Vengeance

by Price, Roger A

  *

  ‘Armed police. Drop your weapon and put your hands on the top of your head. Then kneel down. Do it now.’ The voice behind Vinnie demanded.

  It wasn’t the first time this had happened to him; he hoped it didn’t become a habit. Christ he didn’t have time for this. At least the cops’ arrival brought him back to the here and now. He did as he’d been told but added who he was and that his warrant card was in his inside jacket pocket.

  ‘That won’t be necessary officer, I can confirm what he’s saying,’ said Harry.

  Vinnie turned around, relieved to hear Harry’s voice, and saw that the three armed cops behind him were now lowering their weapons. He stood up, but before he could say anything, Harry continued.

  ‘When I said “locate an RV and wait”, which bit of that did you not get?’

  ‘I—’ was as far as Vinnie got.

  ‘You nearly got yourself killed, and now we have one dead suspect and the other one on his toes, thanks to your insubordination. I should suspend you right here and

  now,’ Harry finished.

  Vinnie could see how angry Harry was by the redness of his face. He half expected him to start rubbing his head next.

  ‘Boss, I’ll explain why later, but we haven’t got time for this now. You’ve got to help me search. It might already be too late,’ Vinnie said, and then explained how he had seen Jason returning from out back covered in sand, and the conversation he’d overheard him have with Quintel.

  ‘Come on then,’ Harry said, and Vinnie followed him out the back door as he told the uniform cops to secure the scene and to get others to start an area search.

  ‘What about the dog units?’ the cop who challenged Vinnie asked.

  ‘Preserve the immediate route from the back. And suggest when they arrive to get a scent from inside the car. Get a second dog to run a trail from the boot of the motor; just in case they had Christine, er I mean the kidnap victim in there. We are going to need all the help we can get.’

  ‘Got that, sir, they should be here any minute.’

  ‘Good,’ Harry said adding, ‘but no one else goes in there apart from the paramedic to confirm death.’

  Vinnie and Harry then took a circular route from the back door. Vinnie led and retraced the way he’d initially approached the rear of the unit from, until they were at the building’s edge, and then he ran towards the trees at the rear. In a couple of minutes the trees thinned out to a glade which ran towards a brook. A digger sat unattended by several piles of sand, tons of the stuff, and all around were a variety of long trenches. Some half filled with rocks, and others filled completely with sand level with the grass. They both came to a standstill and Vinnie looked around for recent signs of disturbance, but the whole place was a mess, and the rain which was now falling was just adding to it.

  There must have been twenty or thirty ditches, some short and some long. Where to start?

  ‘We are going to need some help here, it could take ages,’ Harry said.

  Before Vinnie could answer he heard someone approaching from behind. He turned to see a uniformed dog handler with an Alsatian on a mission. His hopes raised a little, but were tainted with the fear of what they might find. The dog and handler powered through the clearing and headed straight for the brook.

  ‘Picked up two scents from the car, Boss. Driver’s seat went straight to the deceased, and this is from the passenger seat,’ the dog handler said.

  Vinnie’s heart sank.

  ‘What about the car boot?’ Harry asked.

  ‘My mate’s got that but her dog’s only showing interest in the chair,’ the dog handler shouted over his shoulder as he raced towards the stream.

  Vinnie had a crushingly bad feeling about this now. He could see it in Harry’s eyes too. That bastard Jason must have carried Christine out of the unit. He knew now this was no longer a rescue mission, but a recovery one. He knew how much he liked Christine, and how his fondness had been deepening at a fast rate. But the thought that she was gone hit him far harder than he could have imagined. He was glad he’d disobeyed Harry now, even if it meant Quintel had escaped. They’d catch him eventually. He was just glad he’d had the chance to kill that bastard Jason. Any post-operative shock he’d first felt in the garage was long gone. Replaced with a primeval rush of morbid satisfaction.

  Harry broke his thoughts as he approached Vinnie and handed him one of two spades he’d found by the digger.

  ‘I know you two were good friends, so if you rather not…,’ Harry said.

  ‘It’s ok, Harry but thanks. I just want to find her, and grant her some dignity, and two sets of hands are better than one. We need every spare uniform going after Quintel.’

  ‘Looks like he’s jumped into the water, Boss,’ the dog handler shouted back from the banks of the brook. ‘I’ll track up and down both banks for a while, to try and pick up where he gets out.’

  Harry acknowledged him as they each started to dig at separate trenches.

  After only five minutes Vinnie was wet with sweat and his clothes on the outside were becoming damper as the light rain started to fall heavier.

  ‘Time to stop, Vinnie,’ Harry said as he glanced up at the sky, ‘we’ll cordon the whole place off and get a full search team in here first light to do it properly. If she is here, and remember, we still don’t know for sure, then I think we are well past the time where she could be still alive. He probably, you know; first anyway.’

  ‘I think we should turn a search team out now and get them to carry on with lighting, just in case.’

  Harry looked tired as he paused before nodding, and then said, ‘I suppose it’s still an if, Vinnie. I mean you didn’t hear Jason say he’d actually killed Christine?’

  Vinnie could feel anger rising through his weary body, but reached deep within himself to control it. He reminded Harry about hearing Jason say something about not wanting to use his gun.

  ‘Not good,’ Harry said, adding, ‘we’ll turn a search team out and wait here until they arrive.’

  ‘Thanks, Harry, but until we find a body, there has to be hope.’

  ‘I’ll use that line if they whinge about the cost, which they will.’

  Vinnie nodded as he picked up the spade and continued to dig.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Christine opened her eyes, or had she? The last thing she remembered was blackness. The first thing she saw now was blackness. She opened her eyes to blackness. Well, it seemed black; perhaps it was a dark blue. It was hard to say. Was this reality? She felt numbness all around, its edges softened in keeping with her vision. But was it vision? Was she seeing? Or was this a dream? Could it be something else altogether? All these questions flooded through her in an instant. Then in a further moment stretched in time, she realised she was breathing. She must be alive. She breathed deeper, but had to spit something from her mouth. As the extra oxygen fed her senses, her thoughts started to crystallise. As that second fleeting moment ended, clarity coursed through her with a searing pain from the back of her head, as her senses started to attune. It wasn’t too bad, but bad enough.

  She realised she was prostrate. She started to turn, spitting something out again. Loose grit or sand she realised. She was able to turn easier than she might have expected. The sand enveloping her was loose, but it weighed down on her nonetheless. As she turned, the blackness stayed. Was she up or down? She panicked for a second, until she realised the sand, now against her back, was firmer than that on her front. She must be the right way round now. It brought hope but it was still mixed with terror, like some caustic cocktail. She felt cold, very cold, but could still sense perspiration all over her. She opened her mouth to scream, but more sand fell in, she spat it out and tried to raise her arms instead. She felt some leverage, but it was tough going. Fear was winning, and she desperately tried to keep calm. Tried to retain her focus as she reached upwards.

  *

  Ten minutes later and lighting rigs arrived, as did the crim
e scene investigators. Harry had a quick word with the CSIs whilst the illumination kit was put in place. Vinnie carried on, but was mightily relieved to see the lighting kick in. The lamps were powered by a portable diesel generator, and Vinnie could feel the heat from the bulbs warming him. It spurred him on. It had also stopped raining now, which helped. He stood back and looked at the ground they had covered and the vastness of the task ahead. Vinnie had started to think that Harry was right, looking at the size of the area: the search team were on their way, perhaps he should wait until they got here. Then a uniform cop approached, he was one of the armed response vehicles’ crews. He offered Vinnie another Glock handgun, saying, ‘Your own gun’s been bagged and tagged, sir. Here’s a replacement. If you’ll just sign this form.’

  Vinnie did as instructed and put the weapon away in his shoulder holster. It would probably get in the way now if he carried on digging. Then he shook his head at himself, and reached for the spade once more.

  *

  Christine kept scratching away at the sand, but as soon as she made any progress more fell in to fill the gap. But at least she knew she was facing the right way now. She also realised that the sand was damp. This seemed to make it harder to shift, but it had created air pockets. She kept her head to one side and took advantage of the trapped air, even though it was in short supply. She stopped for a rest, her arms now feeling like lead. She needed to rest, if only for a moment. Then she felt suddenly becalmed in a strange way. The terror that she’d been fighting had all but ebbed away. An eerie serenity numbed her all over. She realised she was no longer cold.

  Then a crazy thought hit her; was this it? But instead of fearing an answer to her question, the very consideration of it seemed to remove all of her remaining terror. Peacefulness and extreme tiredness were taking over now. She knew the answer, but wasn’t afraid. Sleep was coming, but it would be more than sleep. She opened her eyes for what she knew would probably be the last time and could now see shards of light. Daggers of brilliance confirming her thoughts. She welcomed the release. As she closed her eyes again; one last thought raced across her; she saw Vinnie’s face and wondered, what could have been?

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Quintel couldn’t believe his luck. He could hear a filth dog, but it was in the distance and definitely going the wrong way. It had been behind him, he was sure of that, which was why he’d stayed in the water. He could barely feel his legs now, but the noise had definitely done an about-turn. He clambered to the side and climbed up the muddy embankment. It was only then he realised just how cold he was. His shivering was almost rabid in severity, and his trousers were stuck to his legs as if they’d been vacuumed packed on to him. But none of that mattered, he was free.

  He’d long passed the perimeter of the industrial estate and could see houses up ahead. He didn’t know the area as well as Jason, obviously, but he could see the street lights marking out the main road back into Preston through Ribbleton. He knew exactly where to go to get himself sorted out; his infrastructure, albeit limited in Preston, would pay off nonetheless. And he could clear up some business at the same time.

  *

  It had been taking a long time to clear each trench. Vinnie was worried about thrusting the spade in and hitting Christine’s body. If she was here, he was starting to accept the unthinkable. But the thought of hitting her with the spade, it would feel horrendous; like a fresh assault on her. So he’d been using the ditch edges, feeling his way in before scooping the sand out. And this way, when he hit the bedrock below, he knew what depth he was playing with.

  He’d just started another ditch, a short one, and had gone down about a spade in depth when he felt something. His stomach churned as he threw his spade to one side and frantically used his hands to excavate the wet sand. Then he saw it sticking up; a hand. A woman’s hand.

  ‘Harry, here,’ he yelled as he grabbed hold of it. It was cold, very cold, but not ice cold. But how cold would be too cold? He noticed Harry arrive, who started to dig with his fingers on the opposite side to where the hand was.

  Harry was directly opposite to him; he was looking for the other hand.

  ‘Found it,’ Harry shouted, as Vinnie took a firm hold of his hand’s cold wrist. His heart broke when he recognised the watch on the end of the arm he had hold of.

  ‘Oh God no,’ he exhaled as he pulled hard on the arm.

  ‘Again,’ Harry shouted as they both tugged in unison.

  This time the loose sand gave up its hold and the top half of Christine’s body broke free from the grit. Her head lolled forward, lifeless, as both he and Harry got a firmer purchase under each armpit and each heaved a further time in unity.

  Vinnie rose from his knees as he pulled Christine’s body from the pit, her head rolling from side-to-side as he and Harry managed to pry her entire body clear of the grave. They hauled her forward as her shoeless feet dragged loose ground behind; it was as if some demonic tentacles were trying to reattach their grip.

  Over onto clear grass, they gently lay Christine’s avatar down. Neither man had spoken. Then Vinnie realised his right hand was wet with sweat, but not warm like in his left palm; it was cold but definitely moist. It had been his right hand which he’d used to grab Christine’s wrist. What this realisation actually meant he wasn’t sure. Then he got his answer.

  Christine coughed, and then spat out some sand.

  ‘My God, she’s still alive,’ he screamed, as he watched Harry feel for a pulse. A touch arbitrary he thought, but probably instinctive.

  ‘Weak, but definitely there,’ Harry said.

  Vinnie quickly put Christine into the recovery position and checked that her airway was clear. It was, bar some residue sand and grit which he scooped out with his finger. He put his cheek to her face and could feel her breath on it, gentle and slow, but regular, like a sleeping child might expel onto a caring parent’s ear.

  He could hear Harry on his radio calling for an ambulance. Vinnie still couldn’t quite believe that Christine was alive. She’d seemed so dead when they’d dragged her from the earth, not a moment too soon, he was sure of that.

  She coughed again, more forceful this time, and then inhaled sharply. Vinnie watched as she slowly exhaled and inhaled sharply again. Several respirations later, and Christine slowly opened her eyes, her gaze looked befuddled at first, but then clarity came.

  ‘No,’ she shouted, before seeming to take in her surroundings, as if waking with a nightmare still active. Then she seemed to focus on Vinnie’ face before smiling and calming. She started to sit up and Vinnie helped her.

  Once steadied, she looked around before returning her stare to Vinnie, ‘You took your bloody time didn’t you?’

  Vinnie laughed and then threw his arms around her and kissed her gently on the cheek.

  ‘Hey steady on,’ Christine said, before coughing and then continuing, ‘help me to my feet before this sand-musk drives you crazy.’

  Vinnie couldn’t believe it. Thank God they hadn’t given up. He didn’t know how much longer Christine would have lasted down there, and didn’t want to contemplate it. Once her gyros had stopped spinning he and Harry helped her to Harry’s car. She had come around remarkably quickly considering, though complained of a searing headache, and Vinnie could see that her hair was matted with blood at the back of her head; accentuated by a large swelling. Jason had knocked her out and probably thought he’d killed her, or that she’d die in her sleep soon enough once buried.

  The medic arrived and said she would have to spend the night in hospital in case she’d suffered concussion. A normal precaution Vinnie knew with any head injury, but the paramedic was as sure as he could be that her skull hadn’t suffered a fracture. He also added that the rain probably saved her, cloying the sand together as it did, and providing small pockets of air for her to breathe. She probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer though, he said, in fact from what she’d described, she must have been very close to death.

  An icy blas
t pierced Vinnie on hearing him say this. He was just so relieved he’d got to her in time, with not much harm done, physically, anyway. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what it had been like for Christine when she had awakened; he just hoped that the memory of it didn’t trouble her for too long. But only time would tell.

  ‘How’s Lesley?’ Christine asked as she was being helped into the back of the ambulance.

  ‘Don’t worry, she’s safe and well,’ Vinnie replied, adding, ‘do you want me to tell her you’re ok?’

  ‘Please, but don’t mention what’s happened. She’ll have enough going round in her head after today. She’d only worry. Tell her I’m busy at the police station and I’ll ring her later. I’ll ring from the ward.’

  ‘OK,’ Vinnie said, adding, ‘I’ll be up to see you after. I’ve got a back-up pay-as-you phone in the boot of my car. I’ll charge it up and bring it later.’

  ‘Thanks and thanks. You’re my hero, Vinnie. I’ll never forget what you’ve done tonight.’

  Vinnie could see her eyes welling up as she disappeared from view into the rear of the ambulance. The emotion of what she had been through was obviously starting to hit home. Seeing her become upset hit him too and he had to steel himself, so as not to join her. Then Harry’s arm appeared around his shoulder.

  ‘Come on, Vinnie, we’ve got a lot of writing to do now, and please ignore my earlier bollocking. We both know what would have happened if you’d waited. Not that you knew that of course,’ Harry said, finishing his sentence with a smile on his face.

  Chapter Forty-Six