Still on the phone, Whelan’s face had turned ashen at whatever he was hearing. ‘Oh, fuck,’ he breathed.
‘What’s the hell’s going on, Jack?’ Ward demanded, as other police officers turned towards the strange procession.
There was no time to answer. Suddenly, the van accelerated, forcing the two PCs ahead of it to break into a run. The young woman I’d spoken to earlier stumbled and fell, and for an awful second I thought the van would run over her. Instead it braked and the driver’s door was flung open.
Jessop climbed out.
The contractor carried a sports holdall slung over one shoulder, bulging and sagging from whatever was inside. He still had one arm raised in the air, and I could see there was something small and square gripped in his fist. At first I thought it was a mobile phone, but then I saw the wires curling from the open bag.
He was holding a detonator.
Chapter 28
Whelan reacted first. ‘Clear the area!’ he yelled, signalling furiously as he pushed past me. ‘Everybody get back! Now!’
Police officers and SOCOs seemed to be running everywhere, scrambling for cover behind cars and trailers. Still holding the detonator aloft, the contractor grabbed hold of the young police-woman by the arm. When the grey-haired PC made as if to intervene, Jessop thrust the detonator at him, thumb poised.
‘Go on, then! You think I give a fuck?’
‘Do as he says!’ Whelan snapped.
The older PC reluctantly backed off. Next to me Ward was speaking hurriedly into her phone, her voice low as she requested support. At the bottom of the steps, Jessop shifted his grip on the PC, yanking her in front of him and pinning her to his chest with an arm crooked tight around her throat. The contractor’s clothes were filthy. A grey stubble covered the loose skin of his jowls like a dirty frost and his eyes were yellowed and bloodshot.
Whelan spoke to me quietly. ‘Move away, Dr Hunter.’
The hospital’s mausoleum-like entrance behind me was the nearest cover and the only option that wouldn’t involve going past Jessop. Looking into its dark maw, I hesitated, loath to leave the two of them.
‘Now!’ Whelan snapped.
Jessop’s voice rang out. ‘He’s staying there! Nobody’s going anywhere!’
Still holding the police officer around her neck, with his free hand he pulled open the top of the holdall. From where I stood I could see it was full of waxy slabs tangled with plastic-coated wires. A bottle of what looked like vodka lay among them, sloshing slightly with the movement.
‘There’s enough RDX in here to blow everybody to fuck!’ He raised the detonator. ‘Anybody comes near me, I’ll fucking press it! I mean it!’
‘All right, Keith, we believe you.’ Ward stepped out from beside me, lowering her phone. ‘Now you’ve got our attention, supposing you tell us what you want?’
She spoke conversationally, sounding almost bored. It seemed to unnerve him. As Jessop struggled for a response, the young PC he was holding spoke in a choked voice.
‘I’m sorry, ma’am, he said if we didn’t do as he said, he’d—’
Jessop tightened his arm around her neck. ‘Shut the fuck up!’
‘All right, Keith,’ Ward said smoothly. ‘Why don’t you put the detonator down—’
‘Don’t tell me what to do!’ Jessop glared at her, his mouth working. ‘Nobody tells me what to do. Not any more.’
Ward raised her hands. ‘Nobody’s trying to. You’re in charge, so why don’t you tell me what it is you want?’
‘What I want?’ Jessop barked out a laugh. ‘What I fucking want is my life back! Can you give me that?’
‘I can help, but you’ve got to—’
‘Do I look stupid?’ The jaundiced eyes seemed to radiate heat as he glared at Ward. ‘My picture’s all over the fucking news! Everything’s gone, and for what? Some stupid little bitch who’d no right to be here!’
‘Her name was Christine Gorski.’ There was an edge in Ward’s voice. ‘She had a life too. And a family. You saw them, remember?’
‘So what? It’s not my fault their daughter was a junkie!’
‘She didn’t deserve to die, Keith. Any more than Adam Oduya or—’
‘I don’t give a fuck about them!’ Jessop yelled. ‘What about me? Who cares about me? No one!’
‘That isn’t true, Keith. I’m sorry if—’
‘You’re sorry? You think I give a fuck about an apology?’
‘Then talk to me. Tell me what you want.’
‘I want to do what I should have done months ago!’ He jerked his chin behind her, towards St Jude’s. ‘I’m going to blow that fucking place up!’
‘That won’t change anything, Keith.’
‘Maybe not, but I’ll die happy.’
‘Will you?’
A breeze stirred the contractor’s greasy hair as he stared at her, suddenly uncertain. Then he cocked his head, listening. A moment later I heard it myself.
The wail of sirens, growing louder.
‘That your friends?’ Jessop sneered. ‘Thought you’d keep me talking until some fucker blows my brains out, is that it?’
‘No, wait—’
But Jessop was already climbing the steps, forcing the female PC to walk ahead of him. When Whelan moved towards them, the contractor raised the detonator.
‘Get the fuck out of the way.’
‘I can’t do that. Come on, man, think what you’re doing.’
‘I said, fucking move! You think I won’t press this?’
Jessop brandished the detonator, his knuckles white. The sirens were much closer. I saw the older PC from the gate cordon start to edge nearer, but then the contractor’s head whipped towards him.
‘Fuck off! Now!’
‘Do as he says,’ Ward said quickly. She put a hand on Whelan’s arm. ‘Nobody do anything stupid.’
‘I’ll count to three,’ Jessop spat. ‘One!’
‘No one’s going to stop you from going inside. Just let her go,’ Ward told him. ‘Look at her, Keith. She’s not much more than a girl. Do you really want to hurt her?’
‘Two!’
The young PC had shut her eyes. She was half the size of Jessop. I could see her trembling but her mouth was clamped and determined. Ward seemed to have run out of words. As the wail of sirens drew closer, Jessop took a breath and raised the detonator.
‘Take me,’ I said.
The words tumbled out spontaneously. My voice sounded unnaturally loud. Whelan and Ward spoke at the same time.
‘For Christ’s sake…!’
‘Stay out of this, David…!’
But I had Jessop’s attention. I spread my hands, showing him they were empty. ‘You want a hostage, take me instead.’
He looked at me, his arm still crooked around the PC’s neck. Then his mouth turned down. ‘Get out of the way.’
‘Let her go. I’ll come with you,’ Ward said before I could respond.
Whelan turned to her, horrified. ‘No way! That’s—!’
‘In another thirty seconds you’re going to be in the crosshairs of about a dozen police marksmen,’ Ward told Jessop, ignoring her DI. ‘I can’t let you take one of my officers in there, but I’ll go with you instead. Or you can blow us all up now because, the way my day is going, I really don’t care very much. Your call.’
‘Ma’am, you don’t have to do this,’ Whelan implored.
She ignored him, staring at Jessop. ‘Fifteen seconds.’
The sirens sounded inside the gates now. The contractor gave a nod. ‘If you try anything…’
‘Jesus, man, I’m six months pregnant, what am I going to do?’ Beneath the show, I could hear the fear in Ward’s voice.
‘Sharon, don’t…’ I began, but she was already going towards where the contractor held the young policewoman.