Living Dangerously

by Dan Latus

  He told me.

  ‘Right. I’m coming for him. Don’t you get in the way, James. There’s no need for you to be involved.’

  Any more than he was already, I meant. I didn’t want him to be collateral damage.

  ‘Now,’ I said, in answer to his next question. ‘I’m coming now.’

  ‘You’re going there?’ Senga said.

  I nodded and stood up to put on my jacket. ‘Logan’s boys are having a feeding frenzy in the kitchen, apparently. So I’m going to try to get Tom out while they’re at it.’

  ‘I’ll come with you.’

  ‘Uh, uh!’ I shook my head. ‘You’ll only get in the way. Sorry, but I don’t want to have to worry about you, as well as Tom.’

  She took a moment to swallow her indignation. Then she said, ‘If you get him out, what then?’

  ‘When I get him out, I’ll bring him back here. After that, we’ll have to see.’

  She nodded, as if at last I was making sense.

  ‘Then Tom can tell you himself what it’s really all about,’ she said.

  ‘That would be nice.’ I gave her a hard look. ‘I’ll look forward to that.’

  But she disconcerted me by suddenly leaning forward and brushing my cheek with her lips. ‘Take care!’ she said, for all the world as if she meant it.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The snow in the street was up to my knees now, and it was still coming down heavily. I trudged through it as fast as I could, head ducked down, shielding my eyes against the icy wind driving the snow into my face. Nobody else was about, and the only lights came from above the entrance to The Shepherd’s Rest.

  I turned into the narrow alley separating the pub from the nearest house and made my way towards the back of the building, looking for the fire escape. Taking care on the slippery metal steps, I climbed to the emergency door on the second floor. As James had promised, it was ajar. I placed my fingers in the crack, eased the door open and slipped inside the building. Then I paused for a few moments, heart pounding, while I secured the door behind me and wiped the melting snow from my face and eyes.

  The corridor was bathed in emergency light only. James had said that no rooms were occupied on that floor. I could hear plenty of noise coming from downstairs, though. Party time, it sounded like. The uproar suited me fine. Any sounds I made were not going to be noticed. I just hoped James was coping.

  I made quickly for the stairs and dropped down to the floor below. Three of the rooms towards the end of the corridor had light spilling from open doors. One of them, according to James, contained Tom and a guard. Probably the end one, the room furthest from the staircase.

  A quick glance into the first open doorway revealed an empty room. I moved on. It was the same with the second room. Tom had to be in the next one. I glanced quickly round the doorway and saw a lone figure curled up on the bed, encased in a quilt.

  I stepped inside and glanced around. Confirming that there was no one else there, I made for the bed. As I reached it, Tom suddenly sat up, eyes wide open. I slapped a hand across his mouth and shook my head to warn him to be quiet.

  Then I heard the sound of a cistern flushing. My pulse shot up towards the ceiling. The guard!

  I swung round and stepped away from Tom, my eyes on the door that had to lead to an en suite bathroom. As it started to open outwards, I slipped behind it, hugging the wall.

  One of the biggest men I had ever seen came out of the bathroom. He seemed to fill the entire space. But it was no time to marvel or wait for him to see me. I stepped forward and stamped heavily on the back of his legs.

  With a cry of shock he crumpled to the floor. I hit him on the head, but not hard enough. He looked over his shoulder and began to get up. A gun appeared in his hand. That was enough for me. I kicked him in the head with all the power I could muster, and he dropped with a heavy crash, flat out.

  ‘Come on, Tom!’ I snapped. ‘Get up.’

  The poor lad was dazed. He stared at me, bewildered. I reached for him and pulled him upright. ‘Now, Tom! We’ve got to go.’

  I reached for his jacket on a chair beside the bed and wrapped it round him. ‘Come on, son!’

  He took some shifting but somehow I got him moving. I hustled him into the corridor and along to the staircase. We paused there for a moment while I checked. No one was in sight. I pushed Tom up the stairs.

  We reached the second floor emergency door and got through it without a problem. I closed the door gently. Then I steered Tom down the fire escape, which was a bit tricky in the conditions. Cold, wet, slippery metal, with a coating of icy snow. But we made it without falling flat on our faces.

  Grabbing Tom by the arm, I hustled him along the street, doing my best to erase our footprints as we went. We reached the cottage and I pushed Tom inside. Then I shut and locked the door with an almost overpowering sense of relief. For a moment I sagged against the wall while I caught my breath and waited for my pulse to return to something like normal.

  ‘Here you are!’ Senga called, coming down the stairs.

  That was enough to make me rally and straighten up. I pushed Tom into her arms.

  Warmth, coffee and familiar, friendly faces all helped bring the lad round.

  ‘Where’s this?’ he asked as Senga led him through to the kitchen.

  ‘Somewhere safe,’ she said.

  I had my doubts about that, but I kept them to myself.

  ‘Was I ever glad to see you!’ he confided over his shoulder to me, as if we were the best of friends.

  ‘I’ll bet.’

  I felt like kicking him up the backside, but it wasn’t the time for that. Besides, he’d suffered enough already. He didn’t really need me to dump on him as well.

  We had a cup of coffee while we warmed up, wound down and swapped stories. Then I suggested to Senga that we took turns to grab a couple of hours’ rest each. She volunteered to take the first watch. Tom was excluded from the discussion. Apart from him not being up to it, I just didn’t trust him. It would be a serious shock to me if he ever did the right thing.

  ‘Wake me in a couple of hours,’ I told Senga.

  She nodded.

  I flopped onto the bed in the room next to Julie’s and must have gone to sleep more or less immediately.

  I woke up reluctantly.

  ‘It’s time, Frank,’ Senga whispered.

  ‘What time?’

  ‘Five. You said to …’

  ‘Thanks. Now you try to get some sleep.’

  ‘I don’t think I can.’

  ‘Just rest, then. You need it. Where’s Tom?’

  ‘With Julie. They’re both asleep.’

  I nodded and got up. Senga lay down.

  ‘Anything happening out there?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  I made some coffee and took it to the window in the living room. If anything, it was even darker outside now. The lights were out at the pub. The snow had stopped. Nothing was moving. I stood drinking my coffee, thinking about the day to come.

  Our isolation wasn’t going to end soon; that much was clear. Even if no more snow came, it would be many hours before the ploughs could cut a way through the drifts on the moor. So nobody was going to get in or out of the village for some time. We would have to keep our heads down and try to evade Logan’s people somehow.

  I sighed. It threatened to be a long day, with no certainty of outcome.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Big Cyril staggered into the doorway, propping himself up against the wall with one hand. Blue swore and jumped to his feet, scattering crockery.

  ‘Steady!’ Eddie cried as plates of bacon and egg cascaded over him. Then he turned and gasped as he saw what Blue was looking at.

  ‘What happened?’ Blue demanded.

  ‘The kid got away,’ Big Cyril said.

  ‘How long ago?’

  Big Cyril shook his head and promptly grimaced, regretting the movement. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘Not long, though. Half an
hour, max.’

  ‘The kid did this to you?’ Blue asked with incredulity.

  ‘Not the kid. Someone else. I went for a slash. When I came out of the bathroom he was behind the door, waiting for me.’

  ‘Who was he?’

  ‘No idea. I didn’t really see him.’ Big Cyril looked longingly at the table where the rest of them were eating. ‘Anything left?’

  Blue studied him for a moment, thinking. Then he shrugged and said, ‘Help yourself.’

  The others made way for Big Cyril. Blue thought it through a bit more. So someone had helped the kid get away? Whoever it was, he had some balls, taking on Big Cyril – and besting him. He had no idea who it could have been, but they’d better find him fast – and get the kid back.

  Blue found the landlord in his office. ‘You said there was nobody else here?’

  ‘That’s right,’ James said, looking puzzled. ‘There isn’t.’

  ‘No guests, no staff – nobody?’

  ‘Nobody else at all,’ James said. ‘Just me and you lot. Why? What’s on your mind?’

  ‘Somebody just jumped one of my men and beat him up, and then took the young lad we were looking after.’

  James shook his head and looked sceptical. ‘You’re having a laugh!’

  ‘You sure there’s no one else around?’ Blue asked, giving him a cold eye.

  ‘If there is, I’ve never seen him – or her.’

  Maybe, Blue thought. Maybe not. ‘For your sake, that had better be true,’ he said. ‘We’re going to search the place. You come with me, and bring the key to every room.’

  The search didn’t take long – it wasn’t a big building. They found nobody. All they found was evidence of how the kid and whoever had helped him got out.

  ‘This door normally kept shut?’ Blue asked, studying the emergency door on the second floor.

  ‘Absolutely.’

  The wind was whistling through a slight gap around the edges. James took hold of the bar and pulled the door properly shut. Blue opened it again and peered out. He could see the snow had been disturbed on the fire escape. Someone had been out there not long ago.

  ‘This is a one-way door,’ he said, studying the mechanism. ‘It can only be opened from the inside, right?’

  ‘That’s right,’ James agreed. ‘It has to be that way. It’s just an emergency door, leading to the fire escape.’

  Blue slammed the door shut again. ‘So now we know how they got out.’

  ‘And it’s easy enough to get in,’ James said with a shrug. ‘The front door’s been open all night.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Blue said thoughtfully.

  ‘You know it has. Are we done here?’

  ‘For the moment.’

  Blue turned to lead the way back to the kitchen.

  ‘I was wondering,’ James said, ‘how did you get the name Blue? It’s a funny nickname.’

  ‘Keep wondering,’ Blue said coldly.

  Back in the kitchen, he announced the plan.

  ‘Whoever hit Big Cyril and helped the kid get away, they haven’t gone far. They can’t have got out of the village even. So we’ll grab some sleep now, and in the morning we’ll start looking for them.’

  ‘They could be anywhere,’ Manny complained.

  ‘How many houses are there in the village?’ Blue said sharply. ‘Twenty? Thirty, at the most. We’ll search them all. They won’t be hard to find.’

  He turned to James. ‘Give me your mobile.’

  ‘My phone? What for? I need it.’

  ‘No, you don’t.’ Blue stared hard at him. ‘Where is it? I won’t ask you again.’

  Reluctantly, James said, ‘It’s in the office.’

  ‘Go and get it. Eddie, go with him. If he gives you any trouble, shoot him.’

  The wraps were off now, Blue thought grimly. No more Mr Nice Guy. Along with that went the need to prevent news getting out of the village.

  The failure of the landline system was a godsend, in that sense. It meant regular phones and computers were out of operation. That left mobiles. Bloody mobiles! It was a pity they’d ever been invented. He shook his head and sighed. They would just have to gather them all in. Then his own mobile vibrated. He took it out, frowned at the screen and answered.

  ‘Monsieur Bleu?’ a familiar voice demanded.

  He walked away from the others as he began responding in French to the queries he had been anticipating for some time.

  Manny raised his eyebrows when he caught Eddie’s eye. Eddie just shrugged and looked away. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t even want to know.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The snow really did seem to have stopped. It was hard to be sure now the whole village was without lights, but it was no longer swirling past the window. I sat waiting, wondering what Logan’s men would do next. It was anybody’s guess. Probably they wouldn’t decide themselves until morning, but they would know they had to move quickly. They couldn’t afford to be here still when the emergency services broke through the snow drifts, bringing the police with them.

  My phone began to growl and vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen before I answered it.

  ‘Yes, Bill?’

  ‘Are you coping?’

  ‘Just about. I’ve got Tom Steele away from Logan’s gang. Now we’re all together in a cottage in the village. We’ll be OK till daylight, I think. But I don’t know after that.’

  ‘There’s no way you can get out?’

  ‘None at all. It’s very cold and the snow’s really deep. We’re a long way from anywhere else, as well. Ten, maybe twenty miles. We wouldn’t last long or get far on foot. I’d probably be able to manage myself, but not with Tom and the two women.’

  ‘Well, you’re going to have to hang on for a while yet,’ Bill said. ‘Colleagues in Northumberland tell me the ploughs are working on the road overnight but they don’t expect to get through to the village much before midday.’

  I grimaced.

  ‘What do you think? Can you manage?’

  ‘I hope so – somehow.’

  ‘You’ll have to. That’s all there is to it. The emergency services are fully stretched all over the north of England. I don’t even like to think about Scotland. Fire and rescue, ambulances, councils … But the police will be there as soon as the ploughs break through. I’ve been assured of that.’

  ‘Tell them they’ll need an armed response unit. Logan has four or five men with him, and I’m pretty sure they’re all armed.’

  ‘Understood.’

  Bill was quiet for a moment. Then he said, ‘I’m involved in this myself now, as you know, because of the attack on the Steele house in Marton. The Chief has told me to liaise with the Northumbrian Force, and do whatever it takes.’

  ‘Good.’

  There was some comfort in the knowledge that Bill was involved. It gave me a boost.

  ‘I’ve not had much time to look into things down here,’ he added, ‘but there’s something very odd about the Steeles’ situation.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘For a start, you were right. Sources tell me Steele had some sort of business dealing with Logan before the trouble broke out.’

  ‘Before Logan’s son was killed, you mean?’

  ‘Yes. Then it went pear-shaped, all of a sudden.’

  ‘And Logan really is a big-time criminal? You’ve confirmed that?’

  ‘Yes. He’s a career criminal. The law hasn’t been able to catch up with him yet, but there isn’t any doubt about that. He’s been lucky. He’s been thumbing his nose at the Met for many years, aided by expensive lawyers. I still can’t understand why Steele would be involved with him.’

  ‘Me neither. Any idea what their shared interests are?’

  ‘None at all. But I’m working on it.’

  ‘I’ve got a new name for you to look up, Bill – Blue. The guy in charge of Logan’s gang in the field is called Blue.’

  ‘Unusual name.’
/>
  ‘Yeah. But that’s all he ever gets called, apparently. He’s fortyish, black hair, strong build, and has a commanding presence. Ideal leadership figure, in fact.’

  ‘It sounds like you’ve met him,’ Bill said cheerfully.

  ‘I have. He and a bunch of his thugs paid me a visit before I left Risky Point. They warned me off getting involved.’

  ‘You should have listened to them.’

  ‘I’ve thought that myself.’

  There was a brooding silence. Then he rang off, leaving me to ponder another of life’s little mysteries. Why hadn’t I taken Blue’s advice?

  If I’d known then of Steele’s involvement with Logan I might well have done. In fact, I would have turned Josh down in the first place. But it was too late for that now. If we all got out of this village safely, that would be the time to think again. My commitment to the Steeles wasn’t open-ended.

  When I turned back to the window I realized that something was changing out there. The blackness was fading to dark grey. I could see the outline of buildings across the street now. I even fancied I could make out the bulk of the hotel a little further away in the gloom. Another hour and things might start to happen.

  ‘Anything going on?’ a quiet voice behind me asked.

  ‘No, nothing. You shouldn’t do that,’ I added. ‘Creeping up on people can get you shot.’

  ‘Is that what I did? Creep up on you?’

  I heard a low chuckle and then a hand was placed lightly on my shoulder. Another moment and fingers massaged my neck.

  ‘Mm! Feels good.’

  She did it a minute or two longer and then stepped in front of me to peer through the window. ‘It’s getting light.’

  I nodded.

  She pulled up a chair and sat beside me. Together, we watched the street. It looked eerie out there, as the world began to flood with a ghostly pale light. The full impact of last night’s blizzard was becoming apparent now. The snow lay deep on the ground and it had been piled high by the wind against the sides of buildings. The gable end of one house was plastered with it, all the way up to the eaves.

  ‘It looks so beautiful,’ Senga said.

  I nodded. She was right. It did.

  ‘Even to a non-artist,’ I said. ‘Cold and lonely, and beautiful.’

  She looked at me and smiled. ‘Jac said to be careful with you, that you’re not all you seem. The apparent modesty is a performance, she said. You’re more substantial than you appear on first acquaintance. More sensitive, too.’