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

and that she was sure that she’d seen him on the street less than an hour earlier, but she also claimed that his father had been a spy, had worked with the Russians and even faked his own death, so she was a little unreliable in the witness stakes.

Eventually a Mini screeched to a halt outside the house, and two men climbed out. One was a blond man in a three piece suit, while the other was older, cleaning his rimless glasses as he looked around.

‘Who was first to respond?’ he shouted. PC De’Geer walked over.

‘I was, sir,’ he said. The man with the rimless glasses nodded.

‘I’m DI Frost, this is DC Fitzwarren, and we’re taking this over. Why aren’t we in the house yet?’

‘Because we have no evidence to believe that the suspect is even in there,’ PC De’Geer replied. ‘The last we heard was that he was on—‘

‘The train?’ Frost interrupted. ‘Yeah, that’s wrong. We checked it at Stevenage. All we found was a rucksack with his suit in. Chances are he doubled back just before it left.’

PC De’Geer nodded to this. ‘Even so, sir, we have no proof—‘

‘I’ll give you bloody proof,’ Frost snapped, walking up to the door, and opening the letterbox.

‘Walsh!’ he shouted through the hole. ‘We know you’re in here! Don’t make this more difficult for yourself!’

There was a silence as Frost waited. Then, sighing, he straightened, pulling out a small black package from his pocket. Opening it, he pulled out two lock picks.

‘I thought I heard someone in danger,’ he explained as he picked the lock. ‘Best to make sure, eh?’

And with that, the lock to the front door clicked open, and DI Frost entered the house.

Billy had only ever been in the house once, back when the last police standoff had occurred, but he’d never had a chance to really look around. That said, he still felt uneasy about entering the premises without due cause or a warrant, but Frost ignored his concerns.

‘He’s a terrorist,’ Frost explained, pulling on his blue latex gloves as they walked up the stairs, the ground floor now completely examined by the officers who joined them as they moved upstairs. ‘Rules change when you deal with that.’

‘I know,’ Billy replied, his own gloves already on. ‘But it’s different for you. I still see the man I worked with.’

‘The man they forced you to work with,’ Frost reminded him as they entered the main bedroom, looking around. ‘You didn’t choose to work with Monroe’s band of misfit toys. What did you do that got you transferred, anyway?’

‘I was in Cyber Crime,’ Billy replied, opening a sliding wardrobe. ‘My uncle was running a Ponzi scheme with shitcoins. That’s a derogatory term for cryptocurrency that doesn’t give any worth to the investor.’

‘A play on words from Bitcoin,’ Frost nodded. ‘That must have pissed off your family.’

‘They disowned me,’ Billy pulled aside some suits, peering in. ‘I’ve been trying to rebuild that relationship since. Nothing in here.’

Frost pulled out his phone, looking at it irritatedly.

‘Of course he’d live in a piece of shit village with no signal,’ he muttered. Billy looked at his own phone.

‘Really?’ he asked. ‘Mine’s on four bars. May I?’ He held a hand out. Frost looked at him in confusion ’You probably need to renew your carrier settings,’ Billy continued. ‘Cyber expert, remember?’

Frost passed Billy the phone and after a couple of minutes tapping on it, Billy passed it back with a smile.

‘Three bars,’ he said. ‘Not quite perfect, but enough for a call.’

Placing the phone back in his pocket with a grudging nod, Frost led Billy out of the bedroom, allowing the officers to carry on, walking across the corridor into a room filled with boxes. A half empty bookshelf was at the other end, and the room looked to all extent like a storeroom.

‘Christ,’ Frost muttered. ‘Minimalist much?’

‘He’s just moved in,’ Billy suggested. ‘I don’t think he’s had time to unpack.’

The Viking-looking officer, PC De’Geer leaned around the door frame, almost dwarfing it.

‘Nobody up here, sir,’ he said.

‘Is there a loft in the house?’ Frost retorted. ‘He does so love to crawl around in lofts.’

PC De’Geer left to check and Frost looked back to Billy.

‘You’re wasted in this department,’ he said. ‘When this is done, I’ll see if I can get you transferred to mine.’

‘What, DCI Sutcliffe’s team?’ Billy looked surprised at the offer. Frost laughed.

‘Christ, no,’ he said. ‘Sutcliffe’s a tool to be used. After this, I’ll be a DCI myself. I’ll have my own department. You can be my first Detective Sergeant.’

Billy smiled. ‘A promotion would be nice,’ he replied, spying something on one of the boxes. Walking over, he picked up a police issue extending baton.

‘Never got the hang of these,’ he said. ‘Bloody thing’s a liability in my hands.’

‘You just need the training,’ Frost replied, examining another box. Billy turned to face him.

‘You used one on Walsh, didn’t you?’ he asked. ‘When you were undercover?’

Frost nodded. ‘I’ve used one for years.’

‘How did you do that?’ Billy sat on one box. ‘I mean, the whole undercover thing? I couldn’t have done it. You were pretending to be working for Pearce, while still being an actual DI… it would have driven me mad.’

‘You get used to it.’

Billy flicked the baton, losing his grip and watching it clatter to the floor beside the bookcase. Frost watched this, shaking his head.

‘You need to grip the end,’ he said as he flicked his arm out. His own baton, hidden up his sleeve now appeared in his hand with the ease of a motion performed many times. With a second flick, the baton extended.

‘That was awesome,’ Billy said. ‘Do you have a secret pocket up there?’

‘No, just experience,’ Frost passed the baton over. ‘You try. Grip the end and flick.’

Billy followed the orders, but again the baton went clattering across the room, landing beside the other baton in front of the bookcase. Picking it up, Billy paused, staring at the bookcase for a moment.

‘You okay?’