Twenty-Three

Crunch time for Lee

As Oscar descended the stairs he could hear shouts echo from other parts of the building. Luckily no-one had burst into the stairwell. His diversion seemed to have worked. He continued down the stairs, remembering his instructions on where Dr. West was located. As he reached the final step, he saw the handle on a door leading out to a corridor start to turn. The door opened slowly and a man, again squinting in the darkness, asked,

‘Aren’t you…?’, before the man could finish his sentence, Oscar let off a shot into his shoulder. The man fell down gripping the wound. Oscar moved swiftly over to him and slammed the door. Holding his collar and forcing the butt of his gun into the man’s skull he asked carefully,

‘Where is interview room 6’, the man took a break from moaning a looked at Oscar,

‘What?’ he replied simply,

‘Answer the question’

‘Out this door, take a left, then a right through the “interview rooms” door. It’s the third room on the left. You’ll know if you’ve gone too far because a door at the end of the corridor leads to the main foyer’, satisfied Oscar let go of the man’s collar. He then brought the butt of his gun down sharply against his skull, rendering the man unconscious. He opened the door and proceeded to follow the instructions he had been given.

After Lee had left the room, James gathered up his things and attempted to bandage up Eli’s arm.

‘We’re leaving’ he said hastily.

‘It’s pointless man. Just go and leave me here. Whatever you do he’ll find us’, James turned and held his face to Eli’s, close enough to see deep into his eyes.

‘Shut up man’, he said, ‘You think anyone cares about your sob story? Your self-pity? No one does. I sure as hell don’t. So would you shut the f**k up and just follow me?’, Eli stared wide eyed back at James, holding his arm.

‘Yeah sure’. With the doctor’s consent James walked to the door and opened it carefully. Poking his head out he looked down the hallway both ways. Seeing it was clear, he directed Eli to move out in front of him and start walking towards the foyer. They walked hastily, but without running. After just a few steps however, James heard the door at the other end of the hall open. Before he had time to turn fully he felt two sharp burns, hearing the gun fire at the same time. One in his arm the other in his upper thigh. He immediately fell to the floor, cursing himself as he dropped his gun just out of his reach.

‘Don’t move’, Oscar said loudly across the hall. Both men followed his instructions. Oscar approached James, grabbing his gun and placing it in his trousers. He then kicked James in the face, successfully rendering him unconscious. He moved on to Eli. Grabbing the man by the collar, he dragged him back towards the interview room, and threw him through the door which had been left open. Falling to his backside Eli held his hands up in front of his face in an instinctive defensive motion. ‘Where’s the flash drive’, Oscar asked simply. Eli didn’t answer, but couldn’t help his eyes swivel to the wound on his arm. Thinking quickly Oscar continued, ‘Did you give it to that other detective? The guy’s partner?’. Eli was obviously trying to hold out but the fear of Oscar’s pistol led him to nod quickly. Oscar nodded back, nonchalantly. ‘Ok, good’ he said finally, before lifting his gun, ‘I’m sorry man’, he fired three shots into the room through the door frame. Putting his gun back into his waistband, he walked toward the foyer. He stepped over James’ lifeless body without a thought.

 

When Lee had gotten to the foyer he knew exactly what he wanted to do. As he walked up to the reception however, his mind became foggier on the ideal course of action.

‘Where’s Sarah?’, he shouted across the reception desk, having to get attention as the lights were out. A receptionist he knew, Eve came over.

‘Who sorry?’, she asked.

‘Sarah Sheridan. Get her on the phone now’, the receptionist started trying to dial, but quickly both she and Lee realised the power had also cut the phones. ‘F**k’s sake’ he said simply before dialling on his mobile. It rang twice before she picked up.

‘Lee? What’s going on?’, as she said this Lee heard two more shots coming from the hallway.

‘Sarah’ Lee said as he walked slowly toward the door leading back into the hallway, ‘I need you to find me the safest evidence deposit within a 5 mile drive’, Lee heard three more shots, ‘Make that a 2 mile drive’.

‘Lee, what the f**k is going on?’, Sarah pleaded.

‘Please just do it Sarah’, Lee hung up. As he did so he opened the door to see a very confident and armed Silent Man walking toward him and begin to draw his gun. Lee immediately closed the door and began to run toward the exit. He heard a shot from behind, and felt the bullet graze his side, but continued running. He did this not in the interest of self-preservation but because he had made a promise, and he intended to keep it. Lee ran out of the building into the dark street and found his car parked in its usual spot. He opened it and got in, not daring to look behind him to see the distance to his attacker. He felt a pain as he settled into his seat, both emotional at the thought of his blood staining the leather, and physical due to his wound. He started the car and began to drive off.

Oscar followed detective Lee Harding out of the building and saw him get in a car. He looked around for the car he had himself been promised and spotted it quickly. Running up to it he had no time to consider why his shot through the door had missed. He felt around in the wheel hub for the key and as usual it was there. He opened the doors and slid in, muttering under his breath,

‘You better not have cut the breaks on this one’. He turned the engine on and with a hearty rev drove away in pursuit of the detective.

Lee drove away quickly. He was worried. Worried about the man following him, who, as he saw when he looked into his mirror was now driving after him. He was worried about his friend, whose fate he didn’t know and he was worried about whether or not he’d be able to make good on his promise. He took a corner at high speed, ignoring the red lights telling him to stop. The streets were eerily quiet. As he accelerated out of the corner Lee’s phone began to ring. He answered it with one hand, leaving the other on the wheel to keep control of the fast moving vehicle.

‘Sarah’ he said, only half focusing.

‘Lee, the safest evidence deposit I’ve found is Heron Yard. You know where that is?’

‘No I don’t. Listen Sarah, I’m being followed so you’re gonna have to give me directions’, Lee looked into his mirror again to see the man was still following him.

‘Ok give me a second to get your position’, Sarah said. As she went quiet, Lee could hear her bashing away on her keyboard. She did this for a few minutes as Lee came to another set of lights, red again, he turned right with his wheels screeching.

‘Ok Lee?’

‘I’m still here’ he said hastily into his phone.

‘I’m going to need you to take the third left on the road you’re on and follow Phoenix Avenue for about 1kilometer.’

‘Got it’, as Lee approached the turn he sped up. He was hoping to lose his follower by feigning that he was going to continue. As he reached the corner he slammed on his breaks, pulled up the hand break and turned into it. He then sped away. Looking in his mirrors he saw he had fooled the man. Who had come to a stop in his car at the corner. Mysteriously though he then continued to drive on, instead of coming down the same road.

‘Sarah’ said Lee hopefully, ‘I think I may have lost him’

 

Oscar sat in his car looking down the road detective Harding had so dramatically turned down and thought. He thought about the map of the city he had studied before he got there. He also thought about where the detective could potentially be heading. Accelerating away he decided there were only two real possibilities. He would most likely be taking the flash drive to the next safest place he could properly defend it. That meant one of the two closest evidence deposits in the city, so Oscar made an estimated guess as to which one. Accelerating at high speed Oscar made it to the correct turn and dragged his car around the corner. It was clear in his mind where he should come out, it was simply a matter of visualisation. Driving up the bank Oscar eventually came out exactly where he expected. On an overpass looking down to an artificially lit road, empty of all but the odd pedestrian. Oscar pulled his car over and jumped out hurriedly. He scurried to the back of the car and opened the boot. To his relief, an Accuracy International AWM sat disassembled amongst the armoury of weapons that lay before Oscar. He quickly pulled it out and began assembling it on the side of the bridge. Once assembled he propped it up on its tripod on the side of the bridge and waited.

Lee continued to look in his mirrors, confused that he was no longer being followed. He took the next right turn as instructed by Sarah and started accelerating down the empty road.

‘Ok, now all you have to do is take the left in 2 kilometres and the evidence deposit will be on your right, 300 metres down that road.’ Sarah said as Lee announced he was on the correct road.

‘So what’s my ETA?’ Lee asked,

‘About two minutes’ Sarah replied.

‘Great. Sarah, you’re an absolute life-saver. I don’t know who this guy is but he’s serious. He knows what he’s doing and he’s very dangerous.’

‘What does he want?’ Sarah asked.

‘No time, but listen I need you to do something for me’

‘What is it?’

‘I need you to go and check….’, without warning a shot came searing through Lee’s upper right chest. As it exited his body it shattered the glass of the windscreen and sprayed a large volume of blood onto the interior of the car. Lee immediately fell onto his steering wheel due to the sheer force of the blow. This resulted in his right hand dragging the wheel down. The car went careering into a building on the right hand side of the road. The impact was fierce, but the airbag forced Lee’s body back into his seat. Lee blacked out.

Oscar had waited patiently, aiming his rifle down the road. Then he began to hear the sound of an engine. He had already memorised the vehicle’s registration �" to ensure he got the right car. He started managing his breathing, taking deep breaths in and out. The sound of the engine grew louder as Oscar slowed his heart rate. Eventually the car came speeding under the bridge and began moving away from Oscar. His scope firmly held in place, Oscar checked the registration with his other eye. It was the right car. He waited still, patiently holding out until the car was the perfect distance for the bullet to travel through the back window and hit the driver. The moment seemed to take an age to come. When it finally did Oscar felt the tingle in his fingers, but didn’t hesitate. He fired the shot. Moving his face away from the scope he saw he’d hit something. The car swerved violently into one of the terraced buildings on the right hand side of the road and came to a halt. With that Oscar picked up the rifle, threw it into the back of his car and got back in to inspect the damage.

As Lee came to, he immediately noticed his difficulty breathing. All he could hear was an annoying beeping. Most of the windows had smashed and blood was oozing from Lee’s chest at a worrying rate. Lee looked around for his phone. It was lying face down on the floor outside the car, just left of his driver’s seat door. With every ounce of his remaining energy he pushed the door open. The force of the impact had clearly broken the lock. Releasing his seat belt, which tore painfully past his wound on its way up, Lee rolled out of the car. After his painful landing, he dragged himself into a sitting position and rested his back on the side of the vehicle. The smoking engine gave a smell which was a pleasant distraction to the taste of Lee’s own blood in his mouth. As he picked up the phone and turned it around he saw the face had smashed. Starting to feel even weaker he tried to unlock it, but the screen remained black. He tried again and again but nothing happened. Lee began to notice his breathing becoming even more laboured, as if something was stuck in his throat. Finally as if to put him out of his misery, a shadow appeared over him and Lee looked up to see the Silent Man.