The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2427 by Angharad Copyright© 2014 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

I prayed to the goddess, apologising for failing yet again and asked that she protect my family. Just then Bramble’s ping-pong ball came rattling into the kitchen, followed by the crazy kitten herself. I heard the ‘phut’ of a silencer bullet, and thinking she’d shot the cat, angrily somersaulted backwards to where she’d sounded as if she was standing.

There was no one there and Bramble was cowering under a kitchen chair. I checked her carefully, she seemed okay then I spotted blood on the wall and drips of it up the stairs. As I stood up a large man in dark clothing and wearing a ski mask burst in through what I’d thought was a locked door.

“You all right?” he hissed at me, resplendent in my Minnie the Minx pyjamas. I nodded. He spotted the blood. “Good, I hit her.”

“Where’s Jim?”

“On his way.”

“There are children asleep upstairs,” I gasped realising where she’d gone.

“Okay.” He began to creep up the stairs and I felt quite sick. I couldn’t watch, what if she took a hostage? If any of the children or Simon were hurt or killed, I’d never forgive myself.

I suddenly remembered the window in our en suite was open and I dashed outside and ran into another dark clad man, who grabbed me and placing his hand over my mouth, hissed, “Is everything all right?”

“No,” she’s hurt and gone upstairs.”

“Is there another way up there?”

“Only my en suite, that window is open.”

“Show me.”

“You won’t get through it.”

“Don’t bet on anything, darlin’, I’ve squeezed through some very tight spaces.” He was carrying a handgun with silencer on it.

“Are you Jim’s friends?”

“Only if he pays us this time.”

“You’ll get your money, just save my children.”

“Your children are quite safe, you were the target—the contract is being paid by someone Cortez.”

“I had hoped he was dead.”

“He was talking to her an hour ago.”

I felt myself shiver. I pointed out the bathroom window. He nodded and set off towards it. A police car flashed into the drive, all the lights turned off. It was followed by two others. In moments the drive seemed awash with people in dark clothing carrying guns.

Some tall man obviously the man in charge asked me what the state of play was. I explained it as best I could. He seemed to know about the two gunmen who were hunting the woman.

“Who are they?” I asked quietly, pulling the police coat tighter to me.

“Special forces.”

“Oh.”

“I thought you lot were supposed to be in charge in these cases?”

“We’ve been told to support only, unless things go horribly wrong.”

“My children are in there.”

“I’m well aware of that, Lady Cameron, but if you or anyone else were to go in there now, it would increase the risk of an innocent being shot enormously. If they stay asleep, they should be okay.”

“What if she uses them as hostages?”

“If the intel is correct, she won’t do that. One of her first victims was some bloke who molested her when she was a kid.” I began to wonder if I should pity her rather than despise her. I felt the energy rising in me. She’d been hit in the shoulder and part of me wanted to help her.

While the superintendent or whatever rank he was positioned his men, I stole into the house. I drew down the energy to protect myself from all three of the people in the house who were carrying guns. I wasn’t sure it would work but I had no other options.

Creeping up the stairs I headed towards Julie’s bedroom, because that was where Justine was. I threw open the door sending a pulse of blue light ahead of me. Nothing happened. I glanced around and saw something slumped in the corner. Justine was struggling to breathe but she saw me approach.

“Come to gloat?”

“No, to help.”

“Why? I was going to kill you.”

“Because you need my help.”

“It’s too late,” she said and winced.

“There’s something else you didn’t know about me...” I touched her shoulder and she gasped and passed out. She’d lost quite a lot of blood, I was trying to staunch the bleeding and close the hole. Perhaps it was just as well she’d zonked, the smell was awful.

The bullet had gone straight through her shoulder smashing the end of her collar bone and clipping the sub clavian artery, hence all the blood. I released the gun from her twitching fingers, and slid it out of reach. Then I woke Julie who nearly screamed, but for my hand over her mouth.

I explained what happened and that I needed something to use as a dressing. A couple of sanitary towels and a bit of bandage did the job, then we switched on the light and waited for the two hunters to arrive. I pointed out the injured woman and the bloody gun. One picked up our casualty the other the gun. Julie and I followed them downstairs where the police cordon was stood down and an ambulance called.

We made tea for about a dozen people while we waited for the paramedics. Justine came to and despite her pain she asked to speak with me. One of the special forces men stood by with his gun aimed at her the whole time.

“Why didn’t you let me die?”

“That would have been unkind of me. You needed help.”

“I would have killed you, you know?”

“I doubt it, you were struggling with your conscience the whole time.”

“How d’you know?”

“I could see inside your head—though I thought you had shot the cat for a moment.”

“I’m a professional not a sadist.”

“So why did you not shoot while you had the chance.”

“You couldn’t see her could you?”

“See who?”

“Whoever it was you were praying to, she stood in front of you and told me to leave you in peace as you were one of her angels. Then, he shot me,” she looked up at the man in black ski mask and outfit towering over both of us.

“You’re in shock, you’ve lost quite a bit of blood.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, send the bill to Cortez and tell him I’m cancelling the contract.”

“Cortez—nasty piece of scum.”

“You got that right. Still when I tell him you were protected by angels—no one in their right mind is going to want to try it.”

“No one will believe you.”

“They had better. That was a clever trick with the blue light—hey, there it is again, hey, I can see another angel...” with that she collapsed and died. Julie was visibly upset and I took her off to one side.

“How did that happen, you were healing her?”

“I think she realised that she’d be under such pressure when she was recovered, they’d want to pin every unsolved murder on her for the past decade. Her life would probably have ended in prison and she didn’t want that.”

“She was a professional killer, Mummy.”

“I know, it was that which in the end did for her, that and that idiot cat.”

“Bramble, what did she do?”

“That would be telling. I think we’d better get one of those industrial carpet cleaners in tomorrow, don’t you?”