Craig Robertson - Snapshot

‘You’re not paid to kill.’

He aimed straight at Winter’s head, his eyes blazing with anger.

‘Don’t you dare fucking tell me what I’m paid for. Faichney, Houston, Riddle, Honeyman. Those cunts had bled this town dry for years.’

‘So how did you get them into the warehouse?’

‘Easy. I’m a cop, remember. I rounded them up and had some fun with them. Suddenly I had what every cop in the city wanted. A licence to take out these bastards with no comeback. However many of them I removed, they’d all be chalked up to McKendrick’s slate. Turned out these guys weren’t so untouchable after all.’

‘So you killed them.’

‘Yes, I killed them. I took his list and I followed it through. I did what I could do, what I had to do. Those scumbags had to go. Every one of them has to go to give people a chance to get out from under. It’s like cutting the heads off the hydra but that’s the way it’s got to be. You cut off as many fucking heads as you can then one day the new heads will stop popping up.’

‘So who does that make you? Hercules or was it Jason and his fucking Argonauts? Who appointed you the head cutter?’

‘Opportunity, that’s who. McKendrick set it all up, put it on a plate for me. You’ve seen what they do, the misery they cause. It was my job. You understand, right?’

‘No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand how someone whose job is to uphold the law can take it into his own hands and kill people. Murder people. It makes you as bad as Caldwell, Quinn, Riddle, the lot of them.’

‘I didn’t kill Riddle. I’m sure that was Terry Gilmartin. He shot him for firebombing his place and killing his son. He just did it before I could. But you’re wrong, it’s not the same at all. They deserved everything they got.’

‘You’re a murderer, Monteith.’

Winter took another step towards him and Monteith edged further back.

‘Yeah? Well if I am then one more won’t make any difference.’

Winter kept walking.

‘You’re a dead man, Winter.’

‘But I’m innocent, Monteith. Done nothing. Just like Addy didn’t. Just like Rachel.’

Monteith hesitated, the rifle barrel quivering.

‘You really want to kill an innocent man?’

‘No, you… no. But it’s too late. I told you to stop. Told you what it would mean.’

‘It doesn’t have to mean that. Hand yourself in to the cops.’

‘No! I can’t stop now. There’s more to be done.’

‘You better kill me then.’

‘Don’t think I won’t.’

His voice was cracking but his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. Winter saw him standing stiller, stiffer, his finger caressing the trigger. Primed.

Winter took another step forward.

Monteith’s face contorted as he squeezed his finger, his eyes closing briefly as he pulled the trigger. When he opened them again, he just looked surprised. He quickly tried to fire again, then again. He looked down at the rifle dumbfounded as if he just couldn’t understand why it hadn’t fired and why Winter wasn’t dead.

‘No bullets,’ said the woman’s voice behind him.

Monteith whirled to see Narey and Danny Neilson standing there, staring at him intently. He turned the gun on them and instinctively fired off a shot at each. Nothing.

‘We took them out of the rifle while you were off pretending to be the good cop,’ she continued. ‘You could have found a better place to hide it. It took us about two minutes to find it.’

‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ Monteith shouted at them.

‘I would have thought that was fairly obvious even for a retard like you,’ Danny grinned at him. ‘Tony’s getting out of here and you’re going to jail.’

‘No. No way. That’s not going to happen.’

‘Oh it will happen all right,’ said Narey evenly. ‘Your hands all over that gun, we are both witnesses and so is that camera up there.’

She pointed to the wall where the remote was busily recording everything through the frame of the storage-room door.

‘And don’t even think of destroying it,’ Winter told him. ‘The whole lot’s already being relayed via my laptop. You’re officially fucked.’

Suddenly, Monteith rushed forward and switched the rifle quickly so that he was holding the barrel and swung the butt viciously, catching Danny on the shoulder and sending him crashing back towards Narey, sending them both to the ground. Monteith raised the rifle again, this time looking to smash it down towards Narey.

Winter ran forward, hands still tied and hurled himself at Monteith, barging hard into his back and knocking the rifle from his hands. It flew a few feet away and he scrambled across from where he’d fallen and threw himself over it as if it was a grenade about to explode.

Monteith screamed abuse at him then, seeing Danny and Narey starting to get up, he turned and ran off to the left where he disappeared into the darkness of a corridor. They were both quickly on their feet, Narey shooing Danny away when he tried to check she was okay. Instead she made Winter turn and released the cabling, freeing his hands.

‘You could have done that when you first came into the room,’ he told her, the three of them immediately heading in the direction Monteith went, Narey leading the way as she was the one with a torch.

‘Oh stop moaning,’ she retorted. ‘I told you he’d check as soon as he saw your feet were untied. Did you manage to look as shit-scared when he came in as you did when it was us?’

‘Very funny. Obviously when I saw the shadow outside the door before I thought it was him. Can’t tell you how pleased I am to see it was you two.’

‘Me too,’ she said softly, looking at him with real worry in her eyes.

‘Get a fucking move on you two,’ snarled Danny. ‘There will be time enough for that later. Let’s catch this guy.’

‘He won’t be getting far, Danny,’ answered Narey.

‘Yeah well let’s make sure of it,’ he puffed.

The corridor was narrow and they jogged along as quickly as they could in single file, picking out footsteps carefully, treading over loose concrete and trying to avoid the potholes and steps, all the while listening for the noise of Monteith up ahead.

‘Uncle Danny…’

‘What?’

‘Thanks.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he breathed heavily. ‘That’s what I’m there for.’

‘And thanks for taking care of Rachel,’ Winter added.

Danny burst out laughing despite the exertion of running.

‘Take care of her? Christ, son, that woman of yours doesn’t need looking after. It’s you that needs the babysitter. Just as well she took the ammo out of that rifle for you. Now shut the fuck up, I’m too old to run and talk at the same time.’

They suddenly came to the end of the corridor and found it led off in two directions. They stood for a moment, Narey shining the torch as far as she could in each direction, and listened for the sound of him. Monteith must have known they’d have the choice to make though and had stopped or slowed so as not to make any noise. There was just running water and there in the distance the abrupt rumble of a train. They shrugged at each other and Winter was about to guess one way or the other but there, off to the left, a clang that was so close it had to be Monteith.

Narey took off in front again, the others struggling to keep up because she was far fitter than they were.

‘We took a few wrong turns when we came down here after you,’ panted Danny, obviously struggling now. ‘We followed you to the corner of Jamaica Street but then lost you. By the time we went into the lane you had disappeared into thin air. It took us a bit to find the opening and we had no idea where it would take us.