Takedown

by Heather Atkinson

  “Where did you get the blood from?” she said, the question making her feel a bit sick.

  “I killed a neighbour’s cat. The thing was a pain in the arse, always shitting in my garden. I considered using red paint but I thought the blood would be more of a slap in the face, seeing how you’re vegan.” He smiled when her eyes flared with rage.

  “There was no need to do that,” she hissed.

  “Faith Chambers, the enigma. You hate any harm being done to an animal but you can happily take human life.”

  “What do you mean?” she said through a tense jaw.

  “I saw you and Caleb sneaking into Lenny Paisley’s garden the night he disappeared.”

  Once again, Faith was shocked by how long he’d been following her. It was frightening that she’d been stalked for so long and not realised, especially with everything she’d got up to lately. “Did you tell anyone?” she said as casually as she could.

  “Just Marlow. I didn’t mention Caleb’s presence there because this is about you, not him. Not that my information did Marlow any good.”

  Faith took a deep breath to remain calm. “I’ll do you a deal Adam.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “If you stay out of my life and leave me alone, I won’t take the evidence I have against you for stalking me to the police.” She almost felt sorry for him when his shoulders slumped and he hung his head. “You need to move on,” she told him gently. “We’re over.”

  “And he’s the one you want?” he muttered, nodding at Vance.

  “Yes. I’m so sorry, I never wanted to hurt you. I’d no idea our relationship had affected you so much.”

  Her stomach dropped when his eyes filled with malice. She’d never seen him like that before.

  “Your brother isn’t the only one you’ve been having clandestine meetings with, is he?”

  “What?” growled Vance.

  It was Adam’s turn to smile. “Someone’s jealous.” He delved into his inner coat pocket and produced another photograph.

  Vance held his breath as he tossed it onto the table, afraid of what he was going to see. He exhaled with relief when he saw it was a photo of Faith sat on a bench talking to Young.

  “You’re a police informant,” pronounced Adam. “I wonder what everyone will say when they find that out?”

  For the first time, Faith felt nervous but she determined to bluff her way out of it. “That’s the police officer who helped us out with Marlow. We bumped into each other and he asked how I was getting on, that’s all.”

  “You bumped into each other in a cemetery?”

  “Yes. Marlow’s buried there. I was trying to lay his ghost to rest.”

  Vance forced himself not to react. She’d never mentioned Marlow’s grave but he got the feeling she was being truthful about that.

  “What was DI Young doing there?” pressed Adam. “Talking a walk among the gravestones?”

  “No. He was paying his respects to a dead relative.”

  “Which relative?”

  “He didn’t say.”

  “I find it odd that someone who comes from Manchester has a relative in a Blackpool cemetery.”

  “Well he does.”

  “In fact you bump into each other a lot, don’t you?” he said, tossing a heap of photos onto the table. Faith saw that in each one she was talking with Matthew outdoors – in parks, cemeteries, even at the waste recycling centre they’d thought so private.

  “You’ve been following me for so long,” she breathed, picking them up and flicking through them. “How could I not know?”

  “You look worried Faith,” he smiled. “Everyone would be shocked about you shagging your own brother but being a grass well, that’s something else. No one would work for you ever again. You’d be a pariah. Your whole family would be tainted, no one would ever trust any of you again. The little empire you’re trying to build would be finished before it got started.”

  “Adam,” said Faith, attempting to sound calm and in control. “There’s more going on here than you know. Things aren’t as they seem.” She glanced at Vance, who was being conspicuously quiet. She’d expected him to rant and rage at Adam but he was contenting himself with listening.

  “Yeah, course,” said Adam sarcastically. “Now this is what’s going to happen - if you don’t go out with me again I’ll show these photos to the whole town. Your family will be ruined.”

  “Do you really think blackmail is a good basis for a relationship? Think about it – how could it ever possibly work?”

  “You’ll fall in love with me again once we’re back together. You just need to give us a chance.”

  “I love Vance.”

  “No you don’t,” he spat. “We’re meant to be together Faith, it’s always been you and me. He’s done something to you, messed with your head, made you think you need him…”

  Vance leapt up, grabbed a handful of Adam’s hair and slammed his head against the wooden bench.

  “What did you do that for?” exclaimed Faith, rushing to Adam’s side, who had slid to the floor out cold, a huge bruise in the centre of his forehead.

  “The little twat needs handling,” he said, handing her his car keys. “Bring the car around to the back,” he added, indicating the gate in the wall that led onto the back street.

  “What are you going to do to him?”

  “Make sure he never bothers us again.”

  “Vance…”

  “We don’t have time for an argument. Get the car before someone sees us.”

  She nodded and exited through the gate. Vance pocketed the photos Adam had dumped on the table and looked down at him in stony silence, imagining all the things he was going to do to him, things he’d wanted to do for years when he’d been dating Faith. Vance recalled all the times he’d had to watch her leave the house with Adam on one of their dates, see them kissing and holding hands, knowing it should be him in his place. His hands curled into fists as he restrained himself from beating him to a pulp. Instead he pulled on his gloves, crouched by his side and patted down his pockets, checking his wallet, which contained nothing out of the ordinary, so he put it back. He did take his phone though.

  Faith returned and held the gate open as Vance hauled Adam to his feet.

  “All clear,” she said.

  Vance dragged him into the back street. “Open the boot,” he told her.

  She obeyed and he dumped Adam inside, slamming the lid shut and taking the keys from her.

  “Get in,” he told her.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the lock-up.”

  “I’m not sure this is wise.”

  “We’ve no choice,” he said as they got in the car. “We can’t risk him telling everyone about Lenny and your meetings with Young.” His blue eyes narrowed. “I kept saying you should only talk to him over the phone.”

  “We don’t have time for an argument Vance,” she said.

  He started the engine and they headed away from the centre of town for an isolated back street where they kept a lock-up that had played host to several people who had needed the more intense form of questioning. As they drove, the area became more rundown, the streets quieter.

  “I hope we get there before he wakes up and starts banging on the boot,” said Faith.

  “We will. We’re almost there.”

  As Vance indicated and started to turn right, there was a screech of tyres. Looking left, he saw a large white transit van speeding towards them, cutting across a lane, which was fortunately devoid of any traffic. Vance straightened the wheel and stomped on the accelerator and they shot down the road, the van just missing their car.

  “What the fuck do they think they’re doing?” exclaimed Faith, turning in her seat to look at the van.

  “That wasn’t an accident,” said Vance, slamming the car into gear and speeding off down the road. “They were trying to ram us.”

  “Christ, they’re chasing us,” she said, looking over her shoul
der to see the white van speeding after them.

  “Can you see who’s driving?”

  “No, the windows are tinted. Maybe Adam has an accomplice and they know he’s in the boot?”

  “Possibly. They were aiming for the front of the car. This might be a rescue attempt. Someone else could have been watching from the back street.”

  “Shit. What do we do?”

  “Try not to crash. This car can outrun them.”

  Faith gasped and clung onto the door as he took a bend at speed. The van pursued them through the streets and into a massive industrial estate south of the town. As there was hardly any traffic he could put his foot down, leaving the white van behind.

  “We’ve lost it,” breathed Faith.

  A second van came at them out of nowhere, aiming for the left side of the car. Vance hit the brakes and put the car into reverse. The white van pursued them while the first van reappeared behind them. They were caught between the two vans with no turn off, a fence on the left and a large warehouse on the right. On top of all that, a thumping sound from the rear of the car indicated that Adam had woken up.

  “What are you doing?” exclaimed Faith when Vance stomped harder on the accelerator, still going backwards.

  “If they want Adam they won’t risk hurting him.”

  “We’re assuming they do want Adam. If they hit us he’ll be killed.”

  “So what?”

  “Vance,” she cried when they were within feet of the white van.

  The van veered at the last moment, driving up on the pavement running down the side of the warehouse but the first van was still bearing down on them.

  When they reached the driveway leading up the side of the warehouse, Vance steered the car up it backwards, Faith clinging onto the dashboard as he spun the wheel, narrowly avoiding the front of the first white van, which was still pursuing them.

  “It’s a good job you had evasive driving training when you were in the police,” grimaced Faith, clinging onto the handle above the door as he swung the car around and they shot back out onto the road, the first van still turning round on the car park. The second van was slowly limping off the pavement. Judging by the noise it was making it had sustained some damage. Vance steered around it and they both breathed a sigh of relief.

  “They’ve gone,” said Faith. “Well done,” she added, patting his thigh. “It was lucky you were driving.”

  The bangs in the boot were growing louder and more frantic.

  “Shut it,” Vance yelled at Adam but the thumps continued.

  “Maybe we should just stop and throw him out?” said Faith. “If we go back into the town with him making that racket we will draw attention to ourselves.”

  “But we need to find out who the hell’s chasing us. The way that van backed off said they were trying to rescue him.”

  “It’s not worth risking our lives to find out.” She glanced past him out the side window and her eyes widened. “Look out.”

  Before Vance could take any evasive action, the van that had been hidden up the driveway of a factory smashed into them, striking them on Vance’s side. The car was shunted across the road, up onto the pavement and onto a grass verge where it came to a halt, rocking from side to side. The air bag burst into life in Faith’s face and for an awful moment she could see nothing and her breathing was restricted. Then the airbag started to deflate and she could drag in a lungful of air. Finally the rocking stopped and everything went silent.

  CHAPTER 14

  “Vance,” cried Faith when she saw he was leaning against the deflating airbag, unconscious. She shook his shoulder but he didn’t wake.

  Through the window she could see masked figures climbing out of the van and approaching the car.

  “Vance,” she said, attempting to shake him awake again but he didn’t respond. At least she could see he was still breathing.

  Realising it was all down to her, she flung off her seatbelt, grimacing at the ache in her body and yanked the extendable baton out of her inner jacket pocket. When her door was pulled open, she rammed it tip first into the man’s groin. It occurred to her that she might have just assaulted a good Samaritan trying to help them, until the man dropped to his knees and she saw his face was covered with a balaclava, eyes bulging out of it. She smashed the baton into the side of his face, knocking him sideways, pulled the door closed and locked it. Thank God the mechanism still worked. Reaching around behind Vance, she hit the button that locked all four doors.

  “Vance, wake up,” she cried when she saw masked figures attempting to pull open his door, failing to realise it was locked. Even if it had been unlocked it wouldn’t have got them anywhere because the impact had crushed the door shut.

  There was the sound of the boot lid being prised open. Looking round, she saw Adam being hauled out. Two of the figures had to hold him upright as he staggered towards the transit van. She cried out when the window of the rear door behind Vance was smashed.

  “No you don’t you bastards,” she yelled when another masked figure snaked their torso in through the gap and wrapped their arms around Vance in an attempt to drag him out of his seat. As he still had his seatbelt on their attempt was in vain. Faith whacked the man in the arm with the baton, aiming for his elbow joint. He screamed and backtracked out of the car.

  While she was distracted, the rear passenger door was pulled opened and a large muscular figure jumped in and attempted to grab her.

  “Hello Ben,” she said.

  His eyes widened with surprise but the shock didn’t slow him down. When she tried to hit him with the baton, he grabbed her arm and twisted, forcing her to drop it. But he was too slow to stop her other fist from smashing into his face and he fell back into the seat.

  Faith tore open the glove box, took out a can of de-icer and sprayed it in his face. With a cry he scrambled out of the car, hands to his eyes. One of the other figures helped him up and back to the van where another one got out clutching a bottle of water to irrigate Ben’s eyes.

  When she saw the crowbar being swung at her window, she turned her back and shielded Vance with her body. The window smashed, showering her with glass. A thick arm wrapped around her neck and started to pull her backwards out of the car.

  “Vance,” she yelled. “Wake up.”

  His eyes snapped open, gaze dazed and distant. When he saw her being dragged out of the car he reached for her, wincing when his seatbelt tightened across him.

  “Faith,” he breathed, unfastening the seatbelt and grabbing her legs but his grip was weak and the upper half of her body was pulled out of the car.

  Faith reached up to jam her thumbs into her attacker’s eyes, his scream piercing her ears and she was dropped, her body half-in, half-out of the car. Vance took her hands and helped pull her back inside, holding her to him.

  “They’re leaving,” she breathed as they watched their attackers rush back to the van and climb inside. For one awful second it occurred to her that they could ram the car again and there would be nothing they could do but the van drove off. “At least we fucked some of them up.”

  “You mean you did.”

  “They took Adam.”

  “Right now I’m glad the little bastard’s gone.”

  “Are you hurt?” she asked, taking his face in her hands.

  “My right arm hurts,” he groaned.

  “Let me see.”

  He turned slightly in his seat so she could examine it.

  “The skin isn’t broken and it’s not dislocated,” she said. “But it is badly bruised.”

  “Then I got off lightly. Thank Christ the van wasn’t going fast when it hit us.” He tried to start the engine but it just whined before spluttering away. “Bugger. I liked this car.”

  “Should we call Young?”

  “I don’t think that would be wise after what Adam said. We can call Kingston to tow the car to his garage. He won’t ask questions.”

  “And you’re going to hospital.”

 
; “I don’t need a hospital.”

  “Yes you do, you’ve got a cut to the side of your head. You need to be careful with head injuries. This isn’t up for debate Vance,” she added, taking out her phone.

  “Wow, someone really had it in for you,” whistled Kingston as he studied the car.

  “Can it be fixed?” said Faith, who was sat on the grass verge beside Vance. A couple of passers-by had stopped to ask if they needed help but they’d waved them on telling them help was on the way.

  “I won’t know until I get it back to the garage,” replied Kingston. “But I wouldn’t hold out much hope.” He indicated his secretary, the delectable Sharon, who was sat behind the wheel of the Mercedes that had followed Kingston in his tow truck. “She’ll take you to hospital.”

  “Thanks so much,” said Faith as she and Vance slowly got to their feet. “Let us know the damage.”

  “Will do and watch yourselves. Whoever did this will be back.”

  “I’ve got the horrible feeling you’re right.”

  They climbed into the back of the car and, to their relief, Sharon remained silent as she drove them to Blackpool Victoria Hospital where Vance was checked over in A&E. His head wound was only minor and his shoulder was just bruised, so he was discharged a few hours later with some Paracetamol and they were both told to rest.

  Caleb collected them from hospital. They found him in the waiting room, looking frantic.

  “What the hell happened?” he demanded.

  “Not here,” Faith told him.

  They headed out to the car, Faith and Vance slowly limping along, feeling exhausted. When they were in the car, Faith relayed what had happened as Vance was struggling to stay awake. Naturally she missed out the part about Adam finding out about their relationship. She just told Caleb that he’d been following her, photographed her meeting Young and spotted the two of them sneaking into Lenny’s garden the night he’d vanished.

  “So Adam’s working with Ben Cooper and the other firefighters?” said Caleb.

  “It seems so,” she sighed, feeling exhausted. The shock of the chase and the crash was catching up with her.

  “Bloody hell. He’s been watching us, gathering intelligence, informing them of our movements. What I want to know is how they even know each other?”