The Hard Way by Duncan Brockwell (most popular ebook readers txt) 📕

shoulders, stared into her. “Please, baby, help me. What am I supposed to do?”

Feeling hemmed in, naked in front of him, she looked into his tearful eyes. “You have to tell your superintendent.” She saw the sorrow in him. “You’re telling me the truth, aren’t you? This isn’t a joke?”

“I promise you, it’s no joke. They’re dead. Buried on a farm somewhere. Sarge, Voddy, Zuccari, they’re all going to get away with it.”

“Promise me you had nothing to do with it, that you didn’t execute one of them yourself.” Somehow just knowing that put her mind at ease. “Please, Luke, promise me.”

“I’ve already told you, they tried to force my hand, but I couldn’t pull the trigger. Zuccari swiped the gun from me and shot Demirci in her face. I’ll never forget her dead eyes. And I can’t go to my Super, the team are going to be keeping an eye on me from now on. Voddy wants me out of the way, I can tell. And only yesterday we were talking about going to France for a weekend. I can’t believe how quickly things can change.”

Miller’s head was spinning. “Luke, go and wait in the lounge, would you? I need time to think.”

“Please don’t leave me, Rachel, I’ll do anything. I love you!”

She moved to the bathroom, closing and locking the door.

He loved her? Sat on the toilet, she realised he meant it. And on top of that, she loved him, too. How cruel life was. They’d only been seeing each other for a week; how could she love him so quickly? It made no sense. Sense or no, there was no denying her heart. Luke Walker was the man for her. But how was he going to get out of this?

Underworld gangsters or not, Luke and his team wouldn’t get away with murdering Demirci and her two psychotic cousins. It didn’t matter that the Inans had severed Zuccari’s fingers on Demirci’s behest; squads of armed police couldn’t run around executing villains, no matter how evil they were. There was no room for vigilantes in the nation’s capital, or any other city or town for that matter.

Miller sat on her loo for fifteen minutes, thinking to herself. “Luke, I know what you need to do.” She stood, walked into the lounge to find him lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. “Did you hear me? I know what you need to do.”

“I’m listening,” he replied, eyes straight up.

“You need to report your team to the IOPC.” Miller expected him to put up a fight. When he didn’t, she sat on the couch with him. “You can report them online, ask them to be discreet when they call you in. It’s the best way. We can do it now, use my computer.” She wasn’t expecting him to do it.

He sat up. “Fuck it! Let’s do it!”

60

Charlotte awoke, startled. It took her a few seconds to acclimatise to the fact she was sat behind the steering wheel of her car. Hidden by a hedgerow on a country lane, she’d parked in a field, hoping to escape the van driver who chased her and the detectives.

After the van stopped chasing her, and after she lost sight of the detectives’ Peugeot behind her, she’d carried on driving, not daring to go home, in case someone was following her, or worse still, knew where she lived. Paranoid, she’d turned left, then right, then left, until she had no idea where she was.

Wiping her eyes, Charlotte looked around her. In the dark, she’d failed to notice the cows grazing in the field. “Where the hell are we?” Why she was talking to the cows, even she didn’t know.

Her mobile lay on the passenger seat. Picking it up, she checked her messages. There was a missed call from Hayes, several actually. A voicemail lay in wait for her, so she dialled the appropriate three-digit number and listened to the playback.

Hayes informed her that they had Colin, Brandy and Kurt’s shooters in custody, as well as Henry’s murderer. Although the initial threat was over, Hayes believed Charlotte was still in danger, that Richard’s invention was still worth killing for. Hayes urged Charlotte to call her, so that they could establish what her brother’s invention was.

She had no intention of calling Hayes. Charlotte was going to pick up the package her brother left her. All she had to do was figure out where she was, then drive to Neelkanth Safe Deposit, grab what was inside and leave without being seen. And that was when she realised she needed help.

What if these shooters were listening when Richard phoned her to tell her where the key was from. They had Neelkanth in the conversation. Colin’s killers might be in custody, but what if there were others? Hayes thought she was still in danger, and Charlotte believed her. There was a lot more to this case than anyone would dare admit.

Before she did anything, Charlotte decided to phone Neelkanth Safe Deposit to book a time to visit. She remembered the website stipulating that clients were required to book slots to avoid customer crossover. They didn’t want any customers bumping into one another by mistake. Security was paramount.

“Really? That’s the earliest you can fit me in? And there’s no way you can squeeze me in before that?” The manager, a steadfast man, stood his ground. 15:30 was the first available appointment. “Well, if you can’t help before, I guess I’ll see you then.”

What the hell kind of place had such a rigid schedule? Whatever Richard had left for her was hers to take; she shouldn’t have to wait. On the other hand, at least she knew when she went there, she would be the only customer inside.

Thinking about Richard made her sad. Charlotte dared not think where he was right now. The NCA had him holed up somewhere, and she had no clue where to begin looking for him. The police were useless. Remembering the desperation in Hayes’ voice, Charlotte