The Border Part Four (3 page)

“Liar,” Mac continued, turning back to Jack. “You’ve been sneaking looks at your wife’s phone, I know you have. The real question is, have you come up with anything useful?”

Jack paused. “Nothing I can really use yet.”

“But you’ve got leads?”

“Maybe.”

“Then get on with them.”

Jack turned to the coffee machine. “What do -”

“There’s no time for that,” Mac told him, tapping Jack’s arm with the cane as if to usher him toward the door. “Do you have a lead that could benefit from getting your ass off to somewhere in town?”

“Maybe.”

“Then why are you standing around here talking to me?” Mac asked incredulously. “Go! Shoot! I can fix my own coffee. I’ll get that intern in here and tell him some old war stories, maybe get him to see sense. Meanwhile, you should be out there, following every lead you’ve got. Do some good old-fashioned, boots on the ground journalism for once, before you forget what it feels like.”

“I…” Jack paused, before nodding. “You’re right.”

“See?” Mac continued. “This is yet another reason why it’s good that I dropped by! I can man the fort while you’re out in the field. It’s like a one-day reunion of the old gang! You know, sometimes, the old methods are the best!”

II

“I know what you’re doing,” Hayley said as soon as she reached the table in the corner of the diner. “Don’t lie to me. I
know
!”

Startled, Katie looked up from her cup of tea. “What do you -”

“I know what you’re doing,” Hayley said again, taking a seat. “I overheard enough from Simon and the others to put two and two together. Plus, you weren’t anywhere to be seen last night, and Simon didn’t complain about you not showing up, which means you
did
show up but…” She paused. “You went below, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Bull! I told you about the Border’s next level as a warning. It never occurred to me that you’d be so goddamn stupid as to actually go down there for a shift!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Katie replied, looking back down at her cup. She didn’t want to meet Hayley’s gaze, because she knew that then her lie would be plain to see.

“So what did they do to you?” Hayley asked.

Katie shook her head.

“Was it bad?” Hayley continued. “Are you okay?”

“It was -” Katie paused, before looking at her again and realizing that there was no point lying. “I’m not allowed to talk about it,” she said finally, keeping her voice low so that none of the other customers in the diner could hear her. “You know the secrecy rules about the first level? It’s the same for the second. If I want to go back there, which I do, then I have to keep my mouth shut.”

“But are you okay?” Hayley asked. “That’s the most important thing right now.”

“I’m okay.”

“Did they… I mean, what did they do to you?”

“Nothing. It wasn’t too bad.”

“What about the customers? Did they -”

“I can’t!” Katie hissed, trying to stay calm. “Just stop asking, because I can’t tell you what it was like.”

“Crutchlow was asking after you.”

“Crutchlow can go to hell.”

Hayley stared at her for a moment. “Are you going to go down there again?”

“I don’t know.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning…” Katie paused, clearly a little exasperated. “Yes, maybe. Why not? The money’s great, and it’s only seven hours at a time. Plus, Simon says I can have some extra nights off later in the week, to recover.”

“Recover from what?”

“From…” Sighing, Katie finished her tea. “I have to be somewhere, okay? I only got off the shift a couple of hours ago, and I’m exhausted, and I’ve got all these errands to run, so I really need to go and do them. And please don’t ask me about the second level, because I can’t tell you. Please respect me enough to just let it be.”

Hayley paused. “Fine. I just hope you know what you’re doing, though, ‘cause if you keep going like this, you might find that you’re not as tough as you think you are.”

“I can get used to it.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

“Don’t waste your time worrying about me.” Grabbing her bag, Katie got to her feet, but she winced with pain as she turned to walk to the door. “I’ll be fine.”

“Jesus,” Hayley said, “what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” Katie replied firmly, limping toward the exit. She had to stop at the door for a moment as the pain became too much, and she clutched the side of her belly as if she couldn’t go on, but finally she pulled the door open and struggled out into the parking lot.

“Oh God,” Hayley whispered with a sigh. “This isn’t going to end well.”

“Your friend isn’t doing so good,” a voice said suddenly.

Turning, Hayley saw a man watching her from the next table. Older but handsome, he had a broad grin and the kind of eyes that made her feel instantly uncomfortable.

“Ben,” he continued, smiling as he reached a hand across toward her. “Ben Freeman. I’m sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing and, well, the girl you were talking to just now…” He paused. “I’ve seen her in here before, actually. I know it might seem weird, but I’ve spotted her around a few times, and I can tell she’s hurting somehow. You know how you can just tell that about someone? Especially in Bowley. Some people are really good at hiding their true feelings, and some people aren’t.”

“Do you know her?” Hayley asked, feeling a little creeped out by the stranger’s intervention.

“Don’t even know her name,” Ben replied. “I just… Damn it, I’m twice your age, you probably think I’m being weird, I just… You should go after her. You should check to see if there’s anything you can do to help her. Take it from someone who knows, you don’t want to leave it alone and then find out later that you’re too late.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Hayley replied, hoping to cut the conversation off dead. Realizing that the guy was still watching her, she turned to him and offered a flat, polite smile, before getting up and heading to the bathroom.

“I didn’t mean to be weird,” the guy called after her. “I was just trying to help.”

“I know,” she replied. “Thanks.”

“Was I weird?” he called after her. “Damn it, I was weird again, wasn’t I?”

Pushing the bathroom door open, she made her way inside and then took a deep breath.

“Creep,” she muttered, even though she knew he was basically right. She made her way to the sink and began to wash her hands, before glancing down at the bin and seeing several pieces of torn tissue paper, covered in blood. “Jesus, Katie,” she whispered. “What the hell are they doing to you down there?”

***

There was blood everywhere. The man, who had just had his throat slashed by another user in the internet cafe, stumbled past shocked onlookers, heading for the exit. No-one went to help him, no-one really did much at all. A few people kept their eyes on their screens, continuing to play their games, and a moment later the screen switched to show the cafe’s exterior, where the man had collapsed in a pool of his own blood.

Again, no-one tried to help him.

As soon as the video was over, Beth swiped to the next. This one showed a street view, with people walking past a busy road. She waited, knowing that something awful was about to happen but not knowing when or how. Finally, a truck speared off the road and crashed through the crowd of pedestrians, driving straight over some and plowing into one man with such force that his body could be seen bursting against the concrete wall and his severed head bounced away from the scene, into the middle of the busy road.

“Mummy?”

The next video showed a shark that had been cut open on a jetty, revealing a partially-digested human body inside. Zooming in, Beth flinched as she saw that most of the person’s face had been dissolved, leaving the remains of the eyes staring out, looking almost directly at the camera. She tried to imagine what it must have been like for the victim, drowning in the foul, dirty interior of the creature, and she shuddered as she saw a torn hand with a wedding ring, resting in the mass of meat and -

“Mummy?”

Suddenly she turned and saw that Lucy was standing next to her.

“What’s that?” Lucy asked, looking at the screen.

“Nothing,” Beth stammered, closing the browser and setting her phone down. “I thought you were watching a film?”

“It’s finished.”

“It is?” She checked her watch and saw that incredibly, somehow, five o’clock had rolled around already. She’d sat down at four to rest her feet for a moment, and she’d intended to watch just a couple of videos before starting work on dinner, but she’d lost track of time and now she felt a little dazed.

“Are you okay?” Lucy asked.

“Me?” She forced a smile. “Of course. I just need to get dinner on the go.”

“You look upset.”

“I do?” She paused, feeling as if her smile perhaps wasn’t convincing. “I’m not upset, sweetie.”

“You look like you’ve seen something horrible.”

“Well, I haven’t,” she continued. “There’s nothing wrong with me that a good dinner won’t fix. Do you want to watch a DVD while I get started?”

“Can I help you?”

Beth glanced at her phone. She wanted to watch more videos while she cooked.

“I can chop things,” Lucy continued, “and I can fetch things!”

“That’s okay,” Beth replied, getting to her feet and steering her daughter to the door, “I don’t need help. Watch another film, you can pick whatever you want from the shelf, okay?”

“But Mummy -”

“And dinner’ll be ready soon,” she added, taking a step back and watching as Lucy, clearly a little reluctant, heading back through to the living room. “Daddy’ll be home soon,” she added. “Maybe you can find something you can watch with him? Look through the DVDs and find something fun.” She turned and headed over to the counter. “Unless he stays late to screw around with his bit on the side,” she muttered under her breath, before grabbing her phone and opening the browser again.

Flicking through the pages, she was about to go back and find more videos when she spotted a link to a marketplace site. She clicked through to take a look, telling herself she’d go back to videos in a moment, and to her surprise she found people advertising services and products that she’d never believed might be available. Weapons, drugs and various other highly illegal items were being offered, and she felt a frisson of shock as she continued to scroll down. She told herself to close the browser and get on with making dinner, but for a few more minutes she couldn’t help looking at all the illicit services that claimed to be just a touch away. Finally, at the bottom of the page, she saw one that particularly grabbed her attention.

“Metal Pill Terminations,” she whispered. “Available nationwide.”

Clicking through, she realized she’d found a hit-man advertising his services, someone who claimed to be able to fake accidents for a surprisingly low fee, killing people without raising suspicion. Even more shockingly, he claimed to be based less than two hundred miles from Bowley.

“Satisfaction guaranteed,” she muttered, reading from the page. “No questions asked. Want that problem person gone from your life? It’s easier than you think.”

“Hey, honey.”

Startled by Bob’s voice, she stepped back and dropped her phone in the process.

“Jesus,” he continued, reaching down to pick up the phone for her.

“No!” she blurted out, pushing his arm away and grabbing the phone, which still had the browser open. “What the hell are you doing, sneaking up on people like that?”

“I called out to you from the hallway,” he replied. “What’s up, honey?” He leaned closer and tried to kiss her on the cheek, but she ducked away just in time. “Going deaf?”

Still flustered, she shoved the phone into her pocket before heading to the freezer and opening one of the drawers. She mumbled something about making dinner, but even as she pulled out a couple of boxes, her mind was already drifting back to that website. Was someone in the area really offering to arrange accidents for people, and for a price that was actually within reach? The idea seemed insane, but at the same time she was starting to wonder if everyone else knew about these things and she was the only one who was in the dark.

“I’ve gotta pop out later,” Bob said as he grabbed a bottle of soda from the counter, before popping two paracetamol pills from a packet and swallowing them. “I’ve got a few work things to do. Man, do I have a headache.”

“Sure,” she muttered. “Do what you want?”

“You okay, babe?”

“I’m fine.” She slammed the boxes down on the counter. “Don’t call me babe.”

Hearing the TV in the next room, he peered around the corner.

“Just go and play with Lucy,” Beth muttered. “You’ll just be under my feet in here.”

“Sure, honey,” he replied, “but…” He turned to her. “Did you know Lucy is watching the first
Saw
film?”

***

“Seriously?” Hayley replied, holding her phone in one hand as she made her way across the parking lot. “Mother, dear, you’ve, like, officially lost your mind. There’s no way I can go to the store for you, I’m way too busy.”

Stopping next to her car, she set her bag down and rooted through her pockets, searching for her keys.

“Yes, mother,” she continued with a sigh, “but it’s not just once, is it? It’s every day. I’m sure you can tear yourself away from cat videos for five minutes to go to the -”

She pulled her keys out, found the right one, and hit the button, unlocking her car door.

“Mother -”

Sighing, she listened for a moment longer.

“Fine,” she said finally, locking the car door again and picking up her bag, “you know what? I’ll go to the goddamn pharmacy for you. You’ve worn me down. Are you happy? You’ve officially got the most nagging voice in the world. Enjoy the videos.”

Cutting the call, she let out a grunt of frustration before turning and making her way back across the parking lot. She glanced up and saw that a gray sky was threatening rain, and she figured it would be just her luck to get caught in a sudden downpour. Heading past the diner, she nodded an acknowledgment at the waitress, who she vaguely knew from her school days, before slipping down a narrow alley that ran through toward the town square. A moment later, her worries turned out to be justified as rain began to fall, coming on surprisingly quickly. She had half a mind to call her mother back and tell her to go to hell, but she figured she could just -