He screamed at it, as much to block out the hellish sounds as in any hope that it might scare it off. He bawled at it till his lungs were fit to burst. Whatever McKendrick had done, he didn’t deserve to be dessert for a rodent. And he didn’t deserve to listen to it. The last tired bark left him but the damnable noise was still escaping from the blanket and molesting his mind. Then it stopped, the bump moving from McKendrick’s head and slithering towards the edge of the blanket. The rat reappeared and looked at Winter with renewed interest, sitting up and testing the air with its nose.
Its snout still quivering like jelly, it hopped off McKendrick and onto him. Winter shouted and squirmed, trying to throw it off by rocking side to side as much as he could but it easily maintained its balance and all he was doing was slowing it down a bit. He screamed at it as he realized it was heading for his knee and that it was the dried scrapes of carmine blood that was grabbing its attention. He rocked almost all the way over and, yes, managed to shake it off but it simply leapt back on again.
Winter rolled the other way but it was ready for him this time, digging its claws into his legs and holding on, getting nearer and nearer to his bloody knee. He tried going up and down and side to side, almost absently noticing that the wriggling was loosening the ties at his feet, but couldn’t shake the rodent off again. Then, its target in sight, the rat almost lazily sunk its teeth into his exposed knee and bit. The pain shot from his kneecap to his teeth and back. It was like being stabbed with a rusty knife. He was being eaten alive by a dirty rat, sharing whatever diseases it had.
He screamed again and rolled right over onto his side, sending the rat spinning onto the floor. He kicked and scrambled and rolled, desperately trying for perpetual motion in a bid to stop it sinking its teeth into him again. Being on his side made him vulnerable but the movement was saving him. The cabling was becoming looser round his legs and the more he kicked, the more he was sure he could get them off. The rat circled and jumped but he was trying to get on a bucking bronco now. As long as Winter had the energy to keep going then he could keep it off but when he stopped the rat would have him. He had to kick the cabling loose and quick.
He thrashed more, feeling it give bit by bit, his feet easing further apart until with a final shake it was off him and his legs were free. As soon as he’d rid himself of them, he rolled onto his side and heaved up unsteadily onto his feet. The rat didn’t fancy it so much once Winter was standing and tore off under the door, easily avoiding the kick Winter swung at it.
He looked down at his bleeding knee, thinking that it wasn’t crimson, it was dirty, diseased red. If he ever got out of there then he’d need to see a doctor right away. But as he looked at the still-locked door and tested the cabling on his hands to no avail, he knew it might be the least of his worries.
He paced around, again trying to shake the ties on his hands the way he’d done with his feet, but he got nowhere.
He ended up slumped back against the wall, as far away from McKendrick as he could, waiting and watching and wondering. He hadn’t been like that for long when he heard it. Faint but getting louder and closer. Footsteps. Despite all the bad news that they were probably bringing, he was glad to hear them. After so long of nothing but water and squeaks, they were somehow deafening as they neared until finally they crashed down outside the door and in the dim glow of the single remaining lamp, he could see the long shadow of human legs.
CHAPTER 48
The key turned slowly in a lock weighed down by a hundred years of rust but with a final clunk it drew back the bar and the door swung open. Rifle in hand, Monteith came in looking stern, anxious even. He seemed surprised to see Winter sitting in a different position to when he’d left and immediately looked to Winter’s feet where he saw them untied. Monteith immediately lowered the rifle till it was trained on him.
‘Turn and show me your hands. Now.’
‘Nice day at the office, dear?’ Winter asked him, paying for it with a sharp kick to his right ankle. He was really getting fed up with that.
‘I said fucking turn round.’
Winter obediently swivelled at the hips, ducking forward and to the side so Monteith could see that his hands were still firmly bound together behind him.
Monteith nodded, satisfied. It was only then that the smell from McKendrick hit him and he turned away sharply, his hand covering his nose and mouth.
‘You get used to it after a while,’ Winter told him.
Monteith looked down at the covered body, shaking his head slowly.
‘How did he die?’ Winter asked again.
‘I told you. An accident.’
‘You accidentally broke his neck?’
‘He went for me. The crazy bastard leapt at me when I had the gun on him. I didn’t want to kill him, wouldn’t have shot him. Not dead anyway. I might even have . . .’
‘Let him carry on?’
‘No. Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. It didn’t come to that. He got both hands on the gun and it became him or me. He ended up in front of me with the rifle across his neck, both of us holding it, grappling for it. I tried to pull it into his throat just to choke him a bit but then I twisted it and . . . there was a crack and he slumped. I didn’t mean to kill him.’
‘So you took over where he left off?’
Monteith ignored him.
‘How many did you kill, Monteith? Eight? Oh and you shot an innocent cop too. That make you proud?’
‘Shut the fuck up, Winter.’
‘You said that McKendrick should have been proud of what he did so it should be the same with you. Are you proud? Are you?’
‘I told you to shut it.’
He was getting louder, angrier.
‘Come on, Monteith. It’s just you and me. You said McKendrick should have got a medal for what he did. He did something when everyone else did fuck all, that’s what you said. So you did it too, didn’t you?’
‘You’re talking yourself into the grave, you stupid bastard. And there was no innocent cop. Your arsehole mate Addison was guilty as sin. I’ve never taken a dirty fiver in all the years I’ve worked and the idea of cops working for these bastards makes me want to puke. They are no better than the scumbags that pay them.’
Winter tensed his wrists against the cabling ties, wishing they’d been loosened so he could punch him in the face.
‘Addy wasn’t dirty. You’ve got nothing to prove that because there isn’t anything. What about Forrest and McConachie?’
‘No doubt about it. They were up to their eyes in it. Those four scumbags in the warehouse at Dixon Blazes? They couldn’t wait to talk about the dirty cops. Full of it they were. Wanted to save their necks and gave chapter and verse about how Forrest had been taking backhanders for years and turned a blind eye any time he was told to. He was well known in the saunas that Caldwell owned, got freebies from the girls in there. I’d heard that about him so it all fitted. They said that bitch McConachie had been tipping off Gilmartin whenever we tried to move against them and she had a pile of cash in her bank account.’
‘And Addy?’
‘Your mate’s number was in Sturrock’s phone. Why the fuck do you think that was there?’
‘That’s it? That’s all you had?’
‘It’s all I needed.’
‘Bollocks it is.’
Winter swallowed hard before what he was going to say next.
‘And what about Rachel? Rachel Narey.’
Monteith looked at him hard.
‘What about her? How did you know about her?’
‘I saw the photograph you’d taken. The one outside her flat.’
‘I’d have to wonder how you knew that was her flat but yeah, I took that. She was on the short list.’
Winter tried to keep a lid on his temper but it was becoming impossible.
‘McKendrick’s list?’
‘No, mine. I found her name listed in Sturrock’s phone as well. I’ve been keeping my eye on her. Not a hard thing to do, she’s
tasty. If she wasn’t shagging drug dealers, I wouldn’t mind giving her one myself.’
That did it.
Winter got to his feet. Ignoring Monteith’s warning shout, he pulled one leg under the other and let his weight fall to the side till he was able to push himself up. Unsteady but upright, he was facing Monteith eye to eye for the first time and the cop didn’t like it.
He took half a step back. It wasn’t much but it was the first sign of a defensive move on his part, the first time that he’d displayed anything other than full confidence in what he was doing. Maybe he realized that too because he immediately came forward again to where he’d been.
‘Get back on the floor. Get back on the fucking floor.’
Winter stood his ground.
‘Fuck you, Monteith.’
‘What makes you so sure I won’t just put a bullet between your eyes, Winter? It is a hell of a lot closer than this thing is designed for but you shouldn’t be in any doubt that it can do the job. From here it would blow your head off.’
‘And you can do the job, right? Maybe you will. But the ones you killed deserved it, didn’t they?’
Winter took a couple of steps towards Monteith and was pleased to see him backing away towards the open door.
‘Stop right there, Winter. Stop now. You stop or I will fucking kill you here and now.’
‘I don’t think you’ve got the balls for it, Monteith.’
‘You know nothing, Winter. Nothing. Not about what I’m capable of or what the fuck happens in the real world. Talking about whether I’m proud when you don’t have the first clue about what needed to be done.’
‘So tell me.’
‘I’m going to kill you right now.’
‘I told you. I’ll take my chances.’
‘You’re an arsehole. Yeah I’m proud. I’ve got every fucking right to be proud. I’ve done more in the last week than in fifteen years in this job. Glasgow’s a better place for it and that’s what I’m paid to do.’
‘You’re not paid to kill.’
He aimed straight at Winter’s head, his eyes blazing with anger.
‘Don’t you dare fucking tell me what I’m paid for. Faichney, Houston, Riddle, Honeyman. Those cunts had bled this town dry for years.’
‘So how did you get them into the warehouse?’
‘Easy. I’m a cop, remember. I rounded them up and had some fun with them. Suddenly I had what every cop in the city wanted. A licence to take out these bastards with no comeback. However many of them I removed, they’d all be chalked up to McKendrick’s slate. Turned out these guys weren’t so untouchable after all.’
‘So you killed them.’
‘Yes, I killed them. I took his list and I followed it through. I did what I could do, what I had to do. Those scumbags had to go. Every one of them has to go to give people a chance to get out from under. It’s like cutting the heads off the hydra but that’s the way it’s got to be. You cut off as many fucking heads as you can then one day the new heads will stop popping up.’
‘So who does that make you? Hercules or was it Jason and his fucking Argonauts? Who appointed you the head cutter?’
‘Opportunity, that’s who. McKendrick set it all up, put it on a plate for me. You’ve seen what they do, the misery they cause. It was my job. You understand, right?’
‘No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand how someone whose job is to uphold the law can take it into his own hands and kill people. Murder people. It makes you as bad as Caldwell, Quinn, Riddle, the lot of them.’
‘I didn’t kill Riddle. I’m sure that was Terry Gilmartin. He shot him for firebombing his place and killing his son. He just did it before I could. But you’re wrong, it’s not the same at all. They deserved everything they got.’
‘You’re a murderer, Monteith.’
Winter took another step towards him and Monteith edged further back.
‘Yeah? Well if I am then one more won’t make any difference.’
Winter kept walking.
‘You’re a dead man, Winter.’
‘But I’m innocent, Monteith. Done nothing. Just like Addy didn’t. Just like Rachel.’
Monteith hesitated, the rifle barrel quivering.
‘You really want to kill an innocent man?’
‘No, you . . . no. But it’s too late. I told you to stop. Told you what it would mean.’
‘It doesn’t have to mean that. Hand yourself in to the cops.’
‘No! I can’t stop now. There’s more to be done.’
‘You better kill me then.’
‘Don’t think I won’t.’
His voice was cracking but his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. Winter saw him standing stiller, stiffer, his finger caressing the trigger. Primed.
Winter took another step forward.
Monteith’s face contorted as he squeezed his finger, his eyes closing briefly as he pulled the trigger. When he opened them again, he just looked surprised. He quickly tried to fire again, then again. He looked down at the rifle dumbfounded as if he just couldn’t understand why it hadn’t fired and why Winter wasn’t dead.
‘No bullets,’ said the woman’s voice behind him.
Monteith whirled to see Narey and Danny Neilson standing there, staring at him intently. He turned the gun on them and instinctively fired off a shot at each. Nothing.
‘We took them out of the rifle while you were off pretending to be the good cop,’ she continued. ‘You could have found a better place to hide it. It took us about two minutes to find it.’
‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ Monteith shouted at them.
‘I would have thought that was fairly obvious even for a retard like you,’ Danny grinned at him. ‘Tony’s getting out of here and you’re going to jail.’
‘No. No way. That’s not going to happen.’
‘Oh it will happen all right,’ said Narey evenly. ‘Your hands all over that gun, we are both witnesses and so is that camera up there.’
She pointed to the wall where the remote was busily recording everything through the frame of the storage-room door.
‘And don’t even think of destroying it,’ Winter told him. ‘The whole lot’s already being relayed via my laptop. You’re officially fucked.’
Suddenly, Monteith rushed forward and switched the rifle quickly so that he was holding the barrel and swung the butt viciously, catching Danny on the shoulder and sending him crashing back towards Narey, sending them both to the ground. Monteith raised the rifle again, this time looking to smash it down towards Narey.
Winter ran forward, hands still tied and hurled himself at Monteith, barging hard into his back and knocking the rifle from his hands. It flew a few feet away and he scrambled across from where he’d fallen and threw himself over it as if it was a grenade about to explode.
Monteith screamed abuse at him then, seeing Danny and Narey starting to get up, he turned and ran off to the left where he disappeared into the darkness of a corridor. They were both quickly on their feet, Narey shooing Danny away when he tried to check she was okay. Instead she made Winter turn and released the cabling, freeing his hands.
‘You could have done that when you first came into the room,’ he told her, the three of them immediately heading in the direction Monteith went, Narey leading the way as she was the one with a torch.
‘Oh stop moaning,’ she retorted. ‘I told you he’d check as soon as he saw your feet were untied. Did you manage to look as shit-scared when he came in as you did when it was us?’
‘Very funny. Obviously when I saw the shadow outside the door before I thought it was him. Can’t tell you how pleased I am to see it was you two.’
‘Me too,’ she said softly, looking at him with real worry in her eyes.
‘Get a fucking move on you two,’ snarled Danny. ‘There will be time enough for that later. Let’s catch this guy.’
‘He won’t be getting far, Danny,’ answered Narey.
‘Yeah well let’s make
sure of it,’ he puffed.
The corridor was narrow and they jogged along as quickly as they could in single file, picking out footsteps carefully, treading over loose concrete and trying to avoid the potholes and steps, all the while listening for the noise of Monteith up ahead.
‘Uncle Danny . . .’
‘What?’
‘Thanks.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ he breathed heavily. ‘That’s what I’m there for.’
‘And thanks for taking care of Rachel,’ Winter added.
Danny burst out laughing despite the exertion of running.
‘Take care of her? Christ, son, that woman of yours doesn’t need looking after. It’s you that needs the babysitter. Just as well she took the ammo out of that rifle for you. Now shut the fuck up, I’m too old to run and talk at the same time.’
They suddenly came to the end of the corridor and found it led off in two directions. They stood for a moment, Narey shining the torch as far as she could in each direction, and listened for the sound of him. Monteith must have known they’d have the choice to make though and had stopped or slowed so as not to make any noise. There was just running water and there in the distance the abrupt rumble of a train. They shrugged at each other and Winter was about to guess one way or the other but there, off to the left, a clang that was so close it had to be Monteith.
Narey took off in front again, the others struggling to keep up because she was far fitter than they were.
‘We took a few wrong turns when we came down here after you,’ panted Danny, obviously struggling now. ‘We followed you to the corner of Jamaica Street but then lost you. By the time we went into the lane you had disappeared into thin air. It took us a bit to find the opening and we had no idea where it would take us.
‘We must have taken a few wrong turns when we got down here too. It’s a big old place. How the hell did you find it anyway?’
‘You remember my pal Jamie Rowan?’
‘Cheeky wee toerag with long hair?’
‘That’s him,’ Winter replied. ‘He told me about it years ago but I never had a reason to check it out. Then I found out that Ryan McKendrick was always going on to his mother about Grahamston.’
Snapshot Page 33
