The Hunted Child

by G R Jordan

  Kirsten could feel herself shake. The trouble was you never knew quite how good others were until you took them on in combat. Richard would know his stuff and maybe this time he brought people who also knew it. Were there no quality thugs on the island? Was that why they were so poor at handling the situation?

  Kirsten made her way back to the cafe, sat down in front of Anna Hunt who briefly gave a description of each of the men that she had seen. ‘That might not be all of them though,’ said Anna, ‘and don’t be afraid to look for women either.’

  ‘There’s no need to teach me to suck eggs,’ said Kirsten. ‘I am aware of what I’m doing. I’ve kept the girl alive for this long.’

  ‘Let’s hope we can do it for the next half hour because that’s when we’ll be docking; until then, we need to keep on the move. Keep close to the doors.’

  Kirsten got up and began to wander the ship again, but as she passed several of the luggage racks, she saw a man matching the description that Anna had given. He went to make his way down the stairwell and Kirsten bumped into him.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ said Kirsten. ‘Are you going down there? I didn’t think we were allowed to do that. I could get one of the crew for you if you want.’ Kirsten saw his hand go for where a holster would be and struck out instantly, catching the man under the throat with a jab of her hand. She heard him gurgle, but then something hit her across the back.

  She fell to her knees, but instead of turning around to face who was there, she rolled to one side as grasping hands reached down for her. Turning, she saw three men. The first man was pulling a gun out and Kirsten lashed a kick that caught his hand, dropping the gun down. She reached down for her own weapon, but the men moved forward and she felt hands grasp her.

  She struggled, throwing her weight this way and that, bouncing off the walls of the ferry. The corridor was tight. While she was grappling with three of them, she heard a laugh from behind her. She briefly saw the face of Richard as she started to descend the stairs down to the car deck.

  ‘Anna,’ shouted, Kirsten, ‘Anna, he’s making his move.’

  A hand clamped over her mouth, but Kirsten bit it. She felt another punch to the head and had that claustrophobic feeling she always felt when she’d been jumped in the mixed martial arts matches she took part in. There, she’d be pressed down on the floor, only to wrap up to prevent people striking her at the head, struggling for a way out. This time she was taking a kicking in the sides as she went down to the floor.

  Covering her head, her eyes looked up and saw a fire extinguisher in front of her. Quickly she reached for it, pulling it off its mount. It fell onto the foot of the man in front of her. He yelled and Kirsten reached forward, biting into his leg. Behind her, she kicked as hard as she could as the others tried to fall on top of her. Rolling on her back, she was able to kick out hard, catching one under the chin.

  The next one hovered over her, ready to strike. She reached up, punching him right between the legs, causing him to double over in agony. She stumbled away, getting up to her feet, but then realised if any of them reached for a gun, she was an easy target in this corridor. She ran forward, barrelling into them again, but her force didn’t carry her far enough. The men were still standing and put another hand upon her. Kirsten kicked again but saw the man at the rear pull the gun.

  ‘Get out of the way. I’ll take the bitch down.’

  Kirsten turned, fled, and as she believed the man would be ready to shoot, she flung herself on the floor. Her timing was good, and the shot disappeared over her head before she was up again and raced behind a seat.

  There was chaos on the ferry now, and people shouting and yelling, scrambling to get away from the area. Kirsten cut into a little side corridor but stopped, letting some passengers race past before she pulled out her gun. As the first man arrived, she shot him straight in the stomach and watched him double over. She then peered out quickly looking back down the corridor, but the men, having seen their friend drop, had sought cover for themselves.

  Kirsten made her way into the galley off a door behind her, and her gun caused panic amongst the kitchen staff.

  ‘Special agent,’ shouted Kirsten. ‘I’m with the government. How do I get to the car deck?’

  No one responded, instead they started screaming and began to run. Kirsten grabbed one of the chefs by the collar and hauled him towards her face. ‘How do I get to the car deck?’

  ‘Through there,’ he said, pointing to a fire door. ‘Take a right then take a left, down and through the crew quarters. If you keep going down, there’ll be a door at the bottom.’ Kirsten nodded but heard the door behind her open. She spun quickly, weapon up, saw the face of one of the men who had attacked, and fired. He catapulted backwards but jammed the door open with his body.

  ‘Get out of here,’ said Kirsten. ‘Go and hide.’ With that, she ran for the door beyond. She heard it close behind her before several shots pinged off it. This is a bloody mess. Richard must really be desperate if he’s got guns going off on a ferry. The man must have realised this was his last chance.

  Kirsten made her way down through crew quarters, and as she saw a couple of doors opening up, she raised her gun, shouting at people to get back in their rooms and lock the doors.

  ‘Don’t come out whatever you do. Do not come out until someone comes for you.’ She found the stairs and continued down until eventually, she found a door leading onto the car deck. It was marked as such but for staff only. Pressing one of the buttons, it opened, sliding to the left.

  Richard’s face was revealed on the far side of the deck across a few cars, and Kirsten had only a moment to react before he raised his gun and fired it at her. She spun inside behind the door, and when she peered back out, he was gone. Rather than stay put, she knelt down behind the car and began to look about, trying to orientate herself with where she was on the vessel. As she stopped, hiding behind the large Mercedes, she saw the headscarf of Anna Hunt moving behind the car across from her.

  From the door behind Anna, she saw a man emerge, gun raised, and he tore off between several cars after Anna. Kirsten didn’t wait. Scrambling along behind the cars, she found the line she wanted in between several of them and fired at the man. She watched him slump down, saw Anna turn but quickly make her way in behind other cars.

  Anna had said six, thought Kirsten. I’ve shot one up top, that’s two. Three others plus Richard if the others are still in any state. She made her way across and stood beside the door the man had come out of. Ten seconds later, another man emerged but Kirsten grabbed his head, instantly driving it down into one of the cars. The man bounced and fell to the floor, out cold.

  Kirsten peered inside the door, then up the stairwell but saw no one else. Making her way back out onto the car deck, she saw another door open on the far side from where she’d emerged previously. Quickly, she knelt down. The man began to make his way towards the middle of the vessel right where the camper van was. As he reached the back door, Kirsten could hear a scream. Innocence must have been spooked by the gunfire.

  Kirsten saw the man raise his weapon to start firing inside the vehicle. Jumping up onto the roof of a car, Kirsten fired at him once just to the left, which caused the man to turn and look at her. The second time caught him in the shoulder, and he fell to the ground. Then, the windows of the car Kirsten was standing on blew out at a shot having been sent from somewhere else.

  One more in the mix, thought Kirsten, one more, but she also knew now that the caravan had been identified and started making her way off the car and down behind vehicles. She spun around a blue Volkswagen and ran straight into another man with a red hat on. She was about to fire when she recognised him as crew.

  ‘Get down. Get under that car. Do not move,’ said Kirsten. The man looked at the gun and did instantly what she’d said. A shot rang out over the top of her, and Kirsten could feel the ferry begin to swing. It must be coming in close to the Uig. She worked her away underneath another car, looking for feet, and
saw someone else moving about three cars away. She rolled out, casually looked up through the windscreens of the car, and saw the shadow moving in towards the camper van.

  Kirsten stood up and the man saw her as well, but she was able to fire several times catching him on the shoulder. He seemed to be still moving, so she ran across the back of the camper van making her way towards the body that had hit the ground. Sure enough, his arms were still moving, and he was raising his weapon as she fired. Forcing back her disgust at the damage her gun had done, Kirsten looked left and right before she heard somebody behind her.

  ‘So near yet so far, Kirsten. Sad to see you go.’

  Kirsten spun round and there was Richard pointing a gun right at her. There was no time to move, no time to do anything else. She was gone.

  And then she saw him tumble off to the side, bouncing off a car as his head half exploded. Something within Kirsten jumped, something struggling with the scene before her, and she began to shake realising she’d been moments from death. As she stood there quivering, Anna Hunt emerged from behind the camper van. Her scarf was now off her head, and her hair began shaking out. She looked down with contempt at the body of the man in front of her.

  ‘It’s my section. Do you hear? My section!’ The woman spat at the corpse. ‘We don’t do traitors!’ With that, Anna looked across at Kirsten. ‘All done,’ she said.

  Kirsten looked around her. ‘Good job they are,’ but Kirsten knew that Anna was well aware of the situation.

  ‘Are you okay?’

  Kirsten looked at Anna and shook her head. ‘No, but let’s get on. They’re not going to let us drive off here now, are they? Bodies everywhere.’

  ‘No, but we take them up top, we’ll be first off this ferry.’

  Kirsten nodded, unlocked the camper van, and announced to Ollie and Innocence that they were safe. She opened the door, found their hidey-hole, and opened it. The girl was shaking and was white. Ollie wasn’t looking very good too, and when he climbed out of the campervan, he vomited onto the floor of the ferry.

  ‘Let’s get going,’ said Anna Hunt, and with Anna in the lead, Kirsten followed her all the way up through the crew quarters until they reached the bridge of the vessel. When they came up on deck, the captain was going ballistic, but Anna pulled out a card, said who she was and what was going to happen. The man hesitated at first but when Anna spoke to the police he was now in consultation with and gave a code, they told him to do whatever she asked. Ten minutes later, Anna was at the head, Innocence and Ollie behind, and Kirsten walked down a gangplank and out onto a harbour side. There was a minibus waiting with darkened windows in the rear and Kirsten saw two women and two men waiting to take custody of her charges.

  ‘Time to go,’ said Anna, looking at Innocence and Ollie. ‘They’ll take care of you. You need to get somewhere safe.’ Ollie stuck out a hand, shaking Anna’s, and then turned and nodded at Kirsten. Innocence wasn’t in any frame of mind and simply stumbled towards the minibus. She suddenly turned and ran back to Kirsten throwing her arms around her.

  ‘You can’t leave me. You’ve kept me safe till now; you can’t leave.’

  ‘I have to. You’ll be okay now; you’re in a much better place.’

  Gently, Kirsten urged the girl into the minibus. As soon as she was inside, the doors were promptly closed, and the minibus sped off. Kirsten noticed several other cars departing at the same time and recognised a Protection Unit when she saw one. As she watched the minibus depart, she could see nothing through the windows and realised that that was the last view she would ever have of Innocence.

  ‘There’s going to be a ton of paperwork with this one,’ said Anna, ‘but you need to go somewhere for a rest. I can handle this. Why don’t you disappear, and I’ll see you in Inverness tomorrow.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ said Kirsten.

  ‘Of course, I am. It’s my department. It’s what I do. Besides, after getting her through this, I think things will look up for us. Go on. Get yourself away.’

  Kirsten nodded and made her way off the harbour side. It was there that she stopped and looked around her. Get myself away, she thought. I’m in Uig on the Isle of Skye. The next bus probably isn’t for an hour. Turning around, she saw Anna Hunt’s face creased in laughter.

  ‘Get your arse back here. We’ve got work to do.’

  Chapter 24

  Anna Hunt had not been joking when she’d said there was work to do, and Kirsten spent the next month filling out reports and attending various committees where she explained different actions she had taken. There was a shake-up throughout the entire department, and it seemed that Richard had not been working alone. Higher up, even above Anna’s pay grade, several figures tumbled. They couldn’t prove everything they did, but there was enough suspicion with several of them that they were out, and never again would they be part of anything to do with law enforcement or protection of the country or individuals. Anna seemed to glory in all of it, and hers was the name touted with having chased out the rats in the department. Kirsten was surprised when Anna constantly held Kirsten up as being the one who protected Innocence.

  The trial of Kyle Collins for the murder of Johnny Kerr would not be taking place for some time, but in the meantime, Collins was off the street placed into custody and refused bail until that time arrived. Anna consistently talked about how much of a win this was, and unachievable without her department despite what had gone on within it. Everyone was tenacious in fighting for it, keen for it to stay afloat, but the odds were against them, as she disappeared into sub-committee meetings, one after another to argue the department’s case.

  By this point with the reports all done, Kirsten had returned back to Inverness. At first, there was so little going on she decided to take a two-week holiday, which involved a weekend spent lying around and licking her wounds, and then a trip to a mixed martial arts competition, where she was able to watch people who truly understood the game display their wares.

  On her first day back in Inverness, the weather was grey and dull, and winter was just around the corner. Autumn, having truly arrived, detached leaves from trees, leaving them littering the streets, but there was a gorgeous golden hue to it.

  Kirsten knew her way up the old stairs and went to step into her office when she came to be aware that the door was not closed in the fashion that she would normally have it. Instead, it was lying open slightly and that told her someone was inside. As she pushed the door back, she saw a smart set of heels, not too high, possibly okay to be run on, and with those heels came a set of legs she’d identify anywhere. Anna Hunt wasn’t the most glamorous person, but her legs looked like a dancer’s. She had strong thighs and the woman certainly kept in shape. Anna was wearing a black skirt this time with a black jacket over it and had glasses on, cutting the most serious of looks.

  ‘Glad you’re back; there’s been a few developments.’

  ‘Developments?’ said Kirsten. ‘We tied up that case, how could there be anything after that today?’

  ‘Not with the case, with the department. You’re now the new section head of the north.’

  Kirsten stopped. ‘No,’ said Kirsten, ‘that’s your job.’

  ‘No, it’s not. I’m overall in Scotland, moved up a bit, and I’ve decided to rearrange things. You’ve got everything from Perth up. You’ll run the ops, you’ll run the intelligence, you’ll be the one in charge.’

  Kirsten looked around the room; it was just her there. ‘That’s quite a big job for someone on her own.’

  ‘That it is,’ said Anna, and stood up motioning for Kirsten to follow her. She opened the door, made her way across the badly-carpeted hallway, and opened another door into what would be the conference room. Sitting down at the far end was someone Kirsten recognised.

  ‘You cannot be serious,’ said Kirsten. From the far end of the table, Justin Chivers waved.

  ‘You have my express permission to take him outside and boot him in the balls if he tries any of that sex
ist bollocks,’ said Anna. ‘But other than that, you’re getting somebody I trust as much as anyone in that department, even as much as you.’ Kirsten was quite taken aback, but Justin grinned.

  ‘You’re looking well,’ said Justin. ‘How far is that tan?’ Kirsten put her finger up, ‘Stop. You heard what the boss said, and I intend to carry that out.’

  Justin smirked. Then he looked around. ‘When are the rest arriving?’

  ‘The rest?’ asked Kirsten. ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘The rest of the team. Hasn’t Anna told you?’

  Kirsten looked at Anna who smiled before sitting down. ‘If you’re going to run the north, you’re going to need a team under you. I suggest the next couple of weeks you and Justin get together, start picking your candidates.’

  ‘So, what, run some advertisements?’

  ‘No,’ said Anna. ‘Did we advertise for you? Like heck we did. We went and got you, and that’s what you need to do. Talk to Justin, he’ll come up with profiles, details about anyone. That’s what he’s good at. You’re not going to run as I ran. This is one tight unit taking care of the north, reporting in to me. You’re going to be much more hands-on than I ever was.’

  ‘Is there not anybody a bit more qualified than this?’ asked Kirsten. ‘I mean, I’ve only just joined the service really.’

  ‘You’re loyal,’ said Anna, ‘and you’re smart. You kept that girl alive, and at times, I have no idea how in God’s name you did it. I want you to pick who’s coming, not me. I chose Richard. Next time I won’t be choosing alone.’

  ‘You chose me though,’ said Kirsten. ‘It wasn’t all bad.’

  ‘You chose me,’ said Justin Chivers. Both women looked at him, daggers for eyes. ‘Just saying, quite clever with a computer.’

  Kirsten laughed. ‘So, when do we start?’ she asked Anna.

  ‘Well, there’s no time like the present. Like I said, spend a week finding who you want, spend the week after getting them. After that, you’re live. Oh, and one other thing.’