The Choice

by KERRY BARNES

  Then she recalled the ledger with the phone number in it. She had been in her father’s office when she’d pulled the book from the drawer and saw a telephone number rubbed out. She remembered using a pencil to rub lightly over the indented phone number. All this, Torvic could have seen, if he’d installed a camera. But certainly, if he had, he would never have agreed to meet her at the hangar. Chewing her lip, she tried to recall where she’d made the phone calls to everyone after she’d discovered who Torvic or the so-called Governor actually was. She’d made those arrangements for his capture via phone. But where had she been at the time? Retracing her steps, she recollected that she was upstairs in her bedroom, searching for her bulletproof vest.

  If her theory was right, then, it wasn’t a camera but a listening device; they were more common years ago. She went over to the grandfather clock and stared at the large gold face, at the heavy weights, and then, slowly, she opened the glass front and gently ran her fingers up inside the rim of the wooden frame. As she reached the top, she felt a small metal object. Bending her knees, she looked under and then up and saw what it was: it looked to be a very old covert listening device but still in good condition. So there was no camera then. The bastard would only have heard what was said inside her father’s office. She straightened up and smiled. This meant that Torvic needed a receiver to listen to any conversations. As she turned the old device around in her hand, it all made sense. This was planted when her father was alive. Torvic, the sly bastard, had concealed it to bring her father down. She grinned, knowing that it would have taken a lot more than some stupid bug to get one over on Izzy.

  As she planned her next move, she peered once more at the monitors, and a sudden ugly feeling crept into her bones. The CCTV was installed by two men who Torvic had recommended. Shit! Perhaps he did have a way of seeing what she saw herself after all. She would have to disconnect the set-up.

  The simplest way was to turn the system off. No sooner had she pulled the plug than the outside sensor lights went out. She swallowed hard. That wasn’t supposed to happen. And surely it wasn’t a coincidence. She shook her head to knock out the overwhelming feeling of paranoia. Unexpectedly, a few seconds later, the inside lights stopped working. Had someone manually turned them off? she wondered. With the curtains drawn, she found herself in total darkness. The only sound was her own breath as she fiercely inhaled.

  Her hand gripped her gun as she sank slowly behind the desk. The sudden darkness and the idea that Torvic had escaped and was in the house, hunting her down, was more terrifying than the day she realized her hand had been chopped off. Deep down, she was aware that Torvic was capable of far more than just cutting her hand off – he would brutally torture her first. She closed her eyes and tried to visualize her father’s office, mentally scanning the room. There was no way he could tell that she was in here. All the curtains were closed, and she could realistically be in any other room. She listened, holding her breath for any creak or footstep. Heightening her senses, she tried to listen to the sound of anyone else’s breathing or even to feel a brisk movement of air. It was so quiet that she wondered if it was just a case of the electrics packing up. Turning the CCTV off may have caused some issue along the way.

  Stretching her arm, her fingers searched along the top of the desk for her mobile phone. Unable to speak, she could at least text. Just as she was about to message Mike, the battery died. Now she really did feel exposed. Her body trembled, and she knew she had to get a grip of herself and think things through.

  The sudden loud rap at the front door made Zara jump. She remained motionless until the knocking became erratic. Her first thoughts were that it was Torvic, but then she rationalized it. If he’d pulled the plug on the electrics, why would he be knocking at her door? Surely, he would find a way in, if he wasn’t already.

  She listened and waited. Then a woman’s shrill voice screamed out, ‘Zara, Mikey, please open the door. I need to talk to you. Please, help me!’

  Zara recognized the screech that was spiked with a hoarse growl. It belonged to Jackie. Zara froze, listening. Had Torvic used Jackie again but this time as his way in? But if Jackie was the person who’d helped Torvic to escape, why would she be begging for her help or Mike’s? The knocking was now relentless, and the panic in Jackie’s voice seemed too genuine to be an act. Zara felt for her gun again and decided to make a move. Stepping to the side of the door, with her weapon in her hand, she still managed to release the catch, despite her disability, so that the door was actually opened slightly. The final bang from Jackie’s fists pushed the door fully open, and she stumbled forward just enough to find Zara’s gun aimed at her head.

  Not realizing the cold object was a shooter, Jackie continued in. Zara, in one quick movement, used her foot to slam the door shut. Glaring at Jackie, she remained silent, holding the cocked gun.

  Jackie was actually relieved that she was inside but that was soon tempered by the determined and dangerous glint in Zara’s eyes. Instantly, she held her hands up. ‘Er, listen, please. Please, Zara, don’t shoot. I’ve, er … I’ve fucked up, yeah. I need to speak to Mikey. It’s this bloke called Torvic. He’s gonna kill me.’

  As soon as Zara heard the name Torvic in connection with Mike, she guessed that Jackie was in some way in league with Torvic, and she concluded that the man had given Jackie her address. That could be the only explanation for Jackie knowing where she lived. Zara had a clear measure of Jackie. Every part of her body was shaking, her face was white, and her lips were dry and thin. Jackie was telling the truth.

  At that moment, the sudden sound of a generator, and the light in the entrance hall coming on, made Jackie jump out of her skin. As they stared at each other, Zara saw the woman for who she really was – a prideless, pathetic creature, who had made stupid decisions in her life and who was now grasping at straws to survive. Zara had always hated her, for two reasons. First, because she was the woman who’d married Mike and had a surviving son, and second, she’d been so cruel to Ricky and destroyed a part of Mike that would never be healed.

  Yet Zara felt a sense of superiority; it was a feeling she’d never thought she’d experience outside her firm at least. They were probably of a similar age, but her mirror told her that she looked younger. Jackie was wrinkled, her skin was uneven, and the small scars, pitted in her cheeks, clearly showed that she hadn’t looked after herself. The dark-stained teeth and the thin lines around her mouth made it obvious she was a smoker – a heavy smoker. The woman had fought – the scars confirmed that. Holes where her earrings had once been, the misshapen eyebrow, and, of course, the other thin scar that ran from her mouth up and under her nose, from the day Zara had swiped Jackie with her blade, were all signs of a hard existence. But it wasn’t the physical appearance: it was the defeated expression and the slumped shoulders that illustrated to Zara that Jackie’s life had run its course.

  ‘You’re taking a chance coming here—’

  ‘Yeah, I know. He’ll probably follow me and kill us both!’

  Zara scoffed. ‘No, Jackie. You took a chance because I will kill you.’

  ‘No, listen please, Zara. Yeah, I know you hate me. Fuck me, I’ve got the scar to prove it. But I had no choice. This bloke, Torvic, he made me … Oh, I mean—’

  ‘Shut it, Jackie. Just shut the fuck up. You’ll answer my questions, or I won’t hesitate to blow your head off.’

  Jackie bit her lip and glared at the gun aimed at her chest. She nodded, wide-eyed.

  ‘Where’s Torvic now?’

  ‘I dunno, honestly I don’t. But I do know this: he’s gonna kill me.’

  ‘Why?’

  Jackie swallowed hard as if she was ready to puke. ‘I heard on the radio that there was a fire at my caravan site. I think it was my van, but the thing is, I shut Torvic’s granddaughter in there. I must’ve left a fag burning, ’cos, apparently, the caravan was burned to the ground.’

  So I was right. It was Jackie who broke Torvic out of the hangar, thought Za
ra. But was Jackie really that stupid, jumping out of the frying pan into the fire? Zara, now shocked, lowered her gun.

  ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’

  Jackie didn’t move except to shake her head.

  ‘So why come here? I mean, didn’t ya think for one minute that I’d kill ya, because we know it was you who let that monster out of the hangar. You are one thick bitch, d’ya know that?’

  Jackie was too consumed with what Torvic might do to her if he found her to try and deny anything.

  ‘Come on, tell me. Why are you so sure I won’t kill ya?’

  ‘Well, as much as I know you and Mikey hate me, and you have every reason to, ya never did anything other than scar me face when you could’ve done so much more. Like you once said, you could’ve cut me throat.’

  ‘No, Jackie. I said next time I would slice your neck.’

  Zara noticed the fresh bruises on Jackie’s face. ‘Who did those?’ She rudely pointed.

  ‘Gloria. I went to hers, and she fucking laid right into me.’

  Zara smirked. ‘Yeah, I’m not surprised. But the question is, what am I gonna do with you now?’

  With her head tilted to the side, Jackie asked, ‘What d’ya mean? I just wanted to talk with Mike, explain what happened and stuff.’

  Zara laughed. ‘Well, darlin’, he ain’t here. It’s just me and me gun, so, like I said, I’m now going to have to decide what to do with ya, ain’t I?’

  The cold, menacing expression on Zara’s face told Jackie that she’d made an enormous blunder. But it was a case of better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

  ‘Er, please can I use your loo?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘What? Come on, Zara, I’m bursting. I’ll piss meself.’

  With a stony face, Zara said, ‘Fuck if I care.’

  ‘Please, look, woman to woman …’

  ‘But, Jackie, you ain’t a woman, are ya? You’re a creature, a lowlife – a slimy, ugly bloodsucker.’

  Zara’s insults sent a rush of blood to Jackie’s face, and she forgot about the gun in Zara’s hand. Lashing out, she cried, ‘You’ve no idea what I’ve been through. You’d never understand—’

  ‘What you’ve been through?’ screamed Zara, making Jackie jump. ‘I’ll show you what I’ve been through. Move on.’ She waved the gun, pointing to a passage leading off from the hallway.

  Jackie walked down the passageway, thinking how spooky the place was.

  Zara suddenly demanded that she stop.

  Jackie looked to the room on her right and couldn’t see inside because of the pitch-black darkness in this part of the house.

  ‘Go in!’

  Jackie didn’t argue, all the while the gun was pressed against her back.

  Zara was confident that Torvic wasn’t in the house or he would have made an appearance by now. And she was even more convinced that Jackie was here of her own accord. She needed all the lights back on and assumed that turning the CCTV off had, somehow, turned the electric off as well. But once again she thought, what a clever man her father had been to have some emergency lighting installed. Clearly, the system was designed to come on after a set time if the lighting stopped functioning for whatever reason.

  ‘Stand there.’ Zara pointed to the other side of the desk in her office.

  Without taking her eyes off Jackie, Zara placed the gun down and switched the CCTV back on. As predicted, the lights lit up the room.

  Jackie, in a rush of madness, instantly reached for the gun, but she was beaten to it by Zara, who, in a split second, smashed the metal shooter across Jackie’s face, sending her toppling backwards on her arse.

  ‘Aah, you cunt!’ she said, between gritted teeth. Her hands flew to her mouth, and her tongue felt the broken tooth. She spat it out, along with a mouthful of blood.

  ‘Bad move, Jackie. I thought you’d have learned by now that you’ll never win a fight against me.’

  Jackie wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Well, you can’t blame a girl for trying.’

  Zara grinned malevolently. ‘That’s true. Now, bitch, you’re going to have a taste of what my life was like first-hand. Move!’

  Jackie was taken back along the passageway to the basement entrance. A staircase led down to another long corridor, and at the end, she saw what looked like one room secured with a metal barred door.

  ‘Go in!’

  Jackie hesitated. ‘Are you fucking serious? That’s like a …’

  ‘Prison? Yeah, it was mine for five fucking years. Go inside.’

  Jackie knew she’d no choice. But what she was walking into had to be better than facing Torvic. Perhaps it would be a sanctuary, at least for the moment.

  Chapter 9

  Once Jackie was safely locked behind bars, Zara charged up her phone enough to call Mike right away to give him the heads-up on Jackie’s movements, secure in the fact that Torvic couldn’t hear her conversations outside the office.

  ‘I’m on my way. I wanna grill that whore like a barbecued trout. Don’t let her move.’

  ‘I’ve no intentions of letting her out, unless it’s in a wooden box.’

  Mike sensed the harsh and meaningful tone in Zara’s voice and grinned to himself. Jackie had definitely met her match with the most important woman in his life.

  It wasn’t long before Mike returned, along with Lou. He left his car parked directly outside the front entrance and marched into the house quickly, acknowledging Zara, before he made his way down the staircase to the basement suite.

  Lou followed the big man behind. He winked at Zara as if to say, ‘We’ll get blood out of this stone.’

  Zara locked the front door and joined them; she wanted to see for herself how Mike was with his ex. Did he still hold some affection for Jackie? He’d always demonstrated how much he hated her, but would he be different if Jackie was in such a vulnerable position? Zara knew that she would only be able to tell once she’d seen him face-to-face with her.

  He aggressively pulled the door open and glared at Jackie, who was sitting on the bed, sheepishly wringing her hands.

  ‘You’re gonna tell me fucking everything, right now. No bullshit, Jackie. I want the fucking truth or I’ll dismiss the idea completely that you’re Ricky’s muvver.’

  Realizing that resistance was futile, Jackie merely nodded.

  ‘Did you burn the caravan down with Tiffany, Torvic’s granddaughter, inside?’

  ‘Yeah, I did, but not intentionally. I gave her some sleeping tablets and then locked her in to come and find you, to tell ya what I’d done.’

  ‘Was it you who let Torvic out of the hangar?’

  ‘Yeah, but he threatened to kill Ricky if I didn’t do as he said.’

  Unexpectedly, Mike lunged forward. With one hand, he tightly gripped Jackie’s throat and lifted her off her feet. ‘You fucking liar! You let that cunt out ’cos he offered you money. Ain’t that right?’

  Coughing and choking, she nodded, her face bright red.

  Mike dropped her instantly.

  ‘Please … I’m … I’m sorry. I didn’t realize,’ she said, as she got her breath back. ‘I mean, once I did, I came to find you, I swear. I even went to ya ol’ girl’s place.’

  ‘Where did Torvic go if you were left alone with Tiffany?’

  ‘I dunno, I swear. He just said he had to go out and would be back. I knew I’d fucked up, and so I locked her in and left. I passed him a little while after. He was driving towards the site, but I don’t think he knew it was me. He carried on driving, but if he knows now, then he’ll be after me. Mikey, please. You have to help me. He’ll kill me.’

  Mike laughed. ‘Of course he’ll kill ya, and not just you but all of us, you stupid tart.’

  He turned to face Lou. ‘Call Willie and let him know that Torvic ain’t in Spain.’

  Lou pulled out his phone but then frowned. ‘Mike, what if Torvic’s got someone else he knows who’s been told to kidnap Liam, and what if—?’

/>   Zara interrupted. ‘No. How would he know the kids are in Spain? Something else is going down. I don’t believe now that Liam’s disappearance is anything to do with Torvic.’

  Jackie’s life had been like a cat’s – she’d escaped death so many times – and she sensed an opportunity to save one of her nine lives again today. She felt her input could help Mike – perhaps he’d see her as an asset. It was worth a shot, she thought.

  ‘Torvic didn’t call anyone; he didn’t have a phone. I drove him straight to me caravan. That was a good two hours’ drive, and then he paced the van for fucking ages. When he left, he wasn’t gone that long – maybe an hour or three. He never mentioned Liam, though, only you, Zara. Oh, yeah, he also mentioned what he was going to do to you, Mike.’

  Mike gave her a cold stare. ‘Oh yeah, and what was that then, eh?’

  ‘He said, “I’ll make Regan suffer.” That’s what he said.’

  Zara shook her head. ‘Jesus, you are one thick prat! I bet you never grasped the significance of what he meant, did ya? How d’ya think he’ll make us suffer, eh? By hurting the family, the kids, that’s how, you idiot.’

  Mike and Zara could tell that Jackie was nonplussed, knowing that she was too selfish to entertain that threat because she couldn’t think of anyone other than herself. To her, an intimidatory remark like that would wash right over her head.

  Lou, who stood watching quietly, suddenly spoke up. ‘Look, the problem we have is that Torvic has one over us. He knows more about us than we know about him.’

  ‘No shit, Sherlock,’ replied Mike, exasperated by his friend’s input.

  ‘Nah, wait, Mike, before you shout me down.’

  With raised eyebrows, Mike glared. It was unusual for Lou to be so upfront with him, the boss, yet if Lou spoke out, which was rare, then everyone tended to listen because the man chose his words carefully unless he was in a bantering mood with Willie.

  ‘Look, what do we know about the man except for the fact that we’ve killed his two sons and now his most precious procession? Tiffany has been burned alive. He’ll be fucking raging, and that means he won’t be compos mentis. Trust me, he won’t have all his ducks in a row, and that makes him weak. Who will he call, ’cos we have his phone, don’t we?’