A Shot In The Night (John Harper Series Book 2)

by Edward Holmes

  One of the young men walked towards me, the other stood behind him. The nearest was thin and wiry, the other you could see was massive with muscle which he tried to show even more of by unzipping his jacket to reveal pectoral muscles that bodybuilders would swoon over. Still the look on his face and the way he crossed his arms made him look like a large child trying to look intimidating and failing all in one go. Once the wiry man was about five yards away he stopped and said, “I think you better leave, copper.”

  “Who said I’m a police officer? I’m just here to spread the good word of the Latter Day Saints,” I replied with a smile waving my hands theatrically before me.

  “We know who you are, Harper, and you are not welcome here.”

  “Was worth a try I guess. Come on gents, there’s no point on you all getting an obstruction of justice charge against you or even worse aiding and abetting a murder.”

  A smile crossed both of their lips, “Wouldn’t be the first time,” the muscular one said with a deep rumble.

  Gritting my teeth at the prospect of what was to come I said, “I need to go upstairs, boys, and there doesn't need to be any trouble or bloodshed in doing that if you step out of the way.”

  “And we can't move out of your way. If we start letting in every copper then we have big problem on our hands.”

  I tilted my head and thought for a moment on how it gets to the point where every police officer must live in fear of getting called to a certain area of a town and more specifically one building, “Never said every, just myself. That being said there will probably be a lot of armed men coming through here in the next couple of minutes and either you let me in and I tell the officers where this madman killer is or you have an awful lot of questions being asked when there are dozens of police all over this tower block.”

  “You're bluffing.”

  Shaking my head I put my hands in the air. It felt strange and very stupid taking my hand off the best weapon I had, but there was no reason for me to escalate the violence if I could talk my way out of it, “I'm sure you have all seen the news about this sniper that has been terrorizing the city. That drug dealers, civilians and cops alike are all being targeted. Well he just ran into this building and since I’m guessing you haven’t been down here and threatening someone else then that person is known by you. Now you can tell me who that person is and on what floor and I can direct the search to exactly that point or it gets messy. You do realize that the Matrix unit will be here and go through every floor, every house and every room till we find this person. That means any hidden weapons, any drugs, hell every bit of elicit porn you degenerates have will be confiscated and you will be sentenced. What the hell is the point in having a safe house from the police if every one of your gang is in jail?”

  The two men looked at each other briefly before the closer man answered, “We don’t rat on anyone.”

  “Fine, don’t rat. Just let me go and find this murderer and there will be no consequences.”

  “You can’t promise that.”

  I put my hands down and after moving my jacket I placed them on my hips, thankful to rest my sore shoulder and trying to remain calm, “No, you’re right but boys as you can see I’ve already been through a fight tonight and I don’t really want another if I can help it. I want to catch this guy before he kills again and if you don’t think he will shoot you at the next convenient moment then you are sorely mistaken.”

  The smaller man turned to his comrade and they leaned in close to chat. I did my best not to look impatient but I really wanted to find the killer before the armed response turned up. This man started targeting the police because of my actions in saving Saul. Those deaths would live with me to the end of my days but I could at least save future lives by bringing the man to justice. The two men stopped talking and then stepped aside. The diminutive man put his hands to his side and nodded towards the lift.

  I nodded my thanks and walked towards the lifts. I stopped and was presented with two options. Turning slightly towards the two goons, the muscular man pointed at the lift they had exited.

  “Thanks boys,” I said as I entered the elevator and the doors closed behind me.

  Chapter Sixty One

  Standing there alone in the small metal box I was left wondering which floor my prey was on. One look at the floor buttons gave the chilling clue I needed. A bloody finger smudge was on the thirteenth floor, one below the top floor which there was no button for. After everything that had happened I was positive now that I was being led to the slaughter. Especially since I knew Kai Nelson, the leader of the Elsworth Warriors lived on that specific floor from the files that I had read. Since he was one of the most dangerous of people in the city and any unauthorized person on that floor would likely end up looking like Swiss cheese, I wasn’t too eager to see what was waiting for me there. There was no need for the gunman to press the button with his injured hand when he had a free one and if that too was covered in blood, which would be no surprise since he had attempted some medical treatment, then why not use a knuckle or some other aid that had not been soaked in red fluid.

  The man wanted me to follow and since the blood was still wet and fresh, I had no intention of going to that floor. I pressed for the eleventh floor and pulled out my pistol.

  It was strange how I had thought nothing more of firing it earlier, how the hours of training when I was in Ireland had come back to me. I smiled at the thought of my instructor drilling it into my head about gun safety as I touched the switch that made it armed. It was stupid of me to carry it in that manner but I needed to be certain that in the split second that I reached for the weapon I could pull the trigger and know that it would discharge a deadly piece of lead. Still I had two other safeties for the weapon, firstly my brain and secondly my own trigger finger.

  The door opened with a dull chime and I stepped out with the pistol raised. With my left hand underneath my right and bottom of the gun providing a firm shooting platform I walked slowly down the hallway.

  It was a standard floor design with eight individual apartments on each level. Two stairwells were situated at each end. The elevators ran up the central shaft of the building, the hallway essentially ringed them. I was hyperalert as I moved down the hall looking for any drop of blood or sign that my target was on the floor. I managed a full circuit without seeing anything. I made my way back to the elevator and pressed for the twelfth and thirteenth floors before going towards the stairwell.

  I moved slowly since I didn’t know if the gunman had planted any more traps for me or was lying in wait. My phone vibrated and I pressed myself next to the wall and tapped the answer button on my headset. I answered with a click of my tongue.

  “Hello, John, are you there? Hello?” the sweet melodic voice of Camille Jarvis asked in my ear.

  “This really isn't the best of times to talk, darling,” I whispered back and went to end the call.

  “No, John, wait. I take it you are at the Elsworth Towers estate.”

  I just coughed an affirmative as I walked up the stairs towards the twelfth floor. I stood by the doorway in the lime green hall and shivered slightly.

  “Well I did a bit of tracking on that message that was sent to me, well I say I did; I passed it along to your friend Harris, the little bastard, and he told me it was sent from a cafe in town. I'm going to go look for it now but with free Wifi these days it could be anyone. It just doesn't seem like some random gang thug would be clever enough to pull all of this off.”

  “You called to tell me all of that? I've just been stabbed by the madman and tracked him to one of the most dangerous buildings I have ever had the misfortune of entering ready for a final showdown and you call me for that.”

  “I just thought you would want to know.”

  I sighed and pushed open the door with the pistol barrel, “Next time think before you call otherwise I could end up dead.”

  “I don't think you will get another call,” a voice said at my side as another barre
l was pressed deep into the side of my temple. I didn't turn nor did I get the chance as a sharp smack was delivered to the back of my head, rendering me unconscious.

  Chapter Sixty Two

  There is nothing worse than waking up with a splitting headache, especially one that has been inflicted by a chunk of metal smacking into your noggin. I went to move my hand towards the lump I could feel rising but both of my hands were bound to a chair. I opened my eyes and gnashed my teeth at the sight of silver duct tape exactly like the stuff used in the house opposite the police station. My gut turned and I fought against the binding again.

  I quickly assessed my surroundings; it was a council flat living room that had been gutted. It was difficult to see in the low light that was cast from the single bulb hanging from the ceiling. I couldn't see around the corner where I suspected the exit was and the rest of the flat. The floor was concrete, pieces of grey carpet were still attached to the grippers near the wall suggesting it had been ripped up in a hurry. The old floral wallpaper was falling down in strips and mould was growing in the corners. A flat that was completely barren in a tower block that was housing a serial killer with a gun and I was tied to a chair, not exactly where I thought I would end up before Christmas.

  “Oh good, you are awake,” a voice said from behind me.

  I blinked to try and gather my senses in the low light, “Not the most comfortable of wake-ups I must admit. Couldn’t you have put me up in a better place than this, I mean look, there’s enough rooms, you didn’t have to put me in the worst one.”

  He laughed, “This isn’t even close to bad. You are lucky there are still roofs on these towers. When the local council has enough of buildings they don’t like in this city they tend to take the roof off and let the elements in.”

  “Yeah, I can honestly say I wasn’t here to check on the building maintenance.”

  “So Mister Harper, you have decided to enter the dragon’s den for another reason,” said the man. I recognized the accent and voice but in the haze that was clearing my head I struggled to place the person.

  “And I forgot to bring my diagrams and business plan.”

  “Don't try and be smart,” the voice said as I got smacked on the rising lump, sending a new wave of pain through my head.

  “I don't have to try. You know I came here to stop a killer so why am I in this lovely apartment? Surely it would be easier if you just shot me.”

  The man walked into my view and in the weak light cast from the naked bulb I recognised him as Joshua Murray, the second-in-command of the Elsworth Warriors, “Now ordinarily you would be right. One busy, or should I say ex-busy, who just happened to go missing wouldn't be that high on people around here's list of problems. I mean, with all the police and other people that are getting shot it wouldn't be too much of a surprise. We know enough places that make it easy to get rid of a body but unfortunately I don't have the authority to cap you just yet.”

  “Then I guess it is good that old Saul had a word with you. You do remember that conversation, right?”

  “Oh I remember, but it isn't his word that is keeping you alive. You see, Saul is on his way out. He might not know it yet since he is living it up in his castle out of the country but there is a change coming.”

  I looked at him and shook my head, “There's always someone trying to topple Caesar.”

  “And he fell. All empires fall in the end.”

  The tracksuited goon was surprisingly well informed for someone who had left school early and had never been the brightest there. I was a little intimidated by the turn of events but my best way to deflect from that was to talk, “Very clever Murray. What, surprised I knew who you are?”

  “Not at all, Harper. You see we do our research just like I'm sure you've done yours. This business, this tower block, we don't run it like any gang you've seen. We're smart.”

  “And why should you be any different to the rest of the people who think they know what they are doing? Even Saul said you guys don't think ahead.”

  “And as I have said Saul sees fuck all. He sees some tracksuit wearing dealers who happen to be in one particular gang and that is what he wants to see.”

  These were particularly interesting and surprising developments but nothing that was especially important to me, catching the shooter was my only goal, “So shooting people was the best way to get him into the city? You take him out and then take over his operation?”

  “No, Mister Harper, that isn't it at all,” another voice said as he entered the room. It was Kai Nelson one of the suspects that had hovered in the background of my investigation. He was wearing a new black tracksuit and he moved a wooden chair from next to a slanted plastic table and placed before me, “You see, Saul has lots of connections out of town. He is the man who ships in the heroin, the ecstasy, he has the contacts for cocaine. What he doesn't do though is have a series of weed farms. He doesn't make 2C-C, he doesn't cook meth or bath salts. He stays to old drugs of choice and we move on, eventually others will take note as well and the old man will be removed.”

  “You see, Mister Harper, I may come across as some scally who is hungry for blood and power but I've been training for this my whole life. My brother was in the Army, he taught me an awful lot. The best way to wage a war when you don't have the resources of your opponent is to go guerrilla. We go after supply chain and then we start hitting his officers before we just take over his territory and if we do it the right way he is just a wizened old man who gets removed.”

  I shook my head slowly not wanting to inflict anymore pain upon myself, “He taught you a lot. You do know that there are armed police coming in here any minute, right? And having me tied up probably isn't the best idea.”

  “Oh we know ways out of here other than the main entrance and there are places to hide things you don't want to be found.”

  “Are they common knowledge?”

  “They are to us, Harper, so don't worry,” said Murray as he punched me deep into my stomach.

  It wasn't something he needed to do especially since I was tied down but I got the message that they didn't want me talking. However that wasn't the way I survived so long. If you don't laugh, you cry and antagonizing people was my way to laugh, “Good, because you are going to need to know how to get out of here.”

  “Don't worry, we will know when the police arrive,” Nelson said with a smile as he raised my police radio and waved it side to side.

  It was another one of those moments where I probably should have just shut my mouth but I couldn't stop laughing. Even after Murray punched me again this time in the jaw, the next blow was to the stomach and I still managed to laugh which came out more like a cough but was enough to get another smack from the drug dealer, “What's so funny?”

  Still coughing and laughing I looked up at the man and spat out blood on the dusty floor, “Did your brother also teach you how to fire a gun?”

  “He was a marksman in the Engineers and a very good one at that, so yeah he taught me and Josh how to shoot but don't be stupid, there is no way we are getting into a shootout with the Matrix unit.”

  A crooked smile crossed my face, “Don't be stupid,” I repeated before laughing again, 'you're the ones who have locked yourself in a building with a gunman who wants to kill police, drug dealers and civilians. You've made yourself an even bigger target. Oh and he was framing you, so Nelson you better be as good a shot as you think because there's a bullseye on your head.

  Chapter Sixty Three

  My speech didn't go down too well and I suffered another couple of punches to the stomach and ribs from Murray to the point where I was knocked to the ground. My shoulder took the brunt of the fall but still my head bounced off the cold concrete and I felt blood pool beneath me. I was nearly as badly dazed as when I first woke up. I did my best not to sneeze when dust entered my nostril as I breathed.

  “You know nothing, Harper,” Murray said as I lay there and rolled my head to look at the man.

  “I
know enough. I know who the gunman is and why he is here. I also know that if you are well prepared then he shouldn't be too much of a problem considering he is struggling with a bullet wound to his shoulder and another that clipped his leg. Does that ring any bells as to people who have entered this building in the last twenty minutes?” I managed to say all that in a rasping voice as I struggled, lying on the floor.

  The two men looked at each other briefly and then there was a low word between them before suddenly there was a shot and then another from in the hall. The sound echoed through the spartan room and was followed by a chuckle from myself, “Guess you boys aren't as well prepared as you thought.”

  The two men left straight away at what could be best described as a stunted run and I was alone. The chair that they had tied me to was not the most sturdy of furniture pieces and I managed to break my right arm free as the wood came loose on the armrest. I rolled my shoulder and grabbed at the tape on my left wrist. It took about a minute as I tore my way out of it, I then started working on my ankles. Finally free I knelt and put my cold hand to the wounds on my head. Luckily none of my teeth were badly damaged but there was a serious lump growing on the back of my head and another bad cut at the side of my face. Coughing, I rose unsteadily to my feet, resting my hand on the damaged table. It couldn't hold my weight and the contents fell to the floor as did I once again.

  A string of expletives left my mouth as I tried to regain my composure. The items on the floor filled me with some confidence since they were what I had kept on my person. However my jacket was no longer in the room so I had to pocket my knife, wallet, phone and car keys. The pistol I checked and was relieved to see that there was still the four bullets inside it. I placed it back in the comfortable recess at the small of my back and looked at the remains of my earpiece. Unfortunately the radio had been taken by Nelson when he left the apartment.