Impeding Justice (31 page)

‘
I’m up for it, Ramon, and
you must be. You hate him, you know you do…’

‘
Yeah, okay, but fucking get
on with it, he’ll leave any minute…’

‘
Right, where’s he heading?’
Lorne held her breath. She had seconds to get this info, she knew
that. The helicopter had already revved up.

‘
You get us out first.
You’re not catching us with that one.’

‘
And, you’re not catching me with your tricks, either. No
information, no deal. I’d say you have minutes left to live unless
you co-operate, so, where is he headed?’ She didn’t pray often, but
now she sent up a quick request.
She couldn’t lose him now. Not now…

‘
He’s…’

‘
Shut the fuck up or I’ll
blast you, you dumb idiot. We want out of here and,
NOW!’

‘
No deal. Have a good
after-life. We have a helicopter on its way. We can follow him, but
with prior knowledge we could beat him there and take him out. Just
remember, if he takes off now, you die, but it won’t end there. If
we fail to nab him, then next, your family dies, just in case they
know anything, but, before your womenfolk die you know what the
sick bastard will do to them, right? Even your grandma’s and
kids…’

‘
Portsmouth, he’s headed for
Portsmouth, Abromovski’s boat is moored there. It has a heli-pad
for landing directly on it and a crew at the ready. He’s planning
on going to Europe, Monaco first. That’s all we know,
now…’

Lorne had a déjà vu moment as the helicopter blades drowned
out the last of Giorgio’s sentence. The machine soured into the air
bathing them in its shadow. Lorne looked around, behind her stood a
summerhouse, but she’d have to sprint twenty metres to reach it.
‘Back off! Back off! Head for cover…’ Her throat hurt with the
effort of screaming the words at the officers. Jumping up she
scrambled towards the wooden building.
Please, don’t be locked!

Her ears hurt with the noise of the throbbing
blades and the hollers of the desperate men in the maze. Bullets
chopped twigs and leaves sending them spinning into the air. Her
only chance, to reach cover whilst his intent stayed focused on
taking out his henchmen.

Her gasps for air burned her lungs. She looked over her
shoulder. The armed response officers were close behind her. One
called out and they fell on their backs firing rounds off
skyward.
No, no… Christ they
were making themselves sitting ducks to save her!

She hurled herself at the door. The helicopter swirled
round. She had seconds before it circled back towards her. Her body
met resistance. No way could she force an entrance. She looked back
towards the officers. They were up on their feet and running over
to her. Her heart banged against her ribs. Shielding her eyes she
saw the helicopter had turned again and was now swooping towards
them. She could see him. His mouth open, his body shook.
The bastard is laughing!
Hate seared her. She braced herself,
knew her time had come. She thought of Charlie. Poor Charlie. And,
the saddest of things, she’d never know how much she is loved. She
won’t know there had been no choice. She’ll see it all how it
looked. Me, an uncaring mother who put her work before her family
and Tom would fuel that fire, because that’s how he sees it. If it
ended now, he would have been right. What a time to realise
that!

Chapter Sixty.

‘
Oh, my God! Do something,
Tyler, for Christ sake do something!’

‘
I warned you, sir. I warned
this would happen. What can I do? If I bring the chopper down
they’ll all die. And, I can’t take him out because the pilot keeps
swirling round. I’ve given the order shoot to kill, but only if
there is a clear chance of doing so. That bloody machine can turn
on a half-penny.’

‘
Why isn’t he shooting? He
could kill her; kill them all, I don’t understand. What game is he
playing?’

‘
He could be playing a game,
making her suffer…’

‘
The men have reached her.
Please God, they can break that door down in time.’

‘
If anyone can, they can.
Overton’s built like a brick shit house and Wheatley’s not much
smaller.’

Chief Sean Roberts held his breath until his lungs hurt. He
couldn’t bear it. His feelings for Lorne rushed to his heart. He
couldn’t watch her die. He knew the pain would slice him in two.
Closing his eyes he waited for the sound of more shots. Nothing.
The noise of the helicopter receded. He opened his eyes. Looked
towards the summerhouse; saw a gaping hole.
Thank God, she’s safe!
At this moment he couldn’t care less what happened to The
Unicorn. His body shook with emotion he fought to control. He knew
he had to resist running forward and gathering her into his
arms.

A strange quiet settled around him. The tail
of the helicopter disappeared into the horizon. A bird started to
sing and another answered as if this was just another day. He
exhaled his sucked in breath and made a conscious effort to turn
the key on his feelings once more.

‘
Sir… Sir?’

‘
Oh, sorry, what? Is
everything okay, is sh… Are they safe?’

‘
Yes, sir, Overton just
radioed in. He’s shaken. He said the helicopter came near enough
for The Unicorn to blast them to kingdom come, but instead he stood
in the doorway laughing! Overton couldn’t hear him, but the sight
of him sent a shiver down his spine like had never happened before.
He said he felt like he’d looked upon sheer evil. I guess we’ll
never know what the reason for her or any of them being spared is,
but he says she’s okay.’

‘
Right, I’ll take the lead
now, thank you, Tyler. I need your men to sweep the area, make sure
there’s no further threat, but tell them to be mindful of
disturbing evidence. I have forensics standing by. Once you give
the all clear, they can go in. The locals are on hand to do the leg
work of the grounds, cordon off the scene and take care of the
bodies etc, so again, once you’re happy, mobilise them. I’m going
over to Lo… Inspector Simpkins. I’ll give you my next move as and
when I have it, which depends if we have the info we need or
not.’

‘
I still have the helicopter
en route. Might I suggest they land, then if you know where you’re
headed they can pick you up?’

‘
Good thinking, yes,
organise that. If it changes, I’ll radio over to you and you can
direct them to pick up the trail of that bastard and tell them to
do whatever it takes.’

‘
Right, sir.’

* * *

Lorne could have fallen into Sean’s arms when
he strode through the summerhouse door, but he had a cold shield
around him. This puzzled her, but froze the part of her that would
have given in. She sensed his barrier had more to do with his
feelings for her than his professionalism and felt grateful rather
than resentful that he’d reined them in.

‘
A close call,
sir!’

‘
Fucking hell,
Lorne…’

‘
I know. But, you agreed the
plan so it’s no use blowing a fuse at me. Anyway, I have what we
need. And, I don’t care if you sack me, I’m going after him, Chief.
I can’t give up now.’

‘
Don’t you think I know
that? Come on, the police helicopter should land any moment. Where
are we going?’

Lorne told him what she knew. ‘I suppose the
guys in the maze copped it?’

‘
It's all being swept as we
speak. Tyler will update as and when. I’ve taken the lead to get
things moving in the right direction, but he is staying on scene
even after he hands over to the locals. I’ve fixed it by saying we
don’t know if The Unicorn will head back or not, so ART will need
to be on hand, which means we have a friendly in the camp. You know
how territorial these sub-divisions can be. Not that they don’t
know this is ultimately ours and MI5’s baby, but just in
case.’

‘
Any news on Simon
Clovelly?’

‘
Yes, he’s stable. He has a
long road of recovery in front of him. I sent a message to him to
consider a job with us lot when he’s out of Uni. Ideal candidate if
you ask me.’

‘
Yeah right, I’m sure he’s
thinking about his future at this very moment. You’re incorrigible,
Chief.’

‘
Just thinking of everything
and anything other than the fright we’ve had, I suppose. Are you
all right, Lorne? God I thought I’d… I mean, like you say, that was
a close call.’

Lorne understood, more than he knew. ‘Yes,
Sean. I’m okay. Look, just give me a mo to phone my dad, will you?
I need to know how Charlie is more than anything in the world. And,
of course have an update on Jade.’

She watched him walk out and relief engulfed her. His
shield had nearly peeled away.
Thank God it hadn’t
.’

‘
Hi, Dad, where are you? I’m
desperate for news on Charlie and of course an update on
Jade.’

‘
Not to worry, love, Charlie
is awake and she understands what you have to do, in fact, she has
told Tom off a couple of times for berating the fact you aren’t
here. And, she said to me, “One day I’m going to be a policewoman,
granddad, or rather a detective, like you and mum. I want to catch
evil men and stop them doing the things I’ve had done to me. Tell
mum, I’m proud of her.’

‘
Oh, Dad…, Oh, God, I don’t
know what to say. I feel vindicated and, it’s a sign she’s going to
be all right, isn’t it? I mean, if she is thinking of the
future?’

‘
Yes, she hasn’t told us all
about what happened to her, not yet, but she does have some
horrific injuries, mostly bruising and tearing. Lorne… Well, I
think she has been ra…’

‘
I know, Dad, don’t say it,
I know…’ A pain shot through her heart. Her little girl…

‘
A bloke turned up, a friend
of yours, a French man. He had a colleague with him, a
psychiatrist. Nice woman. She had fifteen minutes or so with
Charlie, said she wanted to help, but today would just be about
feeling the water, introduce herself and see if she thought Charlie
would work with her. They hit it off well, so I think that bodes
well for the future, if you and Tom decide to go down that route, I
think you should.’

‘
Yes, of course. I just
can’t think at the moment. I’m just so relieved. Look, Dad, let me
bring you up to speed. I only have about a minute. She told him
what had transpired.

‘
Thank God, you’re okay,
love. What a day. Both my daughters fighting different battles and
my granddaughter in such a state…’

‘
How is Jade?’

‘
Oh, she’s okay, a little
sore, well, you know, but there’s a worry over the baby. They think
he has a heart condition…’

‘
No! Oh, poor little mite.
What are they saying?’

Her father told her all he knew about the
position with her sister and the baby. He pulled no punches, he
knew her better than that. Lorne detected tiredness in his voice
and guilt wrapped around her for what seemed like the tenth time
today. ‘And you. How are you holding up, Dad?’

“
Me? I’m hanging on in
there, girl.’ His tone sounded more upbeat and in turn lifted her
spirits. This, French man, whatever his name is…’

‘
Dr Arnaud, Jacques Arnaud.
He’s a pathologist.’

‘
Oh, right. He seemed very concerned. I haven’t come across
him in your circle of friends before. Far too good looking for my
liking, just how
good
a friend is he, Lorne?’

Ever the detective, ‘A good friend, Dad,
that’s all you need to know.’

A
blush crept up her neck. She felt grateful her father couldn’t see
her reaction. She coughed to clear the lump clogging her throat as
memories of being held in Jacques' arms flooded her fatigued
mind.
Get a grip
woman!

‘
Anyway, like I say, his
colleague, pretty woman, will be a big help; she warned we’ll have
to be careful when Charlie comes home, these things have a knack of
catching up with a victim when they least expect it.’

Lorne winced. Victim- will Charlie always
have that tag? She damn well hoped not. She knew Charlie would
detest any form of sympathy towards her. She’d make sure she pulled
out all the stops to prevent that from happening. After all, that
was her role in life wasn’t it? To deal with impossible tasks at
home and at work. She had a feeling that her daughter’s
recuperation would be a doddle compared to capturing the man who
had disrupted her family’s lives so much.

Chapter Sixty-One.

The helicopter had taken off. Lorne opened
her eyes, but still clutched on to her erupting stomach and
swallowed hard. She looked over at the Chief, he looked pensive.
She wondered if he was still battling with his feelings or if he
too had an aversion to heights. She couldn’t remember him
having.

‘
Is Charlie all right,
Lorne?

She brought him up to date on Charlie and
then, told him about Jade.

‘
Jesus, no wonder you look
so glum. I’m so sorry, Lorne.’ He rested a comforting hand on her
shoulder.

‘
Don’t start being nice to
me, Sean, I’m liable to break down and cry.’

‘
This day just doesn’t get
any better for you and yours though, does it?’ His eyes brimmed
with concern.