Kaleidoscope (20 page)

"So what now man?" Jonah asked, a nervous smile flashing on his face. "You gonna shoot me?"

Lewis stared at him. He now knew for sure that this man was one of the people who took the life of the woman he loved. His earlier suspicions, strong as they were, had still held lingering doubts. But those doubts had now been vanquished. He gripped the gun so tight he felt the tendons in his wrist begin the throb with exertion as moisture ran between skin and metal.

"So what now?" Jonah repeated.

Lewis
wanted
to pull the trigger,
wanted
this man to pay for what he had done. He felt pressure on his finger tip and the trigger moved a fraction but then he released. Images of Hannah flashed in his mind as he stared at the face of one of her murderers; images of their day by the cliff and images of her pale skinned face moving closer as they finally kissed. This man claimed he hadn
’
t actually killed her, but he had been present. He had been part of her death. Lewis tried to squeeze the trigger, but again, something inside stopped the act and he suddenly realised something that terrified and comforted in equal measure.

He felt all energy leave him as the realisation struck. How did he ever expect it to be any different? He was no killer and everything suddenly became clear. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it. The thought of killing Jonah in cold blood was something he had fantasised about, but now the moment was here, his resolve faltered and an instinct, he never knew he had, took over.

This thought seemed to be spontaneously and imperceptibly transmitted to Jonah lying beneath, almost as if he had some kind of insight into Lewis's mind. A slowly developing grin expanded the muscles around Jonah's mouth.

"You can't do it can you?" Jonah sniggered, staring at Lewis's motionless eyes. "You can't can you? You
want
to, I can see that you
really
want to, but you just can't."

He kicked out and rolled over, pushing Lewis down and grabbing the gun from his hand. He smiled and threw the gun across the room then lunged forward, this time pinning Lewis to the floor and holding the knife in front.

Lewis felt the last of his energy sap away, as if he had depleted any final reserves of adrenaline. Jonah leaned in close so he was just a few inches away from Lewis's face and dropped his voice, whispering gently as he slowly raised the blade so it was resting next to Lewis's left eye.

"What a pathetic fuck you really are," Jonah taunted, gently touching the skin around Lewis's eye with the tip of the steel.

Lewis struggled, but his body felt like lead. His right arm was held down by Jonah and his left outstretched by his side. Jonah moved up and placed his knee on Lewis's left arm, preventing any movement and then stared in silence at his prey. Lewis gazed back, the light glistening from the steel blade which was millimetres from his eye.

"Did you love this girl? Is that what all this is about?" Jonah whispered softly.

Lewis didn
’
t reply.

"I bet you did, I bet you loved her so much, you thought you'd be some kind of superhero and come over here and teach me a lesson didn't you?" He paused and moved the blade slowly around Lewis's eye. "Well you
’
re not a hero my friend. You
’
re a stupid cunt.
”
Jonah
’
s face changed and he smiled with pride as he raised his voice.
“
It was a pretty tidy job as I remember, killing her I mean. We hired some slapper to get some hair from her next door neighbour. We did our homework first you see; we knew that bloke wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, know what I mean? Anyway, this slapper, she ended up scratching the shit out of his neck and we put some of his blood under your tart
’
s fingernails," Jonah sniggered to himself and used the knife to move some hair away from his brow. "Worked like a charm from what I hear. Didn't the police arrest him?"

Lewis still said nothing and attempted to move his arms, but it was useless.

"Yeah I heard they did," Jonah continued as he tilted his head sideways and moved some more of his blonde hair away from his face with his shoulder.

He moved the knife to the corner of Lewis's eye again and gently pushed. Lewis felt a sting and a tear of blood rolled down his face. He winced and saw Jonah chuckle above him.

"This bitch you loved, she was terrified when we got into her flat; you know that pal?" Once again Jonah lowered his voice to a whisper as he leaned in close, his breath rolling along Lewis's skin as he spoke. "She put up one hell of a fight, I can tell you that. She
really
wanted to live. I can remember thinking that Hellam didn't need to pay me for this one. It was fun."

"You sick bastard," Lewis said, his teeth clenched and he felt anger begin to writhe in his stomach.

Jonah laughed, "You don't know the half of it. But hey, I was just following orders. Hellam is the one who told us to do it; he's the one you should be pissed off with." Jonah glanced away as if a memory had just returned. "I can remember Hal laughing as I did what I did."

Lewis's eyes widened and he struggled hard but his arms remained clamped to the floor as he twisted sideways.

"Yeah, that's right," Jonah continued, holding him down. "I killed your whore, Hal was watching as I did it; Hal likes watching. But like I said, she
really
wanted to live. She struggled like you're struggling now; fought like a dog. You can
’
t know what it
’
s like to have that power over someone; you don
’
t know what it
’
s like to watch someone die - to take their life away. But let me tell you this
…
" He moved his mouth close to Lewis's ear, still holding the knife in place and, with agonising sloth, whispered gently. "
…
It was an absolute pleasure to put my hands around that whore
’
s throat and watch her die.
”

Lewis yelled something indecipherable and knocked his head sideways then raised his knee to impact with Jonah's back. The knife dug into Lewis's face and slid down as blood spurted from the wound. But he felt almost no pain as he twisted sideways and pushed himself free. The impact of Lewis's knee sent Jonah hurtling forward and he fell to the ground. Lewis turned, ignoring the blood which was falling from his own face and lunged, grabbing Jonah's hand which still clutched the knife. He forced it round in the opposite direction, and pushed Jonah
’
s arm against him then leaned forward and slid the blade into Jonah's chest.

An odd gurgling scream fell from Jonah's lips as half the blade entered between his ribs. They both stopped moving, Lewis back on top and staring into Jonah's dilating eyes.

"Now I know what it's like," Lewis said softly, his voice shaking as the eyes focused on him. They locked gazes and he slowly leaned forward, using all his weight to push the rest of the long blade into Jonah's chest.

Jonah gurgled as his muscles relaxed and blood fell from the wound. Lewis remained motionless until Jonah's eyes rolled back, the lids falling half closed before they flickered and relaxed.

Lewis felt his heart pound and was suddenly aware of the pain in his face. He raised a hand to his cheek and then pulled away. Blood covered his fingers. He stood up and looked down at the dead body below, the knife protruding from the left side of Jonah's chest. He stepped away; his legs felt like rubber and he stumbled across the room to pick up the gun.

He saw a t-shirt lying on the floor and picked it up then pushed it onto his bleeding cheek. He looked around the room, noticed the photo of Hannah and picked it up then forced the gun into his pocket and staggered towards the doorway. The room was a scene from hell as blood soaked the floor around Jonah's body. A rising panic swelled inside Lewis and he fell out of the room, stumbling down the hall and through the front door then began to stride down the dark street, pushing the t-shirt against his sliced face.

He walked quickly and avoided the street lights as he rushed home. His mind began racing at a thousand miles per second. He began a half-jog, trying not to think about the image of Jonah lying with the knife buried in his chest. He thought about the pain in his left cheek, sliced open and still bleeding heavily. He thought about how he was now a killer. But most of all, he thought about Joseph Hellam.

Chapter 20

Hellam

Hal glanced at his watch as he paced the barn. Everything was set and
Tyler
was doing last minute checks on the lighting cables to make sure nothing would interrupt filming; once they began, they wouldn't be able to stop.

"What time is it?"
Tyler
asked, looking up from his task of securing the cables to the base of one of the floodlights.

"Five to ten, he should be here by now... what's his name? Keller?" Hal replied.

"Kelser, Sebastian Kelser."
Tyler
stood up, and walked over to Hal. "Hellam seems to think he knows what he's doing."

Hal snorted, "Hellam's been making some bad calls lately. Did you hear that he hired an undercover cop? A fucking cop!"

"He told me, but he also said that Kelser sorted that problem out. I don't know Hal, don't underestimate this guy. He makes me nervous."

Hal grimaced, "Makes you nervous? He's a little punk who thinks he's the shit. I should put him in his place when he arrives and hasn't got Hellam around to hold his hand."

Hal paced across the barn floor, scuffing up the dirt with his shoes as he passed by the chair which was positioned in front of the camera. "Hellam thinks he's got some kind of natural talent for this stuff or something. We've been doing this for years, we're professionals and if that little shit... Keller... Kelser, can't even be bothered to turn up on time then we should sort this job out ourselves."

Hal looked over to Tyler who responded with a non-committal shrug then glanced at his watch again. "Come on that's it. It's ten now, let's get things started." He began to stride towards the back of the barn and
Tyler
followed.

***

The noises and lights beyond the bars and the doorway had woken Sarah earlier and she shuffled and fidgeted around in the tiny cage as she tried to hold herself together. This nightmare had been going on for days and felt never-ending. She had been fed like a dog; with bowls of water and cold, stale food. Her stomach was knotted with cramps and she had a constant headache which pounded her skull day and night. Not that she really knew which was day and which was night anymore; time blended together into an elongated mass of horror while she was surrounded by the darkness of the room.

Occasionally she would hear cars approach then footsteps, as one of the men arrived with some more food and water then led her to a filthy toilet on the other side of the room. The large one, the one with the tattoo on his arm was the worst. He never spoke to her, just stared and smiled in a way that made her stomach lurch.

Sarah wasn't religious but she had caught herself praying several times while locked inside the cage during the past few days. Her prayers all revolved around her daughter as she wondered if she would ever see her again. She had made a mess of her life; she knew that. The drug addiction and her profession were never going to lead her along a path of happiness. But she was changing, she told herself, everyone deserves a second chance don't they? Everyone can change.

She heard steps approaching and she backed away from the bars. The larger of the two men entered first and pulled out a key from his pocket which he slid into the large padlock that secured the door to the cage. Sarah didn't know if she should consider this good news or not; were they letting her go? The large man opened the door but said nothing as he reached inside, grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her out.

"No, no, please," she said hysterically. "Are you letting me go? What's happening?"

She writhed in an attempt to free herself but his grip was too strong and the second man shuffled in with his hunched form reaching out to help restrain her. The two men carried her through the doorway and the light in the wide space was almost blinding. Sarah assumed she was being taken outside, but as her eyes adjusted to the light, she realised she was in a huge barn which had been illuminated by several large lamps.

"What are you doing with me?" she asked desperately but neither of the two men responded.

She gazed around the huge space as they carried her over to a central section where there was a chair and something else she couldn't quite see. The large man threw her down and she landed on the thick wood of the chair with a thump. The other man went behind her and grabbed both of her arms, pulling them back and sending a shooting pain through both her shoulders.

"What is this? What are you going to do?" she pleaded but still didn't get any response.

She felt the hunched man pull her hands together, tie them behind her back and attach them to the chair with something that felt like plastic. The tattooed man moved away from her and revealed a digital video camera attached to a stand that was pointing directly at her. Her eyes expanded as she saw something that was positioned on the floor beside the camera.

Something in her heart yelled out the truth before she could fully comprehend what she was seeing. A small metallic table was standing over to the right, just within view of the camera. The table was old, beaten and dented but that didn't hold her interest for long; she was focused on the implements that were lined up neatly on the distorted, steel surface. Sarah suddenly knew what was going to happen to her and at that moment all hope evaporated. They were going to kill her. She could think of nothing else to do, so she began to scream.

***

The building felt cool as Hellam stepped out of the lift and began to walk down the darkened hall towards his office. It was overcast outside and a few sprinkles of rain dotted his suit. He wished he had taken an umbrella during the short walk from Jannson's but he hadn't known he would be making the journey on foot. His driver had been called away unexpectedly to deal with a family emergency; something to do with his wife, not that Hellam paid much attention. He just grudgingly let him take the car home. Hellam's own vehicle was in the car park at the offices so he decided to make the walk rather than take a taxi - he didn't like making small talk with the drivers.

The walk had given him a chance to contemplate what was happening on the farm. He glanced at his watch and saw it was a few minutes past ten; they would have begun by now. He felt electricity in his veins as excitement rose and he thought about what Kelser was going to do. Hellam couldn't wait to see the results, knowing that his employee wouldn't disappoint. He wondered if he himself would be there during the filming of the next one, but he would wait and see. He couldn't afford to take any chances if he was going to be present, and wanted to be sure the correct systems would be in place. But he
wanted
to be there and he felt a pang of envy at Kelser's opportunity.

He pushed the door open to his office and turned on the light. The keys to his car were in his office desk so he walked around and pulled the desk drawer open. The keys were there but Hellam paused as he picked them up. They were lying on something and he looked puzzled, moving them aside to see. It was a small, creased photograph.

He picked it up and gazed at the various people in the image then he realised that he recognised someone in the centre. But he couldn't fully understand why a photo of this person would be in his desk drawer.

It's her
, he thought silently as he stared into the eyes of Hannah Jacobs who was beaming back at him through the image.
‘
You
’
re a psychopath
’
,
the words echoed through his head as he looked at her pale-skinned face. She was surrounded by a few others, obviously a group of friends on a night out and they were all grinning with wide, unforced expressions as they posed for the picture.

Why was this photograph here? How had it found its way into the desk? Hellam tried to process the set of circumstances that could have brought such a photo to him but he was lost. He had never seen it before and was certain he hadn't been given it by Hannah. Even if he had, why would he keep such an item?

He wanted to put it down but for some reason couldn't take his eyes away. He studied it slowly for a few moments. His eyes moved meticulously over all the other people that surrounded Hannah then, as they fell onto a man standing over to the right side of the picture, his lips parted and his mouth fell open.

The man wasn't looking at the camera like all the others, he was staring over to the girl at the centre and smiling quietly, not for the camera, but for himself. Hellam swallowed as he studied the man's features. He was a few years younger and didn't have the distinctive scar on his left cheek, but his identity was beyond doubt.

"Kelser." The word slipped effortlessly from Hellam's lips and hung before him.

Something stirred inside him that felt like an estranged cousin of anger and the sensation began to rise. But it felt odd. The emotion was mixed with something else; something that lingered in the distance. But this distant emotion was much more powerful and infinitely more unwelcome - fear.

He noticed the hand that held the photo began to shake and he consciously tried to stop
–
confused by his reaction. The picture slipped from his fingers and fell back into the drawer, turning over as it hit the wood. Hellam noticed there was something written on the back and he slowly read the four words:
‘
We're not the same.
’

"What the hell..." he said to himself and stumbled backwards, trying to comprehend what was going on.

He stopped suddenly as he felt something hard and cold touch the back of his skull, realising what it was immediately. He stopped breathing while his heart continued to thump hard behind his ribs. That once distant and unfamiliar emotion suddenly began to sprint towards him.

"What do you want Kelser?" he managed to croak, not turning, but certain of who was holding the gun to his head.

A hand from behind was pushed into his jacket pocket and it pulled out Hellam's mobile phone then handed it to him.

"Call Hal and tell him to let the girl go," came a low voice from behind, the gun remained motionless, stuck to Hellam's head.

"They won't..." Hellam began but was cut off.

"Do it."

Hellam selected Hal's number and pushed the phone to his ear.

"Hal, listen we've changed the plan. We need to let the girl go."

"What?" Hal replied incredulously from the other end of the phone.

"Something has happened and we need to call it off."

"Are you crazy?" Hal said, the rising anger unmistakable. "We're not letting her go; we're just about to begin."

Hellam felt pressure as the gun was pushed harder against his skull. "I said let her go, that's an order."

"An order? Fuck you, you don't know what you're talking about. She's seen my face for Christ sake! She's seen
your
face! Have you lost your mind?"

Hellam covered the phone with his hand and spoke to the man behind him. "He's not going to do it. They're all ready to start."

“
Convince him.
”

Hellam felt pressure again and slowly placed the receiver back to his ear.
“
The fact she
’
s seen us won
’
t make any difference to you. If she was to recognise anyone then it would be me. You have nothing to concern yourself about. Let her go.
”

There was a pause on the other end of the line and Hellam could hear breathing through his ear piece before the response finally came.

“
I can
’
t risk it. What
’
s this all about?
”

The voice from behind whispered again.
“
Just tell them to wait for me to arrive.
”

Hellam spoke into the mouthpiece again.
“
It doesn
’
t matter
…
listen, at least wait for Kelser to arrive, he'll be there.
”

He heard a snort of disapproval from the other end followed by a long pause.

“
He has twenty minutes then I
’
m finishing this mess.
”
The line went dead.

“
He
’
s hung up, he
’
s only going to wait for twenty minutes,
”
Hellam said, lowering the phone.

"Well that causes me a problem," the man behind him replied, the words spoken with apparent ambivalence.

"Kelser, what do you want? We can talk this over; there is always some kind of attainable compromise."

"The code to your safe, what is it?"

Hellam felt something cold slither along his spine,
the laptop
.