A State Of Sin Amsterdam Occult Series Book Two, Mark Hobson [notion reading list txt] 📗

pairs, with one man armed with an SBR Full-Auto assault rifle and his buddy carrying a Kevlar shield tall and wide enough to protect both men, they moved silently towards the target. One team trotted silently down the roadway and through the main gates, gliding towards the bungalow. A second team came from the field and slid along the side of the green shed, hugging the walls. A third team appeared through the hedge at the rear of the premises. Further along the road, an armoured police vehicle appeared and slew sideways to block access to any traffic: this was the command vehicle, from where the squad leader Dyatlov would choreograph the raid. In the village itself there were two ambulances on standby should they be needed.

From his perch atop the frozen dyke, Pieter gritted his teeth anxiously and watched the men move in.

As it happened, the opportunity for Nina to get away came about by chance.

During the lull in Tobias’ shouting and raging, she had risen from the bed to make a coffee, hoping the hot drink would feel comforting.

As she stood waiting for the electric kettle to boil she noticed the sudden hush that had descended, wondering what he was doing up there. Was he sleeping, having worn himself out? Or had he left on another of his errands? Whatever the reason, she hoped and prayed that his violent episode was at an end.

Yet even as she thought this, and just as she was pouring the hot water into her mug, she heard quick and hurried footsteps overhead, and then the sound of bolts being drawn back and the key turning in the lock, and as she glanced up in sudden fear, the door at the top of the steps opened and Tobias appeared.

She saw him standing there, bare-chested and wearing just jeans and boots, his upper body sheathed in sweat despite the freezing weather outside. His face and his blue eyes were expressionless, and he looked down at her blankly as though wondering who she was and what she was doing here, and then a flicker of recognition suddenly animated his face and he came quickly down the steps, leaving the door open and smiling broadly as he moved across the room towards her.

“Elena,” he said breathlessly, “I knew you’d come back.”

Nina hesitated for perhaps half a second. Then she threw the scalding liquid at him. It splashed into his face, his eyes and over his chest, burning him. Tobias screamed loudly and flung his hands up and dug his fingers into his eyes, the hot coffee temporarily blinding him, and he staggered sideways and went crashing over into the television.

Nina flung herself past, jumping over his legs as he rolled around on the floor, and raced straight for the steps. She reached the bottom and grabbed a hold of the wooden pommel of the handrail and spun herself around, hearing a huge roar of anger from behind as Tobias came to his feet.

Then she was climbing, with her eyes fixed on the opening above and her mind on one thing: to get through the doorway and run, run as fast as she had ever run before, just to keep on going, and her heart leaped up into her mouth as she heard the crashing of heavy footsteps as Tobias gave chase, right on her heels.

They gained entry through the front and back in perfect sync, using hand-held battering rams to cave the doors in with one blow, the old wood providing little resistance. The team by the green shed covered them.

As was their training, once they were inside the idea was to create as much noise and confusion as possible in order to frighten and overwhelm any occupants, and so the squad members screamed and shouted and smashed their way through the building room by room, kicking in doors and clearing the bungalow with maximum force behind a wall of noise. So much so that they could not hear themselves think.

Beyond the front entrance there was a short hallway lined with wooden panels, with a right-hand turn at the end. The pair of armed men rushed down, all pretence of subterfuge gone, and they found themselves in a kitchen. There was a table and chairs, the units and shelves all covered in dust and cobwebs, and on the far side a partially-opened door leading to the basement.

Skirting the room, sticking to each other shoulder-to-shoulder, gun and shield held forwards, they approached the door.

Nina made it with inches to spare, just as she felt Tobias snatch for her ankle with his huge hands, his fingers very nearly getting a hold. She kicked out and felt her foot hit him square in the face, and he yelped and staggered back.

It gained her perhaps two or three seconds. Nina burst from the basement, through the doorway.

The kitchen was a wreck, with smashed furniture and broken crockery everywhere, the units and sink ripped apart, the shelves flung onto the floor. Above her, the fluorescent light was flickering wildly. Nina charged through the mess, her eyes darting around until she saw another door leading off from the kitchen, and she made straight for it, hoping to God that it wasn’t locked.

She flung it wide and found herself in another room, a parlour by the looks of it with old-fashioned furniture and lace curtains over the windows and an ancient record player in the corner. This room was undamaged, but with motes of dust floating in the sunbeams coming through the glass, and it smelled musty and unused.

Nina gave it no further consideration because behind her she could hear Tobias coming after her, pushing through the wreckage in the kitchen to clear himself a path. Nina crossed the parlour in a flash, towards another door which surely must lead to the outside.

“Elena!” she heard Tobias roaring. “Come back!”

Twisting the door handle she pulled, and so suddenly that she couldn’t quite believe it was happening, she found herself outside and