No. Nevertheless, I nodded. Now or never. I need to end this.
Don't let her die!
71
"Rounding the corner, you should see him in five, four..." Navid's voice buzzed in my earpiece.
I heard him before I saw him, so when he rounded the corner he met the muzzle of my gun in his face.
He backed up a little and his hands went up, too. He didn't even have a weapon out.
"Which one are you?" I asked roughly.
"I'm Pete," he said through his nose.
"What'd you do to Caitlin?" I demanded.
"The little girl?" He grinned lazily. "I fucked her more times'n I could count. Broke her fingers, too, when she tried to fight me. She screamed real sweet then."
Caitlin screaming. Nothing sweet about that.
The sound of her screaming still echoing in my head, I shot the smile off his face. Okay, I shot off most of his face. The dead body crumpled to the carpet. One down.
I felt nothing but a grim satisfaction.
"Fuck, Nathan. Alive?" I nodded, knowing Navid could see me through the surveillance cameras. I'd try harder to resist killing the next one if I could. "Leaving the kitchen now, he's headed into the lounge..."
I stepped over the corpse and carefully continued up the passage. The clean-up crew could deal with it later.
I crept up on the next one from behind, my gun to the back of his head as he leaned over to look under a table. "Which one are you?"
A snort as he straightened. "I was Senior Constable Nick Dennis, before I got suspended after meeting you and your girlfriend."
"What'd you do to her?"
He grunted. "Nothing. It's what she'll do to you that matters."
I jabbed him with the gun. "What Caitlin will do to me?"
He snorted again. "Laura, fuckwit. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do, she'll find you and fuck you up worse than the little girl who killed her husband."
"Tell me where to find her," I said urgently. "I can get you into protective custody."
He let out a bark of laughter. "Not from her you can't. She'll pay whatever it takes to get whatever she wants. I'll lose my job as it is – I almost did when I shot you and her. Are you gonna shoot me?"
I pulled the gun back a little, so it wasn't pressed against his skull. "Maybe not, if you tell me where I can find her."
More laughter. "She'll find you and you'll wish she hadn't. Not me, mate." He lifted his own weapon. The barrel pointed at me over his shoulder and I ducked to the side. I was just in time to miss the shower of blood and brain that blew out the back of his head as he killed himself. Instead, I felt nothing.
"Number three, in the bush with the red flowers. Unconscious is fine but we need him alive."
"Do you want to do this?" I muttered. "I'll take your place in the van."
"Love to, mate, but you know Sam will kill me if I don't come home in the morning. I have to pick up nappies on my way home." It took me a minute to make sense of that. His wife would kill him if he got killed? I shook my head and decided I didn't need to understand it.
The third man was outside, keeping watch by Caitlin's bedroom window. I looped around the house, out of his sight, so I could come up behind him and surprise him.
I stuck the gun in his ear. "Which one are you and what did you do to her?"
He didn't say anything, so I repeated the question and jabbed the gun to emphasise each word.
"Tom," he grunted. "Held her down for the old bugger. Did her a couple of times, but I don't like leftovers."
"Are you going to tell me where she is?"
"Little leftovers? Or the bitch she made a widow?"
I spat the words out. "The bitch who's responsible for what happened to Caitlin."
"Focus, Nathan." I ignored Navid's voice in my ear.
"You won't get Laura. She had her husband in a gimp mask for a week for asking her if the dishwasher had been loaded. Whipped him raw, too. If she did that to her own husband, fucked if you have a hope in hell. Good luck!" He lumbered to his feet, reaching for his weapon.
"Stop!" I ordered, still aiming my gun at him.
He dropped his hands to his sides again. "You think I'm the last one who matters? She has the money to hire as many thugs as she likes. Tomorrow, she'll have replacements for the lot of us – all convicted rapists and child molesters, who'd pay for a bit of Little Leftovers. Don't know why – she's about as responsive as a corpse."
I wanted to kill him, my heart almost bursting out of my chest, I was so angry. "Not another step."
"Or you'll shoot me?" He smiled grimly. "It's nicer than what Laura will do to me, or to you when she finds you. She'll leave Little Leftovers for last."
I gritted my teeth. "Don't call her that. Her name's Caitlin."
He turned his back on me and started walking away. "Like I fucking care. She was just a little cunt to me and she's less than shit to Laura. She won't last long enough for me to learn her name."
The sound of the shot echoed between the brick walls of the front yard and the house like there was more than one. I fired before I realised I was going to. He fell face-first onto the paving as the acrid smoke wafted away in the wind. I left him where he lay. Like I fucking cared.
"Fuck, Nathan! You were supposed to keep him alive for questioning!" Navid complained. "There's none left now. She should be safe for a few minutes by herself. Come to the van, so we can talk face to face."
I started into the dark.
72
I tapped lightly on the van's side door. Navid opened it for me, a tight smile on his face and a phone jammed between his ear and his shoulder. "That's the lot, mate." He nodded in greeting. "All clear. You can stand down." He beeped the end of the call and stuck his phone back in his pocket.
"Any sign of her?" I asked tersely, slamming the door hard behind me. The icy fury I'd started with now burned white-hot and I had no one left to kill.
"Nope. Did you get anything out of them?"
I shook my head. "They said they hurt Caitlin and they'd prefer a clean death over the one she'd give them, so they wouldn't say a thing about her, except how shit-scared they were." I thought back to things I hadn't noticed at the time. "They were all limping, though, walking stiffly the way you do with a knee injury." I felt some satisfaction that Laura had already fucked them up before they died. Only now did I wish that Caitlin or I'd had some hand in that, but it was too late.
I looked up to find Navid's eyes on me. He looked like it pained him to say, "You should have left at least one of them alive, mate. You're going to get in trouble for killing them all."
I shrugged. "One of them killed himself instead of coming with us. He was police, or ex-police. The one who shot me and her. Fucking crazy."
Navid looked worried. "Him or you? Now we have no choice but to get the woman alive. You've killed the rest."
I nodded. "Yeah, she's next. Time to get the clean-up crew in here, I think, then we'll plan out her capture. It won't be easy." Easy to resist strangling her with my bare hands. I flexed my itching fingers.
Navid laughed. "We've been after that crazy bitch for months. If it was easy, we'd have her already."
I nodded again. "But first – Caitlin. I need to get her somewhere safe."
He shot me a sideways glance. "Didn't you already hide her somewhere safe? She gave me the shock of my life when she came sliding out of the ceiling, right in front of one of my cameras. Some very close-up curves." He smiled.
I stared at him. "I didn't hide her in the roof. Show me."
He checked the surveillance footage and replayed it, from maybe twenty minutes ago, when I'd headed for the third bloke in the bushes. A clear hallway, then a pair of black-clad legs dangled in front of the camera. She descended slowly, as if she was carefully letting herself down from the access cover by her hands. Her hair swung a little, too short to touch her shoulders. It looked like a black helmet, matching her dark clothes. She hung suspended from her fingertips
for a moment before she dropped to a crouch in the passage.
My heart plummeted, watching her pull out her handgun and hold it out in readiness, as she rose smoothly to her feet. She strode down the passage, scanning from side to side, rolling out like a tank on patrol.
"It looks like she's doing your job for you," Navid said with a smile.
"That's... that's not Caitlin," I managed to say. I stared at him in horror as my heart froze.
We both dived for the door, fumbling with the lock, losing precious seconds to clumsiness. Released, I sprinted back to her house, Navid right behind me.
"How far away are the rest of them?" I panted.
"Ten minutes," puffed Navid, struggling to keep up as he pressed buttons on his phone. I heard him recall the team that should have been here by now, but I made no move to slow my pace.
I was out of breath by the time I reached the toilet, but I wasn't sure if the pain in my chest was from trying to breathe or trying not to shout at Navid for putting Caitlin at risk and not fucking telling me. I had to get her out and somewhere safe, before Laura found her.
The toilet door was still shut, as I'd left it. But, when I tried, the damn thing didn't open. There wasn't a lock – she must have somehow wedged it shut on purpose.
"Caitlin, angel, it's me," I called through the door, but I got no reply. The door was still stuck. I shoved with my full weight and it opened a little. I pushed and widened the gap further, now big enough to get my head inside for a proper look. She was there – lying face down, the soles of her shoes jammed against the door. I'd never felt so relieved.
Laura didn't get to her. I got here in time. Oh, thank God.
"Hey, it's okay. It's me." I knelt and moved her legs so that I could open the door fully. Strange – she was limp. I shook her shoulders, her nightie sliding off her and revealing her bare skin, but she didn't react. I turned her onto her back.
"My God!" The black tiles beneath her were slick with blood, and her face was a mess. Feeling sick, I felt for a pulse that wasn't there. And the smell...
Had all this been for nothing? Stupid, stupid, to have left her alone!
I should have stayed with her – that was what she'd asked me to do. Now she couldn't even have the satisfaction of being right. She couldn't have anything. I may as well have killed her. This was my fault.
I'd as good as killed her.
She was dead.
Shit.
I'd killed Caitlin.
73
I stood up slowly. I had tears on my face and I didn't want to turn around 'til I'd wiped them away. Navid would think I'd lost it. But I'd lost her... Fuck! I swiped at my face with the hand that wasn't covered in her blood.
When I turned around, Navid's hands jerked up in stunned surrender, like someone had jammed something explosive up his arse. I saw light glint on something behind him and realised it was a gun to his head that had him scared shitless. The fingers holding it were small and definitely female, the edge of a black sleeve barely showing at her wrist.
Laura. You fucking bitch. "You killed her!"
Navid had a wife and baby waiting for him at home and I had... nothing. I didn't care what happened to me anymore. I was useless now Caitlin was dead. What else did I have to lose? Maybe the last shreds of sanity, is all.
I heard her hoarse whispered, "Yes," as Navid nodded emphatically, a puppet without strings.
I hoped her throat was sore because Caitlin had tried to choke the life out of her, fighting back to her last breath. Now it was my turn.
I lost all reason then and there. I shoved Navid out of the way and went for her. It didn't matter if I died, just as long as I took her with me. It was the least that Caitlin's killer deserved. All the shit she put that poor girl through...
She tried to hide behind him as she crooked her finger round the trigger. Navid and I both heard the click as her gun jammed. We exchanged a glance and moved together. He pinned her up against the wall, almost smothering her with his body, as I bashed her gun hand on the metal door frame, trying to get her to drop the weapon.
The psychopathic bitch wouldn't let go. She even tried to point the Ruger at me. I'd have laughed if I could unclench my jaw. The bitch's gun was useless and she didn't have a free hand to do anything about it.
I managed to pry my fingers between hers and the butt of the pistol, so the gun clattered to the floor. The noise distracted Navid and that was all she needed to slip from his grasp, sliding down the wall to the floorboards.
From her crouch, she dived between his legs for her useless weapon, but I kicked it away from her scrabbling hands as he flattened her to the floor. Shoving her down, he used his much longer reach to grasp both of her arms and twist them up behind her back. She muttered into the mat.
I couldn't hear everything she said, but it sure didn't sound complimentary. "... Fucking kill you..." was the only phrase I could make out.
I itched to kill her, too, for everything she'd done, but Navid was already shaking his head at me. We had to bring this bitch in alive, even though she'd shot Caitlin. He pulled out some handcuffs, looking up at me.
I swallowed and nodded.
She started struggling to throw him off as soon as she felt the touch of metal, but he held her down as he fitted the handcuffs tightly around her wrists and snapped them closed. Instead of giving up, she struggled harder. Her bare feet drummed on the boards like she was going to kick through the jarrah. Fat chance, bitch. That stuff was harder than my heart.
"Now, look," Navid said reasonably. "You're coming with us whether you like it or not. If you don't cooperate, I'll knock you out and carry you, like a sack of potatoes. Are you going to cooperate?"
"Fuck... you," she panted, her voice muffled by how her face was mashed into the hall runner.
Navid pulled a syringe out of his pocket. "I'm taking that as a no." He ripped the cap off with his teeth and looked at me as he pressed the point of the needle to her neck.
I wanted to be the one to stab her, just for the sheer satisfaction, but I knew it was better if Navid did it. Gritting my teeth, I nodded again.
She jerked her head up at the touch of the needle. "Nathan. Please..." Her eyes met mine. I saw betrayal and terror.
Oh, fuck, no!
I froze in horror. It was only for a moment, but in those precious seconds Navid pushed the plunger on the syringe with his thumb and she collapsed. He rose to his feet, leaving her body where it lay.
No. It couldn't be. I had to be hallucinating. Like the time I thought Caitlin was Alanna in the ambulance.
No. Don't think about that. Lock it down. Think about now and what you need to do.
I dropped to my knees beside the unconscious girl, my hands shaking. I reached out to touch the handcuffs at her wrists and saw the scars beneath the metal. No...
Gently, I turned her over. Her face was streaked with blood and grime, but it was unmistakeably her. I hadn't killed her. She was alive.
I lifted her torso so her head rested on my chest. "Get the cuffs off her." My voice came out quieter than I'd intended.
Navid looked confused. "But... she just tried to kill both of us. I'm not taking her in the car without restraints. What if she wakes up?"
"You're not taking her anywhere. Take the handcuffs off her. I need to get her cleaned up before she wakes up."
Unwillingly, he did as I asked. Gently, I brought her arms around so her hands rested in her lap, trying to rub away the red marks on her wrists. Her expression tightened in discomfort as she pulled her hands away from me, so I stopped.
With a sigh, I shifted, lifting her limp form in my arms as I stood up.
"Get some towels. A lot of towels. And some clean pyjamas for her. Bring them to the bathroom." I strode toward the shower, her body carefully cradled in my arms. I was filled with a desperate desire never to let her go again. "I'm sorry," I whispered to her, too late, as I touched my lips to her blood-matted hair.
Navid hadn't moved – he was stari
ng at the wall. "Navid." He didn't turn around. "Navid!"
He finally turned around, then stared at me, or Caitlin. "But... she killed the girl we were trying to protect. What do you think you're going to do with her?"
I looked from the bloodied bitch's body on the toilet floor to the unconscious angel in my arms and shook my head. "No. Caitlin killed the bitch we wanted to bring in alive, in what looks like a fair fight." I tasted salt. Too late I realised that it was Laura's blood I'd licked off my lips. I shifted closer to spit the offending saliva on her faceless corpse.
Navid's mouth hung open. "But you said... the girl in the surveillance footage wasn't Caitlin..."
Caitlin couldn't hang from her fingertips, nor use her hands to slowly climb from a ceiling. She didn't move like a tank, either. "She wasn't. That was Laura. Somehow Caitlin managed to take her out and take her clothes, too. She left her own clothes with the body."
His disbelief wasn't easily dispelled. "How can this be the sweet little girl you've been guarding? How'd she beat the killer bitch we couldn't catch? Someone's going to have to debrief her to find out."
Caitlin was stronger than he knew. She'd survived this long against all odds – why be surprised at one more night? "It's over, mate. The three that were left – Nick, Pete, Tom – they're all dead. We don't need to debrief her. We know what she did and we don't need to know how. We're going to make all this go away before she wakes up and remembers what she did."
Navid looked in horror at Caitlin. "There's no way she'll forget this. She killed someone and then we..." He swallowed painfully. He still held the syringe, but he'd put the cap back on. Good thing, too. It was shaking in his hand.
"She's blocked out the memories of a lot worse," I replied. "I'll tell her it was a dream."
Navid was shaking his head in disbelief. "That's a hell of a messed-up dream for a girl to have."
"Compared to some of her nightmares, this is nothing."
"Mate..." he started to say, but I cut him off.
"Can you get someone to take care of the mess?" I nodded in its direction. "I want the whole team guarding every entrance to the house – especially her room. I want you outside her door, all night. If anyone leaves his post, I want him replaced, even if for only a minute. And get her some ice for her hand."
Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer (Nightmares Trilogy) Page 16
