Free Shattered (Dividing Line #5) by Heather Atkinson Page A

guards and done a clean-up so no trace of the raid had been left behind. As they walked down the corridor past the bedrooms Ryan spied rumpled beds and horrible sexual paraphernalia left lying around. One room consisted of a complicated system of pulleys and chains, the manacles bloodstained. Ryan averted his gaze, feeling sick, unsure which room Rachel had been held in. He prayed it wasn’t the one with all the chains. He wondered if, to Alex, this place was a simple money-making operation or whether it represented his hatred of women because, judging by his treatment of Rachel, Beth and Martina, he did hate women. He shook himself out of his psychoanalysis. Alex was sick and depraved and this was a symptom of that.
    “What do you want to show us?” said Ryan.
    “A little further,” replied Jez.
    At first Ryan thought they were heading towards the office, but Jez bypassed it and continued on to a small room at the end of another corridor, leading away from the bedrooms, which looked to be nothing but a store cupboard. However inside it was full of electronic equipment and two chairs, one of which was occupied by a pinched-faced man with glasses and a huge domed forehead.
    Ryan frowned at the bank of monitors. “Looks like Alex was recording his clients.”
    “I’ve had Arnold here studying the footage. He’s a whiz with electronics,” said Jez. “What have you found Arnold?”
    “Take a look for yourself,” he replied, tapping at the keyboard.
    One of the monitors burst into life, the image of a flabby middle aged man with black hair, back covered in moles, yelling furiously at a cowering girl. She held her hands out before her, crying as he slapped her around the face. He paused to spit on her then dragged her to her feet and threw her face down on the bed to urinate over her, the poor girl sobbing into the mattress.
    “That’s that bloke on TV,” said Arnold. “He’s an actor in that soap opera.”
    “Is he? I don’t watch drivel like that,” said Ryan. “Rachel might know him though.”
    “Like’s to make out he’s squeaky clean, does a lot for children’s charities,” continued Arnold. “He’s always in the papers.”
    “Kids’ charities?” said Jez. “That girl must be fifteen at most. Dirty paedo bastard.”
    “Any other well known faces on here?” Ryan asked Arnold.
    “Just one. I don’t know who he is, but you might.”
    “Why does that face look familiar?” said Jez, frowning at the screen.
    “It’s Harvey Pallister,” replied Ryan. “He’s a TV journalist and broadcaster.”
    “Looks like Alex had himself a little blackmail operation on the side,” said Jez.
    “The rest of the footage was recently wiped. I think it was being saved onto another system then deleted from here,” said Arnold.
    “The question is,” interjected Ryan, “who else does he have compromising footage of?”
    “I think we ought to find out,” said Jez. “Arnold, can you get anything else off here?”
    “It was a professional job. It was probably wiped every day.”
    “Fits in with Alex’s paranoid personality,” said Ryan.
    “But I can have a look,” continued Arnold. “I’ve not found a system yet that can beat me.”
    Half an hour later Arnold and his paraphernalia had cleared out and the downstairs rooms had been saturated with accelerant. As the flames ignited behind Ryan he walked away, a smile curling his lips, feeling like he’d finally done something to avenge Rachel.
     
    “Hello gentleman, after a little afternoon entertainment?” said Orlov, who ran the brothel for Vladimir. He was delighted to see three obviously prosperous men enter his establishment. His clientele were usually less than savoury.
    Ryan, Jez and Riley had all changed into expensive suits before coming here, Riley borrowing one of Ryan’s, making them look even more like twins. Jez hated the fact that this made him jealous.
    As they had prearranged, it was left to Jez to do the talking. Ryan didn’t