Recompense

by Alan Richards

  “A judge ordered me to be put on public protection order and as you know they don’t have a sentence length. So here I am.”

  Alexa was surprised. She had met Harmony when she had been brought in on a stabbing case. Harmony had stabbed her husband who had eventually died from his wounds. The prosecution wanted to prosecute her for murder and therefore a life sentence. She had listened to her and then found evidence of the beatings from her husband; police reports, hospital records, it had all added up and the prosecution dropped the charge to manslaughter.

  “You only got ten years and should have been out in six.”

  “My family are fighting hard to get the order lifted, our solicitor is hopeful we will succeed.”

  “Thats good then.”

  “Yes and I get privileges now as well so its not too bad.”

  Harmony walked further in to the cell and put the tray on the bed.

  “You got quite a welcome last night then,” she said pointing at Alexa’s face.

  “Yes, they did quite a job.”

  “I heard what you did, its all over the prison.”

  Alexa thought she saw a smile on Harmony’s face, maybe she could be a friend in here, she wasn’t going to have many. Harmony turned to leave.

  “I have to go before they come in and we both get into trouble.”

  Harmony left and the door slammed shut. Alexa looked down at the breakfast, it didn’t look appetising but she needed her strength for whatever came next.

  Twenty Nine

  Letitia looked at the text Alexa had sent her and smiled, she liked the fact that Alexa had returned her affection but was a bit annoyed with her that she had told her to be careful. She had a meeting arranged with an old University friend which hopefully would lead to finding a way out of prison and away from all this mess before it was too late for the both of them. She finished her breakfast, placed the dishes in the dishwasher and went to shower. She had phoned in work sick so she had the whole day to come up with a plan. She was hoping her friend would help as she didn’t have a clue where to start, she was a doctor at the end of the day, not some trained SAS operative. She showered and dressed quickly, she needed to be in central London for noon. She thought she heard movement downstairs but thought nothing of it until she descended the stairs and saw a man standing in her lounge.

  “Who are you and what are you doing in my house?” she asked.

  “Detective Sergeant Frank Trainer,” the man replied.

  “So...”

  “I came to give you a bit of advice.”

  “You could have knocked on the door. Is it normal for police to just walk into a house.”

  Trainer moved closer to her. She had her back up against the wall and couldn’t move out of his way as he advanced towards her. He was scaring her now. Police shouldn’t act like this.

  “Get out of my house,” she snapped.

  “Miss Hind. I have some advice for you.”

  “I don’t need the sort of advice that comes with intimidation.”

  “Miss Hind. My advice is simple. Stay away from Alexa Blake. I know you have been working with her and it would be in your best interests to walk away.”

  “Who I spend my time with is nothing to do with you.”

  She tried to step sideways to get away from Trainer but he blocked her path and slammed her back into the wall.

  “Letitia, you need to listen.”

  “I don’t need...”

  Trainer didn’t let her finish. He slapped her across the face, splitting her lip. She could taste the sweetness of her own blood as it trickled into her mouth. She looked into Trainers eyes. She wanted him to understand her contempt and anger. The blood still trickled into her mouth, instead of swallowing it she spat it into Trainers face. She watched as he wiped her blood from his face.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are.”

  “Letitia, I know who you are. I know about your sister. I know you want revenge on her killer, but you wont get it. Walk away while you still have your life.”

  “Are you really Police?” she asked.

  “Oh yes, I’m Police. I also work for the people who got Alexa locked up and your sister killed. Don’t make the same mistake and get yourself killed as well. Walk away now. Next time it wont be just a slap.”

  Trainer turned away from Letitia and walked to the front door. He opened the door and turned to look at Letitia one last time.

  “Don’t make me have to come back.”

  Letitia watched him leave and then jumped to the door, locked it and pulled the security chain across.She was scared but that wasn’t going to stop her. She had never given up on anything in her life and she wasn’t going to stop now. She went to the upstairs bathroom and cleaned the blood from her face and made herself look presentable again. She had a meeting to get too and she was more determined than ever. No one threatens her and gets away with it.

  * * *

  Letitia left the Hyde Park corner underground station. She squinted as the sunlight of the morning sun hit her. She had left her home in plenty of time and had arrived at Hyde Park an hour before she was due to meet her old University friend. She walked into the park and started to walk the pathway around the edge. She hadn’t been into central London for a long time. She had been too busy and anyway, she had lived in London for over five years now and had done all the sites when she first moved here. It had got boring now.

  She had forgotten how beautiful Hyde Park was in the summer. The trees were casting shadows across the pathway and the flowers were in full bloom. The heat, the colour and the throngs of people around her, made her forget all about her troubles, only for a moment though. They soon came flooding back. Her sister, Alexa and now being threatened by a crooked police officer. Could it get any worse, she thought to herself. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out and looked at the text from her friend.

  I’m early where are you?

  Letitia replied telling her friend that she was in the park and would walk to the refreshment stand that they had arranged to meet at. She walked around the pathway to one of the many refreshment stands that were nestled under the trees in a corner of the park. As she approached she caught a glimpse of her friend. He was ordering a drink and he was exactly as she remembered him, he hadn’t changed in the years since she last saw him. They had been lovers for a time, but that came to an end when she moved to London. He didn’t know that since leaving for London she had discovered her real self. He probably thought that the text out of the blue inviting him to London was a way for her to try and get back together. He was in for a shock. In fact he was in for one hell of a shock.

  Thirty

  At about the same time that Letitia was sitting down for coffee with her friend, Alexa was sitting in her cell still trying to recover from the beating she had taken the night before. Her ribs were sore and the bruising was a lovely shade of purple. Her eyes were still swollen, she couldn’t see the bruising around her eyes but she imagined that it would be the same as that on her ribs. Her lips were sore where the cuts were and like her eyes they felt swollen and probably a nice purple as well. She could only imagine what she looked like. She heard a key in her cell door. She jumped to her feet from her bed and moved against the far wall. As at breakfast, if this was another visit for a beating she wanted to make sure whoever they were, they were in front of her. The door opened and a guard stepped in.

  “Exercise time,” it was one of the guards from the night before, that worried Alexa.

  Was this going to be a repeat of last night.

  The guard beckoned her to leave the cell. She walked out to find another guard standing outside, she hadn’t seen her before, hopefully she wasn’t as crooked as the ones she met last night. The guard exited Alexa’s cell.

  “Follow me.”

  Alexa followed the guard and the other one fell in behind her, standard procedure in a prison, a guard in front and one behind. They walked through the prison going through gates between bloc
ks and eventually through a final gate that led to the exercise yard. Alexa should have been alone in the yard, she was a protected inmate, but she wasn’t. The inmate with the greasy hair and bad breath was in the yard along with some friends. Alexa didn’t imagine they were there to make friends with her.

  * * *

  The gate to the exercise yard shut behind her with the guards on the opposite side. She was alone in the yard with four inmates. The greasy haired, foul breath smelling inmate that she had first met when she collected her prison clothes and three others. Alexa had already decided that this time she would fight back, assuming she wasn’t massively outnumbered and four wasn’t outnumbered in her book. These poor women were in for a shock. The thing was, she had decided to join the police force when her Father died. She had only been young but had researched the best way to get in and make herself stand out. She had studied hard but also trained hard. Alexa had joined a shooting club and become an expert marks person, winning lots of competitions when she was young and she had also trained in one of the most efficient and brutal martial arts. Krav Maga was a military self defense system devised by the Israeli defense force, it is known for its brutal, aggressive nature and its use of combined defensive and offensive manoeuvres. Alexa planned to bring its full force on these four poor women.

  She quickly weighed up the opposition as they walked towards her. The greasy, smelly one was overweight and in poor condition, she would go down easily. The other three may prove more of a challenge. There was a blond one that was small in stature but from what she could see, she had a good muscle tone. The red head was about the same size and build as Alexa so she may take a bit more time. And finally the last one, with black long hair, was taller and much more muscular than Alexa. She would need to disable her first and then deal with the other three. She also needed to make sure the guards couldn’t intervene. They were closer now, she was ready for them but were they ready for her.

  * * *

  One of the many principles taught in Krav Maga is situational awareness and Alexa was excellent at that discipline. She had already taken two steps to her left to make sure she wasn’t in front of the gate that the guards were now stood behind with their arms folded waiting for what they thought was going to be a good show, it would be but maybe not the one they expected. She needed to take down the most challenging one first but as soon as she did that the guards would more than likely enter the yard to ensure she didn’t get the better of the remaining three inmates. The four of them were cocky, they had no idea of the skills Alexa had, why should they.

  Alexa readied herself, they were now two strides away. As they took another step forward she sprung forward covering the difference between her and the black haired inmate. She put her full force behind her outstretched arm and landed her clenched fist into her throat, crushing her larynx, she went down holding her neck struggling to breath. Before the others or the guards could react she moved in behind the greasy haired larger inmate. Alexa roundhouse kicked her into the fence, her face hitting the corner of the square gate post. She went down just as Alexa had planned, blood streaming from a broken nose and rolling in front of the gate. The size she was the guards wouldn’t get through quickly. She was enjoying herself. The two remaining inmates turned to face her and she looked them in the eyes.

  “I think its time I sent my own message, don’t you?”

  Before they could answer, she dropped and swept their feet from underneath them. Before they could react and get to their feet Alexa swung around on her back and elbowed the one to her left in the throat, another crushed larynx. Alexa planted her feet firmly on the ground and sprung to a standing position, she took a step forward and followed through with her trailing foot, kicking the remaining inmate in the head, knocking her out cold. Alexa turned to the gate to see the guards fighting to roll the large inmate away and get into the yard. She looked around her, there were four inmates spread around her, all incapacitated. She had made her point.

  Thirty One

  While Alexa was dealing with her new friends, Letitia was making acquaintances with an old one. She had met Drew while she was at Nottingham University studying Medicine. He had been on a computer science degree. They had met at a students union freshers event for new students. For Drew it had been love at first sight and he made it his mission in that first year to get a date with Letitia, it had taken him six months but he had got a date and for the next two years they were inseparable.

  “Hi Drew,” Letitia said as she approached the coffee stand.

  Drew turned and smiled at her. “Hello Letitia. Its been a long time.”

  “Yes it has.”

  “Would you like a coffee? I’ve already ordered myself one.”

  “Yes please, can I have a Latte?”

  They collected their drinks and found somewhere to sit.

  “It was nice to get your text, but you were very cryptic,” Drew said.

  “Yes, sorry about that. I wanted you to come but if I told you why I didn’t think you would.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “Its not, but I need to be honest with you and then you can decide if you want to help me or not.”

  Letitia went on to explain about her sister, Tracey. How she had been murdered by a drug gang because she had talked to the police and how she had spent months trying to find the killer. She then explained how she had come to meet Alexa and that they had become lovers. Drew stopped her at that point.

  “So let me get this right, you and this woman are lovers. How long have you been...”

  “Gay, a lesbian,” Letitia interrupted him as he floundered for the right words.

  “Well, yes.”

  “All my life I suppose, but I just fought it. I tried to be normal, or rather what people perceive to be normal.”

  “But we were an item for two years,” Drew said, very confused.

  “Yes and I loved you and I loved our time together, but I have to be honest with myself. I hope you will still listen to what I have to say?”

  Letitia could see the confused look on Drew’s face, she knew he still had feelings for her and she hope those feelings would mean he wouldn’t run out on her now. The biggest hurdle was over as far as Letitia was concerned. The fact that Drew was still sat opposite her drinking his coffee meant that maybe, they would be able to work together to help Alexa. At least he would listen to the next bit of the story.

  * * *

  Letitia continued with the story. She explained to Drew how Alexa was in fact a Police Officer and that it was Alexa who had been the contact for her sister. As she talked she started to realise how complicated all this was. Drew just kept looking at her and nodding.

  She paused between sections of the story. The pause before the next section was longer. This was the section of the story where she had to explain how Alexa had decided to kill the man she thought responsible for Letitia’s sisters death only to fail. She explained how Alexa had only injured one of the women she had tried to use to frame Fenner and she had identified Alexa as the killer and Alexa was now in prison with a price on her head. She then went on to explain that it was actually Fenner’s wife that ran the gang. Drew took a sip of his coffee.

  “That is quite a story.”

  “Yes it is. There is one more thing though.”

  “More,” exclaimed Drew.

  “The Police are corrupt.”

  Letitia went on to explain about Frank Trainer and how he worked for the drug gang, feeding them information to make sure they were one step ahead all the time. She explained how it was Trainer that had fed the information to them about her sister and so it was his fault that his sister was dead. Silence fell between them. Letitia hoped he would help but she couldn’t force him, she no longer had a hold over him. She just hoped their friendship would mean something to him. She eventually broke the silence.

  “Your the only person I could think to turn to for help.”

  “You haven’t actually said what you wan
t me to do.”

  “I need to get Alexa out of prison.”

  “How? It’s a prison for Christ sake.”

  “I have an idea how to get her out but then we will need help to disappear.”

  “You do know I’m only an IT Consultant. I’m not Jack bloody Reacher.”

  Letitia stared at him. She had one last card to play which would hopefully get him to help. It was a risk and it could backfire on her, but she was desperate.

  Thirty Two

  Alexa started to wake.

  Where was she?

  What had happened?

  The last thing she remembered was looking at the guards as they eventually broke through the gate after she had dealt with the exercise yard welcome group that they had laid on for her. She started to open her eyes, the walls were white and the bright lights made her squint. As her eyes acclimatised to the lighting she realised she wasn’t in her cell and the bed was a lot more comfortable than she had slept on the night before. As she woke more she could feel the pain in her limbs and then the events of the exercise yard after her show of strength started to come back to her. They had broken through the gate that she had blocked with the fat inmate and hit Alexa on the back of her legs to make her go down. As she had hit the floor more guards had come through the gate. The two who had set her up must have radioed for help, they probably realised they would need it once she had taken down the four inmates so easily. She looked around to see if she could see the welcoming group, they weren’t in the same ward as her but she doubted the prison hospital would have been able to cope with the injuries she had inflicted on them. They would have needed urgent medical help.

  She tried to move her arms, they weren’t restrained but moving was difficult as they were painful, she didn’t think they were broken though. She did think she had more cracked ribs on top of the ones she had suffered in her first beating though. In fact there wasn’t much that wasn’t painful. More of the events from the exercise yard came flooding back to her. The extra guards had decided not only did she need restraining but she also needed a good beating as well. They had rained down on her with batons and feet from all angles. She had tried to protect vital organs but that just meant her arms and legs took most of the punishment.