Chapter 21 Reiver: Retribution

The wolf that one hears is worse

than the orc that one fears.

J.R.R. Tolkien.

By the time Hugh had bought the wine, the police were speeding towards the industrial estate. The caller hadn’t been specific about which building the shots had come from so it took another couple of hours to find the bodies. The horrific scene they discovered had made even experienced police officers retreat outside, some of them were left retching as they gasped for air. Paramedics went in to check for signs of life but not one officer who had witnessed that scene had any hope of either of the men being alive, so the shock was palpable when a paramedic dashed out of the building, grabbed a stretcher out of the ambulance and screamed the officers to help her to carry it up the steps.

Unbelievably one of the victims was clinging to life, his pulse was weak but it was there. The paramedics worked on him for a long time trying to stem the bleeding, they hooked him up to fluids and gave him a blood transfusion