Thorn In My Side (30 page)

That Tiny had
the scent was obvious, but they seemed to be getting nowhere.
Smiler was becoming increasingly worried. The feeling that
something was very wrong with Aunt May was growing stronger by the
minute. His heart was heavy, and there was an ever- increasing
blackness in his head that was starting to frighten him.

'Come on, good
dog. Find… Find Aunt May, Tiny, good boy.'

Tiny shook
himself, turned round and, nose to the ground, hurried off in the
direction of the ruined monastery. 'OK,' Smiler said, 'we’ll try
over there. We’ve done just about everywhere else.'

Tiny sniffed
around the entrance, then suddenly took off again, dragging Smiler
with him. Reaching the wall where Aunt May lay, Tiny put his head
back and howled. His heart pounding in his chest, Smiler walked
round to the other side of the wall.

7.31 pm

Wrapping his
left hand around the gunman’s mouth, Mike gestured with his head to
the amazed Shelly, urging her to follow him as he dragged the
struggling man back into the passageway.

He’d noticed
that a lot of the people had a length of rope hanging from their
right wrists, Shelly included. Shrugging off the thought his mind
provided for this, he gave the gunman a punch to the side of his
head, knocking him out completely. Letting him fall to the floor,
he reached for Shelly’s wrist. Wide-eyed and trembling, she shied
away from him.

'It’s all right
love,' he said gently, 'I’m a police officer.' For a moment, her
eyes met his. Mike could see in their depths that she wanted to
believe him. But he knew she was also getting ready to run. That
was easily read in her posture. 'No, Shelly, keep calm. Trust me,
I’m here to help.'

Still not one
hundred percent convinced, she said hesitatingly, 'How do you know
my name?'

'I told you,
I’m a policeman. I’ve been looking for you… Your brothers, Gary and
Liam? They reported you missing.'

Taking a deep
breath, she relaxed slightly.

'OK, now give
me the rope, so that we can tie this joker up.'

Looking down at
the gunman, she curled her lip as she lifted her hand for Mike to
untie the rope. In less than a minute he had it off her wrist.
Flipping the gunman over, he quickly tied his hands. Standing up,
Mike shed his jacket then, pulling his T-shirt over his head, he
ripped it in half, then once more. Balling the thickest piece he
shoved it into the man’s mouth, then stretched one of the longer
strips over his mouth and tied it at the back of his neck.

'OK.' He looked
at Shelly. 'Give me a brief rundown about exactly what the hell’s
going on here.'

Danny was
still holding Brother Josh upright. He was showing signs of coming
round now. Danny was anxiously biting his lip when Brother David
entered the hall, with a puzzled look on his face. He strode down
to Danny and Brother Josh, just as Brother Josh let out a huge
moan.

'What? Who did
this?' Brother David stared in horror at the state of Brother
Josh’s face.

Danny swallowed
hard, and said meekly, 'Er, me.'

'You!'

'Er, yes.'
Danny looked wildly around for an escape route, even though he knew
there was none, because this brother looked a hell of a lot tougher
than the other.

'Hmm. I can
probably guess why.' Brother David sighed. He hooked an arm under
Brother Josh’s arms, and started to lead him away. Halfway down the
hall, he turned back. 'Where’s Shelly?'

Shrugging,
Danny muttered, 'Happy Face took her away.'

Brother David
stopped. 'How long ago?'

'Just after you
took Cassie.'

He gasped. He’d
looked into the room she was supposed to be in, after delivering
Cassie up to the monster, hoping to take her hand in prayer. It was
the least he could do. But she hadn’t been there. He glanced
quickly around the room. The gunman, who had never once in all the
months he’d been there told them his name, was nowhere in
sight.

Suddenly his
heart soared. Could Mike be here? Could it be possible that he’d
finally got the message? 'Come with me,' he said. 'Quickly,
now.'

'OK,' Danny
answered. Anything was better than standing here filling the
endless bags with the endless piles of pills. He actually wondered
how long he would stay sane at this rate. Perhaps the poor sods
swallowing the poison had it right after all. Sweet oblivion!

Mike had
listened in amazement as Shelly gave him a garbled tale that made
the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He had to stop her once
or twice to clarify something, and although a lot of what she said
sounded like fiction, there were so many plausible things that made
the whole story ring true.

The gunman had
regained consciousness, and was now glaring at Shelly. He started
to struggle, and kicked at her. Mike gave him another tap on the
head with his gun, sending him spiralling down into blackness
again.

Opening the
gun, he checked it for ammunition, satisfied there was a full clip.
He turned his mobile phone off. He needed no sudden noise to alert
the fiend and his cronies.

He judged
Kristina and crew should only be five minutes, max. Turning to
Shelly,
Jesus Christ, she looks like she’s dying,
he
thought, and said gently, 'Wait here. I doubt he’ll wake up for a
good while now, but if he does, keep him quiet any way you
can.'

She nodded, and
slid down the wall to sit next to the gunman. She didn’t have the
strength to do anything else.

Mike crept
along silently. Having visited the monastery more than once, he had
a good idea of the layout of the place. He prayed he would be in
time to save Cassie. He moved four doors along the corridor. This
room had a big bay window that he could easily climb out of. He
needed to be outside. Surprise was his best weapon, and it could
not be achieved by creeping along corridors, where at any given
moment four or five doors could open at once, spilling God knows
what into his space.

Cassie stood
in front of The Leader. She was shaking with fright as he smiled
down at her. Cassie’s eyes were not on his face though, but on the
large knife he held in his left hand. They were alone in the room.
The stone floor was cold on her bare feet. Her shoes had been taken
away the moment she got here.

'You look good
in your school uniform. Have any of the boys told you that before?
Of course they have.' Without waiting for an answer, he moved
closer, one slow step after another. 'A beautiful girl like you
must have many boyfriends.' He was in front of her now, his feet
inches away from hers, his body even closer.

Mike dropped
silently to the ground. Bending over, he ran to the window he
wanted, reaching it just as The Leader flicked Cassie’s hair off
her shoulder with the knife.

Breathing
deeply, Mike used a calming technique to still the anger building
in his blood. He had to wait for a distraction, the man was too
close to the girl. One wrong move on Mike’s part, and the bastard
could easily slit her throat in seconds. He looked through the gun
sights. One shot to the bastard's head was all it would take, and
whatever spell he had these people under would be broken. Mike had
dealt with cults before. He knew that sometimes all it needed was a
drastic sharp shock for most to come to their senses. Some,
however, were lost forever, and he strongly doubted if those poor
souls in the packing sheds would ever make it back to some
semblance of normal life. But Cassie could be saved.

'If he would
only step back for a moment,' Mike whispered. 'That’s all, one
moment.'

7.50 am

The ambulance
hurried over the causeway. Inside, Smiler had tight hold of Aunt
May’s hand. She was unconscious,
and so pale,
he thought, as
the nurse cleaned the blood off her face. They hadn’t been very
encouraging when they had arrived, saying very little until Smiler,
crazy with worry for the woman who in a short time had become his
surrogate mother, demanded to know what they thought. A lot of
head-shaking went on between the two ambulance people, with a
serious whisper -- 'We won’t know until we get her to the
hospital.'

Why
whisper?
Smiler thought.
It’s obvious that she can’t hear
you!

They passed
through Beal, turned left onto the motorway and, sirens blasting,
headed towards Newcastle.

Smiler took out
his mobile and looked at the time. Fifteen minutes since he’d
phoned Mike and left a message. What was he doing? Mike never
switched his mobile off.

As he looked
back at Aunt May, a feeling of blackness descended on him. He
didn’t know if it was for Aunt May, the two girls in his head, for
Mike, or for all of them.

Mike gently
put pressure on the trigger. Then, startled, he swung the gun away
as the sound of gunshots rang through the building. He ducked out
of sight. Leaning against the wall, he slowly rose again until his
eyes were peering over the sill. The room was empty, and the sound
of gunfire even louder.

He tried
opening the window. To his surprise it slid upwards easily enough.
This one he didn’t put down to Dave, but to the warm summer night.
It only took a moment for him to hoist himself inside. Reaching the
open door, he peered round. Someone was running along the corridor.
He realised who it was the moment they passed. Stepping out behind
the running figure, he said, 'Wait.'

Still running,
Danny swung his head round. Recognising Mike, he stopped and heaved
a huge sigh. 'Jesus, man, the fucking cavalry at last. Where the
hell have you been? Do you have any fucking idea what’s going on
here? There’s a room full of friggin’ zombies back there. Call
yourself a copper, with this going on under your fucking nose for a
year or more?'

'Shut up,' Mike
said as he reached him. 'Do everything I say when I say it.'

'Yeah, I can
live with that.' Pleased that there was someone to take charge,
Danny fell in step with Mike as they headed towards the gunfire
that was coming from the large dining hall.

'Just one
thing,' Danny said, as they reached the heavy oaken doors.

'What?' Mike
snarled.

'Shouldn’t we
be running the other way?'

Ignoring him,
Mike slowly opened the door a few inches. Right in his line of
sight, he could see Dave, his arms around Cassie. Both of them were
huddled under a large table. His eyes tight shut, Dave was praying,
his lips moving as guns blasted back and forth. Suddenly he opened
his eyes, and stared at Mike.

Mike gave him a
nod. His face wreathed in smiles, Dave cuddled Cassie closer and
whispered something in her ear.

'What’s going
on?' Danny asked from behind Mike.

'Can’t you
guess?' Mike hissed in exasperation.

'Well… well,
yes, I suppose. What we’ve got here is a bunch of fucking
nutters.'

Ignoring him
again, Mike rested his gun against his shoulder, barrel pointed at
the ceiling. He risked a glance. Half a dozen men were firing at
each other, ducking and weaving about, shooting at anything that
moved. He noticed the one they called The Leader, hiding behind two
huge guards. He swung his head the other way and gasped when he saw
Tony taking aim. The Leader went down. Suddenly the harsh sound of
sirens filled the air.

'Thank God for
that,' Danny said, actually managing to make it sound like a
genuine prayer.

Mike looked
back for Tony, caught him running across the room, making for a
door further down the hall than the one that Mike and Danny were
standing in.

Knowing where
Tony was heading, Mike spun round. Nearly knocking Danny off his
feet, he took off at a run. Not wanting to be left behind, Danny
followed him, muttering, ‘I knew we should have gone this way.'

When they
reached the small corridor which led outside, where Mike had left
Shelly and the gunman, the door was wide open and either the light
bulb had blown, or Tony had taken the time to switch it off.

Was he waiting
in there for them, hiding in the dark, ready to kill again?

'God, what’s
that smell?' Danny wrinkled his nose.

'Shush, Danny…
Shelly?' Mike said quietly. There was no answer. He turned to Danny
and mouthed, 'The light switch is on the left of the door. When I
step in, switch it on.'

Danny gulped,
but nodded as he moved to stand side by side with Mike.

Stepping into
the corridor, Mike quickly swung his gun from side to side, as
Danny flipped the switch. Both of them gasped loudly, and Mike
dropped the gun to his side. There was blood everywhere. Up the
walls, pooling on the floor – even the light shade was splattered.
Danny’s hand suddenly felt damp and sticky. Not daring to look at
his fingers, he shuddered, and quickly wiped his hand on his
jeans.

'Dear God!'
Mike said.

Danny followed
Mike’s gaze. 'Oh, no. Oh, no.' Sobbing, he fell to his knees.

Shelly and the
gunman lay propped against the wall. Their throats had been cut.
The gunman’s body had been savagely sliced open, his intestines
spilling onto the floor. Not only had they fallen out of the gaping
wound, they had been helped out, dragged along the floor and
stamped on, as if a petulant child had, after being punished,
wrecked his room. Mike looked around in horror. He thought he’d
seen the worst thing ever when he had seen what had been done to
Alicia, but this was worse than anything he could ever have
imagined.

Bending down,
he checked Shelly for a pulse, guessing that it was only because
the bastard was pushed for time that she hadn’t suffered the same
fate as the gunman. If she had been sitting where the gunman was,
then it would have been her insides scattered all over the
floor.

He tried every
pulse point he knew, and was about to give up when he tried her
left wrist again. He felt a faint pulse. He snatched the gag out of
the gunman’s mouth and used it to put pressure on Shelly’s wound.
'She’s alive, Danny… Danny?' Mike turned. Danny was flat out on the
floor behind him.