Hunter Hunted by Jack Gatland (best romantic books to read .TXT) 📕

not been fully read my rights yet, I’m not officially arrested, so how about you let me go do my business and then I’ll tell you whatever you want.’

Sutcliffe went to reply, to refuse this request, but Bullman nodded.

‘Even suspected terrorists have rights,’ she said.

Sutcliffe sighed, looking to Billy. ‘Where does that corridor go?’ he asked.

‘Nowhere,’ Billy replied. ‘A toilet, one that has three cubicles in, and on the other side is a storeroom.’

Sutcliffe thought long and hard. Eventually he nodded.

‘Phone and keys,’ he said. Declan was confused at this, but then realised that he still had his items on him; they were so quick to bring him in, they still hadn’t searched him.

Which meant that he still had Nasir’s Micro SD card in his pocket.

‘You’ll take care of these for me, right?’ he asked as he pulled them out, placing them on the table.

‘While we’re at it, you can pass me your warrant card,’ Sutcliffe continued. ‘After all, you won’t be needing that ever again.’

Declan paused at this, but eventually reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the warrant card, placing it on the desk.

‘And, I’d like—‘

‘All I wanted was a piss,’ Declan insisted. ‘You can have everything I own in a couple of minutes, yeah?’

Sutcliffe glared at Declan. ‘Go on,’ he hissed, looking out to Frost. ‘Monitor him.’

Frost walked over to Declan, grabbing him by the arm.

‘I don’t need to be escorted,’ Declan snapped.

‘I beg to differ,’ Frost replied as they walked through the back door and into the corridor. As they reached the toilet door however, Declan smiled as he turned to the man with the rimless glasses.

‘Do you need to check it out?’ he asked.

Frost pushed him through the door.

Now in the toilet, Declan turned to look back to Frost.

‘I know it was you,’ he breathed. ‘That attacked Monroe. That tried to kill him. There’s a recording. And now he’s in the wind, isn’t he? I bet that must weigh on you. If I find it was you that murdered Kendis, I won’t be arresting you. I’ll kill you myself.’

Frost smiled, but it was a forced one. He was rattled, Declan realised.

‘Just piss.’

‘Can’t do it while you’re watching,’ Declan walked to the cubicle.

‘Keep it unlocked,’ Frost replied. Declan pushed the cubicle door closed behind him as he tried to think on his feet quickly.

‘Why did you steal the phone?’ he asked.

‘Your daughter?’ Frost was leaning against the sinks now. ‘We needed to show you we could get to anyone. It was part of a plan to get you in line, but it all changed when the whore was killed.’

‘She’s not a whore.’

‘Adulterous trollop?’ Declan could tell from the tone of the voice that Frost was smiling.

‘You didn’t kill her?’

‘Not us.’

‘And who’s us, exactly?’ Declan continued. ‘Rattlestone? Because Nasir was one of yours and you shot him in the head.’

‘Nasir was an accident.’ Frost’s voice was lower now as he moved towards the cubicle. You finished yet?’

‘Why, in a hurry to take me to a real cell?’ Declan leaned across to the cistern, grabbing the lid. ‘Or are you going to drive me to a secluded plot of land and shoot me in the head?’

‘Which do you think?’ Frost was getting bored now.

‘So, do you work for Baker or Harrison?’ Declan pulled the lid now, wincing as the ceramic clinked loudly.

Suspicious now, Frost pushed the cubicle door open. ‘What are you doing anyway—‘

He wasn’t expecting Declan, the ceramic lid of the cistern held in his hands like a weapon, to slam the lid into his face, his nose exploding in a spray of blood as he staggered back, clutching at it. Declan moved in quickly, swinging hard, connecting again and then for a third time, slamming the heavy lid against the back of Frost’s skull, sending him unconscious to the floor.

‘Did you let me win that time, you prick?’ Declan hissed as he placed the cistern on the floor, listening to see if anyone had heard. Hearing nothing, he quickly rummaged through Frost’s pockets, taking his Detective Inspector ID and tucking it into his own inside pocket. There was a noise outside and, not wanting to waste any more time, he rolled the unconscious Frost over, handcuffing him to a sink pipe and turning to the toilet door. It was a U shaped handle with no lock, and Declan stared at it for a moment as he tried to gather his breath. His chest was tight; for a moment he wondered whether he was having some kind of minor heart attack. Looking at his reflection in the mirror above the sinks to the left of the door, Declan turned the tap on, splashing water on his face.

Am I really doing this? he thought to himself. If he ran, there was no way that he could walk this back. He would be a fugitive, and every lie thrown on him so far would be taken as the truth.

Every lie thrown on Kendis would be taken as gospel, too.

But at the same time, if Declan stayed here, accepted the future, there was no way that he’d be able to clear his name. This was his only chance.

He hurried over to the middle cubicle, feeling behind the basin and pulling away the burner phone Trix had left there. He pulled the toilet seat cover down and stood on it, reaching up to the ceiling tile that was above it, pushing up. The tile popped up, and Declan could see that there was a hastily made wooden frame around it, like the hatch of a loft or attic.

‘How long were you working on this?’ Declan muttered to himself as he jumped up, grabbing the sides of the frame and pulling himself into the crawl space. He couldn’t help it; the scrabbling of his feet made a noise, especially when he connected hard with the basin, using it to boost him up. Now in the crawl space, he carefully placed the ceiling tile back in place and tried to get his