RED MIST FALLING

by Richard T Green

  It was dark now. I glanced at the Rolex; just gone six. I reached for the phone, shaking fingers keying in Zana's number.

  The state I was in, maybe not the best thing right then.

  ‘I was just thinking about you, Madeline.’

  ‘Daisy's dead.’

  ‘Who… who's Daisy?’

  ‘Yeah, figured you wouldn't know her name. The young girl you butchered and left to die in conditions not even fit for a rat.’

  For a moment there was silence. ‘Your guys must have found her then.’

  I exploded. ‘Is that all you can say? No remorse, no 'I'm so sorry Madeline', no… no fucking heart…’ The words trailed away.

  Then she sounded tearful. ‘You shocked me… I didn't know what to say. Please believe me, I didn't want any of this. I told him it wasn't necessary…’

  ‘Oh come on Zana… you're the ringleader, the one who calls the shots. It must have been your call.’

  ‘Who the hell told you I was in charge?’ She sounded angry now through the tears.

  ‘That… that's what I was told.’

  ‘Then your infallible intelligence is fallible after all. I'm the coordinator, I organize the team, communicate with our superiors. The second-in-command if you want a tag. But I'm not the one in charge.’

  ‘So who is?’

  ‘Arik.’

  I let out a sarcastic laugh. ‘Might have guessed.’

  ‘He didn't tell me what they were doing until six weeks ago. It wasn't even necessary, we'd got all the information we needed through our research. But he… he's just evil.’

  She sounded genuine, like she was telling the truth. But my alcohol-influenced brain wasn't hearing her.

  ‘I don't believe you.’

  ‘Please... Madeline, you have to believe me. The argument you walked in on; it was partly about you but also because he came to tell me things weren't looking so good with Daisy. I freaked out.’

  ‘Yeah, I know all about freaking out. I’ve just seen what’s left of her.’

  She was crying hysterically now. ‘Please don't do this. Come and see me… we'll talk it through.’

  ‘Talk? That’s a fucking joke, Zana. You’re talking consists of me telling you everything and you telling me the bits you want me to know. I'm done with talking.’

  ‘You know why that is.’

  ‘I don't know anything anymore. I thought I did, now…’

  ‘Please don't walk away, Madeline. I can't do this without you.’

  I lowered the phone, threw my eyes to the ceiling and roughly wiped away the tears with the back of my hand. When I spoke, the words were slurred.

  ‘I can't have this conversation right now, Zana. I need to think.’

  ‘I love you…’

  I killed the call.

  Three times after that she called me. Three times I ignored the call, and then finally turned the phone off. And three times more I filled the brandy glass to the brim and sank every drop.

  I'd told Zana I needed to think, but the alcohol wouldn't allow it. Just past midnight I staggered to my bed while I could still make it. As I lay there feeling the room spinning around me even though my eyes were closed, images I didn't want flashed through my brain in vivid pulsating colour.

  I could see Daisy's horrific face, feel the four earth walls, and smell the damp soil as it was shovelled over me.

  And in my fogged-out mind I was holding the hand of the woman I loved, who smiled beautifully to me but suddenly felt as cold as ice.

  Chapter 52

  I woke late, my head banging. The red digits on the alarm clock said nine-thirty. I cursed myself, regretting now I'd turned to the brandy to take away the pain.

  Especially as it hadn't worked; as I stood in the shower and let the warm water wash away the remnants of my deep sleep, I felt worse than ever.

  I tried to eat a little breakfast, it stuck in my throat. I spent the next hours doing nothing useful; forcing my brain to get itself around the conflict between my head and my heart that seemed like world war three.

  World War Two lasted years without getting resolved.

  'I love you'. The last words she'd spoken. She did love me, I knew. I loved her, I knew that too. Those things weren't in doubt. It was the next question searing through my mind that didn't seem to have an answer.

  Right here, right now… was love enough?

  At four in the afternoon the DIAL phone rang.

  ‘You better get yourself down to the police station Maddie, your girlfrind's gone beserk.’

  ‘Coop?’

  ‘The last thing we need right now is Red Mist banged up by a police force who don't have a clue who she is. Go flash your badge and tell them we're taking over for fuck's sake.’

  ‘What's happened?’

  ‘Did you talk to her about Daisy?’

  The dull ache was back, ripping my gut to shreds. ‘I… kind of didn't hold back.’

  ‘Thought so. Maybe not the best approach you could have taken. Seems as soon as she got to work this morning she let Arik know how she was feeling. Smacked him with every goddam thing she could find in the lab. It didn't help he was wearing magnification glasses at the time.’

  ‘Good for her.’

  ‘Echo that. But this is a complication we could do without right now. The police were called, she got dragged off to the cells, and Arik got a free ride to the hospital.’

  ‘I hope he's in intensive care.’

  ‘Unfortunately not. They released him a couple of hours ago. His ugly face is even uglier now though.’

  ‘I'd better go rescue her.’

  ‘Hang on… you ain't heard the rest yet. A while back the cops charged her with assault and released her. But it seems she wasn't finished freaking out. She cabbed it back to work and picked up her car. They've suspended her, no surprise. Her tail got a little too close, somehow she knew who they were, and in the middle of Waterloo Bridge she stopped, dragged our man out of the car and started knocking hell out of him. He reckons she's very strong for a woman.’

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘It wouldn't have gone any further, but unfortunately for us a blue-and-yellow was passing the other way. So now she's back inside and they ain't so keen to kick her out this time.’

  ‘Fuck.’

  ‘You's using my lines again. Scott's back in the building by the way.’

  ‘How is he?’

  ‘Quiet; bit shell-shocked like the rest of us. Waiting for instructions from the top, but this is feeling more and more like the calm before the storm. Just go cool your little lady down, Maddie. Let me know how it goes.’

  Chapter 53

  I threw open the wardrobe doors, searching for the right outfit. I had to look the part to stand any chance of extracting Zana from the clutches of the law with as little fuss as possible.

  DIAL had furnished me with the means to impress Zana. Hanging there were way too many clothes, likely costing the tax-payer more than the GDP of a small country. None of them were anything close to what I would dream of wearing in normal circumstances.

  But normal circumstances were a million miles away right then.

  I dressed quickly, a white buttoned top, deep navy-coloured suit with the skirt a respectable distance below the knee, and black Jimmy Choo stilettos with a four-inch heel. Glancing at myself in the full-length mirror, I looked like an accountant.

  The things I do for Zana.

  I strode into the station wearing my no-nonsense face. That wasn’t so hard, I was in a no-nonsense mood. The desk sergeant looked me over suspiciously. He was a thick-set man, a shaved head and a mouth that naturally turned down at the edges, making everything he said look like he was sneering sarcastically. Which from the look of him, he most likely was.

  He gave me the creeps, something that actually helped my rather foul mood. ‘You have someone here…’

  I didn't get any further. Even through the doors to the nearby cells I could hear her, hammering on the door and shouting obsceniti
es.

  ‘I take it you're referring to her?’ the desk-sergeant said grimly. ‘You her brief?’

  I flashed my badge to the man, who raised his eyebrows and looked me over again. ‘If you're expecting us to release her you might be disappointed,’ he said. ‘But I can't make that call.’

  ‘Then find someone who can.’

  The sergeant threw me a disdainful stare and disappeared through a door. I glanced around; it was a depressing hole of a place, scruffy walls with a shitty-brown colour on the bottom half and once-cream paint above, which looked like it hadn't been decorated since the Ripper was terrorizing the town.

  A run of tatty metal chairs sat along one wall, bits of rubbish scattered on the floor beneath them, discarded by people who had no doubt sat and waited for interminable hours to be attended to, one way or another.

  Clearly no one gave a shit around here. God knows what the cells would be like.

  The sergeant's voice dragged me away from the morbid surroundings. ‘Chief-inspector Bullock will be with you in ten minutes or so.’

  ‘Make sure it's no longer.’

  The man looked at me like I was a criminal. ‘You're welcome to go and see if you can calm the bitch from hell down.’

  My anger flared up, but I managed to just let it show in my eyes as I stood right next to the man. ‘I would advise you, sergeant, to keep your opinions to yourself. If you don't show a little respect to someone you know nothing about, you may find your own life turning into hell.’

  The sergeant grinned sarcastically, but there was a hint of nervousness in his demeanor as he led me through the door to the cell block, and turned the key in the lock of number four. ‘She’s all yours.’

  Zana had given up letting the staff know she was there, and was now sitting quietly on the hard vinyl bench facing slightly away from me, the hood of the red cape shrouding her head. She didn't look around. My heart began to pound; she looked a pathetic, forlorn sight. I wanted to reach out and hold her tight, but that stood a pretty good chance of ruining any chance I had of getting her out of there on a professional level.

  I heard the key turn in the lock again, grateful that the desk-sergeant wasn't interested enough to stick around. We were alone.

  ‘Zana.’

  She was on her feet in a second, running towards me. ‘No!’ I moved quickly away from her, whispered, ‘Cameras.’

  She stopped, the tears running down her face. ‘I'm sorry, Madeline,’ she said.

  ‘What the hell were you thinking?’

  She turned away, I saw her head lower. ‘I…I'm falling apart. And you're the one wielding the big hammer breaking me into pieces. I told you I can't do this without you.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Then help me… please.’ The voice was meek, pleading.

  ‘I'm trying to get you out of here, but you're not making it easy. Just waiting for the boss-man. The gorilla behind the desk seemed to want me to come and calm you down.’

  ‘I'm calm now.’

  ‘Then please stay that way. It's not helping.’

  She turned to look at me, sad eyes stabbing me with their pain. ‘Please get me out of here, Madeline. If they keep me here very long it will be too late.’

  Chief-inspector Bullock sat down with me in the privacy of Interview Room One.

  ‘So what can I do for you, agent?’

  ‘I want the girl released, into my care.’

  He blew out his cheeks. A tall lanky man, he had the air of someone who had lost all faith in his fellow human beings. His hollow face looked like any ability to raise a smile had long since left him; nicotine-stained fingers on both hands confirmed to me his smoking habit was a necessary part of helping him get out of bed and make it to work each day.

  ‘You see Miss deWinter, you may be one of those faceless people who believe they keep the country safe, but I'm the guy on the front line who actually gets to clean up all the shit on a daily basis. This is my turf agent, and right now I'm seeing a bog load of shit sitting in cell number four. I can't release a prisoner I perceive as a threat to innocent folk.’

  I groaned to myself. Bullock had hit the nail on the head with his last sentence, unfortunately without knowing that keeping Zana locked up was likely to be the very cause of any danger to innocent folk.

  ‘There are things going on here you don't know and can't be told, chief-inspector. I want the girl released, right now.’

  Bullock shook his head. ‘No can do, not until I'm sure she's no risk.’

  I leaned forward, fixed a cold stare into the thin man. ‘I will take this to the top if I have to, Bullock. The very top. Do you understand me?’

  The chief-inspector sat back, raised his eyebrows. ‘Level with me, agent. Are you saying this is a matter of national security?’

  ‘Possibly even bigger than that.’

  He fixed a stare into me, clearly a well-tried and tested technique designed to break those not confident enough with their own words. I held his stare. After a full minute, he stood up. ‘Very well. I can't be assed with shit like this anyway.’

  Chapter 54

  I walked out of the station with Zana in tow, and headed quickly for the BMW.

  ‘I need your arms around me,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Get in the car; someone will be watching.’

  The tyres squealed in protest as I floored the throttle to get us out of the station car park, and drove as quickly as I dare back towards the city. I glanced at Zana, she didn't look so good.

  ‘You ok?’

  ‘I feel sick.’

  ‘We need to get you home.’

  We'd only driven another half-mile when she began to look distinctly green, asked me to stop the car. The trunk road into the city had no stopping places, I threw a left turn into suburbia, and as we headed up a small rise saw a big covered timber gateway just ahead. The gates were open. I drove through it and up a short gravel driveway. Ahead of us a beautiful medieval church stood on top of a low hill, so old it looked like it could have been a monastery way back.

  As I brought the car to a stop Zana flung open the passenger door, and ran up the wide steps towards a long row of stone arches branching off the main building. I followed her at a slow walking pace, figuring she would need a minute or so to herself.

  I found her leaning against one of the ornate arches, staring across gently sloping lawns at the lights of London stretched out in front of her. It wasn't as good a view as Dawson's Hill, but it was enough to churn my stomach as the memories came flooding back. I stood behind her, spoke quietly.

  ‘What are you seeing, Zana?’

  ‘Innocent human beings,’ she whispered, not turning round.

  ‘Are they in danger?’

  She turned to face me, her face deathly white. ‘Not if you are with me, Madeline.’

  I couldn't answer her, but the desolation on her face melted my resistance, and then somehow she was in my arms, kissing me softly with trembling lips.

  ‘I needed that so badly,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Guess I did too,’ I admitted.

  She gently stroked the hair from my face. ‘Somewhere inside the turmoil in that head of yours, can you find a little trust in me?’

  ‘I'm trying, I really am.’

  She nodded, understanding. ‘Please hurry and find it, Madeline. There’s only forty-eight hours to go.’

  ‘You mean…’

  ‘Two days from now, and one way or another this will all be over.’

  I held her tightly against me, feeling the beat of my own heart through her body as I gazed over the London skyline. ‘Does this remind you of anywhere?’ I asked her.

  ‘Do I need to answer that?’

  ‘No. And I guess I don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out Dawson's Hill is the place where the very bad thing you won't tell me about is going to happen.’

  ‘That’s where I will have to be.’

  Suddenly her eyes were boring into mine, pleading, begging without
words. ‘I can't go through with this unless you are by my side. If you are there holding my hand I can do it, and then you will know for sure just how much I love you.’ She smiled, shook her head slightly. ‘You thought I was the one who called the shots, but the harsh reality is that the way all this has panned out, it's you who is the kingpin.’

  ‘Me?’

  She nodded, her eyes misting over. ‘You. Regardless of whether you decide to trust me or leave me, the fate of a lot of people rests on your shoulders.’

  I drove her home, went up to the apartment with her but she didn't ask me to stay. We both knew I had a lot of thinking to do, a huge decision to make.

  But as I walked back to the car, yet again the time to clear my head was snatched away. The DIAL phone in my suit pocket began to try and shake itself to bits; I answered it nervously as I climbed into the car.

  ‘You get her out of jail, Maddie?’

  ‘Just left her in her apartment a minute ago. She's ok now.’

  ‘Thank fuck for that. Sorry to do this kid, but you're summonsed to HQ, right now. We got our orders from on high… and you ain't gonna like them one bit.’

  Chapter 55

  The expression on the faces of the three men in Duncan Scott's office spoke a thousand words. The man himself tried to smile as he said, 'come on in Madeline', but the drawn look on his face wasn't exactly a warm welcome.

  I knew for sure this time it was nothing to do with me.

  The boss sat behind the big desk, his hands resting on its top, each forefinger tapping nervously on the black leather.

  ‘Hi Maddie,’ Ryland Cooper smiled a greeting. Miles Courtney scowled.

  Duncan Scott cleared his throat, began to speak quietly. ‘The PM, his aides and advisors… military and god-knows-who else, have in their infinite wisdom come up with a genius solution to the problem we have been struggling with for weeks. And so the first thing I have to tell you Madeline, is that your mission to extract information from Zana has come to an end.’

  ‘But… why? No… I'm almost there, sir.’