The Payback

by Simon Kernick

But I also knew that if I did drop my gun, he’d kill me anyway. And then the girl.

  Behind me, I thought I could hear movement on the steps, and hoped it wasn’t Tina descending into this gloomy hell. Unarmed, she could do nothing. In fact, she could only make things worse.

  ‘Drop the gun, Milne. You may be a killer, but surely even you don’t want the death of a child on your conscience.’ He winked at me and nuzzled the girl’s neck in a sickeningly intimate gesture. ‘Her name’s Layla, by the way.’

  Layla’s eyes burned into me, and I felt a rivulet of sweat run down my forehead and on to my cheek.

  ‘Don’t do this, Heed,’ I said, conscious of the weakness in my voice. ‘This is between you and me.’

  ‘If you drop your gun, I will let you walk out of here, and Layla will live to see adulthood. I’m going to count to three and if your gun’s not on the floor then I’m going to pull the trigger. One . . .’

  I knew he wasn’t going to let her live. Or me. Yet for the first time in my life my gun hand began shaking, because I also knew that after all the terrible sins I’d committed over the years, to sentence a child to death by my own inaction seemed at that moment to be the worst of all.

  ‘Two . . .’

  The world stopped. I faced Heed down. He smiled at me. He knew my weakness.

  His finger tensed on the trigger and Layla began to whimper beneath the yellow, liver-spotted hand covering her face.

  ‘Three.’

  I lowered the gun forty-five degrees.

  Then fired.

  I was aiming for his kneecap, but because I was trying to look as if I was cooperating, I had barely a quarter of a second to make my shot, and with my hands still shaking, I missed.

  Another shot rang out, and suddenly Layla was flying towards me. I caught her in mid-flight but the momentum drove me backwards, and I landed hard on the ground as a bullet ricocheted off the ground very close by.

  Heed fired again as I pushed Layla to one side, trying to get her out of the firing line. But this time he was pulling the trigger on an empty gun.

  As I lifted myself up to fire my last shot at him, having to pull my arm out from under Layla and aiming now for Heed’s abdomen, he threw the gun, hitting me squarely in the forehead with a painful thud at just the moment I pulled the trigger for the sixth and final time.

  Then, in another surprisingly deft movement, he turned and ran up the corridor, the blackness quickly swallowing him up.

  That was when I saw that Layla was dead – her face almost lost under a growing curtain of blood seeping from the coin-shaped hole where the bullet had exited.

  I howled with frustration and rage, my voice echoing through the corridor, and I leapt to my feet as the adrenalin surged through me, determined to capture this monster if it was the last thing I ever did.

  ‘Jesus! What’s happened?’ cried Tina from the bottom of the steps. Then she saw Layla’s small naked body. ‘What’s he done?’ She hurried over and crouched down beside the little girl, hunting for a pulse.

  Pulling the second speedloader from the front pocket of my jeans, I reloaded the .45 and ran off after Heed, ignoring the blood running down from the cut on my forehead where the gun had hit me.

  The corridor veered left sharply and plunged into darkness as I moved along it, no longer trying to be careful. I forced myself to slow as I almost tripped over a box on the floor. Then, through the gloom, I could just make out an aluminium extension ladder at the end of the corridor, leading up through a specially cut hole in the masonry towards ground level. This would definitely be his escape route, and I was walking towards it when a silhouette lurched out of an adjacent alcove, and a flash of metal slashed through the air.

  As I swung round to face him, trying to dodge the blade, I felt it slice through my jacket, only just failing to break skin. Instinctively, I pulled the trigger on the .45, but Heed had already grabbed my wrist and yanked it skywards, and the bullet flew uselessly away. Adrenalin and anger surged through me and I managed to grab the hand holding the knife and force it away from me.

  ‘Time to die, Mr Milne,’ whispered Heed in a relaxed sing-song voice, his sour, hot breath scouring my face.

  He drove me hard against the opposite wall, driving the wind from my gut. His strength was incredible for such an unhealthy-looking individual and I could feel the knife getting closer and closer to me as I struggled and fought against his grip.

  And then I heard rapid footsteps and a second later Tina was on him, her clenched fist careering into the side of his head with such force that I felt it.

  ‘He’s got a knife!’ I yelled as Heed let go of me and fell back against the extension ladder.

  But Tina was quick, and Heed had been caught by surprise. She let him have it with two stunning left hooks that connected perfectly, before grabbing his knife arm and twisting it up behind his back. ‘You bastard,’ she hissed through clenched teeth, grabbing a handful of his hair and slamming him headfirst into the wall with an audible crack.

  The knife clattered to the floor, and Heed looked dazed.

  But Tina wasn’t finished yet, and she slammed his head into the wall again.

  I grabbed her arm. ‘No more, Tina, we need him alive. He’s got to talk.’

  She flashed me a look of such naked hatred that I automatically let her go. I wasn’t sure who it was directed at, me or Heed. But after a second, she released her grip on him and he fell to the floor.

  ‘Was he the one who killed her?’ she demanded.

  I nodded. ‘He shot her when I was starting to lower the gun. Then he tried to shoot me.’ It was a lie, but I knew I couldn’t tell her the truth. That I’d risked Layla’s life to save my own, and that in doing so I had effectively killed her. That was something else for me to live with.

  Tina didn’t say anything, just took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for the task ahead, before leaning down and pulling Heed up by his hair. ‘So let’s make this murdering bastard talk.’

  Forty-five

  Tina found some masking tape in one of the kitchen drawers and we tied Heed to a chair in the kitchen. He was still only semiconscious, but we were taking no chances and I kept the gun trained on him until she was done. Next I filled up a cup with cold water from the tap and threw it in his face. When he didn’t move, I repeated the procedure, and the third time I did it he finally shook his head and opened his eyes, focusing on us both.

  After a few seconds, he smiled, showing brown, uneven teeth. His eyes were now flinty and alert.

  I turned to Tina. ‘You might want to wait outside.’

  She shot Heed a look of pure contempt. ‘No thank you. I’m not squeamish. Do what you have to do.’

  There was an old electric kettle on the kitchen worktop and I filled it with water and turned it on. As the water boiled, I approached Heed and stood in front of him. ‘I told you why we’re here. For answers. You’re going to give them to me. It just depends how easy or hard you want to make it.’

  Heed kept smiling up at me, his eyes scanning like probes, hunting for weaknesses. There was an aura of fearlessness about him that unnerved me. He should have been a lot more scared, given his position. Instinctively, I wanted to turn away from his gaze, but I forced myself to hold it, remembering that the creature in front of me had just murdered a young child.

  Bastard.

  A thin plume of steam poured out of the kettle. I picked it up and poured half the contents into his lap, watching with grim satisfaction as he bucked and writhed in the chair, his face turning a strange brass-like colour as he fought against the pain, refusing to cry out. I waited a few seconds for the pain to die down, then repeated the procedure with the remainder of the boiling water. This time he let out a rasping wail, and began to cough.

  ‘You might think you’re the devil incarnate, Mr Heed,’ I told him, ‘but you’re not. You’re flesh and blood, just like anyone else. And I can hurt you very, very badly.’

  ‘Fuck you!’ he snarled, his
eyes blazing.

  ‘We know all about you,’ I continued. ‘We know you work for Paul Wise. We know you were involved in the abduction of thirteen-year-old Lene Haagen from a Manila hotel two and a half years ago. We also know that a briefcase containing something valuable was delivered to you on Friday night.’

  ‘Seems like you know everything then, doesn’t it?’

  ‘No. We don’t. We need to know what’s in the briefcase, where it is now, and the whereabouts of Paul Wise. You can answer all those questions.’

  ‘Why should I help you? You’re going to kill me anyway.’

  ‘I won’t lie. You’re going to die. But I’m no sadist, and if you answer my questions, I can make it quick.’ I took the Swiss Army knife from my pocket and opened it to reveal the main blade.

  Heed looked at Tina. ‘Are you going to let this mass murderer torture me, Miss Boyd? Do you, as a serving police officer, really want to be involved in that?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said firmly, ‘I do.’

  As she spoke these words I thought I saw the first flash of doubt ripple across Heed’s jaundiced features.

  ‘Why don’t you just talk, Mr Heed?’ I said quietly, placing the blade against the corner of his left eye, moving across his field of vision so that Tina couldn’t see what I was doing. I really didn’t like the idea of torturing the information out of him, however terrible his crimes might have been, but I’d extracted answers this way before, and sometimes it’s the only way to get them.

  I put pressure on the blade, wondering if I had the mental strength to take out one of his eyes.

  Heed flinched. He tried not to, but he couldn’t help it, and I could see his Adam’s apple rising like a growth as he swallowed.

  ‘Why are you protecting Paul Wise?’ asked Tina, coming closer, so that she could see where I was holding the knife. I didn’t move it. ‘Do you really think he gives a shit about you? He’s got a history of getting rid of his friends when they’re no longer any use to him. Particularly ones that know about the skeletons in his closet, like you. Your days are numbered anyway. Now you’ve got the chance to make sure his are too.’

  I sensed a flicker of interest as Heed weighed up the possibilities.

  ‘Tell Mr Milne to remove the knife,’ he said as calmly as he could, ‘and perhaps we can talk.’

  She looked at me, and I took the blade away, but kept it down by my side.

  ‘I want you to promise that you won’t kill me,’ he said, still clearly suffering from the effects of the boiling water. ‘You can leave me here and call the police if that’s what you want. You can even tell them what happened. That way justice will be served, and I will suffer the consequences of what I’ve done in a court of law. But I want your word, Miss Boyd. That you will not kill me.’

  She looked at me and I gave her a small nod in return.

  ‘OK,’ she said reluctantly. ‘You have my word.’

  ‘What do you want to know?’

  ‘The truth. You work for Paul Wise, don’t you?’

  ‘I do work for him, yes.’

  ‘Is he in the country at the moment?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘He owns a house south of here. On a place called Verde Island.’

  Tina looked at me. ‘Isn’t that the place we passed yesterday on the way to your friend’s place?’

  I nodded, surprised that Wise had property so close to where I used to live. ‘It is. But it’s also a fair-sized island.’ I turned to Heed. ‘What’s the address?’

  ‘The house is called Treetops,’ he said without hesitation. ‘It’s a big white place on the south-east tip.’

  At one time, I’d regularly taken dive boats out to the southern tip of Verde, which was one of the best dive sites in the northern Philippines. ‘I don’t remember any houses there.’

  ‘I’m not lying. I have a navigation device with the exact coordinates pre-programmed into it. It’s in the bottom drawer over there.’

  While I waited, Tina rummaged through the drawer until she found a small Tom Tom-style device. ‘Is this it?’ she asked him.

  He nodded. ‘It’s under reference seven-five-two-three.’

  Tina punched in some numbers. ‘I think I’ve found it,’ she said, coming over to me.

  I looked down at the screen. There was a slightly blurred aerial Google Earth photo of the bottom section of an island that could have been Verde. Three houses were visible, set some distance apart amid the thick vegetation that ran up from the secluded rocky coastline. The one nearest the tip was big and white, and looked to be on a larger plot than the others.

  Tina showed the screen to Heed, and he confirmed that it was Wise’s place.

  ‘Now, as I said, we know about the briefcase,’ I told him, ‘and we know it was delivered here by Tom Darke on Friday night. What’s in it?’

  The big question.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Heed.

  My face darkened, and I immediately brought the knife back up so that it was only millimetres from his left eyeball. ‘Don’t lie.’

  ‘I’m not,’ he said, his voice calm. ‘It’s a large briefcase, and all I know is that whatever’s inside is valuable. It was sent here from overseas – I believe by your employer, Mr Schagel. I had to arrange its pick-up from the docks, and have it brought here. I was curious as to what was inside, but the case was very securely locked, and I was paid a great deal of money not to let my curiosity get the better of me.’

  I looked around. ‘So where is it?’

  ‘It’s been delivered to Wise’s house on Verde. It was picked up here last night.’

  ‘By whom?’

  ‘One of Schagel’s people. A Russian. I don’t know his name. Now, will you please move that blade away from my eye?’

  I did as he’d requested and exchanged looks with Tina. I was pretty sure that Heed wasn’t lying about not knowing what was in the case, just by the way he was answering all my other questions without hesitation.

  ‘Why was Nick Penny murdered?’ Tina asked him.

  He looked confused. ‘I don’t know any Nick Penny.’

  ‘He was a journalist in England murdered last week on Paul Wise’s orders. He’d been in touch with Patrick O’Riordan very recently.’

  Heed shook his head. ‘I don’t know anything about that. I do know about O’Riordan. He was executed by Mr Milne here on the orders of Paul Wise. I don’t know the reason why he had to die. All I know is that the logistics had to be dealt with very quickly. Mrs O’Riordan supplied me with the keys to the house that you used when you executed him. She was very upset when she found out about her husband’s male lover. She also informed me when the two of you came to visit her.’

  I could see that Heed was trying to drive a wedge between Tina and me. His whole demeanour had changed, as he tried to appear reasonable and cooperative, while at the same time he was trying to make me look like just another ruthless hitman. From the cold expression on Tina’s face, it didn’t look like he was succeeding.

  ‘O’Riordan knew about the young girls, didn’t he?’ said Tina. ‘The girls you’ve been sourcing for Paul Wise over the years. Including Lene Haagen. And don’t bother lying about it, because we know.’

  Heed was silent for a long moment before answering. ‘Yes,’ he said at last, ‘I’ve supplied girls to Wise. O’Riordan did find something out about it, but he was warned off. Lene was a mistake. Wise wanted a western girl. He preferred them. He’d had one before in England, and one in Cambodia too.’

  ‘Letitia McDonald,’ Tina cut in, her expression darkening.

  ‘If you say so,’ Heed said.

  ‘She was just twelve years old.’

  ‘Yes, well, I tried to persuade him that it was a foolish move—’

  ‘But you did it all the same.’

  ‘Yes. I did it all the same.’

  ‘And where are the girls now?’

  He sighed, no trace of his earlier arrogance now. ‘They went to Wise�
�s home on Verde Island and they never came back.’

  The room fell silent as we digested this information. But, tragic though it was, it still left unanswered questions. And one in particular was bothering me.

  ‘You said O’Riordan was warned off from writing about the disappearance of the girls, and I know from the archives that he did stop writing about it. So, why did he have to die now, two and a half years later?’

  ‘As I said, I don’t know.’

  I raised the knife again. ‘Take a wild guess.’

  Heed’s eyes focused on the blade, and for the first time I could see fear in them. ‘I can only assume he found out something about the package,’ he said quietly. ‘But what it was I honestly don’t know.’

  ‘Do the names Cheeseman and Omar Salic mean anything to you? O’Riordan had a meeting planned with them on the day he died.’

  Heed shook his head. ‘The names are unfamiliar.’

  I felt my frustration growing, and wondered if he was deliberately holding back information, purely out of malice. I looked at him for any sign that he was playing with us, but could see nothing in his expression to suggest he was.

  ‘Think,’ I told him. ‘It may save your eye.’

  ‘I don’t know those names. I promise you.’

  ‘Then I don’t have any more questions.’

  I looked at Tina. I could tell that she was frustrated as well.

  ‘I don’t have any either,’ she said.

  Heed fidgeted beneath his bonds, the dry skin of his face stretched into an expression of uncertainty. ‘I’ve kept my side of the bargain,’ he said, opening and closing his hands, the long fingernails scratching the material of his ancient suit. ‘It’s time for you to keep yours.’

  I turned to Tina. ‘You might want to wait outside.’

  ‘But you promised me, Miss Boyd,’ said Heed, his voice rising as the first signs of panic began to set in. ‘You gave your word that you wouldn’t let him do this. It’s murder. Pure and simple. Call the police if you have to, but this is wrong.’

  ‘If we let him live, he’ll escape justice,’ I told her. ‘Remember what he’s just done. He killed that little girl.’