Whisper For The Reaper, Jack Gatland [good books for high schoolers txt] 📗

joining the bleeding cut on her temple.

‘I’m going to skin you,’ she hissed. Jess backed away a little at this.

‘You have to catch me first,’ she said, tossing the wooden arm rest at Ilse. As the German ducked to avoid it, Jess ran for the door, pulling at the handle in frustration as she realised it was locked from the outside. Turning slowly, she faced Ilse again.

‘Okay, so maybe that wasn’t such a good idea,’ she said.

‘Child, you know nothing about me,’ Ilsa spat. Jess nodded.

‘True,’ she replied. ‘So show me what you’ve got.’

And with a scream she took the attack onto the offensive, rugby tackling Ilse hard at the knees, taking her back down to the floor with a resounding crash as the wrench went clattering into the toolbox to the side.

On the Thames towpath, Anjli looked to Billy.

‘Did you hear that?’ she asked, turning her head to see if she could narrow down the noise. Billy nodded, already running towards one of the buildings at the end of the small lane.

‘They’re in here!’ he cried out. ‘I can hear them fighting!’

Anjli pulled out her extendable baton and, preparing herself for a fight, she ran with Billy towards the workshop door.

On a country lane just south of Hurley, Doctor Marcos had her foot down as she drove her Mercedes A Class like a maniac. In the back seat, thrown around like a pinball was Freeman, the seatbelt he wore doing nothing to assist him against the sharp turns along the road, while Monroe held tight to the dashboard with one hand while he stared at his phone, held in the other.

‘The signal’s south of Honey Lane,’ he said, looking up. ‘It has to be the Dew Drop Inn.’

It had only taken them a matter of minutes to locate and contact the company that had installed the trackers into Karl Schnitter’s cars, and only a matter of seconds to convince the company to provide them with what they needed; Doctor Marcos had arrived while they were doing this, and between them, Bullman and Marcos had made quick work of it. This done, Monroe and Doctor Marcos ran for her car in the hotel car park, while Bullman took a call from Billy which gave the likely location of Jess as a lockup west of Hurley, and as they arrived at the Mercedes, they saw Bullman join De’Geer on his police motorcycle.

Personally, Monroe thought that Bullman just wanted to have a go on it.

The motorbike roaring off, Monroe and Doctor Marcos had clambered into the car, but paused when Freeman joined them, stating that this was his patch, and he’d be the one to represent Maidenhead.

Monroe was actually grateful for this; Freeman was probably the only legitimate, non-suspended officer they had in the car right now, and the last thing they wanted was to arrive, arrest Karl Schnitter and then see him released on a technicality.

As the car screeched to the side, to avoid a badger crossing the road, he screamed.

‘Don’t be a girl,’ Doctor Marcos chided as they continued. ‘It’s three minutes until arrival.’

‘I don’t really care,’ Declan said, moving towards Karl as he held the coin in the light of the Peugeot. ‘You call.’

‘Tails it is then,’ Karl said, as he flipped the coin—

Only to be caught mid air by Declan, who stepped back, throwing the coin with all of his might into the woodlands beside the car park.

‘Not that coin, though,’ he said, pulling another coin out of his pocket. It was still in its clear plastic bag, an item of evidence he’d pulled from Maidenhead before leaving. ‘Let’s make it a fair fight, yeah?’

He opened the bag and slipped the one mark coin, the one that Rolfe Müller had in his pocket when he died into his hand, flipping it across the car park towards Karl, who caught it, ashen faced. As Karl stared at the coin, Declan smiled.

‘Have a good look,’ he said. ‘No trickery, just a fifty fifty chance of success or failure.’

‘We cannot—‘

‘Cannot what?’ Declan asked with mock innocence. ‘It’s the same coin you threw a minute ago, isn’t it? Slightly newer perhaps, but with the same equal chances you gave everyone else?’

He smiled; a dark, vicious one.

‘Unless you’ve never believed in the coin's luck, and you’re just a lying piece of shit.’

Karl went to speak, thought better of it, and then threw the coin back to Declan.

‘You can throw,’ he said, the bravado returning to his voice. ‘I choose tails.’

Declan nodded, but then paused.

‘Can you do me a favour first?’ he said, softly. ‘Could you phone your daughter, so I can say a goodbye to mine?’

Karl nodded, pulling out the phone, dialling.

‘No funny tricks, or she dies,’ he said as he waited for the phone to answer. ‘Come on, where are you…’ he disconnected and redialled, still to no answer.

‘Oh dear,’ Declan replied. ‘Looks like things aren’t going well there. The question is, did my daughter beat the snot out of your daughter, or did my team get in there first?’

Karl looked around the car park, as if expecting armed police to leap out at any moment.

‘Don’t worry,’ Declan continued. ‘I didn’t bring anyone. It’s just us. And the coin. You said tails, right?’

And with that, Declan flipped the coin high into the air.

29

Heads Or Tails

Karl, obviously more nervous about this coin flip than any other he’d flipped in the past, watched the coin as it lazily turned in the air, reaching its peak before falling.

He wasn’t however watching Declan, who, having never cared about the coin’s result, took this moment to charge in heavily, slamming into Karl, sending them both to the muddy car park floor as the coin landed, unseen in the darkness.

Declan was military trained, but so was Karl; he might not have used it over the last three decades, but the German was a killer; cold, calculating and fighting for his life for probably the first time in years.