He straightened, his eyes never leaving hers.
‘I knew all I’d have to do was wait. Leave you a trail of breadcrumbs you wouldn’t be able to resist.’
‘Why Webster?’
‘Why not? The man was paid well. He provided me with somewhere to stay. I must say, detective, it excited me when you were sent to meet him after our phone call to your so-called hotline. I could hear your voice, and wondered what you would do if you knew I was there, listening to you, so close to where you sat in his living room, listening to his lies. He did well to lay the trap for you, and you fell for it like a fool.’
Kay groaned.
He was right, of course. Because Webster had been the one so eager to help the police and report suspicious activities on the beach, she’d trusted him.
Trusted him enough to follow him blindly into Demiri’s trap.
‘You’ll never get away with it.’
The shock at hearing the fear in her own voice turned to anger as she saw the effect it had on him.
He bared his teeth.
Kay clawed at Demiri’s hands as he reached down and grabbed the front of her stab vest and began to drag her towards the churning surf.
Despite his age, the man possessed an enormous strength, and lifted her with ease.
Her thoughts returned to the evidence he and his men had left behind in the nightclub cellar, and she fought down the urge to be sick.
She had to slow him down. She had to hope Gavin and the rest of the team were close by.
She opened her mouth to yell, to call out, to let them know where she was, but before she could, Demiri paused in his tracks and slapped her across the face.
She gasped with the shock of the impact, and then he was dragging her once more.
She dug her heels into the wet sand, desperately trying to slow him down, to delay what she knew was going to happen.
Her thoughts turned to her compulsory training, the extra swimming lessons that gained her a pass but did nothing to quell her fear of water.
Demiri’s fetid breath swept over her face as he worked, and then suddenly she was falling. She screamed as her arm twisted at an impossible angle with the force of the impact, and then seawater filled her mouth and nostrils.
A weight landed on her legs, and a hand gripped her stab vest as once more she was hauled from the surf coughing and spluttering.
Eyes stinging, her left arm useless at her side, she turned her head and vomited from her sitting position.
A large wave smacked against her spine, fanning out across her shoulders and splashing Demiri’s face.
She was shivering uncontrollably now, and struggled to focus on the large hands that held her.
Her head dropped forward, her chin resting on his knuckles as she tried to gulp in precious air.
‘Look at me!’
Demiri shook her until she turned her eyes to him.
Every time she’d imagined arresting the organised crime boss, she’d imagined feeling victorious, casting a blow to the crime community, and being hailed a heroine by the same people who had tried to destroy her career.
Now, she realised she’d underestimated him badly, and she was absolutely terrified.
Demiri raised her up by the stab vest until their faces were almost touching.
She could feel the hatred emanating from him, a pure evil that crawled over her shoulders and loosened her bowels.
At that moment, she knew she was going to die.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Gavin glanced to his left as Sharp slowed, then realised the DI was reaching into his utility belt for his torch, and followed suit.
Kay’s safety was more important than Harrison’s operational requirements.
Carys and Barnes caught up with them, and Sharp held up his hand to stop them forging ahead.
‘We walk the rest of the way. We don’t know Demiri is there for sure, and we only have Webster’s word that there’s a second dinghy.’
‘She’s in trouble, guv,’ said Barnes. ‘I can feel it.’
‘All the more reason that we don’t go rushing in there like fools. It could be a trap.’
‘What’s the plan?’ said Carys.
‘We fan out,’ said Sharp. ‘I want you evenly spaced between the shoreline and the road. That leaves about twelve foot between us, so we know no-one can try to leave the beach without us seeing them. Keep your torch beams on the sand in front of you, sweeping from left to right. We know our target is the groyne posts over there, so keep going. If I say stop, you stop. This is no time for heroics.’
They jogged into position and kept moving forward, and Gavin found himself with Sharp to his left and Carys closest to the unpaved road that ran the length of the beach. He could just make out Barnes, closer to the surf.
A sickness engulfed him, and he wished he’d insisted on staying with Kay. He knew he’d done the right thing by following orders and that she’d have gone anyway, but the sense of dread had been growing since he first told Sharp what had happened.
His thoughts returned to Carys’s comment that Kay wasn’t a strong swimmer. He knew the churning waters would make swimming dangerous, not only because of the cold but also the risk of being carried away by a rip current.
And if she couldn’t hold her breath for long—
The wind tugged at his cap, and then the roar of an engine reached his ears. Without slowing down, he glanced over his shoulder and saw two uniformed vehicles speeding along the road to catch up with them, lights blazing.
A figure stumbled towards them, silhouetted against the vehicles’ headlights, and he recognised the gangly figure of the DCI.
Evidently, Harrison was more alarmed at his news than he first thought, and he picked up his pace.
‘Easy, Piper,’ said Sharp. ‘We’ll find her.’
‘That’s a tactical response vehicle,’ said Gavin.
‘I know. That’s good. It means they’re taking your message seriously. And all the more reason not to go running across there. Demiri could have a gun.’
Gavin swallowed.
The thought that Demiri might have a weapon hadn’t even crossed his mind, and he cursed himself for doubting Sharp. He turned his attention to the cottage set back from the beach.
Adrian Webster had played them all.
Gavin was in no doubt that the man was an informant of Demiri’s, as Sharp had suggested.
‘This is where I left her with Webster,’ he said to Sharp. He pointed out the groyne posts, still quarter of a mile away.
‘Try her on the radio,’ said Sharp.
‘I can’t.’
‘What? Why not?’
‘My radio wasn’t working when we tried to call you for back up, so Hunter gave me hers.’
Sharp stopped dead in his tracks. ‘She did what?’
‘The radios are useless, guv. Hers didn’t work either, and like I said – she didn’t want to switch on her mobile phone because of Harrison’s orders. She didn’t want to alert Demiri or anyone else to us being here.’
Sharp peered along the road to where the vehicles were powering towards them.
‘They’re not going to get here in time.’
He began to run towards the groyne posts, the rest of them ignoring his orders to fan out and instead following in his wake.
As he ran, Gavin knew he’d never forgive himself for leaving Kay behind.
He should have stayed.
He should have insisted on accompanying Webster instead, while Kay sought help.
He should have—
‘Stop it, Piper.’
Sharp’s words cut through his thoughts.
‘Guv?’
‘Stop blaming yourself. You were given a direct order by a superior officer. You acted on it.’
‘I was wrong.’
‘No, you weren’t.’
‘Sharp!’
Gavin slowed to a walk as Harrison staggered towards them, breathing heavily.
The DCI held up
a hand to shield his eyes from their torch beams. ‘Any sign of Hunter?’
‘Nothing. Why didn’t your comms team check the radios were working properly?’
Harrison frowned. ‘There’s nothing wrong with the radios.’
Sharp narrowed his eyes, but jerked his thumb over his shoulder. ‘Hunter was meant to be heading that way.’
‘What about Demiri?’
‘Haven’t seen him yet, either.’
‘Who the hell is that?’
Gavin spun round at Cary’s voice, in time to see a shadowy figure lurching across the sand, away from the direction of the groyne posts.
‘Webster,’ he growled.
Movement to his left caught him off guard, and then Barnes was sprinting up the beach towards Webster, clearing the space between them with surprising speed for a man of his size.
They all followed, Gavin leading the way, but he didn’t make it in time.
Barnes launched himself at the man, sending the two of them tumbling to the sand.
Webster cried out, then wiggled out from under Barnes and began to crawl away.
Barnes reached out and grabbed hold of the man’s ankle, using his weight to pin Webster down while he scrambled to stop him escaping.
‘Barnes, no!’
Barnes ignored the shout from Sharp. He wrapped his fingers around the man’s coat and shook him.
‘Where is she? Where’s Hunter?’
A hand grabbed his shoulder and hauled him off Webster, a low voice in his ear.
‘Hey,’ said Gavin.
Barnes shrugged his shoulder to loosen the younger detective’s grip, and glared at Webster, who was still lying on the sand, his eyes gleaming in the light from their torches.
Suddenly, a piercing scream cut through the darkness.
Carys whimpered at Sharp’s side.
‘What have you done with Kay?’ said Gavin.
The old man cackled.
‘You’re too late. Demiri has her.’
Chapter Fifty-Four
Demiri’s white hair blew wildly around his weathered features, his black eyes blazing a second before he spat in Kay’s face.
‘You think you are better than me, don’t you Detective Hunter?’
He shifted position, his legs straddling hers as he ran his eyes over her body. ‘You insult me. You underestimated me. You’re too stupid to ever comprehend the power I command. The people who answer to me.’
Kay took a deep breath and closed her eyes a moment before he thrust her under the waves once more.
The back of her head hit the closely packed sand, knocking the breath she’d been so desperate to hold out of her.
Tears pricked her eyes as she raised her right hand and reached out blindly. She scratched Demiri’s face, trying to work out where the man’s eyes and nose were – soft, easy targets in a normal defensive situation, but impossible while fighting underwater.
A tightness in her chest began to grip her – a sudden urge to open her mouth and seek out oxygen, but her instincts were screaming at her that to do so would mean certain death.
Suddenly, she was hauled upwards once more, and the cold fresh wind slapped her face a split second before Demiri’s fist punched her in the stomach.
He let go of his grip on her stab vest, and she tumbled onto the wet sand, gasping, her belly on fire.
Her vision began to weaken, black spots appearing at the edges of her line of sight.
‘I think that’s enough fun for one day.’
Demiri’s voice sounded close by, and Kay rolled over onto her stomach and tried to raise herself on shaking legs.
She collapsed, breaking her fall with her good arm, and began to crawl away, shocked by the sound of her own sobs.
She didn’t want to die.
Not now.
Not here.
Not like this.
Her arm was swept out from under her, a brutal kick that sent her sprawling onto the sand, and then he was dragging her towards the waves once more.
‘No. Please.’
She dug her heels into the sand, trying to slow him, and slapped at the hands that held her vest.
She spat sand from her mouth, her breath escaping in wheezing, ragged gasps.
Her heart beat painfully and she stared in terror as the water drew nearer, unable to escape the clutches of the man who held her.
He stopped at the water’s edge, and looked down at her, contempt filling his features.
‘Time to die, Detective Hunter.’
‘No – wait!’
Pain shot through her body as Demiri’s weight landed on her, his hands moving from her vest to her throat as the water covered her face.
A roaring filled her ears, and an ache filled her heart as she wondered fleetingly which of her colleagues would have to inform Adam of her death at the hands of a man she had been hunting for nearly two years.
She could sense the exhaustion overwhelming her, a tiredness that was becoming too tempting to ignore.
Her lungs burned with the effort to hold her breath, her throat crushed within Demiri’s grip.
A sound reached her ears – a muffled crack that pierced through her thoughts, and then the weight on her chest was gone, and she welcomed the darkness that engulfed her.
Chapter Fifty-Five
The fog cleared, and as her eyes focused, Kay noticed a familiar figure sitting in the chair next to her bed, his attention on a book in his lap.
‘Guv?’
Sharp’s head jerked up before his face softened, the skin around his eyes crinkling. He didn’t look like he’d got any sleep for a while.
‘Adam said you’d probably wake up the moment he went to get us some coffee.’
‘Where am I?’
‘Folkestone Hospital. Closest one we could get you to, in the circumstances.’
Bright sunlight shone through the slats of white window blinds and bathed the room in a soft hue.
Kay ran her tongue over her lips, the tip making contact with a scab on her top lip.
She frowned. ‘What day is it?’
‘Thursday. You’ve been out of it for a couple of days. Nothing serious. They kept you sedated as a precaution. You’ve got a nasty bump on your head, and there was concern you might have been suffering from hypothermia.’
Kay raised her left hand to feel the back of her skull, confusion sweeping over her at the weight of her arm before she realised it was covered in plaster.
She shivered as a memory resurfaced.
‘Your doctor says it’s a clean break. No metalwork involved,’ said Sharp. ‘A bit of physiotherapy once that’s off, and you’ll be on the mend.’
‘Demiri?’
He cleared his throat. ‘He won’t be bothering you again. He’s dead.’
‘What happened?’
‘Harrison shot him.’
Kay blinked. ‘What?’
She clumsily tried to raise herself, until Sharp took pity on her, stood up and arranged the pillows behind her until she could sit comfortably.
Her brow remained creased as her mind tried to process his news.
‘How—’
‘He used Demiri’s gun.’
‘O’Reilly.’ Kay spat out the word, and closed her eyes, the sound of footsteps reaching her ears.
‘Not the response I was expecting.’
She opened her eyes and turned her attention to where Sharp stood, peering through the blinds.
He let the plastic slats snap back into place, then raised an eyebrow in her direction.
Kay lowered her gaze and dropped her hand to the blanket, then exhaled. She owed Sharp the truth, and nothing less.
‘When I started my own investigation in the spring, before Gavin was attacked, I logged into the database. The entry for the gun that had been logged into evidence before being removed was missing. I managed to use my administration rights to find out who’d deleted it, and O’Reilly’s name showed up. When I double-checked the system two days later to con
tinue my investigation, that administration record had been deleted, too. It was like O’Reilly’s name had never existed.’
Sharp shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘And you didn’t think to raise this with me at the time?’
‘I had no proof!’
Kay swallowed, her throat still coarse from the salt water.
Sharp noticed her discomfort and filled a glass with water from a jug on the bedside table and handed it to her.
‘Thanks,’ she said, and drained the contents while Sharp lowered himself into the chair once more.
He took the glass from her then eased back into the seat and ran a hand over his face.
‘O’Reilly was the one who organised the attack on Gavin to scare you off.’
‘What? Wh—? Were he and Harrison working for Demiri?’
‘No. Thank God. The fallout from this is going to be bad enough as it is.’
‘Then, why?’
‘Same as removing the gun from evidence and blaming it on you, I expect. Ambition,’ said Sharp.
‘So, O’Reilly removes the gun from evidence, Harrison then deletes the record of it ever existing, and O’Reilly arranges to beat up Gavin because I used his computer to find out about the gun,’ she said, then frowned. ‘What was in it for O’Reilly?’
Sharp had recovered, and rose from the chair, pacing the room as he spoke.
‘Fast track promotion to DCI,’ he said. ‘Harrison decided he wanted Demiri for himself. He didn’t want my team to be the one to charge Demiri. It would’ve ruined his plans to run a major undercover investigation and arrest Demiri for a massive drug operation. Harrison was more or less guaranteed a promotion to Detective Superintendent if he succeeded.’
Kay blinked, the room spinning, and slumped back against the pillows, her hand shaking.
‘Are you okay?’
She shook her head, stunned. ‘Not really. Run that by me again.’
‘DCI Harrison states he was concerned that your investigation was about to expose Gareth Jenkins’s position within Demiri’s organisation, and in his own words “arranged to take drastic action” to protect Jenkins. Gareth’s fingerprints were also on that weapon, and if you’d pursued your enquiries with the same diligence you’d demonstrated up to that point, you’d have blown apart a two-year undercover operation of his.’
Hell to Pay Page 20
