Outlined against the brighter backdrop of the skyline, Stone could see the silhouette of two people in the car. The driver was a man of medium height and build, Stone guessed that this was Anton Stephens. The second man was so large that his shoulders were wider than the seat, and his head almost touched the interior roof. For three minutes they remained seated, apparently chatting together. Over the sharp tick of the engine and exhaust pipe cooling, Stone could hear music from the car radio, soft voices, and the occasional shared laughter. When the passenger door opened, it triggered the interior light, seemingly as bright as a spotlight in the darkness. Stone quickly shut his eyes to protect his night vision. When he looked up again he could see the massive bulk of Alexis Markov standing just a few feet away. He was facing directly towards where Eric was hiding.
Markov seemed to be staring directly at Stone, and Eric started to think he had been spotted huddled behind the bushes. Then the giant Ukrainian casually opened his zipper, and with a loud sigh, he relieved himself against the nearest bush. Stone remained motionless and concentrated on breathing through his mouth as the stink of warm urine floated past. Markov finished with a grunt and a few shakes and after zipping up, he turned to face the lake. A few seconds later, he lit a cigarette.
Although the lighting was good enough to hit a stationary target from such close range, Stone decided that there was no need to use the crossbow. He did not want to needlessly take a life, or risk causing a noisy injury that would alert Stephens to their presence. With the advantage of surprise and his martial arts skills, Stone felt that he was close enough to tackle Markov quietly and quietly.
Keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the Ukrainian’s broad back, Stone used his arms to push up from the soft grass, silently bringing his knees forward until he was in a crouch. He waited for a moment, then slowly stood upright, bouncing gently on the balls of his feet to prepare his legs for what was about to follow.
Stone waited until he saw the cigarette glow brightly, indicating that Markov was drawing another deep lungful of smoke. Intent on closing the gap as quickly as possible, Stone took several quick steps towards the Ukrainian. Perhaps he heard a slight crunch of gravel, or some lizard like sixth sense, but at the last moment Markov started to turn to his left — by then it was too late.
Stone had planned to deliver a sharp punch to the back of Markov’s neck, with a blow that was most likely to knock the giant Ukrainian unconscious. Seeing that his quarry was alert and turning, Stone instantly changed his plan in to a full-force attack. Sprinting forward, Stone drove his entire weight through his right shoulder and arm, into the side of Markov’s neck, with a forearm elbow strike. With all the force of a swinging sledgehammer, the strike landed perfectly on the target.
There was surprisingly little noise, even though bone had met muscle with such incredible force. Feeling as if he had just struck a brick wall, Stone stopped dead and rocked backwards, but Markov seemed completely unaffected. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Stone was just preparing to deliver a second attack, when the giant man silently crumpled to the gravel and lay still.
Stone quickly rolled the Ukrainian onto his stomach and secured his hands and feet with some cable ties. A quick search for weapons revealed a switchblade and a pistol. Stone put the knife in his pocket and then checked that the gun was loaded and ready to use. At that moment, Carter slipped silently to his side.
“Jesus, Stone,” he whispered, “I’m glad that wasn’t me you hit!”
Stone dismissed the comment with a shrug and pointed to the car, indicating that Carter should take the right door while he took the left. As they moved into position, their soft footsteps were drowned by the deep base still thumping from the car’s sound system. Stone looked at Carter and mouthed a three-second countdown, and with a shared nod, they moved into action. Carter stepped forward and tapped on the driver side window with the shotgun. As Anton Stephens spun to his right in surprise, Stone used his left hand to snatch the rear passenger door open. In one swift movement, he slid into the car and pushed the gun barrel into the depression behind the drug dealer’s left ear.
Stephens instantly tried to shout for Markov, but he quickly fell silent when Stone rapped him sharply on the back of his head with the pistol. Carter opened the driver’s door and leaned in with a wide smile.
“It’s no good shouting Stephens, your pet monkey’s sleeping.”
Stephens turned to Carter and gave him a venomous look.
“I’m going to rip your fucking balls off and feed them to my dogs, you cun—”
His words were instantly cut short as Carter smashed him full in the face with the butt-end of the shotgun. Stephens recoiled away from the blow, and then slowly sat up, shaking his head. He was starting to swear again, but Carter hit him twice more in quick succession. As Anton Stephens slumped forward, bleeding heavily from his nose and mouth, Stone grabbed his left arm, pulled it through the gap in the seats, and bent it back and upwards until the drug dealer began to scream in pain.
“Ok, I’ve got him,” Stone said, easing the pressure very slightly.
Carter shut the driver’s door, quickly walked around the car and jumped into the passenger side.
“Well, this is cozy,” Ed said as he switched off the radio. “Now, you scum sucking low life, we’re going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer honestly and fully. If you don’t, my friend here is going to rip your arm off and beat you to death with it. Is that clear?”
“Fucmph… ” Stephens mumbled through bloodied lips.
Stone lifted Stephens’ elbow until the drug dealer began to wail again. Carter leaned in closer.
“I’m an impatient man, Stephens. You have but one chance to co-operate. Answer ‘yes’ if you want to live.”
“Y-e-s… ” Stephens croaked softly.
“Good. Now, let us begin simply,” Carter said lightly. “You recently arranged for some people to follow and watch Charles Rathbone. Who ordered you to do this?”
“I don’t know,” Stephens answered slowly. He screamed loudly as Stone again added pressure to his twisted shoulder. “Ah… ah… please… honest, I don’t know.”
“Explain,” Carter said, waving for Stone to relax his grip.
“I have a marketing business… it’s legit. About a month ago, I got a call from a man calling himself ‘Mr. Smith’. He wanted some local talent to keep an eye on someone — offered me a grand a week, so I accepted. The next day an old guy walks up to me in a bar’s parking lot, right in front of Alexis. Bald as brass he gives me an envelope and says, ‘Here’s your instructions and payment for two weeks’, and then he walked away. I’d never seen him before or since.”
“Describe him,” Carter ordered.
Stephens responded instantly.
“He was a tall guy, thin face, old… probably sixty… goatee beard, long dark trench coat and a tweed hat…, what d’ya call it with the rim and a feather on the side?”
“Do you mean a trilby hat?”
“Yeah… one of those.”
“Tell me about the instructions,” Carter snapped.
“There was cash in the envelope and directions to send someone with local knowledge to a parking lot in Colchester at 10am the next day— that was it. I sent one of my people, Darren Jeffers, so he could pay off some of his debt like. They kept him for two weeks and I kept the money. End of story.” Stephens sat up and relaxed slightly.
“Where is the envelope — the money and the directions? I want to see them.”
“All gone. The money’s spent, and I chucked the envelope. The directions was all on one page of paper, computer printed — that was it.”
Carter turned towards Stone and raised an eyebrow, inviting him to ask any follow-up questions. Stone shrugged, indicating that he had nothing to add. Like the good cop that he was, Carter got Stephens to go over his answers a second time, just to check his story for holes and lies. Everything checked out — and they still had nothing. Ed sat back, lightly resting the shotgun on his lap while he thought about what to do next. Everyone relaxed slightly.