Fire Point by Sean Black Page B

Ty.
    ‘Yup,’ said Lock.

27
     
    Marcus pushed open the door to his old bedroom. He opened the cupboards, and began to rifle through them. Someone knocked at the half-open door. It was his mom.
    ‘Are you okay? I’ve been so worried.’
    He rolled his eyes. ‘Apart from being interrogated like I’m some kind of a criminal, I’m fine. When you were poking around my apartment, did you happen to see my laptop? I can’t find it.’
    ‘I wasn’t poking around. I was looking for you. Making sure you were okay.’
    He turned on her. He wished his shot had been better and that he’d blown her stupid head off. Krank was right. They were all the same. Stupid bitches . ‘Have you seen it? Yes or no?’
    ‘Yes. We brought it back. Mr Lock was worried it might get stolen, what with the door being broken and everything.’
    ‘So where is it?’ Marcus shouted. He wanted to punch her. Her and those two goons she had downstairs. Maybe he’d come back and kill them all. Teddy too. Put that poor bastard out of his misery.
    ‘It’s right there,’ said Tarian, pointing a manicured finger at his desk.
    In his panic he hadn’t noticed it. He scooped it up and threw it into a rucksack, along with some fresh clothes.
    ‘Where are you going?’
    ‘I’m leaving,’ said Marcus. ‘You can’t stop me.’
    She grabbed at his arm as he pushed past her. He shook her off.
    ‘I’m worried about you. We need to talk. Stay for a little while at least,’ Tarian begged.
    He ignored her, shoving her out of the way and heading for the stairs. The rucksack slung over his shoulder, he took them two at a time. At the bottom he dug out his cell phone and texted Krank to come meet him and take him back to the kill house.
    The two security guys watched him head for the front door. Teddy called after him but he ignored him too. He opened the door and went out into the fresh air. He felt a sense of relief. He had what he’d come for. No one knew anything about what he and the guys had planned. It was all good.
    The next time his mom saw him he would be on the news. The national news. International. Worldwide.

28
     
    Lock and Ty stood next to each other in one of the big bay windows that fronted onto the garden. They watched the heavy black iron gates at the bottom of the driveway swing open and Marcus dart through them without a backward glance. Lock had watched most of what had gone on from the upstairs hallway.
    ‘Pretty keen to get hold of that laptop of his,’ he said to Ty.
    Ty dug into his pocket and pulled out a plug-in hard drive. He held it up for Lock’s approval. ‘Just as well I already cloned it, huh?’
    ‘You looked at it?’ Lock said.
    ‘He’s got some security that I can’t get past. Gonna drop it off with someone who’ll crack it. Chinese dude by the name of Li. Might take him a while, though.’
    ‘Hold the fort for me here?’ said Lock, as he glanced at his watch. ‘I’m heading out.’
    ‘Sure, but where you going?’
    ‘Few people I need to talk to down at USC,’ said Lock.
    As he reached the door, Ty called him back. ‘Yo! Ryan?’
    Lock turned.
    ‘She likes you,’ said Ty.
    Lock knew exactly who he was talking about. ‘She’s married.’
    ‘For now,’ said Ty. ‘Good-looking woman. All I’m saying.’ He made a show of taking in the sweep of the room. ‘Got money too. You’d make a cute couple.’
    ‘Do me a favor, would you?’ said Lock.
    ‘What’s that?’
    ‘Just watch the house. Anything I should know about, call me.’
     

29
     
    Kristina Valeris had reached a point where she had given up wishing for rescue. Now she could only wish for death. But death did not feel close. She had always assumed that someone in her position would be so traumatized by the shock of abduction and imprisonment that they would feel numb. Instead she felt raw, like her skin had been peeled away to leave her nerve endings naked and exposed.
    They had her in some kind of shed at the back of the property.