A Kink in the Tail

Chapter 19 - Cyrus to the rescue.

Cyrus was pissed off that he wasn't allowed to stay once he returned Fischer to his friends. The guy was in a bad state and he understood he needed urgent medical attention but they could have at least given him a clue about what was going on. Instead, he'd been shooed away, Lewis once again telling him to close the case. Cyrus pointed out that if he had listened to him the first time Fischer would still be with those sadistic bastards.  

He drove home telling himself he did all he could. But later as he ate supper, in the shower, in bed, the image of Fischer when he walked into the apartment flashed across his mind, bringing with it a fresh wave of nausea.

One of his father's repetitious complaints was that he didn't listen to anyone and never accepted good advice when it was offered.  So why start now he thought to himself as he sat in his car in front of the hotel.  He'd managed a few hours of sleep, something to eat, written up the official end-of-case report and sent it off to head office.   He was on his own time now, until the next job came along.  It wasn't the right time to let go of this.

So he was back to watching.  Cyrus liked to know the back story of everything and everyone and he found this particular group of people fascinating.   He'd prepared for a long wait, in the back seat was an esky with drinks and sandwiches, a thermos of strong coffee, and a couple of glass jars for when nature calls.

It was the image of Fischer that was driving his determination to get to the bottom of this situation and if possible, to get some justice for him. There was some part of his nature that was always tilting at windmills.

What had been done to Fischer was barbaric. When he first saw him tied to the chair, slumped over like a rag doll, he'd thought he was dead. From what he could make out they had used acid or some kind of corrosive chemical on him. It was the worst thing he'd ever seen. The smell of his bubbling flesh was enough to make him throw up. Which he did, in the car, on the street outside the hotel, he lost count. Cyrus was sure he would never get that smell out of his nose.

He'd gotten Fischer out of the building with only seconds to spare. He would have loved to have seen the faces of the men when they returned to the apartment and found him gone. Although, they may not have had the chance to do that. It was bedlam once their car was ablaze and smoke started bellowing out of a couple of windows on the top floor. The screech of sirens as the firetrucks and a police car arrived added the final touch. Chaos was exactly the effect he was hoping for.

There were easy bits to his plan, like breaking into Flat 4, across the hall from where Fischer was being held. A simple lock pick and he was inside in no time. Creating a smoldering fire with lots of smoke and little flame in one of the bedrooms was easy as well, but the timing of that had to be just right. In the end, it worked out well setting off the alarm within the building and remotely at the local fire and police stations in one go. Cyrus loved it when all the elements of a plan came together.

Residents dressed in their jammies huddled together on the street, while the police blocked off the entrance to the building. The villains must have been shitting themselves realising that the fireman would eventually find Fischer tied up and tortured. Cyrus guessed they may have done a runner when the police arrived, didn't know, didn't care.

It was all about timing and being methodical. Before he set to work in the flat he'd already broken into the men's rented car. That was easy too, they couldn't have parked it in a better spot. It was conveniently parked in front of the apartment building. Inside the car he used a trick one of the older agents at the company taught him. It was all very McGuiver, tealights, ice cream sticks, blue tack, ignition cables, a car battery and rolls of paper towels. It was fiddly and took forever to put together mainly because he had to waste time stealing a car battery from another car further down the road, the end justifies the Means is one of Cyrus's favourite mottos and he used it a lot to cover all sorts of questionable things that he did.