Chris Ryan - Who Dares Wins

There was nothing to distinguish it from the other terraced houses along this street. It had a small front garden that had been concreted over and was now home to only a couple of wheelie bins and a few old crisp packets that had been blown in. The ground-floor flat had a large bay window at the front, blocked with wooden slatted blinds. On the wall just above the window the cover of a security alarm blinked in the night. As Sam opened the metal gate it creaked quietly, so he didn’t close it before walking up to the bright blue front door.

By the side of the door was a video intercom with two buttons, one for the ground-floor flat, the other for the first floor. Next to each button was a scrawled name tag. The tag for the ground floor was simply marked ‘CC’. Clare Corbett.

Sam took the envelope from his pocket and removed the document. Then, with one hand over the lens of the intercom camera, he pressed the button, holding it down for several seconds without releasing his finger.

And then he waited.

There was no reply.

Sam cursed under his breath. He hadn’t really considered the possibility that there wouldn’t be anybody here. His hand still covering the camera, he rang the intercom again.

Again he waited.

This time, his patience was rewarded.

The woman’s voice that came over the loudspeaker was groggy and throaty, as though its owner had just woken up. But it was wary too.

‘Who’s that?’ it demanded.

Sam put his mouth to the intercom. ‘Clare Corbett?’ he asked.

‘Who’s that?’ the voice repeated. Tense. ‘Who is it? Why can’t I see you?’

He let his hand fall from the camera and replaced it with the document. ‘I need to talk to you about this.’

A pause.

‘What about it?’

‘I’ve got some more information,’ Sam improvised. ‘You need to hear it.’

A scratchy sound came over the intercom, the sound of movement. ‘All right,’ the voice said finally. Reluctantly. ‘Wait there. I’ll get dressed and let you in.’

Sam put his hand back over the camera. He didn’t know quite why he wanted his face to remain anonymous, but he did, and there was nothing to stop whoever was inside the flat from looking out even when they weren’t speaking. Secreting the document back in his jacket, he used his free hand to grip the gun. He had no idea who was going to answer the door and he wanted to be prepared for any eventuality.

A minute passed.

Two.

Sam looked over his shoulder, then back down at the intercom.

Why had nobody opened the door yet?

He rang the bell again, but this time he didn’t wait for an answer. Something told him there wasn’t going to be one.

Hurrying back on to the pavement he looked from one end of the road to the other. Had there been an alleyway leading behind the houses when he turned into Addington Street? He thought there had. Sam glanced back at the front door. Nothing. Not even a light. Whoever he had just spoken to was taking too long to answer the door. There was something else going on.

He thundered to the end of the road. Sure enough, a pokey alley led down the side of the end-of-terrace house. Sam sprinted down it, turning a corner at the end. He knocked a dustbin as he ran; it clattered over and spilled its putrid contents on the ground. In the darkness he could see movement up ahead. He didn’t shout: he just upped his speed.

There was an open door, a wooden one leading from the garden of one of the terraces. And beyond it, running towards him, a woman. She had blonde hair – shoulder length – and wore a chunky, knee-length cardigan. When she saw Sam bearing down on her she immediately turned and ran in the other direction. Sam easily caught up and grabbed her. The woman flipped and fought, like a fish that has just been pulled from the water. She kicked Sam hard in the shin, in the groin. It hurt, but he just held her, firmly, until it became perfectly clear that she wasn’t getting way. It took about a minute for the fight to go out of her, for her limbs to stop flailing and go limp. Only then did Sam realise how badly she was shaking.

He turned her round and looked at her face. The silver moon illuminated her features. The skin was white apart from where Sam’s hand had been, where it was a mottled red. A sob escaped the woman’s lips and her eyes were suddenly filled with an unmistakable look of total, abject fear.

‘Please,’ she whispered. ‘ Please! I haven’t told anyone. I’ve done what you said. I haven’t told anyone! ’

She hid her face in her hands.

‘Please!’ her voice was muffled now. Filled with brutal, racking sobs of terror. ‘Please, don’t kill me.’

Sam held the woman in silence for a moment, while she continued to cry. Beneath the tears he could tell she was attractive. She smelled of perfume. But she was a pitiful sight with her raw eyes and streaked mascara.

‘Who else is in the house?’ he demanded.

‘Nobody,’ she breathed. Sam heard a trace of a Northern Irish accent in her voice.

He waited a couple of seconds and then, with a sudden movement, pulled out his handgun and held it to the side of her head.

‘ Who else is in the house? ’

‘Oh, God…’ The woman’s knees buckled. ‘Nobody. I swear. Oh, sweet Jesus, I swear…’

Sam narrowed his eyes. She was telling the truth. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Get back in there. I’ll be right behind you. If you shout for help, I’ll shoot. Do you understand?’

No reply. Just a trembling wreck of a human being.

‘I said, do you understand?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered.

He nodded at her and stepped aside. With shaky, nervous steps the woman moved into her garden. The back door to her house was still open, but there were no lights on inside. Sam followed her in, closing the door behind him. He was in a kitchen. Behind him were wide French doors with slatted blinds above them. Sam stepped further into the room. ‘Put the blinds down,’ he instructed.

The woman did as she was told, slowly and clumsily. Sam found himself growing impatient. But the woman was scared. Telling her to hurry up wouldn’t have done any good. When the blinds were finally lowered, she turned to look at him.

‘Turn the lights on,’ he told her.

She edged round him, her eyes constantly glancing at the gun. By the main door was a light switch. She flicked it on and illuminated the room. Sam looked around. The kitchen was immaculately tidy, nothing out of place on the work surfaces. There was art on the walls and cookbooks on the shelves. It was a pleasant, comfortable, ordinary place. In the middle of the room was a pine table with four chairs neatly tucked underneath. The woman still trembled as she stood by the door.

‘Are you Clare Corbett?’ he asked.

She nodded her head.

He pointed his gun at one of the chairs round the table. ‘Sit down,’ he told her.

Clare didn’t move. ‘Are you going to kill me?’ she asked.

‘Sit down.’

The woman stepped fearfully towards the table, pulled out a chair and sat. Her wide eyes looked up at Sam, who tucked the gun back into his jacket.

‘If I was going to kill you,’ he said, ‘you’d already be dead and I’d be halfway out of London by now.’

Clare closed her eyes. ‘Is that supposed to make me feel better?’ Her breathing was a little steadier now, however. She appeared fractionally less frightened.

Sam pulled out the document and dropped it on the table in front of her. ‘This fell through my door a couple of hours ago. Care to tell me what it is and why it’s got your name scrawled on it?’

The woman looked down at the papers in front of her. For a moment she didn’t reply, but just gazed at the document.