Simon Kernick: Deadline

'Just stay still,' he whispered. 'I'm here now. You're going to be all right.'

For ten seconds they lay there together in a tight, tangled embrace. There were no more shots. Silence had returned, and Ridgers had stopped moving. But the fact remained that someone had just murdered him, and that person was close by.

'Stay where you are,' Bolt told Emma as he got to his feet.

'Where are you going?'

'Just stay there, help's coming.'

Keeping low, he killed the kitchen light and crept over to the back door. A yard, with outbuildings to the left and right, ran about twenty yards to the beginning of the tree line. It looked empty, but, as Bolt turned the key in the lock and slowly opened the door, he knew he was being foolish. It was one thing risking your neck to save your daughter, it was quite another to chase a gunman while he was unarmed.

But whoever had fired the shot that killed Scott Ridgers was also involved in this, and Bolt was in no mood to let him get away. And if he was carrying half a million in cash, his escape was going to be a slow one.

Bolt slid through the gap in the door on his hands and knees, then made a dash for the nearest outbuilding, where he stopped and peered round at the trees. He could hear nothing. The night was silent with only the lightest of breezes. The gunman was gone.

He was being an idiot. He could never do this alone, and he couldn't leave Emma alone with a corpse either. He wiped the blood from his face, pulled his mobile from his pocket and put in a call to Tina as he jogged back the way he'd come.

'I've got Emma,' he told her once he'd briefly explained what had just happened. 'She's OK, but the guy who shot Ridgers is gone. You're going to have to get people over here quick. We need to get a security cordon in place and seal off the whole area.'

Ignoring the fact that she was being ordered around by someone who was suspended, Tina said she was on it and hung up.

Bolt stepped back inside the kitchen door. Emma was sitting on the floor, staring into space. She turned his way as he entered, and for several seconds they simply looked at each other in silence.

Emma looked utterly exhausted. Her clothes were torn and sweat-stained, and her blonde hair was matted and dishevelled, parts of it stuck to the thin layer of grime that covered her face. But none of that mattered. She was beautiful. And she was safe. He felt a wave of emotion sweep over him and he had to grit his teeth so that he didn't cry.

'Who are you?' she asked uncertainly.

Who am I? Your father, I think. A man you've never met before who's linked to you inextricably and for ever. Someone who's sweated blood these past hours trying to find you, who wants to get to know you, take you places, be a part of your life, and explain why he hasn't been there for so long. Who needs you so badly you can't imagine it.

'I'm the police,' he said.

'Will you take me home?'

He took a deep breath, fought back the tears. 'Of course I will.'

But he didn't take her home. In fact, he hardly had a chance to talk to her.

Within minutes, the first of a long line of police and ambulance vehicles were on the scene, and she was taken away from him. After checking that she didn't need emergency medical treatment, the paramedics whisked her off to the nearby Chase Farm Hospital where she was to be reunited with her mother before being debriefed, and for Bolt, that was largely that. He was left alone on the periphery, watching as the local police sealed off the murder scene.

Within half an hour, the area around the farmhouse was teeming with activity, and floodlights had been set up to illuminate proceedings. Bolt was introduced briefly to a DI called Baker, who was running the CID nightshift at Enfield Nick, and who had the initial responsibility for investigating Scott Ridgers' death. He looked more like an accountant than a copper and when he spoke it was in a flat estuary accent, but he had sharp, intelligent eyes that didn't look like they missed a lot, and Bolt had a feeling that when he went down to the station later to give his statement he was going to get a serious grilling about how he, a suspended SOCA agent, had ended up at the scene, particularly as the ransom money was missing. But he was ready for it. After everything else that had happened today, he was pretty much prepared for whatever was going to be thrown at him.

He was leaning against the farmhouse's front fence, drinking coffee from a plastic container, when a car pulled up just behind the line of police vans on the driveway, and Steve Evans got out, followed by Tina and Mo. Their expressions were grim and businesslike, but as they got closer Tina nodded at him from behind Evans's shoulder and gave him the barest hint of a smile. Mo just nodded.

Evans, meanwhile, was just plain pissed off. 'I thought I told you you were suspended, Mike,' he said, stopping in front of him.

'You did, sir. I got a lead on Scott Ridgers. I thought I'd check it out. As a concerned private citizen.'

Evans didn't look mollified. 'And you tracked him down here, only for him to be shot dead by an unknown assailant while you were struggling with him. That's the story I'm getting from DI Baker.'

'Yes, sir. Someone shot Ridgers from outside the kitchen window while I was fighting with him inside. I'm assuming it's the same person who disappeared with the money from the ransom drop. I phoned Tina as soon as I could so that she could alert the local police, and I've been here ever since.'

Evans looked sceptical. 'It always seems to be you who gets in these situations, doesn't it? How did you end up here?'

Avoiding Tina's eyes, he told Evans the story he'd already rehearsed in his head.

'Ridgers told his girlfriend where he was staying in case she needed him. When her father told her that he was wanted for a very serious crime, she gave him this address. The father phoned me because we'd already spoken earlier today. Obviously I was suspended, and I didn't think my word would count for much, so I decided to come up here myself, just to check things out. As soon as I arrived, I saw Ridgers dragging Emma into the house, and decided I was going to have to intervene immediately.' He shrugged. 'The rest you know.'

Evans stared at him for several seconds. He had a hard, intimidating gaze that carried the heavy weight of authority. Bolt, who was used to such looks and wasn't affected by them, held it firmly.

'Well, you're still suspended, Mike, and I don't want to see you around again until you're back on duty. Understood?'

The rebuke was painful, especially as he'd done so much to break a case that was about to go very high-profile, but not entirely unexpected. Evans was right. He still shouldn't have been there.

'Sure, I understand.'

'Good. Now, I need to go and see DI Baker. If you'll excuse me.'

Evans moved past Bolt, leaving him alone with Mo and Tina. Mo asked how Emma was. His tone was stiff and formal, and Bolt had noticed that he hadn't called him 'boss' for some time now.

'She's good,' he answered. 'As well as can be expected, anyway. But it's going to take her a while to recover.'

'But she will recover. Kids always do. They're resilient like that.' Mo looked towards the house. 'I'd better go inside.'

'OK.'

Mo managed a weak smile that confirmed to Bolt that their relationship had taken a serious beating.

'I hope you're back on duty soon,' he said.

'I will be.'

'Good luck.'

Mo turned and walked towards the gate. Tina made no move to follow him.

'You not going with him?'

She nodded. 'In a minute.'

Bolt smiled at her. He couldn't help but think she looked pretty in the moonlight.

'Thanks for what you did, Tina. It saved Emma's life.'