by Conrad Jones
“No worries,” Toni said. She looked out of the side window; the rain streaked the glass blurring the streetlights as they raced past. The armed officers sat stoic in the front of the X5 as they weaved through the traffic. “What will be, will be.”
“She’s in good hands,” Stirling said. She saw The Royal Court Theatre across the road and remembered going to see Adam and the Ants there. They were well past their sell by date by then but she enjoyed the night. She felt the X5 veer sharply to the left. The vehicle slowed as a removal truck switched lanes. The driver switched on the blues and twos to shift them but it was too late, their path was blocked. The traffic lights up ahead turned red and there was no way through. Toni felt anxious. The driver peered around the removal van but until the lights changed to green, they couldn’t move. She could feel the tension rising as the X5 stopped completely. The seconds ticked by. Nobody wanted to speak. Toni watched the traffic lights changing, red and amber, then green. The vehicles at the front of the queue began pulling away but when it became the turn of the removal van it didn’t move. Its reversing lights came on and it lurched backwards at speed, smashing into the front of the X5. Toni shrieked in surprise, her voice shrill in the confined space of the vehicle. Their driver slammed the vehicle into reverse and turned to look over his shoulder. Toni heard the engine roar and waited for the X5 to reverse. Every muscle in her body was taut. Stirling put his arm across her to protect her.
“Hold on!” the driver shouted. Toni thought that it was a warning that they were going to fly backwards at speed but they didn’t. Instead, there was a violent impact to the rear and the X5 was flung forward, smashing it into the removal truck again. The airbags deployed, stunning the officers in the front. Stirling reached for the door handle and put his shoulder to it but the impact had buckled the chassis. The door was wedged closed. Toni heard the engine behind pull away and then it roared once more. A second violent impact shook the X5. She felt her head flung forward, her spine cracked like a whip. The collision knocked the wind from her chest. She heard the thud of heavy objects against glass. One, two, three and then it shattered. The air was filled with flying shards. She felt them stinging her hands and face. The cold night air rushed in. There was frantic activity around her, both inside and outside the truck. Stirling positioned his body to protect her with his bulk. She heard him shouting something about closing her eyes but it didn’t register. Toni heard a hissing sound, then another and then a third. It was the sound of aerosol canisters being discharged. Suddenly her eyes, nose and mouth were on fire. She heard Stirling growling like a wounded bear. Toni couldn’t breathe.
Rough hands grabbed at her. She felt her hair being twisted and ripped from her scalp. She screamed for help but it came out like a gurgle. Mucus hung from her nose like slime stalactites. Her head was snapped backwards; she felt the seatbelt being cut and she was dragged upwards and outwards through the window. The remaining glass dug into her flesh. She felt a rent open in her side and the warmth of blood running down her back. Her eyes were stinging and her vision was blurred but she saw glimpses of the armed officers writhing in agony in the front seats. The side windows had all been smashed in and men in balaclavas continued to spray mace into the vehicle. It was completely debilitating. Toni knew that armed or not, they could no longer protect her. She grabbed at the doorframe in an attempt to stop them taking her but the men smashed her fingers with something heavy and hard. She felt her right index finger snap and the pain shot up her arm like a lightning bolt. Her body was almost completely out of the vehicle when she felt powerful hands garb her ankles. Stirling gripped her legs and tried to stop her kidnap. Toni felt a glimmer of hope. The sergeant was a beast, big, strong and powerful. If he could hold on to her long enough for the armed officers to recover, she had a chance. ‘Sometimes hope is all we have,’ he had said to her not long before. He pulled with all his strength and managed to get her back into the X5 up to her waist. Toni thought he was going to win the battle when three gunshots exploded next to her head.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
She heard a whelp of pain and felt Stirling’s grip released immediately and they ripped her from the vehicle. A bolt of electricity shot through her neck. The smell of singed hair and burning flesh drifted to her and then she was in darkness.
CHAPTER 46
Annie disconnected the call from Alec and dialled 999. Flames jumped and flickered from the front of the house. She thought about getting dressed but it was a foolish thought. The house was full of thick black smoke within minutes. The stairwell that led down to the bedrooms and the front door was filled with choking fumes. She stood and looked into the shifting black smoke and quickly made her mind up that she couldn’t make it that way. Whoever had set the fire could be waiting outside the front door. Had they come to kill her, or was this a threat? Another very subtle message, maybe. Annie didn’t know which and she didn’t have time to debate it.
She ran into the kitchen and grabbed a tea-towel. Switching on the tap, she soaked it and placed it over her nose and mouth. She ran through the kitchen into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her to stem the smoke for a few valuable minutes. The window led out onto the garage roof. Annie twisted the handle, pushed it open and climbed over the ledge. As she looked back inside, black smoke poured under the bathroom door. She pushed the window closed and sprinted across the roof towards the back garden. Her tiger feet slippers were saturated with rainwater in seconds, the cold water squelched uncomfortably between her toes. The cold night air bit into her exposed flesh. She headed for the side of the garage at the rear of the house where her wheelie bins were lined up. She moved to the edge and lowered herself over the roof. Her feet dangled in midair for a second before her slippers made contact with a bin. She lowered herself a few inches further until her feet found purchase on the lid. Annie sighed with relief and let go of the roof, relieved to be out of the house. She took a deep breath and relaxed for a moment. Her heart somersaulted when she heard footsteps behind her. She felt gloved hands grip her ankles. Annie cried out as her legs were snatched from beneath her. Her head clattered against the garage wall scraping the skin from her cheek. She felt one of her front teeth crack on the wall and then her face impacted with the edge of the bin. White lights exploded in her brain like a giant camera flash going off. Annie felt herself being dragged off the bin, crashing onto the path with a sickening thud. Her skull cracked on the concrete. She felt the sensation of being dragged over the wet grass before she lost consciousness.
CHAPTER 47
The Morning After
Alec watched the ruins of Annie’s house smouldering. The sun had made a weak attempt to brighten and warm the world but it had failed miserably. He trudged around the property for the fifth time, trying to fathom what had happened. The thought of Annie being trapped inside was a constant in his mind. Half the roof had collapsed exposing the trusses to the elements. Orange flames hissed and sizzled when they came into contact with the water being sprayed from high-pressure hoses. Alec guessed that the settee he had been sitting on the night before was hidden beneath a pile of slates and charcoal. Thoughts of his late wife drifted to him. She died in a fire in the arms of her lover, Alec’s Detective Sergeant and close friend. The memories burned painfully inside him. His guts twisted every time the images returned. Looking at Annie’s house brought it all flooding back.
“Superintendent,” a voice chased away the ghosts from his mind. Alec turned to see who was speaking. The fireman waved and pointed to the garage roof. “She made it out.”
“You’re sure?” Alec was physically relieved.
“Yes. The bathroom window was opened from the inside and there are no bodies inside. Good news but it begs the question as to where your DI is.” Alec didn’t answer. His face was ashen. “I heard about Big Jim Stirling. How is he?”
“Not good,” Alec shook his head. “His vest took the brunt of it but one of the rounds ricocheted up and entered
his neck beneath the ear. The initial x-rays show that the bullet has lodged at the base of the skull next to his spine.”
“Jesus,” the fireman sighed.
“Was it arson?” Alec steered the conversation back to work. He had lost his two best detectives and his two best friends overnight and he didn’t have a clue if either would make it. Talking about it was difficult.
“No doubt about it. They poured accelerant through the letter box and placed two old tires soaked in petrol against the front door.”
“That’s pretty conclusive,” Alec said sarcastically.
“Brazen too. They made no effort to make it look like an accident.”
“Subtlety isn’t their strongest point,” Alec said quietly. “Call me directly if you find anything else.” He walked around the path until he was next to the garage. It was too high to consider jumping without causing an injury. He saw the wheelie bins lined up to the rear. If he was in Annie’s shoes, he would have lowered himself down onto the bins. He approached the bins and studied the lids. There was blood and half a tooth on the middle one. She had either fallen or been attacked there. He sucked air between his teeth and felt anger boiling inside. Annie had suffered enough. There was no sign of her which meant only one thing. She had been removed from the scene forcefully. Where she was and what was happening to her didn’t bear thinking about; he shuddered as he remembered how shattered she had been when a scumbag called Tibbs had plunged a pen into her eye. She had bounced back eventually but he had seen how she glanced into mirrors or caught her reflection in glass. He couldn’t bear to think of her suffering, not then, not now, not ever. Part of him had fallen in love with Annie Jones, not in a lustful way, but because of the woman she was. He would never cross the line and declare his feelings but they were there and he couldn’t ignore them. As he ran through the scenarios of what had happened to her, he didn’t think telling her how he felt would be a problem that he would ever need to face. It didn’t look good at all. Alec looked around and noticed drag marks on the lawn. Two lines of flattened grass ran parallel from the path to the garden gate. Beyond the gate was the road that exited the housing estate. Alec reckoned that Annie was already a distance away and in the hands of some of the most dangerous, reckless criminals that he had encountered.
“Guv,” a familiar voice called from the front of the house. As he walked along the path from the rear, the handsome black face of Detective Maxwell appeared around the corner. “We’ve just had a call from the CSI unit sent to finish up at the Fletcher Bros garage.”
“And?”
“They have found two bodies in an outbuilding behind the main service bay. It looks like suicide, Guv.”
“Suicide?”
“Yes, Guv. It looks like the Fletcher brothers attached a hose to the exhaust of an Alfa Romeo and topped themselves.”
“Jesus Christ, what is wrong with these people?” Alec shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “Our witnesses are dropping like flies. Any news on the vehicles they used to snatch Toni Barrat?”
“Nothing of any use, stolen, dumped and burnt out. Every man and his dog are hunting Andris Markevica but no one is talking. Even our best snouts are coming up zip. They either know nothing about the Latvians or they’re too scared to speak up.”
“Something will break,” Alec said. He didn’t feel as confident as he sounded.
“Any news from the Royal, Guv?”
“No. He’s still in surgery,” Alec said quietly. Jim Stirling’s condition was critical but the surgeons couldn’t give him a prognosis until they opened him up. “I’m on my way over there now.” He paused for a moment. “When CSI are finished with the Fletcher brothers, get yourself over there and have a good look around. Everyone else stays on Markevica.”
“Yes, Guv.”
“Do you think the Fletcher brothers would sit next to each other and choke to death?”
“No, Guv.”
“It just doesn’t smell right,” Alec said to himself as he walked away. “In fact, the whole thing fucking stinks.”
CHAPTER 48
Toni watched as a man pushed a fork into Kayla’s eye socket. He turned to her and smiled as he twisted the fork and pulled. There was an audible popping sound as the eyeball was ripped free and he held it up for Toni to see more clearly. The eyeball turned on the fork, looking right and then left as if it had a life of its own. The man opened his mouth and put the fork inside. He began to chew Kayla’s eye and Toni couldn’t stop him. She couldn’t shout and she couldn’t scream. All she could do was watch. She looked down at where Kayla lay but she was gone, her body replaced by Mike’s. His skin was pale, almost blue in colour. The eye sockets were black holes that crawled with maggots. Mike sat up and turned his head towards her. He pointed a finger accusingly. Maggots fell from the eyes onto his lap. He raised his hand and slapped her face hard. Toni felt the stinging slap and tried to move away from it but she couldn’t move. She shifted uncomfortably as he struck her again. The images blurred as her mind was dragged back to reality by the pain.
She opened her eyes and realised she had been dreaming. Mike was gone, replaced by a man she had never seen before. He grabbed her chin and roughly turned her head to one side. She was tied to a hardback chair, her arms behind her. Toni felt bruised and battered. Blood had congealed on her side but she could feel glass stuck in her skin. Her fingers felt swollen and broken. Pain pulsed up her arms with every beat of her heart. Her wrists were bound painfully with zip ties. They cut into her flesh. Her ribs were aching from where the seatbelt had bruised her and her scalp was sore where her hair had been ripped out. Toni was terrified. She knew who had taken her and she knew what they were capable of. Kayla drifted into her thoughts. Would she die knowing that she never had the chance to say goodbye?
“She’s okay,” the man said with a thick accent. She heard movement from behind her.
“Antonia Barrat,” a voice from behind her said rhythmically, as if it was the start of a song. “What a terrible mess you have created, Antonia Barrat.” Toni didn’t respond and she didn’t attempt to look behind her. She was frozen by fear. “I don’t suppose when you set off in your little car with your little camera that things would go this far, did you?” Toni didn’t move. She didn’t want to answer him in case she said something wrong. There was a long pause. When he spoke again, there was venom in his tone. “Answer me,” he snapped. “I said you didn’t think things would go this far, did you?”
Toni shook her head almost imperceptibly. “No,” her voice was barely a whisper. “I had no idea what would happen. I didn’t see anything that could hurt you.”
“Your friend, Mike took pictures.”
“Yes.”
“They upload automatically?”
“I’ve deleted them.”
“You can never delete things from the internet, Antonia. Not completely. You know that. I know that and the police know it too. They saw them?”
“Yes, but they didn’t show much.”
“They showed enough.”
“I am sorry. We didn’t know that you would be there.”
“What did you think?”
“I thought it would be a handover. That’s what I was told.”
“It was a handover but not the type you expected, right?”
“Right.”
“I don’t blame you for being there,” he said with a shrug. “You were doing your job, yes?”
“Yes.”
“I appreciate that you have a job to do and I hope you appreciate that I have a job to do too.”
“Yes,” Toni mumbled. She didn’t see any parity but she was hardly going to raise it.
“In my job, we must have total trust in our employees, you understand this, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then you will understand that the fact you were at the mill tells me that someone has betrayed that trust.”
“Yes.”
“I have a problem. It is all about betrayal, Antonia. I
can tolerate most things but not betrayal. You must understand that, don’t you?” he asked flatly as if it was an obvious answer.
“Yes.”
“My problem is now your problem too.” The voice was closer now, almost at her ear. He stepped alongside her and looked down. Toni tried hard to keep her eyes forward but she couldn’t help herself. She glanced sideways and looked into the pale grey eyes of Letva.
“You were outside my house,” she whispered.
“I was inside your house,” he smiled coldly. Toni shivered. Letva walked around her with his hands clasped behind his back. “We have a business to run. The stakes are high and the consequences of betrayal are devastating. It cannot be tolerated. I don’t want to hurt you, Antonia. It would give me no pleasure to do so, however, some of the people that I work with would be happy to hurt you for the sake of it. Your friend, Mike discovered that the hard way, as did your partner. Are you following me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I need you to tell me who told you about the mill?”
“His name is Richard Grainger,” Toni said without hesitation.
Letva turned on his heels quickly. He put his hands on his knees and looked at her hard. “Richard Grainger?”
“Yes. He called me at about half past ten that night,” she said hoarsely. “His number is in my contact list. You can check my mobile and see the call.”
Letva looked thoughtful. He tilted his head to one side. “Rick Grainger,” he said rubbing his chin. “I didn’t expect that. Check her phone,” he ordered someone behind her. She could hear voices chattering as they scrolled through the call logs.
“She is telling the truth.”
Letva nodded knowingly. It was as if his suspicions had been confirmed. “Thank you, Antonia. This is the name that you gave to the police?”
