RECRUITED: A Mike Humber Novella (Demon Series Book One) (11 page)

‘Just keep moving.’

The phone vibrates and I look down but the screen is locked. She reaches over and keys the code.

Tell me, Elizabeth. What does your own shit taste like?

Tell me, Elizabeth. What does your own shit taste like?

Tell me, Elizabeth. What does your own shit taste like?

Tell me, Elizabeth. What does your own shit taste like?

I’m doing it because I love you…

I’m doing it because I love you…

I’m doing it because I love you…

I’m doing it because I love you…

‘Mike…’ she whispers with a terrified look.

Did you and Mike have a nice evening? Did you enjoy fucking a killer?

Did you and Mike have a nice evening? Did you enjoy fucking a killer?

Did you and Mike have a nice evening? Did you enjoy fucking a killer?

Did you and Mike have a nice evening? Did you enjoy fucking a killer?

‘Straight across,’ reaching the road and I guide her across her the empty highway and into the fields on the other side. The town is roughly back in this direction and we can’t afford to be on the road.

‘He wasn’t there,’ she gasps, ‘there’s no way anyone followed us and watched…and…and he couldn’t have heard what we said anyway…Mike?!’

‘Be quiet,’ I snap and focus on getting away from here as fast as possible. Williams could have bugged the car in fear of Verhoeven grassing him up. He bugged the car and heard every word we said. The bit about Elizabeth fucking a killer is a lucky guess.

Poor Mike you closed your eyes and imagined it was Tessa

Poor Mike you closed your eyes and imagined it was Tessa

Poor Mike you closed your eyes and imagined it was Tessa

Poor Mike you closed your eyes and imagined it was Tessa

Poor Mike you closed your eyes and imagined it was Tessa

Poor Mike you closed your eyes and imagined it was Tessa

Poor Mike you closed your eyes and imagined it was Tessa

‘What does that mean?’ Elizabeth asks, ‘last night?’

‘Forget it, he bugged the car.’

‘Did you think of Tessa last night?’

‘He’s playing with us,’ I snap.

‘Did you think of Tessa last night?’

‘No!’ I lie partly to deny him the victory and partly because who would ever admit to that?

‘Mike, I’m not bothered if you did but tell me the truth…how does he know that?’

‘He doesn't know anything. He bugged the car so he’d know if Verhoeven ratted him out, he heard what we did and…’

‘But he doesn't know we fucked last night,’ she counters, ‘or the other stuff.’

‘Other stuff?’ I ask her and it’s her turn to deny him the victory and avoid the admittance she was turned on by fucking a killer. ‘He’s trying to freak us out.’

‘It’s working,’ she mutters.

‘He’s a clever fucker, always was…he knew the cameras were there when I caught him…he knew
where
I would catch him and he knew where I would take him to wait for the transport…he was prepared to take that beating knowing the consequences…’

Tell me Mike did you enjoy watching me? Did you and Elizabeth enjoy my fun with the little girl?

‘Fuck,’ she stammers, ‘how does…’

‘I just told you! You are not listening to me. He’s worked it out. He’s figured out we must have recorded the room he rented. He knows De Smet was killed and he heard us with Verhoeven.

‘That doesn't connect him to me,’ she snaps, ‘how would he know who I am?’

I look at her and shake my head. ‘We used each other’s first names.’ I soften my tone and take a breath. ‘Elizabeth,’ I swap the phone to my left hand and take hers in my right as we walk to the side of the field, ‘he’s playing us to buy time so he can get away. We need to move fast and not get…’

What does your own shit taste like Miss Bouvier

What does your own shit taste like Miss Bouvier

What does your own shit taste like Miss Bouvier

Right. This is fucked up. Completely fucked up. Really completely fucked up. ‘Someone sold you out?’ I suggest quickly, ‘someone from your firm?’

‘There’s only one person that knows anything about this,’ she looks completely terrified, shaken to the core.

‘Must be him then.’

‘Her,’ she cuts me off, ‘and no, she wouldn’t.’

‘How do you know? She must have told him…or made contact or…’

‘My sister?’ she asks scathingly, ‘my sister who was also abused by him? No, I don’t think so.’

Really really fucked up.

‘Is she the one you called in the café earlier?’

She nods. ‘She works for me, has done since I started the company.’

‘Elizabeth, I’m really sorry but assess the facts and make an informed decision. How would Williams know you’re here? He wouldn’t. Unless someone told him.’

‘She wouldn’t!’ she hisses, ‘not ever. She hates him more than me. She’s a fucking recluse because of what he did…she never goes out, never dates, never…’ she trails off into a silence of memories. ‘She wouldn’t…’ her words snap off as her own personal phone rings. Digging it out from her pocket she casts me a worried look before answering the call. ‘Alison? Calm down…Alison! You have to slow down…what? Hang on…’ she puts the phone on loudspeaker, ‘Alison, Mike is here, he’s listening.’

‘
He’s texting me,’
the female voice from the phone is sobbing audibly, ‘
he’s fucking texting me, Elizabeth!’

‘Alison,’ Elizabeth forces a calming tone into her voice, ‘just slow down and tell me what he said.’

‘
He said…he said ‘I missed you.’
She sobs again before taking enough breath to keep going, ‘
he said, ‘Tell Liz and Mike there is a god and a devil and the devil is waiting…’

‘Oh Alison, he’s playing with us,’ Elizabeth uses the tactic I was deploying but seconds before, ‘he knows we’re here and we’re going for him right now…’

‘How did he get my number?’
Alison sobs, ‘
you’re the only person who knows it.’

‘I don’t know, Alison. But we’re going to find out okay. We’ll fix this,’ Elizabeth says.

‘
He’s texting again…’

‘Alison, it’s Mike here. Can you read it out?’

‘
It says… ‘the devil is waiting…’

‘Okay, Alison. Stay calm. He’s doing this because we’re closing in on him. This is a reaction of fear and panic,’ I explain quickly with another look round, ‘he’s trying to spook us to buy time so he can get away.’

A bleeping noise comes over the loudspeaker on Elizabeth’s phone at the same time as Verhoeven’s phone vibrates in my hand.

‘
Another message…oh my god!’

‘What is it?’ I ask while Elizabeth keys in the code on Verhoeven’s phone.

‘
The devil doesn’t panic…’
Alison reads as Elizabeth shows me the message screen on Verhoeven’s mobile.

The devil doesn't panic

The devil doesn't panic

The devil is waiting

The devil doesn't panic

The devil is waiting

I do not panic

I am waiting

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

The bleeps of Alison’s phone receiving multiple streams of messages are loud and clear as Verhoeven’s phone buzzes in Elizabeth’s hand.

‘Alison.’ I force my voice to remain calm despite the rising sense of panic. ‘Switch your phone off…does she have a landline?’ Elizabeth nods. ‘Alison, it’s me,’ she says, ‘do what Mike says, switch the phone off.’

Alison doesn't say goodbye but ends the call abruptly just leaving the buzzing phone giving noise to the otherwise serene landscape.

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

See you soon Mike

The messages end just as abruptly as Alison ended her call and we’re plunged into silence.

I take Elizabeth’s hand in mine and pull her closer. ‘One of
us
is bugged,’ I whisper. She nods without looking at me but I nudge her gently. When she looks over I press a finger to my lips and she nods again, a small movement that only serves to make her look more fearful.

We walk in silence across fields that take us ever further away from the burning corpse of the man we murdered. Into wasteland surrounded by abandoned industrial units decaying from neglect and onto a road and suddenly we’re back in civilisation and just a normal couple on holiday walking hand in hand through the quiet streets of Belgium.

Not clothing. Placing a listening device in clothing is possible but very bloody hard and the technology is also very expensive to make something that small that can transmit any suitable distance. The bag I’m carrying is new and hasn’t left my side since I got it. The only thing left are the phones. We have three of them now. Elizabeth’s own mobile, the one she gave me and Verhoeven’s phone. Verhoeven’s could be bugged or adapted to be used as a listening device but that wouldn’t account for the stuff Williams apparently knew before we got to Lars Verhoeven.

Elizabeth’s and mine then. If Williams had the merest suggestion that he was being tracked he could have deployed counter measures. Elizabeth said that every search they do leaves a footprint. Maybe Williams found those footprints and realised she was closing in on him. He could have paid someone in her organisation to access her phone. All it would take is for her phone to have a hidden background programme running, one she was never aware existed and Williams would not only have access to every bit of data on her phone but could activate it into a listening device. My knowledge of technology lets me down at that point as I consider if he could activate the camera lens of the phone to gain a viewable image.

I stare at Elizabeth until she finally glances at me. I blink once and nod. She nods back.

‘I think,’ I say with a heavy sigh, ‘that we’re out of our depth.’

She stares at me with a puzzled expression, ‘go on,’ she prompts gently.

‘Going for Williams is dangerous, we should just send the footage into the news agencies and leave it. It’ll connect the deaths of De Smet and Verhoeven and the police will think Williams killed them both to prevent them talking.’

‘Right,’ she stays looking confused, ‘so he’ll be a fugitive,’ she thinks for a second, ‘but that takes time, time enough for him to get away.’

‘That’s his problem,’ I sigh again as though tired to the bone, ‘We’ve made a statement…so let’s just leave it.’

She’s a sharp woman and she has the sense to wait before replying, making it look like she’s thinking. ‘I don’t want to,’ she says heavily, ‘but…I see the sense in it.’ She shrugs. ‘Okay, we’ll do that.’

The phone vibrates the second she finishes speaking and I wait while she puts the code in.

Nice try see you tonight Mike and Elizabeth Markt Square we’ll meet for a chat the devil is waiting I am waiting I will see you

‘That,’ I say wearily, ‘is really shit grammar. I mean, not one fucking comma or full stop,’ I tut. ‘Williams,’ I speak clearly into the air, ‘you are a fucked up pathetic little weasel cunt that craves attention like a crappy Bond villain…fuck you…I had you once and…

But you lost me once too

‘He can text fast,’ Elizabeth remarks, ‘I’ll give him that. Faster than a bloody teenager.’

‘De Smet died slowly,’ I say. ‘He cried and begged the same way Verhoeven cried and begged. Why? Because you’re all the same. Addicted to the power of abusing people who can’t fight back and you’re terrified of someone stronger, harder and more dangerous than you. I’m coming for you, Williams and you’ll beg, weep and cry just the same as they did…’

Markt Square 6 café opposite the tower

‘And you can’t use punctuation for shit either,’ I speak into the phone and just in case he’s watching me through the camera I grin and stick my finger up. Then after waiting for the traffic to go past I drop the phone on the ground and slam my boot down again and again. The phone crunches, splinters and breaks into plastic chunks. I keep going to destroy whatever devices or bugs he’s got in there. The bits are scuffed and booted into the road and across the pavement. ‘He might have bugged our phones too,’ I say before she blurts anything out, ‘do you need yours?’

Shaking her head she pulls it from her pocket and hands it over. I take mine and hold the two together as we keep walking back towards old Bruges and the many canals that weave through the historic city. We stop to lean against a low wall and stare down into the murky depths as the Belgian versions of Gondolas glide by. When the view is clear I drop both phones into the water below and smile as they sink out of sight.

‘Clear?’ she whispers.

‘Hope so.’ I glance up at her. ‘At least we’re being pro-active and not clinging to his assumed form of control.’

She sags and breathes out slowly as the immediate tension eases slightly. ‘You okay?’ I ask quietly.