Altered Egos Read Online Free Page A

phone.’
    Hirst nodded. ‘Thank you, Mr Nash. I might just take you up on that.’ He glanced at Sonya. ‘We’re in the minority, the three of us. People who truly understand, I mean.’
    ‘I’ll see you out, Mike.’ Sonya guided Nash from the room. ‘That was kind of you,’ she told him as they paused by the front door. ‘And it took a lot of courage, telling us your story. I could see that. This girl of yours, Stella, she must have been something special.’
    She opened the door. ‘Take care, Mike. And that offer you made to Steve, the same goes the other way.’ She smiled, entrancingly, Nash thought. ‘I mean, if you need to talk things over at any time. Or just feel in need of company, you know where I am. I rarely go far. I’ve three reasons for that,’ she laughed. ‘And the kettle only takes a couple of minutes to boil. It’s like Steve said. Those of us who’ve been through it, we need to stick together.’
    Nash smiled as they shook hands. ‘Thank you. I might just take you up on that.’
    She watched him walk back to his car. When he’d unlocked the door he turned and waved. She returned the gesture and walked back into the lounge, her expression thoughtful. ‘He’s nice, don’t you think, Steve?’
    Hirst looked up. ‘I suppose so. I mean, yes, he is; very nice. He did more than necessary. Much more than….’
    ‘I know,’ she soothed him. ‘But dwelling on that side of things won’t help.’
    ‘I don’t want help,’ his voice changed, the sadness replaced by a cold, hard anger. ‘I don’t need help and I don’t need sympathy.’
    ‘What do you need?’
    ‘I need the one thing nobody else can provide. I need the one thing I can do for myself. I need revenge. And what’s more,’ his expression changed. All the sadness was gone. In its place was a savage kind of elation. ‘I know just where to go to get it.’

chapter three
    Contrary to Nash’s fears, Christmas passed relatively peacefully. Apart from the usual crop of drink related offences, most of them dealt with by uniformed branch, there were only a couple of domestic disputes that developed into assaults. Early in the New Year when Superintendent Edwards paid him a visit, the worst he had to report was a trio of unsolved burglaries. ‘The MO’s the same in all three, so it looks as if we’ve a new kid on the block,’ Nash told her. ‘I reckon we’ve got away lightly.’
    Nash had often warned DS Mironova and DC Pearce about saying things were fine. It was, he thought, a sure way to court disaster. Unfortunately, as he spoke to Ruth, he’d forgotten that.

    The first part of any operation was always the hardest. In this case though, despite the elaborate and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, it was ludicrously easy. All he’d needed was to create a diversion. Then make his entry and exit before the enemy could react. Their set-up may have looked professional, but in practice, they were mere amateurs. Surveying the area, he soon found a way to divert attention. All he’d need was a saw, his tool kit and a ladder. And, to complete the job, a high-tech gadget he’d seen used a couple of times. To make detection harder and to avoid chance encounters that would make his equipment hard to explain, he’d bought a van; with a roof rack.
    He watched the weather forecast each evening. He’d to wait over a week before he heard the news he was waiting for. Next evening once dark had fallen, he drove out of town to the pointhe’d seen on his reconnaissance trip. He parked down a farm track and climbed over a fence and crossed the field, past a flock of heavily pregnant ewes who eyed him with mild curiosity. When he reached his objective he set to work with a massive woodman’s saw. He felt fleeting regret for the act of vandalism he was committing, but then thought of the cause. His resolution returned, stiffened.
    After a couple of hours’ hard work he judged things were as he wanted them. Now all he had to do was