BooksBarbecue
Back The Game
Chapters (68)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. NOW
  4. One
  5. BEFORE
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. NOW
  26. Twenty-One
  27. BEFORE
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. NOW
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. BEFORE
  48. Forty
  49. Forty-One
  50. Forty-Two
  51. Forty-three
  52. Forty-Four
  53. Forty-Five
  54. Forty-Six
  55. Forty-Seven
  56. Forty-Eight
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. NOW
  61. Fifty-Two
  62. Fifty-Three
  63. Fifty-Four
  64. Fifty-Five
  65. AFTER
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Acknowledgements
  68. About the Author

‘YOU WILL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEM ALL. EVERY SINGLE ONE. YOU WILL ADMIT TO KILLING THEM ALL YOURSELF. THAT IS THE FIRST LEVEL.’

‘You’re crazy if you think this’ll work,’ Mark said, but he was already turning it over in his mind. Seeing how it would stick. Whether he could pull it off.

How far he was willing to go.

‘IT WILL WORK IF YOU WANT NATASHA TO LIVE. THAT IS THE GAME. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO PLAY, I WILL END IT ALL NOW AND SHE WILL DIE. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?’

‘I can’t do this…’

‘IS THAT YOUR DECISION?’

‘No,’ Mark said, loud enough that his voice echoed into the darkness. The wind seemed to pick up at the sound of it; whipping up around him once more to provide its own noise in response to his. ‘You want me to take the blame? That’s not going to work.’

‘YOU ARE A DETECTIVE. YOU WILL FIGURE THAT OUT, I AM SURE. THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.’

Mark heard the robotic voice list the names, over and over, repeated them back when asked. He knew three of them fine.

Joanna Carter, Emily Burns, Holly Edwards.

It took a few more minutes before he could repeat the other five back to the voice without pausing. They would disappear quickly, he imagined, if he didn’t keep turning them over in his mind.

The methods of death took a little longer.

Thankfully, most of the deaths had been quite similar. Joanna Carter’s death had not been the first to be framed as a suicide. Similarly, it seemed Emily Burns had been destined to bleed to death in that yard. Mark wondered for a second what had transpired. How she had fought for her life.

He shook the thought from his head and tried to concentrate on the information being recited to him.

Mark wanted to run. Tell someone what was going on. The loss of control angered and scared him.

He was going to take responsibility for it all, probably so the real killer could make his escape. Even if they didn’t believe him, his career would be over. And he would be shouting into the wind, while he was trying to tell them the truth. His life would be over.

He wasn’t coming back from this.

Mark couldn’t think of another way out.

‘ONE MORE TIME.’

‘Steven Hallet, hammer to back of his head.’

His first kill, but his first mistake. It obviously hadn’t looked like suicide, so Mark imagined the death was still unexplained. ‘M6, near the junction thirty-two services, grass verge.’

‘GOOD. NEXT.’

Mark went through them all in turn, only pausing on one or two before finding the right answer. When he had them all down, he tried to talk again. ‘You have to know this won’t work. They’ll work out who I am and it all ends, do you understand?’

‘NOT MY PROBLEM.’