Hunter Hunted by Jack Gatland (best value ebook reader .TXT) 📗

the strap. Discarding it after removing the Micro SD card, Declan rose. He could see an Armed Response Unit entering the main entrance; being close to St Pauls, there was always going to be a unit within screaming distance and, pocketing the card and pulling out his warrant card, he waved it at them.

‘Up here!’ he cried. ‘Detective Inspector in need of assistance!’

The SCO 19 officers saw him and, still holding their rifles at the ready, made their way to the upper floor. Slowly and carefully, his arms up to show that he had no weapons, Declan walked towards them.

‘I’m DI Walsh,’ he said. ‘The two men there killed my informant before—‘

The butt of the assault rifle striking his head was unexpected, and he stumbled backwards.

‘Get on the ground!’ the assaulting SCO 19 officer screamed, rifle now aimed at Declan who, checking his temple for blood but finding none, dropped to his knees, his hands in the air.

‘I said, I’m Detective Inspector Declan Walsh,’ he continued. ‘I was defending myself and my informant.’

The SCO 19 officers were already at the two attackers, the first responding leaning over them as he checked their pockets. Pulling out a wallet and riffling through it, he looked to the officer beside Declan.

‘It’s them,’ he said.

‘Them who?’ Declan had a sinking sensation in his stomach. This wasn’t going the way he expected. The officer before him stared down coldly.

‘The two men you assaulted were Special Branch officers, here to take into custody a terrorist suspect,’ he said. ‘A suspect that you apparently attacked and murdered before they arrived, according to witnesses.’

Declan glanced to the shop where, a phone in her hand, the shop assistant that he had shown his ID to was watching, terrified. Great.

‘It’s not what it looks like,’ he said. The officer smiled. A dark, cold one.

‘It never is,’ he said before kicking Declan hard in the ribs, sending him to the floor. ‘Now resist arrest, you terrorist piece of shit, so I can shoot you legally.’

Declan laid on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. He’d learned who Kendis’ source was, but he would never be able to do anything with it now.

His race was over.

15

Interview One

Declan had expected to be dragged to New Scotland Yard itself, but instead the SCO 19 officers waited with Declan by the entrance to the shopping centre. They’d handcuffed him, but they hadn’t searched him or even read him his rights. It was as if Declan was in some kind of strange limbo state.

It wasn’t long before Declan saw why he was being held. A black BMW pulled up to the kerb, followed by a police car. DCI Sutcliffe climbed out of the BMW, staring coldly at Declan.

‘Christ,’ he muttered.

‘Those bastards aren’t Special Branch,’ Declan said. ‘They shot my informant before I could speak to him.’

‘If they did, then the fingerprints will back you up,’ Sutcliffe said nodding to the SCO 19 Team Leader. ‘Thanks for keeping this under wraps.’

‘Under wraps?’ Declan exclaimed. ‘They dragged me out to the front of the shopping centre and hanged me out for everyone to take photos! No thought for my rank or even the truth of the situation!’

‘The situation is that you killed a man and almost killed two others,’ one of the SCO 19 officers muttered.

‘The situation is you’re a cretin,’ Declan snapped back. ‘Ask the witness! How did I shoot Nasir when the gun was in a Special Branch officer’s hand? Magic?’

‘We’ll take it from here,’ Sutcliffe turned to Declan. ‘Get in the car.’

‘Uncuff me.’ Declan held his arms out. ‘You either believe me or you don’t. If you do, then prove it. If you don’t, then at least give me my call to a solicitor.’

‘Your solicitor is already waiting for you,’ Sutcliffe looked back to the other car where two police officers walked to Declan.

‘You’re bloody kidding me,’ Declan hissed. ‘I knew you were corrupt the day I met you in Hurley.’

Sutcliffe leaned in close.

‘You were a prick then, and you’re a prick now,’ he hissed. ‘The only difference is that now, you’re a prick in handcuffs.’ He nodded to the police officers, and they grabbed Declan, one on either side, walking him back to their police car.

‘Am I arrested?’ Declan yelled. ‘Are you going to read me my rights? What about do your job? This is a setup!’

Now sitting in the back seat of the police car, Declan looked to the car’s roof and sighed.

‘Damn,’ he whispered. One of the two officers, now in the passenger seat looked back to him.

‘Sir, I’m sorry about this,’ he said. ‘If it means anything, we’re fans of your department, and if that man needed killing—‘

‘I didn’t kill him,’ Declan replied. ‘But I appreciate the comment.’

He leaned back, watching the crowds, all taking photos with their phones as the car drove off.

He would be Internet famous within the hour, it seemed.

To his surprise, Declan wasn’t taken to some kind of terrorist black site, and he felt a surge of relief course through him when he realised he was entering Temple Inn as he looked out of the window of the car. That said, the faces on the officers as they exited the vehicle and pulled him out of it didn’t seem that happy to be here; Declan assumed they knew something that he didn’t.

There was a small group of photographers at the sides of the entrance, shouting out questions and taking photos as Declan was marched past them. He couldn’t help but note that if someone wanted to completely discredit his testimony in the same way that they had been discrediting Kendis, this was the exact way to do it.

Entering the main office now, Declan saw that Frost and Billy were there, while Anjli was conspicuously absent. The two police officers walked him into the glass-walled interview room, where he sat on a chair, holding out his handcuffs.

‘Sutcliffe got his photo op,’ he said. ‘And I don’t need these on here, especially