On Borrowed Time

by Solomon Carter

  “You’re on form, Dan.”

  “You’ve still got the cool Vulcan logic thing going on, Eva. You’re just stressed out, that’s all. And who wouldn’t be in your position?”

  “But I need more than high stress levels to get me out of this. I need a plan. Maybe the best plan I’ve ever had.”

  “And you need to make sure Jess doesn’t involve us with that nutcase vigilante again. He might think he’s a ninja, but that guy is going to get someone killed.”

  “We’ve been through all that, believe me. It’s one of the reasons Jess decided to leave the agency.”

  “Jess is leaving?”

  “She says it’s a trust issue. She says that I don’t trust her anymore.”

  “Is she right?”

  Eva bit her lip “I trust her. Kind of. But in my position kind of isn’t good enough.”

  Dan nodded.

  “Okay. Time to engage that logical brain. You’re still in control here, don’t forget that, so what are you going to do?”

  Eva was in control? Of what exactly? Eva shifted onto the edge of the bed and peered out of the hotel window at the traffic rushing by. Even here with no one knowing who she was, she didn’t feel safe.

  “I’ve got enough money now to start again. If I sell the flat and the office I could go abroad, but what kind of life would that be? I’d be on the run wherever I went, even if they didn’t even follow me. I’d be looking over my shoulder my whole life.”

  “So you’re not running. I never thought you would,” said Dan.

  She looked over at Dan. Her heart started thudding as she began to think of her options.

  “First off, I’m going to do what I always do, and map out this situation. I’m missing something here.”

  “Go on.”

  “But if Gillespie wants to pin the blame on me for everything that just happened, I’m not going to let him get away with that. I was almost a victim in this mess too. He needs to be told the truth about Kendra, the photograph, everything.”

  “You want to visit Brian again? I’m think that’s an even worse idea this time round.”

  “Maybe I do too, Dan. I admit it, I’m scared. But not just scared, Dan. I need to see the full picture. There has to be more to this than meets the eye.”

  Dan passed her a cup of instant coffee, and steam from the cup rose up under her nose. She stood and drew the blind across the view of the traffic. “Just in case,” she sighed. She couldn’t live the rest of her life like this. Right now her priority was finding a plan. One way or another the assassin had to be stopped, permanently. Quickly too. If not, Eva knew it would be her who got stopped first.

  Three

  Eva decided a girl could never be too careful. Before sunrise she left the hotel and planned another hotel to say in. She stayed away from the office and worked out of town. It wasn’t even safe to be seen in her distinctive red Alfa, but if she swapped it in for a plain rental, the replacement would have been pretty easy to track down through credit card orders and model type. The best decision Eva could come up with was use her own car sparingly and keep a low profile. So far she’d made it through another whole day alive and in one piece. There had been no sign of any assassin or leather clad shooters on motorbikes. Eva wondered whether they just wanted to scare her. Maybe that was it. They would just send fake assassins and people in masks to scare the crap out of her every few weeks and that would be enough to ruin her life. But Eva knew she was kidding herself. They didn’t mean to simply upset her. Gillespie intended to kill her. It was like he blamed Eva for pulling the trigger he himself had pulled against Maggie Gillespie. That was supposing he did it, of course. It was a rare thought, but not everything made sense yet. Not all the dots were aligning. If she lived long enough, Eva was determined to make it all align just right. Discovering who her enemy was, confronting them was as great a desire as she had ever known. She wanted to face them and scream all her angst at them. And then maybe she would inflict a little of the pain on them which they had inflicted on her.

  So far today she’d spoken with Mr Greer and had mentioned in passing that she’d had some trouble outside his offices, and he wasn’t even aware of it. Maybe the caretaker had filled the bullet divots with tarmac already. Matters of life and death were that, only for the people between the crosshairs, so it seemed. Of course, when the old man seemed oblivious, she didn’t give him the whole story. The old boy only wanted his fraud case fixed, so Eva listened, said yes at the right intervals, and sounded as interested as she could. But she wasn’t interested. Not now. But she tried, because another problem of this whole thing was that it was going to destroy her business all over again – if she let it. In the evening, in the half comfort of a tub chair in her hotel room, she called Jess. Tonight’s hotel was the Summer Meadow over by the airport. She ordered a room service meal along with a bottle of white wine and a mineral water. A girl needed her vices more than ever at a time like this.

  “Hi Jess. How are you?” said Eva, a little more guarded than in the old days. Things were getting complicated.

  “Mostly okay. What about you?”

  “Oh. Pretty shit, as you’d expect. Apart from the hotel room. This one’s pretty nice.”

  “See. Having a killer after you is not all bad.”

  Eva smiled. The girl still had some of the attitude she used to love.

  “True. Had any ideas on Brian Gillespie Or on how I could approach this?”

  “No.”

  “Come on, of course you have. You always had an opinion, Jess.”

  “Yeah. I did. But you didn’t always like them.”

  “This is life or death, Jess. I am relying on your brain to help me here.”

  “I know. The easiest thing would be to stay low. But you can only do that for so long, right?”

  “I’m doing that already, Jess.”

  “So, the next thing is to contact Gillespie, and ask him why the hell he is doing this to you.”

  “And what would it achieve?”

  “You think it’s Bad Boy Brian but you’re not 100% sure, are you?”

  “Only because of not seeing the full evidence stacked against him, Jess. But to be honest, probability says it’s him.”

  “I know, of course it does. But that’s 99% probability. Not a 100% certainty.”

  “Those two ideas are pretty binary, Jess. Anything else you’d recommend that might work?”

  “From my list of possibilities: Hide and wait for the shooter and shoot them first. Fly to South America and live happily ever after in the Rainforest.”

  “Were those two separate ideas, or was that part one and part two?”

  “Maybe you could do both. That’s a new twist.”

  “Thank you, Jess. But I think I’ll have to keep working on it.”

  “Protective custody? Police protection. That’s another option. I’m sure Gary Rowntree would volunteer personally for that assignment.”

  “In the highest criminal circles, being under police protection is tantamount to advertising your address in the Sunday papers. I’ll skip it thanks.”

  “Nope. Not my favourite, either.”

  They chuckled awkwardly, followed by a moment of silence. Eva still had things to say, and she knew Jess still had things to get off her chest. But did she want to hear that tonight? Maybe there was no choice.

  “Jess. That vigilante guy…”

  “Here we go again…”

  “Jess. Are you still in touch with him?”

  “We’re not dating if that’s what you mean. But if I had to I could get hold of him, yes…”

  “Fine. I know we’ve been through this, but promise me. In my current situation please do not involve that guy at all. He’s now a fugitive from the law.”

  “And he’s innocent as you well know!”

  “He is innocent of killing Maggie Gillespie, and the police will see that in time. But he is a rogue element I don’t need in my life right now. I need people close to me who I can
trust…”

  “You won’t want me then, will you?”

  “Jess!”

  “Because I asked that guy to try and save your arse from the stupid bloody situation you got yourself into. I did it to help you, Eva! Don’t you see that? And the reason you’re in this situation is because you got into that one. For God’s sake whose fault is it? Is it Simon’s? Is it mine?”

  “Simon? You know his name?”

  “No. No, I don’t. But you probably don’t believe me about that, either. Listen, Eva. You just said my ideas to help you were rubbish.”

  “No I didn’t, Jess.”

  “So I misheard you. Now there’s a surprise. I’m making it up. I’m unreliable. Untrustworthy. I’ve got a bad attitude. Just exactly what else is wrong with me, Eva? You know I love you and respect you and I’m rooting for you to get out of this bloody hole you’ve dug for yourself, but that’s it. I’m out of here.”

  “Jess, you already resigned. You can’t leave twice.”

  “And now you can stick your notice period. I can’t stand another month of this. I’m out now. You’re better off without me, right? So let’s leave it there. Good luck, Eva. And believe it or not, I mean that.”

  The phone went dead. And Eva swallowed on the aching hollow in her throat. A friend was leaving her just when she needed one most. Life wasn’t easy and Eva felt she understood it less and less. Eva didn’t really fancy her dinner, but managed to put half of it away, yet she made sure she drank every single drop of her dry white wine. She wanted more, but for safety’s sake, she kept herself to one bottle. At eleven forty, Eva switched off the 24 hour television news and struggled to block the phone call with Jess out of her mind. A long while later she fell asleep.

  Noise burst into the blackness of her slumber and made itself more obvious by the pregnant silence which followed. Eva’s eyes flicked open. She stayed motionless. The noise had been a dull thud, and then a hasty silence. Whoever made the noise was definitely regretting it. Was the noise outside? Probably, but it sounded close by. It was an internal kind of noise, softer and nearer than sound from the car park would have been. She processed that. She breathed quietly, and heard a new noise. Outside the door. The door bumped gently against the jamb as if someone was pressing against it. Yes, she could feel the silence hiding their presence, but she felt their adrenaline. Now Eva moved lithely through the silk sheets. Stupid, stupid girl. She should have brought her gun. Why didn’t she bring her gun? Why didn’t she insist on Dan staying with her? Because of optimism… because of bravado… what did it matter now? She had no choice but to deal with the consequences. Eva slid out of the bed quickly and waited. Yes, they were outside. It was real. The fish-eye lens into the corridor should have been a dot of light, but it was obscured by a presence beyond the glass. Eva wondered what to do. She remembered her knife and fork. They were all she had to defend her life. She snatched a breath and crawled through the dark and snatched up her cutlery from the desk, then ducked down and hid beside her bed. As her shoulder pressed to the floor, she felt the room air change. The door gently clunked and pressed inward. The intruder was inside...

  They were silent, but she could feel them moving. It was in the way their bodies pushed the conditioned air around. She had seen two figures in Rendon so had to be prepared for two now. Her heart was beating so loud she hoped they wouldn’t hear it. On the other side of the bed, the sheets were scraped by an unknown ankle. It was a divan type bed, one with a solid bottom, so there was no opportunity to hide beneath and attack from below. She would have to stay vulnerable, pressed into the corner between the bed and the floor on the window side. But if she was going to survive she would soon have to pick her moment. The moment came. They pressed against the bed and it shifted. They knew the bed was empty now. Eva counted in her head, pacing out the time to defend herself…one…two…three…four…five… in the darkness she saw a figure appear looming at the corner of the bed. Soon Eva would be in view, but not right now. Right now she could see his bulk, but the bed still obscured her….six…seven… She tensed, ready to roll and spring up. Eight. The man shifted, with one step to the right, so his boot was beside Eva’s knee. She had but one chance or she was dead. Eva raised her hand and plunged the blunt butter knife down as hard as she could into the man’s foot. The blade caught the tender gap between the front of the boot and sock. She hammered it down with all her weight. The man howled and shunted further to the right. Eva lunged upward and with her other hand thrust the fork full-pelt into the man’s crotch area. She drove it home then pulled it away, keeping it for another attack. A noise like a gentle swish and a thud cut the air beside Eva as the man fell howling, giving up his mission in a blinding storm of agony. Eva saw the hand holding the pistol land softly on the carpet. Still beside her. Her senses were full of the fight, of the one man, but she couldn’t take any further risks. The fork came into play again. There was no choice. Was there? She plunged the fork down into the man’s wrist and he screamed again. Eva pulled the fork away and felt a spatter of blood come free from the vein. She seized the gun and pushed herself back to the recess on the right hand side of the bed, pressing against the side cabinet. It was her only cover. She looked up at the darkness, made grey by the smidgen of light coming from the crack by the door. Movement. Danger. Someone else was present.

  “I’ll shoot whatever moves. If I keep shooting, I’ll get you,” said Eva.

  “Or I may get you first,” said a female voice. It was not English, and it was not easy to place.

  “I’m watching. The police will be coming now. Do you want to wait with me?” said Eva. Hoping they feared the police at all. There was laughter.

  “Get up. Get up now. Come on!” the woman barked at the big man. The injured man cussed and groaned and held his arm. He limped away, growling in pain and hatred. Eva held the gun on him in case he turned for revenge, but he held his direction for the door.

  “One question!” called Eva, as the door creaked. So far she had seen only one of the shadows. “Why?”

  The invisible woman laughed. “Ask the old man. Only he can tell you, Miss Roberts.”

  The door slammed shut. The whole thing went down in less than a minute. What would the outside world have heard? Some rough and tumble, maybe some shouting. There had been gunfire, but a silencer was used. It was unlikely the police would come. But Eva didn’t want to stay even if it meant a risky exit - she didn’t want to stay another second. She was not safe wherever she went and her plans were not yet coherent or strong enough to save her life. She had almost saved Maggie from this killer. Now she had to go one better and save herself. But she knew she needed more information to make her plan. And until she had it all she could do was keep on moving, hoping she could move faster than the enemy could keep up. Her only victory tonight was that she still breathed. Eva stuffed her small luggage bag as quickly as she could, recalling the female assassin’s strange international accent. There was a sense of play in the woman’s wicked voice too. Maybe the killer enjoyed Eva’s resistance. If so she had given the killer one more incentive to win.

  Four

  Eva dumped the car ten miles from home at Basildon shopping centre car park and then walked through all the busiest shops in the main mall, hurrying all the while to make it difficult for anyone watching to remain hidden. She turned to scan the crowd, but the tell-tale signs were not there. But of course, these people were good. She walked to the bus depot, standing in the queue waiting for the Chelmsford bus. She queued for five minutes then immediately before the Chelmsford bus closed its doors she left the queue and sprang across the road heading for the railway station. Eva checked her watch. She bought a London travel card at the counter and ran down to the platform and boarded the train to London just as the doors started beeping. Yes. At last Eva knew she was free. She would have a window of time before they could feasibly pick up her trail again. She sighed and smiled at her minor triumph. She texted Dan. On train. I’ll be there in fifty minutes.
Watch your back. They’ll use you to find me if they can.

  A minute later as the train was shifting through the local council estates, Dan buzzed back. No worries on that score. But the problem was Dan didn’t like to worry on any score.

  At Fenchurch Street Eva walked quickly down the steps for the Tower Hill exit. At the bottom near the coffee hut a station guard with funky purple hair was chatting up the guy in the coffee counter. Beyond them was a figure in a long grey raincoat. It was Dan playing Columbo. The coat looked pretty smart, but it didn’t look altogether Dan. Maybe she would tell him so. Eva knew he wouldn’t listen either way.

  Together they walked past Tower Hill and down across the subway through to Tower Bridge and along the waterside. They were dangerously near the site of terrible recent memories, but Dan seemed content to fill his mind with Eva’s current plight instead. He walked close by her side in the crisp air as they headed towards London Bridge, the Thames shining at them like a shifting silver floor. Dan’s hands were deep in his pockets and he wore a big woollen scarf wrapped loosely around his neck.

  “So what are you up to these days at The Refuge?”

  “We solved our own problems last summer, Eva, but no one at The Refuge solved theirs. They hardly ever can. It’s a quagmire, Eva. Half of them are so deep in the shit they don’t even know it. Some of 'em know and they don’t care.”

  “So what can you do about it? Jesus, Dan, you need to earn a living too.”

  “Don’t we all? But I need to help some of them, Eva. The drug-dealing vampires are feeding off them and no one does anything about it. The police only ever visit if they have to. It’s a ghetto, Eva. A real life ghetto.”

  Eva nodded, absorbing so much of what he said before. Inevitably her thoughts returned to her own plight. Dan saw her drifting.

  “But enough of that. You’re the one in trouble now. But at least you’re free here. Kind of. If they got the next train its feasible they could be watching us now across the river with a long lens. On a rifle.”