‘Singh, right?’ Sam said, recognising her from the brief description Pearce had given. She certainly was tenacious. But even in the darkness and the rain, there was a powerful beauty behind her scowl.
‘How the hell do you know my name?’ she barked.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘It does. Especially when you have just unloaded a gun at my team.’
‘I didn’t kill any of them.’
‘You shot them though?’ Singh spat furiously.
‘Flesh wounds. They’ll live.’ Sam motioned with the gun towards the door. ‘Move.’
Singh held up her hands and obliged, but then launched forward for the gun. Sam stepped to the side, wrapping an arm around Singh’s neck and pulling her forwards. Her feet slipped on the rain-soaked concrete and Sam held her upright, their faces a few inches apart. Sam quickly swung Singh up, pinned an arm behind her back and pressed her against the wall. She grunted on impact and Sam quickly released the handcuffs from her belt and slid one through the door handle before slapping the other around her wrist.
It clicked.
Sam stepped back, lowering the gun.
‘I’m sorry,’ he offered. ‘But I have to go.’
‘I’ll get you. I promise you that much.’
‘Give me twenty-four hours and I will give you the people responsible for all of this.’
‘For all the killing?’ Singh yelled over the thrashing rain. ‘For all the crimes you have committed? Whatever you think you’re doing, Sam, you’re a criminal. Do you hear me? You’re responsible for the people you have killed, and I will hold you to account for every single one of them. You’re not a hero, Sam. You haven’t been for a long time.’
Sam slowly laid the gun on the ground, out of reach of the volatile Singh and then solemnly looked her in the eye.
‘I know.’
‘Then why do it? Why bring all this on your shoulders?’
‘Because someone has to.’ Sam shook his head dismissively. ‘Someone has to fightback.’
Singh angrily pulled at her cuffs, the shattered frame of the patio door rattled in its fixture. Sam took a step back towards the darkness of the garden.
‘I will get you, Sam. Do you hear me?’
‘Loud and clear.’
With that, Sam turned and disappeared into the darkness surrounding the house. Singh pressed her foot against the other door, wrenching as hard as she could until she felt the cold metal begin to cut into her skin. Knowing she’d been inches from Sam Pope had made her blood boil and as the weight of failure crashed atop her like the unrelenting rain, she let out a thunderous roar of fury into the night sky.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As the incident room filled out with eager officers, Pearce took up his position at the back of the room, his arms folded across his pristine blazer and his memory taking him back to that previous spring. He could see Detective Sergeant Colin Mayer stood at the front, the arrogant officer who had been in bed with the wrong people. Pearce himself had stood next to him, listening as he gave a passionate speech about the importance of safety during the London Marathon.
He had headed up the Counter Terrorism Unit yet had worked diligently with some of the city’s most dangerous criminals to orchestrate an attack.
It had claimed the lives of several people, including a young officer.
It had piqued the interest of Sam Pope, who Pearce had been investigating at the time. So much had changed in the months since then and now Pearce stood at the back of the room where Pope had, an outsider to the rest of the Force. Since Sam had audaciously reached out to him in a coffee shop across the street, Pearce had been like a dog with a bone. With his current reputation in tatters, it was hard to call in favours with any department and he was damned if he was going to figure out how to use his computer to hunt for the account.
Instead, he had called in a favour with a former colleague he had busted for computer fraud, who now made a living hacking bank accounts and syphoning funds from large corporations who failed to pay their tax bills. The young man went by the name TERA, and he thought of himself as a Robin Hood for the millennial generation. Pearce often reminded him he was a thief and a criminal and if Pearce put the correct calls in, the young man would know the true spelling and meaning of his name.
TERA obliged and was currently doing his level best to trace the payments being made to the bank account Sam had provided. He also reminded Pearce that what he had requested was illegal.
It was becoming an increasingly frequent warning.
Pearce knew his decisions had put him on a path of no return, but hearing that Sam Pope had once again evaded capture, with six officers injured, he knew he had to listen in.
Especially when DI Singh stormed in, bring the entire room to a hush with a furious glare.
Behind her, Assistant Commissioner Ashton strode in, the entire room rising to their feet in respect. Ashton nodded and the room sat down in unison, apart from Pearce and a few late comers at the back. Singh stood against the wall, arms folded and a look of sorrow across her face.
‘Let me begin by saying that up to this point, the Watchdog Task Force has worked diligently to apprehend Sam Pope. As you know, after the events earlier this year, bringing an end to this vigilante’s reign of terror on this city has become a priority.’ Ashton scanned the room and continued, ‘Despite recent efforts to ensure his capture, Sam Pope is still at large and for the second time this week, he has assaulted members of this police service.’
A wave of angry murmurs rose up among the seated officers. Pearce shifted uncomfortably. Ashton was rallying them well and she
