The Wreckage

by Michael Robotham

  “Please get it off me.”

  “Shush! Let me concentrate.”

  He looks for switches or pressure pads, feeling a rectangular outline beneath the material, two of them, detonators. Holly is handcuffed to the chair. He can’t remove the suicide vest without first freeing her hands. Unless…? He needs a knife, shears, something sharp to cut the fabric.

  “Get it off! Get it off!” whispers Holly.

  Ruiz holds a finger to his lips and looks around the room, lifting boxes, opening cupboards, fumes in his head. He tries the bathroom. The sink is broken. A cascade of water runs across the broken ceramics. The mirror-it would take him too long. He has bolt cutters in the car.

  Re-entering the bedroom, he catches a glimpse of the Courier at the last moment and pivots to take the first blow on his shoulder. The second comes down on the side of his head. The third crushes his scrotum, sending pain to the center of his brain. The Glock was on the floor next to Holly. He can’t see it. Where has it gone?

  He rolls on to his side and puts his hands on the floor, trying to rise but the floor won’t let him up. The butt of a pistol thuds into the side of his head. Barely conscious, he feels himself being dragged across the room. Something closes around his wrists. So this is how it ends, he thinks, a victim of his own stupidity, a sucker for a sob story. One door too many-that’s what they say when someone dies in the Armed Response Group. “One door too many.”

  Ruiz opens his eyes. Blood is trickling from his forehead down his nose and over his lips and chin. He is handcuffed to a radiator. Holly is standing in the corner, her thin dress clinging to her frame, the suicide vest still buckled around her torso. Ruiz jerks at the metal cuffs.

  “I wouldn’t trouble yourself. It’s a done deal,” says the Courier, who turns a chair backwards. Sits. Legs akimbo. He has a face now, real features. Dressed in black with razor-rimmed hair. Not handsome. Not ugly. Ordinary.

  Ruiz has seen him before; he was in the crowd outside Colin Hackett’s office when Ruiz was talking to Gerard Noonan. Now he’s holding a mobile phone in his hand, spinning it like a six-gun.

  “In case you’re wondering, that vest contains ball bearings packed around plastic explosive-enough to blow this room apart. When I send a text message it will detonate. The wearer will not have a choice. That’s one of the fail-safes I build into a project like this. I plan for cowardice.”

  Ruiz glances at Holly. She nods her head. He’s telling the truth.

  “They’re not going to reach London. The police are following the van.”

  “I don’t believe you, Mr. Ruiz. If the police were coming, they’d be here by now.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  The Courier is annoyed by his nonchalance, his lack of respect. The girl knows how to fear him. She knows what he’s capable of.

  “I am leaving now,” he says. “Perhaps I shall have to take a hostage as insurance. Who shall it be?”

  “Take me,” says Ruiz. “Let her go.”

  “Are you begging?”

  “I’m asking.”

  “Perhaps you should beg.”

  “I beg you.”

  He glances at Holly and smiles. “This one is in love with you.”

  “Maybe I just want a chance to rip out your throat,” says Ruiz.

  The Courier laughs. “Oh, you sound so courageous, so heroic, but it’s not bravery if you’re lying on a floor, chained to a radiator. All I hear are empty threats from a hollow man. I know all about you, Mr. Ruiz, and there’s nothing heroic about your history. Your daughter. Your son. Three wives. A failed career. Did you really think you could come in here, without a weapon, and hope to succeed?”

  He doesn’t know about the Glock. Holly must have hidden it. Ruiz follows her eyes. She glances at the bed.

  The Courier raises his hand. Listens. Sirens. He looks at Ruiz with loathing. Then he grabs Holly and pushes her out the door, pausing to strike the wheel of a cigarette lighter. He crouches and touches the flame to the carpet and a thin blue film shimmers across the floor. Liquid fire. Feeding. Growing.

  The door closes. A padlock clicks into place.

  Ruiz tries to pull his hand through the cuff. Ripping one arm back, he almost dislocates his wrist. He gets to his feet, leans backwards, arms outstretched and jerks against the chain, bellowing in pain. He lies on his back, kicking at the radiator, and then hooks his fingers over the top, rocking it back and forth.

  The fire has spread from the floor to boxes of curtains in the next room and the bedding. Smoke is filling the ceiling space. Toxic fumes.

  He yells for help. Screams in frustration. Someone is rattling the padlock on the door. He yells again, but fire whooshes across a mattress, drowning out the sound.

  Then he hears a car engine, a familiar rumbling. Someone is revving the Merc, letting off the clutch, taking aim. The front wall of the room explodes inwards and part of the ceiling collapses on to the bonnet. Luca is sitting behind the fractured windscreen, slumped sideways with blood pooling in his lap.

  The impact shakes the entire building. Plaster crumbles and pipes bend. Ruiz rocks the radiator again and this time pulls it clear off the wall. His wrists are still cuffed, but he’s free.

  Luca puts the Merc into reverse and spins the wheels, pulling over broken bricks and plaster, using one arm to drive. Ruiz scrambles across the room and reaches beneath the bed, feeling blindly for the Glock. His fingers close around the grip.

  Climbing over the debris he tries to open Luca’s door, but the impact has bent the frame, trapping him inside. Ruiz sees the blood.

  “I’ll be fine. Just go,” Luca yells. “They went through the back fence.”

  Ruiz crosses the forecourt and runs along the chain-link fence, looking for a gate or a hole. He peers into the freight yard to where spotlights create pools of light between rows of containers. He can hear them moving across the screed. The Courier is yelling at Holly to hurry up. Cursing her.

  Ruiz aims the Glock with both hands, bracing the barrel in the diamond of the mesh fence. They are visible for a moment as they pass between rows of containers. Silhouettes. Two figures, Holly the smallest, being dragged along behind him. Squeezing the trigger, Ruiz fires six rounds in a row, the brass casings flicking past his eyes. He releases the empty magazine and shoves in a fresh one.

  The Courier has never been in the military. He’s never been taught to stay off the crest of hills and embankments and never to run in a straight line when someone is aiming a gun at you.

  Ruiz waits, scanning the broken edge of the horizon. There they are. Aim. Squeeze. Fire. The Courier spins sideways and falls. Holly goes down with him, disappearing from sight.

  Police cars are screeching to a halt outside the motel, bathing the windows in blue and white. The first officers are wearing body armor and carrying weapons. One of them yells at Ruiz to drop his gun.

  Ruiz is scanning the fence line, looking for a way through.

  “Drop your weapon, or I’ll shoot,” the officer shouts.

  Ruiz raises his arms and throws the Glock to the ground.

  “They’re getting away! He’s got a hostage!”

  Finally he sees where the wire has been cut and peeled back from the metal posts. Dropping to his hands and knees, he crawls through, ignoring the orders of the policeman. Up again, running, he crosses the trolley tracks, heading towards the freight yard.

  The motel is eighty yards behind him when he reaches the ridge where he last saw Holly. He notices blood on the rocks and weeds, a dark stain like fungus or rust.

  Ruiz doesn’t stay on top of the ridge. He drops down and scans the rows of metal boxes, stacked four and five units high. The Courier is hiding somewhere among them. Wounded. Bleeding. He’s still with Holly.

  The next fifty yards is open ground. Ruiz decides to run for it, huffing air in his nostrils, feeling like an elephant rather than a gazelle.

  Someone like the Courier is trained for this. His reflexes. His instincts. No conscience.
No guilt. What will he do if he’s cornered… if he can’t run? He’ll fight. He’ll die. He’ll take Holly with him.

  That’s when he sees her. Running. Legs pumping. Chin tilting back. She’s still wearing the vest. Still handcuffed.

  Ruiz reaches her in moments, lifting her like a rag doll. She fights at his arms. Squirming. Screaming.

  “Get it off! Get it off!”

  Ruiz drags at the vest, pulling it over Holly’s head, turning her in a somersault, wrenching the fabric to the end of her arms, where it can go no further.

  “Please. Help me!”

  The Courier is slumped against the wheel arch of a rusting freight trailer; his head is tilted back and lips parted as though drinking in the sky. He’s drowning in his own saliva from a sucking chest wound. Dying.

  Opening his eyes, he watches Ruiz and the girl. Then he glances at the mobile phone in his hand. The screen lights up. This thumb presses “send.” A two-word message: Allahu Akbar. God is great.

  Kicking open the heavy metal door of an empty container, Ruiz carries Holly inside and lays her on the floor with her arms stretched in front of her. Then he drags the door closed, trapping the vest on the outside of the door, still attached to Holly’s handcuffs. He pulls at her hands, holding them a few inches inside the closing door. The vest is looped over the chain of the handcuffs and the double door won’t shut completely. He braces his feet against the frame, holding the handles, pulling with all his strength, shielding her body with his.

  That’s when the prayer comes to him-the one from his childhood-the one he couldn’t remember in the church.

  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,

  Bless the bed that I lie on.

  There are four corners to my bed,

  Four angels round my head,

  One to watch, and one to pray,

  And two to bear my soul away.

  Now I lay me down to sleep,

  I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

  If I should die before I wake,

  I pray the Lord my soul to take.

  Taj is driving the van, keeping to the middle lane, using the cruise control to keep a constant speed. Being stopped by the cops would be silly. Stolen van. Bombs on board. Syd is in a playful mood. Poking his head between the front seats. Ketchup stains around his mouth.

  “Did you see that girl? Do you think he was going to fuck her? I would have fucked her. She was fit. I mean, wow, she made Jenny Cruikshank look like a slag. Do you think he’s going to do it?”

  Rafiq tells him to shut up. “Put your seat belt on. We don’t want to get picked up.”

  Syd giggles. “You think they’re going to worry about my sodding seat belt, when they see the hardware we got in here.” He picks up one of the guns.

  “Put that away!” says Taj. “What if someone sees you waving that thing about? They’ll call the cops. We’ll never get to London.”

  Syd puts down the gun and leans back in his seat, sipping on a can of Red Bull. It’s raining. The wipers are slapping against the bottom of the windscreen, air blasting on the inside of the glass. Taj has to crane forward, trying to see the electric red smears of brake lights. London is still an hour away but already the traffic is building.

  Syd leans forward again. “A thousand fucking people-how cool is that? The place is going to be packed. I feel like a fucking soldier. What are you going to do with the money? They reckon fifty grand will buy you a palace in Pakistan. That’s what I’m gonna do. Then I’ll bring my mum and dad over. Show them my palace. Tell my old man he can shove his fish-and-chip shop up his arse.” He crushes the can. “Are you going to bring Aisha over, Taj? Did you tell her? What did you say?”

  Taj doesn’t want to talk about Aisha. Their last words had been harsh. He had never seen her in such a temper, so adamant that he was wrong. She had thrown the money at him. Spat on it. Tried to tear it into pieces. She would change her mind, he reasoned. She knows her place.

  There’s a three-ton truck in front of him that has slowed right down and another in the left lane, side by side like the drivers are talking to each other. Taj indicates to overtake, but another truck cuts him off. Slows down.

  What are these tossers doing, he thinks. He looks in the rear mirrors. The road is clear. The nearest cars are a hundred yards behind. That’s odd, he thinks. Then he notices the opposite carriageway is empty. Deserted.

  “Something’s wrong,” he says.

  “What?” asks Rafiq.

  “The traffic.”

  “Just go round these guys.”

  “I can’t get past.”

  “Hit the horn.” Rafiq turns and looks through the rear window. “Where has everyone gone?”

  “They’re on to us.”

  “What do you mean?” says Syd. “I can’t see anyone.”

  “They’re fucking on to us!”

  “Settle down,” says Rafiq. “Maybe there’s an accident.”

  The three trucks in front have slowed almost to a halt. A fourth passes on the verge, squeezing against the safety rail. They all have roller doors at the back. Taj nudges the brakes and stops thirty yards from the nearest truck. Then they notice the police cars on the other carriageway. A military chopper is overhead.

  “Go back!” says Rafiq. “Reverse.”

  Taj struggles with the gears. Where’s reverse? There it is. Pedal down. The roller doors have rattled up. A dozen men in black body armor are crouched in firing positions. Taj spins the wheel, sending the van into a slide. It’s facing in the opposite direction, driving the wrong way. Ahead, a row of police cars. Lights flashing. Armed men behind the open doors. Guns drawn.

  “Ram them!” says Rafiq.

  “They’ve got guns.”

  “Go back!” says Syd, wiping the fogged windows, looking for some means of escape.

  “We’re fucked!” says Taj.

  “We got the guns,” says Syd. “We can shoot our way out.”

  “They’re going to kill us.”

  “I’m not going to prison,” says Rafiq. “You heard what the Courier said. A week is going to feel like a lifetime.”

  Taj has stopped the van a hundred yards away from the police cars.

  “You want to run, you run,” says Taj. “I’ve had enough.”

  “We made a pact,” says Syd.

  “We’re not the three musketeers.”

  Taj opens the door. Steps out. Holds his hands above his head. Walks slowly down the middle lane, watching his shadow in the beams of the headlights. Rain pours down his face, into his eyes and mouth. He can’t hear Syd and Rafiq arguing any more.

  In the next instant he’s flying. Falling. The explosion blows out the window of the van and covers every surface in a film of pink. Ball bearings punch through the seats and the thinner metal in the roof, letting the rain pour in.

  Glass showers across the tarmac, landing in his hair and on the back of his neck. Fragments of metal have torn his coat, but he can’t feel any pain. Lying on the motorway, eyes closed, arms spread like a crucifix, he sucks in the oily water like a breath and feels the residual heat of the day warm against his cheek.

  Ruiz’s life doesn’t flash before his eyes in a conventional or chronological sense. Events run backwards like in that movie where Brad Pitt is born as an old man and grows younger every year. All of Ruiz’s accumulated knowledge is disappearing, along with his anger and weariness. Things are being unlearned. Discoveries are being undiscovered. Painful memories are being wiped clean.

  Eventually all his grey hairs and fine lines are filled in and he’s a young man again, dancing with Laura at the twilight ball in Hertfordshire. The clock keeps rolling backwards. Soon she’ll be a stranger, who could pass him on the street with no recollection of the life they’re going to share or the children they are going to raise, but for the moment they keep dancing.

  These are his final conscious thoughts before the pressure wave of the explosion buckles the door of the container and blows him backwards, slamming his head again
st the far wall. His eardrums are bleeding. He cannot hear the paramedics shouting for bandages and plasma, or feel the needle sliding into his arm or the mask covering his face.

  Someone is getting blankets to keep him warm.

  “Any head injuries?”

  “That’s negative. Christ, look at his hands!”

  “You look after the girl.”

  Ruiz can’t feel anything; instead he’s floating on a cloud of opiates, still imagining himself as a young man, spinning Laura across the dance floor, her head beneath his chin, her soft hair against his lips.

  “Ready?”

  “Yeah.”

  “One, two, three.”

  “Watch the IV lines. Watch the IV lines.”

  “I got it.”

  “Bag a couple of times.”

  “OK.”

  Laura smiles at him. She’s standing near the entrance, waiting for the buses to take guests back to London. She points and summons him with her finger. Ruiz looks over his shoulder to make sure.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Vincent.”

  “I’m Laura. This is my phone number. If you don’t call me within two days, Vincent, you lose your chance. I’m a good girl. I don’t sleep with men on the first date or the second or the third. You have to woo me, but I’m worth the effort.”

  Then she kisses him on the cheek and she’s gone.

  36

  LONDON

  Awake now. Eyelids fluttering. Ruiz turns his head. Orange dials come into focus on a machine near the bed and a green blip of light slides across a liquid crystal window.

  A nurse says something to him. She’s mouthing words.

  “I need to make a call,” says Ruiz.

  She shakes her head.

  “If I don’t call Laura she won’t go out with me.”

  The nurse mouths a question. “Who’s Laura?”

  She presses the button above his head. “We were very worried about you.”