Читать книгу You Have Been Murdered! - Michael Scopus - Страница 6

Inverness, Scotland

The city is quiet. It is nearly 9:00 am on Boxing day morning but Inverness is still bathed in twilight as the sun has not yet risen. Suddenly the still of the morning is broken as a small white van appears, racing over Culloden Bridge with its engine roaring. David brakes hard and turns into the first street on the left. A few seconds later Reggie’s gold Mercedes comes roaring over the bridge at seventy miles an hour. Sid notices the cul-de-sac sign at the end of the street where David turned into.

“We got him now, Boss—that’s a dead-end street!” said Sid pointing out the road sign.

Jack screeches the Mercedes around the corner into the side street after the van.

The van screeches to a halt in an open car park less than fifty yards from an old stone-built church, the van driver’s door flies open, and David sprints across the car park and jumps over the low wall in front of him.

Jack screeches up behind the van blocking its escape as all the Mercedes’ doors fly open at once and Reggie and the gang spill out into the car park.

As the four men start to take off after David, Reggie grabs Jack by the arm.

“Jack, you stay with the motor!” Reggie barks, before taking off after the others.

In the yard on the other side of the wall, David squeezes through a gap in the fence and into an overgrown garden on the other side of the yard, as first Sid then Rick and then Reggie jump over the wall and into the yard.

Meanwhile, David lifts up a piece of old plywood lying in the garden and takes a shiny crowbar from underneath before running up the steps to the rear entrance of the old church. The door is padlocked with a chain and David uses the crowbar and levers the lock and chain free of the door. David quickly glances back and sees that the gang are close behind. He pulls the door open and rushes into the building as the door swings shut behind him.

Inside the old church, it is dark. The electricity supply has still not been reconnected. Jamal, Mustafa, and Yousef are unpacking the weapons which they had concealed under a tarpaulin that they will use in the attack at the shopping mall later that day. They are all dressed in Shalwar Kameez1 and as they work, their flashlights create shadows on the stained-glass windows. They stop as they hear the sound of someone bursting in the backdoor and running into the building.

“What was that?” Whispers Mustafa as they all look nervously at each other with the weapons in their hands.

“Maybe it is Afzal?” whispers Yousef weakly.

Jamal does not look convinced and silently cocks his AK47. The others copy him. Jamal puts his finger to his lips and motions for them to follow him.

Meanwhile, Reggie and his gang follow David through the back door of the old church, pulling out their pistols. David reaches the main entrance of the old church and pulls on the old oak door.

“Oh no you don’t!” Reggie bellows as he raises his pistol, silencer attached, aims at David, and fires.

1. The Shalwar Kameez is a traditional dress worn by men and women in South and Central Asia. The Shalwars are loose pajama-like trousers while the Kameez is a long shirt or tunic.