss, a police ARU have her," Toni replied.

  Scott found Rolley's SEM phone in the bedroom and handed it to Zoe. She tried to override his security but couldn't do it. It would need to go back to the Lambeth Group office.

  "Rolley was a good man, let's think about him for a minute," Zoe said as the four stood over Rolley and looked down on his body.

  Anger welled up in Zoe Tampin. She didn't assess a risk to Rolley Morgan. She deployed Scott and Toni to shadow Shawlens. She left Rolley exposed and if he had discovered something at the cycling club that got him killed, then she had failed him. Two deaths in one week were unacceptable in her mind.

  Gavin Shawlens kneeled down beside Rolley to have a closer look at the burned edges of the hole in Rolley's chest.

  "What is it Shawlens?" Zoe demanded.

  "When you said forensics it reminded me of Jemard Edmond's hand. His wrist was seared as if it burned but there were no scorch marks on the hand, as you would expect if it had been in a fire. The wrist was seared just like the edge of this hole."

  "Leave it to the forensic guys. Come on," Zoe ordered.

  Zoe pulled Gavin up onto his feet and told him they were leaving. She told Scott to stay in the flat until the forensic people took over. She told Toni to provide cover back to the flat.

  33

  Reagal Close, Cosham

  While Zoe and Gavin drove back to their flat they argued about whether they could eat food after what they had just seen. Gavin was adamant he couldn't eat anything. Zoe insisted he put the trauma out of his head as soon as possible. She said food would give his body something to work on and help him deal with losing Rolley.

  Zoe's skinny chilli con carne was no longer an option. She decided they would have a Chinese carry out meal so he dropped her off at a local restaurant shop and drove to the flat in Reagal Close then parked his car. As Gavin walked across the road towards the flat he thought there was only one pair of eyes watching him as he waved to Toni parked up the road. He was wrong. Just before he opened the entrance door to the stairs leading to the flat he saw a face he didn't expect to see.

  "Hi Gavin."

  "Sharon. What on Earth are you doing here?"

  "Something terrible has happened to me. Can we talk please?"

  Sharon Bonny looked distressed and upset. Normally she dressed well and took great pride in her appearance. Gavin saw she was dressed down in uncharacteristic unkempt casual clothes. She had none of her usual make-up on her face and her hair needed the attention of a strong brush. If she hadn't spoken and stood in his path he would have walked passed her.

  "Of course come on up to the flat. I'll make you a cup of tea. You'll feel much better," Gavin opened his hand to the door.

  "I can't I don't have much time. I've got a flight to catch. Can I have just a couple of minutes please?"

  "Sure."

  She gestured with her arm over to a large black VW Sharan MPV. There was a middle-aged man with short neat white hair, beige sports jacket and green tie in the driver's seat. Her chauffeur Gavin assumed as he followed Sharon and they got into the back seat of the VW. He nodded an 'I'm okay' nod to Toni parked up the road.

  Gavin knew her family were wealthy and the VW looked very expensive. Sharon was clearly distraught. Her driver seemed emotionless, robotic even. The back of Gavin's mind started to analyse.

  She didn't look the same, she didn't sound the same and her New York drawl seemed more smoothed out. It was an impressive chauffeur-driven car. His mind was rounding on the idea that someone very important and very close to her had died.

  "Gavin this is Herman," Sharon said.

  "From the family brewery?"

  "Kind of I guess."

  "Sharon, what happened to you?"

  "About your nightmares Gavin. Have you told ...," Sharon started.

  "They've gone now. What's happened to you?"

  She gave him a look to let him know she knew he was lying. It didn't occur to him how she could possibly have known that. He stared at the car door trying to think what was unfolding. What she was trying to do. He always pegged her as a very manipulative person.

  "Something in your past has surfaced. It's at the root of these nightmares. Some folks back home are worried about you. Herman needs to know if you've told anyone about ...," Sharon said and her tone was different.

  "Surfaced. Back home. What's it got to do with you or him or anybody else?"

  Gavin pulled at the door handle beside him but he couldn't open the central-locked door. The more he pulled on the door handle the more distressed he became.

  "Keep calm Gavin. This is important."

  "What?" Gavin said and his voice sounded panicky.

  "Have you told anyone anything of what you saw in your nightmare?"

  "Let me out Sharon. I want out of here."

  Herman Vindanson turned around to face Gavin. Gavin couldn't see his hands so he didn't see the compact Glock 19 with SWR Trident-9 suppressor he'd retrieved from the driver's door storage pocket. Before he could bring his handgun over the car seat she said loudly.

  "Wait."

  She nodded ahead and Herman looked around to see a marked police car with blue lights flashing. It drew up in front of the VW. Two uniformed policemen and one large detective in a smart suit got out of the police car and walked to the VW.

  Herman slipped his Glock back into the storage pocket and casually pressed a button for the driver's door window to slide down. The man identified himself and showed his police ID to Herman it was Detective Inspector James McVickin. Herman stared at the ID as if he was taking in every single letter.

  McVickin told Herman he had a warrant for the arrest of Dr Gavin Shawlens. Herman gave McVickin a look that sent a cold shiver down his back and caused him to take a step back. One uniformed policeman tried to open the VW door beside Gavin.

  "If you don't mind sir," McVickin said.

  Herman contemplated for a moment then deactivated the central locking.

  The uniformed policemen handcuffed Gavin and transferred him to their police car.

  "Have a good night sir," McVickin said to Herman.

  As McVickin walked back to the police car he nodded to Tyler Wattsin who had watched Gavin's flat from a garden across the road. He was waiting for Gavin to arrive back at his flat. Tyler smiled as he shuffled back into the shadows. He knew Lisa McVickin would be well pleased with his work this night.

  Herman Vindanson stared straight ahead at the police car.

  "They're unarmed. I can finish this now. Quick and clean," Herman said.

  "The collateral is too high. A police inspector for God's sake. Besides I need to know if he has told anyone."

  "Your call."

  Jim McVickin stared at Herman through the windscreen. He felt uncomfortable. It was a strange feeling like being in great danger. He told the police driver to get going.

  Sharon Bonny was annoyed but also relieved. She was ordered to spot for the specialist called in to execute Gavin Shawlens. A few more minutes and it would have been done. I
n her heart she was glad Gavin had a little bit more time to live. She was relieved her cover was blown. Her work was done. Herman could finish the job without her help.

  "Boss where are you?" Toni asked Zoe.

  "I'm in the Chinese on the High Street waiting for my order. Why?"

  "I'm up the road from your flat. Looks like Shawlens has been arrested by three LEOs. Two uniforms and one suit."

  "Follow them. Let me know where they take him."

  Twenty three minutes later Toni phoned Zoe.

  "The patrol car stopped at a large nightclub called the Old Bards. It's on Elm Grove in Southsea. SLIP One and the suit have gone inside. Uniformed LEOs have left. Not sure what the hell is going on. Handcuffs were on now they're off. Shawlens looks troubled. He's holding his face I don't know if he got a bit of a slap."

  "It's okay Toni I know what's going on."

  "Boss what kind of trouble is he in?"

  "These guys are not your friendly law enforcement officers. They are bent. Maybe we should call them BLEOs."

  Toni didn't appreciate the humour.

  "Should I update Lambeth Group control that Shawlens is off our radar?"

  "Negative. No need to get their knickers in a twist. Shawlens will be fine where he is. I know exactly why they've taken him. Pick up Scott and come over to the flat.

  34

  Southsea, Hampshire

  In the factory attached to the rear of the Old Bards Club Gavin Shawlens sat on the bottom bed of a wooden bunk bed nursing a bruised jaw. It was a reward for not turning up at the factory at the agreed time and necessitating a police arrest. It was after nine o'clock in the evening when Jim McVickin delivered Gavin Shawlens to the factory reception behind the Club.

  The doorman Big Eric searched Gavin, removed his phone then took him to an empty bunk bed to wait. Four nervous looking customers waited in the reception for a working bed to become free. They eyed Gavin with annoyance thinking he had somehow jumped the queue.

  At that time of night the factory was buzzing. The prostitutes were busy and some of them were noisy because that's what their customers wanted to hear. It seemed many hands were also involved in a cannabis harvest. He saw Lexy busy harvesting cannabis and at the same time instructing other girls what to do. A strong feeling of anger surfaced as he thought about Lexy's part in helping Lisa to trap him in this nightmare.