Shaun Hutson - Captives

'Why the gun?' she wanted to know.

'It doesn't matter,' he said. 'Just tell me why you're here.'

'Do I need a reason?' she asked, slipping off her coat and sitting down. She perched on the edge of the sofa, gazing into the mock flames from the gas fire.

Plummer ran a hand over his hair then stood beside her, touching her cheek with the back of his hand. It was an aberrant gesture but she reached up and touched his hand all the same.

'The law were in tonight, then?' he said.

'How do you know?' she asked.

'Scott told me.'

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with surprise and something more.

Fear?

'Scott's been here?'

Plummer explained about the phone call.

'He's going to kill us, Ray,' she said flatly.

It was Plummer's turn to look surprised.

'What the fuck are you talking about?' he gaped.

'I was with him the other night and some of the things he was saying, I know that if he found out about us…' She allowed the sentence to trail off.

'I thought you weren't seeing him any more.'

'I was going to finish it, but it's not that easy, Ray.' She recounted the conversation she'd had with Scott, telling Plummer about the gun. 'He'd do it, I know he would.'

'You're overreacting,' Plummer told her.

'I'm scared of him,' she blurted. 'And I think you should be, too.'

Plummer took a sip of his drink and wandered across to the window, peering out into the night.

'Mind you, he always was a bit unpredictable,' he murmured. 'You didn't tell him you were seeing me, did you?'

'I'm not stupid, Ray,' she said.

Plummer smiled thinly and rolled the glass between his hands.

'So what do you want me to do about it?' he asked. 'If we stopped seeing each other that would solve the problem, wouldn't it?'

'It's Scott I want to stop seeing, not you,' she told him.

It's your money I want.

'So stop seeing him.'

'I told you, it's not that easy,' she said irritably. 'He won't take no for an answer, I know he won't.'

'Why the fuck did you get involved with him in the first place?' Plummer wanted to know. 'You knew what he was like, didn't you?'

'I knew he thought a lot of me. I didn't think he was so obsessed.'

Plummer laughed.

'That's a bit strong, isn't it?' he chuckled.

'You don't know him, Ray,' she said. 'What I've told you is true. He's dangerous.'

Plummer peered into the bottom of his glass, as if seeking inspiration there.

'If he's dead he's no threat,' Plummer said, looking at her with cold eyes.

Carol looked puzzled.

'Do you want him taken care of? Put to sleep?' Plummer enquired.

'Killed?'

He shrugged.

'Jesus Christ, is that your only answer, Ray? Have him killed? That isn't what I want.'

'It sounds like you think more of him than you're letting on. You either want him out of your life or you don't.'

'I don't want him killed.'

'Still feel something for him?' Plummer enquired. 'Or won't your conscience allow it?' He smiled thinly. 'What do you want to do for the rest of your life, Carol? Hang around with a nobody like Scott, knowing you never dare leave him in case the mad fucker tries to kill you? From the sound of it he'd blow you away without a sepond thought. And he's supposed to love you.'

Carol could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of one trembling hand.

'What do you want?' Plummer continued.

'I want to get away,' she said, her voice cracking. 'From Scott, from that fucking club, from that whole lifestyle.'

'And how do you expect to do that?' he said flatly. 'It's all you know. It's all you have known.'

'What about you and me?' she said tearfully. 'Isn't there anything between us?'

Plummer smiled a predatory smile and crossed to the sofa, seating himself beside her. He put down his drink then took her in his arms, holding her tight. He could feel her tears staining his shirt.

'It's okay, sweetheart,' he said quietly. 'We'll take care of it. I said I'd look after you, didn't I?'

She snaked her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Her body was racked by sobs, muffled as she pressed her head against his chest.

'Don't worry about Scott,' he said, glancing across at the Delta Elite lying on the table. 'I'll take care of everything.'

Before he comes after me.

'I don't want him hurt, Ray. Please,' she insisted, her cheeks tear-stained.

'Don't let him think there's anything wrong,' Plummer told her. 'Carry on seeing him for the time being. Until the time's right.' He looked into her face. 'All right?'

She nodded slowly.

'I don't want him hurt,' she repeated.

Plummer smiled.

'Trust me,' he whispered, pulling her close. His eyes settled on the automatic once again.

The night sky was full of rain clouds, swollen and ready to spill their load on the city below. Clouds which made the blackness all the more impenetrable. A tenebrous gloom which had prevented Plummer from seeing anything except the lights from other buildings nearby and his own reflection in the window of the flat.

Even if he had been aware of the presence, the darkness would have prevented him seeing the man who watched his flat.

FIFTY-FIVE

There were rumours of snow on the way and, as Governor Peter Nicholson made his way across the exercise yard of Whitely Prison, he could believe them. The wind was cutting across the open space at great speed, so cold it seemed to penetrate his bones. As he turned a corner it was like being hit in the face by a handful of razor blades.

If it snowed, as was threatened, there was every possibility that Whitely would be cut off. It had happened twice before in his time as Governor. Once, in the winter of 1983, the snow had drifted up to ten feet around the prison walls; teams of prisoners working virtually round the clock had been unable to keep open the single road that linked Whitely with the outside world. No food had got through and the men had been put on half-rations. There had been rumblings about a riot, but Nicholson had received the warnings with little fear. His men were well equipped to deal with any such eventualities. There were small stock-piles of tear gas in the prison to be used in the event of riots or large scale disturbances and Nicholson would have had no compunction about using them. It transpired that the snow went as quickly as it had come, the road was opened and supplies began getting through regularly again. Possible chaos had been averted.

Two years ago the same thing had happened, but for a shorter time. If anything, though, the more recent incident had proved more damaging. Prisoners, unable to exercise outside in sub-zero temperatures, had been allowed longer in the recreation rooms. Inevitably, men pushed together for long periods of time became edgy and, by the time the prison was freed from the grip of the snow, three men had been knifed (one of whom had lost a kidney) and another had been beaten severely with a pool cue.

Nicholson wondered, if the snow came, what he could expect this time.

He glanced to his left and saw the prison chapel, the weather-vane spinning madly in the powerful breeze. The skeletal trees in the graveyard rattled their branches in the wind, bowing almost to touch the ground as the breeze battered them.

Ahead of him was the hospital wing, the familiar grey of the stonework matching the colour of the sky.

Nicholson entered, feeling the warmth immediately. He paused by one of the radiators to warm his hands before approaching the doors that led into the infirmary.

Inside, the wind rattled windows in their frames. One or two heads turned to look at him as he strode through, glancing at the occupants of the place.

A man who'd been scalded in the kitchens by cooking oil. Another, who'd been injured in a brawl during exercise, sported fifty-eight stitches from the point of his chin to the corner of his left eye. When he left the infirmary he was due to spend two weeks in solitary. His assailant was already there.