In Deep Water
Page 35
Cathy couldn’t see where she’d hit her, but shoving her own gun in the back of her combats, she unclipped her handcuffs from her belt, opening the metal ratchet. Roughly, she flicked them onto Rebecca’s wrists, disabling her. The moment she had both of Rebecca’s hands secured, Cathy ran to Sarah Jane.
Beside them Krypton lay panting, tongue extended, his flank heaving. A few metres away, covered in mud, Jazz staggered to his feet.
But Sarah Jane was her first concern.
Running over to her, Cathy met her eyes. The confusion, the pain, was clear as Sarah Jane searched Cathy’s face for an explanation. She was barely conscious, the shoulder of her denim jacket soaked in blood. Cathy hauled off her jacket, balling it inside out, pressing the padded lining into Sarah Jane’s shoulder to stop the flow. It was a flesh wound; once she could stop the bleeding, Sarah Jane would be OK.
‘She said . . . about Daniella . . . that she’d made sure no one knew . . . Is it true?’ Before Cathy could answer, Sarah Jane continued, her voice little more than a whisper, ‘She said that I knew too much about her business, that it’s bigger than one shop or one club, that I was putting Jacob’s future in jeopardy.’
Cathy leaned over her, about to speak, when she froze at an explosive sound behind her.
Another shot.
She half turned to see Jazz standing over Rebecca, her gun in his hand. Her arms still trapped behind her, her face was turned towards Cathy, her eyes open but lifeless, a trickle of blood sliding from the corner of her mouth. Her chest was a bloodied mess where he’d shot her at point-blank range. Dazed, Jazz turned to Cathy, his face muddy and tearstained, full of anguish. ‘She knew. I heard her say it. She knew what happened to Daniella. She helped, and she was going to kill her too.’ He motioned to Sarah Jane.
‘Drop the firearm.’ Cathy didn’t know how loud she said it, but it fell from his hand, and Jazz stood swaying for a moment before he turned to stumble over to the horse, wrapping his arms around it as his face fell against its neck, the sound of his sobs tearing the air.
Cathy turned back to Sarah Jane, ‘Hang in there. It’s going to be fine. Just hold on.’ Still conscious, Sarah Jane nodded weakly. She closed her eyes as if she was summoning all her reserves of energy, ‘He was protecting me, you know that – he shot her to protect me.’
‘I know . . . Try and keep your eyes open, you can’t sleep.’ With her free hand Cathy reached for her phone, but before she could dial there was a movement beside her and Cathy felt O’Rourke’s arm around her, his face brush her hair as he hugged her.
‘Christ, Cat, how many lives have you got left?’
Acknowledgements
Bringing a book to the bookshelf requires a huge number of dedicated people and many hours of their time. I am blessed with a truly wonderful team who make the whole process seamless – from my incredible agent Simon Trewin to my brilliant editor Katherine Armstrong at Bonnier Zaffre, they are a total pleasure to work with and have my undying gratitude. Simon, Declan and Helen at Gill Hess, who look after PR in Ireland, and the Bonnier PR team in the UK, are a joy to work with and an integral part of the machine.
My family get to see behind the scenes and put up with a lot to support me in all that I do – huge thanks and love to my children Sophie and Sam and my husband Shane.
Part of creating fiction is pulling together many diverse strands of information, ideas and research and blending them to deliver a credible story that while it is all part of my imagination, feels real. I am very lucky to have great help and expert guidance in doing that – huge thanks go to Eugene Roe of the National Rehabilitation Hospital who helped with the physical and mental impact of the aftermath of Cathy’s car bomb blast. Thanks too to my Garda experts, retired Garda Colm Dooley, Garda Joe Griffin and to Assistant Commissioner Fintan Fanning who was invaluable in clarifying detail. Glen Heenan at Elite Marshall Arts ensured the boxing sequences made sense and Jane Alger’s eye for detail avoided a major transport issues. Any mistakes are entirely my own – I don’t think I’ve transplanted a major department store in this book, but for anyone looking around Dublin for The Paradise Club, The Rookery or the connecting car park, these are entirely fictitious, although they are set in real streets amid the shadows of real stories.
The team who run Ruhama in Ireland are an incredible group of dedicated women who helped hugely in the research for this book, thank you so much for your time and compassion Sheila Crowley. Ruhama is a Dublin-based NGO which works on a national level with women affected by prostitution and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation. A voluntary organisation, Ruhama is Hebrew for ‘renewed life’.
The organisation is predominantly a frontline service and began its work in 1989, as an outreach service to women in street-based prostitution. Adapting since then, to a trade that has become more globalised, predominantly indoors and controlled by organised crime.
Ruhama’s services are extensive in breadth and have a unique model of work which is not replicated by any other agency in Ireland. In 2014, Ruhama celebrated its 25th anniversary of providing services to women affected by prostitution. Their records show that they have assisted over 2,500 women from over 60 countries during those 25 years. They are amazing.
My writer friends keep me sane day to day and help so much in the creative process. Niamh O’Connor puts up with my rambling, Andrea Hayes keeps me positive, and Alex Barclay helps me kill people. Sarah Webb is always there with support and good sense. There are so many more – you know who you are! Thank you ALL for all your support and help. Without you there would be no magic.
About the Author
Sam Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, the founder of The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy and the hugely popular national writing resources website Writing.ie. She is Ireland’s leading literary scout and has assisted many award-winning and bestselling authors to publication. Vanessa has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book.
Follow Vanessa on Twitter @inkwellhq, @samblakebooks or @writing_ie.
Join Sam’s mailing list at www.samblakebooks.com for news, events and free stuff!
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by
Zaffre Publishing
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www.zaffrebooks.co.uk
Copyright © Sam Blake, 2017
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The right of Sam Blake to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78576-055-6
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78576-080-8
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