The Border: The Complete Series (54 page)

She pressed her finger against the trigger, desperate to fire but still holding back. She knew he was right.

“Let's talk about this,” Tom continued, taking a step forward. “Jane -”

She pulled the trigger.

All she heard was an empty click.

“Well,” Tom said with a smile. “It seems fate is on my side.”

With that, he lunged at her, grabbing the rifle and then twisting it around, quickly slamming it against her head. She tried to push back, but he hit her twice more in quick succession, battering her down to the ground. Gasping, she felt as if her skull was already fractured, but she managed to roll out of the way just as the rifle came crashing down. Struggling to her feet, she staggered away until she bumped against the wall, and then she turned to see Tom tossing the rifle away as he stepped toward her.

“Did you really think you could do anything about the Border?” Tom sneered, reaching out and grabbing her shoulders. “Did no-one ever tell you that you shouldn't mess with tradition?”

He slammed her against the wall, causing the back of her head to bang against the bricks. Letting out a gasp, she felt him starting to push her down to the ground.

“If it's any consolation,” Tom continued, “you've put up more of a fight than your husband managed.”

She tried to push back, but the pain in her head was throbbing now and Tom was squeezing her shoulders so tight, she felt they might shatter at any moment. Looking up at the horrific sight above her, she realized Jack's final moments must have been much the same, and she could only gasp as she saw Tom taking a knife from his belt.

“I won't take your heart,” he sneered. “You're not worthy of the jar.”

She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

“Not yet, you don't,” she heard Jack's voice whispering. “Don't you
dare
give up.”

With the last of her strength, she lunged forward, screaming as she slammed into Tom's chest. She managed to push him back, and she heard the clatter of the knife hitting the floor as she grabbed Tom's waist and twisted him around. He tried to grab her face, but she slipped away and turned, quickly wrapped an arm around his neck. As he struggled to get free, Jane saw the crown of broken horns standing proud on top of the mask, and she realized she only had one chance. The knife was too far away, so she managed to twist Tom around and then slam him head first against the wall.

She gasped as she saw the broken horns crunching down, as the impact with the wall pushed them deep through the top of the mask and into Tom's skull.

Letting go, she staggered back just as Tom stood up straight and turned to her. The horns were just small stumps now, and several of them had been driven so far down into his head that they'd burst out through his cheek and chin. One had even emerged straight through his right eye, while his left eye showed a hint of disbelief. He reached up, slowly feeling for the horns, as blood began to dribble from his mouth. Grabbing the edges of the mask, he tried to pull it away, but he instantly let out a cry of agony as the broken horns dug deeper into his brain.

Taking a step back, Jane grabbed the rifle and held it up, ready to strike him if he came closer.

Instead, Tom let out a mournful wail. He took a single, frail step forward before dropping to his knees. More and more blood was flowing from his mouth now, with one of the horns having crunched through his brain and down into the back of his throat. Still moaning, he stared at Jane for a moment before tilting his head forward, bringing a torrent of blood cascading from his mouth for a few seconds before the flow slowed. A few more drips fell toe the floor, before finally Jane swung the rifle and knocked Tom's dead body to the ground.

Breathlessly, she stood over him, holding the rifle up again, ready to strike if he showed even the slightest twitch of life.

“Jane?” Ben shouted, hurrying through but stopping as soon as he saw what had happened. “Was it him?” he asked. “Did you get him?”

“I got him,” she whispered, too shocked to keep from staring at the corpse. “I got him.”

“Who was it?”

She opened her mouth to reply, but her whole body was starting to tremble. After a moment, she looked around. “I heard Jack's voice.”

Dropping to his knees next to the body, Ben took hold of the mask and tried to pull it loose. Finding that it was stuck, he pulled harder, and this time the fabric began to tear. When the mask finally came away, the broken horns remained in place, embedded deep in Tom's skull.

“Tom Lanegan,” Ben whispered. “I met him a few times. I always thought he was the most boring man in the world.”

“I heard Jack,” Jane stammered, still looking around as tears ran down her face. “I heard him. He was here.”

“Was it self-defense?” Ben asked.

She turned to him, and finally she nodded.

“Good,” he continued. “I'm just sorry it was you who got him instead of me. I mean, I'm used to killing people. I crossed that line a long time ago.”

Nodding, Jane finally managed to look away from Tom's body, but a moment later her gaze fell upon the door in the far corner. The pain in her head was getting worse, but she couldn't handle the thought of turning back.

“I guess that leads down to the ninth level,” she said finally, her voice trembling slightly as she realized she could barely hold the rifle properly. Her hands were shaking and her mind was filled with replays of the moment she'd heard Jack's voice, and finally she had to turn away from Ben as she felt her chest starting to tighten. “I can't breathe,” she stammered, stepping forward and leaning against the wall. “Something's wrong, I can't -”

“You're having a panic attack,” Ben told her, hurrying over and putting an arm around her. “You're bleeding, too. Looks like you took a knock to the head. I think you need to get to a hospital.”

She shook her head.

“Jane,” he continued, “you're hurt. You'll die if you don't get back up there.”

“I'm not leaving you here.”

“You can come back when you're ready,” he replied. “I've got a feeling it'll take a few days to get this done, so I'll come back up with you to get some supplies and then I'll come down and get on with it while you take some time out. And then when you're ready,
if
you're ready, you can come help out again.”

“No, I -”

“You lost your husband,” he added. “You lost the man you love, the father of your two children. I lost my brother a long time ago, I'm used to the idea of him not being around.”

“This place has to be shut down,” she replied, already feeling as if she could breathe more easily now.

“It's
already
shut down,” he pointed out. “We've cleared out the top eight levels, now we just have to finish off whatever's left below. The hard part's done, Jane. All that's left now is for us to scrape out the human garbage at the very bottom.”

“I'm not leaving until it's done.”

“Take a break and come back in a day or two.”

“I'm not leaving!” she screamed, stumbling past him even as she felt the whole world starting to spin. She slammed into the wall, barely able to stay on her feet, but after a moment she felt steady enough to keep going. This time, however, she tilted to the other side and fell, crashing down as her vision became blurred.

“I'm taking you back up,” Ben said, as she felt him lifting her from the ground. “I'll come back down as soon as I've got you to the hospital, but I'm not letting you die here.”

“I'm not leaving,” she whispered, although she could already feel herself losing consciousness. “You can't do it alone. I'm not...”

“It's okay,” he told her. “You got the guy who killed Jack. You got the bastard.”

She tried to reply, but she could barely force the words out. As she felt Ben carrying her up the stairs, she began to slip into darkness.

“Tell those kids their Uncle Ben is gonna come back some day and make sure they're on the straight and narrow,” she heard Ben saying, his voice sounding further and further away. “Tell them they can't go using their father's death as an excuse to be assholes. Don't worry, I...”

The rest faded to nothing as she lost consciousness, and as the pain of her fractured skull began to flood what was left of her mind.

***

“He's going to need a lot of physiotherapy,” the doctor explained, keeping his voice low as he talked to Ruth in the doorway, “but you mustn't lose hope.”

“He can't go back to work, though, can he?” she replied.

He shook his head.

“The stroke...” She paused. “He's always been such a proud man. I don't know how we're going to manage.”

Turning, Ruth looked toward the bed, where Alex lay with his head to one side, staring into space as if his mind was filled with a million other ideas. Even as his wife and the doctor stood discussing his rehab options, Alex's thoughts were lost in an aching sense of regret. For him, just as the horrors of the Border had been shut down, they had also become shockingly apparent. Now, finally, he understood the nature of the evil that until that night had only existed at the edge of his perception. All at once, a lifetime of shock had flooded his mind. Somewhere deep inside, he was screaming.

***

“What are you doing up?” Bob asked, stopping in the doorway as soon as he saw Beth sitting on the sofa with her arm around Lucy. The little girl was asleep now, having spent the past few hours listening to her mother telling her that everything was going to be okay.

“It's complicated,” Beth replied, keeping her voice low.

“Why's there blood on the kitchen table?” he asked.

“Complicated.”

“Why's there blood in the hallway?”

“Complicated.”

He paused. “I have nowhere else to go.”

“No kidding.”

He looked over at the Christmas tree, which was slowly rotting in the corner by the window. The angel was up there still, its head impaled through on the tree's top. After a moment, he turned back to Beth. “You know how you said you inched across the line toward doing bad things?”

“That's something of an over-simplification,” she replied, “but yeah, sure. I said that.”

“Well, I was wondering...” He paused again. “I was wondering if you thought maybe you could inch back? If maybe
we
could inch back?”

“How would that work, exactly?” she asked.

“I don't know.”

“Neither do I.”

He took a deep breath. “Can I at least use the spare room for a while? I was going to stay with Tom Lanegan, but the guy's a complete asshole.”

“He's not the only one.”

“Can I
please
use the spare room?” he asked with a sigh. “I know I have no right, but... I can't afford to move into a motel.”

Beth opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell, before feeling Lucy shift slightly. She waited in case the girl woke up, but after a moment she realized her daughter was sleeping soundly now, which felt like a miracle after the images she'd seen on the phone.

“You can use the spare room,” she told her husband finally. “After that, we'll just have to wait and see.”

“That's all I ask.”

“It's all you'll get.”

They both waited, each of them assuming it was the other's turn to say something, before Bob took his bag and headed up to the spare room.

“Everything's going to be fine, sweetheart,” Beth whispered, kissing the top of Lucy's head. “I promise.”

***

“We need to get her into theater!” a nurse shouted, as she and two colleagues carefully lifted Jane onto a trolley. “Get Doctor Sumner! We've got a head injury here!”

***

“What do you mean,
leaving
?” Mary shouted as she followed her daughter out the front door. “Where the hell do you think you're gonna go? And what the hell happened to you, you look like a complete mess!”

“I'm getting out of this place,” Katie said firmly, opening the trunk of her car and shoving a couple of hold-alls inside before slamming the trunk shut again and heading to the driver's door. “I've been saving money. I have to get away, I have to get as far from this place as possible.”

“But -”

“It's physical!” she shouted, turning to her mother, almost trembling with rage. “It's a physical thing! It's not mental, it's not emotional, I have to
physically
get away from Bowley or I'm going to lose my mind!” She took a deep breath, feeling a pain in her injured shoulder but determined not to let it show. She'd promised Beth that she'd get it looked at, but she figured she could do that once she hit another town. For now, she felt she had to get away. Her mother knew almost nothing about the previous night's events, and she figured that was how things should stay.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at her car. The low morning sun was casting an orange glow along the street, and for a moment Katie felt a sense of fear at the realization that she had no destination in mind. She was just going to drive away from Bowley and hope that somehow she slotted in somewhere else. At the same time, she knew there was a danger she'd just get lost and run out of money, and then maybe end up slipping through the cracks of life. The fear was invigorating, however, and after a moment she felt a new sense of purpose.