Holy Island Trilogy 03 - The Final Countdown (18 page)

What the fuck am I gonna do now?

‘Take your coat off, Susan… In fact, take everything off.’

She froze, then shook her head.

‘You shake your head? What do you think you’re here for? Ah, yes. Lured by the offer of free drugs.’ He laughed, and it sent a chill through Shelly’s bones. ‘There’s plenty of them. But first, a small thing like payment.’

He was beside her now.

Why the hell did I think I could get away with this?

It was bound to go wrong.

Frantically she twisted the lid on her pen as he drew closer.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

‘So what we gonna do now?’ Danny demanded. ‘How we gonna get her outta that hell hole?’ He looked around at them all. Some met his eyes, some couldn’t. All of them looked worried.

‘Oh, for fuck's sake,’ he went on. ‘You're using her as a scapegoat, aren’t you!’ He laughed a harsh, heartbreaking laugh as he looked at them. ‘And here’s me thinking you’re the good guys, huh? Wrong again. There’s a surprise.’

‘No, Danny.’ Aunt May rose. ‘Nothing of the bloody kind at all. It’s the last bloody thing we would do. Shelly has done this entirely off her own back. Do you honestly think we would be so cruel as to send someone in, when there is no hope of ever getting out of the bloody stinking hell hole?’

Seeing his face drop at Aunt May’s words, Ella jumped quickly in. ‘Mitch is in there, Danny. He’ll do his best to talk her out of it, and get her out of there.’

‘You just don’t have any idea of what really goes on in there, do you? No idea at all.’ Danny spoke from his heart, remembering his time in the monastery, remembering all the dead faces of the young people in there, soulless eyes with no hope at all.

‘Oh, yes we do,’ Coral said, nodding knowingly at him. ‘Most of us have been there. Trust me.’

Danny stared at them. ‘Really? I…I didn’t know…' He looked at the floor for a moment then, lifting his head, he said, ‘So what chance do you think she has of getting out of there alive?’

Ah, Danny, Mike was thinking, trust you to ask the impossible question. Because really she has no chance.

Sadly he went into the kitchen for a drink of water. As the glass was filling, his thoughts jumped back to Aunt May. He was still reeling from the fact that she was more or less in charge of all this.

How has she managed to keep it a secret all this time?

And Tony, where the hell does he fit into this jigsaw?

He felt a presence at his side, and looked down to see Aunt May looking up at him.

‘Tony is with us, Mike.’

Mike stepped back just as the water flowed over the glass and soaked his hand.

How does she do that? he wondered. Seems like she’s always reading my friggin' mind, ever since we were kids. It seemed like she knew what we were up to before we did.

Turning the tap off, he put the glass down and reached for a piece of kitchen roll. All the time his eyes never left Aunt May’s.

‘Why did you leave me out?’

‘It wasn’t a question of bloody well leaving you out, Mike… It just wasn’t the time to include you.’

‘Ah, but it was time to include Tony.’

‘His place of work made him a necessity.’

‘So you’re saying I’m a liability.’

‘Far from it, Mike. You’re a good man. A very good man, with a heart of gold… And you were always going to be a part of it. But you are also a bloody loose cannon, you always have been. A bit like Shelly, really. We couldn’t afford to bring you in until the time was right.’

‘And that’s now?’

She nodded. Opening her arms, she added, ‘I’m worried sick for Shelly. I could do with a bloody big hug, Mike.’

Without hesitation, Mike put his arms around the only mother he had ever known.

‘Any idea where the new monastery is?’ he asked.

‘Yes, we’ve had our eye on it for a few weeks now. And Mitch is a good man.’

‘OK, give me directions, and keep the others off my back.’

‘Mike!’

‘Gotta help her, Aunt May, you know this.’

‘But--’

‘No buts, love. Can’t leave her to the wolves without at least giving it a try.’

Aunt May gave the directions to Mike, and the door had just closed behind him when Smiler entered the kitchen. His first words on seeing her alone were, ‘Where’s Mike?’

‘He’s just popped to the shop. Actually going to buy himself a packet of bloody cigarettes, would you believe it?’ Spinning him round, she ushered him towards the sitting room.

‘But--’

‘No buts, love.’ She repeated what Mike had just said to her with a smile.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Tony left the pet shop in Soho long after the three men had gone. He’d also let Muriel get off early, more than an hour ago. Ever since then, he’d sat deliberating all that had been said between them.

Like the families, these three, although good men, had their heads in the clouds. Unlike Aunt May, who knew without being told that a seamless transition would take years, the mopping up even longer.

He walked along to the end of the street and looked across at the Palace Theatre. Tony really loved old buildings, and this was one of his favourites.

 If only I had time, he thought. Sighing, he turned and headed for the car park.

 Reaching his car, a blue Mercedes, he failed to notice the hooded youth until he stepped out in front of him.

‘This here your car?’ the youth, white, with a face full of spots, demanded with a surly voice.

‘What’s it to you?’

Tony weighed the youth up. Dressed in the usual get-up of blue hoodie, jeans and white trainers, he was skinny, almost emaciated. Therefore he must have a weapon, or a back-up somewhere close, ‘cos this toe rag couldn’t skim the skin from a rice pudding.

‘Just asking.’

‘OK. On your way.’

The sound of Tony’s mobile, loud in the enclosed space, startled them both. Always on the ready. Tony made a show of going for his mobile, but instead drew his gun.

The youth, pale to begin with, turned practically chalk white when he saw the gun. Gulping hard he turned and fled, his trainers making a flapping noise. Obviously one of the soles was loose. Reaching the stairs, he never even turned to look back, just headed on down as fast as he could.

‘Hmm,’ Tony muttered. ‘Must have been genuinely interested. Still, can’t be too careful in this business.' He got quickly into his car and drove out of the car park, taking care to note everything around him in case the kid came back with a gang.

It wasn’t until he was on the motorway that he pulled over in to a rest stop and took his mobile out. He smiled when caller ID said Susan Cleverly.

‘Hello lovely, what you got?’

‘Hello back… Cox is going to be just fine.’

‘Well, thank God for that. We’re certainly going to need him in the coming times.’

‘Thought you would be pleased. Might be a month or so before he’s back on his feet. But I’ve got plenty armed protection around him, all our own men.’

‘Good. I’ll be back up your way in a day or two. See you then, and once again…good work.’

‘Cheers.’

He closed the phone with a smile, a picture of Susan Cleverly in his mind. Starting the car he headed to Norwich where, no doubt, Mike would be waiting, and wanting answers to questions.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Shelly stared in horror at the Leader, her heartbeat steadily mounting as her fingers worked frantically on the lid.

Open, please open.

For fuck’s sake.

Don’t let it all be in vain.

Please, if there is anybody up there...

But her silent pleas went unanswered.

Outside, Mitch paced the corridor. He didn’t know what to do. His instinct told him to go in and help the girl, his training told him not to, but to see things through, whatever the outcome.

Torn in half, he turned and punched the wall.

What if, by some miracle, she succeeds? Then it’s a whole big problem sorted. If I interfere, and it goes wrong, because he could summon help in a moment, one press of the many emergency buttons around his bedroom, then everything we’ve worked for all these years could be blown.

Is the risk worth it?

A hell of a lot of people have died for the cause, and it could take years to get someone back in here.

What the hell to do?

The Leader stroked Shelly’s arm with his right hand, cupping her chin with his left.

‘Don’t be frightened, little bird,’ he murmured softly, a smirk on his face. ‘Let me feel your heart.’ Knowing her heart would be beating twice its normal rate, he moved his hand from her chin, ran it over her breast… Suddenly, he froze.

Her jaw dropped a second later when she realised that he had finally recognised her. Shelly panicked.

Pulling the pen out of her pocket, she used her other hand to yank the lid off just as the Leader's hands went round her throat. Immediately he began to squeeze.

‘You had me fooled, peasant. But how long did you think it would last?’ He shook her, hard. ‘Bitch, you know without a doubt what’s going to happen now, don’t you? Answer me!’

She managed with great difficulty to give a very brief nod, but he could tell in her eyes she knew full well what was going to happen to her now. For a brief moment, dozens of faces flashed across his mind, all of them dead.

‘So much sweeter.’ He almost whispered his delight. ‘Such a pretty, pretty girl.’

One chance only, Shelly thought, as she aimed the pen at his stomach. Feeling the needle meeting its destination, she pressed the plunger, but almost at the same time he swiped it out of her hand. The pen hit the side of the bedpost and fell to the floor, out of Shelly’s reach. She began to punch and kick at him, but second by second she could feel herself becoming weaker. His face, full of rage, pressed up against hers. She could smell his foul breath, feel his spit on her face. Slowly the world became darker.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Mike put the directions on top of the dashboard. Fastening the seatbelt, he started the car and drove quickly down the street. Glancing at the directions, he turned right, drove on through two sets of lights, then kept right, and soon he was out into the countryside.

He found the place he wanted, and looked suspiciously at the wrought iron gates, especially at the camera on the left side.

‘OK, looks like I’m gonna have to climb over the wall at some point,’ he muttered. 'Better get parked.’

Driving on past the cameras and waiting until he was out of range, he turned at the bottom of the road, noting that at twenty-yard intervals there were more cameras. He shot in between two sets of them, and parked the car right up against the wall.

Carefully making sure he was not in any of the cameras sights he got out of the car and, bent double, hurried to the wall. He flattened his back against it and looked left, then right, hoping that because the wall looked quite old, there might be few stones missing from the top.

‘No luck there, then, gonna have to do it the hard way. So what’s new?’

He found a few handholds, the beauty of stone as opposed to trying to climb a brick wall, and hoisted himself up. In seconds he was up and over. Hastily, he looked around for guard dogs, though there had been none up at the monastery. Either Mr Leader felt secure enough not to need them, or he didn’t like them, Mike thought, favouring the latter.

Possibly because no dog worth its salt would like that bastard!

He found himself in a small, dense forest of trees with roots winding their way just below ground, as well as over. He had to watch his step. A broken ankle wasn’t going to help anything.

As the trees began to thin out, the building came into view. Mike stopped dead.

‘Jesus,’ he muttered, staring at the house. ‘Impossible. How the hell...?’

Between him and the house was a vast stretch of lawn, where he would be seen as soon as he set foot on it. Then he remembered, if for some insane reason everything panned out to be a carbon copy of the monastery, that at the right side of the house the trees were very much closer, and one section of the building practically touched them. If he came out that way he stood a chance.

Dipping quickly back into the trees, he hurried along and soon came to the spot he wanted. This, if he was right, should be the back of the drug shed.

Slowly he crept around the building until he came to the one and only window. Carefully, he raised his body and risked a quick look inside. A moment was all it took. Shrinking back down, he leaned against the wall and stared into space, a look of deep sadness on his face. The look changed to anger and, steeling himself, he crept along to the door he’d used to get into the monastery near Berwick.

Turning the handle, he pulled, only to find it was locked.

‘Damn. Everything in duplicate except Brother Dave.’

It would have to be the window. He looked around for something to put over his hand. Finding nothing, he whipped his jacket off and wrapped it around his hand. Without hesitating, he knocked the pane out. Shaking his jacket to get rid of the glass, he slipped it on and felt through the pane for the key in the lock.

‘Thank God,’ he whispered when his hand found the key. Turning it, the door slipped silently open.

He went inside, crossed the room and moved into the corridor. Knowing exactly where he wanted to be, he made for the third door.

Mitch was practically hopping from foot to foot, torn about doing the right thing.

‘Fuck it.’ Suddenly he did the only thing he could, taking a deep breath he kicked the door in, just in time to see Shelly sliding down the Leader's chest.

The Leader looked at him with a scowl. He let go of Shelly, and she dropped the rest of the way to the floor.

Mike entered the library and headed for the staircase, seeing the guard's body halfway across. Reaching the guard, he knelt down and felt for a pulse.

‘Stone dead,’ he muttered. ‘Well, that’s one nuisance out of the way. Wonder if Shelly pushed him down the stairs.’

He looked up the staircase. By rights, it should lead to the Leader's bedroom, he thought, stepping over the dead guard's body and putting his foot on the first stair.