Nick Oldham - Dead Heat

Al Major jogged up and saw the damage. ‘Someone call an ambulance.’ One of the team responded and dashed back into the unit.

Jo gently removed her colleague’s helmet and placed her thigh under his head for him to rest on.

‘This doesn’t half cock things up,’ the biker said with a wan smile. Beads of pain-induced sweat cascaded down his forehead. ‘Bugger,’ he added, then passed out.

Turner kept to the speed limit on the motorway, just cruising, enjoying the ride, letting everyone pass him, not wanting to draw attention to himself. He peeled off the M61 and picked up the road into Salford, taking extra care to keep his speed down again on a stretch of road populated by speed cameras. Once in Salford, on the edge of the city, he worked his way to an area behind the police station on the Crescent to a block of small industrial units. He drove the Mercedes into one of the units, a one-man car maintenance business owned by one of his friends, a guy called McNally.

‘Mac,’ Turner greeted the owner of the garage as he climbed out of the Merc.

Dressed in oily overalls, McNally wiped his hands on rag, emerged from underneath a car on the ramp and sauntered towards Turner. Something in McNally’s manner did not sit quite right with Turner, who was always switched on to body language. His intuition had saved his skin a number of times. McNally seemed edgy, nervous, his smile sheepish and obviously forced.

‘Andy, how goes it?’

‘Mmm, good,’ Turner responded cautiously. His inner warning bells sounding caution. ‘Gonna leave the motor here as usual,’ Turner said, thumbing towards the Merc.

‘No probs.’

The two men were standing close to each other. Turner’s face changed, became serious and hard. ‘Anything you’d like to tell me, Mac?’

McNally was taken aback — and it showed. ‘Eh? No, no. . what do you mean?’

‘I mean I’m good at reading people. That’s why I’m still alive, Mac, and I can see you’re not one hundred per cent.’

‘Oh, yeah, suppose not.’ McNally relaxed and breathed out a sigh. ‘Just struggling really. Been chasing some bad debts all day, some real hard bastards. Just pissed off that’s all.’

‘I’m pretty good at bringing debts in,’ Turner said with a nasty smile which was chilled by McNally’s explanation. Turner was easily spooked by other people’s behaviour, even if it was rooted in innocence. He trusted no one and was always searching for signs of betrayal.

‘No, it’s all right,’ McNally said. ‘I’ll sort ’em. It’s a legit debt, if you know what I mean?’

Turner shrugged. ‘Just ask if you need any help.’

‘I’m obliged — thanks, Andy.’

Turner did a quick check of his watch. ‘I’ll be back to pick this up as and when,’ he said, referring to the Merc. ‘See how the day pans out.’

‘Got your keys for this place?’ McNally asked. ‘I won’t be here after six.’

Turner nodded. He pulled his change of clothing from the boot of the Merc.

A dull-grey Peugeot 405 drew up outside the unit. Turner gave McNally a wave, strode out to it and slid into the passenger seat. He rarely took the Mercedes into the city when he did business. It turned too many heads, was too recognizable and telegraphed to people that he was about. Today he wanted to keep a low profile and parading about in a ‘big fuck-off Merc’ as he called it, was no way of doing that. Even the hot-headed Turner knew that much. Today was a day for discretion. Eventually.

It took almost forty minutes for the ambulance to arrive on the scene of the accident. During that time the injured biker drifted — worryingly — in and out of consciousness. Jo Coniston stayed with him throughout, comforting and reassuring him, until two very apologetic paramedics eventually carried him into the ambulance. He was rushed to hospital, accompanied by one of the other team members, thereby further reducing the numbers for the surveillance job on Andy Turner.

Jo’s knee joints had almost seized up by remaining folded in one cramped position for such a long length of time. She stood up stiffly, hopping painfully as blood surged back into her lower legs.

Al Major moved in and assisted her to keep balanced.

‘Thanks,’ she said begrudgingly, easing her elbow out of his fingers.

‘You were very good there,’ he told her. ‘Showing you care for someone — but you haven’t shown you care about me , have you?’ His voice was tinged with anger.

‘Don’t start Al, just DO NOT START,’ she warned him.

‘You ready to roll now?’ Dale O’Brien piped up from the garage door.

‘Coming,’ she chirped and walked away from Major.

Major hissed two words into her ear as she passed. ‘Selfish bitch.’

Stern-faced, she ignored him and made her way back to the car, in which O’Brien waited, engine idling. She dropped into the passenger seat and slammed the door. ‘Let’s friggin’ go,’ she growled. ‘And you can run that bastard down if you want.’

They drove out. Major stepped aside and, bowing like a matador, waved them through. Jo stared dead ahead, but she could feel Al’s piercing eyes burning into her temple. Only when they had turned out of the compound did she realize she was holding her breath. She exhaled with relief, turned brightly to O’Brien with a wide smile, happy to be out on the road, tracking a crim.

‘I don’t know about you, Dale, but I could murder a brew.’

For Andrew Turner that evening was about matters of credibility. So that there would be a record of events, the driver who picked him up from McNally’s garage was equipped with a digital camera to keep a contemporaneous record. At the end of the day, once credentials had been established, the camera and its contents would be destroyed completely.

Turner was driven from Salford, edging around the city centre, out to Crumpsall, to the area around North Manchester General Hospital — a building, Turner thought with an evil smirk, which might just come in useful. Especially the A amp; E unit.

Sitting there in the passenger seat, he started to get twitchy with anticipation.

‘Got me a “whacker” then?’ Turner asked the driver, whose name was Newman.

‘Under the seat.’

Turner reached down between his legs. His fingers alighted on a wooden baseball bat, which he drew out and tested for weight and balance by smacking it firmly into the palm of his hand. It felt good.

‘Nice,’ he commented.

‘It’s got a lead core,’ Newman said.

Turner slid it back, then reclined the seat, closing his eyes for a few moments. His mind slipped back to the night before, thinking about the woman he had picked up at Tokyo Joe’s nightclub. She had been a good fuck — twice — but what a silly, pathetic bitch! Hanging around outside the apartment like a love-struck teenager. Immature, that’s what she was. Why did it have to be anything other than a good shag?

His eyelids clicked open. His inner warning bells — an instinct he had grown to trust — clanged a few times.

The prospect of her hanging around after he had gone made him feel slightly wary. Maybe he should have picked her up and dumped her in town. . got her away from his pad. . too late to worry now.

‘Is Goldy likely to be at home? We’re not going to end up chasing round like a pair of blue-arsed flies, are we?’

‘He’ll be there,’ Newman assured him. ‘He’s expecting a delivery from his supplier, so I’m told, so he’ll be geared up for it. Won’t be going out.’

‘Looks like he’s going to get more than he expected,’ Turner laughed cruelly. He put his seat upright. ‘You OK with that digital camera?’

‘Yeah. Been practising on Lesley.’

‘Is she a good subject?’