CHAPTER 45
“Alexandra Doyle was with me. Not long in the job; one of what we called the ‘fresh meat’ when our initial team was expanded”

“Lexie, I believe you named her”

“Lexie. Yes”

“Why did she leave hard cover, Diane?”

“I have no idea at all. I can guess it was something like stupidity, or perhaps lack of experience. And my own stupid fault”

“Your fault?”

I gathered my courage, for this was something I had to do.

“She asked me if it was all over, and I obviously didn’t make myself as clear as I should have. I also failed to restrain her when she rose”

Noble checked some notes.

“In summary, then, you are saying that what happened to DC Doyle was your fault? Your negligence in not issuing firm and clear commands, and not using appropriate force to keep her in cover?”

“Yes. Yes to both”

“Thank you for your candour. Now, what then happened?”

Flickering light from the burning vans, fluttering from Lexie’s arms and legs as she lay on the tarmac, her right foot caught under her left knee in the sprawl the impact had thrown her into. Grab the red button on my radio, thumb pressing so hard I was losing sensation in it as any number of scenes from war films played on my inner screen.

Police, DC Sutton. Fucking Professional. I lifted my thumb away and pressed transmit,

“Red red red. Officer wounded. Midway along hedge on A48. Medical assistance required urgently”

Let go of the radio, DC Sutton. You are the first responder. You are the only one on scene for now. Bloody well assess the victim’s condition. Vital signs? Move!

I didn’t want to look, but it had to be done. All I could think of was the mess left when a man is tied to a tree and shot in the face… Look, girl. Open your eyes and do your job.

There wasn’t much left of the right-hand side of her helmet apart from shards of Kevlar, and blood was streaming down her face. I pushed three fingers into her open collar, past the straps of the ruin that was supposed to protect her, and tried to find a pulse.

Yes! I could feel it in her neck, rapid and weak, but it was still a pulse. Recovery position? With a head wound?

“Move, girl”

The tone wasn’t in any way aggressive, but the voice clearly expected instant compliance. I wrenched my eyes from Lexie’s body, and saw two short men in camouflage, several bits of green netting hanging off them.

“Who…?”

“SRR, love. Out of the way. Please”

I couldn’t see what they were doing, but it was fast and seemed practised, their hands moving all over her body, probing and squeezing. A head turned towards me.

“How many rounds, Constable?”

“Uh?”

“How many hits?”

“One only. In the head”

“She’s still with us, girl”

“Diane. She’s Lexie”

“No arterial spurting. No exit wound. She’s… STAND STILL!”

Two more figures were moving towards us, indistinct in green clothing. The shifting light showed some badges on what looked like jumpsuits, and the soldier lowered his weapon again.

“Sorry, mate. Paramedics?”

One of the new arrivals stammered out “Aye!”

“Come slowly towards me. Close enough… Right! Sorry, mate. Old habits. Head shot, don’t know how serious, female, how old, Diane?”

“Twenty-four”

“Thank you. No obvious exit wound, bleeding is heavy but not arterial, and we have stayed away from the entry wound”

The nearer ambulance man grunted, then called to his partner.

“Jack? One for you here”

He turned back to us, and the firelight caught a twisted grin.

“Jack’s ex-Army. Medic, isn’t it? More his side of things than mine. I’m Tod, by the way. Hell of a welcome!”

Things happened, and I lost track a bit as Tod took me off to ne side so that three men with experience of murder by explosion could get to work on Lexie properly.

“You OK, Officer?”

“Um. Yeah. Think so. Nothing hit me”

“Well, she’s in good hands. I make no promises other than that we will do our best, aye?”

He looked away, through the hedge, where I could just see a few dark figures moving in short sprints through the clusters of tents.

“It’ll be over now, love”

Bang.

I came back too slowly from the memories, Noble sitting patiently, biding his time.

“There was another shot?”

“Yes. It was further away than the machine gun fire, or at least in a different direction. Hard to tell distances in those conditions. And I could hear Brad again, more shouting about armed police, show yourself, all that stuff”

“You remained with your colleague, though?”

“No, not for long, anyway. The paramedics and the SAS boys, they got some sort of stretcher up from the ambulance, collapsible wheeled thing, and I got called away”

“Who by?”

“Sammy. I mean Inspector Patel. He was Bronze Commander”

“Where did he ask you to move to?”

“The field entrance. Said he needed me urgently. I got there as quick as I could, once Lexie was strapped onto the wheeled stretcher thing”

“Did anything happen while you changed position?”

“Yes. There were two more shots. They seemed to come from the same place as the
previous one”

“Were you moving towards or away from the sound of the shots?”

“Towards”

My two interrogators exchanged a glance before Noble asked his next question.

“What was your relationship with Carl Morris?”

“Relationship? Are you joking?”

Not a flicker of a smile from him. P, P, girl.

“I am sorry for that, but I would never describe my connection with him using that word. I met him once, and if you will pardon my French, he scared nine colours of shit out of me. Relationship is not a word I would ever have picked”

“For the benefit of this investigation, could you describe your previous contacts with him?”

“Um. Right. There had been a shooting, a friend of mine, witness in a major case. Kid on a moped”

Dawes looked up.

“That isn’t all of it, is it, Diane?”

“What do you mean?”

“We are informed that you were also a target, but the weapon jammed. Is that not correct?”

I nodded. “Didn’t think that was important, just now”

Noble smiled, and it was actually a warm one.

“It is always important when someone decides to take a shot at one of our Officers, Diane. Now, please describe your meeting with Carl Morris”

“Not really much to tell. He cornered me down near the lock gates, and it was like a military operation. Spotters, minders, anyone out for a walk turned round and sent back the way they’d come”

“What did you speak of?”

“Paula’s shooting. He wasn’t happy about it, to put it mildly”

I found my mouth taking over. “I suspect he had a soft spot, perhaps for her, maybe for one of the other girls. And he saw the city as his turf. Transgression, trespass, whatever”

“What did he say to you?”

I shook my head, my pulse speeding up with the memory.

“He frightened me, as I said. He made it very, very clear that he knew where I lived, and who with, and then promised us a present”

“A present?”

“Yeah. Turned out to be the weapon, and then the culprits. Well, they all pleaded guilty, so officially, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Beaten, bound and dumped in the park, wasn’t it?”

“Yes”

“And your unit decided to allow this vigilante approach to pass without any action on your part?”

“NO!”

Wind it in, Diane, for fuck’s sake, and try again.

“No. Not at all. Pig—- Morris--- ran a very tight operation, almost military in style. I asked exactly that question at the time, and my superiors made it abundantly clear to me that we were not condoning such activities. How on Earth could we? We set up an operation to deliver a complete intelligence package on the club and all members we could identify. Unfortunately, events sort of overtook us”

“Three murders, I believe”

“Yes. Plus arson and other attacks. That is why we started talking to Brad’s unit. The information we were receiving indicated there was going to be a serious firearms incident with multiple weapons”

Noble smiled once again, but it was back to the tighter, nastier style.

“A war, Diane. You can call it a war”

“A war, then. We just picked the wrong site, but at least we got the day right”

“Quite an intricate operation, coordinating multiple agencies. Whose idea was that?”

“Entirely a team effort”

“OK. Now, if we can come back to the evening in question. Why were you called to the field entrance?”

“Carl Morris wanted to talk to me”

“For what reason?”

One of the vans was still burning, the other one down to a glowing wreck as the fire consumed everything it could. People lay everywhere on the road, leather jackets gleaming on most of them and several women’s voices soft as they tried to quieten their unhappy children. Sammy was straight to the point.

“Lexie?”

“Head shot. Two of the army boys helped out, and the paramedics took her away. Still with us, but I have no fucking idea what state she’s in!”

“Not now, love. Hold it together, for her sake as much as your own, aye? Got a job for you, and we need you on the ball for it. Pig wants to talk”

“What do you mean?”

“Site’s mostly secured, except for him. We’ll start processing the crowd in a few, but he’s under the bar in the marquee with some sort of hand gun. Brad’s had words, and Pig’s been very clear: he wants to speak to you”

“What the hell for?”

“God knows, mate, but he is asking for you by name. Demanding, really, and every time someone else tries to talk to him we get a discharge, a shot”

One of the squaddies appeared at my shoulder, and I had no idea where he had come from. My nerves were shredded, and he didn’t help, but a few minutes later he was leading me on a scuttling run around the remaining tents until we arrived by a small estate car. Brad was crouching behind it, two of his boys prone, motionless, eyes fastened to their sights.

“Diane! So glad you decided to stop by!”

I wanted to scream at him, a torrent of release about Lexie, but just in time I realised how strung out he was himself, how he was coping. He reached across to grip my forearm.

“Looks like your team was spot on about this little event, girl”

“Yeah, but we picked the wrong site, didn’t we?”

“No matter, we got here. How’s the injured officer?”

“Shit state, Brad. Head shot. She was still breathing when the paramedics got to her, and I would really like to get off to the hospital, so whatever this is, can we get it fucking done?”

“Ok, girl. We’d like you to get this on. Bit heavy, but more protection than what you are wearing now. Pig is quite angry, but he seems to be calming down. He will only talk to you, though. Very specific about that. The kit’s wired, so we’ll be recording what you both say, as long as you are close enough to him”

I nearly lost it right then.

“Fuck’s sake, Brad! Sir! This is a proper negotiator’s job, not mine!”

“We tried that. He took a pot-shot. Says it’s you or nobody”

He paused, clearly weighing his words.

“Diane, we have a choice here, if you don’t feel able to do this. We have him flanked. Nobody behind, so clear field of fire. The other option is that we simply shoot him. He has had all the warnings we are required to give, every chance we owe him. He either comes out or he gets a funeral. There are six dead at least so far, and I really don’t want to increase that total. It will sound stupid, but our job is not to kill people, it’s to save lives. Whatever I can do to limit the body count to what we already have…

“Will you do it?”

Five minutes later I was crawling forward in an armoured version of the Michelin Man’s suit. Somewhere in front of me, Pig was waiting.