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

‘It wasn’t the same without you. Where did you hide out?’

Monroe looked pained to answer, so Doctor Marcos replied.

‘Globe Town Boxing Club.’

‘The Twins?’ Declan half rose to his feet. ‘Are you insane?’

‘No, but I was desperate and critical!’ Monroe snapped back. ‘I had limited options!’

Declan sat back down. ‘Did he at least look after you?’ he asked.

‘Well, he almost killed two men who wanted to kill me,’ Monroe smiled. ‘Does that count?’

There was a moment of silence as Declan and the others around the table took this revelation in.

‘Anyway, Rosanna said you heard Frost on a tape?’

Glad for the change of subject, Declan nodded.

’Trix had it,’ he smiled. ‘She came through for a change.’

‘Always knew that girl was an asset,’ Monroe lied with a smile.

‘So how do we do this?’ Bullman asked. Monroe looked to her.

‘You need to get out of here,’ he said. ‘You’re not part of this. You shouldn’t be punished for it.’

’To hell with that,’ Bullman replied with a small smile. ‘They still haven’t decided what to do with me about DI White. They’ll probably use you as a character witness, so I need you on my side.’

‘The moment you came to help Declan, you gained me as an ally,’ Monroe looked back to Declan. ‘How did you get out of the offices?’

‘Trix, again,’ Declan replied. ‘She had a backup exit in case she needed to run, but never used it.’

‘I have a feeling that we under-used that girl,’ Monroe mused. ‘And Dec, I’m sorry to hear about Kendis. I might not have been a fan, but you were, and that was enough—‘

He stopped as the door to the downstairs bar burst open and armed police swarmed in through it, assault rifles aimed at the lone table.

‘Hands on the table!’ The lead armed officer shouted. ‘Hands on the table!’

Declan slowly placed his hands on the table and watched the door as DI Frost and Billy entered, Billy looking away in what seemed like shame as he did so.

‘Judas,’ hissed Anjli.

‘Always,’ Billy replied, looking straight at her. ‘But I’m the one working on the side of justice, it seems.’

Frost walked up to Declan, pulling him up by the arm, cuffing his hands behind his back as the armed officers gathered up the others around the table.

‘This time there’s no clever escape, my little terrorist friend,’ Frost snarled. ‘This time your life is bloody well ended.’

31

Killed While Escaping

They’d been out of the main entrance and bundled into a police van that was parked up outside the pub and, with Frost and Billy in the black Lexus that followed, they left Fitzrovia, heading eastwards as they did so. In the back of the van a single armed officer sat with them, his helmet and goggles still on as he kept his distance, as if scared that even being next to these potential terrorists would somehow stain his own reputation.

‘Are you still sure that this was a good idea?’ Bullman asked. Declan chuckled.

‘I never said it was a good idea,’ he replied.

‘So what do you think?’ Monroe asked. ‘Police station or murder site?’

‘Murder site,’ Anjli replied. ‘Definitely.’

‘I say police station,’ Doctor Marcos stated optimistically.

‘I’ll take that bet,’ Anjli smiled. ‘Tenner do it?’

‘And how do I pay you if you win?’ Doctor Marcos asked. ‘Let’s face it, if it is a murder site, we won’t be coming out of it to square up.’

‘Don’t blame me,’ Anjli snapped. ‘It was the Guv’s idea.’

They sat in silence, each now in their own thoughts for the rest of the journey which seemed to be about another thirty minutes. And then, with a sharp turn to the left that threw them off their seats and a bump of the wheels that sent them tumbling about on the metal benches, the truck came to a stop. The armed police officer banged on the back door, and after a moment the doors opened, the two other armed officers who’d entered with Frost and who’d driven the van now standing there, their carbines at the ready. Behind them, emerging from their own car, were Billy and Frost, the former of the two looking confused why they had stopped here.

‘Get them out,’ Frost said as the armed police manhandled Declan, Anjli, Bullman, Doctor Marcos and Monroe out, lining them up.

They were in an abandoned warehouse, the broken windows and open doors looking out to what looked like the Thames. It looked like an industrial estate, the other buildings around it quiet, and Declan assumed this was more of an abandoned one than a bustling, busy one. The only places he could think that looked like this were on the south bank, maybe between Lambeth and Rotherhithe, but they could have been anywhere. There were mounds of bricks by the pillars, and piles of plasterboard lay unloved in corners. This looked like a place that someone had comprehensive plans for a long time ago, but had never followed through.

Perfect for executions.

‘You owe me a tenner,’ Anjli muttered to Doctor Marcos.

‘I’ll pay you later,’ Doctor Marcos replied with a wry smile.

‘Forgive me for asking, but this doesn’t look like Scotland Yard,’ Monroe said. Frost laughed at this and then, without warning, punched Monroe hard in the gut, almost doubling him over. There was a unified shout of outrage at this as the others moved to stop this, but the weapons raised by the armed police stopped them.

‘You like my personal police force?’ Frost asked. ‘They’re Rattlestone through and through. Given to me by my fairy godfather.’

‘I thought your fairy godfather just got skewered by a secretary?’ Bullman muttered.

‘That was my old one. I have a new one now,’ Frost replied. ‘And these guys do whatever I tell them.’

‘And what are you telling them?’ Anjli asked. Frost grinned.

‘That terrorists tried to break you out of custody, and you were all killed in the resulting firefight.’

Anjli looked to Billy, who turned away.

‘Don’t think that he’s helping you,’ Frost interjected. ‘He’s learned who’s really the power here. He’ll go far.’

‘So what,