The Kill Zone (25 page)

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Authors: Chris Ryan

BOOK: The Kill Zone
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‘Yeah,’ Jack said, his face dark. ‘The name means something to me. You know it does.’
‘He’s Belfast’s Mr Heroin these days. The stuff that put Lily’s friend in a hospital bed, you can bet your house it was part of his little enterprise. When they found her, they found a dead boyfriend in the same flat. He used to be part of O’Callaghan’s crew, before he started using.’
‘You know where O’Callaghan is?’
‘Yeah.’
Jack started to move. ‘All I need is an address. It’s not too late to get him on to tomorrow morning’s obituary pages.’
‘For God’s sake,’ Siobhan snapped. ‘Just sit down.’
A pause. Jack unclenched his teeth slightly, but he didn’t take a seat.
‘Things have moved on, Jack. You can’t just stick these guys in a shallow grave and blame it on sectarianism. And anyway, killing Cormac O’Callaghan won’t do anyone any good. Take him out of the picture, someone else from his organisation will just take his place.’
‘That fucker’s had a bullet with his name on it for a long time, Siobhan.’
‘Look, Jack. I don’t care about your Regiment bravado, OK? I care about our daughter. About finding her. Believe me, if I thought taking O’Callaghan out would achieve that, I’d do it myself.’
And the look on her face – half fury, half tears – gave Jack no cause to doubt it.
He got control of his anger. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘So what
do
you want to do?’
‘I’ve been trying to bring him down,’ she replied. ‘To get enough evidence against him to make him start squealing. That way, I can dismantle the whole damn organisation, not just cut one head off the Hydra.’
‘Well it sounds like you’re in the right job, Siobhan. I don’t see what I can do. I’m a soldier, not a copper. Why don’t you just . . . I don’t know.’ He searched for the words. ‘Work the case.’
‘
Listen
to me, Jack, OK? Just
listen
to me.’ Another deep breath. ‘I’ve got a tout,’ she said. ‘O’Callaghan’s nephew. One of the crew. He’s come good with a few bits of intel. One of them is that we’ve got a nark in the squad. Could be anyone, I just don’t know. And even if we didn’t have a bent cop . . .’
She faltered.
‘What?’ Jack demanded.
‘They think I’m flogging a dead horse, that there’s no point going after O’Callaghan because he’s the original Teflon don, all that lame shit. They think we should be putting our resources into the small fry – low-level dealers where we get a better chance of conviction, keep our numbers up. But that’s
bullshit
.’ She pronounced the last word as though she was spitting. ‘Everyone knows why I joined the squad, Jack. I’m on some kind of personal vendetta. They think that because Lily went missing, I can’t see the wood for the
fucking
trees.’
Silence.
And then, even though he knew what sort of reaction it would get, Jack spoke. ‘Maybe they’re right,’ he said.
It was like taking the pin out of a fragmentation grenade: several seconds of ominous silence, and then an explosion. Siobhan picked up her empty whiskey glass then threw it to the floor where it smashed into countless pieces. ‘
Jesus, Jack!
’ she yelled. ‘You’re as bad as the rest of them. Of all people in the whole fucking world . . .
Lily’s father
 . . . Of all people, I thought
you’d
get it.’
‘Get it?’ Jack shouted back. ‘Of course I fucking get it. You think I haven’t thought about Lily every day since she went missing? You think it doesn’t rip me apart too? But what are you going to do, Siobhan? Take on every drug dealer in Ireland? Every scumbag in the Province?’
‘Of course not—’
‘You know where I’ve just been? Afghanistan. Poppy fields as far as the eye can see. That’s where you fight heroin, Siobhan. With guns and fast air. Not on the streets of Belfast with Provo touts—’
‘Don’t
give
me that shit, Jack. Just don’t
give
me it. Guns and fast air? Is that your solution to everything? You know where I’ve been? In an O’Callaghan lock-up with a pile of guns, a pile of cash and enough drugs to put a hundred girls like Lily in the ground. You don’t believe me? Go and look for yourself.’ She stuck her hand into her back pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper, which in her fury she scrumpled up, and threw it at him like an unruly schoolkid. Jack just watched it fall to the carpet. ‘You can go off playing soldiers all you like, Jack, but it’s
here
where the real war is, not
fucking
Afghanistan.’
‘You don’t know
what’s
happening in Afghanistan,’ he shouted. But he knew Siobhan wasn’t in the mood to start hearing about Regiment ops. She wasn’t even listening any more. Her head was in her hands and though there was no sound of weeping, Jack could see her body shaking.
He swore under his breath. There was something about seeing Siobhan in tears that messed with him. He had to suppress the urge to put an arm around her, but he knew what sort of reaction that would get him. So he just tried to keep his cool and waited for her to raise her face to him once more. The skin around her eyes was streaked and red, and she looked at him with a kind of begging.
‘Do you want to help me,’ she asked, ‘or don’t you?’
Jack gave a deep sigh. He knew Siobhan. He knew she wouldn’t let it lie until he’d heard her out. And even then . . . He helped himself to more whiskey. ‘What I want,’ he said, ‘is to find Lily.’
Siobhan looked apologetically at the broken glass on the ground. ‘I’m sorry about that,’ she said.
Jack shrugged. ‘It’s your glass,’ he replied. He waited a moment while she opened a wooden cabinet and pulled out a sheaf of papers. She flicked through them, pulled out one sheet and handed it to him. It was a printout from a news webpage containing the picture of a man Jack recognised – Middle Eastern origin, round glasses, a neat beard – but couldn’t place. He read the news story underneath.
MUSLIM PEACE CAMPAIGNER TO TAKE ON THE TERRORISTS
Habib Khan, leader of the Islamic Council for Peace, has undertaken to visit the war-torn city of Mogadishu in an attempt to raise awareness of the dangers of fundamentalism within the UK’s Islamic community. Somalia has no functioning government, and as such is known to be a haven for Al Qaeda and other Islamist factions. In a statement, Khan expressed his hope that his trip ‘will highlight the fact that those who threaten our peaceful way of life are no more than common criminals’. When asked whether he feared for his personal safety, he replied: ‘I fear for the safety of us all if we do not unite to weed out terrorism.’
Jack handed the paper back to Siobhan. ‘I saw this guy on TV,’ he said. ‘He’s a fucking idiot. They’ll make mincemeat out of him out there. But what the hell’s he got to do with Lily?’
‘Khan visited O’Callaghan yesterday. I bugged their conversation. He’s O’Callaghan’s supplier.’
Jack shook his head. ‘For God’s sake, Siobhan. It’s obvious you’ve got the guy mixed up with someone else.’
Siobhan gave him a dangerous look. ‘That’s what my DCI said. But then he doesn’t know me as well as you do. Do you
really
think I’d make a mistake like that?’
‘He’s just a peace campaigner. The guy might be naive, but that doesn’t mean he’s involved in all this shit.’
‘Naive?’ Siobhan scoffed. ‘He’s not naive, Jack. He’s just got good cover. What do you expect him to have – a tattoo on his forehead saying “drug dealer”? I’m telling you: I heard him and I saw him. Khan’s providing O’Callaghan with gear on the cheap, but he wants his money in advance before making this trip.’
‘It’ll cost him a fuck of a lot just to get the security around him he’s going to need.’
‘Whatever.’ Siobhan dismissed Jack’s comment. ‘But there’s something else. O’Callaghan said this thing to Khan. “How’s the white gold you’ve got stashed in a hole somewhere? Seeing to your needs, I hope.” Those exact words, Jack.’
She looked at him as though Jack should realise she’d just said something blindingly obvious. He stared at her blankly.
‘White gold, Jack. They were talking about girls –
white
girls. Lily’s friend told me that she and Lily were kept in a house where some “Paki” guy took a shine to her. She said that these people ship girls out to Africa where they fetch a price. Her boyfriend had links with the O’Callaghan crew. Don’t you see? That’s where Khan’s going. Africa. What if he’s the Paki guy she was talking about? What if he knows something about Lily? What if she’s . . . Jesus, what if she’s
out there
?’
Jack closed his eyes and pinched his forehead. ‘Siobhan,’ he said. ‘You’re putting two and two together and making five. White gold could mean anything.’
‘Like what?’
He shrugged. ‘Heroin? That’s what you think their business is, after all.’
‘It’s not heroin, Jack. I could tell from their conversation. They were talking about girls. I
know
they were—’
‘Christ, Siobhan,’ Jack interrupted. ‘You’re not thinking straight. You’re upset. You’re clutching at straws.’
Her eyes flashed. ‘No, Jack. I’m not.’ She turned her back on him and looked through the window at the darkening Belfast skyline. ‘I’m off the force for four weeks. After that, who knows? I can’t do anything here, so I’ve made a decision.’
She looked at him again, and a fire danced in her eyes.
‘I’m going to follow him,’ she said, turning away again. ‘And I want you to come with me.’
She remained with her back to him.
Jack blinked. For a moment he didn’t know what to say. He shook his head. ‘Siobhan, have you got
any
idea what you’re talking about? What do you think you’re going to do – book an EasyJet flight to Mogadishu? Send your friends a postcard and fucking souvenir? Do you
know
what that shithole of a country is like?’
‘Dangerous,’ she said.
Jack shook his head. ‘No,’ he replied. ‘Jumping out of a plane is dangerous. Running ex-Provo touts is dangerous. Mogadishu is fucking suicide. You’ve got a white face, Siobhan. They’d kill you before you’d even taken a few steps on Somali soil.’
‘I can take care of myself, Jack.’
‘You can take care of yourself in Belfast, sure. But Somalia? Fucking hell, Siobhan. Even the American army won’t go near the place. You have
heard
of the Battle of Mogadishu? That little bit of business with the Black Hawk?’
‘That’s why I need you . . .’
But Jack was shaking his head. If there was one thing he knew about, this was it. ‘Listen, Siobhan. If the Regiment was to do anything in Somalia – and trust me, they’d have to have a very fucking good reason in the first place – they’d send in half a squadron packing as much weaponry as they can carry and a swarm of choppers to get them in and out. You, me and a couple of handguns . . .’ He shook his head again. ‘Just forget it, all right? This stuff might sound good in your head, but it’s not going to happen.’
‘But—’
‘No buts, Siobhan.’ For a moment he felt like he was talking to a child. ‘Look, Lily’s missing. Maybe her friend was right. Maybe some fucking raghead
is
giving her drugs in return for sex.’ He paused and drew a deep breath to control himself at the thought. ‘If it’s true, when I get my hands on this man I swear I’ll rip him apart. You can help me do it. But you’ve got to choose your battles and right now you’re chasing shadows. Habib Khan
isn’t
who you think he is. He
doesn’t
know Lily, he’s
not
involved in drugs. If you start chasing him to Mogadishu, you won’t find your daughter – you’ll end up dead by the side of the road.’
‘Fine,’ Siobhan said. She refused to look directly at him. ‘I guess I’ll just sit here then, waiting for Lily to show up. Or not, as the case may be.’
Jack walked up to her. He grabbed her gently by the arm and she wriggled to get away, but he wouldn’t let her. ‘We’re going to find her,’ he said. ‘We’ll speak to this dead girl’s friends; find out what they can tell us. When Khan gets back into the UK, I’ll question the fucker. But we’re not following him. It’s the most dangerous country in the world, Siobhan. I’m not going with you, and you won’t find anyone else to go either. At least, no one whose company is worth having. This is something I know about. Listen to me, and don’t do anything stupid.’
She thinned her lips. ‘I won’t.’
‘You promise? I don’t want Lily to have to attend her mother’s memorial service the moment she shows up.’
That, at least, seemed to have an effect. Siobhan’s brow furrowed. ‘I promise,’ she said quietly.
Jack nodded, then stepped back.
‘You’d better go,’ she told him.
‘Yeah,’ he replied. ‘Yeah, all right. I’ll call you tomorrow. We’ll make a plan.’
‘Whatever.’ Siobhan was looking out of the window again, her shoulders slumped. Yet again, Jack felt a brief desire to go and put his arms around her, but he knew that was a road neither of them wanted to take. And so he stepped towards the main door and let himself out.

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