Page 111 of A Game of Lies

The water is ice cold. It pulls Ffion down and suddenly she’s on the floor of the confession pod, water swirling violently around her. She opens her eyes, sees the maelstrom of bubbles around the inlet pipe, water gushing relentlessly into the room, roaring in her ears. She scrabbles at the chair, tries to pull herself up, but the force of the water throws her aside and for a second she’s not sure which way is up. She wants to breathe out – the smallest of breaths, just to ease the pressure in her chest – but it escapes in a single, violent stream of precious air which shoots to a surface Ffion can’t even see because her vision is blurred and her limbs aren’t working and this is it, she thinks. This is how it ends.

FORTY-SEVEN

TUESDAY | LEO

What Dave lacks in speed and grace, he makes up for with sheer determination. Leo has never really thought about where the word ‘dogged’ comes from, but as he watches Dave plough through the undergrowth it makes perfect sense. Every few hundred metres, Dave stops dead and howls, before pushing on, barking furiously.

Behind him, the quad bike – still with itsExposuredecals – bounces over the rough terrain with Huw at the helm. The bike is designed for one. Behind the seat is a metal rack, to which one might strap a bale of hay or a barrel of water, and it is to this rack that Leo and George are clinging. Leo’s calves burn from the effort of stopping his feet from sliding off the wheel arches.

‘Iawn?’ Huw yells over his shoulder.

Leo is far from beingiawn, but now is not the time to be a back-seat driver. ‘We’re fine,’ he shouts back, realising as he does so that he hardly registered Huw asking in Welsh.

‘Speak. For. Your. Self,’ George says, each word punctuated by bumps in the path that send them flying. Leo tightens his grip on the rail and contemplates putting an arm around Huw’s waist.

The helicopter is circling above them, and there’s a crackle of activity across Leo’s radio.Possible sighting of the suspect on the eastern aspect. The noise of the blades pulses through the commentary.White male, dark hair – he’s just looked up and now he’s running.

‘It’s him,’ George says. ‘It has to be him.’

Current location is above the scree, approximately two hundred metres from the summit.

‘He’ll be on the ridge.’ Huw slows the quad bike and indicates up the mountain. ‘But it looks like Dave’s heading for theExposurecamp.’ He twists around to see the others. ‘That’s good, right? If Ffion’s in camp and Henry’s up there, she’s not in danger.’

‘Right,’ Leo says, because it’s what Huw wants to hear and what Leo wants to believe, but he knows it’s not as simple as that. The danger might already have happened.

Thechop chopof the helicopter comes across the radio again.Suspect is heading down, repeat heading down, still on the eastern ascent.

Sending officers towards his location now, comes the response from Control Room.

‘He’s looped back,’ Huw says. ‘He’ll be looking to come down on the horseshoe pass into the next village.’ They’re still following Dave, and now they can see the wire fence that marks the edge of theExposurecamp, and Huw twists around again. ‘What do you want to do?’

‘You find Ffion,’ George says. ‘I’ll go after Henry. How easy is this thing to drive?’

‘I’ve been using one since I was eight.’ Huw brings the bike to a standstill, the engine idling. ‘Go easy on the gas till you’re used to it, though, or you’ll end up under it.’

‘Reassuring.’

Leo jumps off the bike. The Control Room operator is orchestrating the approach of a dozen officers, with the help of footage streamed directly from the helicopter. Huw’s already running after Dave. Leo looks at George. ‘I should—’

‘Find Ffion,’ she says firmly. ‘Yes, you should.’ She throws a leg over the quad bike and presses down her foot. The bike shoots off, its front wheels off the ground, and Leo hears aFuuuckbefore it crashes back down. ‘I’m fine!’ George cries, as she bounces up the track. ‘Totally fine!’

Leo runs after Huw and Dave. He’s praying George won’t come off; partly because he doesn’t want her hurt, but mostly because he’s fairly certain he should have done some kind of risk assessment before letting a DC engage in a foot pursuit on a quad bike.

Everything seems to happen at once.

A burst of noise from the radio:twenty metres to your left; the two officers by the stile, turn ninety degrees to your right; suspect running towards you.

Leo and Huw: tearing through theExposurecamp, throwing open the abandoned bell tents, shouting Ffion’s name.

Dave: his barks even louder, even more intense.

Suspect in sight, Leo hears over the radio. Not from the helicopter, this time, but a male officer, breath laboured, boots pounding.

‘Over there!’ Huw shouts, pointing to where Dave is running in circles, barking at the peculiar structure he’s found, half buried in the ground.

The confession pod.

Zero nine with – stop resisting!George’s voice, cutting off her own update to take control of her suspect, and Leo keeps his hand on the radio as he and Huw run to the confession pod, as though by being connected he can somehow help. But she and the others don’t need his help, because when George speaks again –Zero nine with one– she’s calmer and the shouting in the background has ceased.

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