Blacklight (Dark Yorkshire Book 2)

by J M Dalgliesh

  “Just our guardian angel, nothing to worry about.” His response was followed by the sound of another exchange of fire from within the building. It sounded to Caslin that it was two pistols trading blows with Sara’s rifle, as the shots came on top of each other. Then there was silence. Caslin stood at the gate, supporting Stefan, looking back at the warehouse. His common sense told him to run but his attachment to Sara threatened to draw him back into the fray. As if reading his mind, Stefan caught his attention.

  “I think she can take care of herself, a lot better than we can,” he said with a grimace, one born of agony. Caslin glanced at him and nodded. They continued through the gate, heading for the main road. “When are your mates going to turn up?” Stefan mumbled.

  Caslin, breathing heavily at the exertion of aiding his brother, said, through deep draws of breath, “If someone’s reported the shots, then any minute but this one’s off the books.”

  “Terrific,” Stefan stated. “You can never find a policeman when you need one, eh?”

  Caslin laughed, giving a short respite from the tension, “Too true.”

  In the corner of his eye, he saw a lone figure vacate the building behind them, before breaking into a run. He knew immediately that it was Sara. From the rear, a car made the turn and accelerated along the length of the building towards the main gate. Sara, by now running at full pelt across the open compound, glanced over her shoulder upon hearing the engine pick up. She turned and dropped to one knee, levelling the rifle in the direction of the vehicle. As it rapidly closed the distance between them, she let off two short, controlled bursts. The first struck the windscreen and the second, the engine housing. The car veered to the left and then the right, before spinning out of control, colliding with the perimeter fence and eventually coming to a stop.

  Sara approached the vehicle cautiously, whose engine was still running despite giving off substantial amounts of smoke and steam. The passenger door creaked open and she raised her rifle, depressing the trigger. A loud clicking sounded but the weapon failed to fire. Karl stepped from the vehicle, blood visibly streaming from a wound at the side of his head, to the left of his temple. He raised his pistol and fired. Sara’s empty rifle dropped to the tarmac alongside her as she fell. Karl came to stand over her, stamping on the shoulder that he’d just put a bullet into. Sara screamed in agony. Leaning forward, he pressed the barrel of his weapon against her forehead.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you, you bitch,” he spat at her. Sara stared up at him with uncompromising defiance.

  “I don’t think you’re going to do that,” Caslin stated evenly. He stood less than three-metres away, his gun trained on Karl.

  Chapter 28

  “Well, this is interesting,” Karl said with a smile reminiscent of his employer, who lay dead in the building behind them.

  “Are you in a hurry to join Anton?” Caslin asked.

  “Feel free to shoot him, any time you like,” Sara said in an icy tone. From the look in her eyes, Caslin knew she meant it.

  “We find ourselves in quite a dilemma, Inspector,” Karl said, before returning his attention to Sara, lying prostrate, at his feet. “Do not come any closer or your friend will die.” He reapplied pressure to her shoulder with the ball of his foot, as if to emphasise the point. Sara grimaced.

  “She dies, you die,” Caslin said flatly, a nervous adjustment of the weapon in his hands, giving away a lack of confidence in handling the situation.

  “I might live long enough to see your head come off, you piece of shit,” Sara said, locking eyes with Karl. His smile broadened into a wide grin.

  “I always told Anton that you couldn’t be trusted-”

  “And he believed you,” Sara confirmed, wincing as she spoke. “Collectively, we needed each other.”

  “Indeed,” Karl agreed, “until such time as the costs became too great. However, Anton is dead. Do you believe that the time has passed?”

  “What are you talking about?” Caslin interjected.

  “Has it?” Karl repeated, ignoring the question entirely.

  Sara narrowed her gaze, turning the scenario over, in her mind, “Durakovic went too far, even by his standards.”

  “He underestimated you and played this whole situation badly,” Karl said.

  “Very,” Sara replied.

  “So, in the scheme of things, nothing has really changed, has it?” Karl asked with a flick of his eyebrows.

  She shook her head, “I see no reason.”

  “Sara?” Caslin persisted. “What’s going on?” Karl looked at him and then back to her.

  “Nate, please be quiet and let the grown-ups talk for a bit, would you?” she said, dismissing him.

  “What the fuck?” Caslin muttered to himself.

  “I fear that we do not have a great deal of time,” Karl stated, still with his gun lodged against her forehead. He indicated Caslin, “His colleagues will be here, at any moment.”

  Sara nodded, “We will all have a great deal of explaining to do, unless-”

  “We can conclude this negotiation quickly?” Karl finished. Caslin’s senses were heightened, shifting his weight between his feet, nervously. He felt well out of this loop.

  “Lower your weapon,” Caslin stated.

  “Perhaps you could do the same?” Karl replied, irritated. Caslin was about to protest but Sara spoke first.

  “You can lower your gun, Nate.”

  “Excuse me?” Caslin said with more than a hint of surprise in his tone.

  “Do as I say, Nathaniel, please,” Sara encouraged him. He looked to her, inquisitively. “No-one else needs to die here, today.”

  “You’re going to let him go, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” she said emphatically.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me-”

  “You’re both going to lower your weapons and we are all leaving,” Sara said with authority. “This is going to take some clearing up and it’ll be far easier if none of us are here when your lot arrive.”

  “Business as usual?” Caslin asked, barely controlling his anger. “You know who this is, the things he’s done?”

  “More so, than anyone,” Sara replied. “Don’t be so naïve. It’s the way of things.”

  “Bollocks.”

  “Clock’s ticking,” Karl said softly. “We all walk or some of us die. I have nothing more to offer.”

  Sara looked at Caslin, “It’s on you, Nate. I know what I’m doing, trust me.” Caslin let out an involuntary laugh. The sound of sirens in the distance could now be heard and he looked in that direction. Blue light was flickering in the skyline, to the south.

  “The ticking’s getting louder,” Karl said, now looking directly at Caslin. With one last fleeting glance at Sara, Caslin lowered the Glock. Karl immediately did likewise but neither man took their finger off the trigger nor their eyes off each other, as Sara struggled to her feet. Karl backed away, picking up speed as the volume of the sirens got ever louder. Holstering his weapon when he reached the car, he dragged the lifeless body of his associate out through the passenger door, depositing him onto the tarmac. Clambering across and into the driver’s seat, he revved the engine excessively, before accelerating off the grass verge, around the two of them and out of the compound.

  “We need to move,” Sara said whilst Caslin watched the car depart. A surge of rage threatened to rise from within him. “Where’s Stefan?”

  “Out there,” Caslin nodded towards the road beyond. “When did you realise that they had my brother?”

  “Not now, Nate, for Christ’s sake,” she said, moving off. He gripped her forearm and stepped across, blocking her passage. The rough-handling sent a shockwave of pain through her shoulder and she glared at him. Caslin didn’t care. “Seriously, are we going to do this now?”

  “When?” Caslin snarled. “Would you have done anything if I hadn’t turned up, when I did? Or would you have let them kill him?”

  “Nate, you’re hurting me
,” she said, indicating his hand with her eyes. He released his hold. Her expression softened and their eyes met. “I didn’t know he was your brother, believe me,” she implored him. “He was working for Durakovic under a different name, probably in case it came up that he was related to a copper. I found out today and…for the record…I didn’t have a bloody clue what I was going to do about it before you showed up, doing your feeble John Wayne impression.”

  “John Way…what?”

  “I left the back door open for you and you still managed to get yourself caught. What with that and squaring up to Anton like you’re in the Magnificent Seven or something-”

  “You’re talking old westerns-”

  “We have to move, now,” Sara hissed. “I have a car at the rear of that warehouse,” she indicated a grey building several hundred yards further along the road, “they have their own access road from the bypass, for bringing up heavy plant. If we’re quick, we can get clear. Now please, can we go?” Caslin nodded and Sara recovered her rifle, grunting as she stooped to pick it up. She swore whilst attempting to collapse the stock, something she couldn’t do with only one good arm. Caslin took it and did it for her. She slipped the strap over her other shoulder and they set off for the gate.

  “Are you going to be alright?” Caslin asked, looking at the blood creeping out from beneath the cover of her jacket.

  “I’ll be fine,” she replied but he remained less than convinced.

  Stefan was where Caslin had left him, lying just beyond the crest of the grass verge surrounding the compound. Caslin hoisted him up and they managed to cover the ground fast enough to conceal themselves from view, before the first response vehicles arrived. Propping Stefan upright, against the wall of the building, he found his brother more coherent than when he had left him.

  “You need to put pressure on, front and back-”

  “I know,” Stefan replied, doing as instructed. From their position of relative obscurity, Caslin watched as three patrol cars came to a stop near to the entrance of the compound. The second was an armed-response vehicle and the officers moved to the rear, popping the boot and assembling their equipment. Other colleagues observed the warehouse, sheltering behind their cars. Caslin had no idea if an active threat remained on the premises or not. Looking back to Sara, she beckoned him forward. Kneeling, Caslin looped Stefan’s arm around his shoulder, lifted him and made his way towards her.

  With all the police attention behind them, they made their way towards Sara’s car without further delay. It was a mid-size saloon and Caslin lay Stefan down on the rear seat.

  “Here, use this,” Sara said, tossing him a tee-shirt from within a bag on the passenger seat. Caslin thanked her and knelt alongside his brother. Using the material, he fashioned a tourniquet for Stefan’s leg. His brother groaned as he applied it but didn’t complain. Concerned about how much blood he had lost, Caslin got into the car alongside his brother. He saw Sara stuff a clutch of wadding underneath her blouse and into her own wound.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, don’t worry,” she replied.

  “Do you want me to drive?”

  “No, it’s fine. We don’t have far to go.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Sara didn’t reply as she put the car into gear and they moved off, without lights, towards the exit. Pulling up, Caslin noticed the eight-foot high gate was secured with a combination lock. Sara trotted over to it and within seconds was sliding the chain-link barrier away to their left. He decided not to bother asking her how she knew the code. Once back in the car, they passed through quietly and Caslin got out to close the gate behind them, casting a wary glance at the emerging police presence in the distance. Returning to the car he got in and, once more without the aid of headlights, they picked their way up the bumpy, gravel track until they reached the slip road onto the bypass. Another gate barred their way but this was no hindrance to Sara and within minutes, they were well away from the scene. Caslin cast an eye skyward, Sara noticed.

  “Looks like the air cover is needed elsewhere, tonight,” she said. Caslin glanced at her, wondering if she knew something that he didn’t. Dismissing the thought as paranoia, he turned his attention to Stefan. He had either fallen asleep or passed out, Caslin couldn’t determine which but his breathing appeared to be regular and unobstructed. Furtively looking in her mirrors, Sara watched to ensure they had escaped unobserved and seemed comfortable that that was the case.

  “Stefan needs a doctor,” he said.

  “Don’t worry, I know someone,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the road.

  “We have to get to a hospital.” Sara shot him a dark and slightly patronising look in the rear-view mirror.

  “Too many questions. You know as well as I do that gunshot wounds have to be reported to the police. It’ll be fine, trust me.”

  “There’s that phrase again,” he said without attempting to mask the sarcasm. “How am I supposed to be able to do that?” Sara smiled although she knew there was no intended humour.

  “Under your seat, there’s a bag. In it, you’ll find a mobile. Can you pass it to me?” Caslin did so. Tapping a number in from memory, she waited patiently for the call to be answered. It was, within a few rings. “I need a reservation,” she said. There was a man’s voice at the other end but the sound was muffled and Caslin couldn’t make out the reply. “Yeah, dinner for two,” she said nonchalantly. Seconds later, Sara hung up the call and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat, the action causing her some discomfort in the shoulder. “Fifteen minutes,” was all she said, wincing as she spoke. Caslin could see her skin was growing pale and a sheen of perspiration had formed on her brow. She was in trouble, regardless of her protestations.

  The remainder of the journey was done in silence, apart from the occasional groan from Stefan, in the rear. Caslin had lost track of their direction and he was confused when they pulled into a multi-unit retail park. Bringing them to a stop, Sara looked at Stefan and then Caslin.

  “Can you manage to get your brother to the rear of this building?” she indicated to their left. He looked, taking in the u-shaped complex they were parked in and nodded. “Good, you’ll find double, fire-exit doors around back. I’ll meet you there in two minutes. I need to see a man about a dog.”

  “Where…?” Caslin was about to ask but she got out without another word, briskly walking over to an Audi, parked sixty yards away, on the other side of the car park. She got into the passenger seat and Caslin tried in vain, to make out the driver. With some difficulty, he hauled Stefan from the rear seat and half-carried, half-dragged his brother to the rear, as instructed. Having found the doors, he waited, supporting Stefan, who was slipping in and out of consciousness. Suddenly struck by the surreal nature of the evening, Caslin wondered how on earth they would make it back to normality.

  The unlocking of bolts on the other side of the door, brought back his focus. Unsure of what to expect when they opened, he braced himself as the leftmost door was pushed out. The face of a young man, in his late thirties, appeared, looking them up and down. Caslin didn’t speak.

  “It’d be better if I checked your friend out inside,” the man said. He stepped aside, allowing them enough room for Caslin to ease Stefan through the opening. Once past, the door was closed behind them and the bolts secured. There were cages arranged along the wall for three metres, at floor level and another row above, at waist height. Their presence was noted by several of the occupants. A dog came to the front near them, it’s nose sniffing the air around the new arrivals. “This way,” their host offered, walking past and beckoning them to follow. “Do you need any help?”

  “No, I’ve got him,” Caslin replied. They made their way through another door, across a corridor and into an ancillary room. Sara was already present, stripped to the waist, a trauma pad pressed to her shoulder. “How are you?” Caslin asked, “and please don’t say okay.”

  Sara smiled weakly, “I’ve had better d
ays.”

  “Put him down here,” the man stated, pointing to a bench off to Caslin’s right. He did so, lying Stefan down as gently as he could.

  “What’s your name?” Caslin asked.

  “Call me whatever you want, I don’t care,” the man offered without looking up. He took a pair of surgical scissors, cutting through the base of Stefan’s trouser leg and slicing them all the way to his hip. Caslin took that to mean introductions wouldn’t be forthcoming.

  “In that case, Dave,” Caslin said dryly, “can you patch up my brother?” The man glanced up and smiled.

  “It looks clean enough.”

  “Do you know what you’re doing…with people, I mean?”

  “He’s a former combat-medic,” Sara offered. “He’ll do just fine.”

  Caslin was comforted by that and stepped away in order to give him room to work. Crossing over to stand with Sara, he offered to assist, for which she was grateful. Taking a clean pad, he swapped the dressing and pressed down. Sara flinched but said nothing.

  “So, is this guy one of yours?” he asked, his trembling hands causing discomfort where they were supposed to be soothing.

  “Steady on, Nate,” Sara said, perhaps more confrontationally than intended.

  “Sorry,” he replied, “I can’t stop them shaking.”

  “It’s the adrenalin,” she offered. “Now we’ve stopped, it’s catching up on you.”

  “I…I’ve never shot anything…anyone…before, let alone killed-”

  “Them or us, Nate,” Sara cut him off, coldly. “That’s what you have to tell yourself, them or us.” Caslin looked into her eyes, seeing a steel in her that he’d never noticed previously and moved the conversation backwards.

  “Is he one of yours, then?”

  “Better if you don’t know, really,” she replied. Caslin dropped it.

  “What was all that with Karl, back there?” he asked, lowering his voice. Dave didn’t seem to be paying them any attention but even so, Caslin didn’t want to risk being overheard.

  “He’ll have his uses,” Sara said in an equally conspiratorial tone, “if he survives the next couple of days, anyway.”