Shaun Hutson - Captives

The wound in his skull was less than two inches long, running from just below his hairline, diagonally towards his right eyebrow. The wound was caked with congealed blood and the dark stitches stood out even more vividly against the paleness of his flesh. He looked more closely, the breath sticking in his throat.

The wound was pulsing gently.

As he put his forefinger to it, he noticed that his hand was shaking.

The wound throbbed rhythmically, like a small heart, but the steady beat was not that of his pulse.

It bumped gently to its own tempo.

Scott swallowed hard, closing his eyes as a fresh wave of pain hit him.

Make it stop.

He moistened a piece of cotton wool and cleaned some of the dried blood from around the wound. The pain was intense. He rubbed both hands across his face and stepped beneath the shower, allowing the streams of water to wash the accumulated filth from him. He closed his eyes briefly, then looked down at the cut on his calf. It was deep and had bled profusely but he could attend to it himself. Besides, it was only a dull ache compared to the excruciating agony inside his skull. He washed quickly, seeing blood swirl around the plug-hole as he stepped out, switched off the shower and began to dry himself.

He found some bandages in one of the bathroom cabinets and hastily wound one around his calf, securing it with a stout bow. The wound on his forehead, he discovered, could be covered by a large plaster. Careful not to press too hard on the wound, he affixed it, leaning on the sink for support. He swallowed more aspirin and found, to his joy, that the pain was subsiding. He splashed his face with cold water and dried it carefully, satisfied the plaster was in place. Then he wandered back into the bedroom and slipped on a shirt, a fresh pair of jeans and a pair of cowboy boots.

He slid the knife down the side of one boot.

He crossed to the phone, checking that it was still connected.

He dialled Carol's number and waited.

Waited.

Nothing.

Three times he tried it. Three times he was greeted by the ringing tone.

Finally he pressed down on the cradle, listening to the monotonous buzz of the dial tone for a moment before punching new digits.

Ray Plummer's phone rang.

And rang.

And was picked up.

'Hello.'

He recognised the voice immediately.

'Hello. Who is this?' Carol Jackson wanted to know.

Scott gripped the receiver in his fist then, with a loud roar, slammed it down the force of the impact shattering the plastic phone in two. He picked it up and hurled it across the room.

Fucking slag.

Dirty fucking slag.

He got to his feet, pulling on the leather jacket he'd taken from the wardrobe, and headed for the door.

The knife bumped against his leg as he walked.

The drive to Plummer's flat would take him less than an hour, he guessed.

But first, he had other tasks to perform.

NINETY-NINE

He had seen the helicopter land, seen the four men disembark.

Now Governor Peter Nicholson heard the commotion outside his office, the raised voices of his secretary and of a man. A man who, seconds later, barged into the office, pushing Nicholson's secretary aside.

'What the hell is going on here?' the Governor asked.

'I might ask you the same thing,' Gregson snapped, followed into the room by Finn, Sherman and Clifford.

'I tried to stop them, Mr Nicholson,' the secretary protested. 'But they…'

'It's all right,' Nicholson said, waving her away. When the door was shut he turned on the invading policemen. 'How dare you come barging in here like this? I want to know what's going on.'

'So do we, that's why we're here,' Gregson said, in case you've forgotten, my name is Detective Inspector Gregson…'

'I remember your last visit,' Nicholson told him scornfully.

'Good, then you'll remember what it was about. Well, this time I'm not leaving until I get the answers I want.' Nicholson smiled.

'And what answers are those?' he said, i'm going to find out what's going on in this bloody prison. I'm going to find out how four convicted murderers, supposedly locked up here, could re-appear in London and re-enact their crimes. I'm going to find out what your game is, Nicholson.'

'Get out of here now before I call your superiors,' the Governor said angrily, turning his back on the policemen.

'My superiors know I'm here and they know why,' Gregson announced.

The colour drained from Nicholson's face and he remained with his back to the DI, hiding his expression.

'Do they know what you're accusing myself and some of my staff of?' he said, some of the bravado gone from his vcrice.

'Cut the bullshit, Nicholson, we haven't got all day. We've got work to do,' Gregson hissed.

Nicholson turned to face him.

'Perhaps you should reconsider what you're doing before it's too late.'

'It's already too late, too late for you.'

'And what, exactly, are you proposing to do?'

'I'm going to open the graves of Peter Lawton, Mathew Bryce and Trevor Magee.'

'You can't do that,' Nicholson said quietly, the steel gone from his voice.

'Why not? We've already opened the grave of Gary Lucas,' Gregson told him, leaning forward on the desk. 'And do you know what we found? Nothing. Fuck all. No corpse. Just a bag of bricks. Lucas never died, did he? Just like Lawton, Bryce and Magee never died. You faked their deaths to cover up what you'd done to them here. Then you released them.'

Nicholson shook his head.

'You're insane,' he snarled.

'Maybe I am, but I'm also right.'

'You can't open the graves,' Nicholson said defiantly. 'I won't allow it.'

'You have no choice,' Gregson said triumphantly. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the three exhumation orders, hurling them down in front of Nicholson. 'You can read them if you want to, but the most important thing is the signature at the bottom. Look at it.'

Nicholson picked up one of the documents with his thumb and forefinger, as if he were handling some kind of contagious material. He saw the sweeping hand of Commissioner Lawrence Sullivan on the order and the signature of a well-known Judge.

'Do you still want to argue with me?' Gregson said.

Nicholson merely glared at the policeman.

'The records we had on Lucas say that his body was prepared by your resident doctor,' the DI said. 'Someone called…'

'Dexter. Dr Robert Dexter,' Finn interjected.

'I want to speak to him, too,' Gregson insisted. 'No autopsy was carried out on Lucas, according to the records. Did Dexter prepare the other three, as well?'

Nicholson nodded.

'Was he the one who experimented on them?'

'What are you talking about?' Nicholson snapped.

'There's nowhere to run now, Nicholson. We know it all. We have the bodies back at New Scotland Yard. We know the men were all suffering from massive brain tumours, possibly triggered by some kind of brain surgery. Surgery performed by Dexter. Where is he?'

'In the hospital wing.'

'Get him. Now.'

Nicholson's hand hovered over the phone.

'And then?' he asked.

Gregson smiled thinly.

'We've got some digging to do.'

ONE HUNDRED

Scott could see the 'CLOSED' sign on the door of Les Gourmets as he pulled up across the street from it. He parked the Renault and sat behind the wheel for a moment, his head resting against the steering wheel.

Stop this fucking pain.

He swallowed hard and opened his eyes, squinting at first to clear the mist of pain that seemed to have clouded his vision. A cobbled walkway ran alongside the restaurant and led to the back entrance. Scott swung himself out of the car and crossed the street. The walkway was wide enough for a small delivery truck and Scott noticed that there was a dark red Rover Sterling parked there.