The Lipstick Killers

so.’
    Margaret smiled, lifted the gun she was holding and shot Trent in the thigh. His leg spouted blood and he cried out as much as in surprise as pain. Losing his grip on Frankie he fell to the floor. ‘That’s for our sister,’ said Margaret. ‘If it wasn’t for you and this lot she’d still be alive, and so would Monty.’
    The other man hauled his gun round, but Roxie fired too – and she was quicker. The heavy slug hit him in the upper body and he spun round and fell beside Trent. Frankie screamed and held her ears. ‘Come on Frankie,’ said Margaret. ‘Keep it together.’
    ‘Well, that’s torn it,’ said Roxie, her gun on Saint Cyr, who surveyed the scene, visibly shaking as Haywood rose up from his chair. ‘Sit down,’ ordered Margaret. ‘I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if necessary.
    ‘My men,’ said Haywood.
    ‘As if you care. Plenty more where they came from.’
    ‘That’s what worries me,’ said Roxie. ‘So, where are Peter and Susan?’ she asked Frankie.
    ‘At that safe house. I went home to get them some things and there were men waiting. They made me take them to the house. That policeman was there.’
    ‘Who?’
    ‘Mahoney. He’d come over to relieve the policewoman , but it was no good. They hit him, and then brought me here. I told them I’d give them the money if they let us all go.’
    ‘Mahoney,’ said Margaret under her breath. ‘Stupid.’
    ‘So what now?’ said Roxie.
    ‘We leave, just as we planned all along,’ said Mags.
    ‘Hopeless,’ said Haywood. ‘You’ll never make it.’
    ‘We need a diversion,’ said Margaret, and looked around, then out at the view from the penthouse. ‘Got it. Give me your gun, Roxie. And get that one on the floor, and see if Mr Trent is armed. We need all the firepower we can get.’
    Roxie did so, found another Beretta on Trent, and stuck both pistols into the pockets of her jacket.
    ‘Right,’ Margaret said to Haywood.’Get ready to go. Peter, you’re coming too.’
    Haywood shook his head and ducked as Margaret fired at the huge picture window behind his desk. One two, three shots, and the toughened glass began to splinter, then broke with a bang like a grenade going off, and the glass fell into shards down to the courtyard below. ‘Hope no one’s taking a smoke break,’ she said, as a huge gust of air from outside came through the window frame, tearing at the clothes and hair of the people inside, picking up paper from Haywood’s desk and thrusting it through the open door into the office beyond. Alarm bells began to ring through the building, and Margaret shouted to be heard above the din. ‘Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.’

80
     
     
     
    Margaret and Roxie hustled Frankie, Haywood and Saint Cyr out of the office, past Haywood’s openmouthed PA who had been pushed against the inner wall by the force of the gale that was blowing through the room to the corridor, where the lift doors stood open. ‘No point in trying to use the lift,’ said Haywood. ‘When the alarms went off, all lifts were locked.’
    ‘No problem,’ said Margaret. ‘We’ll take the stairs.’
    ‘I can’t hurry, I’ve got a heart condition,’ he said.
    ‘It’ll be worse if I put a bullet in it. Just get moving.’ The fire door opened easily, and they started downstairs where office workers were beginning to head down in packs. Inside the staircase the sound of the alarms were deafening. ‘One word,’ Margaret screamed in Haywood’s ear, her gun jammed in his back. ‘And I’ll kill you.’
    The journey down seemed to take an age, but eventually they arrived at the back of the building without being detected. The car park was beginning to fill up with staff from the building who were milling about. ‘Get to the Lexus,’ said Margaret above the din of the alarms. They ran across the car park, and piled into Saint Cyr’s Lexus; Haywood, Saint Cyr and Roxie in the back, and Frankie in the front passenger seat. Margaret fired the car up and she sped towards the exit, hand on the horn, scattering pedestrians as they went.
    The barrier was down and Charlie was blocking the road as an overhead metal gate began to descend. Margaret aimed the car at the ramp, the barrier smashed over the top of the car, Charlie dived for safety and the gate just caught the top of the Lexus with a screech of metal – but they were through. Margaret gunned the motor onto the main road, sideswiped a bendy bus, spun back onto