Unquiet Souls: a DI Gus McGuire case

by Mistry, Liz

  ‘Nah, help yourselves.’ He called Jemmy back to the bar, lifted the bar flap and gestured for them to follow him through a narrow hallway and up some stairs on the right. At the top of two flights they came out on a dimly lit chilly landing. Laurence yanked a door open and gestured for them to precede him into the room. In the middle was a double bed with a dated floral duvet cover on it. Mismatched curtains hung at the window.

  Gus moved over and pulled the curtains back. He and Sadia looked down into the Prospect Mill’s car park. The snow had been compacted in places and in others there was clear evidence of old tyre tracks

  ‘Looks like there’s been a lot of vehicular activity down there,’ said Gus standing on tiptoe. ‘There’s a car parked right in the corner too.’ He glanced at Sadia, who despite being five foot seven, was having difficulty seeing out the window. ‘You’re probably too short to see it from here.’

  Sadia pushed herself up with her knuckles on the window sill and craned her neck. ‘Yep, you’re right. Do you think it’s his?’

  ‘Don’t think so, but that doesn’t mean he’s not driving it.’ He stared over at the gaping Mill windows. ‘We’re at the wrong side to see anything. Any signs of life would be at the other side near the fields and the viaduct.’

  Sadia jumped off the sill and turned to Gus. ‘What shall we do? Backup’s at least twenty minutes away.’

  Gus sighed and turned to the door. ‘Let’s take a gander round the car park at least.’

  Sadia moved to join him, but Laurence who was now peering down into the car park spoke. ‘There’s another car just turned in and parked up out there.’

  Gus and Sadia ran back to the window in time to see a tall man, face muffled in a scarf, slam the door of a red Mini shut and stride across the snow to the roll up concertina door of the mill. He bent and did something near the bottom of the door, then, with a quick glance around him, flipped the door up a few feet, ducked and went in, lowering the door behind him.

  Gus barely glanced at Sadia before taking off, coat flying behind him as he thundered down the stairs shouting instructions to her to put a stick of dynamite up someone’s arse to get the team there ASAP.

  Sadia, grabbing her phone from her pocket followed more slowly, dialling Alice’s number as she moved. When Alice replied she quickly filled her in on what they’d discovered, explaining that Gus had hared off to the Mill. Alice cursed and, as Sadia exited the pub, she cursed too, because all she could see was Gus, dreadlocks flying as he rounded the corner into the car park, slipping slightly on the icy path as he went.

  Running after him, Sadia saw him flip the roller door up. He extracted his extendable baton from his coat pocket before stepping through. He turned back waved at her then lowered the door slightly behind him.

  What the hell was she supposed to do now? Sadia hesitated, uncertain whether to follow Gus or wait to direct the back-up. Still undecided, she moved towards the red mini. She had a hunch it didn’t belong to the driver, so she texted the reg through to Compo and then did the same for the other vehicle that stood in the corner. It was clear by the height of the snow around the tyres that this vehicle had been parked up since the previous afternoon at least.

  Finally, fearing that Gus may need help, she phoned Alice and told her she was following him in as there appeared to be at least two people in the building. When Alice directed her to stay put until back-up arrived she switched her phone to silent and hung up.

  Chapter 109

  Sunday 11:45am

  Vague sounds reached Gus’s ears as he stood just inside the doors trying to get his bearings in the near-dark. He frowned in concentration, trying to identify them. They came from above – metal on metal. Gus nodded, realising it was the sound of the industrial lift creaking its way slowly upwards. So, Laurence had been wrong. The lift did work, but Gus knew he couldn’t risk calling it back down: he’d have to use the huge concrete stairs and hope the sound of his footsteps wouldn’t echo upwards.

  By the time he reached the first floor, his thigh was throbbing with a vengeance. The steps were wide and uneven meaning he couldn’t set a proper pace and the lack of light made it hard going. He hesitated in the stairwell listening for signs of activity. A sudden screech of metal from upstairs told Gus that another roller door was being opened. He slowly began to edge himself up the stairs. He didn’t hesitate on the second landing, but continued up to the third floor.

  In front of him was a huge metal door. He edged slowly over and pressed his ear to the cool steel. He wasn’t entirely sure but he thought he could hear muffled sounds from within. His gut told him this was the right level. Slowly, hoping they’d oiled the hinges, Gus turned the handle and pushed the door open. Thankful for the silence that accompanied this action, he stepped inside the gloomy corridor, closing the door quietly behind him. He moved quickly into the shadows at the side of the corridor and looked around. Someone had fitted dull night lights periodically along the corridor and they sent semi-circles of amber across the floor. Along one side of the corridor were a series of rooms barricaded off by huge wooden batons criss-crossing their metal doors. Along the other side were a series of roller doors. The one nearest the entrance was open, but the room within was in darkness. Further along, a thin glow shone from beneath the third door indicating that the room might be occupied.

  Gus crept slowly towards the open door. Keeping his back to the wall, he crab-walked along till he reached the gap. Quickly, he dipped his head into the room, did a rapid scan of the room’s sparse contents and, seeing it was empty, stepped inside.

  In one corner stood a chemical toilet beside a grubby shower cubicle. In another corner stood a bed with the covers flung back. On a shelf next to the bed a microwave balanced precariously. In the centre of the room was a chair and a wobbly wooden table, strewn with empty cups and pizza boxes. A gas heater was on full blaze a few feet away, but what was of most interest was the TV screen that sat atop a wooden packing case opposite the table. Gus moved closer and saw the screen was divided into two sections. One section showed a room of similar size to the one he was in. Inside was a group of around ten children, huddled together in the corner seemingly clinging to each other in terror. Their sexes and ages were indiscernible. Their hair lay matted across their scalps. Gus immediately felt a wave of nausea as the images he’d seen of holocaust victims came to mind. His stomach tightened and his breathing shallowed.

  He flicked his gaze to the other section of the TV. The Scream man was jumping around, looming over a child that Gus identified as Molly only from the bandage round her right hand and her clothes. Her shorn hair was matted, her cheeks hollow and her eyes huge and frightened. In her lap, she held a bundle of rags that Gus barely registered until a small hand escaped and waved for a moment in the air. Molly tenderly replaced it within the covers. It was Beth’s baby, Sam. Gus began to back towards the door watching the screen as he saw a second man who matched the description of Jamal’s pursuer, begin to set up the camera on its tripod. Scream man paced the floor and appeared to be screaming periodically at Molly, who rocked her bundle to and fro, tears pouring down her cheeks.

  As he passed the table, Gus grabbed the bunch of keys that lay half-hidden under a newspaper and crept along the corridor to the next room. Pressing his ear to the door he heard silence and, reassured that the men in the room further down, would be occupied for some time, he reached down and studied the lock at the bottom of the door. On his second attempt he unlocked it. He opened the door a few feet and ducked through.

  It was then that he heard movement in the corridor and a male voice. One of the men had left Molly’s room and was walking towards him. Gus quietly closed the roller and darted into a dark corner. Placing a finger on his lips to tell the frightened children to be quiet, he waited, holding his breath and hoping that whoever had moved along the corridor wouldn’t glance at the TV screen and notice Gus in the corner.

  The children seemed to sense that Gus wasn’t one of their attackers
and remained still, their frightened eyes piercing him in the semi-dark. After a few minutes, he heard whistling followed by footsteps walking past the room he was in. He released a slow breath and then crept slowly over to the children. ‘Are you English?’

  One of the older boys shook his head. ‘Polski.’

  Gus put his finger on his lip once more. He had no time to assess their injuries or their state of mind. He needed to get them out of there as fast as possible. He pointed to the door and mimed opening it, then replaced his finger on his lips. The older boy whispered to the other children in Polish and then nodded to Gus. Gus moved closer and held out a hand to the smallest child. Her eyes whipped to the older boy who said something, patted her back and nodded. Tentatively, she took Gus’s hand. He smiled at her, and gently squeezed her trembling hand. Gus pointed to another of the smaller children and mimed holding hands with the little girl. The older boy seemed to understand Gus’s intentions and quickly paired up the other children. Gus moved to the door and rolled it up. He poked his head into the corridor and listened. Then, turning to the older boy gestured him forward. Gus showed him the door at the end and indicated that on his say so they would go through the door and downstairs. The boy nodded and spoke to the other children in a low voice.

  Gus made his way to the huge metal door and opened it. Then, he waved his hand to the boy who quickly pushed two children out of the room towards Gus. Gus waved again and two more followed. When they reached the door Gus pushed them towards the stairs and said, ‘Run.’ Within a few minutes all but two of the ten children were running down the stairwell towards where, Gus hoped, Sadia waited.

  Gus glanced along the corridor, wondering why the last two children hadn’t appeared yet. The older boy poked his head out and gestured Gus to come back.

  Heart pounding, Gus crept back to the room. Inside he saw the older boy trying to lift a slightly younger girl to her feet. The girl looked barely conscious and was acting like a dead weight. Gus’s heart sank. What could he do? She probably shouldn’t be moved, but the two men in the other room had at least one gun between them. She couldn’t stay there. Making an instant decision, he hefted her into his arms, and jerked his head for the other boy to follow. When they reached the stairwell, Gus draped the girl over the boy’s back and said, ‘Go, go.’

  Nodding, the boy linked his arms round the girl’s legs and began to climb down the stairs as quickly as he could. Gus waited till he’d rounded the corner.

  Sweat dripped from his dreads as he whipped them back with a flick of his head. He made his way back along the corridor, rolled the door down in the hope the missing children wouldn’t be noticed. He moved on to the room where Molly and her baby brother were being kept. He strained to hear what was happening behind the door but only the deep rumbles of The Scream man’s rants reached his ears. Gus’s mind flicked back to the last time he’d been outside a room where a raving man held hostages. He was damned if the outcome was going to be the same this time.

  The faint strain of the lift moving reached his ears and he grinned. Thank God. Back-up was there. He took his extendable baton from the back of his trousers where he’d lodged it earlier. Then, Molly screamed and without thinking, Gus yanked the door up and rolled through it, his extended baton crashing into the camera man’s legs. He fell with a shout to his knees as Gus jumped back to his feet and spun towards Scream man.

  Molly, taking advantage of the momentary confusion ran towards Gus, the baby bouncing precariously in her arms. Gus shouted, ‘Run, Molly, run! The police are outside.’

  From the corner of his eye he saw Scream man draw a gun. Gus dived to cover Molly as she crouched to crawl under the door, never releasing her precious bundle. Instincts kicked in and Gus spun on his heel and then dove to the floor baton extended to whip Scream man’s feet from under him. The gun clattered to the floor and Gus kicked it away from the camera man, who he recognised as Sid Smith from Jamal’s photo. He was now edging on to his knees. Gus grabbed Scream man, yanked his arm up his back and cuffed him, before turning to grab the gun. He pointed it at Smith.

  ‘On your knees now. Hands behind your head.’

  Hesitating briefly, he complied and Gus slid the gun towards the door, quickly cuffed him. Then he turned back to whip the scream mask off the bigger man.

  When he saw that Jamal’s ID had been accurate he said, ‘No fucking disguises now.’

  DCS Charles Bowles grinned insolently at Gus. ‘Pity you couldn’t find those reserves of ingenuity to rescue your little godson, isn’t it?’

  Gus clenched his fists and took a step forward but was stopped by slow clapping coming from behind him. He turned slowly to find Alex Graves holding a struggling Molly in one arm and the gun in the other.

  Gus frowned. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’

  Alex inclined his head. ‘Not sussed it out yet, Gus? Didn’t think my little double bluff with the planted child images would work so well.’

  Alex jerked his head first towards Bowles and then towards Sid Smith ‘Cut them both free.’

  Gus glared at him and then did as he was told.

  Bowles moved over to his bag and extracted another gun and then went over to Alex and high-fived him. ‘Good save.’

  He turned to Smith, who raised his hand to high-five too, but before he could complete the action, a blast blew him a few feet across the room and a spray of blood covered the floor. Bowles looked down at him with a grin on his face. ‘When needs arise, sacrifices must be made.’

  Molly was sobbing uncontrollably now and Alex shook her roughly by the throat ‘Shut up, or you’ll be next.’

  Gus glared at them. ‘Back-up’s on the way. Why don’t you just give up?’

  Bowles began to laugh. ‘No, no, no. That’s not how this will play out.’ He grinned at his friend. ‘What’s going to happen is this. Alex here will escape down the external fire escape and over the fields.’ And he turned and fired two shots in quick succession into the padlocked chain that locked the fire door shut. It burst open in a cloud of searing metal.

  Before Gus had a chance to react Bowles spoke again. ‘Of course we’ve planned escape routes out of Europe, so he’ll follow one of those. Your lot will never catch him. Meanwhile, I’ll dispose of you and the brat and say he did it.’ He pointed to Sid Smith. ‘I’ll be the hero and our revenge on Beth Graves will be complete and, just so you know before you die, our little ring will continue with barely a blip. Nice thought to take with you to the grave, don’t you think?’

  Then he grabbed the squealing baby from Molly and pushed her across the room towards Gus. Instinctively Gus grabbed the red-haired girl, then immediately released her and thrust her behind him. As he dived towards Bowles, Beth Graves flung herself through the door and propelled her husband forward onto his knees. Not stopping to wonder where Beth had materialised from or where Sadia was, Gus grabbed Alex’s gun as it clattered to the floor. Beth, screaming like a banshee, grabbed Alex’s hair and yanked whilst biting his ear. Gus took up the baby, passed it to Molly and quickly cuffed Alex, as Bowles headed for the fire escape.

  The fire exit door had slammed shut by the time Gus reached it. He felt the muscles in his shoulder pull as he wrenched it open and darted through. Bowles clattered down the rusty metal steps, braying like a crazed donkey as he ran. Gus followed and began to gain on the older man. A final jump into knee deep snow and Gus was half-stumbling, half-running after him. Bowles turned and pulled something from his pocket. Seconds later a shot rang out and Gus felt a sharp pain in his arm followed by a warm numbness. Fuck. The bastard had another gun. Using his good arm to support his shot one, he gritted his teeth and kept running, determined not to let him get away.

  Gus could hear the sound of sirens approaching. His sane mind told him he should stop and let the reinforcements take over, but the visions of the traumatised children he’d herded down the stairs and Molly’s scared yet defiant face made him continue. Adrenalin pumped through him giving him the boost he
needed to continue running despite the gradually increasing pain in his arm. Why the fuck couldn’t the bastard have aimed at his already damaged arm?

  Bowles, not too far ahead of him, paused to glance backwards. His face a mask of fury, he turned and stood both arms extended towards Gus, gun clasped firmly between his hands. Gus hesitated, aware of his warm blood dripping onto the snow.

  ‘Really, Gus?’ said Bowles, his tone controlled, a false smile on his face. ‘You really want a repeat of last year, with you in hospital, or worse, a coffin.’ He shrugged. ‘The latter option would be my preference, I have to admit.’

  ‘Just drop the gun,’ said Gus. ‘You’re not going to escape now. Surely even you can see that.’

  Bowles cocked his head to one side and then shrugged. ‘Maybe, maybe not. However, the least I can do is… this.’

  And as Gus took a step forward, another shot rang out over the sound of the sirens. This time Gus fell to the ground. Moments later he heard another shot and everything went black.

  Chapter 110

  Sunday 11:50am

  Sadia was halfway up the second flight of stairs when she heard footsteps coming from above. Two children appeared, followed almost immediately by two more and then more. Sadia realised that Gus must have released them and sent them down the stairs. Quickly, she herded them together. Finally, an older boy appeared, panting and sweaty, with a girl dangling from his shoulders. The girl seemed unconscious. ‘Fuck!’ thought Sadia as, with an ear cocked for signs that the children had been followed, she hefted the girl onto her back and, with whispered encouragement, herded them down to the bottom and outside.

  ‘Where the hell was Gus?’ she wondered as she did a silent inventory of the pale, wide-eyed faces that looked up at her so expectantly. The girl she’d carried down leaned against the wall where Sadia had positioned her. She desperately needed a doctor and Sadia knew that the men could come downstairs at any moment. Where the fuck was back-up? Smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring manner at the oldest boy, she indicated the girl and said ‘Help me.’