Thorn In My Side (29 page)

'Right, then.
See you back here,' Aunt May answered, as she turned and walked off
in the opposite direction.

6.50 pm

Aunt May had
searched every street and alleyway, looking into back yards and
every other place she could think of. She decided to go and look
around the old monastery. The monastery was built in AD 635 for the
Irish-born St Aidan, and around the early seven hundreds the
Lindisfarne Gospels had been created there.

Aunt May was
thinking of the Gospels when she reached the monastery. Most of the
villagers' hearts were in the right place, but she just didn’t
trust these strangers, who had turned up out of the blue and riled
people up. A worthy cause, yes, but what were these people really
after?

Although
well-preserved in some places, the monastery was still a ruin. A
large ruin though, with plenty of hiding places for a boy and a dog
who didn’t want to be found.

She was just
entering the main gate when she heard whispering voices. Pausing,
she listened intently. It sounded like there were at least three of
them. Then came the sound of digging.

Her heart rate
increased.
What are they doing?
she wondered, as she hid
behind one of the ancient walls and peeped round. Too late, she
heard a sound behind her. She spun round, and saw a rush of
movement. A moment later the blow to her head rendered her
unconscious. Slowly she slid down the wall, first scraping the skin
off her cheek, then snagging her blue cardigan on the rough
stone.

6.55 pm

Mike had walked
the full length of the beach towards Beal. He’d bumped into a lone
man out with his dog, and remembered why the place seemed so
deserted. Most of the islanders were at the meeting. Now back where
he started, he set off in the other direction. As he turned a rocky
outcrop, he noticed some markings in the flat damp sand. At first
he ignored them, but they seemed to be everywhere, stretching from
the land, across the sand to the water’s edge. Frowning, he studied
the nearest set. They looked familiar, but no memory of them came
rushing to his mind.

Moving on, he
was puzzled. The markings seemed to go on and on. He scanned the
beach, and spotted a small boy doodling in the sand with a large
stick or twig. Mike frowned. Could that be Smiler?

He knew for
sure a moment later, when a large dog came out of the sea, ran up
to the boy and showered him with water as it gave a gigantic shake.
The boy ignored the dog, and carried on with his frantic
scrawling.

Mike sighed,
pleased he’d found Smiler, but upset at what he was doing.

Looking at the
marks again, and shocked by the amount, all in rigid lines of five,
Mike muttered, 'The poor sod must have been at it for hours.' He
looked back along the beach at Smiler. With a deep sigh, he headed
off towards him.

When he reached
him, Smiler was again talking in unintelligible quick time.
'Smiler,' Mike said, gently touching his shoulder. 'What’s all
this?' He indicated the marks in the sand -- then found himself
staring at them.

'No, can’t
be!'

At the sound of
Mike’s voice, as if someone had pressed a switch, Smiler stopped
talking and scribbling.

'Mike!'

But Mike was
walking back and forth, studying each identical section of marks
from different angles. Suddenly he shouted, 'Dave!' Spinning round,
he faced Smiler. For a moment he stared at him in wonder.
'How?'

Smiler shook
his head as Tiny, hearing Mike shout, came bounding up. The dog
jumped up to be patted. 'Yes, yes, hello, Tiny.' Mike stroked his
head, but his eyes were still on Smiler. 'How?' he asked again.

'I don’t know.
Those symbols have been burning in my head all day. But…' He looked
around. As far as the eye could see the sand was covered in them.
'I don’t remember doing any of this,' he muttered, his voice shaky,
his eyes wide and staring. Frightened at the scale of the markings,
he ran his fingers through his hair. 'What does it mean?'

'It’s something
we made up as kids. See the backwards-facing D? That’s for Dave.
The three interlocking circles are also his sign. The number of
wavy lines above them means danger. The more lines there are, the
more danger he’s in.'

Smiler looked
at the signs again. 'Looks like he’s in a hell of a lot of danger,
then.'

Taking his
phone out, Mike dialled Kristina. When she answered he said, 'That
missing note, can you describe what was on it?'

'Looked like
nothing more than a bunch of circles and some wavy lines. Why?'

'Send a couple
of squad cars, packed with as many cops as you can squeeze in, to
the monastery on the mainland. ASAP, no sirens or any noise. I’ll
explain when I see you.' Without waiting for an answer, he snapped
his phone shut.

Hurrying away,
Mike said over his shoulder to Smiler, 'You go and find Aunt May.
She’s worried sick about you. She’ll be somewhere in the
village.'

He took off at
a run, leaving a puzzled Smiler staring after him.

7.15 pm

Brother Josh’s
lips moved in silent prayer as he walked down the hall. Shelly
spotted him, and knew instinctively that he was coming for her. She
froze, watching every step he made. She knew, in those steps her
fate was sealed.

Cassie was also
watching him. She couldn’t begin to imagine that they would kill
her. She hung onto the hope that they would be rescued. But she
also had a good idea of what was going to happen, and to her it was
a fate worse than death. She started to sob.

Danny looked
up, then stared from one girl to another. His heart rate speeded
up. No way could he stand still and let this happen to either of
them.

What to
do?

His mind raced,
rejecting everything he thought of. He knew that at this end of the
hall were two sheds connected to the main building, where most of
the pot was grown. He’d spotted a door from one of the sheds which
led into the garden.
But how the hell to get out of the garden,
with those friggin' electronic gates controlling everyone
who enters and everyone who leaves? Shit!

Brother Josh
reached them.

Where’s the
prat with the gun?
Danny looked quickly round, but couldn’t see
him. As Brother Josh took each girl by the arms, Danny reacted in
typical Danny fashion.

7.20 pm

Mike stopped
the car behind a thick hedgerow, where he knew he couldn’t be seen
from the monastery. Taking a minute to whip off his white T-shirt,
and shrugging into a black one which he kept in the car for
emergencies, he quickly and quietly jumped out of the car, locked
it, and ran along the road. The body had been found early yesterday
morning in the yard that was used by a lot of policemen. Mike had a
feeling that, if he was right, Dave wanted more than one person
there when the body and the note were discovered. That had to mean
there was someone in the station he didn’t trust. The CCTV camera
had shown nothing, and still showed nothing four hours later, when
someone went outside and had a look, and found the camera lens
covered in grey tape.

Kristina had
said there were thirty seconds of tape, showing a large man wearing
a hood, who kept his head down as he ran across the yard. A minute
later, the tape went blank. Whoever it was had shoved the large
black dustbin under the camera to reach it.

It must have
been Dave. His habit could have been mistaken for a hoodie.

He reached the
door in the wall, which was also hidden from outside by overgrown
ivy. He had to rummage amongst the leaves until he found the door,
and was pleased that it was unlocked. Obviously Dave’s doing.

Again, he
wondered what the hell was going on, and why the note had
disappeared. He froze. 'Shit,' he whispered, 'The note disappeared
after Tony was in the office… Where the hell does he fit into all
of this?'

Frowning, he
opened the door, He remembered that it used to squeak, but no. It
opened silently. Thank God. Dave must have oiled it. Closing the
door behind him, he rearranged the ivy, then, hugging the wall, he
ran to the first of the sheds and peered into the window just as
Brother Josh reached Danny and the girls.

7.21 pm

Danny launched
a fist at Brother Josh. It connected with the end of his chin,
felling him immediately. Shocked, for a moment Danny could only
stare. Too late, the option for action was lost as the gunman
walked in.

'What the
fuck?' He ran down towards them, his gun pointed at Danny.

Shaking, Danny
held his hands up. 'He… he just collapsed, honest to God, he
fainted or something. Yeah, that’s what must have happened, he
fucking fainted, didn’t he?'

Cassie nodded.
'Yes, that’s what happened, he must be poorly. Do you think he’s
poorly?' Her eyes were a picture of innocence as she looked at the
gunman.

Ignoring her,
he snarled, 'Get out of the way, bitch. You! ' He poked Danny in
the ribs with his gun. Danny gritted his teeth, doing his best not
to show any pain. 'Pick him up.' The gunman sneered in Danny’s
face.

Trying hard to
get a grip on his temper, Danny bent down and hauled Brother Josh
to a standing position. He managed out of sheer stubbornness, but
the pain made him feel like fainting. What stopped him was the fact
that he knew, if he hit the deck, Ugly Fart Face Gunman wouldn’t
waste the opportunity to get a few more kicks in. One more blow
would probably crunch his rib cage to bits. He shivered inwardly at
the picture.
Can you walk with no ribs?

Christ, can
you do anything with no ribs?

'Wait here,'
the gunman snarled at Danny. Turning to the girls, he said, 'Follow
me.'

'No.' Cassie
backed away. 'No. I want to go home.'

He looked
suspiciously at Cassie, before stealing a quick glance at Shelly,
who stood with her head down. She was swaying, and looked as if she
might collapse at any time. Taking a step forward, he thrust his
face into Cassie’s, grabbed her arm and shook her hard. 'You been
taking the goodies?' He frowned at her. 'Or palming them?'

'She’s been
taking them,' a voice said from behind him.

The gunman
swung round. 'Where the fuck have you been?'

'I got here as
soon as I could,' Brother David answered.

Gently, he took
hold of Cassie’s hand. He shot a puzzled look at Danny, who was
still holding Brother Josh up, and was about to ask what the
problem was when the gunman snarled, 'Get on with your
business.'

Trying to
conceal his worry, Brother David said, 'Don’t be afraid, child.
Come with me.' He felt a self-loathing so intense, as Cassie
pleaded with her eyes for his help, that for a moment he was unable
to move – until a poke in the ribs with the gun spurred him on.

He could save
this one. She was still fit and strong enough to make a run for it.
Just along the corridor, and they could disappear. But how many
would that madman take vengeance on? A new shipment was due in an
hour. Just about every one of the children here was now expendable.
He thought hard as he walked along the corridor. Reaching the door
to freedom, he passed by. As much as he wanted to save this one
child, his conscience would not allow him to have even more blood
on his hands.

It had not
taken Mike long to suss out exactly what was going on. The smell
would be enough for anyone. He’d watched what had transpired
between the gunman, the two girls and Danny, seen how gaunt Dave
was, and the heartbreaking state of the others in there. It all
brought his blood to boiling point.

Taking a wild
guess, he ran round the side of the building, praying he’d
remembered rightly that there was a door on this side of the
building and not the other.

He spotted the
door only because it was slightly ajar.
Dave’s doing
, he
wondered,
or a trap?
Slowing down to minimize any noise, he
reached the door. His back flat against the wall, he used his left
foot to push the door open.

Silently it
moved inwards. Well oiled, again. It had to be Dave. He took
courage in the fact that Dave obviously had enough faith in him to
think that he would understand the note. Pushing off from the wall,
he spun into the small corridor that led into the larger one. Three
strides took him to the next door. He put his ear to one of the
panels. After a moment he heard a noise, two separate pairs of
feet. He guessed rightly that Dave and Cassie had already passed
by, so these must be the creep with the gun and Shelly.

Judging the
right moment, he flung the door open, and threw himself onto the
shocked gunman.

7.30 pm

Smiler and Tiny
had walked round the nearly deserted island, and found no sign of
Aunt May. Frustrated, Smiler turned for home. 'Not even a whiff of
her,' he muttered to Tiny, then stopped in his tracks. 'That’s it!'
He looked at the dog. 'Time to show if you’re worth your keep, boy.
Come on.'

At a run, he
headed for Aunt May’s house. Practically falling through the back
door, he grabbed one of Aunt May’s countless wool cardigans off a
peg. 'Here, boy find.' He had no idea if Tiny was any good at
fetching or finding, but if there was any chance it might work, he
had to give it a go. He rubbed the cardigan on Tiny’s nose. The dog
barked, then grabbed a mouthful of the cardigan, thinking he was
playing tug-of-war.

'No, no.'
Smiler carefully disentangled the dog’s teeth from the wool.
'Find.' He rubbed the cardigan over Tiny’s nose again, repeating,
'Find!' as he guided Tiny towards the back door.

Outside, Tiny
sniffed the ground. Suddenly he started barking loudly and set off
at a run, yanking the lead out of Smiler’s hand. Catching him,
Smiler allowed Tiny to lead him around the streets. The dog paused
now and then, before setting off in a different direction that led
him back to the same place. Smiler guessed that perhaps Aunt May
had passed over the various points more than once.