'Not well enough, mate. You still haven't given me any clue where Mr Black might be keeping our lass. Wi'out that… well it's "Turn out the lights, the party's over." So tell me the rest of it.
Then we'll see.'
'A farmhouse. That was where the four of us were holed up, and Dave our driver. He didn't know the plan – only where and when to be waiting, and where we were going. Dave used to drive Indy cars. We rehearsed there, in the barn. Practised handling the Sidewinders. Looked at videos of the Castle that Ariel had shot.
She just walked in there like any tourist with a camera, and cased the place. The videos showed us the tunnel entrance and the vay up to the Jewel building.'
'So where's this farmhouse?'
'The nearest name on the map is some place called Longfonhacus – if that's how you say it. East of the City, and south. Way up on the moors, in the middle of nowhere. A shittrack road, way too far for traffic or tourists. Only snakes and sheep up there.'
'Does it have a name?'
'Stocksmoor, it was called. Ariel said Mr Black had rented it for the whole of August and September. So no one else would go up there until weeks after we were clear. If you want to find your i friend's girl, that's where to head first.'
He stared at Arrow again, a plea in his eye.
Adam smiled at him. Along the corridor, the baby's crying hadstopped. He sat on the bed, still holding the tube pinched tightlGently, almost, he took Stewart's right hand in his left.! 'A-l, Carl. A-fookin'-one. That's just what I wanted to hear.'
And then the smile left his face, turning.t as hard as stone.
'But you know summat. I still hate fookin' mercenaries."
Especially them as kills soldiers, like you lot did in the Castle last night!' I He let go of the tube. Now grasping both of Stewart's hands and holding them vicelike, he stared into his eyes, without mercl or pity, as the man struggled in vain to find the strength and the breath to scream, as the air bubble made its way downwards, and finally out of sight.
86
'So how's our man Stewart doing now?'
'Didn't you hear? He had a relapse, the poor bugger. Must 'ave been just a couple of minutes after I left him. What a shame, eh.
Now he won't collect his pension.'
Skinner eyed him pensively, but decided to ask no more questions.
Their helicopter was flying low over the Lammermuirs, away from the setting evening sun. Skinner and Arrow, Martin and Mackie were crammed around the pilot in the small craft. Another helicopter, larger than their Jet Ranger, followed behind, carrying McGuire, Mcllhenney, Maggie Rose and six SAS men in full combat gear. All of the police officers, including Skinner, carried firearms.
'So there could be as many as five of them?'
'Yes, Bob. That's if Mr Black's there too. There's him, Ariel, Ingo and Dave the Indy car driver.'
'Right,' said Skinner. 'We'll assume that they're all there, and that they're all armed. Your men have seen photos of Alex, yes?'
'Yes, Bob. Don't worry, man. They'll know her.'
'God, they'd better!' Skinner's voice betrayed, for just a second, the unbearable tension which gripped him. 'Right, when we get there, we watch for five minutes. Then your guys go in hard, upper and lower floors, in sync. Her life could be in your hands, Adam. I trust you with it, my friend. With everyone else in there, your usual engagement rules apply. Do what you think best, and I'll back you.'
Just as he finished speaking, the helicopters banked in to land, some two miles away from the farmhouse called Stocksmoor.
The group waited until it was fully dark, and until their eyes had grown accustomed to the night conditions, before beginning to move across the moorland towards where their maps indicated the farm buildings lay. They took bearings with compasses as they went, confident of the accuracy of the Ordnance Survey.
The ground was completely open for the first mile or socovered by a mass of tangled heather, still soaking from the stormy of the night before, which caught at their feet as they movi through the night.
'Christ, Bob,' said Arrow. 'What do they farm here?'
'Sheep, mate. Sheep and adders. Watch your ankles.', Eventually the ground began to drop. The clinging heather began to thin out and gave way to grassland and gorse bushes.
They found themselves descending into a narrowing valley, with a dark shape at its heart.
Arrow raised his night-glasses. 'Down there.' His voice was hushed, although they were still more than half a mile from their destination. They moved on.
Three hundred yards from the farm. Arrow drew them all together, police and SAS. He handed Skinner the binoculars.
'Take a look. Bob. Tell us what you see.'
Skinner put the bulky glasses to his eyes, and adjusted the focus wheel.
'There are two buildings. One's a steading or barn of some sort. Looks half ruined. The house is more of a cottage, twostorey, but the upper rooms are in the attic. There's a chink of light through the curtains of one of the upstairs rooms. There's a car in the yard. Looks like a Vitara. I can't see the registration from here.'
'We'll call it in for checking when we get closer,' said Martin.'
'No,' said Skinner. 'We're keeping radio silence, and your mobile won't work up here. It's a blind spot on the network.'
'Any sign of movement?' said Arrow.
'No, none.'
'Right,' said the little soldier. 'My lads approach first. You coppers stay twenty yards behind. Stay quiet and keep your fookin' heads down. OK, lads, you three.' He pointed to the men nearest him. 'On the roof. But not a fookin' sound, mind. The rest of us, on the ground. Five minutes from now, if nowt's changed I fire one shot and we go in like shit off a shovel, through the windows, stun grenades first, then us. Now, you all know what Alex looks like? Confirm that everyone, please.'
Six voices each whispered 'Yes' in the dark.
'Right. Everyone else goes down. No one walks out.' Arrow turned back to Skinner. 'Right, Bob. Once we're in, and the shootin' stops, bring your people in. Better you don't see what, we're up to. But don't worry about your lass. She'll be all right wi' us.'
He gestured to his men, and they moved off towards the house.
Skinner led his group after them at the distance Arrow had specified, keeping low and taking whatever cover they could.
Eventually, behind the dilapidated steading, they hid in waiting.
Skinner checked his watch and counted down softly. He felt his heart race.
'Christ, Andy,' he muttered softly to Martin.
'I know, Bob. I know. But it'll be all right.'
Seconds later they heard Arrow's single gunshot. Its echoes still rang round the valley as the sound of shattering glass reached their ears, and the stun grenades exploded.
They waited for more shooting, but there was none.
Skinner waited for a call from Arrow, but none came.
'Come on, people,' he said grimly. 'Sounds like there's no one there. Let's go in.' They rushed from their cover towards the house. Light was blazing now from all of its windows.
Three of the SAS men stood in the lower hallway of the shabby dwelling. It smelled of damp, but of recent occupancy too. The aroma of ground coffee came from the kitchen, blown through on the night breeze from the shattered window.
Skinner stepped into the room to the right, off the hall. It was deserted. A small television set in the corner was switched on, but the sound had been turned down, either by the departed occupants or by the soldiers.
Martin, still standing in the hall, was the first to realise that none of the SAS soldiers would look at Skinner. A small knot of apprehension grew in the pit of his stomach. He looked up the narrow flight of wooden-banistered stairs.
Adam Arrow stood at the top. His voice was sad, desperately sad, and once again devoid of accent as he called from the upper floor – looking down not at Martin, but beyond him at Skinner, who had stepped back into the hallway.