Out of Promises (33 page)
Authors: Simon Leigh
Lucy, Chloe, Matherson, and now Bill were silent in the ragged soundproof basement. Bill cleaned his busted nose, wiping what he could on his sleeve while pacing back and forth. Everybody else was staring into space. Lucy’s face had stopped bleeding but now held the evidence of a torturous few hours as she cradled a tired Chloe on her knee. Matherson looked relaxed, like he’d accepted his fate.
Bill broke the silence, kneeling beside Lucy. ‘I thought you were going to your parents.’
‘We were taken as we got there,’ she started, wiping her eye. ‘There were men inside the house, they’d just...they’d just shot my parents and before we knew what was going on we were attacked and brought here.’
‘I’ll get you out of this, both of you.’
‘I know you helped me and I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. They made me tell them what you did for me.’
Matherson watched them.
Bill looked at her face; she hadn’t given in easily. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
‘I don’t understand what they want with us. We didn’t do anything.’
Bill didn’t know the answer to that.
She looked at him. ‘They didn’t tell me how you’re involved in all this.’
‘It’s complicated.’
‘You dumb bitch,’ Matherson said. ‘He works for Preston.’
Lucy looked at him, and then looked at Bill. ‘What?’
‘It’s a long story,’ Bill replied. ‘He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’
‘I know what I’m talking about. It makes sense now. You’re the pig cop Sharpe told me about, only, you work for Preston.’
Bill didn’t say anything.
‘Tell me!’ Lucy demanded.
‘I can’t.’
‘You son of a bitch.’ She wiped her last tear away and shouted: ‘That bastard Preston killed my son! I deserve to know.’
‘Lucy, I can’t.’
‘You can’t or you won’t?’
‘I won’t.’
‘Damn you,’ she said.
The silence in the basement was there to be heard, like a quiet erupting volcano.
‘So what happens next?’ she asked.
‘What?’
‘What happens next? You’re the inside man. You’ve got the experience.’
Matherson interrupted, ‘We’ll all probably be killed. You, Bill, Chloe, and Valerie. All of us killed. You’ll be raped, then Valerie will and maybe Chloe. Where is Valerie anyway?’
‘She’s safe,’ Bill answered.
‘No she isn’t. I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing her in here with us in no time.’
‘Shut up old man,’ said Bill.
Chloe began to cry.
‘Hey, I’m a realist. Look where we are. We’re trapped in a soundproof box with a crazy Russian guarding us and an insane mother fucker with his hand on the trigger. My advice is to just take it and give up.’
Bill had heard enough. He walked over and sent a right hook into Matherson’s face. ‘I said shut up.’
Shaking his head, a defiant Matherson said, ‘You know I’m right.’
The door opened and Lenka walked in. ‘What is going on in here?’
‘Lenka, let us go, please,’ Bill pleaded.
‘I think not.’
‘You were one of my best,’ said Matherson.
‘Now I’m Preston’s best. He always took care of me. You are just an old man now, Mr Matherson.’
‘I thought you’d died.’
‘See how stupid you are. Now shut up, all of you. I don’t want to come in here again.’
Bill said, ‘Please let us go. The child and Lucy had nothing to do with this.’
‘You, my friend, will never see the light of day again.’
It was happening tonight at 22:30 in a ground floor conference room at The Truman Building under the guise of a company party. Baker and McGowan were standing at the front of the squad room with the attention of twenty officers trained on them, going over the plan of attack for tonight. These were twenty of the most carefully selected men from the precinct, men who joined the force after the reshuffle with no link whatsoever to the past troubles of the city. Behind Baker and McGowan, a white board showed a blueprint of The Truman Building. Flipping it over displayed all the information they had on Matherson and his organization, set out like a family tree with Matherson at the top, then Jackson below, then Bill and Valerie and other links shooting off from either side of those two – Freddie, Ada, and Sharpe.
‘We have a matter of hours left to get this right. We need men to evacuate part of the building without causing a riot. Matherson won’t be there, but his closest men will. We’ve been after this asshole for too long now, we don’t want to mess this up. Visibility outside will be poor and there will be hundreds of civilians in the Christmas spirit. We all know of the city’s reputation for nightlife so it’ll be too risky to have snipers covering the exits. Instead, we’ll have plain clothed ground teams.’
The door opened and a desk officer entered. ‘Sir, you may want to hear this.’
‘Excuse us,’ said Baker.
They left the room, gathering in the hallway where the chaos of the day was coming to an end and the riotous nature of the night was forming.
McGowan asked the officer, ‘What is it?’
‘Sir, we’ve had reports of shots fired over in Bakersfield.’
‘So what?’ said Baker. ‘Shots are fired every day in the city. Get someone over there, we’re busy with this.’
‘The house that the shots came from belongs to a Sheila and Jacob Decker.’
‘Decker? Where do I know this name from?’
‘Lucy Decker’s parents.’
‘I’ll go,’ McGowan offered.
‘No, send some uniforms. We need you here.’
‘You need me there. You’ve got it covered here. I’m going.’
Baker sighed. ‘Fine. Keep me updated.’
At 17:30 the sky was completely dark. Streetlights shone like beacons in the night breaking up the snow that encased everything it touched, a white untarnished curtain still to feel the ravages of the day’s harsh weather. The faint lashing of each flake hitting the windows was unheard and unseen from the windowless basement beneath Preston’s home where everybody was congregated.
Matherson was still in the chair with Preston opposite, watching each other. Everyone else was lined up on the floor with their backs against the wall under Lenka’s guard, watching the events unfold before them. Lucy was afraid, and it showed as she cradled a frightened Chloe on her lap.
Cyrus placed one bullet in the cylinder of his Colt Python .357, spun it, and slammed it on the table.
‘Do you know what this is for?’ Preston asked Matherson.
On the surface, Matherson had a calm and relaxed composure that he desperately tried to keep visible, his heart accelerating and his hair stuck to his head as it would under a summer sun. ‘Oh give it a rest,’ he said. ‘What are you doing now?’
‘Are you familiar with Russian Roulette?’
He didn’t answer.
‘Untie him.’
Lenka moved around to Matherson, took a flick knife from her pocket and cut through the restraints.
Matherson nursed his wrists, soothing the aching pain. He said, ‘You won’t achieve what you want in this city without my help.’
‘You can help me by getting out of my way. Things will happen tonight that will make me a lot of money and I don’t need you interfering.’
‘Like what? Last I checked you didn’t have a leg to stand on.’
Preston smiled. ‘That’s clever. But I do have legs. Soon enough you won’t have a head.’
‘Well, you do have legs,’ Matherson said, leaning in. ‘But you can’t use them. Is your dick limp too? Is that why you’re trying to compensate by taking over the city?’
Bill stood up. ‘God damn it. Will you shut the fuck up?’
Chloe started crying again.
Lenka grabbed him, slamming him against the wall. ‘Don’t leave this wall until told to, OK?’ She looked down at Lucy and said, ‘Shut your child up before I do.’
Lucy nodded and tried to hush Chloe to be quiet.
Preston pushed the revolver across the table to Matherson. ‘Come on. It’s fun.’
‘Will you be playing?’
Preston sniggered. ‘No, I don’t play games.’
‘Because you’re a pussy. Always were and always will be.’
Cyrus clenched his fists, ready to hit him. The tension boiled. If any one of them died nobody would know, not a passer-by on the street or a salesman at the door. They feared for their lives and Cyrus’s unpredictable nature made matters unbearable.
Preston said, ‘Play the game.’
‘And if I refuse?’
‘Play the game,’ he said again.
‘That’s right. You’ve got nothing on me.’
‘If you refuse we’ll make your death as painful as it can possibly be. You’re not as strong as you once were, right? With age comes weakness.’
Bill interrupted, ‘Why don’t you just let Lucy and Chloe go? They didn’t do anything.’
‘They were to be used as a bargaining chip, but that won’t happen now we have everything we want. They’ve seen my face and my house. They know who and what you are. Valerie too. Lucy opened her mouth once to rat you out and she’ll do it again in a far better environment.’
‘Valerie is long gone.’
‘She’ll be here as a playmate for Cyrus before the day is out.’
Cyrus smiled.
Bill stood up again. Lenka moved and pushed him down, harder this time. ‘One more time, Bill.’
‘Come on, you’re not a child murderer like that old bastard in front of you.’
‘You have no idea my friend now shut your mouth and stay down.’
Cyrus lit up a cigarette and smoked it in silence. Nobody said a word. Preston tapped his hands on the table. Tap, tap, tap. The sound was loud. Matherson looked at the revolver in front of him, debating whether or not to do it.
Preston looked at his watch and said, ‘Come on, play the game, time is short.’
‘For what?’
‘Oh, nothing really. Just a shipment coming in tonight.’ He pointed at the gun on the table. ‘Now play the game.’
Matherson picked it up and held it in his hands, mulling it over for a few seconds. He figured he had a one in six chance that he would die on the first shot. ‘That was my shipment,’ he said, raising the gun to Preston and pulling the trigger.
Rodriguez’s man was driving. Valerie was in the passenger seat, nervously anticipating what await her at their destination. A piece of her feared she was heading into the same trap Bill had sprung on her, but she couldn’t wait back at the house with the remains of their attackers painting the walls, so she just sat it out and let whatever happens, happen.
Snow filled the window making visibility almost impossible as the wipers fought to relieve the windshield before it was smothered with even more. Taking corners turned out to be a long, slow chore with the wheels sliding, difficult to regain control even at these slow speeds. It was cold inside the car and their adrenaline had faded, placing them in a melancholy mood.
Valerie broke the silence. ‘So what’s your name?’
‘James.’
‘Well, James, thanks for helping me back there.’
‘Don’t mention it.’
‘You almost killed me though.’
‘What?’
‘At the house. You shot at me.’
‘I told you, I thought you were one of Preston’s. He has a woman working for him called Lenka and in the dark I couldn’t make you out clearly. I’m sorry.’
‘Lenka? The same Lenka that worked for Matherson?’
‘Correct.’
Another ghost from Valerie’s past creeping up on her. She felt like she was at a family reunion. A family that hated each other, but a reunion nonetheless.
James continued, ‘Lenka and Bill have been seen working with each other. He’s a piece of work.’
She sighed and said, ‘Bill is working for Preston because Preston has his sister under surveillance and will kill her if he doesn’t do as he’s told.’
‘What?’
‘I thought you should know the real reason he’s working for Preston.’
He glanced over to her. ‘Are you on his side?’
‘No. Well, yes. Kind of. I understand why he did what he did but I hate him for it. He’s caused me no end of pain these last two days.’
‘Whatever reason he has, he’s still a threat.’
‘I’m not arguing that.’
They entered an area named Chapel Street Industrial and neared the warehouse passing other businesses, still open with workers moving pallets and using forklifts with great difficulty, oblivious to their presence.
‘Rodriguez will help you,’ said James. ‘His goal is to wipe out Preston and Matherson from this city and give it back to the people.’
‘How long have you worked with him?’
‘For about seven years. So far we’ve just been putting spanners in the works. Now he’s decided on a complete removal.’
‘So all the problems Matherson had were because of you guys?’
‘Some of them were. We got our hands on a weapons container from him. If you ever need a weapon, find that container. We have it sitting idle at the docks. It’s on the south side, container number SBD six eight one nine four five. We use it all the time when we’re low and for extra storage.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Like I said, we want to help you. We’re here.’
He came to a halt outside a large warehouse. The building was a free standing grey structure with a door at the front and beside it, a shutter used for loading and unloading. There was also a window at the top with blinds that she assumed belonged to some sort of office. To the front were piles of snow that someone had tried to move from the parking area before more snow landed making the job meaningless. The place was quiet.
They got out of the car.
Valerie’s feet turned to ice as her shoes sank in a foot of snow, freezing every pore it could find. James walked around the car and guided her towards the building. Visibility was low. A light shone from the warehouse as a door opened and someone walked out. She couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.
Cook walked out towards her. He nodded to James, who left them and walked inside.
‘How are you here?’ she asked him.
‘Good to see you too. I have a lot to explain, come inside. Rodriguez is waiting.’
She followed him towards the building when from nowhere, the warehouse exploded. The first thing she heard before the ringing started was a loud, fiery
boom
as the shutter was flung from its mechanical fixing, shattering into large fragments of melting plastic and metal followed by the wall. The wave of energy pushed Cook forward into her and they hit the ground together. Glass and debris rained down around them. She couldn’t breathe and the heat roared violently. Flames fanned out from the newly formed hole like an uncontrollable force, desperate to escape. Panting and trying desperately to refill her lungs, she looked up into the evening sky as the heat encased her,
A shadow emerged from a top floor window.
‘Help,’ shouted the man, who started climbing out when another explosion came from within, launching him to the road.
More flames blazed and the whole building creaked, ready to drop. Parts of it fell off and, with a loud crash, the roof caved in. Snow turned to steam and did nothing to quench the overwhelming might of the fire.
She felt the melting snow trickle around her, soaking into her clothes and hair. She had to move before the entire place came roaring down on top of her. Dizzy. Disorientated. Nauseated. She tried to push Cook off of her. She screamed, barely hearing herself through ringing ears.
‘Cook!’ she yelled.
He didn’t move.
With her arms around him, she tried to free herself. Warm liquid mixed with the cold snowy droplets touched her skin: blood. Summing up all the energy she could, she pushed with all her might, managing to slide him off. He was unconscious and bleeding badly and his back was covered in shrapnel. She had to pull him to safety. In her panicky state, she climbed to her feet, grabbed his arms, and dragged him to the road, slipping with each step taken until she was clear.
A crowd gathered across the street and watched. Some ran to help her.
Then the building gave up and fell. The crowd screamed as the supports caved and the top floor fell through, crumbling the weakened frame until no more than a pile of smouldering rubble.
Weak and unable to move anymore, all her energy was gone. The ground below her seemed more and more like the best option; her only option. She fell with a thud, blankly looking up at nothing through her glazed eyes. Snow fell on her. but she didn’t care. She felt like closing her eyes and never opening them again. It was like her life was leaving her and nothing could stop it.
Images flashed before her: a childhood with happy parents; her life on the streets; meeting Freddie; extorting an innocent business man for his protection. All of it negative apart from Freddie, and she realized her life meant nothing. She saw Bill, his calm demeanour overshadowed by an underhanded secret to gain information from her.
Tires screeched to a halt on the wet road. The onlookers screamed and ran as men with rifles jumped out and she felt herself being picked up and thrown into the back of a vehicle.