by M A Comley
“Okay, if that’s what you want to believe. Look, I know Baldwin has got the money you requested. He did everything behind my back, didn’t involve me at all. I put a surveillance team on his house; intuition told me that you would make a substantial demand. You’re getting tired of all this, aren’t you, Myers? You want out—that’s why you requested the ransom money. Am I right?”
Myers’s eyes narrowed. “You think you have me sussed? Well, you don’t. I’ve been messing with your head for days, committing crimes you have no idea about for years now. You fell lucky this time.”
Hero was aware the man was getting more agitated, and the last thing he wanted to do was wind him up even more, so that he eventually slit the girl’s throat. Think fast, man! “Is this what she would have wanted, Myers?”
“Who the fuck are you talking about?”
“Gillian.” He paused to let Myers’s wife’s name settle between them. “Is this truly what your wife would have wanted? You abducting innocent kids to do your dirty work for you?”
The anger in Myers’s face slipped away, and the contemplations set in. Hero pressed on, “Well, would she? Is this what your life has descended to? Kidnapping kids to commit crimes that you’re no longer able to do—is that it?”
Myers laughed. “You know nothing. You think you do, but at the end of the day, if you knew anything about me, you’d know that I could keep messing with your head for years to come.”
“Then why? Why present your endgame now?”
“Who said this is my endgame?”
“Because we have you cornered. We know where you live, where you’ve been keeping the kids. Oh, I forgot to mention—we’ve got the boy. He was tied up at the house, and he’s safe with us now.”
“I hope he’ll be spending time in the cells after the robberies and murder he committed.” Myers laughed again.
“Hardly, the fact that he carried out those crimes under duress will go in his favour. Give it up, Myers. Do the right thing and hand yourself in. I’ll even put in a good word for you, if it’ll help to sway your decision.”
Everything happened at lightning speed. Myers jerked on the girl’s throat, making her yelp. Baldwin rushed forward to try to rescue his daughter before Myers could use the knife. Hero rushed at Baldwin to stop him from reaching Myers, who laughed at them all. He pushed the girl at her father, grabbed the bag, and ran towards his car. Hero, hampered by his injured foot, tried to prevent Myers from leaving, but the man was getting away from him. Then several shots whistled past Hero’s head. Myers cried out and slumped onto the bonnet of his car.
Hero called out, “Hold your fire, men. He’s down.”
The sound of several people running echoed through the cavernous tunnel as Hero approached Myers with caution. For all he knew, Myers could be pretending to be hurt, yet another one of his mind games. Once Hero was standing over the assailant, he instantly realised the man had taken his final breath.
Pitt joined him and slapped Hero on the back. “You did it, mate. Congratulations!”
“We did it. It’s not exactly the outcome I would have wanted, but at least Myers can no longer cause us any more trouble.”
Pitt offered to aid the limping Hero as they walked back to see how Vicki and her father were doing.
“You should have confided in me, Mr. Baldwin. I would have been discreet. You’re lucky this all worked out well for your daughter. I have a feeling if we hadn’t shown up, Myers would have taken the money and killed you both,” Hero stated abruptly.
“I guess we’ll never know if you’re right about that, Inspector. I was prepared to do anything and follow the man’s instructions to the letter to try and save my daughter.”
Hero shook his head, aware that it was pointless trying to get the man to see the error of his ways in trusting a killer over an experienced serving police officer, an officer who had put his own life at risk for Baldwin and his daughter.
EPILOGUE
Hero and Cara attended Darren Rogerson’s funeral together, along with most of their colleagues from the station. In fact, the funeral was not only for Darren, but all four officers Myers had taken down before he was finally killed. It was a very sad day, which Hero knew would remain with them all for a very long time. Unlike he had for the previous funerals, which had taken place a few weeks before, Hero insisted that he and his sister take time off work after they paid their respects. Cara was a mess. Although she’d only just started dating Darren, she had known him since the first day she joined the force.
Hero had surprised Fay and the kids by arranging a weekend away at a five-star caravan park in Looe, in Cornwall, and he had even managed to persuade Cara to tag along, too.
Fay started the singing off in the car while Hero drove down the M6 motorway. He kept a watchful eye on Cara in his rear-view mirror. She appeared to be okay as long as the kids kept distracting her.
Hero relaxed into the long drive and reached over to hold Fay’s hand. He squeezed it tightly and mouthed, “I love you.”
Once they arrived and unloaded the car, Fay took Hero aside and handed him a letter.
“Hey, what’s this? You writing me love letters after all this time? Are you feeling all right, love?”
Fay slapped his arm. “Stop messing about—open it and see.”
He eyed her suspiciously. She had a twinkle in her eye, and she could be a mischievous minx when the opportunity arose. After he opened the letter, his mouth gaped open.
Cara joined them. “Bloody hell, it’s a long time since I’ve witnessed Hero being speechless.”
Hero looked agog at his sister. “I think this concerns you, too, Cara.”
“It does?” Hero handed her the headed notepaper. “Bloody hell, a commendation. I’m not surprised. You did save that woman’s life, Hero. I doubt I’ll get one, though.”
Fay slung an arm around Cara’s shoulders. “You also deserve one, love. I couldn’t be more proud of you, Hero. The kids are going to be over the moon when you tell them that their father is a real-life hero.”
“It’s amazing. I only thought to check up on Caroline Mullins the other day. I was relieved to hear that the doctors had managed to save her legs and that she had returned to modelling already. I had no idea this award was in the air. I’m thrilled and amazed at the same time. Of course, I’ll treasure it—we both will.” He threw an arm around his sister’s waist and hugged her tightly. “That’s two heroes we have in this family now. It feels great, doesn’t it, sis?”
“Hold your horses, Hero. I haven’t had a notification yet.”
With a wink at Hero, Fay produced a letter from her handbag and gave it to Cara. “Your Mum asked me to pass this on. It was delivered the other day. Same postmark, love. Congratulations.”
Cara ripped open the letter as tears ran down her cheeks. “I can’t believe it. I’m honoured that this should happen. I can understand Hero getting one, but I really didn’t do anything other than care for the casualties at the scene.”
“I’ll have to ring Sergeant Milton, see if the whole team have got one. If they have, what a wonderful way to mark Chris’s parting. Makes you wonder if he was instrumental in what happened that day at the crash site.” Hero looked up at the blue, cloudless sky above. “Cheers, Chris. This one is for you, buddy.”
THE END
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Acknowledgements
First of all, I’d like to thank Bloodhound Books for believing in me when other publishers have deemed my work not good enough, despite selling over one and a quarter million ebook copies of my books in the past 7 years as a self-published/Independent author.
Thanks also to my dear Mother, Jean, for her continued love and support and for supplying me with copious cups of coffee while I write.
I’d like to give a huge shout-out to all the Facebook Book Clubs I’m a member of who help keep me sane and whose members enjoy my work. Also, to all the wonderful bloggers who work tirelessly to help spread the word about our books.
Thank you to Michelle and Vicki Baldwin, and Sean Talbot for their continued support, and for allowing me to use their names as characters in this story.
Finally, I’d like to thank my superb editor, Stefanie Spangler Buswell, my talented cover artist Karri Klawiter and my wonderful proofreader Joseph Calleja – whose input into my work over the past few years has been invaluable.