A Merry Harper Holiday (John Harper Series)

by Edward Holmes

  I was still feeling confident and as Gorman got back to his feet, I attacked with a low right kick to the back of his knee. My kicks were nowhere near as forceful or as precise as those Thai fighters in Fraser’s Gym but they put him off balance enough for one of my jabs to connect with Gorman. He was reeling now and I pressed my advantage, hitting him with more combinations and blocking what few attacks he could return towards me, those morning runs giving me the advantage of stamina over the security guard. I pushed him backwards towards the crowd and they pushed him back as if acting as a rope which gave me a perfect opportunity to end the fight with a crunching flying knee to the chest and then a quick punch to the same temple I had hit before with the Bible.

  Tired and sweating I turned away from him and in a moment of madness raised my hands to the baying crowd. I was bloodied and covered in sweat but had won. In the disorientating mass of faces it took me awhile to locate O’Hara but I turned to him, “It’s over O’Hara, he’s out.”

  “Yes he is but that is not what I said would end the fight,” he replied, the crowd going quiet to let us speak.

  “I’m not going to beat up a defenceless man. I have won your little contest, so let me go.”

  O’Hara’s icy blue eyes stared back at me, “The fight is not over till you finish by my rules.”

  I turned to the broken man on the floor and delivered a kick to the man, “Fine, is that enough?”

  Laughing, he stopped and turned on me, “Not yet but I have another idea. Since you have broken my rules and you didn’t really put on the most entertaining show for my guests here, you can fight again.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I think we all know what was coming, so when O’Hara took off his coat, jacket and shirt all in a very slow and delicate way I stood there trying to gain my breath and assess my opponent. I knew how brutal he could be and I also knew that he was once an amateur boxer of some note. It didn’t fill me with much confidence but I had beaten people larger than him before and at the end of the day, my training should be enough to see me through. I was however suffering from the day’s events and I felt physically drained. There was no natural light in that room, just overhead fluorescent lighting strips so I had no idea what time of the day it was since I wasn’t wearing a watch and I never got a chance to check my phone that was in my jacket pocket.

  O’Hara was now ready and I held up my hand first, “You’ve changed the deal once, what’s to say you won’t do it again when I beat you?”

  He stopped with an evil looking grin on his face and raised his hands, “Gentlemen, I ask you to let this man out of here unmolested if he manages to beat me,” everyone started laughing at this statement and I was stood there for another minute whilst they continued jeering. For some reason some idiot threw beer at me, which soaked my back and made me reek of booze before O’Hara finished, “Oh and Shelby you will give him what he wants, if he wins.”

  After getting the beer thrown over my spare shirt, which was an old deep purple Lewins shirt that I was very happy with, I was even angrier than before. I just wanted to be out of there, so stood ready for O’Hara, once again in my fighting stance.

  “You know this is going to be fun for me, Harper. I always wanted to beat up on one of you murder police.”

  I just rolled my eyes and beckoned him forward. O’Hara was as large as Gorman but more muscular and he had seen me fight. He knew that I was versatile and he waited for me to attack him. We circled each other for awhile which prompted booing and then someone pushed me forward as they had done with Gorman. I stumbled and was given a powerful left jab to the face before two right hooks to the body I barely blocked. O’Hara was a lot stronger than the security guard and his punches had hurt me and forced me sideways. I tried to bring my knee up in another attack but the former bouncer just pushed me backwards to the ground.

  I hit the concrete hard, winding myself and had to quickly roll out of the way of a stamp aimed for my chest. With quicker reflexes than I expected from myself, I swiped at his standing back leg, forcing O’Hara to the ground. I stood up as fast as possible and snapped out a kick that caught him in the stomach. However he had all sturdy muscle and it seemed to have little impact and he rolled back onto his feet quickly. A smile crossed his face and he dived towards me, looking to grab me in a bear hug. I rolled backwards out of the way and stuck my feet into his chest propelling him into the crowd.

  He flattened roughly six of the paying customers. I would have tried to press my attack but he was quickly out of the tangle of legs and bodies. Struggling to gain his balance I blocked his swinging arms with both of mine and headbutted him squarely on the nose. I pushed him forward followed by two quick right straights to the face that knocked his head backwards before I brought my knee up into his family jewels. He was winded and I grabbed him in a head lock bringing my free elbow down onto his bare back leaving welts in his skin before he slammed me to the ground with his weight.

  I was hoping to smash his head into the ground but he avoided the impact and had me pinned, slamming repeated blows into my body with his fists. I could tell he was injured but a body like his can take severe punishment. His body was covered in bruises and cuts but he seemed to feel nothing and on the close examination I got as he hit me I could see the amount of scars already on his body. The blows he rained down on me were beginning to break through my defences and one hit bloodied my lip before I managed to grab hold of his head. I dug my thumbs into his eyes forcing him to let out a very unmanly scream and recoil out of my grasp.

  His hands went to his face and his arms protected most of his body. I didn’t try to remove myself from beneath him but bided my time till he yelled and opened his arms up to strike me, at which point I delivered a quick punch to his throat. O’Hara struggled to breath and rolled off me. I was on him in a flash and smashed his head repeatedly into the ground until he was unconscious, or at least not fighting me anymore. I let go and hit him a couple of times in the face for good measure just as he had wanted me to do to Gorman.

  Getting to my feet, I spat blood onto the floor and stood staring at the crowd. No longer did they chant or jeer, they just stared silently at me. I shivered as the adrenaline coursed through my system and walked over to Shelby. He handed me my jacket and a plastic carrier bag. I looked inside it to reveal the Season Force toy. Turning I headed towards the door, the crowd parting as I did so. Still they remained silent, which was extremely eerie in such a confined space.

  Pushing open the door, I was in a well lit hallway. I slammed the door behind me and slumped to the floor. I was in a bad way and the amount of pain I was suffering from led me to think I was suffering some internal damage. Getting out of there without stumbling to the ground had taken most of my strength. Sitting there with my head resting on the door, I sighed to myself. It was then I heard a whimper and I was surprised at myself but when it was repeated, I turned towards the source of the sound. There were two doors on my right hand side and one at the end of the corridor.

  The sound came out again and I forced my body to stand up stumbling to the door where I heard the whimpering. I opened the door to see the injured dog from before and a man above him with a large blue plastic barrel. We stared at each other for a moment before I managed to croak, “What you doing?”

  “She’s hurt, this is the best thing for her, she won’t be fighting anymore,” he quickly spluttered out.

  He looked at me and must have been shocked by the sight of a bloodied and battered man standing there. Especially when I walked forward and grabbed him before slamming his back up against the wall hard. I pinned him against the wall with my bruised right forearm, “She definitely won’t be fighting anymore.”

  The dog handler went to say something but I punched him in the face as hard as any hit I delivered on O’Hara, knocking him out. Leaving him a crumpled mess on the floor, I went over to the dog and picked her up in my jacket, the plastic bag still stuck on my arm. The brown and white creature whimpered again b
ut licked my face which I took as a sign of encouragement.

  It took all of my strength to get out of the corridor and up the stairs which revealed that I was in one of the tower blocks on the basement levels. It was even worse when I realised I was still in the same building I had been in before. I pushed my way out of the door and towards my car. It took a lot but I managed to get the dog in the car and myself in the driver’s seat. I drove as far as I could away from the tower blocks and parked at a drive through restaurant and passed out.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I woke to the warm fetid breath of the dog licking my face. Somehow the pup had managed to get into the front of the car even with her injuries. It brought a tear to my eye and I lifted what was a rather large dog onto my lap and sat there stroking her fur before putting her in the passenger seat. I ordered off the breakfast menu and placed some sausages in front of her as I dug out the first aid kit in the car. The dog hardly made a sound as I treated her wounds as best I could; I wanted to take her to a vet but at the moment there was something I wanted to do.

  I drove to my house and showered and changed. I put on one of my best suits and another favoured purple and white shirt. The dog having found my bed and managed to jump onto it and somehow was asleep so I decided to leave her in peace for the time being. It was weird the idea of having a pet but after everything that pup had been through there was no way I was going to leave her with anyone else unless I had given them the once over.

  Feeling fresher but still very sore I took the doll that had caused so much trouble out of the plastic bag and looked it over. It could have been from a pound store for all I knew the difference when it comes to toys, but I had seen enough of the adverts on television to know what it was one of the top selling toys of the year. There was a faint smell of coffee coming from the toy and when I lifted it up there was a rattle. Hoping it hadn’t been damaged in the commotion I opened the back of the toy with my trusty pocket knife. Inside I saw nothing amiss but there was still a distinct rattle. With the knife at the ready I opened a small hatch at the back and was a little take aback by what I saw.

  Inside were packets of coffee which surrounded another object. Now I was positive that for industrial scents they wouldn’t use actual coffee beans so I pulled the packets out to be greeted something else much more interesting and surprising. Inside stood two bags of heroin, I’d seen enough in my time working with the drugs squad to recognise it by sight and I also connected its origin in Afghanistan. I pulled out everything and there was still a rattling, so I tipped it upside down and out dropped a USB stick.

  My hand went to my head, I was completely dumbfounded. The past day had been completely draining and now I was stuck in the middle of a drug importation ring. I was surprised that a father would risk hurting his child with drugs like that but there could be more to it. Not knowing what was on the drive I refused to put it into my computer and decided to ring Harris.

  “Sorry to wake you up today, son, but meet me in the office in an hour.”

  “Really, it’s Christmas?” he said in that lazy drawl of his.

  “Yeah and we have a case. All I want you to do is look at this USB I’ve got. That is it.”

  “I should never have slagged off that spy flick we went to about them putting stuff on your own network or computer.”

  He was right about that, “Well they should try and show some sort of realism in their crappy films.”

  “You saw the reviews; apparently it was the best film of the year.”

  “And you are procrastinating, I’ll see you in the office.”

  I put down the phone and went out into my back garden. There were two sheds; one for garden maintenance equipment and the other was more of a getaway. They had both been there when I bought the property and since I lived on my own the entire house was my personal area so I had little use for the second shed. I had however moved some old case files in there and made it the place I stored things relating to old cases. It was the sort of the thing you didn’t really want a woman you’d brought back to your house seeing. One of the things I had added though was a concrete square to the floor and built in safe. This safe was covered by the wooden flooring as well and a rug. I opened it and dropped inside the drugs. There were fewer places I knew that were safer for the narcotics and to be honest I wanted to flush them down the toilet but they could come in handy.

  When I went back into the house the dog was waiting for me at the door. She looked up at me and then put a paw to the door, which had me laughing, as even with a piece of ear missing and bandaged legs, tail and back she looked beautiful. I opened the door and led her to the car and we drove to the office. The streets eerily empty. Still having some time before Harris was due to meet me I went to a convenience store on one of the side streets that was open and bought some dog food, bowls, a leash and collar as well as some other small provisions. My new found companion however refused any such bond and walked diligently at my side.

  Sat in my office I placed the USB stick on Harris’s computer and waited for his arrival trying to decide what to call my new friend. Harris was, as usual, late and in no mood for talking as he stalked to his desk. Only when he looked up once the computer was logged on, did he notice the present for him, two full bars of chocolate and the dog staring at him quizzically.

  “This drive has a list of dates and delivery information as well as some contact details. You were also right not to put it on your computer, there were a set of passwords and protection that if you had got wrong would have fragged your crappy battered laptop,” Harris said leaning back in his chair and smashing the chocolate orange on his desk before taking out a piece.

  “And what does it say?”

  “I just told you it is just dates and schedules. Why is there a Central Asian shepherd dog in the office?” he asked pointing at the dog that tilted her head at the computer expert.

  “She’s the new agency mascot. So what are you telling me, that this is some sort of smuggling operation?”

  Rolling his eyes, he replied, “You’re the detective here, not me. If you want me to guess I’d say this was a taster offering some dates that would be useful for a contact. Now if you have finished, can I please go home?”

  “Sure go on, but Harris, please be ready because Tara expects you to be at dinner and I don’t want any problems when I come to pick you up,” I didn’t want to hassle him but he knew about our arrangements for the big day and I didn’t need any more problems over that holiday period. Being two bachelor men with no family to visit on the day it was nice that we had been invited to one of my old colleague’s home to enjoy a free meal.

  “Yes, boss,” he replied and offered me a mock salute leaving after scratching the dog behind her undamaged ear. I’d have to ask him how he knew what breed it was later.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I drove to the address that I had noted down for the Morgan family and was debating what to say or do about the drugs. I took the case on a whim and never expected to be dragged into something so extensively convoluted but having seen the files on the drive I was beginning to piece together something. As I neared the house I saw the hastily painted bed sheet hanging out of the upstairs window that read:

  WELCOME HOME DADDY

  I was surprised by that but delighted for the little girl that her father was home for the holidays. Parking the car in front of the house I carried the repaired doll in a pink glittery present bag I had bought earlier. There had been only a smattering of snow near my house but near the Morgan residence there had been a hefty fall and it had covered most of the street making it feel like something on a Christmas card as I carried my present. I stopped for a second collecting my thoughts and tried to prepare myself in case my questions brought up something awkward or dangerous. Staring at the snowman in the small garden it didn’t feel right to be about to find the source of drugs but I knew from experience crime didn’t take into account holidays.

  Knocking on the door I was greeted by
a well tanned man wearing army fatigues, “Yes can I help you?”

  “Yes hopefully. Does Felicity Morgan live here?” he nodded, “I was just checking. I’m a private detective who your daughter hired yesterday to find her lost doll that you sent her.”

  Felicity’s father looked very confused and asked, “Hold on, what doll are you talking about?”

  “The Wynter Season Force you managed to get off an American. Your wife said you sent it.”

  “I wish I could have got my hands on one for her but there aren’t that many toy shops in Afghan.”

  There was nothing in his face or in his voice that said he was lying to my experienced detective skills, “So you’re saying someone sent this to your house under your name?”

  “Hold on a second, let me get the wife,” he closed the door slightly and shouted to his wife who dutifully came to his call.

  “Oh Detective, did you find the doll?” Jennifer Morgan asked.

  I raised the bag slightly in my hand, “Yes, I was successful. I was just discussing with your husband how he didn’t send the present.”

  She turned to look up at the soldier a hand on his chest, “We saw it was from Afghanistan and it was addressed here, so I thought it was from you.”

  “Did you keep the package?” her husband asked.