The BIG Horror Pack 2
Page 133
“Mr Price!” She made it up to the edge and was stunned to find the two men hanging on. Price had both hands wrapped around one of the jutting stone teeth of the tower wall, while Heinz clung to his waist. It was a reversal of how the two men had gone over.
Price looked up at her pleadingly. The waterlogged ground beneath him looked a hundred miles away. “Hold on, Mr Price.” She grabbed the back of his coat, tried to heave him up, but he was too heavy and her left wrist was sprained and useless. Heinz reached up and tried to rise, but the rain lashed down at him and he went back to gripping Price’s waist.
Jessica holstered her gun and tried to pull the author up with her one good hand, but he was a dead weight. She could hear the frantic footfall of Young’s officers climbing the tower, but they would arrive too late. She knew there was only one way Price would make it back up again; it also meant any chance of finding Chloe Tanner would be extinguished. “Price, you need to free yourself. I can’t get you back up here with Heinz hanging off you.”
Price’s face bulged as he strained to hold on. He glanced down at Heinz and then back up at Jessica. “How am I…?”
Jessica nodded. She understood Price could do nothing. Both the man’s arms and legs were incapacitated. She needed to do something to help him, before his strength gave out and both men fell.
“Hey, Heinz,” she shouted down. “When I get hold of you, I’m going to lock you up in a woman’s prison. They can make you their bitch. Would you like that, being made a slave to some big butch gal?”
Heinz looked up at her and snarled.
“Maybe you’ll meet someone to remind you of your mother? I bet she was an ugly lady, huh? I mean, if your looks are anything to go by.”
Heinz ground his teeth like a salivating animal and tried to climb Price’s body. Price moaned under the exertion. Jessica just hoped he could hold on long enough.
“Heinz, I don’t even care where Chloe Tanner is. You probably never even knew her. You’re just lying to impress your best buddy, Blake Price. I bet Chloe Tanner is alive and well, hooked up with some boyfriend. She’s probably with a real man.”
Heinz growled. “I killed her. I…I fucked her and buried her while she was still breathing.” He grabbed a handful of Price’s coat, yanking himself up a few inches.
Jessica leant over, glaring right back at Heinz. “I. Don’t. Believe. You.”
“Fuck you. I buried…that bitch at some…abandoned petrol station in…Reading.”
Jessica grinned. “Thank you.”
Heinz snarled, realising he’d been goaded. “I’m going to slice your fucking tits off.”
Jessica laughed pitifully. “Come get ‘em.”
Heinz reached up again, trying to climb higher. The rain lashed down at him, making him blink and splutter. Price held on for dear life, straining and trembling as a serial killer attempted to climb up his back.
Heinz was almost to the top when his hand slipped from Price’s wet shoulder. At first, Heinz simply slipped half-a-foot downwards, but then his eyes went wide and he was suddenly falling. There was anger in his eyes as he plummeted from the top of the tower, but also a hint of fear. The man was human enough to fear death, and Jessica enjoyed seeing that.
“Mr Price, hold on.” She grabbed hold of Price’s shoulders. Her sprained wrist cried out in pain, but they worked together to gradually get Price back up.
When she managed to pull him onto the wall, Price let out a deep moan of desperate relief. “Oh, god…Jesus Christ. I thought that was me done.”
Jessica held his hand. “You’re safe now, Mr Price. Everything is okay.”
He smiled at her. “You got the girl’s location.”
She nodded. “Enough to go on, yes. Thank you for all your help.”
“I want to get back down on the ground.”
Jessica laughed. “Me too.”
10
Howard sighed with relief when Jessica emerged from the abbey with Blake Price and a police escort. He’d been standing with Sergeant Young in horror as the Blake Price and Heinz had battled atop the tower and gone over the edge. Jessica had gone up there as soon as it became clear that things were going badly, but she had been unable to defuse the situation.
Now Jessica and Blake were safe.
Heinz had slid down Price’s outstretched body before finally plummeting to the wet ground. He lay motionless now in a puddle deep enough to submerge him. Young’s officer had gone to him immediately, but there was slim chance he could’ve survived the fall.
Howard limped over to his partner and broke protocol by hugging her. “I was worried there for a minute.”
She huffed. “I’ve been worried since four hours ago. I think it’s going to take me a day or two to stop being worried.”
“You did good.”
She gave him a look.
“Okay, you did…alright, after all the screw-ups stopped.”
“Saved my life,” said Blake. “If she hadn’t got under Heinz’s skin, he would’ve dragged me down with him. I’m just glad it’s all over. I prefer writing books about men like Heinz, not coming face-to-face with them.”
“I’d appreciate an autograph,” said Howard, “if you want to go back to being a writer again. Not that police work doesn’t suit you. You were brave up there.”
“No,” he said. “I was terrified, but I was there for my wife. I needed to face that monster. I needed to put the past behind me so I can move forward with my family.”
“We have Chloe Tanner’s location,” said Jessica.
Howard smiled. “Maybe Palu won’t completely rip you a new one, now.”
“Yeah, maybe. I—”
“You fucking whore!”
They all spun round to find Heinz on his feet. He thrashed at the two police officers holding him, but they were able to restrain him easily enough. He was bloody, wet, and physically beaten; but emotionally he was as defiant and animalistic as ever. He cursed at them all, fought them, bit them, scratched them, but they had him under control.
“How is he still breathing?” asked Howard in dismay.
“The ground’s wet,” said Blake. “The puddles broke his fall. Or maybe he’s immortal. Most serial killers are, in a twisted way. We never forget them.” With that, Blake lowered his head and walked away into the rainy night.
As the police officers ushered Heinz down the hill, they passed Jessica and Howard. Heinz’s entire body was battered and bruised, but he still managed to give Jessica a look of absolute hatred. “When I get out of here,” he spat, “I’m going to find you and rape you. I’m going to rape you over and over.”
Jessica strolled up to Heinz with a scowl on her face. “How are you going to do that without a dick?” She swung her leg and punted the psychopath right between the legs.
Heinz bellowed.
“What the hell!” Howard stared at Jessica in disbelief. Heinz was cupping his mashed genitals and screaming on the ground. “You can’t assault an unarmed man.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, fella,” said Sergeant Young. “I never saw anything.”
Howard shook his head, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“I said I didn’t see anything.” Young took that moment to turn a circle, nodding at each of his men. “Did anyone see anything?”
“Nope.”
“Nothing.”
“I weren’t even looking.”
“I saw whatever you saw, Sarge.”
Sergeant Young turned to Howard and shrugged. “See? You two go on back to the city and start on all that paperwork. I’ve got things covered here.”
“You’ll get Heinz back into custody?” asked Jessica.
Young nodded. “I don’t think he’s in any mood to run now.”
“Go on, then,” grunted Young at Jessica and Howard. “Get out of my bloody town before you do any more damage.”
“Thank you,” said Jessica.
Howard said nothing; he only nodded and hurried to c
atch up with Jessica. “That was not okay,” he told her a couple of minutes later, once they were away from the officers.
“It’s not about what’s okay, it’s about what happened. I kicked a serial rapist in the balls. Is that not justice?”
“That’s one word to describe it.”
“Only word to describe, far as I see.”
They walked back to the car in silence. Halfway there, Jessica spoke again. “You going to tell Palu?”
Howard thought about it, then shook his head. “I guess there’s nothing to tell. I just want you to know that you scare me.”
“I scare me too.”
Howard huffed. “That’s why I’m glad you’re my partner.”
“You looking forward to the next one?”
“No, not at all.”
Jessica punched him on the arm playfully. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you get shot next time.”
“You’re not going to let me forget that, are you?”
“No,” she said. “Never.”
You can catch up with the characters Jessica Bennett and Howard Hopkins in SOFT TARGET, available here: UK US
PLEA FROM THE AUTHOR
Hey, Reader. So you got to the end of my book. I hope that means you enjoyed it. Whether or not you did, I would just like to thank you for giving me your valuable time to try and entertain you. I am truly blessed to have such a fulfilling job, but I only have that job because of people like you; people kind enough to give my books a chance and spend their hard-earned money buying them. For that I am eternally grateful.
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About The Author
Iain Rob Wright is one of the UK's most successful horror and suspense writers, with novels including the critically acclaimed, THE FINAL WINTER; the disturbing bestseller, ASBO; and the wicked screamfest, THE HOUSEMATES.
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The BIG Horror Pack 2 copyright 2015 by Iain Rob Wright
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