by Conrad Jones
‘It won’t be fine.’ She pointed at him. ‘He’s sedated now but he won’t be soon. Do you seriously think you can control that animal?’
‘Yes. I do.’
‘Then you’re deluded. Look at what he’s done to those people and for what? Llinos shrugged. ‘To impress a woman who thinks she’s demonic? She’s not anything special except stark raving mad.’
‘She’s not mad.’
‘She’s about as mad as it gets. All her mumbo-jumbo is right up there with unicorns and aliens.’ She paused to think. ‘He slaughtered those people because he’s mentally disturbed. You can’t control him. No one can. It frightens me that you think you can.’
‘He’s just a boy.’
‘Tell that to the people he chopped up. I don’t want him here, Sam.’
‘I can’t do anything until he can walk.’
‘I’m not waiting that long. I want him gone.’
‘I’ve got to be at work in less than an hour.’
‘Just get him out of my surgery. If you want to hide him, then do it yourself. I’m out of this and if Fabienne and her loonies don’t like it, they can lump it. I want him out of here tonight.’
‘Don’t be like that. It doesn’t work like that.’
‘It works like that for me.’
‘It doesn’t. We can’t leave.’
‘Okay, enough of this shit,’ she shouted. ‘I’ve had enough. Get him out and you can go too.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I can’t believe I ever went along with it. I’m disgusted with myself. Get out of my house and take that filth with you.’
‘Don’t do this, Llinos. You don’t know what you’re saying. They’re evil people and I mean really evil. They won’t let us just walk away.’
‘I’ve already gone. Get out,’ she said, pointing to the door.
‘Listen to reason, Llinos,’ Sam said. ‘No one leaves.’
‘Are you still here?’
‘They know he’s here and they’re pleased he’s safe. If we turn our backs on them now and put him in danger, they’ll be pissed off. They’ll come for us. They’re fucking dangerous.’
‘I’m not listening to you anymore. Get out of my house.’
‘Please don’t do this, Llinos.’
‘If you don’t leave, I’ll call the police and tell them what you did.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t mean that.’
‘You have ten seconds.’
‘Llinos, don’t be stupid.’
She picked up her mobile.
‘Llinos, don’t.’
She switched it to the phone mode.
‘Llinos. Stop.’
‘Get out!’
Sam knocked the phone from her hand. He grabbed her around the throat and squeezed hard; his thumbs against her larynx. Llinos grabbed at his wrists but he was too strong. She scratched at his eyes, but he pulled his head back and she couldn’t reach him. Her eyes bulged and she slapped at his chest. Sam squeezed harder. He felt her larynx crack and collapse. Blood speckled spittle sprayed from her lips and he felt her body stiffen. Her muscles spasmed in the last death throes. Her eyes stared at him, pleading, accusing, begging; then they glazed over as she suffocated. He felt her muscles go limp, but he didn’t let go. It was a full five minutes before he could stop squeezing and he felt as if someone else had choked the life out of her.
CHAPTER 45
Joss drove down the Newry Beach, a wide promenade overlooking the marina and the harbour beyond. The lighthouse at the end of the breakwater looked closer than it really was. Waves were crashing over the top of it; dwarfing the structure in an awesome display of Mother Nature’s power. Dark clouds hovered over the mountain and the sea was a gloomy grey colour. Joss had a feeling of impending doom. The urge to stop the tow truck and go home was overwhelming, but he’d run out of time and excuses that would appease an angry Russian like Igor. It was a dangerous side-line that he’d ventured into. If the deal went to plan, he would be a millionaire within the next thirty-minutes. He needed to be positive.
Naz was close behind in the Defender. They turned onto the quarry road and drove down the narrow track which led to the bottom of the mountain a mile away. The cliffs loomed over the old brick buildings and disappeared into the low clouds above. A torrent of rain hit the windscreen and he switched on the wipers. The glass steamed up, adding to the negativity in his mind.
When he reached the quarry, Joss slowed down and took the tow truck behind the old chimney stack and parked next to the gallery. It was a decent position to see vehicles on the quarry approach. There was no sign of anyone yet. He checked his watch and waited for Naz to arrive, but he didn’t appear. Then it clicked that he wasn’t there. He’d been right behind him all the way until he took the bend before the café. There’d been less than a few seconds between them; something was wrong. Suddenly, the driver’s door opened, and he felt the rain on him; strong hands dragged him from the truck and dumped him on the tarmac. A dark pillowcase was pulled over his head so he couldn’t see his attackers. They didn’t speak as they beat him around the head and face. Blows rained down on him and he could hardly breath. The beating was relentless, and he thought he was going die there on the floor in the rain. He could taste his own blood when a heavy blow to the base of his neck, knocked him out.
***
Alan and Kim met at the A55 American diner at the bottom of Holyhead high street. Neither of them had eaten properly for the last few days. Kim had never eaten there. Her mouth was watering as she looked at the breakfast menu.
‘They all look so good,’ Kim said. ‘Which one are you having?’
‘Which one has the most food on the plate?’ Alan asked, his stomach rumbling.
‘The full breakfast. I’m having that. I’m starving Marvin.’
They ordered and the waitress brought a tea for Alan and a coffee for Kim. He waited until she’d gone out of earshot before showing her an email on his phone.
‘Pamela Stone has confirmed the tyre tracks on the farm track belong to a Dunlop product.’
‘I’ll hazard a guess that North Wales Police use them on all our vehicles.’
‘Correct. One of the officers on that search team helped Hudson to escape.’
‘As difficult as that is to understand, it’s the only scenario that makes any sense.’
‘We need to track him down as quickly as possible,’ Alan said. ‘I want every officer positioned around the farmhouse watched by their superior officer. Any sign of acting out of the ordinary is to be brought to me directly.’
‘I’ll get on it as soon as we’ve finished here.’ She sipped her coffee. ‘Why would a serving officer help a serial killer escape?’
‘Because our serial killer is part of larger organisation, which encourages its followers to sacrifice, kill, and eat their victims.’
‘You’re talking about Stanley Towers in Liverpool?’
‘Yes. It’s the closest thing to what we’re dealing with and it puts some perspective on it. They were dealing with multiple victims and multiple suspects; we’re dealing with just one but now he has a helper. We have to assume the police officer is also a follower of O9A and if we assume that, we have to accept the possibility there’re more of them out there.’
‘I don’t think I like the idea of that,’ Kim said.
‘No. Neither do I but we have to consider it as a very real possibility. If we continue to hunt for a lone suspect who is on foot and badly injured, he’ll slip through the net. He’s mobile with access to a vehicle and probably access to first aid and medical supplies. It’s a game changer, Kim. He’s no longer acting alone. This situation could escalate if we don’t identify who is helping him. It could escalate very quickly.’
***
Samuel Strydhorst stood over the body of his partner and stared at her. Her eyes looked back at him, void from life but nonetheless unsettling. Tiny contusions had formed in the whites, making them bloodshot. It fel
t ironic that her eyes had been the first thing that had attracted him to her. He’d fallen in love with her very quickly because of her eyes. They were sky blue and sparkled in the sunlight or at least they used to. She had a smile in her eyes which changed with her mood; sometimes mischievous, sometimes raunchy but always happy. He couldn’t remember having a row that lasted more than a few minutes.
They’d hit it off from day one, slept together on their third date, and moved in with each other six months later. Sam sold his flat and moved into her farm. Llinos had inherited the farm from her grandfather who had also been a vet, five years prior to them meeting. She’d loved the farm and she’d loved being a vet and she loved life but now she was dead, choked by his own hands. He wondered how he’d reached such a low point. Had he murdered her to protect Mathew Hudson, Fabienne, and the Niners or was it to protect himself? He truly didn’t know what had come over him, but he realised he had crossed a line that society didn’t tolerate. It couldn’t be crossed without terrible consequences.
A moment ago, he was a well-respected police officer, commended, on several occasions, for bravery; now he was a cowardly murderer. He looked at his hands and tears spilled from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks.
His heart was racing, pounding in his chest. Sweat trickled down his back. What had he done? Llinos had been the love of his life yet he’d strangled her because she demanded he remove Mathew Hudson from their home. It was hardly an unreasonable request, yet it had provoked enough anger and hatred in him to take her life. He thought back to where it all went wrong. Their relationship had been solid apart from sex; they weren’t compatible. He noticed very early on that she was frantic in the bedroom, almost insatiable. It had been a novelty at first, but it became an issue later on and it was sex which attracted them to the Niners in the first instance.
Sam had been deliriously happy for the first few years until he’d arrested a young woman in a pub in Holyhead. The Holland. She’d been causing trouble and threatened the landlord before the locals had turfed her out onto the pavement. She went away for a while and then came back with a brick and launched it through the window; it hit a customer playing pool and resulted in an ambulance to Bangor hospital and fifteen stitches. She was violent when they arrested her, and she had to be restrained. Sam put her in the back of the police car and she started to rant about how she would have the pub burnt down and the police station burnt down and Sam’s house burnt down; she was going to burn everything she could think of. Sam had raised his voice and told her to shut up, for God’s sake, then suddenly, she stopped shouting and spat at him. She totally freaked out for ten minutes about mentioning God. Sam told her he didn’t actually believe in God and then she stopped shouting. Five minutes later, she asked what she was doing there.
Sam was confused at first and he watched her in the mirror. She stared back at him all the way to Caernarfon. He was sure she hadn’t blinked once. It was disconcerting but not unusual for a prisoner to glare but she was trying to look inside his head; coping with difficult behaviour was part of the job. No one was ever happy being arrested. She was processed, charged, and bailed the next morning; he hadn’t given her a second thought until later that day when he was called to a potential jumper on the Britannia Bridge. She was sitting on the gantry, her legs dangling over the edge; the traffic had been stopped. Sam was on the island side when he approached. She saw him and waved. He waved back, thinking it might make a difference to her mindset. Maybe a response from him could trigger something in her which might make her reconsider. Then she took a bottle of lighter fuel from her bag and poured it all over her head. She smiled at Sam as she set herself alight. He could swear that she waved goodbye to him before she jumped.
The incident had disturbed him, and he’d suffered nightmares; images of her burning and waving goodbye and the sensation of falling haunted him. He would wake each time before he hit the water.
Llinos was no less demanding in the bedroom, despite his obvious reluctance and it drove a wedge between them. It wasn’t long before he found she’d been online, watching porn; mostly group sex. He didn’t say anything at first until she started chatting to people with similar interests. Then one day after work he broached the subject and she spilled it all out. All her sexual frustrations, her desire to be at the centre of encounters with like-minded people. The chatroom was on the website of the Order of Nine Angels and it wasn’t long before they attended their first meeting. It was something new and exciting but each time they went, they were given a glimpse of the dark side of the group and each time it became darker; Llinos didn’t see the sinister slant behind the sex. Sam did and it intrigued him and eventually, when he first met Fabienne, he was sucked in deeper than he wanted to go. Llinos didn’t see him falling in love with Fabienne and now she was dead. She’d given him an ultimatum, but she had no idea how deep he’d gone. It was too late to go back now. He had to pull himself together and cover-up her murder.
There was a large roll of plastic wrap in the surgery; Llinos used it to protect surfaces from infection. The island had suffered its fair share of disease and she was a firm believer that disease never really went away; it just remained dormant until the next host came along. He picked up her body like a groom carrying his bride and went to the surgery. Her head lolled over one of his arms and her legs dangled over the other. Hudson was in an anteroom at the other side of the building. He took her into her treatment room and placed her on the table; the wrap was in the storeroom to the rear. It didn’t take him long to find and cut a swathe long enough the wrap her up. He rolled her on her side and put the plastic underneath her before repeating the process on the other side. When he’d finished, she looked as pretty as ever, although her features were a little blurred. He took her through the storeroom to the incinerator where she disposed of people’s pets and livestock. He opened the door and slid out the base on rollers. Her body filled it. It was the most difficult thing he’d ever done. He slid her into the incinerator and closed the door, before pressing the ignition. The blue flames jumped, and the plastic melted onto her clothes, making her look like a doll in a fire. It didn’t take long for her body to catch, smoulder, and then burn fiercely as her body fat melted, fuelling the inferno. The skin and muscle burnt away, leaving her bones; eventually the skeleton collapsed in on itself. She turned to grey dust and he watched every second of it.
Reality started to bite. Llinos was gone and he was harbouring a killer and he was late for work. He had to call in sick, which didn’t go down well but there was no choice. Removing any trace of her from the incinerator would take time and effort but it had to be done. He shovelled the ash into an empty feedbag, sealed it up as best as he could, and then put it into the boot of her car. The shovel was wide with a carbon fibre handle. He put it into the boot next to the ashes. As he was about to drive her car to dispose of her, her parents’ car turned into the farm. He closed the boot quickly and waved at them as they approached.
CHAPTER 46
Joss woke up tied to a chair. His chair. He could hear grinders cutting through metal. His neck was stiff and sore, and his eyes were swollen and bruised. He was confused and wasn’t sure what had happened or how he’d ended up back at his unit. He rocked the chair across the tiles so that he could see into the workshop. The tow truck was there and so was the Defender Naz had been driving. His stomach knotted and he felt sick. Naz had been right about who was responsible for ratting. Whacky was cutting the drugs from one side of the truck. He was the rat. Joss tossed things over in his mind. It was one thing if Whacky had told Kevin Perry about the shipment, but how did he know about the exchange at the quarry?
‘Enjoying yourself there, you back-stabbing bastard?’ Joss shouted at Whacky. He edged the chair closer to the door and was shocked to see Naz was working the other side of the truck. Everything clicked into place. Naz was a rat too.
‘And you?’ he shouted. ‘Two-faced bastards, the pair of you. You killed Jeff. You might as well have hit him ov
er the head yourselves.
‘All these years, I’ve looked after you two. I hope you die of shame, you bastards. Wait until everyone finds out just what scum you are.’
There were four other men he didn’t recognise but he guessed they were the men who killed Idle-Jeff. They saw him shouting at his men. They pointed at him; they were laughing. Naz looked away, embarrassed, but he was laughing too. They’d taken him for a fool; all of them and they were probably right. Joss felt sick he’d been betrayed, and he tried to break free, but the ropes were too tight. Two of the men walked towards the office and opened the door fully.
‘Don’t waste your energy,’ one of them said. Joss recognised his voice as one the men who’d attacked the unit. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’
‘You must be Kev Penny?’ Joss asked. ‘And you’re his partner from Salford. What’s your name?’
‘Dale.’
‘Well, fuck you, Kevin and Dale.’ They looked at each other and smiled. ‘You’re a pair of arseholes,’ Joss added.
‘Yes. But we’re the arseholes with your cocaine,’ Kev said, grinning. ‘You stepped out of your league, my friend, and you got burnt. It happens in this business.’
‘It happens when so-called friends knife you in the back.’
‘You should know you can’t trust anyone.’
‘Piss off,’ Joss said. ‘Anyway, you’re the ones out of your league.’
‘We’re out of our league. How do you work that one out?’
‘Do you know who those drugs are for?’
‘Yes. Us.’
‘Igor Karpov,’ Joss said. ‘Viktor Karpov’s nephew.’ The men looked at each other. Kev rolled his eyes. ‘You do know who the Karpovs are?’
‘Yes. We chased them out of Manchester last year.’
‘The Karpovs don’t get kicked out of anywhere.’ Joss shook his head. ‘They’ll be pissed off. Very pissed off.’ Joss felt stupid using their name to try to frighten his captors. They were right, he’d stepped out of his league. Kev’s phone rang and he answered it.
