Impeding Justice (19 page)

‘
Dad!’ Lorne cringed and
daren’t look at Sean. For a moment what was left unsaid hung in the
air charging the atmosphere.

Sean broke the tension, ‘What! I have enough
trouble taming her here! Spare me, even the thought of having to do
so in my private life, she’d make minced meat of me. I actually
feel sorry for poor Tom.’

Lorne took a swing at him and the three broke into a laugh
which eased things, but didn’t touch Lorne’s heart, instead she
thought,
Until Charlie is safe
in my arms, I can’t give any part of me to humour, or me as a
person and the state my life is in.

Chapter Thirty-Nine.

‘
Chief, the Desk Sergeant
wants you to let him know if we are charging any of that lot we
hauled in or not. If not he’s wanting permission to release them as
he is being besieged by solicitors demanding one thing or the
other.’

‘
Shit! Bloody solicitors,
right, well, I’d like to say we are charging them, but we only have
the hearsay evidence of our footballer, nothing concrete. Tell him
he can release the shitty lot of them. Fuck!’

‘
My sentiments exactly,
Chief.’ Lorne said.

‘
A waste of bloody time,
Inspector, I could spit…’

‘
No point in dwelling on it.
Look, I’ll call in to Warner as we go, just to touch base with him,
see if they have anything.’

Lorne grabbed her coat with one hand and
dialled with the other.

‘
Hi, Tony, Lorne here,
anything new to tell me?’ She asked her mobile flying from one hand
to the other as she wrestled into her black woollen
coat.

‘
We’re getting close to
identifying just exactly who the Unicorn is. We’ve whittled it down
to four possibilities, just doing some final checks with Interpol
before I divulge them. What about you?’

Lorne summarised what had been going on at
the station.

‘
You’re kidding?’ Have you
any chance of getting a conviction out of your thinking The Unicorn
and Abromovski are involved in Crane’s murder? That’s if we ever
nail the bastards for anything!’

‘
Depends if Reynolds
squeals, which he might when he realises he is taking the whole rap
for it. But, at the moment, though it pains us to do so, we have to
release all of the suspects including Abromovski. We’ve no hard
evidence, well not enough. I mean, even the tapes from the
surveillance could be slaughtered by a good lawyer and, unless we
can get some of the girls to testify, Phillip Solly’s evidence
won’t stand up for much. God! Something has got to give soon,
surely. I can’t wait for the pleasure of wiping the smug smile off
Abromovski’s arrogant, ugly face.’

‘
I’ll get my source at MI5
to keep an eye on him. I overheard a conversation between some
agents, who are due to be on duty around the area of the demo,
might see if there’s room for me in one of the vans. They’re
setting up a few, what with it being such a high profile event and
given the current intelligence.’

‘
Our paths are liable to
cross again soon, then. Keep me informed, Tony.’

‘
Goes without saying,
Lorne.’

She flipped her phone shut and was about to
tuck it into her pocket when it tinkled announcing the arrival of a
text.

Your daughter fits me like a glove!

Her strength crumbled, leaving her legs
unable to hold her. DS Fox caught hold of her as she stumbled
towards his desk.

‘
Inspector! Are you
okay?’

‘
Oh, My God!
Sweetheart…’

‘
Oh, Dad…’ She handed her
phone to her father, saw the colour drain from his face and his
body sag. Then, handing the phone to the Chief her dad did as she
would expect of him, he pulled himself to full height and offered
her comfort.

‘
He’s winding you up, sweetheart, take no notice. He’s
worried. He knows you’re closing in on him so he’s using every
tactic in the "scumbag’s handbook" to try to unnerve you. You must
remain focused,
do
not
let him win, Lorne. Charlie needs you.’

His arm on her shoulders and seeing the
massive effort he’d made, she took what she could from his strength
and gulped down large amounts of air to regain her self-control and
resilience.

Pulling her coat around her cold body she
strode towards the door leading to the car park. The Chief shouted
after her, 'Lorne, are you sure you’re up to this?'

‘
Yes, I’m up to it all
right, sir. I’m more than up to it. This time I’m going to get the
BASTARD.’ Her hand found the gun strapped in her belt. The feel of
it empowered her. She’d let nothing get in her way of finishing The
Unicorn. His days, as far as she was concerned, were
numbered.

Chapter Forty.

‘
What’s going
on…?’

To The Unicorn’s amusement, Abromovski’s head
swivelled and bobbed like a balloon on a stick as he stepped out of
his car. He looked from him, standing on the doorsteps of his home
and back to his bodyguards, who now stood, arms folded, leaning
against the car, grinning sickly grins as only traitors can.

‘
A welcome home party, my
friend. Would you expect anything less?’ The Unicorn
said.

He walked forward and put an arm around
Abromovski’s shoulder and guided him through the hallway to the
kitchen of his deceptively big house - come business premises. Made
up of several large Victorian, three storied houses knocked into
one, it provided ample accommodation for the activities that go on
there, besides a luxury apartment on the top floor for Sergei’s own
use.

‘
The cleaners let me in. I’m
intrigued to know how your interview with the police went.’ He
steered the trembling Russian towards the door leading to the
soundproofed, secure basement. A part of the house only the guards,
accountants and business associates have access to. No household
staff members are ever allowed down there and have no idea what
went on beneath their very feet.

The Unicorn pressed the code in and stood
back as one of Sergei’s ex-loyal guards swung the door open.

‘
I think it prudent to
conduct our meeting out of earshot of the staff, don’t you
agree?’

Sergei didn’t protest, but his agitation and
appealing looks to his guards gave The Unicorn intense pleasure as
he saw it dawn on Abromovski once and for all that he no longer had
their protection. The promise of a good pay-out, coupled with the
fact that none of them had any respect for the Russian, meant they
had snatched at the chance to switch sides as soon as it was
offered. It had been them who had prepared things whilst they
awaited the call from the police station to go and collect their
boss.

Once down the stairs, the guards took hold of
Abromovski and steered him in the opposite direction of the offices
and vaults and led him towards the dormitory where the girls were
being held. They passed a grubby looking kitchen and then turned
along a passage way to the left.

Now fully aware of where he was headed,
Abromovski began to struggle and protest, ‘I haven’t given anything
away…none of us have… I promise…nothing needs to change. You should
put your attention to getting Reynolds killed. The idiot thought he
could fool them by remaining after he’d seen to Crane, but they
arrested him for her murder. He’s the one to fear…He’ll squeal the
moment he realises we have all been released. He’s bound to…’

‘
Shut up, that is being
taken care of.’ The Unicorn kicked open the door of one of Sergei’s
own pleasure rooms and the guards shoved him inside.

They were where no one could disturb them or
hear them, a place specially built for the purpose they had in
mind.

‘
No…There is no need for
this…They know nothing…’ His eyes protruded as his fear
grew.

The Unicorn watched the sheer terror register
on Sergei’s face as he looked over to where his own implements of
torture lay. Handcuffs, nipple clips, whips and knives, which he
had used unmercifully on the girls before raping them, and saw
other, more sinister items had been added to them. His legs buckled
beneath him. The guards held him up and led him to a chair.

The Unicorn swiped his hand from left to
right, the back of it connected painfully with Sergei’s dumbstruck
face.

‘
Now, we will get down to
it. Tell me, how did the cops know about the party?’

Sergei tilted his chair, trying to back away,
but two pairs of hands gripped his shoulders forcing the chairs
front legs back onto the floor. The Russian gulped loudly, his
saliva dripped from the side of his mouth. ‘No. Look, I don’t know
anything.’ He pleaded, his voice rising as high as a choirboy
hitting a top note.

‘
So, you don’t know
anything, eh?’ Without warning, The Unicorn shot out his right hand
and grabbed the Russian’s balls, twisting them 180
degrees.

Sergei let out an agonising holler, doubled
over and vomited. Tears of pain seeped from his bloodshot eyes as
he gasped for breath.

‘
Ugh…Get something to clean
that up with.’

Sergei’s turncoat guard left the room and
came back with mop and bucket. Gary turned the chair the other way
and over to the right so the Unicorn could avoid the pool of sick
and Sergei faced the laptop, which until now he’d only glanced at
and hadn’t asked its purpose.

Still holding his crotch and wincing with
pain Sergei managed to grit his teeth and beg, ‘Please, I don’t
know. Everyone was sworn to secrecy. Maybe if you hadn’t borrowed
my car and led them to me, none of this would have happened.’

‘
Don’t fucking blame me! You
were the one who approached me. You got me into this stupid venture
of yours. But, now you are going to make it up to me.’

The Unicorn tapped the mouse pad on the
computer and the screen lit up. ‘Right, what do we have here? Oh
look, Sergei, it’s your Cayman Island account.’

‘
What…How…?’

‘
Ah, I have the means and
the know how to get hold of anything I want. Now, you are going to
fulfil my ultimate desire, to be rich beyond dreams. You are going
to transfer all the money sitting in your account into mine using
an immediate transaction.’ He couldn’t stop the triumphant smile
creasing his face as he nodded to Gary, who punched a number into a
mobile he held and handed it towards Sergei.

‘
I’ve even got the number of
your bank to hand, isn’t that kind of me? All you have to do is
press the little picture of a telephone.’

‘
And if I
refuse?’

‘
You won’t, or at least not
for long. What do you think these are for?’ He spread his hands
towards the weapons of torture. ‘Not for your pleasure, I can
assure you.’ The room resounded with the same laughter he’d likened
to a mad man’s. Where it came from he did not know, but enjoyed
possessing it and it emerging from him at times like this. It
struck terror into those around him.

His laughter stopped and he looked at Sergei,
saw his Adam’s apple jump to the top of his neck and bounce back
down again as he swallowed.

Sergei took the phone, ‘And, if I do this…
you’ll let me go?’

The Unicorn nodded, ‘You have my word on
that.’

The relief was written all over Sergei’s
face. He pressed the button to connect to his bank, and then, after
answering several security questions, gaped at the screen as two
billion dollars flowed from his account.

Once the transaction was complete, the
Unicorn took the mobile, tapped in some more numbers and handed it
back. ‘Right, now the Swiss bank…’

‘
No… Why? Haven’t you got
enough? Leave me something…’

The Unicorn smirked at him, typed the
keyboard of the computer bringing up another account bulging with
numbers.

‘
I’m sure you do have more,
but the billion in here will suffice for me, added to what I have
already, so shall we just do it!’

Again, Sergio went through the motions. Once
done he went to rise, but the two heavies standing behind him
forced him back down.

‘
But…I have done all you
asked of me…’

The Unicorn shut down the computer. Then he
moved towards the other end of the table. His hands counted out the
objects, his voice in a sing-song rhythm said, ‘Tinker, tailor,
soldier, sailor, rich man…Ha, poor man, beggar man…Thief! This’ll
do for starters.’

The Unicorn's pleasure now grew to exquisite
heights as the Russian’s screams echoed around the room. The metal
hook sunk satisfyingly into his soft flesh and tore chunks of it
out leaving a gaping hole. Stinking intestines flopped, like a
bundle of snakes and hung from his knees, blood spurted, thick and
bright, painting everything red. The Unicorn plunged the hook back
in and dragged out the remaining life giving organs. Letting them
drop to the floor. His terrible laugh verging on hysteria, he
squashed what looked like a liver under his foot. The squelch
brought a silence to the room.

A heavy disappointment hung like dumbbells
inside The Unicorn. The death had been too quick, he’d lost
control. He looked at the men. Shock registered on their faces.
Sergei’s man, he thought, looked that way because he’d never seen
anything like it, but Gary, he knew, had witnessed for the first
time, his boss acting without cool detachment and thought.

Seeking to gain the upper hand once more and
some kind of credence he snarled at them. ‘If any of you even
consider double crossing me you’ll end up like that. Do you hear
me?’ He spoke to them both, but intentionally directed his real
meaning towards Gary, the man he’d entrusted to be his right-hand
man, but in whom his faith had been shaken of late.