The Hunted Child

by G R Jordan

  ‘No, I will. You forget I worked the field too. I didn’t get to this position by sitting behind a desk the whole time talking to politicians. I got to this place because I can handle things, I can manage situations and I did them in real-time as well. So, don’t come after me like that. If he’s dirty, I’ll put him down, but only when I know I’ve got everyone else.’

  The mood was sombre as they continued to drive through Stornoway, never stopping anywhere, but instead discussing plans. Anna came up with the idea of taking a boat down to Leverburgh, but she said she’d need a while to do it. She asked Kirsten to stop outside a computer shop, and inside, she found two mobile phones, purchasing them with pay-as-you-go and several other SIMs. Anna made a note of the numbers of Kirsten’s, and of her own, and then handed the phones to Kirsten.

  ‘In case we need to contact, you come straight to me on these phones. The only other person you talk to is Justin.’

  ‘You always said Justin blabs.’

  ‘I say a lot about Justin. Some of it’s true, some of isn’t. Justin blabbering is the biggest fabrication I’ve ever made.’

  ‘Because everybody thinks he can’t be involved and he’s kept at arm’s length by you. That’s a clever one, Anna.’

  ‘It is, but he is a sexist pig, I never made that up.’

  Anna waved goodbye and advised that she would contact the father to let him know that the daughter and son were safe. She’d also pick up the loose ends with Stornoway Police, make sure that the murder squad didn’t get too heavily involved. Kirsten stopped off and dropped the car before picking up another hire car for herself. She drove it out along the Barvas Moor, making sure no one else was on the road before she cut down towards the caravan. There was nowhere to place the car out of sight, but she did the best she could with it before entering the caravan and telling the two inside to get ready.

  ‘This should be it, Innocence,’ she said. ‘Ollie, we’re nearly there. We’re going to take you down to Leverburgh and we’re going to get on a boat down there. From there, you’ll be put into the Witness Protection Program, far from my department, far from any department except those that need you. But it’s my job to get you safely down to that boat, so get your things together and get in the car, and we can get going now.’

  ‘When’s the boat coming?’ asked Ollie.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Kirsten. ‘But I’m not going to wait until then.’

  That afternoon, Kirsten took the road down towards Tarbert on the Isle of Harris and continued south towards Leverburgh. They passed the beach of Luskentyre, beautiful white sand that attracted many a tourist, but here at the back end of summer, there were fewer about. Kirsten cut away from Leverburgh, routing into the side roads on the east of the island of Harris, where everyone looked like a barren rocky moon landscape. Kirsten made her way to where she saw a large aerial off the road.

  ‘It’s just like the last one you went to, isn’t it?’

  ‘It’s not far different. It’s another aerial site, and we’re going to stay inside for a while.’ She took a left turn up a rocky track, was able to park the car out of sight of the road below behind a hut that served as the operating room for the aerial outside. Kirsten broke the lock, went inside, and ushered her two guests inside as well. There was a small heater inside, keeping the room at a constant temperature, and Kirsten knew at least the pair wouldn’t freeze.

  ‘I’m leaving you for a while, just going to check what’s going on, but I’ll be back. I’ll try and bring some food this time.’

  Kirsten drove back towards Leverburgh, picking up a few sandwiches and drinks from a small shop. She then made her way to the harbour, casually walking around it looking to see if there were any boats in the distance, but there were none. Anna hadn’t texted yet, and she found herself struggling to find a phone signal, but when she did, nothing had come through. Reluctantly, Kirsten made her way back to the aerial site and delivered the food to Ollie and Innocence. Once they’d eaten, Kirsten had them stay there until darkness had fallen when she got them back in her car and drove out towards Leverburgh. She parked and took the pair up the side of a hill looking down towards the harbour.

  ‘We just wait here till we see something happening.’

  ‘It’s getting cold,’ said Innocence, and Kirsten took off her jacket, wrapping it around the girl.

  ‘Not long now, just hang in there,’ said Kirsten. ‘Hang on in there.’

  Kirsten stood up, her eyes peeled out into the sound of Harris, and she saw a white light in the distance. A boat was coming towards them, and she stood there for half an hour watching it approach the harbour before mooring up. Kirsten tapped Ollie on the shoulder, advising him to stay close to his sister. She made her way down the hillside onto the streets of Leverburgh.

  Making her way over towards the harbour, Kirsten could feel her mobile phone vibrating. She picked it up to find a message saying, Just arrived Leverburgh Harbour. It seemed Anna Hunt had come through, or at least she was playing the part. It was quite a motivational speech the woman had made earlier on in the day. Kirsten was feeling generous towards her, but Anna had been right; you had to be careful who you trusted in this game, and you couldn’t let your personal feelings drive your actions. You had to look at what was happening and that’s what she would do now. She would scour around this vessel to make sure that nothing untoward was going to happen to Innocence and her brother.

  Chapter 21

  Kirsten could see the boat that was meant to pick her up in the harbour at Leverburgh. From the position up on the hill, she had noted that it seemed to be running smoothly. There was no one paying it any particular attention and there was nothing ostentatious about the boat. In fact, if anything, it seemed to just blend away. A basic fisher with a small deck on the back for casting, and a cockpit at the front. Down inside was an area to make teas and coffees, but there was nowhere in particular to sleep.

  Anna must have been looking for a short route, and then to get away by some other method, thought Kirsten. It was unlikely that she would cross the Minch, the water between the island and the mainland, without some difficulty in something that small. Although it could be done, you’d have to hold on to your stomach.

  Kirsten watched the boat alongside the harbour, and saw a man get out and begin to stretch his legs. He walked up and down, and then Kirsten noted that he made his way out for supplies, arriving at the little shop she had been in earlier that day. When he didn’t come out from the shop, Kirsten made her way to the shop and entered.

  Through the front door there were two main aisles stretching away, and then further aisles towards the rear of the shop. Food was stacked high, and there was a number of people in shopping for provisions. The nearest supermarket of mainland size was in Stornoway, although Tarbert, some forty-five minutes back up the road, did have a slightly larger shop. Hence the shop provided for the local area, and as Kirsten strolled down the aisle, she could see at the frozen food section the man who had exited the boat. He was reaching inside one of the cabinets. Kirsten took hold of the door he’d just opened, and closed it gently onto his arm, grabbing the man, but not in a violent way.

  ‘I’m looking to book a sea passage.’

  ‘Well, you’d better find somebody for hire then.’

  ‘I always thought a little fisher would do.’

  ‘Have you many passengers?’ The man turned and stared at Kirsten.

  ‘None, just bringing a couple of sprats with me.’

  The man nodded, then leaned forward to whisper in Kirsten’s ear. ‘Forty-five minutes, just walk on and we leave.’

  Kirsten let go of the door she was holding, nodded, and walked back down the aisle, picking up a can of Coke before making her way to the counter and paying for it. As she did so she got an uneasy feeling and thought a woman picking up bread from the aisle nearby was watching her intently. When Kirsten stared at her, the woman immediately looked away.

  It was one of those things. If she’d b
een a spy trying to track Kirsten down, it was probably the last thing she should have done, simply look away. On the other hand, Kirsten never quite knew who she was dealing with. How good were the people coming to look for you? You had to be aware they came in all shapes and sizes, but so far there was nothing to say call the escape attempt off, and she exited, making her way along the road before cutting back up into the hills where Ollie and Innocence were hiding out in tall grass.

  ‘Are we going to get to go?’ asked Innocence.

  ‘She’s getting tired of this,’ said Ollie. ‘She can’t take much more. We’re just running here, there, and everywhere on these islands.’

  ‘It’s on,’ said Kirsten, ‘but that doesn’t mean I can’t call it off. You stay close and do what I say. We’ll make a move in about half an hour.’

  As they waited for the time to pass, a low mist began to set in and drizzle fell from the sky. Kirsten could feel herself getting wet and was glad when the half hour was up. So far, she’d observed very little down by the harbour; just the normal comings and goings, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t still danger. Kirsten took the young people back to her car, making them get into the boot before she drove into the harbour area.

  The last run of the Leverburgh to Uist ferry had just arrived, and a number of cars got off, most driving away, but two remained around the car park area. Kirsten sat looking out at them, realising there were four men in each car. It wasn’t often that that happened, although of course, it was always possible to have people traveling together, but it made Kirsten wary. She pulled her jacket around her shoulders, tucking her hair down behind inside her jacket.

  Exiting her car, she walked down towards the ferry as if she was asking to get on. Stopping for a moment to talk about tickets and times of travel to the operative who was collecting tickets in from the cars lined up to make the journey back over to Uist, Kirsten asked rather mundane questions. She was ignoring the answers but instead looking around her, and she noticed that the four men had got out of the first car, while the other four remained.

  Thanking the ticket collector, she walked over past the lifeboat station and onto the harbour. At the end of the pier, she saw the man she’d met in the supermarket, and he gave her a nod before disappearing down the small ladder towards his boat. Kirsten walked over to the edge, looked along, and got a thumbs up from the man through the screen of the tiny cockpit. Four men walked past behind Kirsten. As she looked out past the boats out to sea, she never flinched, but she was going to stay to see where they were going.

  The men reached the end of the pier, then seemed to look around nonchalantly before one of them descended down the ladder towards the small boat. Kirsten watched from the corner of her eye and saw the fracas beginning inside the small boat. Immediately she was torn. If they made her car, the young people could be in danger. But this man who had come over on the boat was likely not going to be going anywhere else except to a wooden box in a graveyard.

  Kirsten turned away and tried to nonchalantly move off the harbour wall to get a quick look at her car. It was still sitting in the same position, a car beyond with four men in it. What she should do as a spy was to simply walk away, take the young people with her and go and hide out again, because it seemed that this escape route had been busted. But Kirsten knew what was going to happen further down the pier, and so she turned around, walked back along the harbour wall, made her way slowly towards the two men at the top of the ladder.

  ‘I’m afraid you can’t come down here, miss. There’s a little bit of trouble with a boat on this end. It’d be safer if you just left and got off the pier.’

  Kirsten was walking forward with her head down, hair pulled out and hanging around her face. As she came closer, the man reiterated his words and stepped towards her.

  ‘You can’t come here, I said to you. There’s trouble at this end of the pier, we’re going to be closing it off soon. If you’d kindly just step away, we’ll deal with it.’

  ‘But all I wanted was a photograph from the end,’ said Kirsten.

  The man put both arms out. ‘Look, love, you can’t go this way.’

  Kirsten grabbed his wrist. Before he realised what was happening, she’d spun the man and he’d gone off the harbour wall into the water below. His colleague tried to react, but Kirsten was already on her way to him, driving a knee up between his legs before hitting him with a forearm in the face. She punched several times before the man hit the floor. He tried to scramble back up, but she kicked him in the behind, causing him to roll, and then she kicked him again until he too tumbled off the harbour wall. She ran to the ladder but saw a man coming out of the wheelhouse of the boat.

  The drop was a good ten feet but Kirsten didn’t hesitate, jumping off and landing beside the man and then clattered into him, causing him to smack his head off the back lip of the boat. Kirsten had landed heavily on her feet but she shook her head briefly before looking into the cabin and seeing the man who would drive her away being stabbed in the shoulder.

  Kirsten ran forward, grabbed the hand of the assailant, pulling it back, yanking hard down on the wrist and causing the hand to open, the knife tumbling to the floor. The man she had clattered into got back up on his feet. As he reached for the knife, she launched a kick into his face. After seeing him fall again, she turned back to the man who had attacked her pilot and spun him around in the tiny cabin. She pushed him up against the wall of the cockpit and hit him twice in the face with a punch.

  Kirsten knew she needed to keep moving, keep everything at a pace and then get out of there before anybody knew what happened.

  ‘Are you okay?’ she asked the pilot of the boat.

  ‘He stabbed me in the shoulder.’

  ‘Can you use your arm, can you pilot this thing?’

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘Right, while I get out of here, you kick off. Just get clear.’

  ‘But you’re meant to be coming with me.’

  ‘That’s irrelevant. It’s not safe anymore; they know about it. Just get clear.’

  With that, Kirsten grabbed the man she had held up against the inside of the cockpit, then dragged him outside before throwing him off the boat. The man she kicked in the head was lying possibly unconscious but she grabbed him and tossed him off the boat anyway. There was no time for remorse, no time for looking after people who had come to kill her.

  Quickly she climbed up the ladder, untying the little boat and watched as it began to make its way back out of the harbour. She saw the looks from a few other boats around her, still out moored away from the harbour wall, but she ignored any shouts and simply walked casually along the harbour pier before making her way back towards her car. She saw the four men still in the car and Kirsten got inside her own before driving off.

  The car started up and followed her so instead of turning right from the harbour exit, she took a left instead, making her way along through Leverburgh before turning and parking up at a little house at the side of the road. Kirsten could see a car already inside the driveway and parked hers behind it. As she got out, she noted the other car with the four men in it was sitting at the roadside. Slowly she walked up to the front door and rang the bell. A man opened the door and gave a smile as he saw her. ‘Can I help you?’ he said.

  ‘I’m sorry but my mobile has run out of charge,’ said Kirsten. ‘Do you mind if I come inside for a bit, and can I use your phone?’

  ‘Well, it’s a bit unusual,’ said the man.

  ‘I know, but I’m trying to arrange accommodation and I need to get somewhere tonight so if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Sure,’ said the man. ‘Come on in.’ With that, Kirsten stepped up to the front door but then she grabbed him, planting a kiss on the man, wrapping her arms around him quickly.

  When she broke off, she whispered in the man’s ear. ‘Just go with it. I’ve got a man following me. I think I’m in trouble.’ The man she was holding immediately held even tighter and resumed the kiss. After a min
ute of holding each other, Kirsten turned, closed the door, and made sure that those outside could see her take the man’s hand and start to walk him upstairs. When she got to the landing with the man, she told him to go into his bedroom, where she crouched down and went over to a window at the front of the house. Looking up, she saw the four men drive off.

  ‘John. John, where are you?’ Kirsten looked over the banister and saw a woman down below looking up at her.

  ‘I’m up here, Annie.’

  ‘Who the heck’s that?’ asked Annie.

  Kirsten made her way to the stairs and began descending. ‘I’m sorry to bother you. My name is Melinda, Melinda Jones and unfortunately, I’ve just had a rather nasty incident. I think somebody was trying to follow me off the boat.’

  ‘Off the boat?’ said Annie. ‘That’s terrible. And you think what, he was after you for what?’

  ‘For a bit of you know what,’ said Kirsten. ‘But I see he’s driven off, so thank you. I’m sorry to have bothered you.’

  ‘Oh, it’s been no trouble at all,’ said John, smiling a little too much, Kirsten thought. ‘You can stay for a cup of tea if you like,’ said John. Kirsten looked at Annie and thought that tea wasn’t really on offer.

  ‘No, I better get going off to my own space but thank you again.’

  ‘What did you say your name was again?’ asked Annie.

  ‘Melinda, Melinda Jones.’

  ‘You really should report that sort of thing to the police.’

  ‘I will do,’ said Kirsten. ‘But right now, I just want to go find my digs and have a shower. I’m sure you can understand that.’

  Annie nodded. ‘God love you. Take care. If you need anything else, you know, just say.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ said John. ‘You need anything else, just come back.’

  Kirsten caught the look from Annie to John. Coming back wasn’t really on the cards. Maybe a phone call or a polite never bother them again.

  ‘Well, thanks for your help,’ said Kirsten, and made her way back to the car. She started it up, saying nothing until she had reversed it, and begun driving back into Leverburgh, before taking the road out towards the aerial mast where they’d previously hidden.