Relentless (18 page)

'Look, Tom. I...'
Her words trailed off. I knew she felt sorry for me, but there
seemed to be no regret, no desire to put things right. Her pain
was for someone else.
'How long's it been going on?'
She sighed. 'We'll talk about it later, Tom, OK? For now, I
want to know who this man is, because I still don't believe his
story.'
'I'm telling you the truth,' said Daniels evenly. 'Lench and
Mantani went after Calley. I had to go back to the car because
we'd parked it away from Calley's house so it wouldn't get
clocked by passers-by. They came back five minutes later and said
that Calley was dead, but he'd told them that he no longer had
the thing they were after. He said he'd given it to Tom Meron.'
I shook my head. 'But I haven't seen him for four years.'
Daniels shrugged. 'Well, that's what they told me. They also
said that while he was trying to escape, Calley made a call to
your house. While we were driving, Lench made a call of his
own. He's got some excellent contacts because it only took him
minutes to find out who your wife was and where you both
worked. He got a car sent round to your house to make sure you
were there when he turned up, then got us to drop him off. We
were told to get rid of the car we'd been using, then to stay
together and wait for further orders. The rest you know.'
'This is ridiculous,' I said, utterly confused. 'Jack Calley never
gave me anything.'
'It's convenient you had nothing to do with Jack's actual
murder, isn't it?' said Kathy to Daniels, an undercurrent of
venom in her voice. 'Did you see what they did to him? I did. I
went up into the woods to try to find him. They'd strung him up
from«a tree like some sort of dog. Nobody deserves that.'

Daniels ignored her. 'So, where were you all this time? I'm
guessing you must have been in the bedroom. In one of the
cupboards?'
She sighed. 'Jack and I were upstairs when you came to the
door. When the doorbell went, Jack went to get it, and that's
when I heard all the commotion and shouting coming from
downstairs. I panicked and hid in the nearest place I could find his
clothes cupboard. I pushed myself right to the back, behind
all his suits, and kept as quiet as I could. And then I heard you
and your friends coming into the room, Jack being knocked
about and tied to the bed, and then . . . And then I heard you
torturing him.' Her voice cracked as she recounted the events.
'He was in agony. And no-one, none of you, seemed to care.'
Daniels didn't say anything, so she continued.
'When you went downstairs and the other man left the room
too, I knew this was the only chance I was going to get to help
Jack. I came out of the wardrobe and saw him lying there on the
bed with the crotch of his jeans all blackened where he'd been
burned. His face was screwed up in agony but he was still
conscious. He motioned for me to get back inside the cupboard
- he didn't want me to get caught, because he knew they'd kill
me - but I couldn't leave him like that. Not helpless. I could hear
the other man moving about in the toilet and it was obvious I
only had a few seconds. I managed to free one of his hands, and
he untied the other. We heard the toilet door opening, and Jack
pushed me away and made a run for it. I heard the scuffle on
the stairs and then him charging down them. And that was the
extent of our goodbye.' I watched as Kathy took some deep
breaths, then fixed Daniels with a hard stare. 'And I never heard
anyone shout anything about going and starting the car.'
Daniels shrugged. 'That's the way it happened.'

She shook her head. 'You took part in his killing, I know you
did.'
'Daniels rescued me earlier, Kathy,' I said. 'I think he's who
he says he is: an undercover cop.'
'You weren't there, Tom. I was. He was a part of it, undercover
cop or not.'
'Jack phoned me, when they were chasing him,' I told her. 'He
said he needed my help. The last words he said - and he said
them to the people chasing him - were the first two lines of our
address. Why?'
Daniels looked at Kathy. 'Maybe Calley gave the thing
Lench was after to you but he didn't say anything under torture
because he was trying to protect you.'
She shook her head. 'Jack never gave me anything.'
'Are you sure about that?'
She glared at him. 'I don't have to answer to you, whoever you
are. Even if you have got a gun in your hand.' She turned in my
direction. 'I think we need to call the police, Tom. Get this
sorted out.'
'I'd advise you against that, Mrs Meron.' Daniels had raised
the gun again, and I saw his finger tightening on the trigger.

'Vanessa's dead as well,' I told her desperately. 'She was
murdered over at the university this afternoon.'

Kathy's eyes widened, and she looked genuinely shocked. 'Oh
God, no.'
- 'Look, I've got to ask. Did you inow anything about it?'
She shook her head. 'Of course not. Christ, what happened?'
Her voice was high-pitched, distraught.
"The police didn't tell me, but I think she was stabbed.'
'Do you know anything about this?' she demanded, addressing
Daniels.

Now it was his turn to shake his head. 'I've no idea why she
would have been targeted. Can you think of a reason?'
'No, I can't. She's a bloody university lecturer, for Christ's
sake.' She wiped her hand across her face. 'Oh God, poor
Vanessa.'
'There's something else you should know,' I said.
She looked at me quickly. 'What?'
'The knife used to kill her had your fingerprints on it.'
'No,' she said firmly. 'No way. There must be some mistake.'
I watched her reaction carefully. It's a very disconcerting
feeling not being able to trust anything your wife says.
'And I'm still wondering why Jack phoned our house, and why
he wanted me to help him,' I added.
'I don't know anything about that either.' But when she
turned my way I could see doubt in her eyes. She was lying. I
could tell.
Daniels obviously felt the same way. 'You know something,
Mrs Meron, and it's in everyone's best interests that you tell us
what it is.'
'What? To you? To someone who was involved in the killing
of a man I cared about, who I've never met before in my life,
and who's now pointing a gun at me? No, I'm calling the police.
I'll talk to them.'
There was a phone in the far corner of the room, on a table
next to one of the chairs, and Kathy now strode over to it.
'Don't do it, Mrs Meron,' snapped Daniels, the tension in his
voice obvious. The gun was now pointed at Kathy's head.
I stepped in front of him. 'Come on, Daniels. For Christ's
sake, don't point that thing at my wife.'
He shoved me aside with a hissed 'shut the fuck up', then
addressed her again. "There are police officers involved in this,

Mrs Meron. You talk to the wrong one, you could end up dead.
Don't do it.'
'Or what? What'U you do? Shoot me?'
Daniels' features were taut and ragged. 'If I have to, yes.'
'I'm going to phone nine-nine-nine and get the police to come
here. If you are a police officer, then you have to accept that,
don't you?'
They stared at each other, Kathy's hand resting on the receiver.
Her expression was one of grim determination. So was
Daniels', but he looked to be under the most pressure, even
though he was the one with the gun. I knew he didn't want to
hurt her, but I wasn't sure that he wouldn't. His grip on the gun
was firm. The barrel didn't move.
'Don't make me do this, Mrs Meron. If you tell me where it is,
then we can sort all this out.'
Something struck me then. Something so obvious that I should
have known about it right from the first minute I'd met him.
'You know what it is, don't you?' I said to Daniels. 'You know
what Lench and his boss are looking for. And you want it for
yourself.'
But his attention was focused entirely on Kathy.
My mind was racing. Should I rush him? Try to get the gun
from his grasp? Did my wife deserve my help? I felt my legs
shaking, the tension building. The room was thick with silence,
no longer resembling the place where we'd spent so many relaxing
evenings. My next thought, lomewhat inappropriately, was
that we were going to have sell our share in the cottage. I
couldn't come here again, not after this.
'Please, Mrs Meron. Come over here, and let's talk.'
I leaped forward, grabbing Daniel's gun arm at the wrist and
shoving it away from Kathy. With my free hand I tried to get a

grip on his throat, but he danced backwards and out of reach,
sending me tumbling into the banister. Then a hand slammed
into the back of my skull, sending my head flying forwards into
the wood with a painful thud, and Daniels' arm seemed to slip
effortlessly out of my grip.
'Fuck you, Meron,' he hissed as I went down in a heap.
My head throbbed, but I ignored it, swinging round on my
behind so that I could see what was happening. From my less
than advantageous position, I saw that Daniels was staring hard
at Kathy, the gun pointing once again in her direction. The
receiver dangled limply from her hand, and her face was as pale,
I think, as I'd ever seen it.
'What the fuck did I tell you?' shouted Daniels.
'Don't shoot, for Christ's sake,' I told him.
'There's no need,' said Kathy. 'The phone's dead.'
There was a long silence then. The sound of the rain crackling
on the concrete outside the window was the only background
noise.
Finally, Daniels spoke, and his words had a grim inevitability
about them.
'They're here.'

28

Keeping low, Daniels moved to the switch on the wall by the
porch and killed the lights. 'Everyone get down,' he whispered,

creeping through the semi-darkness and squatting down below
the bay window that looked out on to the front driveway.
Slowly, he lifted his head and peered over the edge.
We obeyed his instructions. I crouched down behind the sofa,
and Kathy slid down the wall and rested on her haunches. Our
eyes met briefly in the gloom, and I could see the fear there. But
there was nothing else, no regret, and she turned away quickly.
'Can you see anything out there?' I asked Daniels, my voice a
loud whisper.
'Nothing yet, but they're there somewhere.'
'How did they find us?'
'Don't think about that now. What we need to focus on is how
the hell we get out of here. Where does it lead to out the back?'
'The garden backs on to forest,' I said, 'but there are gorse
bushes planted all round the border to keep people out. They're pretty much impenetrable.'
'So there's no back access at all?'
'You can get into the forest through the studio,' said Kathy.
'It's a separate building at the end of the garden. If you climb
out of its rear window, you're directly into the woods.'
As she spoke, Daniels scanned the area outside, his head
moving slowly. Suddenly it stopped. He was looking left in the
direction of Kathy's car.
'Have you seen something?' she asked, a tremor in her voice.
Outside, the rain tumbled down relentlessly.
'I'm not sure,' he whispered'still watching the same spot. 'I
think so.'
I needed to arm myself, to have something to hand that I could
use as a last resort. There was a set of Japanese chef's knives in
the kitchen - Midge's work colleague was an enthusiastic cook and
I decided that they would have to do. It was difficult to

imagine actually stabbing someone with one of them. It was
difficult to imagine stabbing someone full stop, but I was getting
sick of being defenceless. Staying in a crouch, I retreated into the
kitchen.
The knives - six in all, each sheathed to the hilt in a triangular
slab of wood - were on the tiled work surface, directly next to
the cooker. I reached out and slid a large kitchen knife with a
wide blade eight inches long from the slab. The blade itself was
thin but razor sharp. I'd chopped meat and vegetables with it in
the past and could testify to its effectiveness. I imagined how
easily it would go through the flesh of that sadistic bastard
Mantani, and found myself enjoying the thought. I'm not a cruel
man, and I genuinely believe I've got a strong sense of justice,
but I also harbour vengeful thoughts to those who've wronged
me, and there was no doubt that Mantani was one of that
number. Him and my old friend Jack Calley, but Jack was well
beyond my reach now.
I gripped the knife in my left hand and stood up, staring at my
faded reflection in the kitchen window. Rivulets of rain ran
down the glass, following uneven patterns. I still looked like shit,
yet Kathy hadn't once asked me about my injuries. She didn't
care. She obviously hadn't cared for a long time, but like the fool
I was, I hadn't noticed.
The face shot up like a ghost behind the glass, its identity
obscured by a black balaclava. Then a gloved hand appeared
holding a long-barrelled pistol. Before I had a chance to react
there was a loud explosion and a cracking sound behind me. The
windowpane became a huge spider'sweb crack with a hole like
an eye in the middle. The bastard was shooting at me! Fire shot
out of the barrel and a second explosion filled the room. This
time the whole window seemed to collapse, and razor-sharp

shards of glass rained down over the floor like lethal snowdrops.

That was when I finally moved. I hit the deck fast, realizing
with relief that I hadn't been hit, even though my attacker
had been only feet away from me. Then I realized why. As I
scrambled across the floor towards the doorway, ignoring the
pain as my body slid over pieces of broken glass, I heard
something being thrown into the kitchen. There was a loud
whump, and the room was filled with light and heat. Craning my
neck, I saw that a large portion of the cupboards and work
surfaces were on fire, the flames licking angrily towards the
ceiling. He didn't want me dead; he was trying to force us out
into the open.
Thick, acrid smoke billowed towards me, and I used it as
cover, jumping to my feet and running through the door back
into the sitting room. At exactly the same moment the cottage's
front window blew inwards in another lethal shower of glass, I
saw that Daniels was already on his feet and well away from the
flying shrapnel. He had the gun in his hand and was swinging it
round in a tight arc, searching for a target. Kathy was also
upright and standing rooted to the spot like a deer caught in
: headlights.
'They've got petrol bombs!' I yelled. 'The kitchen's on fire!'
A split second later, before either of them had had a chance to
.respond, the blast of a shotgun rang out and a huge hole appeared
[in the front door, just below the handle. Daniels dropped into a
i'' 9
shooting crouch and fired three shots into the door, their noise reverberating around the room with a deafening intensity.
The shotgun erupted into life again, and the hole grew bigger.
iFellets flew into the room too fast to see and Daniels yelped in
Ijpain, clutching an arm. He screamed at us to get upstairs, and I
Igrabbed Kathy's arm and pulled her towards the staircase as