The Crime Trade

40

Tina found the Megane in the underground car park quickly enough. It was parked in the space for apartment 3C. She made a note of the number, then leant down and let down all four of the car’s tyres, one by one. Trevor Murk wasn’t going anywhere. Not using the method of transport he’d come here in anyway. She tried to inform control of where the car was parked but she’d lost the signal, so she made her way over to the lifts, wondering who it was her suspect was visiting in number 3C, and whether or not it had anything to do with the O’Brien killings.

While she was going up, she tried control again, but although she got a signal it cut out before anyone could answer. A voice inside her head told her that she was heading into extremely dangerous territory, and that with the first ARV only a couple of minutes away there was no point in going on. She’d done her bit, even got Murk’s position down to an individual apartment, so why keep going?

‘Because,’ she told the voice, ‘this is my collar, and I do not want him getting away.’

The lift doors opened and Trevor Murk stood there facing her. ‘Hello,’ he said, with a friendly smile.

Tina managed to conceal her surprise and smile back at him. ‘Morning,’ she replied, stepping past him, and thinking immediately that his was definitely the sort of face that could charm its way through an old lady’s front door. And a young lady’s, she thought. He was definitely a looker.

As the doors shut and he disappeared, she tried control again. This time she got through, and was put straight on to Sergeant Brooking. ‘He’s leaving the building, Colin,’ she informed him. ‘Via the underground car park. Carrying a black holdall.’

‘Keep back from him, Tina, I’ve told you. Strict orders. He’s to be treated as armed and dangerous.’

‘I’ve let down his tyres so he can’t get out in his vehicle. He’ll probably come out on foot through the car park entrance. Either that or the building’s main entrance, wherever that is. Get people to both places. And for God’s sake, get them to take him alive. He’s got information we badly need.’

Brooking started to say something else but the line was bad and she wasn’t really listening.

She found the staircase and started down the steps, taking them two at a time, the adrenalin coursing inside her. Less than a minute later she was coming back down to the basement level. There was a swing-door at the bottom of the stairs that led out into the car park. She took the final three steps in one go, dropping the phone into her pocket, and went to peer through the glass to see whether Murk had discovered her handiwork on the Megane yet.

But as she did so she heard the sound of echoing shouts and the loud clatter of footsteps coming rapidly closer. Then she saw Trevor Murk’s upper body hurtling towards the door. She turned to get out of the way, but before she could he hit it head on with all his weight, knocking her flying into the stairwell.

She landed on her behind on the hard stone floor, and as she went to get to her feet Murk spotted his opportunity and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her upright while at the same time removing the gun from his holdall. He dropped the holdall on the floor and thrust the gun’s silencer against the side of Tina’s head.

‘Sorry about this, my sweet, but I need a hostage. If you don’t resist, you won’t get hurt. If you do, I’ll have to kill you. Hope you understand.’ He dragged her over to the swing-door and pushed it open with his shoulder. ‘Back off!’ he yelled, the acoustics of the car park making it sound so much louder. ‘Back off now, or she dies!’

Ahead of them, Tina could see three uniformed officers, one holding an MP5, the other two Walther PPKs, all ready to fire. Behind these three were a number of plainclothes officers and more uniforms running down the entrance ramp in their direction, about thirty yards away. She thought she saw John and Malik, but before she could tell for sure Murk yanked her head back so that her eyes were pointing towards the dank stone ceiling, while increasing the pressure of the gun against her temple. She felt herself panicking inside but used every ounce of her mental strength to focus on remaining calm.

‘Armed police, drop your weapon!’ instructed the uniform with the MP5. ‘Drop your weapon now!’

‘Trevor, we can do a deal,’ Tina whispered. ‘We know you’re the shooter in the O’Brien murders. If you turn QE against whoever hired you, the sentence’ll be a lot less.’

Mark ignored her. ‘I want twenty grand and a helicopter to take me to France!’ he demanded, somewhat optimistically.

Tina gave a derisory snort. ‘For fuck’s sake, Trevor, be serious. You’re not getting out of this one. All you can do is limit the damage by doing what they say and dropping your weapon. Otherwise you’re going to end up either dead or doing thirty years.’

‘Shut the fuck up!’ he snapped. Then, to the uniforms: ‘Get back! Get back now!’

John’s voice: ‘Come on, Trevor, drop the gun. You don’t want to do this.’

‘I said get back! Do as I say and she doesn’t get hurt. Now I told you: I want a helicopter and twenty grand-’

Tina’s left arm flew upwards and grabbed the wrist holding the gun, yanking it off to the side. For a split second Murk’s resistance disappeared, and she used that second to elbow him in the gut with her right arm and break free from his grip, letting go of the gun at the same time as she tried to run out of the way.

Murk swung round in her direction, pointing the weapon, and that was the moment the shooting started.