Lethal Target by Dan Stone

Author:Dan Stone [Stone, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

Thirty-Seven

Craven had escaped any serious injuries in the car collision, but Jess hadn’t been so lucky. He stood at the side of the road whilst a paramedic dabbed cleaning solution on one of the many minor scratches on his scalp caused by the shattering car windows.

“What happened?” asked Shaw as he ducked under a line of yellow tape.

“Your eyes look like piss holes in the snow,” said Craven, and Shaw adjusted the glasses.

“It's the middle of the night,” he said. His cheeks flushed redder than usual, and despite it being two o’clock in the morning, Shaw’s hair was immaculately gelled in his straight side parting. “Aivar, the big fish, got away?”

“His cronies smashed into our car. He must have been wearing some sort of tracking device small enough to be missed when his pockets were searched.” Aivar’s struggle outside of Diego’s made more sense now. He had made enough trouble to make their search urgent and difficult. Mobile phones, tracking devices and satellites. Technology had advanced so much during Craven’s time on the force that policing had changed entirely. He often wondered what the surly old detectives he had started out with would make of things today.

“Poor girl,” said Shaw, nodding to where the paramedics solemnly pushed a gurney towards a waiting ambulance. A sheet covered the body it carried. Jess’ body. Craven rubbed his eyes and thanked the paramedic as she left him alone. The gut-wrenching shock and horror of Jess’ death was hard to take. It left him hollow.

“She was one of the good ones.” Craven shook his head. “I brought her along to give her a taste of what plain clothes work is like. Now she’s gone.”

“It's not your fault, Frank. These gangsters are scum. I've never even heard of anything like this before. Ramming a bloody police car moments after an arrest. I don’t envy the person who has to tell her family.”

“It will devastate her mother and father. She wasn’t married, still so young, with her whole life in front of her. Jess was as bright as a button. She could have gone far in the force. We see so much shit on the streets, Shaw. The human race is crumbling. Do you ever feel like that? We are sinking into a mire of apathy and cruelty. There’s no sense of community anymore. All people give a shit about is money and possessions, what pictures they can put up on fucking Facebook or Twitter or whatever bloody social media is the most popular these days.”

“Insta.”

“What?”

“Instagram, it’s the most popular social media app now.”

“Whatever. People are just so fucking entitled. Ninety per cent of our time is spent chasing around after druggies who rob houses and cars to get money for their next fix and then trying to stop the bastards who sell them the drugs in the first place. Life must have been so much easier in the old days. No technology, no email or mobile phones. Just fucking letters. People used to help each other and care for each other.

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