by L M Krier
'Rob, Sally will probably tell you, but we're hoping to let the RSPCA go in as soon as we have cleared and secured the site, with Uniform officers. The Super was quite keen that the place was wound up as soon as possible, having seen it for herself.
'So with any luck, we could have Danny in custody by midday tomorrow, and that filthy flea-pit of a dog place could be closed down and all the animals removed to somewhere a lot nicer for them by close of play. Keep your fingers crossed.'
Jezza followed him into his office after he'd finished briefing the team.
'Boss, I wanted to ask if it was all right if I go a bit early tonight? Only I've got an appointment. With that Carol you suggested.'
'I'm delighted to hear it and of course you can leave early,' Ted told her, inviting her to take a seat. 'She really is very good. Easy to talk to. Well, I have to admit, I spent the first few sessions staring at the carpet and not saying much, but that's just me. I'm rubbish at talking about feelings. It's a very nice carpet though,' he said with a grin. 'Tea?'
Although it was not all that long since his coffee and cakes, Ted could always find room for a mug of tea, and he wanted to hear how Jezza was getting on with her investigations.
'I'd like to call in and see Maurice on the way, too, if that's all right, boss?'
'That's fine,' Ted said, brewing up. 'Give him my best wishes, but no soppy kisses, all right? Tell him I'll try to get in later this evening but it will depend on whether or not I manage to get a new car which actually goes, and is ready for me to collect. If it's good news on the Danny front tomorrow, I'll definitely go in to see him, to tell him myself.'
Ted phoned his garage later on, to save himself a wasted trip if the car wasn't ready for him.
'I've found you a nice little Scenic hatch, Inspector. Mileage isn't too high and it's in good clean condition for the age. A couple of quid change out of two grand, which was the best I could do for you. It's got central locking, too – perhaps remember to use it, this time,' the man laughed. 'She'll be all cleaned up and ready for you if you want to call round between half five and six.'
Ted knew it was going to take a long time before he was allowed to forget how he'd been robbed of a car he'd only had for a few days.
It was dark, cold and raining as Ted set out to collect his new car. It wasn't all that far to walk, so he pulled up the collar of his trench coat, put his head down, and marched briskly on his way.
There weren't many pedestrians about. The wet weather was keeping most of them in, apart from a few bedraggled souls waiting patiently at the bus stops he passed.
As he trudged along down the hill towards the town centre, through the rain, he saw a man walking towards him, carrying a bag of shopping. The two of them did the customary side-stepping dance of two people trying to avoid bumping into one another.
They both made to nod in acknowledgement to each other. Just at that moment, recognition hit both of them at the same time. At the exact moment that the knife appeared in Danny's hand.
Chapter Thirty-one
For a brief instant, neither man moved. Each was assessing the other, instincts taking over, as a highly trained killer weighed up a potential adversary. Ted knew he urgently needed back-up but had no means of summoning any. The slightest movement on his part towards his phone would certainly provoke an instant and deadly attack.
He carefully and deliberately lowered his gaze towards Danny's chest area, avoiding eye contact. There was just a slight chance that Danny would take the opportunity to make a break for it. If he didn't, Ted averting his eyes meant he would not betray any sign that he was about to go on the offensive.
Danny had already seen, on their previous encounter, that Ted was fit and ready to wade in, but he had no way of knowing his capabilities. Ted had four martial arts to call on. He was fervently hoping his Krav Maga knife defence training would be up to handling a killer of such capabilities. Even then, he was not sure how it would go. His precision was excellent, but Danny was utterly ruthless.
Ted was using his peripheral vision to scan for anyone nearby. He desperately needed to call for help if anyone was in earshot. He also wanted to ensure that no passers-by were endangered, if it was within his power. He especially wanted to make certain that anyone who might be walking past was not grabbed as a hostage by a man who would certainly have no hesitation in killing them, if he had to.
A lot of opponents made the mistake of dismissing Ted as a threat because of his small stature. He was incredibly quick and a technical master of his chosen arts. He knew several disarming techniques but also understood the risks in attempting to disarm a trained attacker. Disarming was always a last resort tactic, but Ted feared he would have no choice. He was also restrained by the knowledge that, as a police officer, he was only allowed to use proportionate force to detain even an armed criminal. He suspected that limit might be stretched in his frantic attempts to get the knife away from a combat-trained soldier.
Even with his eyes slightly averted, he read Danny's body language and leapt into action a split second before his opponent sprang towards him with the knife. Ted tried a jolting strike to Danny’s knife hand, followed by a lightning-fast kick to his groin. Both moves were avoided so effortlessly that Ted knew he had to quickly reassess his opponent’s skills.
The words of Ted's Krav Maga instructor were ringing in his head as he looked for his next move. 'Control the weapon that is trying to kill you by grabbing the hand with the weapon in it. You may well get cut by the knife, but that's better than getting a stab wound to your body.'
He switched all his focus to Danny's knife hand and went for that. Somehow he had to get the lethal blade away from him and out of harm's way, before he could do anything else.
'Be a fighter, and keep fighting until you finish the problem,' the voice in his head echoed.
He had a grip on Danny's wrist now with his left hand and he threw all his strength and impetus against him to knock him back against the wall of the building behind them. His shorter height gave him an advantage. It put his shoulder in a good position to shove it against Danny's solar plexus, slightly winding him. Then he brought his head up, hard, under his chin, knocking his head back against the wall, while he desperately tried to get a second hand to the knife grip.
Danny grunted slightly, but his hold on the knife barely slackened. With all the strength he could summon, Ted slammed the knife-hand against the wall with his left hand, several times in rapid succession. At the same moment, his right hand came up to try to land hammerfists that he hoped might just stop Danny in his tracks, giving him the leeway to control the knife hand with both of his.
Just then, Ted heard running footsteps behind him and a voice shouting, 'Stop that, now, or I'm calling the police!'
Ted felt relief wash over him. At last, someone to call back-up. If he could just hang on to Danny a bit longer and keep the knife from doing any damage, he might yet get a successful arrest out of this.
'Call them. I am the police,' he panted gratefully.
'This is bloody police brutality, then. I'm filming this, mate!'
To his dismay, Ted realised that in the darkness, with the black-bladed knife, whoever the man was behind them, all he could see was a man who had identified himself as a policeman attempting to punch and kick another man.
'Move back and call 999 now,' Ted bellowed. 'This man is armed and dangerous.'
With his attention momentarily distracted, his grip slackened just enough to allow Danny more freedom of movement. He pulled his knife hand down at speed. Ted felt the blade slice through his skin, his flesh, then felt blood spurting as it bit into an artery.
Now Ted was in serious trouble and he knew it. Two-handed, he was just about a match for Danny. With one hand out of action and bleeding badly, he was struggling hard to keep the knife from doing any further damage. His normal course of action would have been to try to get the knife away from his attacker, let him go and call for back-up to pursue him. But the last
thing Ted wanted to do was to let someone as dangerous as Danny get away, whatever the cost to himself.
At least the sight of all the spurting blood seemed to have galvanised the unknown man into action. Ted heard him exclaim, 'Oh, bloody hell,' then he was shouting into his phone, 'Police! Quick! And an ambulance. There's a man with a knife, and a policeman who's badly hurt,' then he gabbled out the location.
Ted now found he couldn't use his left hand at all. He could neither make a fist nor grip with it. He was surprised at how little it hurt, then realised it probably meant that the nerves were damaged. All he could do now with that side was to use his left forearm to block attacks, and yet another slashing manoeuvre was already heading his way. He tried to bring a foot up to launch a kick and again felt the sting of the blade as Danny moved forward and it swiped his thigh.
Bleeding as he was, Ted felt his strength leaving him at an alarming rate, but he used what force remained in his left arm to sweep Danny's knife hand as far away from himself as he could. It left him a brief opening which he was quick to exploit. His right foot shot up yet again, as fast and as hard as he could manage. It caught Danny in a brief off-guard moment, right in the groin.
Ted had the satisfaction of hearing the breath rush out of his attacker as he staggered back a few paces, towards the wall. Ted was just moving in when he heard a car squeal to a halt behind him and the doors open.
He couldn't remember when he had last been as relieved as he was to hear a familiar voice shout, 'Taser officer! Drop the weapon. Now.'
Ted's knees were buckling under him. He knew he needed to move to give PC Susan Heap a clear shot with the Taser. At the same time he was certain that the minute he backed off, Danny was going to use the last of the fight left in him to come forward on the offensive for one last desperate attempt.
'Drop the weapon, now,' Susan repeated, then, 'Taser, taser, taser! Sir, move it. Please.'
Now that Ted was up close and staring Danny in the eyes, he could see that the victims had been right. His eyes were cold and calculating. He was dead behind them. He was not afraid of being hurt. He clearly didn't care if he lived or died. The most dangerous opponent of all.
'Taser! Sir, move. Now!'
Timing was now critical. Ted needed to distance himself, and fast, to give Susan the clear shot she needed. But he knew that the moment he dropped his blocking arm, Danny was going to have one last attempt at him with the deadly knife. If either he or Susan got their timing wrong, he could be staring death in the face. Ted needed to put all his trust in the officer behind him.
He made a feint to the left then, as Danny lashed out viciously that side with the wicked stiletto blade, Ted flung himself to the right in a judo fall, then rolled to his feet. He was just in time to see the Taser barbs hit Danny squarely and knock him off his feet.
Ted whirled and went for the knife, kicking it back against the wall, well out of reach of Danny, should he somehow recover from the jolt of electricity fast enough to try to grab it.
At the same moment, PC Jack Hargreaves sprang forward to get the handcuffs on the fallen man.
Another patrol car slid to a halt behind the first one and two more officers joined the scene, another identifying himself as a Taser officer and giving a warning.
'Watch him, he's highly dangerous,' Ted panted, then, to Danny, 'Daniel Quigley, I'm arresting you for the murder of Maureen O'Hara, the attempted murder of Maurice Brown and the rapes of Kathy Finn, Helen Lawrence, Jayne Wright and Jessica Vine. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.'
He turned to Susan Heap. 'That'll do for now. Make sure he's seen by a doctor as soon as possible. I'll sort out the rest when I get into the station. I'll need a lift, though.'
The two officers from the second car were already helping Danny to his feet and leading him, handcuffed, to their car.
'Oh, no sir, no way,' Susan said firmly. 'There's an ambulance on its way for you. The only place you're going is hospital. Jack, grab me the first aid kit, please, the Inspector is bleeding all over everywhere. Sir, I think you better come and sit in the car before you fall down.'
When Ted hesitated, looking mutinous, she continued, 'Sir, I'll arrest you for obstruction if I have to. I've seen at first-hand what your Trevor's like when he gets mad and I don't want him angry with me because I didn't look after you properly. You must know yourself that you have an arterial bleed which needs urgent medical attention. You're lucky we got here so quickly. We were only on Petersgate when the call came through.'
As if noticing the extent of his injury for the first time, Ted looked at his hand, his expression almost puzzled. Reluctantly, he allowed himself to be led over to the car, where he perched on the back seat, his feet out of the open rear door. Susan quickly pulled on gloves and set to work with the first aid kit, getting pressure onto the spurting artery, raising Ted's hand up high to help staunch the bleeding.
'I'm supposed to be picking up a new car. I need to phone the garage.'
'Jack can do that for you, sir, if you tell him which one. I need you to stay still for me now, so I can get this bleeding under control. You're losing a lot of blood. Your leg's bleeding too, but it doesn't look as serious.'
Ted looked ruefully at the ruined leg of his trousers, now flapping open and soaked in blood.
'Trev's going to kill me when he sees the state of my work suit,' was the first thing he thought of.
A man appeared next to the car. In his thirties, smartly dressed, not at all as Ted had pictured him from his voice, and his attitude. He was looking mortified.
'I'm so sorry, mate. I honestly thought you were beating up some innocent bloke. I suppose it was me interfering that made you lose concentration and get injured. I'm really sorry. But I did film some of the attack, if you need it for any reason?'
'It's fine, really, don't worry,' Ted assured him. 'I had my own job to do, I should have focused on that …'
Suddenly Ted felt himself incredibly light-headed and had a horrible feeling he may be about to pass out. Swiftly, Susan intervened.
'If you can just go and give your details to my colleague, sir, and perhaps show him the footage you took,' then, to Ted, 'Come on, sir, stay with me, the ambulance is just on its way. I can see the lights now. Look, just lie back on the seat, let me get your legs up. That'll help. Hang on in there.'
Ted was beyond resisting. The world was spinning around him and he felt as if he was being sucked into a vortex. He wasn't sure if he had lost consciousness for a moment, but the next thing he was aware of was a man in green bending over him.
'Hello again, Ted. Remember me? Phil? Me and my mate picked up your Maurice the other day. We're just going to slide you out onto a trolley and get you into the ambulance, so we can take a proper look at you.'
Susan Heap stayed next to his side until he got to the ambulance. Ted was feeling decidedly woozy by now but still anxious to keep charge of his case.
'I need to talk to Mike Hallam, bring him up to speed.'
'Jack and me can do that, sir. I'll do it straight away. You need to get yourself seen to. You've lost a lot of blood. I'll get one of your team to contact your Trevor, too, get them to tell him to go straight to the hospital.'
'Please tell them not to worry him. Tell him it's nothing, just a scratch. I'm going to be fine.'
As the paramedics closed the doors behind them, once Ted was safely loaded, Susan turned away, muttering to herself, 'If that's fine, I'd hate to see you when you've been seriously hurt.'
Ted wasn't aware of much on the short journey to the hospital, which was made with lights and sirens going. He was starting to get confused, feeling agitated, convinced there was something he should be doing. The paramedic travelling with him in the back kept patiently trying to reassure him and above all, to get him to keep still.
'I need to talk to my team. I need to find o
ut what happened about Danny,' Ted kept insisting.
'No, Ted, you just need to keep still for me until we can get you seen to. We'll be there in a tick, then you can get someone to make a phone call for you.'
The ambulance pulled up outside the A&E department and the two paramedics unloaded Ted's trolley to wheel him inside. A nurse came to meet them and, even in his confused state, Ted knew her face was familiar.
'Brought you an old friend, Fiona. This is Ted Darling, forty-one. Knife wound to the left hand and wrist, with significant arterial bleeding and some loss of sensation. GCS was 15 at the scene but it's been dipping a bit to 13 on the way. He's been getting a bit confused and agitated. There's also a slash wound to his right thigh which appears not to be as serious, so we've concentrated on trying to stop the bleeding from the hand and just put a dressing on the leg.'
'Hello, again, Ted. Straight into cubicle five, please.'
'Ted? This is Fiona. You may remember her? We all met up on the car park the other day. We'll leave you with her now. You're in safe hands. You take care of yourself, and try not to worry. Just relax and let them take care of you.'
'I need to phone my team to find out what happened,' Ted told the nurse insistently, trying to sit up. 'And I'm supposed to be picking up my new car.'
'Can you keep still for me, Ted, please? I'm just going to get someone to take a look at you, but for the moment you just need to keep calm and not move about. Is there someone I can call for you?'
'I think the officers attending were seeing to that. I'm not sure.' Ted was looking and sounding confused again. He was finding it hard to concentrate.
'Well, try not to worry about anything. Was it the same man as before?'
Before Ted could reply, the cubicle curtains parted and a doctor came in. The nurse made the introductions, though Ted was getting beyond taking in much of anything, then she briefly outlined the details. The doctor's examination was swift but thorough.
