Mightier than the Sword - Part 6

Chapter 23

Natasha sat on a bench in Worsley, by the Bridgewater Canal on the outskirts of Manchester. Leaning right back into the bench, with her legs fully outstretched, taking in the scenery around her with a postcard in her hand. An old woman came up to her, carrying three shopping bags and sat down next to Natasha.

‘You look as tired as I feel love,’ the woman said.

‘I’ve been walking for a while, reckoned I deserved a rest,’ Natasha replied in a friendly tone.

‘I reckon we both do, my knees are killing me. I can still ride a bike, I even still play tennis and some badminton, the one thing that really troubles my knees is walking, the simplest bloody thing of all,’ the woman said shaking her head in exasperation.

‘Knees can be like that,’ Natasha said with a sympathetic nod of the head.

‘Old age can be like that, you’ve got all this to look forward to love. You’re not from round here are you? You actually sound American.’

‘Nothing wrong with your hearing, yeah I’m American.’

‘Are you living over here now?’

‘No, just been over for a week or so, I’m heading back out of here today actually.’

‘Oh I see, have you enjoyed your visit?’

‘It’s definitely been a trip I’ll remember forever.’

‘Have you heard about that gang of American serial killers who are over here?’ Her face lit up a little at the thought of some serious gossip.

‘Yeah I caught the end of a news story on the radio yesterday. Have to apologise on behalf of my country, it is embarrassing enough that we have more serial killers than any other country, but now we’re going to other countries and killing their innocent people.’

‘Every country has its bad people.’

‘Yeah I suppose it does.’

‘Never ceases to amaze me what some people are capable of though.’

‘I guess you never know what you are capable of until you’re put in certain situations,’ Natasha said as she turned away from the woman and stared blankly straight ahead.

‘Sounds like you’re on the nurture side of the age old debate.’

‘I definitely believe that people can make them self into just about anything they want to be, but also that the situation they are put in can dictate what type of person they become. I think that there a tiny proportion of people that are genuinely bad people, and similar number of good people. Most of us are somewhere in the middle and capable of acts at either end of the spectrum.’

‘Sounds like you’ve done a lot of thinking for one so young. Mind you from what I’ve heard a few of those killers are around your age.’

‘Hope people don’t assume I’m one of them.’

‘Oh I don’t think you have any worries there, apparently the women in the group have long black hair and they all wear all black, nothing like your light hearted outfit,’ the woman commented on Natasha’s tight fitted jeans with rips at the knees, and her snug white tee shirt.

‘Very rare I get any approval of my clothes from the older generation,’ Natasha replied with a smile.

‘If I had your hips and legs I’d be wearing jeans that tight, and anybody with your figure would be mad to not wear white sometimes and baggy clothes would be such a waste. Besides, you don’t look anything like a serial killer.’

‘Wonder what a serial killer looks like?’

‘Here’s hoping I never find out,’ the woman said. ‘Here’s my bus, nice talking to you dear, have a safe trip home.’

‘Nice chatting to you to, keep playing tennis for as long as you can.’

‘Oh I will love,’ she said with a smile and headed to the bus stop.

Natasha watched the woman get on the bus, then pulled a mobile phone from a pocket in her jeans. She sent one message then got up off the bench, threw her rucksack over her left shoulder, walked over towards the canal, stopping to put her postcard in a post box, then walked along the canal footpath for a few yards and threw the phone into the canal. After a few more yards she came back off the canal and headed towards a taxi that had pulled up just before the bus stop.

‘This cab for Shelley?’ Natasha asked the driver.

‘Yeah.’

‘That’s me, Manchester airport please,’ Natasha said then got in the back of the taxi.

Julia walked into the investigation room, a little after nine o’clock in the morning. Tony was already in there, looking over some witness statements.

‘Oh my God,’ Tony said as he looked at Julia. ‘Did you get any sleep at all last night?’

‘Is it that obvious?’

‘This is the first time I’ve looked at you and not thought you were completely out of my league.’

‘I think I got two spells of five minutes. Any progress overnight?’

‘No news of these kidnappings, one report of a missing teenage girl in the area, that’s all so far,’ Tony replied. ‘But I have worked out that clue from the last taped message,’ he added with a satisfied grin.

‘Seriously, you’ve worked out where they’re staying?’

‘Sort of. The key word is alternatively. If after that you think of the opposite of what is said, then descending can be rising and the massive jump for the human race is obviously a reference to a giant leap for mankind, so he’s talking about the moon, the sort of opposite of moon is sun. So we have rising and sun, to make that into something famous, we have the song House of the Rising Sun, so we now know they are staying in a house and not in an hotel or anywhere like that.’

‘That it?!’ Julia snapped. ‘Jesus Christ Tony, I thought you actually had a breakthrough, maybe you have, I mean there can’t be that many houses within fifty miles or so of Manchester.’

‘I did say sort of. And you really need to go home.’

‘You’re not normally that bothered by my insults.’

‘It’s not the insults, it’s the bleary eyes, slight hand twitches and crackling on edge tension you have about you.’

‘I suppose I really should sleep,’ Julia acknowledged after a big sigh.

‘There’s not even anything in particular for you to do around here right now.’

‘Okay I’m heading home for a few hours, but you call me the second you get any progress, don’t worry about waking me up.’

‘I wouldn’t dare keep you in the dark about any progress.’

‘Where’s Sabine by the way?’

‘She phoned in a few minutes ago, saying she’s going to have some alone thought time in her hotel room this morning, whatever that means.’

‘For her sake I hope it’s more productive than mine was last night.’

Sabine was in the bath in her hotel room, originally the plan was for the bath to help her take her mind off the case. Within a few minutes Sabine had given up on that plan, even the scorching, skin tingling temperature of the water wasn’t enough to distract her from the Hitman. She was lay back with only her head and her toes out of the water, eyes closed hoping for inspiration. Nothing was coming into her mind apart from the all too familiar frustrations of repetitive, completely unhelpful thoughts. Then her message alert tone sounded on her phone, Sabine grabbed it without having to get out of the bath and looked at the message. After looking at it for a few seconds, Sabine jumped out of the bath, splashing water all over the floor. She grabbed a towel and quickly got herself nearly dry. She rushed out of the bathroom, put on the first clothes and shoes she could find, a pair of trousers and a thin sweater and her trainers. With her hair still wet and her damp body sticking a little to her sweater, Sabine picked up her gun, purse and phone and walked quickly out of the room and then the hotel as she phoned for a taxi.

When Julia got to her house she went straight up to her bedroom. Before she could finish undressing so she could clamber into bed, her phone rang. She sat down on the bed then picked up the phone.

‘Hello.’

‘Oh hi Jules it’s Chip, you free to talk? I wasn’t expecting you answer at this time, I was getting ready to leave a message.’

‘I hardly got any sleep at all last night, so Tony sent me home to get some, I’ll get a few hours before heading back in later. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?’

‘I couldn’t help noticing that, by your standards, you were getting tense about this case you’re working on. So I thought you might like to relax a bit by talking about anything but the case, but if you’re about to go to sleep then we can do it some other time.’

‘No, actually I think one of our off the wall talks could just be the thing I need. I tell you what if I go to sleep for a couple of hours, then you can come round about twelve if that’s all right with you? I’m not expected back at the station at any time in particular, so we’ll still have time for a little chat.’

‘Yeah that’s fine by me, I’ll see you at twelve then.’

‘Yeah definitely, see you, bye.’

‘Bye Jules.’

It wasn’t too long before Julia dozed off to sleep, despite all the things going round in her head about the case. She remained asleep until her alarm went off at quarter to twelve. Julia instinctively switched the alarm off before any thoughts of how she was feeling kicked in. Julia gave herself a count of three, with the objective being for her to get out of bed on three. It was more like six or seven, but she did manage to get up without too much delay. She walked to her bathroom and then leaned on the sink and looked into the mirror above it.

‘Oh wow! I actually look worse than I feel.’

Julia ran the cold tap and after waiting until the water had become chillingly cold, she used her hands to splash the water onto her face. She let out a small gasp of shock at the temperature, but it had served its purpose of making her feel more awake. After gently wiping her face with a hand towel Julia went back into her bedroom and put her work clothes and shoes back on, then back into her bathroom to apply a little make up and tidy her hair. After doing her makeup she was flicking her fringe into place as she looked in the mirror. All of a sudden Julia stopped flicking and just stared at her reflection. Her eyes started to wander as she contemplated the thought that had just flashed into her mind. This eye movement became more frantic before she once again fixed her glare on her reflection. Julia ran her fingers through the hair on the side of her head then held them on the back of her neck, desperately trying to think through and come to terms with her realisation. Without anymore concerns about her appearance, Julia quickly ran downstairs and charged out of the house. She was so preoccupied with her latest notion that all she picked up on the way out was her own personal gun and her keys, slamming the door behind her.

Chapter 24

The taxi took Sabine down a quiet road, the driver pulled over at the end of a long driveway.

‘This is the house you wanted,’ the driver said. ‘You want me to go down the drive?’

‘No it’s fine, let me out here, thanks,’ Sabine said then paid the driver before getting out.

The driver wasted no time in setting off as soon as Sabine was out of the car. Sabine waited for the driver to be out of sight, then looked around, checking there was nobody in sight, before pulling her gun out of the back of her trousers. She walked slowly down the drive, continually looking around her. Having got to the front door without any sign of anyone else around, Sabine found that the door opened with a little push.

Inside the house, Sabine still couldn’t detect any sign of life downstairs, so she made her way slowly up the stairs. From the top of the stairs she could see only one room that had the door open, she made her way slowly towards that room, still looking all around her as she walked. Inside the room were the two kidnap victims, tied to the bed, also Scott was there holding the back of Melanie’s neck and pressing a gun to her head.

‘Put the gun down Lieutenant Larksson,’ Scott said with a satisfied grin.

Sabine held her gun out in front of her, pointing it a Scott, she stared at him for a few seconds, then dropped it to the floor in front of her.

‘Thank you,’ Scott spoke slowly and clearly. ‘Love the hair, the wet look suits you,’ he added once Sabine had followed his latest instruction.

‘I’m glad reading that article “ten ways to impress a psycho” wasn’t a complete waste of time.’

‘I do admire your ability to stay composed, even in completely hopeless situations.’

‘Are we at the swapping compliments stage of the date already? Sorry I can’t think of anything for you.’

‘That’s the sort of quick thinking they don’t teach you in the LAPD, must be all your own work.’

‘Speaking of working on your own, where’s your gang?’

‘I’m the only one here at the moment, must admit that I’m impressed that you found me, although it did take you long enough.’

‘Even I’m good enough to find a place when I have the address.’

‘But how did you get the address?’

‘Your little text message,’ Sabine said, looking a little confused.

‘It appears that somebody is trying to get in on our little game. Anyway, seen as you’re here, I think it’s about time I’m explained myself.’

‘You’re going to explain and justify thirteen murders and two kidnappings? You mind if I take notes? I’m sure the families of the victims would love to hear what you have to say,’ Sabine made continuous eye contact with Scott, with no submissive body language.

‘You cops would love to think that everything is simple, black and white, good and evil.’

‘If you’re about to explain how the murder of thirteen innocent people can be a grey area, then I really would like to take notes.’

‘First of all we’d have to establish what you meant by innocent,’ Scott sounded a little angry for the first time.

‘Oh that’s right, everybody dies for a reason.’

‘Don’t say it like I’m the crazy one.’

‘You being completely sane would be something else that would take a lot of explaining.’

‘Nobody’s completely sane.’

‘I’ll concede that one.’

‘You really think the victims are innocent? Two convicted muggers, two sleazy misogynistic womanisers, two would-be rapists.’

‘Three cops?’ Sabine interrupted.

‘Some murders are symbolic, wrong time, wrong place for them. Not even you would pretend that all cops are good people. How can they employ the sort of people that take bribes, beat innocent people and completely abuse their power in many ways and then not employ me?’

‘Have to say that right now I think not employing you for anything looks like a sound judgement call,’ Sabine was keeping her tone and breathing calm as she fixed him with her stare.

‘That’s because you have no idea who I really am, you’ve no clue what I was like before that interview.’

‘What was that noise?’ Sabine asked about a crashing sound from downstairs.

‘Don’t know, don’t care. You shouldn’t care either, you should be focussed on me and nothing else.’

‘All right, you have my undivided attention. So you’ve been made into a murderer by other people?’

‘We all have, well five of us at least.’

‘Story time? Shouldn’t I be sitting comfortable for this part? Oh and I’m sorry but I haven’t brought my violin with me.’

‘I can understand your glib, laid back attitude if all that was at stake was your own life, maybe you’re depressed and on the brink of suicidal. But being so deliberately antagonistic towards me when there are two other lives at stake is selfish in the extreme.’

‘Go on then, enlighten me.’

Scott let go of Melanie’s neck and stopped pressing the gun against her head, but it was still only a few inches away from her face and pointing right at it. ‘For me life is all about that one thing that means the most to you, for a lot of people that will be their family, for others it might be friends, a hobby, their job. Whatever that one thing is they should never lose sight of the fact that is the one thing that matters above all else in their life. In my case that thing was not just a job, but a way of life. Whenever I thought about being a cop I never saw the reliable pay packet and decent pension scheme. All I thought about was helping people, being on the right side of the law and making sure justice was done. It wasn’t just something I thought of doing after I graduated because I couldn’t think of anything else. Being a cop was the only thing I’d ever wanted to do with my life. I never asked to be a top athlete, a movie icon or a rock star, just a humble cop. Everything I did was geared towards becoming a cop. I studied as hard as anyone in high school and college, I completely sacrificed a social life to make myself into the best cop I could possibly be. After all that I get told by some moron that I’m not outstanding enough to make the grade, then he even suggests I should be a security guard. Are you shitting me?!’ Scott’s voice got louder as his speech went on, breathes got deeper and more forceful, seemingly completely oblivious to the continued noises from downstairs.

‘I can see how that would be tough to take. If you’d spent a couple of weeks getting drunk and scratching cop cars with keys and letting down their tyres, then I’d be feeling some sympathy for you, right now though sympathy is not one of the things I’m feeling.’

‘You’ll never understand.’

‘I don’t think I want to.’

‘I managed to find other people who did understand, or at least could understand my desire for a reaction far more severe than letting down a few tyres.’

‘You mean you managed to find people as equally insane and deluded.’

‘You sure they’re insane? How about a guy whose parents were killed by muggers when he was seven years old? Of course the moronic cops never found the muggers. Does wanting some revenge really make him insane? What about a young girl whose older sister was killed needlessly and selfishly? Is she insane for wanting to kill a couple of guys who were just like the guy who killed her sister? Another young lady who was in a horribly abusive relationship and wanted to prove to herself that she can defend herself and she’d never be in that situation ever again? A guy who’s been teased and bullied all his life because of a speech impediment? Don’t you think you’d have snapped after thirty years of that?’

‘Say all that to a judge and I’m sure you’ll all be let off,’ Sabine said.

‘Your sarcasm isn’t impressing anyone, least of all Melanie here. Trust me I know the law as well as anyone, I know there’s no legal justification for anything we’ve done. How about morally? Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to kill someone who rejected you, or some sleazy guy who treated you like crap, maybe someone who bullied you in one way or another.’

‘The point at which that goes from idle daydreaming to actually acting it out, is around the same point where sanity crosses to insanity.’

‘Maybe it’s the point where pointless moaning turns into having the guts to do something about it.’

‘You really believe you’ve done something impressive don’t you?’

‘I think orchestrating thirteen murders without getting caught could easily be described as being impressive.’

‘I suppose so, in the same way that Hitler was impressive,’ Sabine said and started to smile as she looked at Scott.

‘What are you smiling at?’ Scott asked with a narrowing of his eyes.

A couple of minutes after Sabine had entered the house Anna and Justin returned from their run, which had been around eight miles, without them ever going too far away from the house.

‘Have you given any more thought to what I said before we set off running?’ Anna asked as they came in through the front door.

‘About getting out of here?’

‘Yeah, all I know is that for me getting caught was never part of the plan.’ Anna explained.

‘To Scott it almost seems like an essential part of the plan,’ Justin said.

‘Exactly and he won’t be at all bothered if he takes us down with him.’

‘But what can we actually do?’ Justin asked. ‘Not sure how I’d handle a life on the run.’

‘To start with we can just take off and see where we get to,’ Anna suggested. ‘It’s got to be better than waiting around here to get caught.’

Justin paused to think for a moment as they headed to the kitchen. ‘Yeah okay count me in, when are we going to go? And how?’

‘I was thinking we can go for a run again in the evening, only this time we just keep running,’ Anna suggested.

‘That should work,’ Justin conceded.

Anna and Justin went into the kitchen to get a drink to replace some of the fluids they had lost whilst out on their run.

Julia approached the entrance to the drive of the house that Justin and Anna had just run back to, still travelling at break neck speed. She slammed the breaks on when she saw the drive way, then she proceeded with caution for the first time since she set off from her house, she got out of the car and walked down the drive. After taking a quick look at the outside of the house, Julia pulled her gun out and advanced towards the front door. When she got up close to the door she realised that it was slightly open. In the kitchen Justin heard Julia’s footsteps on the loose pebbled area of the drive just outside the house.

‘What was that noise?’ He asked Anna.

‘I didn’t hear anything.’

‘Did you shut the front door?’

‘No I don’t think so,’ Anna admitted then Scott walked out of the kitchen back to the front door. ‘Stop being so paranoid,’ Anna said whilst shaking her head as Justin left the kitchen. She carried on doing what she was before Justin’s comments, which was making a milkshake. When she had put her desired quantities of milk and ice cream into the blending machine she turned it on.

Justin walked slowly and carefully back to the front door, as he got close to it he saw it being gently swung open. He got up against the wall that the front door was in and crept along it until he was right next to the doorway. Cautiously Julia entered the house with her gun held out in front of her. Instinctively Justin Karate kicked at the outstretched hands, the force of the blow knocked the gun out of Julia’s hands and it caused her to stumble further into the house. She came into full view of Justin, who without delay kicked out again. This time his foot powerfully came into contact with the back of Julia’s right knee. Julia’s right leg came up from under her and she was sent crashing to the ground. He dragged Julia further into the house by her feet. The kick to the knee and the fall to the ground had left Julia momentarily stunned. When she regained enough focus to try and offer some resistance, Justin was holding both her feet up in the air as she lay on her back. Now there was no way she could prevent Justin from applying his favourite, extremely painful knee hold on Julia. He flipped her over onto her front, applied the hold and waited Julia to pass out. The hold had put Julia in a position of lying face down whilst Justin was holding her knees in an unnaturally contorted position. She was constantly screaming and sweat was pouring off her face, she could feel that she was about to pass out. A second or two after Julia passed out the front door was forcefully swung open by Chip carrying a Baseball bat. He had never been one for fancy fighting skills and he wasn’t going to change now. Justin was so startled by Chip’s dramatic entrance that he had only been able to let go of the hold, but not move at all other than that. So Chip charged straight at him and swung the bat hard and full in Justin’s face. For the second time within a week Justin’s nose was broken and he was sent flying backwards over Julia to the bottom of the stairs. The noise created by the impact between the bat and Justin’s face was so loud that even Anna heard it over the noise of the blender. Chip casually tossed the bat to one side and went to check on Julia.

Before Chip was aware of Anna being in the vicinity she had walked right up behind him and when he did turn round to see her he couldn’t do anything to stop her kicking him in the ribs. The power of the kick caused him to stumble backwards until he leant back against a wall. Anna stepped over Julia’s still unconscious body and advanced towards the severely winded Chip. Their eyes locked onto each other just as they had done in the pub a few days previously. Both of them once again felt the bizarre combination of attraction to and desire to hurt the same person.

‘Hi honey, I’ thought I’d never see you again,’ Anna spoke as if they were long lost lovers, as she continued to walk slowly towards Chip.

‘I have to say that you look great in Lycra,’ Chip commented said. ‘But you are one hell of a bitch!’

By this time Anna had got right up to Chip and she had her face only a few inches from his as she looked into his eyes. She began to stroke the side of his face with her hands, then said to him, ‘But that’s why you like me,’ in her sexiest voice.

Anna looked Chip up and down as if she was wondering what she was going to do to him next.

‘Now if you’re planning some sort of fight I think that’s going to be totally unfair because you know I guy like me would never hit a woman and you’ll take advantage of that.’

Anna looked back into Chip’s eyes and smiled at him with a devilish smile. Then she was caught completely by surprise as Chip head butted her. She staggered backward holding her face and eventually went to ground when she tripped over the flat out Julia. Chip walked over to where Anna was lying, holding her face with blood coming out of her nose.

‘Now I never said anything about head butting,’ he told Anna as he stood over her.

Adrenaline started to flow through Anna and she burst into action. She kicked out with one of her legs and it hit Chip in the area she was intending to do, right between his legs. As the water started to come to his eyes and he gasped for air Chip managed to say, ‘Now that’s plain fucking cheating.’

Anna flicked herself up athletically without using her hands and then wiped the blood from her nose onto her right arm.

‘Now I can show you just how much of a bitch I can be,’ Anna told Chip, who was staggering around and looked to be perfectly set up for Anna’s favourite kick to the head. She bent her knees a little and put a hand on the top of each thigh as she waited for Chip to stagger towards her a little, before going for her kick. When she went for the kick, Chip managed to duck under it and grab her standing leg. Chip had felt what that kick was capable of in the pub, so he was going do everything possible to be avoid being caught by it again. He forcefully picked up Anna’s standing leg and she was forced backwards and was sent crashing into a small desk that was up against a wall. When she drove the desk into the wall the impact dislodged the big mirror that was stuck on that wall above the desk. It came crashing down onto her head and knocked her onto the ground in a dazed state. Chip took several deep breaths to compose himself again after suffering pretty much the worst blow any man can suffer. He was looking at Anna sitting dazed on the floor, when out of the corner of his eye Chip noticed Justin moving. Rather than rushing over to Justin, Chip waited until he had unsteadily got himself to his feet then Chip ran at him and swung his arm into the throat of Justin as he ran past him. The momentum Chip produced sent Justin crashing to the ground and flat onto his back. Chip bent over to check if Justin was unconscious. Before he could inflict any more harm on Justin, Anna swung Chip’s own bat into his side. The blow landed just below his rib cage and he hit the floor in a crumpled heap, now well and truly winded as well as in some considerable pain. Anna threw the bat over her shoulder and went over to Chip and dragged him up off the floor. Now that Chip was up and staggering around, he was once again perfectly set up for Anna’s high kick. Even in his dazed state, Chip knew he needed to avoid that kick, but this time he couldn’t get that message from his brain to his muscles in time. Anna expertly executed the kick, producing a resounding thud as the sole of her running shoe smashed into Chip’s face, sending Chip backwards and crashing to the floor.

‘I am bitch!’ She exclaimed triumphantly as Chip collapsed to the floor.

Chip ended up lying face up in a state of temporary lack of consciousness. So now of the four people in the hall only Anna was at all aware of what was going on. She went over to Chip and rolled him over by kicking him until he was lying face down, to get him in position for her to strangle him. As she wasn’t wearing any stockings Anna had to find something else to use for the job. She untied the black bandana she had around her head acting as a sweat band. Also pulled out the small band she’d used to put her hair in a pony tail and shook her hair free with much gusto. Anna put Chip’s arms onto his back then sat down on them and put her legs either side of his neck. The bandana wasn’t quite long enough to be ideal for strangling, but Anna managed to get it round Chip’s neck and then cross it over. Chip became conscious as the sudden pressure was applied to his throat, he couldn’t really have woken up in a more treacherous situation. Obviously his first instinct was to grab at the bandanna, but it was a real struggle for him to free his arms from underneath Anna. The more resistance he showed the greater the pressure became on his throat. He finally managed to release his arms from beneath Anna, then he still had to get them round her legs before he could get to the bandanna. All the time during the strangling process Anna was letting out scream of exertion and pleasure. These unusual sounds were the first thing Julia heard as she started to regain consciousness. She was staring up at the ceiling, at first her vision was blurred and she couldn’t remember where she was at all. When her sight became clear, she was attracted to the noise coming from Anna. Julia turned her head towards Anna, she had no idea how Chip had got there but she knew that he needed help. Chip managed to get the energy from somewhere to roll onto his side, which took Anna with him and momentarily eased the vice like grip of the bandana. Anna quickly got herself up onto her knees and dragged Chip up into the same position and then she tightened the grip of the bandanna. Chip had used virtually all his energy reserves when he turned over, so now he was offering no resistance as Anna mercilessly pulled on the bandanna. Julia was watching this but she was so dazed it took her a few moments to get her body moving. When she did go to get up she realised just how severely damaged and painful her right knee was from Justin’s attack. After managing to pull herself up with almost all of her weight on her left leg, Julia hobbled up to Anna who now had her back to Julia. She could see that Chip was really struggling so as soon as she got within reach, Julia wildly swung her left foot into the back of Anna’s head. This blow wasn’t at all expert and it wasn’t as powerful as it might have been, also it meant that Julia fell over because her right leg buckled under the pressure of her own body weight. However it did serve its main purpose, which was to make Anna release her hold on Chip whilst he was still just about alive. Anna was knocked onto her side and she let go of the bandanna.

‘You little bitch!’ Anna said to Julia whilst rubbing the back of her head after Anna had once again leapt to her feet without the use of her hands.

Julia started to crawl backwards away from Anna as a natural instinct of trying to get away from something you know is about to hurt you.

‘Have you any idea how pathetic you look?’ Anna asked Julia rhetorically, as she walked towards her with an expectant smile.

Julia kicked out with her good leg, but Anna just casually stepped out of the way and kicked that leg before Julia could retract it.

‘Now then which one’s the bad knee?’ Anna said then paused for a fake wondering period. ‘I do believe it’s this one.’

Anna kicked away viciously at Julia’s right knee, every kick was causing Julia extreme pain and she started to feel that she was about to pass out again. Yet she was helpless to stop Anna’s onslaught on her weakened knee. Julia attempted to grab hold of Anna’s standing foot with her hand and she also tried to kick out herself, but neither of these actions could make enough impression to stop Anna in her mission to completely destroy Julia’s knee. Instead every time Julia offered any sort of resistance it just caused another shooting pain in her right knee.

Chip had taken a minute or so to recover from his near strangulation, his breathing was still not as it should be when he realised that Julia now needed his help. He staggered over towards Anna and Julia, when he got to her he couldn’t think of or muster up the energy for anything other than simple pushing Anna from behind into the nearby wall. She crashed into it head first with a sickening crack and once again ended up sitting on the floor, slightly dazed. After taking a couple of deep breaths to compose himself, Chip went to get the bat. He now realised that this wasn’t like another pub brawl, if he wanted to get out of there alive he was going to have to, if not kill, then seriously hurt both his enemies. Before Chip could do anything with the bat, Justin came from behind him and kicked his legs away from him. This sent the bat up in the air and Chip to the ground. Justin collapsed to his knees because the blows he had suffered had taken a lot out of him. He managed to summon up enough strength to pick himself and Chip up off the ground. Once they were both vertical Justin grabbed hold of Chip’s arm and hurled him into the wall about six yards behind him, whilst still on his feet. When he hit the wall with a bang, Chip slid down until he was sitting on the floor and not looking like he was about to go anywhere. Before Justin could do whatever he was planning to do next, he felt a gently hit on his back. He turned round to see Julia holding the wooden bat, standing almost solely on her left leg. As he turned to face her Julia went to take a big swing, but on the way back her right knee once again gave way and she collapsed to the ground with a scream of agony. A sadistic smile appeared on Justin’s face at the pitiful sight of Julia holding her knee as the tears began to come out of her eyes.

Justin walked slowly and deliberately towards Julia, as if he was about to finish her off. Despair started to take over Julia’s thoughts and emotions. Just when she was starting to fear the worst however, hope came back into the action to fight the despair, as Julia saw Chip pick himself up and walk up behind Justin without him knowing. Julia waited until he was right up behind Justin, then she threw Chip the bat. Justin turned round to see where she was throwing the bat and Chip caught it and in the same movement slammed it into Justin’s face for the second time that night.

‘Oh forget about it!’ Chip exclaimed as Justin crumpled to the ground. ‘I’m sorry pal but you just don’t get up from that twice,’ he added as he leaned over and talked right into the face of the flat out and deeply unconscious Justin.

‘Oh look out her Royal Bitchiness is moving again,’ Chip commented as Anna tried to get back to her feet.

There was to be no athletic springing up from Anna this time. Instead Chip grabbed hold of her by the neck with one hand and picked her up himself. He hauled her into the middle of the hall by her throat. Anna was feeling particularly dazed and weak this time and she couldn’t muster the energy for any resistance, whereas Chip had gained some energy from believing that this fight was about to come to an end. He held her by the throat with his left hand and grabbed the back of her neck with his right hand. Without delay Chip picked Anna up off the ground and forced her down onto a desk. The desk failed to withstand the impact and Anna went through it and to the ground, losing her consciousness somewhere along the way.

‘To be fair you really do look awesome in Lycra,’ Chip said whilst looking at Anna, then went straight over to Julia. ‘How you doing honey?’ He asked as he sat down next to Julia.

‘Pain is way beyond unbearable, but think the fact I seem to have survived this fight is masking it a little right now,’ Julia replied as she put both hands to her right knee. ‘Please say you’ve gone off her now.’

‘I wouldn’t say that. I mean sure she’s a little rough round the edges and she’s obviously got her faults. But there’s still no denying she is insanely hot, so I think I’d be prepared to work through a few difficulties.’

‘That’s so superficial,’ Julia replied with a smile through the tears, from her crumpled heap position.

‘You’re just feeling jealous because you think you might be loosing your prestigious tag of being the best looking woman I know in real life.’

‘Okay you got me.’

‘Don’t worry, I think you’re still my top babe.’

‘Oh that makes me feel so much better, actually I think my knees not hurting anymore.’

‘You can laugh it off, but I know that you pride yourself on that tag more than anything else in your life,’ Chip returned the sarcasm. ‘I think if I just tie her up now, that’ll do the trick. I don’t think we need to kill her.’

‘I think you might have killed him,’ Julia replied and gestured towards the motionless Justin with her head. She had managed to get herself to sit up and lean against a wall.

‘Oh I hardly fucking touched him woman,’ Chip replied buoyantly tongue in cheek.

‘I bet you’ve said that to a few referees during your career,’ Julia laughed.

‘No never, I’ve never called a ref a woman. That would be an insult to women,’ Chip joked, as he tied Anna’s hands behind her back with her own bandanna.

‘Shouldn’t there be some more of them?’ Chip asked Julia.

‘I think so, but they’re obviously not here otherwise he’d have got involved by now.’

‘I suppose that’s true,’ Chip replied then went off to look for something to tie Anna’s feet together with.

He returned to the hall way with a piece of cable he had pulled off a table lamp from the living room.

‘There is one thought that’s been bugging me throughout this ridiculous fight,’ Chip announced as he tied Anna’s feet together.

‘What’s that?’ Julia inquired.

‘Where the fuck is your gun?! And since when have you had a gun?’

‘Oh that’s a point, I’d forgotten all about that. It should be over there somewhere, he kicked it out of my hand as soon as I came into the house,’ Julia replied and pointed to the direction the gun had flown. ‘I’ve had one for a few years now, I’ve never needed it until today.’

‘And there it is,’ Chip commented as he found Julia’s gun up against a wall.

‘Where did the baseball bat come from?’

‘We often have a game after training for a laugh, so I keep one in my car. How’s that knee doing?’ He asked as he handed Julia her gun.

‘There’s an extreme pain every time I don’t move,’ she replied putting an extra emphasis on the word don’t. ‘Anytime I do move I keep thinking I’m going to pass out again.’

‘So not too bad then?’

‘I’ll survive. There was one thing that’s bugging me actually.’

‘What’s that?’

‘How the hell did you get here?’

‘When I got to your house I saw you charging out. Where ever you were going it looked pretty serious so I decided to follow you, the more I saw of your driving the more concerned I got, so I followed you all the way here.’

‘There’re probably not many people who’d do that Chip. But I’m definitely glad you did.’

‘Oh don’t make such a big deal of it. So I probably saved your life, we’ll have forgotten all about it this time next week.’

‘Is there anything you don’t make a joke out of?’

‘I’ve not come across anything yet.’

‘Is he actually moving?’ Chip checked with Julia.

Justin continued to move and started to get to his feet.

‘Now I have to admit that is seriously impressive, after all the punishment he’s taken.’ Chip remarked.

‘It’s all over, I’ve got a gun now,’ Julia told Justin as he stood up fully and faced her.

‘It’s not over yet, you’re not going to take me alive, no way,’ Justin remarked gravely then he started to charge towards Julia.

She didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger and shoot him in the knee, Justin grabbed his knee and wailed in agony before collapsing onto the floor whilst still holding his knee.

‘Maybe she will take you alive,’ Chip laughed at Justin.

‘Now that is what I call an injured knee, you sick freak,’ Julia added.

Just as Chip offered a high five to Julia they heard two gun shots from up stairs. Chip and Julia looked up the stairs in complete shock.

‘That wasn’t you was it?’ Chip asked Julia even though he knew it wasn’t.

Julia looked at Chip and shook her head, even though she knew he didn’t need an answer.

‘I suppose I better get up there,’ Chip said.

‘Be careful.’

‘Yeah right,’ Chip remarked then ran up the stairs.

Upstairs Scott was staring at Sabine and pointing at her with the hand that wasn’t holding the gun.

‘I said tell me why you’re fucking smiling you bitch!’

‘Oh nothing, just thinking about the murders,’ Sabine said without removing the smile.

‘No way these murders make you smile,’ Scott said as he put his hand back down and started shaking his head.

‘More specifically your murders, correct me if I’m wrong but you always committed the first murder.’

‘Yeah that’s right, I’m the one that killed your partner,’ it was Scott’s turn to smile.

‘You’re smiling about the past, I’m smiling about the future.’

‘Really not a good idea to be annoyingly cryptic when the guy you’re annoying is holding a gun.’

‘In your murders you use a knife, so I’m guessing you’re not a gun expert,’ Sabine continued with her calm assuredness.

‘They’re not my forte, but I’m damn certain I wouldn’t miss from this range.’

As soon as Scott finished speaking Sabine quickly bent down, picked up her gun and fired two shots, one into each of Scott’s knees. Scott tried to get some shots off in reply but he couldn’t manage it, his shock caused a delay in his screams of agony. Sabine went over to him as he lay in a crumpled heap on the ground and forcefully pulled his gun from his hand.

‘If guns were your forte,’ Sabine spoke as she stood over Scott, with a gun in each hand. ‘You’d have known that you had the damn safety on you dumb son of a bitch,’ she added as she looked down on him.

Melanie couldn’t stop herself from bursting into tears and Mark, the other hostage, closed his eyes and took a big breathe in then slowly let the air escape.

Sabine was just about to untie and remove the gags from the hostages when she heard someone coming up the stairs, not having a clue who it was, Sabine stood in the doorway, giving herself a clear view of the top of the stairs.

‘Freeze, right there!’ Sabine shouted as soon as Chip came into view.

Chip faced Sabine and threw is hands up in the air. ‘Hey it’s me Chip, I’m a good guy remember.’

‘Chip, what the hell are you doing here and what on earth has been going on down stairs?’

‘I followed Julia down here and the next thing I know I’m in a tag team match against a couple of psycho’s.’

‘So I take it you won,’ Sabine remarked.

‘It was Brits against the Yanks, so at the end of the day there could only ever be one result.’ Chip joked.

‘Seen as I’m in such a good mood I’ll let that one slide.’

‘Very good of you, so what are you doing here?’ Chip asked.

‘Come in here,’ Sabine said as she turned back into the room. ‘I got a message telling me to come to this address, and that I had to come alone, supposedly the message was from this guy,’ she explained when Chip came into the room, she untied and removed the gag from Melanie as she talked and Chip did the same to Mark.

‘So this guy is the leader?’ Chip said as he gestured towards Scott who was lying on the floor, the screams had been replaced by a stunned silence and distant stare.

‘He’s Scott Thatcher, the one we thought was in charge, but that message is making me think that he was just a player in someone else’s game like the rest of us.’

‘Did you knee cap him?’

‘Yeah in both knees,’ Sabine added with a small, satisfied smile.

‘Cool, Julia has done the same to the guy downstairs. Only in the one knee though.’

‘I was shooting for someone else too,’ Sabine replied, the smile replaced by a frown. ‘Where is Julia?’ She asked.

‘She’s still downstairs, her knee got kind of wrecked.’

‘Oh that’s not good, I better go down and see her, I’m guessing none of the rest of the gang are around, otherwise I’m sure they’d have joined in your fight.’

‘That’s what I was thinking, that’s why I was so shocked to hear your shots,’ Chip agreed.

Before she could set off downstairs Sabine was approached from behind by, a still joyfully tearful, Melanie. ‘I want to thank you so much, I really thought I was going to die,’ she told Sabine then gave her a big hug.

‘Hey it’s okay, you’ll be fine now. They didn’t hurt you did they?’ Sabine checked with Melanie.

‘No they just kept us tied up and gagged,’ Melanie replied as she broke off the hug.

‘Thank you,’ Mark added as he came up to Sabine.

‘Don’t mention it,’ Sabine responded. ‘You guys can go downstairs, I’ll call the police and they’ll be here in no time.’

‘What are you going to do with him?’ he asked Sabine about Scott.

‘Do you mind carrying him downstairs?’ Sabine asked Chip.

‘I’m not carrying a mad murderer down the stairs. I’ll drag him down the stairs,’ Chip replied, then grabbed hold of one of Scott’s arms and started to drag him along the floor.

‘No complaints from me,’ Sabine told Chip with a little smile. ‘Come on guys let’s get downstairs, then the police can get you home,’ she added to Melanie and Mark and gestured for them to follow Chip as he casually dragged Scott down the stairs. Whilst the four of them went down, Sabine stayed up at the top of the stairs on her own for a few moments. First of all she called Tony, telling him where they were and asking for back up, he bombarded her with questions but Sabine wasn’t in the mood for answers, merely telling him that he’d get his explanation when he got there. After ending the phone call Sabine put her phone back in her pocket then she ran her hands through her hair at the same time as producing a long exhalation, her hands rested on the back of her neck as the breath out continued. A blank stare straight ahead was interrupted by a tear forming in each eye. Sabine quickly wiped them away and then gave her hair one more quick run through with her hands, before making her own way down the stairs.

‘What’s going on?’ Julia asked loudly as soon as Chip came into her view.

‘Sabine’s just been taking care of another one of the gang.’ Chip replied, then Julia could see he was dragging Scott down the stairs with him.

Scott bounced awkwardly off each step, but the severe pain in his knees was no longer creating any screams, depression had hit him hard and was acting as an anaesthetic. He offered no resistance whatsoever to Chip dragging him.

‘Is he dead?’ Julia asked Chip.

‘No, Sabine went for the knee cap just like yourself.’

‘Only I did both knees,’ Sabine told Julia as she started down from the top of the stairs.

‘How did you get here?’ Julia asked Sabine incredulously.

‘I got a text saying that if I didn’t come alone he’d kill the two hostages. How did you get here?’ Sabine asked Julia with equal incredulity.

‘You’re not going to believe this, I’m not sure that I fully believe it yet. I was at home getting dressed when all of a sudden a part of the conversation I had with Luke yesterday flashed into my mind. When I told Luke about the clue that the Hitman had left, he replied something along the lines of ‘that Scott Thatcher is obviously a real weirdo.’ I didn’t think anything of it at the time but after my little sleep this morning it suddenly occurred to me that there was no way that Luke could have known Scott Thatcher’s name unless.’

‘Unless he was in on it somehow,’ Sabine interrupted with great surprise.

‘Yeah, I told you it’s unbelievable.’

‘So how did that lead you here?’

‘As soon as I had the thought I set off round to Luke’s house. I rang the doorbell but there was no reply, so I broke in. Loads of his clothes had gone and it looks like he’s left the country. So then I thought that if he was in on it somehow then he might have been providing the gang with somewhere to stay. That’s when I thought of this place, because I knew he’d rented it out whenever he had friends visiting him from overseas.’

‘I had gone round to her house for a quick visit,’ Chip told Sabine. ‘But when I got there she was jumping into her car then tearing off up the road. Mainly out of curiosity I decided to follow her. If you’ve ever seen this lady drive I’m sure you can appreciate how difficult a job that was, especially when she’s in a rush.’

‘Yeah I can imagine,’ Sabine laughed.

At this point three police cars arrived. Sabine took Melanie and Mark outside and told the officers to take them home straight away. Melanie was overcome with emotion and she gave Sabine another big hug.

‘Thanks so much, I’ll never forget you,’ she said to Sabine whilst still hugging her.

‘You just get home and chill out for a while. Take care of yourself and have a good life.’ Sabine told Melanie as she broke up the hug and showed her into the back of one of the cars.

‘Thanks a lot Lieutenant,’ Mark said to Sabine then shook her hand.

‘Just doing my job Sir,’ Sabine replied pleasantly.

‘Thanks for doing it so well,’ Mark added as he got into the back of another car.

Sabine responded with a friendly smile, she watched both the cars drive off to take the two civilians home, before going back into the house. The state the three gang members were in meant that the police were obliged to take them to the hospital before taking them to prison, so they waited for some ambulances to arrive before removing them from the house.

Chip was sitting down next to Julia who had her eyes closed, talking to her to try and make sure she didn’t pass out again.

‘How’s she doing?’ Sabine asked Chip.

‘She’s milking it to the maximum. No seriously she’s going to have to go to hospital quickly and get it seen to.’

‘What were you doing up there all that time?’ Julia asked Sabine as she opened her eyes.

‘He had a gun so I had to drop mine because he held his to the head of the young girl. So then I had to talk to the psycho for a while.’

‘Sounds interesting,’ Julia remarked, then closed her eyes again.

‘Jules.’ Chip said to Julia to check if she had actually passed out or whether she was just closing her eyes.

‘She’ll be okay,’ Sabine assured Chip after there was no response from Julia.

‘Yeah I’m sure she will.’

‘I’m going to take a look upstairs, to see if there’s anything up there that will shed any more light on this whole thing,’ Sabine told Chip.

‘Okay fair enough, I’ll stay down here, I’m feeling wiped out myself actually.’

‘These guys will keep an eye on everything down here for you,’ Sabine told Chip and pointed at a couple of Police officers standing just inside the front door. She went off up stairs to have a look around.

Chip sat against the wall next to Julia. He was about to close his eyes and get a few moments of much deserved rest, when he saw Anna was regaining consciousness. Such was his intrigue towards this woman he felt compelled to go over to her. She was still lying just has he had left her, face up with her hands tied behind her back and her feet tied together. Chip moved across to her then sat down on the floor beside her. Anna blinked her eyes distinctly a few times to re adjust to the light and check she was fully conscious again.

‘I suppose the good news is that there’s no chance of you getting the shit kicked out of you in prison, even if you went to a male prison,’ Chip said to Anna.

Anna raised her head from the ground, to have a look at Chip and the rest of the hall.

‘I guess it’s all over now,’ Anna said as she lowered her head back to the floor. ‘To be honest I did have some fun, but right now I’m wondering what the hell have I been doing?!’

‘I think you’re going to struggle to get off with the temporary insanity plea.’

Anna produced a couple of groans of pain. ‘My head, oh and my back.’

‘Yeah I’m feeling a bit sore as well now you mention it,’ Chip replied with a smile.

‘Why are you talking to me?’ Anna asked. ‘You do realise I was trying to kill you.’

‘The answer to that is simple; you’re stunningly gorgeous. As my friend Julia will tell you I’m spectacularly superficial.’

Anna let out a small burst of laughter. ‘Seen as I’m stunningly gorgeous, could you please untie my hands? I’m horribly uncomfortable.’.

‘Go on then, I guess you’re not going anywhere with your feet tied together and all the police here,’ he replied and Anna rolled onto her side so Chip could get at the bandanna.

‘Oooh that’s better,’ Anna announced as she sat up and stretched her arms above her head. Then she dragged herself a short distance so she could sit up and lean against a wall. Chip followed her to the wall and sat up beside Anna.

‘So what turned you into a crazy killer?’ Chip asked. ‘Was it the old story of the parents?’

‘Ex-boyfriend actually.’

‘I had a feeling men were going to be to blame in some way,’ Chip said with a nod and a small smile. ‘Was he abusive?’

‘Totally, plus controlling and domineering.’

‘Yeah there’s not many of us gentlemen around anymore.’

‘You must feel like you’re holding the forte down by yourself at times,’ Anna said.

‘Tell me about it!’

‘Oh this is so weird,’ Anna announced. ‘My mind is so fucked up. I’ve no idea whether I’m still insane now, whether I was insane but now I’m not, or if I ever actually was insane.’

‘I’ve always wondered whether insane people ever know they’re insane.’

‘I suppose by definition you would have to say they wouldn’t, because the whole thing about being insane it that you don’t know you’re own mind.’

‘That would make sense,’ Chip conceded. ‘I’m actually finding myself feeling sorry for you,’ he added with disbelief.

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah. I’m not condoning what you’ve done, not for one second. But I can’t help thinking fate’s dealt you a bad hand.’

‘Yeah, but I didn’t have to and shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.’

‘Oh yeah definitely. It’s just that if you hadn’t had some evil bastard for a boyfriend, then I’ve got this feeling you’d have been an awesome person.’

‘Yeah but on the other hand I wouldn’t have been able to beat up most guys or deliver that jaw breaking kick,’ Anna replied with a stunning broad smile.

‘Very true, swings and roundabouts I suppose,’ Chip laughed. ‘You have to be the easiest to talk to serial killer I’ve met.’

‘Have I killed enough people to be a serial killer?’

‘Oh I’m not sure, we’ll have to find out so we can get your title right.’

‘I think I’d prefer, female vigilante assassin,’ Anna smiled.

‘Yeah but your problem there is that the tabloid press over here don’t know how to spell either vigilante or assassin, so they’ll just end up calling you a serial killer.’

Anna laughed then quickly made a subject change. ‘What do you do for a living? Can’t imagine you doing any sort of normal job’

‘I’m a goalkeeper for one of the local, small professional football sides.’

‘That probably explains why we’re getting on well, you’re obviously crazy too.’

‘You’ll probably get a few people I know to back that up if you asked them.’ Chip replied after laughing at Anna’s previous remark. ‘So do you watch soccer then as you guys call it?’

‘My Dad is Dutch, so he got me into it when I was a kid. I still watch it a bit back home, the American stuff isn’t that good but I get to watch a lot of the English games as well.’

‘Gorgeous and likes football, they’re my two main requirements in a woman,’ Chip remarked with a smile. ‘If it wasn’t for the fact that you’ve murdered two people, you wouldn’t be far off my perfect lady.’

‘I don’t suppose you’ll wait till I get out of prison?’

‘Erm let’s think,’ Chip replied and looked as if he was actually seriously thinking it over. ‘No.’ he added emphatically with a smile.

‘I didn’t think so.’

‘That sounds like your ride,’ Chip said as he heard the Ambulances arrive.

‘Hopefully I’ll have injured something badly, then I’ll get to stay in hospital for a while.’

‘I don’t know about that, from what I’ve heard prison might actually be better than hospital,’ Chip joked as they both stood up after Anna had untied her feet.

Anna turned to Chip and gave him a long, soft kiss on the lips. His face was a mixture of surprise and delight.

‘Don’t be too flattered, I just realised I’m probably not going to be able to do that again for a very long time at best, maybe never.’

‘Hey you never know what might happen, if you get a really good lawyer, sympathetic jury and a bit of luck; maybe you’ll be get out before your sixtieth birthday,’ Chip said, as his, mainly unfounded, sympathy for Anna grew a little more.

‘Maybe,’ Anna smiled. ‘Goodbye British goalkeeper guy.’

‘My name is...’Chip began to reply.

‘No don’t tell me, I think I’d prefer it that way.’

‘Okay, goodbye, murderous, but only because of extremely extenuating circumstances, stunningly gorgeous, American babe.’

The ambulance crew came in and Anna walked towards them and out of the house, but not before turning back to face Chip and flashing him one last gorgeous smile and winking at him. He returned the smile and gave her a little salute to act as a goodbye signal.

Sabine had been watching the last few minutes of the conversation between Anna and Chip. When the ambulance men had been in and carried Scot and Justin out with a police escort, Sabine walked down the rest of the stairs.

‘It looks like she’d make a good experiment for a psychologist,’ Sabine said to Chip.

‘Yeah there’s definitely a lot of strange stuff that’s gone on in her head.’

‘With a name like Chip are you sure you’re not American?’

Chip smiled. ‘Chip’s not my real name, it’s only a nick name. You see I was playing football in this school cup final game. We won the game thanks to my hat trick and each of the three goals I scored were with chipped shots. So they decided to start calling me Chip and it seemed to catch on. I didn’t mind it, after all I’ve heard several much worse nicknames. So it’s ended up sticking, probably till the day I die.’

‘It’s funny how some nick names stick and others don’t.’

‘Yeah you’re right. So did you find anything up stairs?’

‘There is a computer in a room that I think Scott Thatcher had been using. If Luke is involved somehow, I’m thinking that they could have got together on the Internet.

‘I think in the future that ninety percent of all serial killers will be people who use the Internet a lot,’ Chip said.

‘Yeah I don’t like computers much myself either.’

Another ambulance crew came in to take Julia to hospital. Chip and Sabine were just making sure that Julia got into the ambulance all right when Tony rushed onto the scene and asked about five different questions in the space of thirty seconds.

‘Basically Tony you’ve missed one hell of a lot of action,’ Chip told him.

‘You can take me to the hospital Tony and I’ll tell you all about it in the car,’ Sabine told him.

Chip and Tony both followed the ambulance taking Julia to hospital. The ten minute drive to the hospital gave Sabine just enough time to explain everything that had transpired that day to Tony. He was just as shocked as everybody else by the news on Luke, but he couldn’t help feeling a sense of justification of his years of not liking him for no obvious reason.