Exit Wounds (17 page)

What the fuck are they bringing me here for?

Gary nodded towards the security checkpoint, “Come on, let’s get moving.”

Mullet Man and his friend gave Paul a little push to start him on his way. Gary strolled right up to the checkpoint and tapped on the glass of the booth. Two security guards looked up immediately. One was tall and thin, and the other round and fat.

The difference between twenty weeks on the job and twenty years
, Paul thought to himself.

Gary smiled, “Hey Danny! Today’s the big day. You still ok to show us round? Get us settled in?”

Danny nodded quickly. It was obvious to Paul that the man was scared. His movements were sudden and twitchy. He was either terrified out of his mind or suffering severe withdrawal symptoms.

Maybe even both.

“Hey Frankie, I’m just gonna show the new guys to their lockers and stuff, that ok?”

Frankie had already switched his attention back to the breasts of the pretty, young woman covering Page 3 of his paper and the packet of Doritos perched on his stomach. He waved one hand, indifferently and continued with his lustrous snack.

A low buzzing sound rang out as Danny hit a switch in the booth and Gary pushed the gate open, holding it open for Paul and the others to walk through.

Gary clasped an arm round Danny’s shoulder as he met them on the other side, holding him tight like an old friend. “You’re doing great, Danny. Keep it together a little while longer and your family will back with you safe and sound.”

M.I.T. (Murder Investigation Taskforce), Cardiff Branch

Craig Hughes was not happy. Stranded in the middle of Caerphilly by Tony, he had been forced to ride a taxi all the way back to M.I.T.. The driver had been an absolute bastard, shouting and moaning the whole time about how Cardiff was out of his area and the inconvenience it was causing him.

He was getting paid, what difference did it make?

Craig pushed through the double doors into the bullpen to find Zeddemore busy on his phone, Colgan glaring at him from across the room.

Weaving in and out of the crossing officers of his unit, Craig finally reached Colgan as he leant against a pillar.

“Boss?” he asked, but Colgan’s daggered eyes were focused on Zeddemore’s suited spiny figure. “Boss? Boss?”

Colgan’s eyes adjusted to focus on Craig, “What is it?”

“Tony and I have identified the suspect in the camouflage jacket.”

Both Colgan’s eyebrows rose, his interest perked. “You have?”

Craig nodded, “Yes, boss. His name is Gary Ashcroft. We identified him by a tattoo he has on the back of his hand.”

“I don’t suppose you know where to find him?”

Craig shook his head, “No, sorry, boss. My father said he hasn’t seen him in years.”

Colgan’s eyes widened, “Your father?”

“It’s a long story.” Craig tilted his head towards the bustle behind him “What’s going on?”

“Long story.” Colgan let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve just had to tell Zeddemore that Richard is on an undercover operation, and he didn’t take it very well.”

“I thought Richard was taking a sabbatical?”

“That’s what we told everyone. This one had to be kept off the books, for a lot of reasons... Listen, go speak to Michelle. She’ll get you up to speed on where we are now, but I want your and Tony’s attentions on tracking down this Gary Ashcroft, understood?”

Craig nodded, “Understood, boss.”

Colgan frowned, “Where is Tony anyway?”

Craig flapped his arms, “That’s what I’d like to know, Boss. He got a message on his phone, just after we finished talking to my dad, and he took off without saying where he was going or how long he’d be.”

Colgan’s eyes flicked back to Zeddemore. “Did he now?”

“Boss?”

“That’ll be all, thanks Craig.” Colgan said, waving him away. His eyes burrowed and he felt fire course through his veins. “Tony, you son of a bitch.”
 

HM Prison Cardiff, Adamsdown

Danny led the four men into the guard’s locker rooms. He took a key from the chain on his belt and opened up his locker, pulling out four uniforms. Mullet Man and his friend started getting changed right away. Gary took the other two uniforms and tossed one to Paul.

Paul took off his leather jacket and started unbuttoning his shirt. He didn’t like this. He was helpless. He could only hope that Richard was smart enough to find some way out and save himself. He knew
that
wouldn’t happen
though
. No way would Richard leave without his “little” brother. The only way Paul was going to save both of their lives was to go along with what Gary said, for now.

Gary pulled his sweatshirt over the top of his head. His eyes flickered across Paul’s body, from one scar to another. “You were in the army?”

Paul didn’t answer.

“Special Air Service, am I right?”

As he did up the collar on the new uniform, Paul noticed the tattoo of the winged dagger on the back of Gary’s hand. It was faded and sketchy but it did resemble the S.A.S. emblem. Paul frowned, “You were in the regiment?”

Gary shook his head, “Me? No, no. I failed selection twice.” Suddenly aware of the marking he gripped the back of his hand in the other. “I got this before I signed up. Got into a gang. Did the tattoo. You know, kids stuff.”

Paul nodded once as he did up his shirt.

Gary laughed, “I got a lot of shit for it from the boys. Especially when I, you know, didn’t make the cut.”

Paul undid the laces on his boots to change his jeans for the trousers given to him. Gary’s arms were littered with puncture wounds, the kind of scars made by frequent use of hypodermic needles. Gary could have been diabetic, but something told Paul otherwise. He’d come face to face with men willing to die for their cause. He’d watch the life drain from their eyes as they died in the name of whatever it was they were fighting for. Sometimes, just before the end, something would flicker across their eyes, moments before death. Paul saw that same look in Gary’s eyes now. It was doubt.

M.I.T. (Murder Investigation Taskforce), Cardiff Branch

Colgan collapsed into his office chair with a loud sigh. It seemed like he’d been doing a lot of that since Zeddemore had reared his ugly head this morning. He reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved the phone that only Richard and Paul had the number to. Nothing.

The door to his office opened and Colgan prayed it would be anyone other than his boss. God didn’t listen.

Zeddemore shut the door behind him. “Any word?”

Colgan shook his head slowly.

“For fucks sake, Andrew, you’ve really gone and done it this time!”

Colgan folded his arms on his desk and let his head sink into them. “Uh-huh.”

“Are you listening to me?”

“Yep. But unless you change the record and start saying something useful I’m just going to ignore you from here or in, ok?”

Zeddemore’s glasses almost steamed up as his face turned purple. Before he could answer back he was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone.

Colgan quickly sat up and reached into his pocket, but then realised it was his landline. He wearily picked up the receiver, “Hello?”

Zeddemore instantly hit the hands-free button. Colgan shrugged and put the receiver down on the desk.

“Yes, hello? Is that Mister Colgan, sir?” said an excited, female voice.

“This is he. Whom am I speaking to please?”

“Sorry, sir. My name is Sharon Bonning, I work down in the Tech department downstairs.”

Zeddemore rolled his eyes. He turned his back to the phone, his interest lost.

“Ok, Sharon. How can I help you?”

“Well, Mr. Colgan, sir. A few minutes ago I was alerted to an attempted breach to our servers from an outside source. We get them all the time. The vast majority are eaten up by our automated fail-safes, firewalls-”

“Yes, Sharon?” Colgan interrupted, growing impatient.

“Yes, sorry sir. Well this one was a little different. Resilient enough not to be detected by any of automated defences, but programmed to alert us once it had gained access.”

Colgan shook his head, “Why would somebody write a program to gain access to our server only to tell us that it had?”

There was the sound of a deep breath and Colgan could almost hear the large grin, spreading over the Tech girl’s face. “That’s what I thought, sir!”

“Sharon, I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you telling me all this?”

Sharon giggled down the line like a child, “That’s the best part, sir! You see, the Trojan file is actually addressed to you.”

HM Prison Cardiff, Adamsdown

Once Gary, Paul and the others were dressed, Danny led them down a series of long corridors to the B Wing. They reached another checkpoint, with a metal gate in front of a small office with two other guards inside, necking back mugs of coffee.

Danny waved to one of them through the bars and the glass and the gate buzzed open. One of the guards, whose name badge told Paul he was called Michaels, came out to greet them.

“This the fresh blood, is it?” he said, in between sips. “Sure are enough of them. How come we only get the two of us on nights and the day shift gets four of you?”

Gary smiled back and shrugged, “Beats me, pal.”

“You shadowing them today then, is it?” Michaels asked Danny.

He nodded back, anxiously. Paul could see the beads of sweat building up on his forehead and wondered if Michaels would notice to.

Michaels finished his coffee. “You should be fine. They look alright to me.” He tilted his head to the office, “Hurry up, Nicky! I wanna go home and molest my wife.”

Nicky finished what he was doing and followed Michaels out of the wing.

Gary rested a hand on Danny’s shoulder, almost making him jump. “You’re doing great, mate. Keep it up. Now go and get the keys we need from inside the office.”

Danny nodded frantically and hurried inside the office. In front of him was a large board with lines of small metal hooks, each one had a set of keys hanging from it. Danny scanned the numbers until he found the set he needed. He fumbled to take them off the hook and they fell to the floor.

Crouching down to pick them up, his eyes fell on the panic button concealed under the desk. If he hit that would it stop these men? And if it did, would his family be saved or would they have to pay the price for his mistakes? He wanted so much just to hold them in his arms. To kiss his wife and hold his son close to him. They didn’t deserve to suffer for what he had done.

“Hey.”

Danny spun round to see Paul standing in the office doorway.

“You alright?”

Danny nodded frenetically, “Yeah! Yeah, I’m okay!”

Paul stepped into the room, closing the gap between them. He whispered softly, “Look, I know you’re scared. But all we can do for now, is go along with what they say.”

Danny frowned, confused.
We? He said we, not you.

“I promise you, I won’t let them hurt you, okay? But for now I need you to go back out there and do what they tell you to. They’re starting to get impatient.”

“Okay, okay,” Danny agreed.

Paul followed him back out of the office and rejoined Gary’s side as Danny led them up a flight of metal stairs.

“What did you say to him?” Gary asked.

“He’s just scared. I calmed him down a bit,” Paul said.

“That all?”

Paul looked Gary in the eye. “Yeah.”

Gary nodded, “Okay.”

They walked along a steel walkway up to a cell door three down from the stairway.

“This is the one,” Danny told them.

Gary smiled, “Open it.”

Danny slid the key in the lock and turned. Mullet Man pushed him out of the way and pulled open the door.

Two men looked up from their bunks. Mullet Man reached into his jacket and pulled out a silenced pistol, shooting two rounds into the man on the bottom bunk’s forehead.

M.I.T. (Murder Investigation Taskforce), Cardiff Branch

Now in Colgan’s office, Sharon had to try her hardest just to contain her excitement at shedding the confines of her dark and boring I.T. department whilst she explained to the two directors how the virus had been designed to escape the auto-delete sequence but to alert any Tech Staff monitoring the system.

Zeddemore shook his head, “I still don’t understand how this virus can be addressed to Andrew. How do you know it’s meant for him?”

“It told me,” Sharon smiled.

“It told you?” Colgan repeated.

“Yes! There was a secondary part to the file, one that had to be viewed in order to delete the virus. At first I thought it was nothing more than ghost code, but then I realised there was a message, written into the code, in binary.”