Terror Girls - Part 1

[Macchiarulo]

The shopkeeper cowered as Stacy Quinn aimed the shotgun at him. An excited smile appeared on her face when he began pleading not to be hurt.
She teased him by beginning to lower the shotgun, before firing it at him point black. The back of his head exploded, showering the wall with blood.
Grabbing the rest of the cash from the register, she strolled outside and jumped into the back of a yellow van. There was no remorse in her voice when she tapped the driver's shoulder, "Go."
The approaching police sirens made her glance out through the window. She hoped it wouldn't be too long before she got to have some more fun.

Kicking the small piles of garbage on the walkway outside the row of apartments, Jennifer Costas twisted the key in the lock and opened the door. Clasping her hands over her spiked black hair, she kicked the door shut with her boot.
Her mother was standing patiently by the kitchen table when she entered. Her arms folded, she watched her daughter pull open the fridge. "The school phoned me at work, again. You've not been there nearly all week. I want to know where the hell you've been and I want to know right now, young lady."
Jennifer ignored her and took a deep gulp from an open milk bottle.
Maria Costas grabbed her daughter's arm, "Don't you turn away from me."
Pulling herself free, she appeared ready to strike her mother. "Cool out, Mum. I was hanging with Angel and the others."
She was sick to death of hearing that girl's name, "I don't like you spending time with her. She's nothing but trouble. If I find out you've been meeting with her again, you'll only be leaving this house to go to school, is that clear?"
"Whatever." Jennifer shrugged her shoulders and began to walk back toward the front door, when her mother caught up to her in the hall.
As she caught hold of her daughter's jacket, she felt something in the pocket. She couldn't believe it when she removed the small blade. "What the hell is this?"
Jennifer snatched it back, "It's mine."
For an instant, the blade remained pointed toward her mother. Then she replaced it in her pocket and walked out, slamming the door shut behind her.
Maria stood there, having to wonder whether her daughter would actually have used the blade.

The sun was set by the time Jennifer entered the loading yard behind the old warehouse. She slapped her hands against the palms of some of the other girls leaning against the van used in the earlier hold-up.
Angel was just beyond the large doors, Stacy at her side as they went through a mass of jewellery.
Joining them, Jennifer began shifting through the loot. "Awesome."
Stacy repeated the gesture of killing the shopkeeper, the thrill of it still evident on her beaming face. "It was great. I love it where they're scared."
Revealing a butterfly tattoo on her left shoulder as she turned, Angel finished counting the money. "A couple of thousand pounds, give or take a few hundred. Good job, Stacy."
Jennifer glanced at both Angel and Stacy ecstatically, "That's our best score yet."
The scraping of the wooden gate against the concrete yard made her look back out. She watched a car pulling inside and Angel leap to greet Adrian. He looked so hot, with his goatee and everything.
Adrian glanced at Angel as he walked past her, "I heard about your little escapade earlier today. Was it necessary to kill that man?"
Stacy was ecstatic about the slaughter, "It turned me on, Adrian."
He reached the table and gave the jewellery a quick once over, "Is it all here?"
Jennifer noticed how much Angel appeared hurt that Adrian didn't seem to trust her.
Removing a small case from the limousine, Adrian placed it on the table. "Four thousand should cover this little lot." About to leave, he stopped and looked back at Stacy. He decided that the way she liked killing had potential, "And another five hundred for this young lady's services."
A tremor of nervousness entered Stacy's voice. The other girls Adrian hired never came back. "I'm not sure about this."
Angel was at her side in an instant, "Unless you want to go back to your mother, you have to earn money for us and it's not like you're a virgin. This is five hundred pounds and half is yours. And you will possibly be given a position within Adrian's organisation."
As Stacy disappeared behind the dark glass of the limousine, Adrian lashed out and grabbed Angel's long brown hair. "I'll take good care of her."
Still in the background, Jennifer watched him release Angel and collect the jewellery. She caught a final glimpse of Stacy sat on the backseat of the limousine, before he climbed in and closed the door.
Turning away from the limousine pulling out of the yard, a smile appeared on Angel's face. "Party time."

The limousine disappeared into an underground car park near a small lighthouse. Adrian was the first to emerge, then Stacy.
She still felt uneasy about this. All her friends knew about her passion for screwing, but she had never done it for money before.
As if sensing how nervous she was feeling, Adrian took her arm and escorted her to a room which she figured must be underneath the lighthouse. It was quite bare apart from the roughly made bed tucked away in the corner.
Stacy thought the room looked too much like a prison cell she had seen watching 'The Bill.'
The door slammed shut behind her and she heard a massive bolt being shoved into place. She panicked, beginning to hammer relentlessly on the metal.

[Macchiarulo]

She was still feeling the effects from the booze when she reached the steps of the apartment block. Almost at the front door, she stopped as her mother opened it. The sight of her so pissed off actually made Jennifer smile.
Maria forced her inside and slammed the door shut, "It's nearly five in the morning. I've been worried sick."
She just shrugged, "So what?"
"So what? Is that all you've got to say?" Maria focused on her daughter's face, "You're only fifteen years old."
Jennifer's fingers encircled the blade in her pocket, "I'm not a little girl." Then she stormed into her bedroom, slamming the door as hard as she could.
Her hand hovered over the door handle. Maria thought about going inside to continue the conversation and stopped. She decided it'll best to let her daughter sleep it all off and continue the talk first thing in the morning.

Detective Inspector Philip Reese emerged from his black land rover. He was dressed like all the other detectives on site in a plain grey suit. Passing two officers stood at the gate of a construction site, he walked casually to the officers stood by a large sheet covering part of the ground.
He promptly knelt down and lifted the sheet.
The girl's body had been stripped naked and dumped. What was left her looked like it had been ripped apart by some kind of wild animal, right here in the middle of Manchester.
"Has she been identified yet?"
Detective Sergeant Sharon Granger shook her head. "There's an indication that she's a suspect in the robbery of that jewellery store yesterday. Looks she and her friends might have had a falling out."
Reese remained silent. He knew full well that this wasn't do by people who could be described as remotely human, but the truth was something that had to remain hidden whenever possible. "Make sure Doctor Thorne performs the autopsy as soon as possible."
As he replaced the sheet over Stacy's mutilated features, Reese glanced at Sharon. He was satisfied that she didn't suspect a thing.

The woman was almost invisible, her dark skin making her blend in with the shadows of the closed down amusement park.
Reese closed the door of his car and approached her. Glancing back to make sure no one was watching, he looked back at her and noticed the bulge of a handgun under her jacket. "There's only been one victim, so far."
Linda Stanton nodded, "There will be others. The police report indicates that the victim was part of a local street gang, it'll be a suitable cover for the moment."
The memory of seeing the eaten flesh made him shudder, "I know I'm only supposed to be an observer and report any suspicious events, but I want to look into this personally. This street gang is suspected of committing a dozen robberies during the last month and two killings."
Clearly expecting the request, she nodded quickly. "I'll leave you to it then. I'll report back to Alex and inform him that the investigation is underway."
He turned away, letting her walk into the darkness without another word. Then he wondered where he was going to begin.

Maria dressed quickly for work, made her bed and then turned her attention to getting her daughter up for school. She didn't waste time knocking on the door.
She stood there, glaring from the open doorway.
The bed was empty, the covers still arranged neatly to suggest that Jennifer hadn't even used it. Then she saw the open window.

Reese noticed the concern on Sharon's face as she entered the office.
"What's happened?"
She gave him the bad news, "I've heard from Doctor Thorne. The girl's body never got to him. We're still looking for the people who were transporting her. But on the plus side, we have made a positive i.d. Her name is Stacy Quinn, she's a runaway. Her family have been looking for her for a couple of years now."
Knowing that her family had been searching for her for so long didn't make the truth any easier to take. He began going over everything Sharon had dug up about the girl, trying to come up with a way to advance the investigation. "I want a full list of everyone in this gang that we know about. One of them might help us catch this monster."
The last word puzzled her, "Monster?"
He realised he had said too much and tried covering himself as best he could, "What else would you call him."

Jennifer rose from the small bed that Angel was allowing her to use. She saw Adrian's limousine when she reached the window overlooking the yard. Adrian himself was standing by the gate, talking with Angel and Lisa, a girl who had just joined the gang after getting kicked out of school for trying to sell drugs.
She hurried out, ready to ask about Stacy.
The limousine was leaving when she emerged from the warehouse and there was just Angel standing by the gate, ready to close it.
Jennifer looked around the empty yard, "Where's Lisa?"
Shoving a couple of hundred pounds into her jacket pocket, Angel smiled. "She's working for Adrian now. Don't worry, honey. Your turn will come."
She was still worried, "What about Stacy? She's not been back yet."
"There is no need to concern yourself about Stacy. Adrian will take good care of her. He'll take care of all of us sooner or later." Angel decided it was time to step up Jennifer's involvement in the gang, "I've got a small job for you, Jen. There's this old man who refuses to pay us for protection. Make an example of him." She removed an Uzi from a case on the table and handed it to Jennifer.

[Macchiarulo]

The Uzi was pressing into her ribs as she entered the restaurant. She glanced quickly at the man standing behind the counter and passed him, continuing to the toilets.
With deliberate slowness, she took out the weapon and looked at it. Then she vomited. It took her a few minutes to get enough nerve to do what she had been told. Grabbing the Uzi, she emerged from the bathroom and scanned the restaurant. There was only one couple at any of the tables. Her gaze returned to the man behind the counter and she rushed forward, not giving herself time to think.
The man remained motionless as she thrust the Uzi into his face, "I don't believe you really want to do this."
She fired and she watched him fall.
Afraid that she may have killed him, she advanced to the counter. She was grabbed from behind by the couple as the man stood up and disarmed her.
He instructed the couple to release her. Once she was free, he offered her the chance to take back the Uzi. "I'm Philip Reese. I won't try to stop you leaving, but I would hate to see you end up like Stacy Quinn."
It took her a minute to take in what he had said. Then she turned away, hiding her face as she began crying.
Motioning the couple to leave, Reese walked round to face her. There had to something she knew that would help find this monster. "Her body was found early this morning. We have reason to suspect that she was murdered."
She thought about revenge. The first thing she learnt that she joined Angel's gang was that they looked after each other. "Who did it?"
"We don't have any suspects yet." Reese had been hoping for a lot more, "Is there anything you know that might help catch this maniac?"
"Angel gave Stacy to her..." Jennifer stopped abruptly, afraid to implicate her friends.
He sat at one of the tables, "Listen, I don't want to sound like I'm ganging up on you, but if this guy is what I think he is. Then by keeping silent, you could be causing the deaths of your friends."
Jennifer broke down, more tears soaking her face as she nodded. "Adrian. He's Angel's fence. Everything we get, she sells to him."
There was just one last piece of information he needed, "And his last name?"
She shook her head, "I don't know. Angel never told any of us."
Reese smiled, "Okay. You can go."
It surprised her that he was letting her go, she had been sure he was a cop. "You're not going to arrest me?"
"No. If you need to talk to someone you can trust, call me." Reese scribbled his telephone number on a slip of paper, "That's my private number." He once more offered her the Uzi, "Tell your friends that you killed Mr Thomas, I'll arrange for it to appear like you're telling the truth."
After she had gone, Reese headed into the back room and up the stairs. Stopping by a sealed metal door, he typed in a long code on a small panel. He was inside as soon as the door opened.
Ignoring the mass of weapons all around him, he watched Linda emerging from the small office. "I suppose you heard all that?"
She nodded, "What's your next step?"
Reese thought about it for a minute, knowing that he also had to keep the rest of the police from getting too close to the truth. "I was hoping the girl will help us." He smiled, thinking about the irony of how easy this had been. It had been a lucky break that the gang had been extorting money from one of the Trust safe houses for the last few months.

Her fingers trembled as she still held the Uzi, Jennifer entered the warehouse. She carefully placed the weapon on a table, ignoring Angel and several girls partying on the other side of the room.
Angel approached her the instant she saw that she was back, "Is it done? Is that bastard dead?"
Jennifer nodded without saying a word. The next thing Angel said made her feel scared.
"You may be ready sooner than I thought."

Reese descended into the bowels of the police station. Entering a small room full of computers, he approached a dark haired woman sat at a desk.
He smiled, "Mel, I need a list of every fence with the first or last name of Adrian."
Melissa Pike nodded, "I'll get on with it as soon as I can." As soon as he was out the door, her skin began to blister.

He turned from the view of Liverpool and leaned against the railing of his balcony as he heard the front door opening.
Melissa closed the door behind her, "We may have a problem."
Returning inside, Adrian gave her a long drawn out kiss, his hands sliding over her body. "What could possibly be wrong? We have a steady supply of victims coming from the various gangs around this wonderful country. That is more than adequate to fulfil our hunger and to increase our numbers."
She shook her head, "One of the detectives at the station has requested details on your background. I won't be able to delay him for long."
Adrian didn't consider a routine police officer to be much of a threat, "So we kill him."