by Jack Probyn
Danny grabbed for the gun on the other seat and placed it on his lap. He glared out of the rear window. The saloon was right behind them, giving them no space to breathe.
Slowly, Luke eased the car from the tarmac onto the stretch of grass that climbed up a steep bank. He slipped the handbrake on and, under Danny’s instructions, kept the car in first gear. There, the three of them waited, but when the police car didn’t drive past them, Danny’s throat drowned with fear. Through the window, Danny saw the police officer exit the vehicle and saunter towards them.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck,’ Danny said, spinning round in the seat. His chest heaved and he closed his eyes, forcing himself to relax. ‘Micky – you sure you put those plates on properly?’
‘Course I did!’ Michael snapped.
Danny composed his breathing through long, rhythmic sighs. ‘Luke,’ he began again, ‘keep calm. Do as I say, OK? Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll handle this. Just roll down the window and remain calm.’
Luke rolled down the window.
‘Good afternoon, sir,’ the officer began, stepping into view. The officer instantly froze as soon as he saw Luke, Danny and Michael in their crimson overalls. ‘May I see some identification please?’
‘What seems to be the issue?’ Danny asked, leaning forward, concealing the gun in his arms.
‘You can’t drive along the hard shoulder. You know that, right?’
‘I do now.’
‘Show me your identification.’
Luke unzipped his overalls and reached inside for his wallet; Danny and Michael shared a quick glance. They both knew that, if neither of them did anything, they were fucked. Not only had they stolen the vehicle, but they’d also forced Luke – the learner driver – to take the wheel. And then, to make matters worse, they’d driven along the hard shoulder. It was a catalogue of errors, and Danny needed to be the one to get them out of it.
Luke handed the man his forged learner’s licence through the window.
‘You’re not supposed to be driving this vehicle, Mr Harrington,’ the officer said.
‘We’re teaching him. We’re practising. We’re his brothers,’ Michael said, leaning across the dashboard.
‘Without any learner plates?’
‘We had them on,’ Danny said. ‘They must have fallen off.’
‘Even so. You’re still driving unlawfully…’ As the officer inspected Luke’s license, his radio bleated.
‘All units be cautious of three IC1 males wearing blood-red overalls in the Portsmouth region. Wanted in connection with armed robbery and murder in the Guildford area. Be aware they are armed and dangerous. Last reports claiming they were driving along the A3 in a stolen Audi A5. Confirmed reports of their names are Danny, Michael and Luke—’
Danny reacted quickly. He moved his arms, raised the gun and aimed it in the man’s face. The officer’s reactions were lightning quick, and he swerved just as Danny pulled the trigger, so only one of the bullets propelled from the gun caught him. A spurt of blood sprayed from his neck like something from a Quentin Tarantino movie and he fell to the ground clutching his throat, landing with a dull thud.
Danny wasted no time in screaming at Luke to floor it. ‘Get us out of here! Go! Go! Go!’
Luke lifted the clutch and stamped on the accelerator. The small Audi tore off, leaving the officer on the ground behind them.
Danny turned back to see the devastation he’d caused. Strangers were jumping out of their cars, tending to the officer. The last thing Danny saw, before they drove out of sight, was the officer alive and breathing, reaching for the radio strapped to his shoulder.
| EPISODE 3 |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CONFRONTATION
‘I don’t believe you,’ Pemberton said to Jake on the phone, throwing her hand to her mouth. She didn’t want to believe it. Couldn’t. Like the time her sister-in-law had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. It wasn’t fair, and neither was this.
Candice Strachan had been taking them for fools. Lying to them. Manipulating them. All of them. Especially her.
‘I wish it wasn’t true, ma’am,’ Jake said loudly in her ear. He was inside his car, awaiting further instruction.
‘I need hard facts though, Jake. I can’t just go in there and accuse her of being involved with all of this.’
‘I’ve asked Danika to check them over multiple times,’ Jake said. ‘They’re solid.’
Pemberton was standing on the driveway, outside the front door of Candice’s mansion. She’d left Candice alone with Armitage and the rest of the explosives experts. She needed breathing space. Meanwhile, the SOCOs continued to remove dozens of bags of evidence they’d found in the house and surrounding area to be sent back to the station.
‘This is not the sort of situation I want to be in, Jake.’
‘Is there a way we could get her to confess?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘If she’s in on this, then she’ll know the spikes in a collar is a fake. She’ll know the charge inside it won’t be live. The whole point of chaining that thing to her neck has been to distract us this whole time. All you need to do is try and take it off. Gauge her reaction. Tell her that we can’t find the final key. Tell her that Danny called and told us that we’ll never be able to find it, so we’re going to try it that way. And if, for even a second, she believes that it’s true, then she’ll panic. She’ll know that she’s been betrayed.’
Pemberton nodded as she listened to Jake. She shuffled her feet in the gravel and watched her foot disappear underneath the stones. ‘How did you know about the call from Danny?’
There was a moment’s hesitation. ‘Danika just told me. Why?’
She ignored the question. ‘Leave it up to me. I’ll deal with it my own way.’
‘Wh-What do you want me to do now?’
‘I don’t know, Jake. Speak to Bridger. Help him find the key – if by some miracle it does decide to show up, I want you both together.’
‘Where is he?’ Jake asked tentatively. The vigour in his voice had gone.
‘Dunsfold Aerodrome.’
‘And how long until the timer runs out?’
‘Just do it,’ she snapped. ‘Just meet with Bridger and he’ll instruct you there.’
Pemberton hung up before Jake had a chance to respond.
| EPISODE 3 |
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
REVELATION
Pemberton strode round the side of the house and over to Candice Strachan. The helpless woman now sat on a garden chair that one of the explosives officers had brought across for her. She had her arms folded on her lap, and her expression remained still. Nothing had changed in the few minutes Pemberton had been gone.
‘Is everything OK, detective?’ Candice asked.
Pemberton paused a beat before responding. How much did she want to let on? Should she trust Jake and follow his suggestions? Or should she deal with it her own way? She had too many voices inside her head clouding her judgement.
‘No, Candice,’ she said eventually. ‘You and I both know it’s not OK.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean, detective?’ Candice’s head frantically darted between Pemberton and both the explosives officers beside her. ‘You’re scaring me. What’s happening?’
‘Tell me about your acting career, Candice,’ Pemberton said plainly.
Candice’s eyes widened in horror. ‘What— I… er… what do you mean?’
‘You know, your acting career. The one you had when you left school. The one when you were in your twenties.’
‘I… It didn’t last long.’ Candice swallowed, and her throat convulsed. ‘I had a couple of auditions for plays. Had a few minor parts, nothing major. I had to leave the industry.’
‘Why?’ Pemberton asked without giving Candice an instant to carry on.
‘Because…’ Candice swallowed again, this time lowering her head into the metal plate of the collar bomb. She sniffed hard and her che
st started to heave. ‘Because the director… I was starring in this Hollywood production. It was a small thing. Nothing… nothing major. Nothing like on the big screen. But it was my big break. And then… then the director called me to his dressing room one time after we’d just finished shooting for the day. He said I’d done really well. Said I was a real talent. Had a real career in acting ahead of me.’
‘Bet that was nice to hear.’
Candice glanced up at Pemberton and scowled.
‘It was. But he took it one step too far. He raped me.’
‘And what did your husband have to say about it?’
Now the tears came. Candice sobbed, cried, sniffled and when Pemberton gave her no sympathy, she stopped. ‘I never told him.’
‘Must have been quite a burden.’
Pemberton thought for a second. How Mark Murphy had told her on the phone that all three brothers were genetically linked. How their dad had been a soldier in the army. How Candice had just lied to her face.
Pemberton bent down on her knees, taking care not to split her trousers in two. She placed a finger on the grass for extra balance.
‘You know what they say about actors, don’t you? They make very good liars. After all, that’s what you’re doing, isn’t it? Lying? Pretending to be someone you’re not. And getting paid to do it as well. I think the director was right, you are a good one, and you probably did have a great career in front of you.’
Pemberton let the statement hang in the air in front of Candice’s face.
‘Please,’ Candice implored. She reached out and clawed at Pemberton, who threw the woman’s arms away. ‘You have to get this thing off me. You have to find the key. You have to save me.’
‘There is no key, Candice. We know what’s going on.’
The whites of Candice’s eyes brightened, and her pupils darkened and dilated.
‘Wh-Wha-What do you mean there’s no key?’
‘Your eldest son, Danny – he told us as much.’
At the mention of Danny’s name, Candice’s face dropped. It was a picture: the colour that rushed from her cheeks, the muscles in her face that contorted into a frown, and her bottom lip that quivered. Never before had Pemberton seen fear strike someone so coldly; she just wished she had a camera with her so she could relive the moment again and again. She took a mental image instead.
Candice shook her head frantically. ‘No. No. No, no, no, no. I don’t understand. You don’t understand.’
‘You can stop the act now,’ Pemberton said, standing. ‘The play’s over.’
‘No – you don’t understand.’ Candice scratched her scalp with her fingers and rubbed her eyes with the other. ‘You need to find the keys. Please.’
‘I told you, there are no keys.’
‘Find the fucking keys, you bitch!’ Candice’s voice carried across to the other end of the garden. ‘Can’t you realise I’m going to die if you don’t get this thing off me.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Pemberton asked. ‘There are no spikes in there. There is no charge inside. You know it.’
‘There is. There are. For Christ’s sake there are. There’s really an explosive in there!’
Pemberton retreated slightly, holding her hand out, as if it would defend herself against the force of an explosion.
‘Explain yourself,’ she said.
‘I lied. The-They’re my sons. All of them. The Crimsons. Danny. Micky. Lukey. I gave birth to them at a bad time in my life and I hadn’t seen them for years. But after my husband died, they made contact, and I was ready to accept them for what they were. And then we staged today. But I had no idea that Danny was going to shoot Rachel. I had no idea. Each of them were all in charge of doing the keys. Luke did the first one, but he hid it in a different place in the house – it wasn’t where we’d agreed. Micky was responsible for the golf course and Waverley Abbey ones. Danny should have left his key on one of the runways. He promised he’d leave it in plain sight,’ Candice said. Something caught in her throat and tears began to well in her eyes.
‘But he hasn’t, has he?’ Pemberton asked. ‘What’s he done with it?’
‘He’s kept it. Or put it somewhere else.’
Candice choked. Her chest heaved rapidly. She grabbed the collar and began to shake the device free from her neck, alerting the explosives officers. They rushed to her side and pinned her arms behind her back.
‘What happens now, Candice? Stop resisting!’ Pemberton whistled two nearby police constables to rush by their side. They straddled her legs and placed handcuffs around her wrists behind her back. ‘What happens now, Candice? We’re trying to help you.’
‘Get this thing off me!’
‘Tell me about the device. What will it do?’
Panting heavily, Candice said, ‘I don’t know. Danny built it. He told me the keys would defuse it.’
‘But how do you know there’s a charge in there? Why would he build it to be live? Why would he want it to detonate?’
‘I-I-I don’t know. We agreed that the keys would disarm it, but when I heard you talking on the phone about remote detonation, that was when I knew that he wanted to kill me. I should have seen it coming when we were in the jewellery store. He held that gun in my face for too long. He had the opportunity to shoot me dead there and then, but he didn’t take it.’
‘Why would he want to kill you, Candice? Why would he do such a thing?’
‘For the years he’s been alone. For the years they’ve all been alone. I thought this was a way for me to rebuild their trust. A way for me to come back into their lives. After my husband died, I had nothing, no one. But when they made contact with me, I thought we were going to be a family again. We were all going to leave the country and never look back.’
‘Leave the country?’ Pemberton repeated, her voice turning shrill.
‘That’s what we agreed. To get on a boat out of here.’
I don’t believe it. ‘Where?’
Candice shook her head. ‘Please. You have to get this thing off me. I’ll help you find them. I promise I will. Whatever it takes. I don’t want to die. I’ll help you – but I need you to promise me something first.’
‘What?’ Pemberton asked. Her mind wasn’t with it. She was in disbelief. Jake Tanner had been right about everything.
‘I want you to promise that nothing will happen to them if they’re caught. I’ll take the rap for everything. It was all my fault.’
‘And if we refuse that?’
‘Then you won’t find them.’
‘And you won’t be alive to see their trial.’
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| EPISODE 4 |
CHAPTER ONE
INERTIA
‘Drive! Drive! Drive!’
Danny slammed his fist on the back of Luke’s chair, but it made little difference. Traffic enveloped the three of them. In the time since he’d shot the police officer a few hundred yards back, those stuck in the traffic jam had pulled into the hard shoulder in front of them, blocking their exit. Now they were trapped, and there was nowhere else for them to go.
‘Fucking drive!’ Danny screamed, small bits of spittle and phlegm expelling from his mouth and landing on his arm.
‘What do you think I’m doing?’ Luke hissed back.
‘Ram into them if you have to.’ Danny turned to his middle brother. ‘Micky – how many bullets you got left?’
Michael glanced back at him, fear filling his eyes. ‘Why? What are you going to do with them?’
‘Just tell me how many bullets you’ve got left. We don’t have time for this.’
Danny extended his hand. ‘Give it to me.’ He spoke as calmly as he could, but his brother’s hesitation made him want to scream and beat him into submission.
‘Micky,’ he began, ‘don’t make this any more difficult than it already is. Just give me the gun,’ he enunciated, hoping that his composure would appease Michael. But when his brother didn’t move, Danny screamed, ‘Give me the fucking gun!’
‘There are kids in these cars, Dan. Don’t shoot—’
Danny lunged across the seat, slapped Micky on the back of the head and snatched the Mini-Uzi from him. He gripped the light machine in his hand, unwound the window and hung out of it. Donning the mask, he swung the weapon around in a wide circle. Petrified faces stared back at him, and those hidden behind the confines of their cars tucked beneath their windows. Danny knew their efforts were futile; the bullets would undoubtedly penetrate the glass and side of the doors. There was nothing that could save them.
He steadied the gun and depressed the trigger. Bullet fire rained down on the already battered and beaten 4x4 family van whose driver had decided foolishly to be a hero by pulling out in front of them. The small lumps of lead ripped into the boot, tearing the number plate in two, and smashing the rear window; sprinkles of glass descended to the floor. One of the bullets tore into the right rear tyre and sunk the car. Danny screamed in euphoria as he felt the weapon bounce mini shockwaves up and down his arm. The sound of his voice and his rapid heartbeat drowned out the ringing in his ears.
‘Ram into them,’ Danny ordered, leaning back into the car.
Luke did as he was told and slammed the Audi into the back of the family van. The brothers lunged forward with the collision, while the engine beneath screamed and the tyres squealed. A few seconds of inertia passed, until eventually the torque from the Audi was strong enough to nudge the 4x4 along. Luke lowered his foot to the floor and Danny watched the rev counter climb into the red.