Luke Delaney - The Toy Taker

She’s getting off.

He felt a little flutter in his chest as he realized the chase would soon be back on. A few seconds later the target passed him in the aisle while he pretended to be looking out of the window, his eyes straining to catch her in his peripheral vision as she walked to the top of the stairs and disappeared down them, glancing back along the bus just before she did so. As the target descended, Carlisle quickly got to her feet and followed. Sean was behind her, but held at the top of the stairs where he was briefly met by Sally, who whispered, ‘Short bus ride.’

‘Where to now?’ Sean wondered, waiting for a few other passengers to disembark before he and Sally skipped quietly down the stairs, through the folding doors as they were shutting and out on to the pavement and into the cold air. Carlisle was a clear twenty metres ahead of them, no more than ten metres behind the target, who was heading north along Haverstock Hill, approaching Belsize Park underground station. But before she reached it she turned left into Belsize Grove, a quiet residential street of small townhouses for the very well-heeled, shining four-wheel drives crammed into every available parking space. He was extremely glad she hadn’t descended into the underground system, where she could have been too easily lost, but the peaceful quietness of the street made her difficult to follow without making themselves conspicuous. He and Sally had no choice but to hang back, leaving Carlisle on point, though if the target was looking for her she wouldn’t be able to continue for much longer and not be spotted.

His phone vibrated in his hand. He pressed answer without checking the caller ID. ‘I’m listening.’

‘She’s turned right into Primrose Gardens,’ Carlisle’s voice told him quietly. ‘I need to go straight on or I’ll show out,’ she continued. ‘Sorry, guv.’

‘Do it,’ Sean agreed. ‘I’ll take over.’ He hung up and stuffed the phone in his pocket. ‘Let’s go,’ he told Sally as he broke into a fast jog, Sally keeping up with him until they reached the junction with Primrose Gardens. ‘I’ll go,’ Sean said. ‘Hang well back and keep out of sight. If she makes it to the next junction I’ll call you. You can pick her up from there, all right?’

‘Fine,’ Sally agreed. ‘Good luck.’

Sean took off into Primrose Gardens, easily picking up the target in the empty street, but she was getting too far ahead. He had no choice but to increase his speed until it was unnaturally fast. He risked drawing attention, but he had to close the distance or lose her, especially if she ducked into one of the many houses lining the street. He used what street furniture he could to disguise his approach, noticing she was now on her mobile phone. Taking instructions? ‘Come on,’ he encouraged her with a whisper. ‘Come on, Hannah. Take me to them. End this thing.’

Still she talked on her phone, although she seemed to be listening more than talking, looking increasingly agitated and uneasy, as if she was receiving troubling news. Finally she stopped dead, looking all about the street, clearly searching for something. Sean ducked into the recessed entrance to a house so he could continue to watch her without being seen, peeking around the corner and praying the occupant didn’t appear and make a noisy scene. He tugged his warrant card from his inside jacket pocket so he’d have it ready just in case they did, but nobody appeared. Hannah finally ended her conversation and slowly replaced her mobile in her handbag, but still she looked unhappy and on edge, checking up and down the street before she started to cross the road, heading for a house directly in front of her.

‘Come on, come on,’ Sean almost begged, his heart pounding, his mind occupied by one thing and one thing only — find the children.

From his vantage point he saw her climb the few stairs leading to the front door of a townhouse that was as smart as all the others. She paused at the door, fumbling inside her handbag for something unseen — keys, he assumed. This has to be it , he told himself. This has to be it . He sprang from his hideout and moved fast and silently across the road and along the line of the railings in front of the buildings, the angle tight enough to keep him concealed from the target until he was almost upon her, his chest sore from breathing the freezing cold air, feeling the sort of excitement that few people doing normal jobs would ever feel. Excitement that could become an addictive need to be on the edge.

He closed the space between them quickly now, her back still turned to the street as she struggled with unfamiliar keys in unfamiliar locks. When he was still a few metres away he saw her body jolt forward as if she was falling through a suddenly open door. His mind was already made up: the only option was to act without delay — no sitting back, watching the address. Either it was her or it wasn’t. Either the missing children were inside or they weren’t. No amount of surveillance was going to change that now.

Before she could close the door, Sean was on her, grabbing her arm hard around the bicep and bundling her into the hallway of the townhouse, her eyes wide with terror, her mouth locked open in a silent scream as children appeared at the far end of the hallway, little more than silhouettes, except for their eyes — staring in fear and disbelief as Sean pushed Hannah Richmond against the wall, moving his hand from her arm to her chest, just below her neck. ‘Don’t move,’ he told her, blinking as he looked along the hallway, trying to grow used to the dimness, trying to focus on the children who stood frozen, side by side, eventually realizing he was looking at three children, not two.

‘Don’t hurt me,’ Richmond pleaded. ‘Please, God, don’t hurt the children. I’ll do anything you want — just don’t hurt the children.’

Sean heard her clearly enough, but her words didn’t fit the scene — didn’t fit her — the prime suspect. ‘What?’ he asked, staring into her terrified face.

‘The children,’ she repeated, calmer now, resigned to her fate. ‘Please don’t hurt the children.’

It took him a second before he realized she had no idea who he was. He felt the warrant card in his hand and quickly held it up for her to see, all the while keeping her pinned to the wall, the sounds of sniffling, crying children growing ever louder, disorientating him as the situation began to feel less and less like a rescue scenario. ‘Police,’ he told her loudly, just as Sally burst through the open door, her eyes wide and wild as she tried to assess the scene before her.

‘You all right?’ Sally asked him.

‘I’m fine,’ he reassured her. ‘We need to secure the house.

‘I’m sorry,’ Richmond suddenly blurted. ‘I’m really sorry, but it’s not my fault. I didn’t know this was going to happen. This wasn’t supposed to happen.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Sean snapped at her. ‘What didn’t you know was going to happen?’

‘This is only the second time I’ve looked after them,’ Richmond explained. ‘The mother was supposed to wait for me, but she said she had to go to work.’

‘What?’ Sean asked, his eyes narrowed in confusion.

‘I was only seconds away from getting here when she phoned me — said she’d already left and that the kids were alone waiting for me.’ Sean released her and walked deeper into the house towards the cowering children, his eyes showing him the crushing truth — these weren’t the children he was looking for. ‘The mother shouldn’t have left them alone,’ Richmond continued. ‘She shouldn’t have done that, but Rachel’s almost twelve and she’s very grown-up. It was just a few minutes.’

Sean and Sally turned and looked at each other, his heart sinking as fast as Richmond’s guilt was fading. ‘You’re their child-minder?’ Sean asked disbelievingly.