[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

in his car. He didn t look very happy.
 What the hell are you doing?
 Pursuing the suspect.
 No you re not. Where s Buckett?
 On his way home.
 I don t blame him. SO-14 on their way?
I nodded. He paused, looked up at the dark building and then at me.
 Shit. Okay, stay behind and stay sharp. Shoot first, then question. Below
the eight 
  above the law. I remember.
 Good.
Tamworthpulled out his gun and we stepped cautiously into the lobby of the
converted warehouse.Styx  s flat was on the seventh floor. Surprise,
hopefully, would be on our side.
5
Search For The
Guilty, Punish The Innocent
. . . Perhaps it was as well that she had been unconscious for four weeks.
She had missed the aftermath, the SO-1 reports, the recriminations, Snood
andTamworth  s funerals. She missed everything . . . except the blame. It was
waiting for her when she awoke . . .
Millon De Floss  Thursday Next  A Biography
I TRIED to focus on the striplight above me. I knew thatsomething had
happened but the night whenTamworth and I tackled Acheron Hades had, for the
moment at least, been erased from my mind. I frowned, but only fractured
images paraded themselves in my consciousness. I remembered shooting a little
old lady three times and running down a fire escape. I had a dim recollection
Page 30
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
of blasting away at my own car and being shot in the arm. I looked at my arm
and it was, indeed, tightly bound with a white bandage. Then I remembered
being shot again  in the chest. I breathed in and out a couple of times and
was relieved that no crackly rasp reached my ears. There was a nurse in the
room who said a few words I couldn t decipher and smiled. I thought it odd and
then lapsed once again into grateful slumber.
The next time I awoke it was evening and the room seemed colder. I was alone
in a single hospital ward with seven empty beds. Just outside the door I could
see an armed police officer on guard duty, while inside a vast quantity of
flowers and cards vied for space. As I lay in bed the memories of the evening
returned and tumbled out of my subconscious. I resisted them as long as I
could but it was like holding back a flood. Everything that had happened that
night came back in an instant. And as I remembered, I wept.
Within a week I was strong enough to get out of bed. Paige and Boswell had
both dropped by, and even my mother had made the trip up fromSwindon to see
me. She told me she had painted the bedroom mauve, much to Dad s
disappointment  and it was my fault for suggesting it. I didn t think I d
bother trying to explain. I was glad of any sympathy, of course, but my mind
was elsewhere: there had been a monumental fiasco and someone was going to be
responsible; and as the sole survivor of that disastrous evening, I was the
strongest and only candidate. A small office was procured in the hospital and
into it cameTamworth  s old divisional commander, a man whom I had never met
named Flanker, who seemed utterly devoid of humor and warmth. He brought with
him a twin-cassette tape deck and several SO-1 senior operatives, who declined
to give their names. I gave my testimony slowly and frankly, without emotion
and as accurately as possible. Acheron s strange powers had been hinted at
before, but even so Flanker was having trouble believing it.
 I ve readTamworth  s file on Hades and it makes pretty weird reading, Miss
Next, he said.  Tamworthwas a bit of a loose cannon. SO-5 was his and his
alone; Hades was more of an obsession than a job. From our initial inquiries
it seems that he has been flaunting basic Spec-Ops guidelines. Contrary to
popular belief, weare accountable to Parliament, albeit on a very discreet
basis.
He paused for a moment and consulted his notes. He looked at me and switched
on the tape recorder. He identified the tape with the date, his name and mine,
but only referred to the other operatives by numbers. That done, he drew up a
chair and sat down.
 So what happened?
I paused for a moment and then began, giving the story of my meeting
withTamworth right up until Buckett s hasty departure.
 I m glad that someone seemed to have some sense, murmured one of the SO-1
agents. I ignored him.
 Tamworth and I entered the lobby ofStyx  s property, I told them.  We took
the stairs and on the sixth floor we heard the shot. We stopped and listened
but there was complete silence.Tamworth thought we had been rumbled.
 Youhad been rumbled, announced Flanker.  From the transcript of the tape we
know that Snood spoke Hades name out loud. Hades picked it up and reacted
badly; he accusedStyx of betraying him, retrieved the package and then killed
his brother. Your surprise attack was no surprise. Heknew you were both
there.
Page 31
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
I took a sip of water. If we had known, would we have retreated? I doubted
it.
 Who was in front?
 Tamworth. We edged slowly around the stairwell and looked onto the
seventh-floor landing. It was empty apart from a little old lady who was
facing the lift doors and muttering angrily to herself. Tamworth and I edged
closer toStyx  s open door and peered in.Styx was lying on the floor and we
quickly searched the small apartment. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]