Page 78 of Little Children (Detective Kim Stone #22)

Seventy-Seven

‘What do you mean she’s in the fucking van?’ Bryant asked when Red returned.

Even in the semi-darkness, he knew his profanity had startled Penn and Stacey, but he hadn’t expected Red to return alone.

In his absence, they had gained access to an empty field opposite the locked gate and hidden the cars behind the dense hedge.

After hearing footsteps, they’d used a good old-fashioned whistle to get Red’s attention, but he hadn’t expected the guv not to be with him.

True to his word, Bryant hadn’t taken his eyes off Steve Ashworth, who had been surprisingly helpful.

Everyone was huddled using their phones for illumination and awaiting an explanation.

After everything they’d learned this week, he still wasn’t convinced that they could totally trust Red. For all he knew, the guv was lying back there in God knows what?—

His thoughts were interrupted by the receipt of a text message.

As though she’d read his mind, the message was from the guv. He smiled briefly before holding up his phone.

‘She’s fine. She says to follow Red’s instructions.’

With his mind pacified slightly, he turned his attention back to his boss.

Okay, she was safe for now, but she was in the back of a van that belonged to people with no regard for human life.

He’d seen the photos of Josh Lucas’s body.

If they could do that to a kid, they’d have no issue doing it to an adult.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Red said, ‘but it’s a risk she was determined to take, and she’s not wrong. I don’t know what she saw in there, but even I know some kid was getting the shit kicked out of him.’

‘Lewis?’ Stacey asked.

Red nodded. ‘But no Noah.’

Bryant could immediately see why his boss had changed her thinking.

The plan had always been to come here, break it up, get the boys and make as many arrests as possible.

‘If we go in now, we get six boys, a wall of silence from the organisers and other boys being stranded somewhere, possibly left to die. In addition, we can’t contain fifty or more spectators with this small a team quickly enough to stop phone calls and text messages being fired off.

If the rest of the network gets that kind of advance warning, we’ll never track down all the others, and God knows what’ll happen to the other boys then.

We don’t know how widespread this thing is. ’

Bryant already understood the problem. He just didn’t like the fact it wasn’t his boss sharing the update.

Red looked at his watch. ‘We haven’t got a lot of time. There are two vans up there – the grey one we know about and a white transit.’ He nodded towards Bryant. ‘You follow the grey one with your boss in it; we’ll be following the other one,’ he said, indicating Walsh and Dickinson.

‘Adil, Wood and reporter guy are to stay here.’

Bryant frowned. ‘We need to go and get our vehicles at the end of the road so we can pick up the vans when they leave. There are going to be another thirty or more vehicles leaving at the same time. We need the registration numbers of every one of them.’

‘Got it,’ Stacey said.

Adil and Ashworth nodded their understanding.

‘Two more things, directly from DI Stone. You,’ Red said, pointing at the reporter. ‘None of this gets shared with anyone. Got it?’

He nodded his understanding. Bryant was pleased to see that the man appeared to have grasped the importance of what he was now a part of.

‘Last thing,’ Red said, turning his way, ‘your boss is going to try and communicate with you from the back of the van, but if there’s any chance you’re going to look suspicious, you have to back off.’

Bryant’s instinct was to argue with the instruction, but he knew that the guv’s priority was to find the other boys. If the people in the van suspected they were being followed, there was every chance they’d divert, and then they’d be lost forever.

‘Got it,’ Bryant said grudgingly.

‘Okay, folks, we really haven’t got much time. Everyone get into position.’

Bryant headed for his car with Penn in tow.

The plan was a good one, but one that would worry him less if they were part of a task force that included an additional twenty officers.

Only then would he be happy with the risk the guv had taken.