Double Jeopardy, page 19
Jones swore and started to move towards them, but Kelly’s gun dug into his side.
‘Not advisable.’ The pleasant Irish lilt was amused. ‘You’d have a bullet in the gut before you got two feet.’
Jones stopped and glared at Kelly, which only made him smile wider.
‘Off we go then,’ Pace directed them with his gun. ‘The car’s just up the road.’
When they reached the car, Pace opened all the doors. Jones was put in the front passenger seat with Kelly behind him, his gun pressed to the back of Jones’s neck. Beverly was pushed into the back next to Kelly with Gray beside her, still holding her wrist and with his knife pressed against her neck.
‘Fasten your seat belt,’ Kelly told Jones. ‘You don’t want to bump your nose if Jack has to stop suddenly do you?’
‘Better not brake too sharp, then,’ Gray said with a snigger. ‘Don’t want me to jab my knife in her accidentally, do we?’
Pace turned the car and drove up the track.
They were back at the cottage in little more than five minutes. This time, Pace drove right up and turned round, parking next to Jones’s car. He took out his gun and covered Jones.
‘Lenny, go in and pack the cases while we wait outside. Have a quick look round and bring out anything that looks like theirs.’
‘OK, boss.’ Kelly slid out of the car and disappeared round the side of the cottage. After a few moments a light came on in the living room and another upstairs.
Beverly made a little moaning noise.
‘Shut up.’ Pace growled.
Beverly rolled her head.
‘I can’t, I think I’m going to be sick.’
Pace swore.
‘Not in my car, you’re not.’
He opened his door and motioned Jones out. He still wasn’t sure if Beverly was trying a con and, as Gray didn’t have a gun, he wanted to be in a position to cover both of them if necessary.
‘Take her round to the side of the path,’ he told Gray. He looked at Beverly with distaste mixed with suspicion. ‘And you keep it in until you get out of the car.’
Beverly, clutching her hand over her mouth, was pulled out of the car by Gray. She turned towards the bushes and Gray, understandably not wanting vomit over his trousers, stepped back and eased his grip on her wrist. That was the chance Beverly had been waiting for. She suddenly raised herself from her crouch and shoved Gray away. Off balance, he stumbled and she ran at Pace.
‘Run, Jeff,’ she screamed.
Pace swung his gun towards her and Jones lashed out with his hand, a lucky blow that knocked Pace’s gun to the ground. In the brief moment of confusion, they ran.
They might have got away with it if they could have turned away from the cottage, but Pace and Gray were between them and the pathway, so they had to run towards the cliff. Gray recovered quickly and was running along the edge of the woodland, so they couldn’t immediately go off to the right. As they rounded the edge of the cottage, Kelly was coming out, alerted by the noise. He reacted swiftly, moving to trip Beverly as she ran past. From the corner of his eye Jones saw Beverly fall and turned back to help her, walking straight into a roundhouse blow from the hand in which Kelly held his gun. The gun butt smacked into Jones’s temple and he went down in a boneless heap and lay motionless. Beverly cried out and, as she scrambled to her feet, Gray grabbed her wrist again, twisting it painfully up behind her back.
‘You crafty little bitch.’ He was spitting the words with anger. ‘I hope Harry gives you to me after he’s done with you so I can finish you off. We’ll have some real fun, you and I, and you won’t be faking sickness.’
Pace raised his recovered gun, glaring at Beverly. She had nearly fooled him and if she’d got away Harry would have taken it out on him. Pace looked round. They were only a few feet from the edge of the cliff. Harry wanted her taken in alive but he hadn’t said the same about the boyfriend. Pace looked down at Jones, then across at Beverly. He gave her a nasty smile.
‘Change of plan,’ he said. ‘We’ll just take her gear with us. We leave his stuff and the car here. It’ll look like he was staying here on his own and had a nasty accident.’
He turned to Kelly.
‘Throw him over the cliff.’
‘No!’ Beverly twisted helplessly in Gray’s grasp as Kelly nodded and moved over towards Jones.
Gray chuckled, and with that laugh something seemed to snap inside Beverly’s reason and create an almost insane animal ferocity. She swung up her free hand and scraped her long nails down Gray’s cheek. Gray cried out at the sudden shock and pain, dropped his knife and lifted his hand to his face, relaxing his grip on her wrist. Beverly twisted towards him and, her eyes alight with hatred, drove her knee as hard as she could between his legs. Gray gave a strangled gasp, his hands dropping to clutch at the affected area. His legs wobbled as he twisted round and bent over, partly in agony and partly to avoid a second attack in the same place. Instead, he presented Beverly with another prime target. She kicked out, all her frustration, rage and hatred of Milton and all he stood for boiling over into the strike. Gray, his legs already like jelly, sprawled forward. His head clipped the side of a coffee-table-sized piece of rock by the cliff edge and he slumped to the ground unconscious. Pace was reacting almost as wildly and instinctively as Beverly. He came up behind her and swung his gun hand viciously at her head, moderating the blow slightly at the last moment as he remembered that Milton wanted her alive. It still felt to her as if the side of her head had exploded and she fell sideways on to the rock-strewn grass. As Beverly lay barely conscious, she heard Pace’s voice, hard edged with suppressed anger.
‘Don’t just stand there, Kelly, throw the bastard over.’
TWELVE
ALEC TANNER WAS feeling frustrated.
By the time Kenneth Jones had given them directions to his cottage and they had got down to the car, the cholesterol of the rush hour was severely clogging the transport arteries of the city. They found themselves in a line of solid traffic. It took five minutes to reach the end of the street. They could have walked it in less, he thought disgustedly. If he had been James Bond, he could have swung out of the line of cars and driven along the pavement, miraculously avoiding injuring any pedestrians, although demolishing at least two barrowloads of fruit and vegetables, before screaming down a narrow alley on two wheels and launching the car off the quayside into the river, flicking a switch to turn the car into an amphibious vehicle in mid air so that they could zoom off up river through uncongested waters. As it was, they just had to sit and wait it out, hoping that anyone sent by Milton would be stuck in the same traffic jam that they were.
Julie spent the time checking the map for their route. Tanner spent the time tapping the steering wheel in annoyance and muttering ‘come on’ under his breath. Julie, he accepted, was the more productive.
‘We want the city ring road, then the A777 north, then there’s a B-road. Lower Winkley should be signposted when we get near it, so we can start looking out for the turning to the cottage.’
Tanner nodded. The one thing in their favour was that Jones’s cottage was not easy to find without detailed directions. With any luck anyone else looking for the cottage would get lost and waste time driving round. He had plenty of experience of the country lanes in the area north of the city and he knew how confusing they could be, particularly after dark. One narrow road bordered by tall hedges and woods looks much like any other.
After considerable cursing from Tanner and hooting from other drivers, they eventually got through the centre. Tanner felt they had inhaled enough carbon monoxide in thirty minutes to last a lifetime. When they got to the roundabout that led on to the ring road, they found that three cars had had a minor accident. It didn’t look as though there were any serious injuries, but the police and ambulance services were on the scene and there was the usual crawl of other traffic going past so that the drivers could absorb every detail of the scene.
Once on to the ring road, Tanner could speed up and the A777 was moderately clear. There was a commuter belt north of the city, but the A-road had been widened to three lanes a few years before and that helped things along. The sun had set and darkness closed in once they were away from the immediate sphere of the city’s civilizing influence. As always, the planners seemed to have considered that most roads beyond residential areas do not require lighting, no matter how busy they are. Still, at least they were moving.
Julie was settled back in her seat. She had unzipped her jacket in the warmth of the car and had the map book perched on her knees. Tanner was jealous.
‘This next bit should be plain sailing.’ Julie was tracing her finger along the open page of the book.
‘Wash your mouth out, young lady, haven’t you ever heard of Sod’s Law?’
She flashed him a grin in the darkness.
‘I got my Girl Guide badge for map reading. I’ll tell you when we’re near the turn-off.’
For once, Sod’s Law didn’t apply and they reached the B-road without any more delay. There was little local traffic about and after ten minutes of steady driving, their headlights carving a steady glow through the darkness, the sign for Lower Winkley gleamed white in the lights.
Once on to the narrow meandering road that led towards the village, Tanner slowed down a little, partly so as not to lose their direction and partly in case they met anything coming the other way. If they did, someone was going to have to travel in reverse for some distance.
A sign on the right indicated that Upper Winkley lay in that direction.
‘There we are,’ said Julie, sitting forward, ‘the cottage is down the next but one turning on the left.’
‘OK.’
Tanner glanced to their right. They were passing an area of open woodland that ran level with the road, with trees and bushes dotted around randomly. He slowed right down and drove off the road into the woodland. The car bumped a little over the rough ground and Tanner stopped with a couple of trees between them and the road. He switched off the lights and the engine. Darkness drifted in around them, diffused by the glow from the moon. There was the faint sound of a car engine ahead of them, but it was impossible to tell the exact direction and distance.
‘From what Kenneth Jones told us, the track to the cottage is pretty narrow. If Milton’s men are around, we don’t want to meet them head on. They’ve no doubt got guns, which would put us at considerable disadvantage. I suggest we walk from here.’
Julie nodded.
‘Good job I also got my Girl Guide badge for woodcraft.’
They got out of the car and walked to the edge of the road. They were both wearing black jeans and jackets, so there was little chance of their being spotted from any distance. Tanner had a heavy torch and he knew that Julie had her shoulder bag, which no doubt contained one or two useful articles. Tanner didn’t want to risk the torch except in an emergency in case Milton’s people were about. Although, he thought, blending into the darkness as they did, until they reached the turn off to the cottage they were probably more at risk from a car being driven too fast down the narrow road.
Now that the car’s headlights were off, their night vision improved, helped considerably by a reasonable amount of light from the full moon. They moved along by the trees until they reached a point where the road bent round to the left before straightening again. As anticipated, there was a narrow track leading off to the left just ahead of them.
‘I hope you are impressed by my intrepid navigational skills,’ Julie murmured.
‘I’ll buy you a new woggle when we get back.’
Tanner saw a brief glimpse of a smile before they moved forward and down the track, treading carefully and watchful of the area ahead in case they met any of the opposition coming the other way. The moonlight was still strong enough that he didn’t need to use his torch to avoid their bumping into trees, although they needed to be wary that they didn’t trip over any ground level hazards.
They reached a bend in the track and could see a light ahead standing out in the darkness, sharper than the moonlight. Moving forward they saw the cottage, framed against the sky. There were lights on upstairs and down. Two cars were parked outside, apparently both empty. Tanner touched Julie’s arm and motioned to the right. They moved forward again slowly, keeping close to the fringe of trees and bushes on that side. There was no sign of anyone standing at either of the lighted windows, and the light would destroy their night vision anyway, but two cars suggested that Milton and/or his minions had located their quarry and there could be people lurking in the bushes.
Suddenly a shout echoed from the other side of the cottage and there was the sound of struggling and curses. Ignoring the cautious approach, Tanner and Julie ran forward and stopped by the side of the cottage, looking round it towards the edge of the cliff.
They were just in time to see Beverly Wallace launch her kick into Reggie Gray’s backside, causing him to lose his head-butting contest with a nearby lump of rock, followed by Jack Pace knocking Beverly to the ground and turning to the lean man who stood a short distance away.
‘Don’t just stand there, Kelly, throw the bastard over.’
Tanner and Julie decided it was time for them to get involved.
‘I’ll take Kelly,’ Julie muttered and moved forward.
There was no time to argue. Besides, Pace was armed and Kelly’s hands seemed to be empty, so Tanner was happy to tackle the bigger man, particularly as Pace didn’t know he was there yet.
The ignorance didn’t last long. Tanner swung his torch down on the wrist of Pace’s gun hand and he dropped the weapon with a cry of pain. From the corner of his eye, Tanner saw Kelly look up and then he had his own problems as Julie launched a flying kick at him. After that, Tanner had to concentrate on his own battle.
Pace recovered from the pain and shock remarkably fast. Tanner aimed a punch at the hinge of the big man’s jaw that should have ended matters, but Pace managed to evade it and get in a punch of his own that, even though he turned away from it, hit Tanner in the chest with enough force to send him sprawling.
Tanner started up again quickly. There was no way he could afford to give Pace time to look round for his gun or weigh in with his feet whilst he was on the floor. Pace tried a follow up kick, but Tanner rolled clear and caught the raised foot in his hands, lifting and twisting as he came up off the ground.
It wasn’t a particularly elegant effort, but Pace was very conscious of the edge of the cliff and tried to fall inland as much as possible. Tanner moved in to finish things off, but Pace managed to trip him up, and a moment later Tanner was on his back with Pace on top of him. As Pace was both stronger and heavier, that was not good news.
Fortunately, Tanner had learnt a lot of his fighting skills from his uncle, topped off by instruction from Ted Manning, and both his mentors were of the opinion that fighting dirty was far more acceptable than losing.
Risking a small earthquake around the Marquis of Queensbury’s grave, Tanner twisted Pace’s ears and, as he pulled back, Tanner was able to heave himself up a little and head butt his opponent. Tanner thought it probably hurt him as much as it did Pace, but it gave him the opportunity to roll out from under. As Pace got to his knees, half blinded, Tanner kidney punched him and that exposed the thick neck for the finishing strike.
Tanner considered kicking Pace while he was down, but it didn’t seem necessary, so instead he looked round anxiously to see how Julie was doing.
Kelly was laid out on the ground unconscious and Julie stood over him looking as calm and poised as ever, in contrast to Tanner’s gasping breaths.
She gave him a salute.
‘Mine weighed more than yours,’ Tanner said, when he’d got enough breath back.
Julie grinned and knelt down to take a look at the crumpled form next to Kelly.
Tanner turned to the woman he assumed was Beverly Wallace, who was kneeling up, still dazed, but looking at him with a mixture of hope and fear. He spotted Pace’s gun a few feet away, picked it up and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
‘Beverly Wallace?’
She nodded.
‘I’m Alec Tanner and the attractive young Amazon over there is Julie Cooper. Your sister asked us to come and help you.’
‘Sandi sent you?’ The dazed look was starting to fade.
‘Yes; she thought Milton had found out where you were hiding.’ Tanner glanced around the battlefield. ‘It looks like she was right.’
‘How is Jeffrey?’ Beverly had managed to get to her feet and walked unsteadily across to Julie.
‘He’ll be OK; he’s starting to come round.’
Tanner looked down at Pace. He was still sleeping, but that desirable state might not last long.
‘We need to get Pace and his mates tucked away somewhere before they wake up. Is there anywhere in the cottage we can put them?’
Beverly shook her head.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘How about a strong, lockable cupboard?’ Julie asked.
‘There’s the cupboard under the stairs, but I don’t think it’s got a lock on it.’
‘That might do.’
Five minutes later they had transported Pace, Gray and Kelly, all still unconscious, into the house and dumped them in the cupboard under the stairs. A line of blood ran down the side of Gray’s face, but his skull seemed intact and he was starting to mutter. There was just enough room in the cupboard for the three of them, provided they were good friends and didn’t get cramp. Tanner and Julie brought the kitchen table through into the narrow hallway, turned it on its side and jammed one end against the cupboard door and the other against the opposite wall. The panel in the centre of the door was thinner than the outside, but the table edge was across the middle and they lodged two of the kitchen chairs in between the door, the table legs and wall so that they couldn’t be shifted very easily. The three men certainly couldn’t get out without making a lot of noise, providing plenty of reaction time. Tanner had emptied their prisoners’ pockets and taken their guns and Gray’s knife, so he thought the arrangement was good enough, at least in the short term.
