Simon Kernick - A Good day to die

I slowed down and pulled up at the side of the road twenty yards short of the entrance. I needed to make my decisions carefully. Barron was expecting me. He knew I'd come here in search of Emma because the bastard had been one step ahead of me the whole time, using Blondie to pick off all those potential witnesses whose information could help to solve the Malik/Khan murders. I was no longer in any doubt that Barron had been a participant on that night seven years ago, that he'd been one of the five people in the room when Heidi Robes had been murdered, because I couldn't believe that he'd be protecting these people unless he was one of them. And now he was finally tying up the loose ends. He'd finish off Emma, then finish off me. I wondered if he already knew my true identity, and, if so, whether that was why he'd told Blondie not to kill me if I turned up at Andrea's place the previous night, but to leave me there with the murder weapon and the corpses. Dennis Milne, the killer, returns.

I got out of the car and closed the door quietly. Behind me, the traffic rumbled endlessly past on the main road through the estate, but it was quiet at this end. The warehouses on both sides of the Tembra building had their shutters down, and appeared deserted. There was no sign of Emma's car anywhere.

I looked up at the two lights on the third floor. There was no one in either of the windows, no flickering shadows, but I felt sure that Barron was in there, and that if he was, so was Emma. This was definitely the place where he'd want to finish this thing; in the darkness, away from any witnesses. I figured he wouldn't have anyone with him. He was trying to cut all links between himself and the crimes of his past. It would be far better to operate alone on this one and be safe in the knowledge that he wouldn't have anyone else to deal with later. That meant he'd either be by the front door waiting for me to come in that way or, alternatively, up on the third floor (in my opinion the more likely location). He'd know that when I turned up I'd come inside to investigate, because I'd want to know whether or not Emma was still here. He'd be able to watch for my arrival far more easily from the higher vantage point. So that meant that the front door was probably free.

But caution told me to avoid it, even though it was the most direct route and time wasn't on my side. Instead, I headed through the empty car park of the warehouse next door and made my way along the narrow alleyway that separated it from Tembra's boundary wall. When I was out of sight of the two illuminated windows and level with the rear of the Tembra building, I reached up, grabbed hold of the railings and scrabbled up the wall until I managed to get a toehold in the tiny space between two of them. Using the top of the railings to pull myself upright, I very carefully lifted one leg over them. The metal spikes scraped against my jeans, and I was conscious that one slip and I could end up castrated. I repeated the process with the other leg, then half jumped, half slid down the wall.

Somehow I landed on my feet, painfully but unscathed, to find myself in Tembra's empty rear car park.

Which was the moment my mobile started ringing.

I was wearing the black leather jacket I'd bought and the phone seemed to take for ever to find, but eventually I located it and pressed the answer button, putting it to my ear.

'Hello?'

'Dennis? Please…' The words were a terrified, forced whisper.

'Emma! Where the hell are you? Are you all right?'

'I'm at that place I was meant to meet Simon,' she hissed, her voice shaking. 'I'm in trouble…'

I could hear background noise. Footsteps. Emma cried out in fear.

'I'm coming to get you,' I told her frantically. 'Don't worry.'

But I was already talking to a dead phone. I held it to my ear for a few more seconds, waiting until I was sure she wasn't going to make another call, then switched it off.

So she was alive. And Barron was impatient. I had no doubt that it was he who'd controlled that phone call, just to make sure that I took the bait. But at least now I had a chance of success. They wouldn't expect me to be here already. If he'd seen me, he wouldn't have bothered getting Emma to call.

The rear of the building was shabbier than the front, and someone had spray-painted rune-like patterns that may have been gang signs on the brickwork between the ground-floor windows, several of which had been smashed behind the metal security bars. The smoked-glass double doors that led out into the car park had probably been quite plush once, but were now worn and scratched. They were also locked.

I walked round to the other side of the building, looking for another way in, my footsteps sounding artificially loud on the chipped tarmac. The first-floor windows weren't protected by bars, and one was broken, with a single piece of jagged glass jutting up from its base. A drainpipe ran beside it and I contemplated shinning up it and getting in that way, but it felt loose to the touch.

I was going to have to go in the way he wanted me to. I looked at my watch. Five to five. Rush hour. The rain continued to pound down and I knew that this could be Emma's and my final resting place — a bland and derelict building on a lonely industrial estate in the midst of this cold, teeming city. The thought frightened me.

But fear's good. Fear keeps you alive and hones the senses. Fear is what can get you out of these situations.

I started walking again. Slowly and quietly, circumnavigating the building. Time now suddenly back on my side.

When I reached the corner of the wall that faced the building's main entrance, I slowly poked my head round. The double doors were closed, but unlike the back ones, they didn't appear to be locked. Beyond them was darkness, with no sign of anyone. I moved back out of sight, leant down and picked up a loose chunk of cement and chucked it round the corner at the lower part of the doors. It struck with a light tap, and I waited to see if this aroused anyone's curiosity.

Five seconds passed. Nothing happened.

It could have been a trap, but in the end I had no choice. I stepped out of the shadows and, drawing the.45, tried the handle. The door opened with a squeak that probably seemed a lot louder than it actually was, and I stepped inside, half expecting to hear the sound of a weapon being cocked, then the final, deadly explosion of gunfire. But the corridor ahead of me was empty. Half a dozen linoleum steps led up to the next floor. I crept over to the bottom and listened.

Again, nothing. Not a sound.

The steps climbed at rigid right angles between the floors all the way to the top of the building. A dim half-glow from the street lamps outside provided the only light. In the distance, a long way off, I heard the sound of a siren. Nothing moved. I started up the steps, my finger tensing on the trigger of the.45.

The siren faded into the night and the silence grew louder.

I reached the first floor. Above me, shadows from the city ran across the grainy, bare walls.

I kept going, straining to hear any sound from above, and fighting to stop myself from breaking into a run and announcing my presence prematurely.

All my life I've had a ruthless streak, an ability to shut myself away from the suffering of others and not let it get to me. You need that when you're policing the crime-worn streets of London, or when you're living and running a business in the Philippines. Or when you kill people for money. I relied on that ruthless streak now to shut out Emma's suffering, while I concentrated on preparing myself for Barron.

The siren began again in the distance, a long slow whine, joined shortly afterwards by a second. Charging off towards the scene of another bloody crime. It was a noise that reminded me of home. Of life here in the big, violent city. Always some emergency going on. A never-ending conflict between the haves and the would-haves-if-they-could-get-their-hands-on-it, and the people meant to keep them apart — the coppers. Men like Asif Malik, who'd paid the ultimate price for his work in such a thankless job. And once upon a time, men like me, who'd instead been corrupted by it.