Impeding Justice (30 page)

‘
Not wishing to tell you
your job, Inspector, but if I was him I’d move to the rear of the
property.’ Lorne said, ‘So wouldn’t it be wise to put more men back
there?’

Tyler stood upright taking in the surrounding
grounds of the mansion. He was about fifty, greying slightly, but
in tiptop shape for a man of his age. A determined look stretched
across his otherwise expressionless face.

‘
You’re right. And the
lounge does overlook the back of the property, here. But, there is
another complication to consider. Here, is a maze, which overlooks
the side of the house and, in there, the lad tells us are two of
The Unicorn’s henchmen. Both armed and I should imagine very
frustrated as it seems they’ve gone round and round for near on
half an hour now.’

Lorne’s mobile buzzed. One look at the caller
ID and her palm broke out in sweat. ‘Chief, it’s him. Do I answer
it?’

‘
Yes, play it cool, Lorne.
Keep his attention, maybe we can gain entry while he’s distracted.
What do you reckon, Inspector?”

Tyler nodded, “Worth a try, see what he has
to say. Can you put it on speaker phone?’

She could, but didn’t want to, ‘Not really, I’m afraid it’s
a bit tinny when on speaker. Leave it to me.
Hello
.’

‘
Ah, Inspector. Why the
delay, getting instructions on how to play things were
you?’

This was the opportunity she’d been waiting
for. She’d try out the names Tony had given her.

‘
I wondered when you’d ring
again, Bill.’

‘
Nice try, Inspector, but
you’re so wrong on that.’ His sickening, contemptible laugh mocked
her.

‘
Right then, if Bill
Matthews isn’t your name, then Robert Baldwin definitely is. Am I
right, Bob?’ A moments silence confirmed her suspicion.

‘
You’re a smart cookie all
right. You should get a promotion out of this case, Inspector.’ His
tone told her he wasn’t best pleased, but he recovered and attacked
once more. ‘By the way, how’s that little minx of yours. Boy did I
teach her a thing or two. She might have only been with me a short
time, but…’

Lorne burned with anger, but a glance from
Roberts told her to keep calm. She covered her phone with her hand
and drew in three deep breaths. She smiled hoping this would
transfer to her voice, ‘Charlie’s fine, safe and well. I’m sorry to
disappoint you, but so are all the other girls, too.’

‘
Well not all of them, hey,
Inspector? And, to add to the toll, you’ll find another three dead
bodies in here, too.

‘
Who are they?’

‘
Ah, that’d be telling.
Where would the surprise be, I wouldn’t want to spoil things for
you. You’re the detective. I’ll let you detect who they
are.’

‘
Just answer me one
question?’

‘
Shoot.’

‘
Is the judge still
alive?’

‘
What kind of idiot do you
take me for, Inspector? I thought you had more brains than that.
He’s my escape route out of here. I’m not likely to kill him now,
am I? Well, not yet!’

‘
So you think you’re going to get out of here alive do you?
We have this place surrounded.’ She said, the Chief nodded, but
still not feeling enamoured with him she felt like telling him
to
fuck off!

A
movement caught her eye. The two men instructed to make their way
to the house whilst she kept The Unicorn talking had reached the
maze. The sound of a helicopter approaching sent them diving for
cover.
Fuck!

‘
Ah, I think you’re wrong
there, Inspector. I see my transport has arrived.’ The Unicorn
laughed as the red chopper hovered into view and prepared to land
in the Judge’s expansive rear garden.

She had to think fast, ‘Leave the judge here
and you can be assured of a clear getaway, Baldwin.’

His derisory laugh erupted in her ear. ‘When are you going
to start showing me some respect,
lady
?’

‘
I’d respect you if you gave
yourself up. If you try escaping now our guys will be left with no
alternative, they’ll have to shoot you down.’

‘
And there was I giving you
credit for having brains, Simpkins, how fucking wrong was I! The
judge is going with me, and no, I don’t think you will shoot us
down.’ The line went dead.

‘
What did he say?’ Roberts’
asked.

‘
He’s got it all worked out,
he thinks we won’t try and stop him while he’s got the judge as a
hostage. Inspector, is there any way we can try and disable the
chopper?’

Tyler shook his head, ‘Like you just said,
Inspector, not while he’s holding a gun to the judge’s head. I’m
afraid he’s bloody got us by the short and curlies!’

‘
What do you suggest?’ Chief
Roberts asked.

‘
I’ll call for backup. A Met
chopper can be here within a matter of minutes. I’ll issue them
with orders to follow this guy, see where he lands. We'll take it
from there...’

‘
He’s bound to pull some
kind of stunt, he won’t put up with that scenario; I know him.’
Lorne said. Her eyes darted between the house and the men beside
her.

‘
It’s the only option left
open to us. He’s aware of that fact too. Looking on the bright
side, if we hadn’t turned up here, odds are the judge would have
probably been killed by now. As it is, he’ll keep him alive until
he outlived his usefulness. When that’s likely to be is anyone’s
guess, but for now at least the judge is worth more to him alive!’
Chief Roberts said.

‘
Let me deal with the
situation in hand first. We’ll figure out the rest when he’s under
way. For now, I intend on making his escape as difficult as can
be.’

‘
What do you have in mind,
Inspector Tyler?’

‘
I suggest my men over there
take up the search for his two guys, to prevent them from escaping
the area and giving him back-up. And, I’ll instruct the men
covering the back of the house to hinder his escape. Let’s see how
his nerve holds up.’

‘
I think you should call his
bluff. We can’t let him escape! If that means the judge gets in the
way, well so be it. This is the most wanted criminal in the country
and the judge is no angel either.’

‘
Right, and set up enquiries
into our handling of the situation? Sounds good, sacrificing a
man’s life, don’t you think, whether he is a criminal or not! I
think, Inspector Simpkins, you should bow out and let me work this
my way. This isn’t the first time we’ve had our backs against the
wall, with a guy like this.’

His condescending tone and the gross feeling of
helplessness she experienced, made Lorne snap, ‘I realise that,
Inspector, but I can guarantee you this. You’ve
never
had to
deal with a
worse
individual than this. This guy
could’ve shown Saddam Hussein and his vile sons a trick or
two.’

The inspector brushed her aside with an
outstretched arm, his determination to draw the situation to a
close all too obvious. ‘Like I said, leave it to me,
Inspector.’

‘
Look, if your men flush out
the two in the maze, The Unicorn will shoot them dead. Let me get
over to them. You cover me with a hail of bullets. Aim them just
below the copter and at the house. I can then negotiate with the
men, offer them a deal and get information as to where The Unicorn
is about to fly to. That way, we are armed with knowledge of his
next move.’

‘
No, Inspector, that’s
crazy, besides, why should they listen to you?’

‘
I have no doubt they have
heard of me. Part of The Unicorn’s tactic has been to keep me
informed every step of the way. I’m the only one they would
believe. I could speak to them; convince them they are dead men if
they come outside the maze, which is what they probably are, once
the helicopter gets into the air from where The Unicorn can pick
them off. We need the info they have before that happens. Like I
said, I know him, and he shows no signs of taking them with him,
does he?’

‘
Lorne’s right. I know it is
dangerous, but she can handle it. And, I am authorising you to arm
her. She has that clearance for missions such as this.’

‘
If you say so, Chief, but I
must strongly register my objection to the plan.’

Lorne sighed with relief. She had to have
information on the next planned step. She couldn’t lose The Unicorn
now, and, for a moment that had looked very likely.

Chapter
Fifty-Nine.

Lorne checked her bullet-proof and then
fastened on her gun holster. Her heart thumped. The Unicorn would
love to take her out, she knew that. She prayed the bullets would
keep him crouched down so he wouldn’t know she was approaching his
men.

With sweat dripping down her face and her blouse sticking
to her she emerged from the thicket. She signalled to the men on
the wall. The firing began. The noise reminded her of the stinking
alley.
Christ, Pete, had that
only happened two days ago? Stay with me mate, I’m counting on
you.

Running like a sprinting cheetah, she reached
the maze and fell on her stomach, rolling the last few yards toward
the men of the armed response team. She took her gun out of its
holster. ‘Right officers, I’m Inspector Simpkins, my plan is to
negotiate with the two men inside the maze. For me to stand any
chance with them I’ll need to keep them trapped inside. I have to
create a no-win situation for them, unless that is, they
co-operate. I want one of you to cover the entrance, and one of you
to make your way around to the other side, get as near to the exit
as you can, but keep out of view of the house.’

They both nodded and took up their
positions.

Lorne lay still and listened. From inside the
maze she heard voices.

‘
Christ! It sounds like the
fucking army’s here. How’re we gonna get out, Ramon! The boss won’t
wait for us, you know that, we’ve got to do something.’

‘
We have to find the exit.
The shooters have to be around the perimeter of the grounds, which
means they can only half cover our path to the house. Look, you’re
the lightest, I’ll give you a heave up to look over the hedge, that
way you’ll see the exit.’

‘
I wouldn’t do that if I
were you,’ Lorne shouted.

‘
Who the fuck…?’

‘
Inspector Lorne Simpkins, I
think you must have heard of me, your boss contacts me often
enough.’

‘
Where are you?’

‘
I’m very near and I have
armed officers covering both exits with instructions to kill on
sight, but then, if they don’t, Mr. Unicorn Baldwin will, so I’d
say you’re fucking up the creek without a paddle boys.’

For a moment only the leaves rustling in the
breeze broke the silence. Then, the one she’d sussed out as, Ramon,
spoke.

‘
I don’t think so. He needs
us. But, nice try, you fucking bitch. Don’t ever think you can
outsmart our boss, he knows your every move and most likely has a
gun trained on you at this very moment.’

‘
Needs
you
? Come off it,
you’re as dispensable as a fattened up turkey at Christmas time.
The Unicorn doesn’t
need
anyone, least of
all a couple of jerks who can’t find their way out of a maze a
young kid sussed out half an hour ago!’

‘
She’s right,
Ramon…’

‘
Shut the fuck up, Giorgio,
or I’ll fucking kill you meself, you arsehole!’

‘
I
am
right, Giorgio, and I’ll tell you
another thing. You’ve had it, even if you sit tight until your boss
takes off, because the first thing he’ll do is hover over here and
eliminate you both. After all, you know where he’s headed and he
can’t leave it to chance that you’ll keep stum about that, can
he?’

‘
You know she’s right,
Ramon. He killed Gary didn’t he? He don’t give a fuck for
us…’

‘
All right, all right, so
what the fuck do you propose we do? Come on, you know so much, so
you figure it out. You’re saying, if we stay in here, the rotten
filth of a boss we have’ll kill us, and if we get out the cops’ll
kill us, so what’s your plan, eh?’

‘
We have stuff. Information.
Stuff that'll nail him once and for all. That must be worth
something…’

‘
It's worth us having an early passage to hell! Christ,
that’s what
she’s
saying, you idiot. It’s what
we
know
that’s going to be the death of us!’

‘
I can change that. Yes,
you’re dead if you try to escape, but if you give me information
that leads to his capture, you are not only safe, but can live your
lives out somewhere where no one knows you. Have a new start. All I
need in the first instance is his intended destination after he
leaves here. Then, once you are out, everything you know and a
signed statement, an appearance as witnesses for the Crown, and
that’s it. Throughout all of it you will have protection and when
it’s over you get a one-way ticket to wherever and a new
life.’

‘
How do we know you’ll stick
to your word?’

‘
You don’t, but as I see it
you have no other choice. Who would you rather trust, me or your
boss?’