Andy McNab - Dark winter

'OK, Baldy, that's enough. You with the hair, get yours off too, then pull up your T-shirt and show me your guts.' He did as he was told, unveiling the start of a beer belly. He, too, was unarmed.

'Now on the floor, both of you. Spread your hands and legs.'

A couple walked past the front of the house, talking and giggling, just feet away.

Suzy came to the door and shook her head, then turned to the dead girl. The carrier-bag rustled as she placed it to one side, then started going through her pockets. I went back to the two live ones. Baldilocks watched as Suzy turned the girl over in her own pool of blood so she could rip through the rear jeans pockets. He looked as though he was about to pass out.

I gave him a kick. 'Who are you?'

'Immigration. We're-'

'Why are you here?'

'Just a routine check, that's all. We saw something going on outside, that's why we came in. We're not armed, we're just doing our job.' He was flapping big-time.

Both of them had wedding rings – and, no doubt, a nice big mortgage to go with them. I jerked my head at the brown-haired one. 'You got kids?'

'Two.'

I nudged Baldilocks. 'What about you?'

He nodded.

'How many?'

'Just the one – she's two months now.'

'Well, just do as I say if you want to see them again. Got it?'

They both nodded enthusiastically. I knew they wouldn't do anything to fuck up their chances of seeing their families again because that was who they were thinking about this very second. 'You, Baldy, show me your ID. Stay on your front, just use one hand.'

He reached back into his jeans pocket and held out a worn black leather wallet towards me. 'Open it up and put it on the carpet in front of you.' He did, and I saw that Russell George was indeed an employee of Her Majesty's Home Office.

'Now you.' The long-haired one turned awkwardly to get a hand inside his jacket and Mr Warren Stacey produced his warrant card or whatever they were called.

Suzy had finished emptying the woman's pockets and was shoving her stuff into her own, along with the three empty brass cases she'd picked up in the hall.

'One more time?'

She didn't even bother to turn and acknowledge: I just heard her feet hitting the staircase again.

Warren was lying flat on his stomach with the right side of his face flat against the carpet, his eyes fixed on my rubber overboots. He raised his head a few inches and the eyes that made contact with mine were very scared. Who wouldn't have been? But tough shit: if you don't like the job, don't take the money.

'No worries, mate. We're on the same side, you just don't know it. But if you fuck up here, we're going to turn into your worst nightmare. Get it?'

He nodded and his eyes went back to my boots.

'What about you, Russell?'

He was facing the other way. 'We don't want any trouble.' The back of his smooth head rippled as it moved. 'I know what you're wearing. I reckon you're in the job. We just want to come out of this alive, OK? You'll get no drama from us.'

Suzy came downstairs and headed for the kitchen.

'That's good to hear. Just accept you're in the shit, OK? It happens to everybody some time. Just do what I say and you'll get out of here safely. We're going to tie you up now, and then we're going to leave. Someone will be here later to release you – it could be an hour, it could be tomorrow. OK, so far?'

Both heads agreed.

'Good. Do everything they say, and you'll keep your jobs. But fuck it up, and you might not get to see your kids grow up. The people that we all work for can be nasty bastards sometimes.'

I knelt down, placed the SD beside me, untied my rubber-boot laces, and used them to tie their hands behind their backs and then together. 'Just hold on, OK? Don't fuck up.'

I put their IDs into my chest pocket. Warren's shoulders were bobbing up and down as he fought back the tears, not understanding how lucky he was.

I checked the time by his sporty diving watch. It was just before ten.

I turned off the light and closed the door on them, then headed for the kitchen, my boots adding to the trail of blood prints and bone splinters already left by Suzy.

She shone her Maglite over the woman's belongings on the kitchen table. I moved up close. 'Why the fuck did you drop her? What if she wasn't even-'

The carrier-bag rustled as she held it up and I could see hard cylindrical shapes pressing against the plastic. 'Would you have given her the chance?'

I took the bag from her and put it on the table, pulling out three large spray cans of what I hoped was still red car paint. I put it next to the rest of the kit on the table, eighty pounds in notes and some change, a return ticket from King's Cross, and a receipt for a cheese baguette. There was also a mobile phone and a lone lever key for the front door.

I picked the phone up and switched it on with a rubber-gloved thumb just as Billy and Maureen's lights came back on next door. Maureen hadn't had a good night out. 'You bleedin' spoil everything, you do!' The TV went on as her shrill voice disappeared upstairs. 'Karaoke's my only night out and you've fucking ruined it!' And whoever Cheryl was she was a big fat slag anyway and he was welcome to her.

The Motorola's back light came on, then the display, asking for a PIN code. I tried 1234. Nothing. 4321. Nothing. That gave me just one last shot. I tried a random sequence, but the thing closed down. Shit.

I reached across and shoved the side of Suzy's head to my mouthpiece. 'We've got to go. Get the ready bags in here. We'll keep out the way of next door.'

She moved my head then, so my ear was next to her mouthpiece. 'What if this place is contaminated? Even when we're out we should wait an hour.'

I shoved the woman's belongings into the carrier. 'Another hour isn't going to change anything…'

The row next door escalated as we played musical heads.

'No, now – we can't wait and I'm not wasting time explaining. Change outside if it makes you feel better. We're taking the pills, aren't we?'

I picked up the carrier and headed outside. Doors were being slammed over at Billy's and the TV was turned up. I pulled down on the toggle and pushed my hood back before ripping off the respirator. The cool air brushed against my wet face. I got the rest of the kit off as quickly and quietly as I could and into the ready bag. Suzy followed after closing the back door. She took her hood down and pulled off her respirator as well. 'Fuck it.'

We finished packing and checked the yard to see if we'd left anything. We exited by the back gate and headed for the bridge, turning left up Walker Street, ready bags over our shoulders.

A queue had formed outside the chip shop on Loke. The pub was rocking to a bad karaoke singer murdering 'Like A Virgin'.

Suzy had been striding along beside me, waiting for an explanation. When we were well out of any possible earshot she got what she wanted. 'We could be in the shit here. What if those cans are DW? What if the rest of those fuckers have already been spraying this shit about today? Or what if they've split up, and are waiting to press the button? Look, let's get the cell to the Yes Man – he finds the numbers, he finds the location, and we get these fuckers.'

Virtually running now, we got to the brick in the wall, retrieved the keys and carried on back to the Peugeot.

I got the Yes Man on the moan-phone.

'You get it?'

'Maybe, but only some. Listen in.' I told him about the Immigration guys, and that the ASU could have been living there. 'If the cans contain DW, what's to say the attack couldn't already have happened? It's Saturday night, pubs are packed, there's been football matches, the list goes on. But, look, we have her cell. I can't open it and we'll have to be quick in case she has report times and they've actions-on if she misses any. The good thing is, it's closed down – chances are she wasn't expecting any incoming.'