Tina hesitated. It was one thing betraying Ray when he was out of the country, but to give up the names of Steve and Karen Brennan, a retired couple grieving for the loss of their daughter, to the Kalamans was a much harder proposition, especially as the Kalamans were ruthless enough to go after them. Or worse still, send this psycho bitch to get them.
‘I won’t tolerate hesitation, Tina. Answer me.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Tina. ‘Ray organized it all. He told me the less I knew about the details the better.’
There was a pause. Then The Wraith picked up the drill again. She switched it on, the sound a thin, metallic shriek, reminding Tina of long-ago, stomach-churning visits to the dentist.
She stood in front of Tina, the bit whirring manically. ‘Perhaps we should start with an easier question,’ she said above the noise of the drill. ‘Are you right-handed or left-handed?’
Tina swallowed, knowing what was coming. Suddenly absolutely terrified, she knew that she was going to have to give the Brennans up.
Still she hesitated.
Without warning, The Wraith drove the bit into Tina’s left hand between two of the knuckles, pushing down hard.
Tina writhed in agony, eyes shut, teeth tightly clenched, a low, desperate howl rising up from inside her, but she was being held firmly in place by the straps, and The Wraith’s free hand which was on her forearm.
The pain seemed to last for ever. Tina tried to lurch forward to headbutt her tormentor but she could hardly move. Helpless as the bit split through her palm before being slowly, ever so slowly, withdrawn.
The Wraith turned off the drill and quickly and expertly placed a strip of dressing over the hole in Tina’s hand. Blood ran out from under it, dripping first onto the chair arm, then onto her leg.
The pain began to fade as shock and adrenalin took over, but Tina’s fear remained exactly the same.
‘You did well keeping quiet while I did that – I’d thought we might need a gag,’ said The Wraith amiably, stepping back and looking down at her, her dark eyes sparkling behind the mask. ‘Now that was just a little taster. The next insertion is going to be through your anklebone, and I can tell you, having administered it before, that the pain dwarfs what you’ve just experienced. So once again, who was the person who picked up Mason?’
Tina took a series of deep breaths as she tried to stop herself from panicking. Knowing that if she gave the answers, she was signing her own death warrant. Knowing that if she didn’t, the torture would simply continue until the woman got the answers she wanted. It was an impossible choice. She was damned both ways.
Once again she hesitated.
It was a bad move. The Wraith’s eyes narrowed in anger beneath the mask and she picked up the drill again, switched it on, and grabbed Tina’s face, coming in close. ‘You’re trying my patience, bitch,’ she snarled, and pushed the drill into Tina’s hand a second time, forcing it all the way through to the palm before ripping it back out.
This time Tina screamed, or tried to, but The Wraith’s gloved hand was covering her mouth.
Suddenly all she could see was the drill bit, dripping blood and torn flesh, taking up her field of vision, coming closer and closer.
‘Are you going to talk, bitch? Or do we miss out the ankle altogether and just go for your eye?’
Tina nodded frantically.
The Wraith removed her hand and took a step backwards, looking down on her with eyes like flint.
Tina swallowed, trying to ignore the pain and the blood pumping out of her hand, trying to fight down the rising panic that threatened to overwhelm her.
‘OK,’ she said tightly. ‘I’ll talk.’
48
Mike Bolt was driving in the direction of Tottenham High Road while Mo sat beside him with a laptop open on his lap, trying to narrow down a location for Tina into something manageable, when the radio burst into life.
‘Tango 4 to all cars, we have an issue here. Over.’
Tango 4 was one of the ARVs carrying the suspects who’d been arrested a few minutes earlier. Bolt knew that each suspect had been put in a separate car so they could no longer communicate.
‘Tango 4, this is Beta 1,’ said Bolt urgently. ‘What’s the situation?’
‘I’m the situation, Beta 1,’ said another voice. ‘I’m one of the men you’ve just nicked. I’m a UCO in deep cover with the Kalamans. I can’t even give you my real name.’
‘But you know where Tina Boyd is?’
‘Yes I do. My problem is, if her location comes from me, it could blow my cover and jeopardize the whole Kalaman op, and I can’t have that.’
‘Is she all right?’
‘She is at the moment.’
‘What the hell’s that meant to mean?’ demanded Bolt, who was losing patience fast.
‘They’re bringing someone in to question her. They’re sure she knows where Ray Mason is.’
‘This is life and death,’ Bolt told him. ‘Where is she?’
The UCO sighed loudly. ‘Jesus, this isn’t good. OK, they’ve got her at a place called Premier Motors. It’s down at the bottom of Hartland Road, close to the railway line. You reach it down an alleyway. There’s a signpost at the end.’
Mo was already typing the details into his laptop. ‘I’ve got it,’ he said. ‘Take the next left. According to this, it’s a four-minute drive.’
Bolt slowed the car down to take the turning. ‘Beta 1 to all units, did you get that?’ he shouted into the radio. ‘Go to Premier Motors Hartland Road now. Tango 4, how many suspects are holding her? And are they armed?’
‘This is UCO, Tango 4. When I left, there
