The Valley 38

Lemark radioed control with a request for backup as he ran from the security suite and made his way down the passage towards the front of the hospital. He moved as quickly as he could, determined to reach the stairwell and put himself between his suspect and the escape. He Didn’t have a baton, an oversight he regretted, but he did at least have handcuffs, and he hoped he could hold his suspect up for long enough for the two chasing constables to catch up; he was confident that between the three of them they could make a successful arrest. He threw open the door to the stairwell and bounded up, amazed to see that he had got there before his suspect could reach the ground floor. He slowed as he reached the first floor. his eyes on the dark - clad and masked figure descending towards him and the knife in his hand; above the figure, but closing the gap, was Melissa, and audible, but not yet visible, was another person, who Lemark guessed was Constable Jordan. ‘Stop where you are, you’re under arrest.’ Lemark was surprised when He neither stopped nor slowed, but instead leapt at him. Before he could react, let alone dodge or defend himself, Lemark was borne to the floor by the weight of his attacker; his breath escaped him in an explosion that carried with it the pain of being stabbed. When he felt the knife pierce his stomach he was reminded that he had forgotten to put on his stab vest, a potentially fatal mistake he hoped he wasn’t going to regret. Melissa saw her superior attacked and reacted without thinking; she rushed down the stairs and launched herself at the man who had killed her cousin. She crashed into him, knocking him away from Lemark and sending him rolling down the stairs; she went with him and when they came to a stop she found herself on top. Quickly, she pinned his arms with her knees so she could pull off his mask to see if she was right about His Identity. It seemed a simple enough thing to do, but he bucked and heaved wildly in an effort to throw her off, making it difficult for her to grab hold of the balaclava he was wearing, while trying it, to maintain her balance. She had the advantage of being on top but Melissa didn’t find it easy to control the killer she had caught, he was too strong. Looking around for help, Melissa saw Lemark pulling himself slowly and painfully towards her and her captive, while Constable Jordan was still a floor away, continuing his descent at a tortoise - like pace. She couldn’t believe how slow her fellow constable was, his running speed seemed to be barely above walking; she felt like yelling at him to speed up so he could help her, but needed her energy for other things. Lemark had managed to drag himself only a couple of feet, and Jordan was still a dozen or so steps away, when the struggle between Melissa and the killer ended. Before she had a chance to realise what had happened, He wrenched an arm free from the knee pinning it and slashed at her face - she hadn’t thought to try and disarm him, so focused was she on unmasking him. Melissa jerked back away from the flashing blade, but not quickly enough, the razor sharp steel opened her cheek from her ear almost to her lip. Before she could recover from either the surprise or the pain, an almighty heave threw her off her suspect and she saw stars as her head struck one of the stairs. She struggled to her feet dizzily and looked from her injured superior to the fleeing murderer; she didn’t want to abandon the pursuit and let Him get away, but she didn’t want to leave someone who was injured either, not again, not after already doing it twice that night. ‘Don’t worry about me, get after him, don’t let him get away.’ Lemark ordered in a pain - filled voice when he saw Melissa coming towards him. ‘Which way did he go?’ Melissa demanded of Jordan when she caught up to him just outside the entrance to the emergency room, where he was looking unhappily around the dimly - lit car park as though he expected their suspect to appear from the shadow of one of the cars they could see. ‘No idea,’ Jordan admitted. ‘He was gone by the time I made it out here. He could be anywhere by now.’ Melissa’s head whipped around, sending blood splashing from her cut, as the sound of a racing car engine reached her. She hurried along the front of the building towards the corner where the engine noise had come from; she knew the vehicle she could hear might not have anything to do with the suspect she was after, but the timing of it seemed too coincidental for her to ignore. She reached the corner in time to see a dark Land Rover race away through the car park towards the exit; it was gone so quickly there was no time for her to spot anything that might help her to recognise either the vehicle or the driver during the few instances when it passed through a patch of light. Jack whipped the curtains back, flooding the room with light, and then crossed to the bed. ‘Come on, time to get up.’ ‘No it’s not,’ a muffled voice replied. It’s still dark.’ ‘If it’s dark, why have you got the duvet over your face?’ Jack asked his friend, a smile playing about his lips. ‘Come on, get up.’ he yanked the duvet off the bed and out of Sophie’s reach. ‘You said you’re going to be my shadow and keep me out of trouble, well I’m going for a run, are you coming along to keep an eye on me or am I going alone?’ Sophie opened her eyes, which she had scrunched up when the duvet was pulled away, at that. ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Propping herself up on one elbow, she looked at her friend disbelievingly. ‘You only got out of hospital last night, your back looks like a mass of freckles, and you had a buggered ankle only the other day; why the hell would you want to go running? And why the hell would you would you want to do so this early?’ What time is it anyway?’ ‘Half six,’ Jack answered, ‘And no, I’m not out of my mind, at least not as far as I know. I’m going for a run because I’m awake and I’ve got energy to burn, now are you coming or not?’ Before Sophie could respond, he said, ‘I’m going to put the kettle on and finish getting myself ready; I’ll be heading out the door in about fifteen minutes, with or without you.’ He exited the room, leaving Sophie staring after him with an expression that would have killed him, were it possible for a look to do so. Sophie leaned over and retrieved the duvet, which she pulled up until it covered her so completely she was no longer troubled by the light filling the room. She remained like that for a little over a minute before deciding to give in to what she knew was inevitable; as much as she wanted to go back to sleep, she had promised Jack that she would stick with him until his troubles were over, and that was what she was going to do. Reluctantly, she threw back the quilt and got to her feet so she could head along to the bathroom to get ready. It Didn’t take her long, and she was soon in the kitchen doorway, accepting a mug of coffee from Jack, who handed it to her with an amused smile on his lips. ‘I hate you,’ she said, though that didn’t stop her sipping eagerly at her drink, desperate to wake herself up. ‘No you don’t,’ Jack told her. ‘You just hate mornings. You’re like Garfield, you hate mornings and Mondays, and you love Lasagne. Now hurry up and drink your coffee, I want to get going.’ Sophie regarded her friend over the top of her mug. ‘Why Don’t I just break your leg or something and then go back to bed?’ she asked. ‘Cause you’d have to catch me first.’ Jack dodged past her and headed for the front door. He stopped just outside to do some stretching exercises while he waited for Sophie, who didn’t take long to join him. Despite his joking, he knew that if Sophie wanted to catch him, she could, and probably without too much effort; his injuries aside, he was a fairly fit person, but Sophie was one of those blessed people who remained in great shape no matter what they ate or drank, and without the need to do any exercise at all.‘Can I ask you something?’ Sophie said as she set off down the road at her friend’s side, Jack’s spare water bottle in one hand. ‘Of course you can, anything, you know that.’ Since he wasn’t sure how his ankle was going to hold up, it felt fine while walking but running was different, he started them off slow, which meant they had plenty of breath for talking. ‘Where were you last night?’Jack frowned as he looked ahead, keeping an eye on the road. “What d’you mean?’