Scarlet pointed her phone at the Saab. “Yes! He’s going into Funland!”
“And trying to lose us in the crowd,” Hawke said, sighing. Everywhere he looked he saw men, women and children milling about in their raincoats, many carrying umbrellas. He gave an appreciative nod — he liked people who weren’t afraid of a bit of weather.
Scarlet checked her gun once more and slid it inside her holster out of sight. “He’s obviously rattled or he’d never have come in here in the first place.”
Hawke shook his head. “It’s not that. He knows this city about as well as we do — he’s lost and looking for any way out he can get.”
“He’s got a way out, all right,” she said, tapping the gun under her jacket.
They leaped from the Hilux and sprinted into the bustling crowd. Deprez crossed a large car park and disappeared into some trees up ahead.
Hawke and Scarlet followed closely, doing their best not to panic the people around them.
Looking ahead they saw Deprez was now moving into the main part of the park.
Hawke didn’t know how many of those were repeat-visitors, but he guessed not many of those present today would be in a hurry to return to Funland.
They watched as the serial killer pushed his way through the crowd, weaving deeper into the park as he went. The axe handle fragment under his arm was attracting a few looks here and there, but thankfully his gun seemed to be out of sight — more for his benefit than anything else. People screaming and pointing at him was hardly conducive to a successful escape.
Deprez moved deeper into the park and was now in a street lined with small wooden houses. They were decorated with flashing light bulbs and promised all the fun of the fair, but the Belgian had something else on his mind: evasion. He scanned the area for an escape route and saw his chance — a building with a wooden fascia and the words Kärleks Tunneln — the tunnel of love.
“Why’s he going in there?” Scarlet asked.
“Maybe he’s trying to give you a hint.”
A withering glance came his way but he never saw it. He was too busy focussing on the hunt. They moved through the crowd and went inside the Tunnel of Love.
In the darkness, Scarlet pulled her weapon and moved the slider to put a bullet in the chamber. “I hope they don’t have to rename this place the Tunnel of Blood after we’re finished.”
Hawke hoped so too, and the two of them moved into the darkness.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Hawke strained his eyes in the darkness to see Marcus Deprez. The little train that took people around the tunnel was obviously at another stage of the ride, so Hawke and Scarlet climbed down onto the tracks and began to move forward on foot, passing beneath an enormous red love heart which served as the start of the ride.
“Where the hell is the bastard?”
A bright muzzle-flash in the darkness ahead and the sound of a bullet smacking into the wooden panels behind him was his answer.
Scarlet ducked for cover. “You had to ask, didn’t you?”
Suddenly a faint red glow emanated from bulbs hidden somewhere above them and they caught a glimpse of Deprez as he rounded a bend and slipped out of sight further ahead in the tunnel.
“There he is!” Hawke said.
They moved ahead and found themselves in a long tunnel of moulded plastic designed to look like they were in a cave deep underground. As they progressed, fairytale music began to play. Designed to be cute, it took on a sinister and eerie feel under the circumstances.
Further along now, they passed little models of Animatronic elves waving cheerily at them from a landscape of miniature waterfalls and fairy lights.
“This place is giving me the creeps,” Scarlet said. “Tunnel of Terror, more like.”
“Just be grateful he never ran into the Fun House,” Hawke said.
Now they passed another Animatronic scene of tiny people making brightly-colored cakes in a little kitchen. The figurines spoke to each other in Swedish, and canned laughter ensued, but their amazement was shattered by the sound of another gunshot.
The bullet traced past them and blew the head off one of the smiling elves, reducing it to a cloud of dust. The headless elf continued to wave happily as Hawke fired back. He heard a moan of pain.
“I think you got him!”
They heard another gunshot, but this time it was followed by the unmistakable sound of people screaming. Hawke and Scarlet knew those screams meant their man had caught up with the ride and was trying to clear the tunnel.
They reached the exit of the tunnel which was now a chaotic space of terrified people and confused park security. One look at Hawke and Scarlet and their guns sent another wave of fear through the crowd, but they had no time to explain. Looking over the people they saw Deprez limping away from the ride and heading toward the edge of the park. Hawke had obviously hit him in the leg.
The wounded Belgian moved past a small fountain before turning and firing blindly in their direction. The bullets could have hit anyone, including a number of children, but luckily they missed and struck the metal support struts of the rollercoaster. Another eruption of fear convulsed through the day-trippers and they scrambled in a dozen directions looking for cover.
Deprez cursed and returned to his escape, going as fast as his limp would allow. With the axe handle in his other hand he resembled a caveman as he tried to drag himself to the safety of the shadows.
“He’s not going on that thing, is he?” Scarlet pointed to the Skräcken, an inverted roller coaster from which people were strapped into their seats and dangled beneath the rail. “Did his parents not love him enough as a kid, or what?”
“No, I don’t think so — to either question… I think he’s heading in there because it’s on the outside of the park and the easiest way out.” Hawke pointed to the House of Horrors.
“You’ve got to be joking!”
“No — and there he goes!”
They reached the House of Horrors, a building designed to look like a broken-down, haunted house. It was on the southern edge of the park overlooking a number of boats moored at Waldemarsviken, a small bay off the coast of Djurgården and the smaller island of Beckholmen to the west.
Scarlet looked at Hawke. “Not scared are you?”
Hawke gave her a look but made no reply.
Ordinarily the experience would have been a busy affair with people enjoying the horror, but after Deprez’s intervention with his gun, the ride was now deserted as the people scrambled and cowered outside, waiting nervously for the police to show up.
Hawke and Scarlet moved into yet more darkness, only this time cheery elves and cake shops had been replaced with mannequins covered in blood and decapitated heads hanging from meat hooks.
A burst of gunfire emanated from the top of a stairwell and they gave chase, knowing they were closing in on a badly injured man. He would be even more deranged and irrational than usual.
The sound of heavily reverbed moaning and screams filled the house, booming from speakers tucked away out of sight. All of it was designed to terrify those who had entered the House of Horrors, but Marcus Deprez was providing enough terror all on his own.
With Hawke in the lead, gun raised and ready to fire, they moved down the stairs and drew closer to their target. This part of the horror experience was designed to look like some kind of abandoned asylum, with white tiled walls smeared in blood. Most of it was the fake, theatrical kind, but Hawke realized halfway down the steps that some of it was real and had been left by the wounded Deprez as he’d limped down the steps.
In the basement of the house now, they were surrounded by more scenes of horror and the noise of the screams and moans over the sound system seemed louder now. It would have unsettled most people, but Hawke and Scarlet weren’t most people so they pushed on undeterred.