The Game Changer (47 page)

‘Addy, I did what you told me. I got back in the shaft. There was another big meeting. I heard some of the speech. Stephen gave it. It didn’t sound good.’

‘Donal, think carefully. Tell me what you heard.’

‘It was about how they were going to find truth and enlightenment and all that other stuff, but this time it was different.’

‘Why?’

‘Stephen said their time had come.’

‘What did he mean?’

‘I don’t know, but Saka’s dead.’

‘He can’t be!’

‘He is, and Stephen says they need to follow him. I heard Stephen talk to some of the seniors too.’

‘And?’

‘They’re all going to see Saka, and then they’re going to do it.’

‘Donal, slow down. Tell me word for word.’

‘They’re going to divide the members into groups. Then everyone who wants to follow Saka will go to the other side. That’s what he said, and the journey will be painless.’

‘Shit.’

‘That’s not all, Addy. He said that if you don’t want to follow Saka, there will be a gathering in the main hall this evening.’

‘Do you know why?’

‘No.’

‘Donal, if Saka is dead, why isn’t Jessica in charge? She’s the next in line, isn’t she?’

‘I don’t know. I didn’t see her. What do you think we should do?’

‘Give me a second.’

‘The boat has gone. It left ages ago.’

‘Listen, Donal, we need to go back to the old church. Sarah’s phone’s still there. We have to try again.’

WITH ADAM GONE, KATE COULDN’T SETTLE. HER chest felt tight, and even though she knew the baby was still hanging on in there, she had to ask herself how any of this could be a good start in life.

Despite the soreness of her ribcage, the one thing, other than the baby, she remained focused on was Charlie. When he and Declan arrived, she thought her heart would burst. She couldn’t hold back tears of happiness.

‘Don’t cry, Mum.’

‘Oh, Charlie, I’ve missed you so much.’

‘Dad said you were knocked down by a car.’

‘Don’t worry about that. I’m fine. A few days in hospital and I’ll be as right as rain.’

Declan bent to kiss her forehead. ‘I see you have your own special company sitting outside the door.’

‘It’s just a precaution. Adam insisted.’

‘He’s probably right.’

‘Mum, are you sure you’re okay?’ Charlie asked, sitting on the armchair that Adam had not long since vacated.

‘There’s nothing to worry about.’

‘Where’s Adam now?’ Declan asked.

‘I think he had to go back to Harcourt Street. Something’s happening with the investigation.’

‘You two are well matched.’

‘Maybe we are,’ Kate replied, but the last thing she needed was friction with Declan. ‘Have you two had any breakfast?’

‘We got something on the plane.’

‘That’s good.’

‘According to the nurse, we can stay for fifteen minutes at a time and then we have to let you rest.’

‘Can we not stay, Dad?’

‘Don’t worry, Charlie,’ Declan replied, ‘we’ll be in and out seeing Mum all day long.’

JOHN WATCHED THE SEAGULLS SWIRL OVERHEAD, sounding as if they were in mock celebration, as if they already sensed things that no one on the police marine boat could possibly know. Desperation can leave a person without hope, he thought, and a belief that nothing you can do will change anything. That was how he’d felt when Sarah left.

He listened to the loud hum of the engine as the boat cut through the water, amid furious high winds. The sounds harnessed his anger – a warped, twisted knot of rage that things could come to this.

He tried to ignore the others moving about on the craft, shouting across at one another against the savage wind. None of them understood what he felt or the hate he had for the madness that had taken his wife away. He could still see her as she had been on that last day: the day he had turned his back on her, and she had slipped away.

He remembered how she wore her hair, wild and loose. Over the previous months it had grown to waist-length, as it had been when she was a young girl. He’d always liked it long.

He wondered for the umpteenth time how slim the chance was that she was okay, and how long it would take her to become his Sarah again.

The detective, DI O’Connor, called his name, then raised both hands in the air, his fingers wide apart, telling John that in ten minutes they would be there. He clenched his fists. There were tears in his eyes. A hand rested on his shoulder, and when he turned, it was O’Connor.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked, standing close enough to stop John jumping overboard.

‘I’m fine.’ His words had been quick and false.

He looked to the island and the unknown. The boy had said people had died in a fire, that Sarah and others were in danger. With his feet stuck to the deck, he kept staring at the water. The waves were creating changing sheets of white foam. What if he hadn’t been so angry? What if he hadn’t given up? What if he hadn’t let her go or had somehow made it possible for her to come home?

HE HAD SENT JUST ONE HELICOPTER TO FLY overland, not wanting to raise suspicion. The report back was that everything looked quiet on the island. From the air, it all seemed normal, and Adam hoped that was exactly how he would find it when they got ashore. He knew, from the overhead report, the location of the commune buildings, which he assumed would be where most of the people on the island would be found.

When the boat pulled in, he despatched four different crews to approach the buildings by foot from the north, south, east and west, all with dogs. He told John Sinclair to remain on the boat until he knew what was going on. If he needed more backup, there were officers on standby on the nearest main island, Valentia. They could be there within minutes by helicopter.

With the buildings in sight, he told his own crew to stay back, as they watched the four police groupings come within metres of the target area. So far, they seemed to have got there unnoticed, but it was all too peaceful. Something wasn’t right.

He signalled his crew to move forward again, and when they reached higher ground, he could see the old church to the left of the commune building.

‘We’ll need to check that,’ he said, as if thinking out loud.

‘Sir?’

‘What is it, McGarry?’ Adam turned to face one of the female officers.

‘I think I saw something.’

‘What?’

‘I don’t know, but it looks like someone’s in there. I saw something move past the front door.’

Switching on his walkie-talkie, he made contact with each of the four lead officers of the crews up ahead, telling them not to move in until they had checked the church.

∞

‘Did you hear something?’ Addy asked Donal, as they scurried to hide behind the granite boulder in front of the altar.

‘No.’

‘Maybe help is here already.’

‘Addy, do you think so?’

‘I don’t know, but let’s get that phone either way.’ He hoped it was still there. He reached in, felt it under his fingertips, and heaved a huge sigh of relief.

They jumped when the door swung open, and a female voice shouted, ‘Police! If anyone is here, show yourselves.’

Addy dragged Donal up to stand beside him, putting his arms up in the air as he had seen done on television, and Donal copied him. When Addy saw Adam’s face, he couldn’t believe it.

‘Shit! Addy, is that you?’

Adam ran over, signalling to his crew to check the rest of the place. He reached out and grabbed Addy, hugging him tight. Then he stepped back and asked, ‘What’s going down?’

‘There’s some kind of mass suicide planned,’ Addy told him, breathless. ‘Donal overheard some of the members talking.’

‘The members?’

‘The cult followers.’

‘What about this Saka guy?’

‘He’s dead. He wants the others to follow him.’

‘Jesus.’

‘Dad, what do you think?’

Even in the mayhem, Addy realised it was the first time he had referred to Adam that way. The look in his father’s eyes told him he
had registered it too. Adam didn’t reply for a couple of seconds, but then said, ‘I don’t know, son, but I don’t like how quiet everything is. How long have you two been in here?’

‘Only a few minutes,’ Addy replied, ‘but it took us a couple of hours to get out of the commune buildings through the water-pipe chambers.’

‘How many are inside?’

‘I’m not sure.’

‘Who’s in charge?’

‘The leaders, like Stephen. They’re up to no good. We haven’t seen Jessica, but she’s the next in line from Saka.’

‘Jessica?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Shit.’

‘What is it?’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll explain later. What about that woman Sarah? You said her life was in danger. Where is she?’

‘She’s with Chloë, Donal’s friend. They’re in the infirmary.’

THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE NEEDING IMMEDIATE attention at the commune was in excess of a hundred. Adam recognised Amanda Doyle and Robert Cotter from their missing-person photographs. At least a dozen people were dead, but the number could still increase if the medics failed to pull some others through. The scale of what had gone down was too enormous for Adam or any of his crew to take in, at least not fully.

It hadn’t taken long to round up the senior members, those who had facilitated the suicides, following Saka’s final instruction to the letter. John Sinclair had identified the dead cult leader, but not before he had been reunited with his wife.

Looking at the two of them together, and how much love John obviously had for Sarah, Adam wondered how things between them could have gone so wrong.

Aoife would pull through, and the medics were hopeful about Chloë, too.

‘Are you all right, Dad?’ Addy asked, standing by his side.

‘I should be asking you that, not the other way around.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Why?’ Adam looked at his son, confused.

‘For not giving you a chance when you were trying so hard.’

‘I walked away from you. That was unforgivable.’

‘I thought that for a while, but you never gave up on me, not completely. Mum said you used to stay in touch, making sure I was okay.’

‘But I wasn’t part of your life.’

‘That doesn’t matter now. When I needed you most, you came.’

‘I would have come regardless of who made that call.’

‘But it wasn’t anyone else. It was me.’

Adam grabbed his son, hugging him even harder than he had before, and longer than he’d ever thought possible. When Addy’s body started to shake with tears of relief, Adam still held him, determined to hang on to him for as long as it took, even if that meant the rest of his life.

KATE KEPT FALLING IN AND OUT OF SLEEP, RELIEVED every time she saw Charlie come back into the room. She hadn’t heard anything from Adam yet, but she didn’t mind. Everything would happen in its own good time. Pulling back from work all those months ago hadn’t meant she had pulled back from life. Despite all the upset over the last few weeks, and everything she had remembered from her past, the harassment notes, the wrongs that had been visited on Jessica Baxter and others, she was grateful for all the love she had been lucky enough to receive.

Charlie was with her, and soon Adam would join him. With the new life fighting for survival inside her, they would forge forward and create a future.

When the door opened, she looked up, expecting to see Charlie and Declan, but a woman came in. She walked over to the bed, and placed a police ID card in front of her. Immediately Kate thought something had happened to Adam.