Souls At Zero (A Dark Psychological Thriller) (37 page)

If you had have helped Declan that night instead of leaving him, none of this would have happened. Gemma would still be alive.

Edger gripped the steering wheel tight as he drove onto the motorway and headed for Belfast. In his jacket pocket was Kaitlin's phone. He took it out and dialled Donna Lennon's number. "It's Harry," he said when she answered.

"Harry," Donna said, sounding glad it was him. "Where are you? Have you seen John? I've been trying to call him all morning. The office is closed."

"I know. Something's happened, Donna. Are you at home?"

"Yes, I'm at home. What's going on, Harry?"

"I should be with you in a couple of hours. I'll explain everything then. I have Kaitlin with me."

"Kaitlin? Where's Gemma?"

Edger didn't answer.

"Harry?"

"I'll explain everything when I see you, Donna," he said, then hung up the phone.

He glanced in the rear-view mirror at Kaitlin. She lay on her side, blankly staring at the seat in front of her. "Kaitlin? You alright, sweetheart?"

What a stupid fucking question. Of course she's not alright. Her mother is dead and a man she thought was her father's friend tried to rape and kill her, and all this after her uncle kidnaps her, cuts her finger off, then gets his head blown off right in front of her. And don't forget the three assassins who tried to shoot her afterwards.

Sighing, Edger stared straight ahead, barely noticing the other cars on the road. In his mind, all he could see was Gemma's lifeless body lying on the floor, that beautiful brain of hers spilling out of her broken skull.

She didn't deserve to die. Not Gemma.

Did anyone deserve to die? Did his friends and comrades deserve to die in Iraq while he went on living?

So much death.

Get used to it. There's going to be a lot more before this is over.

He glanced in the mirror at his daughter again. Apart from her grandparents, Edger was all she had left. She was all
he
had left. Would Kaitlin want anything to do with him after all this was over, assuming he survived of course? He didn't know. In the last couple of days, Kaitlin had experienced more pain and suffering than most people experience in a lifetime. His insides twisted up when he concluded most of that pain and suffering was down to him. He should have stayed in Iraq. An insurgent's bullet or an IED would have gotten him eventually, and then Kaitlin would never have known him. Gemma would still be alive.

What now, soldier? You going to look after your daughter from now on? Be a single parent?

He couldn't think about that now. When the threat was over, then he would think about that.

If he was still alive that is.

It was just after 1:00 p.m. when Edger pulled the car up outside Donna Lennon's house in Lisburn. Edger got out and opened the back door of the car. Kaitlin still there on the back seat, her eyes wet, staring at nothing. "Kaitlin?" he said gently. "You need to get out of the car now, love."

Kaitlin didn't move. Didn't acknowledge him in any way.

Edger reached in and took hold of her, expecting her to scream and shout like she did earlier, but his daughter put up no resistance as he slid her across the back seat and into his arms. He carried her like she was dead up the path to Donna's front door, where Donna already stood with a disturbed look on her face. "Oh my God," she said. "What happened to her?"

Edger just shook his head as he stepped inside the house. "Have you got a bed I can lie her down on?"

Donna directed him upstairs to one of the bedrooms, and he lay Kaitlin down on top of the double bed. When he lay her down, she turned on her side away from him and drew her knees up to her chest. Donna took a thick blanket out of a chest of drawers and draped it over the twelve year old. Edger sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, feeling as helpless as he had ever been, then he got up and motioned for Donna to leave the room with him. He pulled the door over behind them but didn't shut it, then they both went downstairs to the living room. He sat on the sofa and started rolling himself a cigarette.

Donna took her own cigarettes off the coffee table and remained standing while she lit it. "What the hell has happened, Harry?" she asked, biting her lower lip as she stared at him.

Edger blew a plume of smoke out into the room. "Gemma's dead," he said, staring straight ahead towards the window. "Rankin killed her."

Shaking her head, Donna screwed her face up as she tried to work out a reaction to what he just said. He could see she didn't want to believe him but the truth was written all over his face, a truth she couldn't deny and she knew it. She put a hand to her forehead and sat down heavily on one of the armchairs. "John killed Gemma?" she said finally. "I…I just can't get my head…around that."

"He shot her in the face." Edger swallowed hard. "Then he tried to rape and kill Kaitlin."

Donna was breathing heavily, looking like she was going to be sick. All the colour had drained from her face.

"He isn't who we thought he was, Donna. The man's a monster. A sick cunt."

"I just can't get my head around what you're telling me. This is John we're talking about here." Her hand shook as she took a drag of her cigarette.

Edger took a final drag of his own cigarette and stubbed it out in the skull shaped ashtray on the coffee table. "He hid it well, I'll give him that. I never seen it. I should have seen it though. Maybe Gemma would still be alive if I did."

"Hey." Donna went and sat beside him, put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't go blaming yourself, Harry."

Edger shook his head. "You have anything to drink? I need a drink."

Donna fetched them two glasses of vodka and sat back down again. Edger drank half the contents of his glass, the vodka burning its way down to his empty stomach.

"Where is he now?" Donna asked. "Did you kill him, Harry?"

"No," he said. "But I fucking should have. The cops are sorting him out."

"You phoned them?"

"Not exactly. The cop who was investigating me—Paul Black—he was with me when I walked in on Rankin. We we're too late to save Gemma. Just about saved Kaitlin. He had her stripped naked, Donna, in one of the bedrooms. He had a knife. He was going to cut her up and he would have fucking enjoyed it as well."

"Jesus Christ." Donna put her drink down quickly and ran out of the room and into the kitchen.

Edger went after her, entering the kitchen just as she was being sick into the sink. He went over and rubbed her back until she had finished, then she turned and threw her arms around his waist, burying her head into his chest as she started crying.

As he held her, Edger felt his own tears come to the surface. Tears so bitter it felt like they burned his face.

Not long after, they were back in the living room. Edger had just checked on Kaitlin. She hadn't moved from the position he left her in before, and she still remained unresponsive to his gentle pleas asking if she was alright. It was like she had retreated into herself so far that no one could get to her and Edger prayed that he hadn't lost her forever.

"She'll come around eventually," Donna assured him as they sat on the sofa, drinking coffee this time instead of vodka. "It'll take time though. You need to be prepared for that."

"I hope you're right, Donna," Edger said. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost her as well."

A heavy silence fell between them for a moment, finally broken by Donna. "So why are you here, Harry? Did you come just to tell me about…God, I can't even say his name now. Rankin."

"There's more to all this than you know, Donna."

"What do you mean?"

"Rankin is part of some secret club called the Red Falcon Country Club. A cult basically, a place for sick cunts like Rankin to indulge their sexual sadism. On children mostly, as far as I can make out."

"Jesus Christ."

"The members are all big wigs in this country. McGinty is a member. The fucking Deputy Chief Constable is a member."

"That's unbelievable, Harry."

"Believe it, Donna," he said. "I have a laptop in the car with the evidence on it to back up what I'm saying here. Videos. Documents."

"Where did you get it?"

"My brother. He was kidnapped by this cult all those years ago. He was brainwashed into being some kind of assassin. There's video footage." He shook his head, remembering the brutal footage. "What they did to him…"

"Why did he kidnap Kaitlin?"

Edger sighed. "That was personal. I'll tell you sometime. But he also wanted me to help him take down cult who practically stole his soul from him."

"Do you even know who they are?"

Edger nodded. "The man who oversees it all is called Gabriel Mason. He lives on some estate in Armagh. That's where the cult is. There's going to be some kind of ritual there tonight."

"Ritual?"

"Yeah. Some fucking occult thing apparently. I don't know what it's about."

"Occult rituals are more common than you think," Donna said. "There's groups like the one you describe all over the world, all made up of powerful figures, the ones who run things. They believe these rituals give them power. I thought that stuff was mostly just conspiracy theory nonsense, but obviously not, not if what you're saying is true."

"Like I said, I don't give a fuck what they believe or don't believe. These are evil men. Sick cunts who torture kidnapped kids in ways you wouldn't believe. They don't deserve to live, and I'm going to see to it that they don't."

"You're not thinking of taking them all on by yourself, are you?"

"Someone has to. Besides, they didn't give me any choice. They're out to get me. I have to get them first, or Kaitlin will never be safe."

"Fuck, this is too much." Donna shook her head. "I need a joint." She leaned forward and opened a tobacco tin on the table, took out a bag of weed and started rolling a joint. When she had finished rolling she lit the reefer up, filling the room with a sweet, skunky smell, reminding Edger of the vast marijuana fields he used to come across in Cambodia.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into all this," he said, declining the joint when she offered, wanting to keep his head as clear as possible for what he knew he had to do later. "You're the only person I can trust right now."

Donna blew out a thick stream of smoke and settled back in the sofa, putting one black booted foot on the edge of the coffee table and smiling. "I always thought
you
were the dark one, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're a dark horse, Harry. Though as it turns out, not as dark as Rankin." She shook her head. "I don't think I'll ever get over this. You think his wife knows what he really is?"

Edger shrugged. "If she didn't, she does now."

"Shit. I just realised. I don't have a job anymore either. Is it bad saying that?" She burst out laughing. "Sorry. The weed's going to my head."

"You're a smart, resourceful girl, Donna. I'm sure you'll land on your feet."

"What about you? What will you do?"

Edger hadn't given the idea a moment's thought. Didn't care to either. "Assuming I don't die tonight, I don't know."

"Fuck, Harry. Don't talk like that. Come to think of it, why can't you just get on a plane with Kaitlin and leave all this mess behind?"

He drained what was left in his coffee cup and set it on the table. "You think I haven't considered that? I'll be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life, Donna. Fuck that. Besides, someone needs to stop these bastards."

"And what about Kaitlin?" she asked.

"I was hoping you would look after her for me until I got back."

"Yeah, I sort of figured that, but that's not what I mean." She looked at him with slightly bloodshot eyes. "I mean what if you don't come back at all, Harry? What then?"

"Kaitlin has grandparents in Fermanagh. They'll probably want custody anyway."

"And you're just going to hand her over?"

He raised his head towards the ceiling for a second, sighing deeply. "I don't know, Donna. That depends on Kaitlin, I suppose, what she wants to do. It'll be her choice."

"She'll chose you," Donna said, after a moment. "I would if I was her."

Edger shifted in his seat, unsure of what to say to that.

Donna smiled. "I've embarrassed you. It's the truth though. You could be a great dad, Harry, if only you would stop running around like the Equalizer all the time."

"I didn't exactly ask for any of this."

"No, but you know what I mean. I'd give anything to have my parents back again. Don't make Kaitlin wish the same thing. You need to be there for her."

A long silence descended between them, while Edger thought about what she said. She was right of course. If he made it out of this situation alive, he promised himself to make Kaitlin a priority. "I'm worried about the damage the last couple of days have done to her," he said eventually. "She's seen things that no twelve year old should ever have to see. I'm not sure if she'll be able to come back from that."