Time Is Running Out

by Michael Wood

  ‘I remember Steve. What’s this guy’s motive then?’

  ‘You tell me. We’re wondering if it’s related to Steve, but they’ve had no contact for a couple of years as far as we can tell, so we don’t actually know.’

  ‘Do you think Steve might be able to help?’

  ‘He’s on his way to the station in an armed car breaking every rule in the Highway Code. Hopefully he can shed some light on this. Also,’ Sian said, ‘we’ve found a letter that says Jake has terminal cancer, but we think it’s a forgery.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘God knows. However, Jake is under the illusion he’s dying. From his point of view, he’s got nothing to lose.’

  ‘Thanks for letting me know.’

  Sian watched as he walked away and headed to the members of the Armed Response Unit who were tooling up. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t scared. She had no idea how many children were in that school, but they were all young and vulnerable, with their whole lives ahead of them. They shouldn’t have to be witness to any of this. It was devastating enough when news of a school shooting in America broke, but for it to happen on your own doorstep evoked a level of fear that was unimaginable before now.

  ‘Chris, it’s me,’ Scott said quietly into his phone. He’d moved to a quiet part of the car park to risk calling his boyfriend, hoping he’d put his phone on silent. He crouched between a Fiat Punto and a Peugeot.

  ‘Thank God. Where are you?’ he asked in a loud whisper.

  ‘We’re all outside. Armed officers are here. Listen, do you know where the gunman might be?’

  ‘No. He was on the ground floor when I went to look, but that must have been about twenty minutes ago.’

  ‘Have you heard any other shots?’

  ‘Not for a while.’

  ‘Chris, I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but we think the gunman is a man called Jake Harrison. He’s the brother of Steve Harrison, remember him? He hanged all those people including DC Faith Easter?’ Chris didn’t respond. ‘Chris, are you there?’ Scott panicked.

  ‘Yes, sorry, I was moving to the other side of the classroom. Did you say Jake Harrison?’

  ‘Yes. Do you know him?’

  ‘He’s Ruth’s ex-husband.’

  ‘We know.’ Scott froze. The penny finally dropped. ‘Oh my God, I didn’t realise. My mind’s all over the place. I didn’t think of your friend Ruth.’

  ‘Remember me telling you she split with her husband because he went all distant and weird and he frightened her? Well, that’s him. She said after what happened with his brother he completely changed.’

  ‘I know. I remember. Fuck. I’m sorry. I didn’t put the two together.’ He wiped away a tear. ‘And she’s there with you now?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Shit, Chris, I’ll ring you back. I need to tell this to the boss. Stay where you are. We’re coming to get you, I promise. I love you.’

  ‘Love you, too.’

  As Scott stood up, his eyes widened at the smiling man standing over him.

  ‘Hello, Scott,’ Danny Hanson said.

  ‘Jesus Christ! What are you doing creeping about?’

  ‘My job.’ He pulled a small dictating machine out of his shirt breast pocket.

  ‘Did you hear all of that?’

  ‘I certainly did,’ he said with a maniacal grin. ‘So, the gunman is Steve Harrison’s brother.’

  ‘Fuck! Danny, you can’t breathe a word of this to anyone. People’s lives are at stake.’

  ‘I promise to thank you in my awards speech.’ He playfully slapped Scott on the side of the face and walked away.

  ‘Oh, fucking hell,’ Scott said to himself.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Ruth was too nervous to think about putting the pupils before herself. As they huddled in a corner of the room, below the window and remaining as silent as possible, Ruth joined them rather than acting as a tower of strength to give them hope and optimism.

  Chris ended his call and stayed at the far side of the room. He frowned and bit his bottom lip as he thought.

  The sound of a single shot being fired made them all jump. It sounded like it came from downstairs.

  ‘Ruth, come here,’ he said, beckoning her.

  As she approached, he saw in the dim light that tears had formed pathways in her made-up face. She wasn’t coping with this situation at all. The students seemed calmer.

  ‘What’s going on? Was that Scott? What’s happening?’

  ‘Ruth, I’ve got some bad news,’ he said, swallowing hard. The words seemed to be sticking in his throat.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked. Her eyes were wide, and transfixed on Chris’s face.

  ‘The gunman,’ he said, quietly so the students couldn’t hear him. He swallowed again. His mouth had dried. ‘The gunman is … well, the police have told me that it’s Jake.’

  ‘Jake? Who’s…’ The penny dropped. ‘Jake. My Jake?’

  Chris nodded.

  ‘No. No. It’s not. They’re wrong. That’s not possible. He wouldn’t. I mean, he wouldn’t know how to get hold of a gun, let alone shoot one,’ she said, her voice rising in panic.

  Chris hushed her. ‘Ruth, keep your voice down. Scott said they were called out to a house in Worrall earlier. He’d shot and killed both of his parents.’

  ‘What? Viv and Malcolm? Oh my God, no.’ She leaned on the windowsill to support herself. ‘I liked Viv. She was a good woman. Malcolm was quiet, but he loved his family. When Steve… Do you think this has something to do with Steve?’

  ‘They don’t know. Look, Ruth, Jake went to the police station this morning and opened fire. He’s killed six police officers, and he shot at people from a bridge over the Sheffield Parkway. He’s going on some kind of a spree. Do you know why he might do something like that?’ he asked, holding her firmly by the shoulders.

  ‘No. I’ve tried to have as little contact with him as I can. Every time we spoke, he kept trying to get me to go back to him. It was upsetting. My solicitor said to only communicate through him. That’s what we’ve been doing for the past six months.’

  ‘Has your solicitor said anything about his behaviour? Has he changed in any way?’

  ‘He didn’t say. We’ve just been waiting for him to sign the divorce papers. My solicitor kept prompting him, but that’s as far as it went. Chris, are you sure it’s Jake?’

  ‘That’s what Scott said.’

  She looked to the door. She took a deep breath. ‘I should go and talk to him.’

  ‘What? No,’ Chris said, holding on to her even tighter.

  ‘I might be able to stop him from doing anything stupid.’

  ‘Ruth, he’s got a gun. He’s got several guns by the sound of it. I think he’s way beyond the stage of talking.’

  ‘No. He’s kept saying we should talk, to sit down and talk through our issues. That’s what he wants.’

  ‘Ruth, he’s killed people,’ he said in a loud whisper. The pupils could now hear what he was saying. ‘There are more than twenty people dead. The time for talking has long passed.’

  ‘So what’s the alternative? Do we wait here for the police to storm the building? That’s going to result in more deaths and Jake… There are things I need to tell him.’

  Ruth seemed more confident. The tears had dried up, and she was no longer shaking. She was full of determination now she knew who the gunman was. Was it less stressful knowing the person with his finger on the trigger? Chris didn’t think so.

  ‘Ruth, you can’t go out there. What if he kills you?’

  ‘He’s not going to kill me. He’s come here because he wants to talk. So I’ll talk to him.’

  ‘The police would never allow it.’

  ‘The police aren’t here,’ she said, her voice raised. ‘They’re outside. They’re safe. We’re not. We’re trapped in here, and if I can help to defuse this situation, then I will.’

  Chris looked over Ruth’s shoulder at the sixty teenagers crouched
beneath the window. They were all watching the exchange with worried, tear-filled eyes, their faces lit up by the blue light from their mobile phone screens.

  If only they knew what Jake was doing. Was he trawling the corridors, shooting anyone who moved? Was he hoping to get to Ruth in order to talk to her, or worse, to kill her? Then what? Would he put the gun against his head and pull the trigger or continue to fight to the last bullet? There were several hundred children inside this school. Some had already been shot and killed, others would likely be severely injured. Chris needed to try to save as many as he could.

  ‘I’m going to talk to him,’ Ruth said, heading for the door. ‘Stephen, help me move this bookcase.’

  ‘Sir?’ Stephen asked, looking to Chris for guidance.

  Chris took a deep breath. He didn’t know what to do for the best.

  He watched as Ruth pushed the bookcase away from the door. Stephen jumped up to help her. The sound of the wood scraping along the floor rebounded in the quiet room. Chris wondered if Jake had heard the movement from downstairs. Would he come up? Ruth had suddenly exposed all sixty pupils to the gunman.

  ‘Chris.’ Ruth came over to him and took his hand. His were cold and shaking, hers were warm and clammy. ‘I know him. He won’t shoot me.’

  ‘He killed his parents.’

  ‘But he’s come here for a reason. He won’t shoot me without telling me why he’s doing this.’

  ‘And then he’ll shoot you?’

  ‘No. I can act as a decoy. While I’m talking to him, you get the kids down the back staircase and out of the fire doors next to the science labs.’

  ‘I don’t like this.’ Chris shook his head.

  ‘We have no other choice.’

  ‘We should leave it up to the police. They know what they’re doing.’

  ‘No. They’ll wait for him to make a move and take a shot at him. I need to talk to him, Chris.’

  The silence between them was intense. Chris looked into Ruth’s eyes. The fear that was there just a few minutes ago had gone. He knew she’d go out to talk to him, but she was waiting for him to give his blessing, to tell her he was behind her every step of the way. He couldn’t do that, but he could fake it. He gave a slight nod of the head.

  ‘Promise me you’ll not put yourself in any danger,’ he said.

  ‘I promise.’

  ‘Tell him you’ll only talk to him if he puts his guns down.’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘And any sign that he’s about to reach for them or anything, get out of there as quickly as you can.’

  ‘I will. Just get everyone out of here.’

  He pulled her towards him and held her in a tight embrace. ‘This is madness,’ he whispered quietly into her ear.

  ‘It’s the only way to save these kids. You know it,’ she whispered.

  She pushed herself out of his arms and headed for the door.

  Chris couldn’t take his eyes from his colleague. He didn’t want to watch her walk to her death, but he felt he had to. She didn’t look back as she stepped through the door and turned right down the corridor.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Outside, now that darkness had fallen, the temperature was plummeting, but all the members of HMET could do was stand around while the Armed Response teams took control of the situation. Inspector Porter was with the caretaker, going over the floor plans and working out the best route into the building. It seemed futile if they didn’t know where Jake was. They’d tried calling the office phone, hoping he’d pick up and speak to someone, but it went unanswered.

  A car pulled up and Christian climbed out of the front passenger seat before it stopped moving. He headed for Sian as he zipped up his jacket.

  ‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ Scott said as he approached Christian and Sian. ‘I know Ruth. I didn’t think back at the station, my mind was all over the place. I’ve just got off the phone to Chris and he told me that he and Ruth are together. They’re in room fourteen with about sixty kids.’

  ‘I’d better tell Porter,’ Christian said. He slapped Scott on the back and headed for the incident van.

  Despite this break in the case, Scott’s face was still worried.

  ‘What is it?’ Sian asked.

  ‘I’ve fucked up.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘When I was talking to Chris on the phone, I didn’t realise there was someone earwigging.’

  ‘Who?’

  Scott took a deep breath. ‘Danny fucking Hanson.’

  She stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. ‘He was bound to find out somehow. Parasite. We’ll worry about that later. Right now, we need to concentrate on getting all those kids out.’

  Scott’s mobile started to vibrate. He pulled it out of his pocket and showed Sian the screen. Chris was calling him.

  ‘Put it on speaker,’ Sian instructed him.

  He did so but turned the volume down, just in case there was someone lurking in the shadows of the car park listening in.

  ‘It’s me. Ruth’s gone out to talk to Jake. She seems to think she can distract him while I get the kids out.’

  ‘What the hell?’ Sian exclaimed.

  ‘Who’s that?’ Chris asked.

  ‘It’s Sian, don’t worry,’ Scott said. ‘Has she already left to talk to him?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why didn’t you stop her?’ Sian asked.

  ‘I tried. She wouldn’t hear it. She said it was the only way to get the kids to safety. The thing is, I think she might be right. While she’s talking to him, I can bring them down the back staircase and out through the fire door at the back of the building.’

  ‘I’ll need to inform Armed Response,’ Sian said.

  ‘There’s no time. She’s out there now. We’re going for it.’

  The line went dead.

  ‘Shit!’ Scott wiped his eyes, pocketed the phone, and ran towards the school.

  ‘Where the hell do you think you’re going?’ Sian shouted after him.

  ‘To the fire doors. I can help.’

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Ruth had never known the school to be so quiet. The corridor was dark and, try as she might, her shoes clacked on the hard floor, echoing against the walls. She walked slowly past classrooms with their doors closed, looked in through the windows and saw terrified teachers looking at her with wide-eyed horror.

  When Chris told her the gunman was Jake Harrison, a calmness seemed to wash over her. No, she couldn’t believe he would do something like this, but the more she thought about it, the more she understood.

  Following Steve’s arrest and imprisonment, Jake had fallen to pieces. They were close as brothers, and Jake looked up to Steve – despite being older – as a confident, determined man. Steve knew what he wanted out of life. He’d always worked towards being a police officer from a young age. His dream was to start at the bottom and work his way through the ranks. He saw himself retiring as Chief Constable after thirty years of service, with a healthy pension and still young enough to do something else with his life.

  The day Steve started in the police force, the whole family could not have been prouder, and everyone had gathered to have their photograph taken with the handsome young man in his uniform.

  Ruth had often looked at the photo of Jake in tight-fitting jeans and a rugby sweater standing next to his brother in a sharp, crisp police constable’s uniform. Both had huge smiles, yet there was something about Jake’s eyes that gave the picture a sadness. They looked distant, almost cold. Jake didn’t have a plan or a career path. He had never known what he wanted to do with his life and went from temporary job to temporary job, hoping something would pique his interest. It never did. Ruth had asked him once why he didn’t join the police force with his brother. Jake had replied, sadly, ‘That’s Steve’s thing, not mine.’ She had no idea what that meant and didn’t push it further.

  To Jake, Steve was doing everything right, and he was a man to be
admired, so his exposure as a serial killer, and his resulting fall from grace, hit Jake hard. He was disappointed, inconsolable, and could not understand how a man who had everything would so carelessly throw it all away. Jake visited Steve in prison a couple of times, but he didn’t get answers to the questions he asked, and following that final visit, he admitted to Ruth that he didn’t know who his brother was anymore.

  After that, Jake was a changed man. He distanced himself from Ruth, his parents, his friends. He hardly spoke, he ate little, and he spent his days sleeping and his nights pacing the house. Ruth couldn’t survive in such a fragile atmosphere and begged Jake to see someone, talk through his issues and save their ailing marriage.

  Before long, Ruth realised the relationship was over. Even if Jake had said he’d go to see a therapist, she’d have still wanted the marriage to end. She no longer loved him, and there were times she was scared to be alone in the house with him. His silence, his distant looks, the emptiness in his eyes made her feel unsafe in her own home.

  She didn’t tell him she was leaving. She packed what she needed and left while he was asleep in the spare bedroom. She went to see a solicitor and asked to begin divorce proceedings. The first Jake knew of it was when a letter landed on his doormat.

  Had the signs been there? She had no idea. Ruth was a maths teacher, not a psychologist. She didn’t think to look for signs that her husband was turning into a murderer. Why would she? But could she have done more to help him? She didn’t think so. If he wanted help, he needed to seek it out for himself.

  Ruth knew it would all come out in the press as the investigation into Jake’s crimes unfolded. The parents and families of the dead would blame her for not reporting her husband to the police. They’d all say she should have known he would do something like this. She’d have to move away, change her name, her whole identity and leave everything behind. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.