“To clear the decks,” Eva said, adding nothing more. She was almost to the car when the two men inside looked at Eva and their faces changed. A woman in a suit with a hard face was approaching. Whether she was a looker or not, the odds said she was police. And they didn’t want that fuss. What stoner did? Before Eva was all the way to the car, the driver started his engine, spinning his tyres on the gravel as they turned to avoid her. Eva followed them with her eyes and the driver flipped her a finger as he passed. She shook her head and watched the car bump over the concrete hump of the bridge, passing her little red Alfa in the outer car park on the other side. Eva looked around. The estuary water beyond was a dark iron grey. It looked forbidding. Far across the water, the sun was shining on Kent, bathing it in gold light. Eva retreated, satisfied if things remained as they were, the location was good enough for an isolated confrontation – and even better to set a trap. Back in the smaller car park, she checked that there no secret lovers around. No risqué liaisons of any persuasion. But then it wasn’t quite the time of day for that. Eva walked around to the passenger side of the Alfa and opened the door. Lauren looked up at her, a quizzical look on her face.
Eva explained. “We need to get the drop on him. He’ll be here soon enough. When he comes, we need to be able to read his game plan.”
Lauren nodded. “Are you armed?” she said.
“I’ve taken precautions,” said Eva.
She nodded again. “Like you did in Romford. You had a knife the whole time. Good to know. I’ve got a little something of my own.”
Lauren got out of the car, and Eva saw she was shaking. It was hard to tell whether it was from excitement or fear. Eva locked the car and they walked back across the street, moving on a little way in the direction of the driving range. The whole area was a place of bad memories. The memories only supported Lauren’s theories about her capacity for the unthinkable. A man had gone into the water and not come out. They’d had little alternative. It had been him or them. Thankfully, it had been him. And here she was again, ready. Almost. They found a recess in the fences on the other side of the little lane. The gap provided enough cover for a hiding space and gave a view of the parking area immediately before the island, and a little of the island itself. And there they waited. Occasionally, Eva sensed Lauren was watching her. Once or twice, she felt sure the woman was going to give her a word of encouragement, or perhaps drop more poison into her ear. Eva wanted neither. Lauren had problems and so did she. All Eva wanted was the nightmare to be over. She kept her eyes on the road and away from Lauren as much as she could. And then she saw the big white car sweep down around the corner from the recycling centre, and watched it slow down as it passed the cars queuing for the tip. It was the Sportage; Eva recognised the plate.
“Keep back,” she said to Lauren. “He’s here.”
“Then it ends here,” said Lauren.
“And hopefully it ends the way we want it to,” said Eva. “Do as I say. No unpredictable behaviour.”
Lauren nodded but it was an unconvincing gesture.
The car used a burst of speed then slowed again as it reached the tufty brow of grasses between the lane and the parking area before Two Tree Island. The car slowed to a near halt, and she watched the man leaning over his steering wheel to get a good view of the car park and the island. Through the mesh of the fence, she saw him scanning the area from his driving seat, then his head turned their way. She ducked out of sight and laid a hand on Lauren’s shoulder to make sure she didn’t move. A long moment later, they heard the engine rumble to a stop and a door slammed. Eva shifted left and right, crouching until she gained the slightest view through the mesh of fencing. She watched the man look left and right as he opened the car’s big boot, reached in and fiddled with something before removing his hands. Eva caught a glimpse of a pistol. Something small and black. The man shut the boot, and Eva saw the indicators blink as he locked the car. Boothroyd started walking towards the edge of the road and the grassy brow which looked out to the waterfront beyond. Aside from the odd parked car, and the sound of the trains rattling through the station behind, the place seemed suddenly desolate. The silence was useful but now it seemed eerie. Eva took a breath and felt her heart beating hard and fast. She blinked.
“He’s armed,” said Lauren. “Tell me you have a gun?”
“No. But all being well, we won’t even need one. Stay out of sight. We don’t want to make this easy for him.”
Eva stepped into the road as soon as Boothroyd disappeared behind the line of long grasses. “He’ll be setting up his ambush position now. I need to see where.”
Eva sprinted across the lane, until the body of the big white Sportage could provide cover if Boothroyd suddenly came back. But he didn’t return. Eva tried peering into the glass of the rear windscreen, but the windows were tinted black all the way round. It was impossible to see if there were other weapons in the boot. She moved on, careful now, stepping up just to the very edge of the tall grass, just high enough that her eyes would have been visible from the other side. She watched Boothroyd walking around in the little car park, evaluating his best position for an ambush. He looked at the empty parked cars, and then across to the gravel of the other parking area just across on Two Tree Island. In the end, he seemed to favour the island itself. A wise choice for an assassin and Eva was grateful. She watched him walk on, until finally she saw him pick a gap between two battered old cars. The wind whistled off the water and rattled through some of the masts and boat detritus over on the island. Eva waited until the man had settled out of sight. And then she walked back down towards Lauren at the edge of the fence across the lane.
“What’s he doing?”
“Waiting for us to appear over on the island.”
“He’s armed, soon as we walk across he’ll shoot,” said Lauren.
“He won’t,” said Eva.
“Why not?” said Lauren, looking confused.
“Because he’s going to come running towards us.”
Lauren looked her in the eye, and Eva nodded slowly. “This is what you hired me for, remember? Trust me this time. It will work.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Draw him out…”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“I told you before, you weren’t even supposed to be here. You’re a risk, so stay clear.”
“You never intended to pick me up, did you?”
“Not if I could help it, Lauren. Now just wait here. Watch if you like but stay out of sight.”
Eva looked around at the kerb, and the weeds and grasses bursting from the cracks by the fence. Searching more closely she saw a piece of rubbish discarded from the nearby skate park. A piece of half rotten skateboard, the black grip tape partly peeled away from the top, and the plastic wheel trucks broken off from the undercarriage. Eva hefted the broken wood in her hands and walked out into the lane.
“You’re going to face him with that?” said Lauren.
“Don’t be silly,” said Eva.
“Then what’s that for? Surfing?”
Eva ignored her and walked back across the street. She reached the back of Boothroyd’s rented Sportage and looked about. Gulls hung in the air. Another train rattled past on its way to London. The distant cars poured down Belton Way like coins in a tuppenny machine. Eva took a breath. She turned the skateboard on its side, aimed the remaining metal axle of the broken board at the black glass and took one good firm hit. The prominent metal struck hard against the glass with a crash but didn’t break it. Eva gasped. Boothroyd must have heard the sound. She needed the glass broken now. Eva leaned back and turned the board away, pivoting on her hip. Again she swung the board towards the tinted glass, and this time the long thin wooden edge struck and she felt the wood break through the glass on one side. There was a sound of crumpling, but the window heater wiring was keeping the damn glass together. Eva gritted her teeth and swung again, hard, smashing all around, as fragments of black glass f
lew around her. The window collapsed inward like a spider’s web folding in on itself. Eva looked inside the car boot and saw a black metal tin like a toolbox. It was covered in bits of glass. She swept the glass off with the board and grabbed the toolbox from the boot by leaning over the broken rear screen. Then she pulled outward and wheeled away, casting a nervous glance over the crest of the grasses. She ran as fast as she could and reached the hiding space behind the fence where Lauren waited.
The Sportage’s car alarm was blaring, indicator lights flashing on and off in the road.
“That was your plan?” said Lauren.
“I knew he’d give us an opportunity. We’re too far out here for anyone to bother coming soon.”
“But he will have heard. And other people must be looking…”
“It’s only him we’re worried about.”
Eva leaned into the fence and saw the man appear at the crest of the long grasses. He stared at his car and swore out loud. Eva fumbled with the clasp on the shiny toolbox as Boothroyd marched down towards his car and stared in through the back windscreen. He saw his boot was empty and wheeled around, looking left and right down the empty lane.
“Where are you?” he called, his voice echoing. Eva noted the dried wound on the side of his head as her fingers teased at the clasp of the toolbox and it released. Boothroyd was coming. He looked furious as he walked down the lane, suit jacket flapping up at his back in the wind. He was coming their way. In a few seconds he would find them both, waiting in a perfect place for an isolated execution.
The breeze changed direction and whipped at Eva’s hair as she opened the lid which slammed back, exposing the interior and making far too much noise. Eva froze. She looked through the fence. Lauren drew away, pressing her whole body against the fence behind her. Her foot pressed down on a pile of pebbles and sent half of them skittering down the kerb into the gutter beside it. Eva saw Boothroyd’s face. He stopped. He had heard everything. His eyes narrowed and stared directly ahead down the lane. When he saw nothing ahead of him, his eyes turned towards the corner of the fence where they were hidden. A feeling of ice-cold certainty gripped Eva’s chest. This was the moment. She stuck a hand into the tin, raking through a loose layer of brass-coloured ballistic rounds, knife handle grips and the pitted, grooved grip… of a gun. Her hand shaking, Eva seized the grip, raised the heavy gun and slid her finger through the trigger guard. The pistol was too big for her, and her wrist struggled to bear the weight as she lifted it. But Boothroyd was coming close. He was almost upon them. Eva launched to her feet, raising the pistol with both hands and aimed at the corner of the fence just as Boothroyd came around it and stared into the long barrel of his own gun. He froze. His own pistol was half raised, still loose in his hand.
“Missing something?” said Eva.
The man blinked and Eva watched his temples tighten.
“Do you even know how to use that thing?” said the man, quietly.
“Oh, she knows alright,” said Lauren, from over Eva’s shoulder. “That’s why I hired her. I’ve known for a long time that you were coming.”
The man’s eyes betrayed his anger.
“And you’ve got Jamie Blane to thank for that,” said Eva.
“What are you going to do?” said the man. “All that racket with the car, the window, someone will come down here soon enough.”
“Which leaves you under pressure, not me. You and Blane,” said Eva. “But you most of all. Your fingerprints will be all over that car, and your toolbox here will be back in the boot. Along with the gun in your hand. Possession of firearms. Fingerprints. Emails. Your goose is cooked, Mr Boothroyd.”
“No way. I won’t do a thing.”
“Any choice you’ve had in this is over, Mr Boothroyd.”
“Keep kidding yourself. She’s brought this on herself,” said Boothroyd, nodding at Lauren. “Blane wouldn’t have ordered this unless she deserved it. She drained his bank account, she blackmailed him, she stabbed him, she ruined his whole life. I couldn’t care less either way. But if I was him, I’d want her dead too.”
“Do you know what he did to me?” said Lauren, her face contorting with anger. “Besides paying to kill me?”
“I don’t care,” said Boothroyd. Now, whatever you think you’re gonna do here, you’d better hurry. The police will turn up soon…”
The man sounded too confident for Eva’s liking. She jabbed the gun closer to his face her eyes flaring. “You’re in no position to boss us around. Turn around.”
“Do you think I keep that loaded?” said the man, his lip curled up in a snarl.
“I don’t know, but we could always find out,” said Eva. She raised the gun closer to Boothroyd’s grim face and he shook his head.
“I’ll play along to make you happy,” he said as he turned his back.
“Nice of you. Keep that gun low. Lower,” said Eva. “Not like that. I want you holding it by the barrel.”
The man took a step forward into the lane but seemed reluctant to let go of his gun. Eva pushed the barrel into his back and he jerked forward, and slipped the pistol lower in his grip, letting the barrel drop into his palm.
“What now?”
“Now you do as you’re told.”
“Stupid bitch!” he snarled. “There’s a car coming. Now we’re all screwed.”
“Manners, Boothroyd,” said Eva. She looked and saw a modern red Mini coming towards them. She skipped forward and moved to Boothroyd’s side, plunging the big pistol into the tissue beneath by his armpit. Boothroyd hesitated but Eva pressed the gun harder and they kept moving. She took hold of his arm to make it seem like they were a couple just as the Mini passed them by. The woman with big shades behind the wheel smiled at them as she drove by. But, Eva noticed she gave them a second look before she drove on. The car alarm… the wounds on Boothroyd’s head. It was enough to make anyone look twice. They reached the back of the Sportage.
“Toss your gun in there.”
“Where?”
“It doesn’t matter, just make sure it goes inside.”
“Then what?”
“We’re going to talk.”
“Talk? What about?” said Boothroyd.
“About Blane. And about what we do next…”
“You’re still kidding yourself, woman.”
“And you’re pushing your luck,” Eva glared at the man until he relented. With a petulant flick of his wrist, he tossed the gun through the broken rear window and turned to Eva.
“Well done. Now we can talk.”
“You need to hurry. Someone will come,” said Boothroyd.
“I make the decisions here,” said Eva.
“Eva?” called Lauren. But Eva didn’t dare take her eyes off Boothroyd. Instead, she called without looking back. “Follow me, Lauren, but be sure to keep your distance. In case he tries anything.”
The man smiled and Eva took it all in. He seemed to like the idea of Lauren following them.
“Where now?”
“Back across there. Near your pathetic little hiding place between the parked cars…”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“For the same reason you hid there. Because it’s good for what I want to do,” said Eva.
“And what do you want to do?”
Eva let the man dwell in silence for a moment before she answered, “Talk...”
The trio climbed past the tufts of grass and walked down the slope across to the gravel on the first part of the island. Ahead of them, the gravel ended in the wash of the iron grey Thames as it lapped at the stones. Seemingly endless grasses stretched out on either side until they merged with the waters beyond.
They walked into the middle of the empty gravel area before Eva stopped and pulled Boothroyd around hard, using his arm. His eyes were everywhere, looking up at the distant hills behind her, at the train station, the traffic and the houses up on distant Marine Parade. She saw him calculating. He looked fearful now, which made him all the m
ore dangerous.
“Time’s running out,” he said.
“You’re dead right there,” said Eva. “Jamie Blane is a vile man and from what I’ve seen you’re no different.”
“He’s a businessman. So am I. Everything else is in your imagination.”
“Your guns? Are they in my imagination? You parked outside Lauren’s mother’s house for days on end. Terrorising everyone. What about that?”
The man snorted and shook his head.
“Bastard,” hissed Lauren. “He’s not going to help us, Eva. We’d be better off if he was dead. You know it and so do I.”
The man looked at Eva, at the gun, then turned to Lauren and pointed.
“That hysterical bitch is the reason we’re all here now. If it wasn’t for her, this would never have happened.”
“She’s the reason you became a hired killer, is she?”
“Screw him, Eva. He’s right about one thing. We need to hurry. Just get rid of him.”
“You’re listening to her, are you?!” said the man, his eyes wide, teeth gnashing.
“I’m listening to you. I want to hear it all from your mouth,” said Eva.
“Hear what? You’re wasting time. We’ll all go to prison if you don’t—”
Lauren cut him off. “You’re not going to prison. You’re dead. Don’t you see?”
The man’s eyes filled with a wild light, as Eva watched his breathing change.
“Wait, Lauren… There’s something I have to know.”
The man looked at her.
“That hire car was booked through Reva Rentals. The same outfit Blane always uses, but sparingly enough to reveal a pattern.”
The man shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Play With Fire Page 24
