Shaun Hutson - Knife Edge

Neville swung his leg over the Harley, settled himself on-to the seat and flicked the ignition switch.

The four-stroke V-twin l340cc engine roared into life, the sound reverberating inside the lock-up.

He twisted the throttle, exhaust fumes spewing from the tail pipes, the roar building steadily.

Five thousand rpm.

Like a fucking dream.

Beneath the helmet, Neville was laughing.

Doyle thought about knocking but finally he just eased the handle down and peered around the door.

At first Julie Neville didn't see him and Doyle stood looking at her while she sat by the small bed pushed up against one wall.

She was gently stroking her daughter's forehead, gazing at her as she slept.

The room was tiny. Apart from the bed, it contained only a small wooden cabinet, a couple of plastic chairs and a small table. A cold cup of tea was perched on the table top.

Doyle glanced around the room, taking in the posters warning of meningitis, AIDS and smoking.

Leamington Park Hospital. Even in this side room he could smell that all too familiar antiseptic smell he associated so strongly with these places of healing.

He hated that smell.

Christ alone knew it was familiar enough.

Doyle had seen the inside of enough hospitals in his time.

A couple of them he'd thought he'd never leave.

He looked at Julie again.

She ran a hand through her long blonde hair and turned slightly, as if suddenly aware of his presence.

She nodded towards her sleeping daughter and pressed a finger to her lips, indicating that Doyle should remain silent.

'We need to talk,' he said softly, motioning towards the corridor beyond.

Julie got to her feet, took one more look at Lisa, then followed him out.

'Is she OK?' the counter terrorist asked as Julie closed the door behind her.

'They gave her something to help her sleep.'

'And what about you? How do you feel?'

She smiled thinly. 'Well, considering my husband tried to blow me up, demolished my house with explosives and nearly killed half a dozen coppers too, I'm fine.'

Doyle fixed her in his gaze.

She was pretty.

Like Georgie?

He offered her a cigarette.

'You're not supposed to smoke in here,' she told him, glancing around as if afraid someone would see them.

Doyle held the packet of Marlboros steady and she finally took one.

He jammed one between his lips then lit both with his lighter.

Julie took a long drag. 'I needed that,' she said, smiling.

It was her turn to run appraising eyes over him. The cowboy boots, the worn leather jacket. The long hair.

He needed a shave, she mused.

'I've already spoken to the police,' she said finally. 'They questioned me in the ambulance on the way here.'

'I'm not the police. I'm with the Counter Terrorist Unit.'

'What's that got to do with me?'

'Fuck all. But it's got a lot to do with your old man.' He raised his eyebrows. 'Want a coffee? There's a machine round the corner.'

'I shouldn't leave Lisa.'

'She'll be OK,' he reassured her. 'We can come straight back.'

Julie hesitated a moment longer then nodded. They began walking.

'Where did they find it?' asked DI Calloway, barely looking up from his cup of tea.

DS Colin Mason replaced the phone and exhaled deeply.

'About three miles from here,' he said. 'Dark blue Montego. It was definitely the car.'

'You didn't expect him to stay in it, did you?'

Calloway sipped at his tea. 'What the fuck is his game?' the DI mused. 'If Doyle's right about that explosion-'

'If he is,' Mason snapped.

'He seems to know what he's talking about.'

'Cocky bastard.'

Calloway leaned back in his seat and glanced at his companion. 'It's a pretty safe bet Neville's not on foot now.'

'Do you reckon he had another car hidden somewhere nearby?'

'Well, he wouldn't be walking the streets with the gear he's carrying, would he?'

'His missus wasn't much help,' Mason said dismissively.

'We'll go back and talk to her again. I want to know what else Doyle thinks about this shit. Maybe he's got some idea what Neville's next move will be.'

'I don't trust him.'

'Why not? He's on our side, you know.'

'I'm beginning to wonder,' Mason grunted. 'Where the fuck did he get to anyway? I reckon he knows more than he's telling.'

Calloway sipped at his tea. 'Maybe we ought to do some checking up on Doyle too,' he murmured.

Mason smiled crookedly. 'If he is involved with Neville then I want the bastard myself.'

Calloway raised his eyebrows. 'Good luck,' he muttered, reaching for the phone.

Julie Neville watched as Doyle fed coins into the vending machine, waiting as a plastic cup dropped into view and watery brown fluid dribbled in. According to the selection he'd pressed, it was meant to be coffee.

She took the cup from him and sipped at it, wincing as it burned her lips.

Doyle got his own drink and motioned towards the plastic seats close to the machine.

From the window at the end of the corridor, Julie could see out over the hospital car park. An ambulance was pulling in to Casualty, blue lights spinning furiously. She turned away as she saw the uniformed attendants lifting a stretcher from the rear of the emergency vehicle.

'I don't know what you want to hear,' she said to Doyle who was lighting up another cigarette.

'The truth would help,' Doyle told her.

'About Bob? I'm not even sure I know that myself. Why are you so interested in him?'

Doyle ignored the question, sipping his coffee instead.

'Did he contact you very often when he was away? Letters, phone calls, that kind of thing?'

'In the beginning,' she said, smiling wanly 'He used to write two or three times a week. But it's always like that at the beginning, isn't it?'

Doyle kept his gaze on her.

'When he came home on leave he used to bring me flowers,' Julie mused. 'Every time he'd bring something. Flowers, chocolates or earrings. I must have more earrings than any other woman in London. And they were always the same design. Silver hoops. Bob never did have much imagination.' Her tone had darkened slightly.

'What about recently?'

'About two years ago the letters started to dry up. He'd write once every couple of months, ring if I was lucky. He even stopped coming home on leave.'

'Do you know where he went?'

'He could have had another woman for all I knew.'

'Do you think he did?'

She regarded him warily. 'Does it matter?' she snapped.

'As a matter of fact it does.'

'What's he done? I mean, I know about this morning, but there's something else, isn't there?'

'Do you think he had another woman?' Doyle persisted.

'He found it hard enough to make friends, let alone relationships.'

'He made one with you.'

'If you want to call it that.'

'You were married, you've got a child. You must have loved him.'

'Once.' She took a swig of her coffee.

'January twenty-seventh, ten years ago,' Doyle said.

'How do you know?'

'You'd be surprised what I know. It goes with the job.'

'Well, if you know so much, why the questions?'

'There are still some gaps. You might be able to help me fill them.'

'You know so much about me. I don't know anything about you.'

'There's no need for you to,' he said, a thin smile touching his lips.

'I'm nosy,' Julie retorted, running her hand through her hair.

Christ, she reminded him of Georgie when she did that.

'I know your name and I know you want to find my husband, that's it.'

'That's all you need to know.'

She reached out and looked at his left hand, lifting it slightly. 'No wedding ring.'