Offshore (38 page)

He
refilled the magazine, and with a quick yank from a well placed
screwdriver, disabled the safety catch. He fired off two shots. It
worked perfectly, each little puff of gas ejecting its projectile
with sufficient force to send it across the room to embed itself
fully in the concrete lining of the remaining side wall.

“
Just the ticket,” he said, stuffing his pockets with extra
ammunition and gas cartridges. Now armed, he set off through the
rain to begin his hunt.

He
cracked open the main door sufficient to see inside. There it was,
the CCTV camera trained on the main door to monitor traffic, its
little red light showing it was active. Not for long.

A puff
of air and a well aimed metal spike embedded itself in the lens,
shattering the glass, penetrating the electronics behind, shorting
them out. The red light winked out.

“
What they can’t see...”

Ever
vigilant for another glowing dot, he trod carefully along the
corridor. There it was, at the junction. If he pressed himself
close to the wall, he would be in its blind spot.

And so
he progressed, camera by camera, until he reached the staircase to
the control room, scooting up them two steps at a time. If there
was anyone in there monitoring the cameras, by the time they saw
him it would be too late.

He
sneaked up to the door, gun in hand, and bobbed his head to glance
through the narrow glass strip in the door. The lights were on, but
there was nobody home, no audience to watch the screens. Time to
get busy.

Less
than five minutes later he left, humming 'Three Blind Mice' quietly
to himself. Round one to him.

All he
had to do now was wait.

Chapter 44

Shaw and
Cameron’s paths crossed in the corridor outside one of the many
utility closets.

“
Hey, Matt! Anything?”

Shaw
shrugged. “Nope, and I can’t think of anywhere we haven’t
covered.”

“
It’s unnatural innit,” said Cameron. “The way an old man
like Brewer can creep around this place like some kind of ghost
without us seeing or hearing him?”

“
Don’t joke about it, mate.” Shaw’s eyes looked past
Cameron’s shoulder. “It’s doing my head in. I’m so terrified I’ve
started seeing things that aren’t even there. Every corner, every
shadow, every...” He affected a shudder.

“
I know what you mean. I looked out at the flare boom and
thought I could see him perched out there on it, like some kind of
vulture ready to swoop down on us, waiting to pick our
bones.”

“
But a vulture with baggage,” said Shaw. “He’s got Miss
Ellis in tow, remember.”

“
How can I forget? Poor Lydia. She must be out of her skin
with fear.”

Shaw
looked at him askance. “Have you got a fancy for her?”

Cameron
feigned innocence. “Who me? Nah. Forbidden territory. She’s the
boss’s girl, or haven’t you noticed?”

Shaw
tried the door to the utility closet. Locked tight. “Oh, I’ve
noticed alright,” he said. “I’ve noticed the way you’ve been
looking at her while pretending not to. They way you’ve been
holding her chair for her while she sits down, and opening doors
for her. All the little things, ya know? So … was she worth the
lay?”

Cameron
seized him by the arm. “Who told you?”

Shaw
grinned and winked. “You just did.” He nudged Cameron. “I won’t
tell anyone, don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.” He tapped
the side of his nose with a slender finger. “For a
price.”

He
commenced walking. Cameron grabbed him again. “What
price?”

“
I’ll think of something, don’t you worry, but it won’t come
cheap.”

They
came to a crossroads of corridors.

“
This is like looking for a needle in the proverbial,” said
Cameron. “We should split up again. We can cover more ground that
way.”

“
Okay. Which way you want to go?”

Shaw
considered the options. “Left,” he said.

“
Okay.”

Neither
of them moved.

“
On your way then,” said Shaw.

“
No. You go first. Age before beauty.”

“
Pearls before swine.”

Silence.

“
We’ll stick together then?”

“
Yeah.”

A few
paces down the left hand corridor Shaw brought Cameron to a halt.
“Here’s a thought,” he said. “Do you think the boss radioed in?
Called for help?”

“
How? The satellite dishes were buggered in the storm.
Remember the big bang and all that sparking and fizzing and hair
standing on end. Since then I don’t see when he’s had the chance
to. He was pretty badly beaten up.”

“
Yeah,” Shaw agreed. “There must be a short wave radio
somewhere surely. For emergencies?”

“
I bloody well hope so. If there isn’t–”

“
We’re completely cut off from the outside
world.”

“
Lifeboat!” said Cameron. “There should be one in the
lifeboat.”

“
Unless they were stripped out too.”

“
Nah. They wouldn’t do that, although … if there’s one in
the control room, it would save us the trip.”

Shaw
nodded. “Worth a look. It’s a fair slog to the lifeboat station for
nothing. Next stop control room then. It’s only a few minutes away
and it’s not like Brewer’s going anywhere is it? He’s trapped here
just like us. And before you get all gooey eyed over Miss Ellis
again, I get the feeling he won’t harm her. She’ll be alright … for
now.”

Cameron
nodded pensively. “Okay. Let’s find a radio and get somebody out
here, and get us off this sodding boat.”

They
jogged their way along the corridor, up the stairs to the control
room, pushed open the door - and stopped in their tracks. The place
looked like a whirlwind had been through it.

Every
monitor screen was smashed, wires and cables yanked from their
sockets, some sliced through, their ends sparking and fizzing.
Keyboards and control panels lay in ruins, and the floor was strewn
with paper. The air carried the acrid odour of electrical arcing
and burning insulation.

They
edged their way into the room, keeping clear of the potentially
deadly live cables, glass crunching under their boots.

“
What the fuck!” exclaimed Shaw, looking around the
devastated room, taking it all in. “You think Brewer did
it?”

“
Who else?”

The boss
needs to know about this.” He reached for his radio and pressed the
transmit button. “Guv? You there? This is Shaw. Over.”

Nothing.
Not even static.

“
Guv?”

Cameron
tapped him on the arm. “Matt?”

“
Guv? You there?”

“
Matt!”

“
What!”

Cameron
pointed to a black box with its front staved in, its multi coloured
wire innards visible. “I don’t think he can hear you. Isn’t that
the radio control?”

Shaw
raked his hand through his hair, making it stand on end. “Argh!
Shit! What purpose would it serve to smash up the place, smash up
the radio?”

“
Isn’t it obvious? To cut us off, not only
from the outside, but from each other,” said Cameron. “To keep us
isolated. Divide and conquer. He’s turned the tables on us now,
Matt. He’s got us right where
he
wants us. He’s the hunter and we’re the prey.”
They looked at each other in silence, contemplating the
epiphany.

Shaw
chewed on his lip as he took a closer look at the shattered radio
equipment. “Okay, tell you what we’ll do,” he said. “You go find
the boss and tell him what’s happened. I’ll stay here and see what
I can do about getting this fixed.” He ran a finger around the
cracked casing. “It’s taken a whack, but it’s a tough piece of kit.
The internal damage might not be as bad as it first looks. I used
to help a mate build radio controlled planes. I’ll have a
tinker.”

Cameron
turned to leave. “By the way, what happened to the fire
axe?”

Shaw
shrugged again. “Dunno. Must have left it in the bog when I went
for a slash. I’ll go find it when I’ve done this. Off you
go.”

Cameron
left Shaw alone with the black box.

“
Right then, you bugger,” he said. “Let’s have a proper look
at you.” After a quick assessment of the damage he started a hunt
of his own, drawer by drawer, cupboard by cupboard, looking for
something which might be useful: a penknife, a pair of pliers, a
paperclip - anything he could use.

The last
drawer brought him the rewards he sought, a roll of black
insulation tape and a set of miniature screwdrivers in a clear
plastic case, and a spectacle repair kit someone had left
behind.

He
kissed the case and praised the heavens. “Thank you, thank you,
thank you.”

Off came
the front of the black box, and in went Shaw’s nimble fingers; a
tap here, a screw there, a loose connection reconnected. The power
light flickered green, went out, received a severe cursing,
flickered again, and stayed on.

Shaw
depressed the transmit button on the microphone attached to the
black box.

“
Testing one, two, three. Eeny, meeny, miney,
mo.”

His
voice echoed back at him through his own handset. Success. Time to
let the others know they were back in contact.

“
Boss, can you hear me?”

Static.
He gave the box a swift slam with the flat of his hand and tried
again.

“
Boss, you there?”

Eddie’s
voice came back to him. “That you Matt?”

“
Yeah. Seems to be working okay now, but I don’t know how
long for. Cam with you?”

Cameron
broke through. “Here, Matt.”

“
Great. He tell you what’s gone on up here? You gotta see
it. It’s a fucking mess. It looks like–”

Euterich
had seen them arrive from his hiding place on the landing above,
sneaked down the stairs, and watched them through the glass panel
in the doorway as they picked their way gingerly over the
wreckage.

He heard
their conversation, their radio chatter and a felt a cold hand
wring at his innards. Guv? Boss? Could Capstan have survived his
beating, be still alive?

He
ducked back into the shadow as Cameron left the room to relay his
message to his chief, whom Euterich dearly hoped was lying
helplessly crippled somewhere, leaving Shaw alone to try and fix
the radio. Time for a little fun and games.

He could
almost see Shaw’s guard go down as he searched through the
cupboards and drawers and gather his bits and pieces with which to
tinker with the radio box. A few minutes later he had the radio in
his hand and was calling for his skipper.

Euterich
gripped the handle of the fire axe he had sneaked away from Shaw
when he visited the head.

There
couldn't be a more perfect moment.

With no more than a soft
swish
, Euterich swung the axe in a wide arc, the blade
catching Shaw in just the right place, halfway between the base of
his skull and the nape of his skinny neck.

His head parted company with his body right along the
broken tattooed line and its instruction –
CUT HERE
, and sailed through the air like a
penalty kicked football, striking the wall, rebounding onto the
desk, rolling off and coming to rest in time for his sightless eyes
to appear to watch his body fold in half at the knees and pitch
forward, severed arteries spraying an arc of scarlet, splattering
everything within reach, purple red fluid leaking quietly from his
veins to form a dark puddle.

Euterich
waited for the pulsating spray to stop before he approached the
body. “Let’s have a little joke on your pal Cameron, shall
we?”

He stood
the high backed operator’s chair on its feet and positioned it in
front of where the CCTV monitors used to be.

Tucking
his arms under Shaw’s armpits, he hauled the headless body into the
chair, seating it upright, rearranging it and balancing it so that
it would not slide out again. He laid the arms along the rests,
hands loose.

He then
took Shaw’s head and placed it on the corpse’s lap, eyes facing
forward. He patted its spiky hair. “You sit there and give your
mate a surprise when he gets back,” he said, and turned the chair
to face the desk.

He
leaned the fire axe against the table leg, put off the lights, and
ambled from the room.

One
down.

Chapter 45

“
Hey, boss! Wait up!” Cameron trotted
to catch up with Eddie. “Been looking high and low for
you.”

“
What are you doing here? Why aren’t you searching for
Brewer and Lydia?”