Winter's Last Victim

by Ruby Loren

  “You said if I found it, you’d give me Rob,” she said knowing she sounded like a petulant little girl. The men all smirked at her.

  “I’ve got some news for you… people lie. Hand it over.” A gun appeared in the hand of one of the henchmen but Holly ignored it, summoning all the brass she could.

  “Seeing as we’re at the final showdown, would you mind spilling your master plan and letting me know who you are?” She said, deliberately looking down her nose at the men. A couple of men behind the leader exchanged a glance and Holly hid her smile. Let them wonder why she was so confident.

  The leader laughed, the sound harsh and loud in the quiet surroundings.

  “It’s not exactly lengthy, but sure, I bet Missy would have wanted you to know,” he said and Holly’s ears pricked up. The only Missy she’d ever met had been the Missy who’d turned out to be the mastermind behind the Horn Hill House massacre. She’d also been high up in the world of crime. The man read her expression.

  “Yes… that Missy,” he confirmed. “We’ve been watching you ever since. At first, we all voted to send a sniper and end it that way but then, because we were watching Rob Frost too, we realised he was onto something. Something that could be very profitable to us.” He smiled nastily at her. “We took the chance that it actually existed and watched and waited. Now we have you, Rob, and the destruction of mankind in our grasp. The right people will pay big for that,” he said. Holly frowned.

  “I can see why someone would pay for that, but what if they actually decided to release it? You’d be just as dead as the Midastophians.”

  The leader’s eyes flashed with amusement.

  “Did I say we were selling it? I just said people will pay big. They’ll pay to stop us from letting it go. Who knows? Maybe one day we will release it… when our scientists have worked out an antidote and the world is desperate enough to give us anything we want in order to get it.”

  Holly’s eyes scoured the room, looking for a way out while he said it. There wasn’t one. She’d just have to make her play and hope for the best.

  The leader finished and the gun came up again.

  “Wait!” Holly said, pulling the metal box out of her coat and holding it up in the air. “You don’t know how to open it,” she said. The leader rolled his eyes.

  “Actually, yes we do… Rob was quite talkative once we got him going.” Holly tried not to think about that but continued with her ploy.

  “Sure, but I wasn’t talking about the box I was talking about the vial. You want it opened, right? The standard technique won’t apply. The Midastophians were smart. Perhaps even more so than we are.” She would have said definitely, but causing offence wouldn’t be likely to work in her favour. “They won’t have made it so that any fool can open the canister and retrieve the vial. Give it a try and let me know if I’m right,” she said, pleased when her voice came out steady. She could feel beads of sweat starting at the base of her neck and was glad no one could see it beneath her dark brown hair. She shut her mouth and waited… she waited to see if she would live through the next few seconds.

  “Go get him,” the leader barked and Holly’s heart lifted, praying they were talking about Rob. A few moments later she breathed a sigh of relief as Rob was marched into the room flanked by two guards. He offered Holly a smile when he got in the room and she returned it, glad he was in one piece despite the way the leader had been talking.

  Her heart beat faster as she thought through their very limited options. She hoped that her backup plan would work out soon, or they were toast, but she had to let Rob know they needed to play for time.

  “She says that it’s not going to be simple to open the vial container up,” the leader said to Rob, his eyes searching for a reaction. Despite having been in their clutches for 24 hours, Rob shrugged and looked cool.

  “Holly’s probably right. Give the usual method a try and see where it gets you,” he said and for a second Holly wished he didn’t sound so confident… unless he really did know something. What if the damn thing just popped right open? Rob gave her a look that said ‘you do have a plan, right?’ And she gave him a ‘I’m not quite sure’ look back. He shut his eyes for a second but that was all the sign she got that he knew they were in deep trouble.

  One of the henchmen walked over to her and grabbed the box. They opened a skylight and a shaft of moonlight shone into the room. Holly felt like cursing her luck for it being a clear night with a big, full moon. What were the chances of that happening in England mid-January?!

  The henchman warmed the box and it popped open again, revealing the canister that probably contained a vial and potentially the demise of humankind.

  He held the canister in the moonlight and warmed it too, but to Holly’s relief, it didn’t open. Instead glowing writing flashed up and a grid of symbols appeared on the side of the canister.

  “Looks like you need some kind of a code to get in,” Rob commented, his eyes flashing with excitement.

  “Then it’s fortunate we’ve kept you alive so you can tell us what the code is,” the leader said, his eyes dark. The henchman passed the canister over to Rob who held it reverently. He was still staring at it when the leader cleared his throat pointedly and Rob shook himself, focusing on the symbols and their translation.

  “Yeah, as I thought. The writing says something like only a society wise enough to learn from their mistakes will be able to access the secret.”

  Holly tried not to groan at the irony. Here they were, with a bunch of people who wanted to blackmail the world with the contents of the tube. It was hardly what the Midastophians had intended.

  “Open it,” the leader pressed and Rob frowned.

  “How? I don’t know the password. Who knows what will happen if we enter it wrong too many times? It might lock up or… it could even release the disease,” Rob said, turning the canister thoughtfully.

  “Well, you’d better make sure you get it right!” The leader said and Rob smiled thinly. “Or what? Either the canister becomes useless or we all die anyway. You said yourself that you want us dead. Threats don’t really matter anymore. How about this… we open the canister and you let us go without killing us and leave us alone forever,” he said. Holly privately agreed, but she couldn’t figure out how they would be able to guarantee their safety.

  The men in the room gathered into a huddle and words were exchanged before they grudgingly agreed, although a couple of men had wanted to torture the answer from them. Fortunately, they wanted the answer fast.

  Luckily, Rob had watched far too many spy movies and had a great idea about how they would guarantee safety.

  Two minutes later they were in a locked room, for some modicum of safety in case the disease was released, and there was a CCTV camera trained on them. The idea was, they’d crack the code and then place the vial in a safe box, the combination to which Rob would set and be the only one to know. They’d walk out alive and then they’d get a call and hand over the code. It wasn’t the greatest plan ever, as Holly knew they might figure breaking into a safe was easier than letting them live but there’d always be the possibility that the disease would break out if they used too much force. Perhaps that would be enough to keep them alive.

  “If we do manage to get out of here, what will we do? It’s not as if we’ll be able to carry on our normal lives. This is bigger than anything we’ve ever been involved in and I don’t know…” She said, thinking of Watson outside in her car, waiting for her, or one of her backup plans to turn up. She hoped it would be her.

  Rob half nodded, his eyes on the tube and its glowing letters.

  “We’ll figure it out,” was all he could think to say. Then he moved his head as close to her ear as possible. It would probably look like a lover’s embrace to anyone watching, and he whispered barely audibly.

  “How long?”

  Holly gave him what she hoped was a subtle half shrug. She really had no idea. She didn’t know who would come or when they would arr
ive. It wasn’t exactly ideal. Rob nodded and typed something into the grid of symbols. A beat passed and they all flashed red.

  Wrong answer.

  Rob blew out a breath and sat back on his haunches, his face lined with thought.

  “Maybe it would be better to refuse to open it and sacrifice ourselves,” Holly said, a little bitterly. Rob just shook his head.

  “Nah, someone will figure it out,” was all he said and Holly hoped no one would listen and think it was a sign that they should be got rid of. She looked at the door they’d locked from the inside. It was a little insurance that they’d be able to get the vial into the safe before anyone busted in and shot them but she still wasn’t sold on whether or not they would be allowed to walk out alive.

  “We’ll be fine,” Rob said through gritted teeth although she wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or her.

  Rob suddenly typed a few more symbols in and there was another pause before they flashed red. Strike two, Holly thought. A bead of sweat slid down Rob’s brow. What if the third wrong answer punished them by releasing the disease? A locked door would do nothing to stop an airborne pathogen!

  “Take your time, Rob,” she said, half encouraging half warning. His fingers slipped on the canister and he rested it on the floor for a moment, running a hand through his hair. His eyes met Holly’s and she was surprised to see they weren’t stressed at all, Rob was ready and waiting.

  They both heard the muffled rat-a-tat-tat of automatic gunfire and knew it was time to go.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Run For It

  Rob shoved the canister into his pocket and unlocked the door. Holly was right behind him and Rob pushed open the door, fully expecting to find their way blocked by a couple of heavies.

  The corridor was empty.

  The sounds of shooting continued to their left and Holly spared a moment to wonder which task force had arrived. Judging by the wanton use of weapons, her money would be on the government. Who knew? They might even have blocked her instructions to her other backup party, although she doubted the man she’d contacted would listen, no matter how high up the orders came from.

  “Come on,” Rob hissed and they walked in the opposite direction of the gunshots, hoping to find a way out of the rundown casino. They walked for a whole minute without seeing anyone. Holly wished they had some kind of weapon, but there was a whole load of nothing. Red carpet and wood panels were the grand sum of the casino. The lack of windows made her think they were in a basement of some sort and she wondered if there was a way out or if there was only one set of stairs. She chewed her lip but kept silent, walking behind Rob.

  A figure stumbled into view and Holly’s eyes collided with those of the oily haired leader. He was holding a gun.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” He growled and they both raised their hands.

  “We heard shots and thought we’d better get to safety. After all, our survival was the deal and when we looked out of the room to see what was going on, it didn’t look like we were being looked after.” Rob tried to look as self righteous as possible but Holly could tell the leader wasn’t buying it.

  “You’re not leaving,” he said flatly and kept the gun levelled at them.

  “Like I said… we were just trying to find somewhere safe…” Rob said, carrying on with his spiel. A shot smashed through the wood panelling, next to Holly and Rob, causing the leader to spin round and face a couple of men in black suits running his way. He shot back and caught one of them in the shoulder. Holly’s mouth fell open in horror but Rob was already pulling her back the way they’d come from.

  “Come on! We’ve got to find the way out,” he said and she tried to ignore the gunfire from behind, not wanting to know the outcome. It was highly probable that someone would be on their tail in seconds.

  They burst into the main hall where the shootout had almost reached completion. Holly saw Rob bend down and scoop something up and she felt a little relief that he was now armed. She thought back, what felt like an age, to him talking about comparing ‘toys’ with the military detective who’d died at Horn Hill House and prayed Rob really did know how to use the thing.

  He pulled her down behind an oak table, which had been flipped, and they sat in silence, listening to the traded gunfire for a few moments. Somehow, they’d managed to get into the main room undetected. Holly tried not to look at the bodies on the ground. This was worse than anything she’d ever imagined!

  “The only way out I can see from here is the front entrance, but it looks boarded up. Did you see it when you came in?” Rob asked and Holly nodded, thinking back to what she’d observed.

  “It’s just chipboard, but the door’s probably locked, right?” She said, not feeling too hopeful. Rob stifled a laugh.

  “Good thing I’ve got the key right here,” he said, tilting the gun a little. “Now, when I give the word, lets start sliding this table towards the door… as subtly as possible,” he added. It now only sounded like one or two people were shooting, but it surely wouldn’t be long before one side or the other received backup, or turned their attention to them. Holly didn’t want to be caught by anyone.

  The first few metres of sliding went without a hitch. Then somebody noticed that tables don’t tend to move on their own. Two bullets punched through in-between Holly and Rob and they instinctively threw themselves flat. Rob swore.

  “Veneer?! Those cheapskates!” He muttered and Holly realised that the massive table had slid along the floor quite easily. They were essentially hiding behind something as bulletproof as cardboard. Great.

  “We’d better make a run for it,” Holly said, not feeling too hopeful. There was a pause in the fire and she figured that either the shooters were reloading, or more likely, they were waiting for them to do something stupid… like running for the door.

  “Hey, maybe they won’t expect such a pathetically obvious attempt,” Rob said sarcastically. His hand reached out and squeezed Holly’s and she looked down in surprise before meeting his eyes. A silent apology flickered there, unsaid. She gave him what she hoped was a smile that told him not to worry about it. They were partners. This was what partners did. She felt a rush of regret in her stomach as she spared a thought to wonder what if… what if they could have been more than just business partners? It didn’t look as though she’d ever find out.

  Rob took a deep breath.

  “Ready? On three… one… two…”

  The boarded up door burst open as two police officers holding a battering ram and wearing riot gear quickly pulled back. Shots whistled through the open doorway, proving that the shooters had been waiting. Their fire was returned until silence reigned and a man stepped into the breach. Holly looked up at the face of a person she’d never thought she’d be pleased to see.

  “Inspector Chittenden, I’m glad you could make it,” she said, before Rob grabbed her arm and they bolted past the big policeman into the street outside. The DI led his small force into the building and the gunfire resumed. Holly felt a twinge of guilt for setting up this whole situation. If she hadn’t called both the government and Chittenden, there wouldn’t have been any shooting and no one would be dead right now.

  “You did the right thing. Better a few go down than the entire world,” Rob said, answering her unspoken thoughts.

  They spared a moment to look around the street surrounding the casino. It was surprisingly empty. A few passersby had started to gather and were craning their necks at the sound of gunshots but they didn’t look particularly alarmed. The fight hadn’t gone street level then.

  “Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth but I think we’ve been forgotten,” Rob commented and Holly nodded.

  “My car’s this way,” she said and set off at a brisk walk, hoping they wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention.

  She only breathed normally again when they reached her car with Watson yapping happily in the back. She opened the door and paused to give him a pat or two before getting into
the driver’s seat.

  Holly drove out of town and across the countryside without a destination in mind. It was only when they stopped seeing the lights of buildings that she pulled into a lay-by and stopped the car.

  “I can’t believe we’re alive. I can’t believe we didn’t get shot!” Holly said, staring forwards at the starry sky and the full moon she’d so recently cursed.

  “Yeah about that…” Rob said. She looked across and he lifted his foot and peeled back the leather of his shoe. It came away red. Holly considered it.

  “Did you shoot yourself in the foot?” She asked, unable to not grin.

  “Shut up. No. It was a bad guy’s bullet.” He paused. “Probably.”

  “Ah well, at least you haven’t lost any more fingers and it’s better than an arrow sticking out of your leg,” she commented.

  Rob frowned.

  “I’m starting to think working with you is bad for my health,” he muttered.

  They spared a few moments to wrap up Rob’s bullet wound (which turned out to only be a graze) and then sat in silence. Rob pulled the canister out of his pocket and considered it.

  “Too bad you couldn’t crack the code, although it’s probably for the best,” Holly said, resting a hand on Rob’s shoulder. She knew this was what he’d worked his whole life for and now, because of what it was that the Midastophians had left behind, he couldn’t use this amazing find as evidence. It was too dangerous.

  “Yeah, about that…” Rob typed a few symbols in and the tube popped open. Holly resisted the urge to dive out of the passenger window, but Rob flipped the canister open and inspected the glass vial inside. “It’s pretty well-sealed. I thought it would be. The Midastophians were careful, with the exception of their fatal mistake,” he said casually and Holly was pleased to find that her heart was still beating normally after that shock.