Better the Devil

by Solomon Carter

  “You stupid crazy…”

  Maybe they had time, maybe they didn’t. Dan and Jess ran for the narrow road by the church, knowing maybe the motorcyclist could see them. They were across the road fast. Jess ducked behind the black Jag while Dan peered up through the glass.

  “He’s looking this way, but I think he didn’t see where we got to.”

  Jess risked a peek. She looked up and saw the same thing. The motorcyclist was looking left and right, but mostly he stared straight down their little lane. Each time he looked her way, Jess felt the guy was looking straight at them. She could see the guy’s gut feelings were telling him they went down the side street. His coloured leather jacket was baggy, the sleeves long. She saw the glint of the gun barrel peering just over the edge of the sleeve and her breath stopped altogether.

  “I see it too.”

  Then the motorcyclist turned away. A moment later, they heard the motorbike roar into life and heard it speed away.

  “We got away with it.”

  “We got away with nothing. The biker knew we were here. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself or waste time by shooting at us.”

  “What?”

  “His behaviour just told us everything we need to know. The house is empty. If not, he would have shot it to pieces by now.” Dan stood up without fear of a bullet. The biker was gone. He turned and looked at Jess with eyes as wild and severe as she could ever remember. She almost wished Simon was there to defend her.

  “Where is she, Jess? She’s in danger. Serious danger and the clock is ticking. If Maggie Gillespie doesn’t get her first, that biker will kill them both.”

  The sense of guilt and panic returned. Jess opened the car door, leaned in and grabbed her phone from her bag. Her hands were shaking when she opened the screen and scrambled to read it.

  “Oh, Dan. I’m sorry.”

  “What?” he shouted.

  “Eva went to the Galvan’s house earlier on to fix an arrangement to protect Maggie.”

  Dan’s face went into a wild rage. The muscles on his neck went into hard cables and lines beneath the skin. His face was red. Half a second later he turned and kicked the wall beside him, and then he did it again. A moment later he looked at Jess, calmer.

  “Get in and buckle up because we’re going to have to drive fast.”

  Jess wiped a tear away from her eye. The tear wasn’t for show. It wasn’t for Dan. The tear was for Eva because so much time had been wasted, Jess was worried it was too late.

  There was no point in saying sorry any more. No point at all.

  Twenty-five

  The roads were still busy from the rush hour, but Dan knew the rat runs and the side streets. They made it to the steep hill with the beautiful view overlooking the Estuary inside ten minutes. Dan parked the car back up the side street. “When we approach, you have to be careful now. The biker may be here. If we’re lucky he’ll be at another Galvan property looking for them. If we’re not then he’ll be here before us. We have to see him first.” “Then what?”

  “Then this, if we’re lucky.” Dan opened his grey raincoat and gave her a flash of metal which Jess knew to be a gun. It didn’t make her feel much better, but it gave them a chance. “Then there’s your boyfriend with the beard.”

  “He hasn’t got a beard and he’s not my boyfriend.”

  “Whatever. He threatened to be on the scene too. If he’s just some fool, then he’ll have forgotten all about this by now and moved on to his next little pipe dream.”

  Jess knew him better. Dan looked at Jess, assessing her reaction. “But he’s smarter than that, isn’t he? Chances are he’s smarter than you too. If he is, he’ll be here somewhere. You say he wants to be a hero, right? Heroes don’t hide and stalk. They do what has to be done.”

  “He’s really not so different to you, Dan.”

  “Keep telling yourself that. From what I’ve read and seen, this guy is a fruitcake. He’ probably spend his whole life spinning nun-chucks and watching Bruce Lee films. Those kind of people are dangerous because they believe they’re tough. Then it all comes down around their ears while they’re busy striking poses.”

  Jess said nothing. Dan was in the mood to punish her, and right now she guessed she deserved to take it.

  “I’ve got no idea how much time we have. Maggie could go psycho on Eva, or the biker could turn up at any time. I need you to help out in this. You owe Eva now. You owe her big time. I want you to listen. Be very careful, and go round the front. If you see any threat, any kind of threat, let me know. Text me three or four words. I will respond. I’m going to check the back way. We need to locate Maggie, and any of the Galvans and their staff. Spot them and we can control the risks. If you see Eva in any of the windows, let me know too. If you see the biker, or your boyfriend, you let me know and get the hell of out there. There are so many permutations here, this one could go off like the OK Corral.”

  “Okay.”

  “Jess?”

  She looked at him, reluctantly engaging his wild dark eyes.

  “Don’t you dare let me down.”

  She nodded and walked down the slope towards the front of the house. In front of her and beyond the steep green across the road the Estuary was dark. There was no reflection on it tonight. It looked like a void. Jess turned the corner, looking carefully into the traffic ahead, and at the possible hiding places along the road. She was so focussed on the remote dangers, she almost missed the obvious. The thin man up ahead was nothing like the biker, so she dismissed him. But when the car lights behind her passed over him, he was no longer a silhouette, she saw him immediately. It was him - Simon - and he was walking along towards the house. He was ahead of her. Suddenly, she was caught. Simon had his back to her, he hadn’t seen her. She had the chance to run and call his name, or to text Dan. There was a split second, literally a moment of limbo before she made the choice. She pulled her phone from her pocket and dabbed her thumb quickly at the keypad on the screen.

  Dan had pulled himself up on the thick painted concrete wall of the back garden. Pieces of broken terracotta tile had been embedded into the wall, is if they made a deterrent to rogue wall climbers. Of course, they didn’t do much at all. Dan used his arm strength to pull his head up over the wall, and then when he decided there were no instant threats to his head, he pushed up harder, so almost his whole torso was over the height of the wall. He looked across a big wide garden with rattan furniture, a hot tub and a marquee tent in the middle of it. Past that he looked at all the lit windows upstairs and down, and for the first time Dan noticed just how nice the Galvan residence was. Apparently crime did pay, even for showboating idiots like the Galvans. There. In the downstairs left window he could make out two people talking. They were sitting in big chairs in a lit room, a living room. He strained his eyes and made out a tall feminine shape with long pins in tights. It had to be Maggie G. The other one was a man with a youthful and arrogant expression and slicked back hair. Galvan’s son, gangster junior. It had to be.

  Dan scanned the other rooms. He couldn’t see Eva. Not yet. And just then, Dan’s phone buzzed. When he read it, an alarm went off inside his head. This was going to go down quickly, and without immediate action, this was going to go down badly too.

  Jess needed to create a delay. “Simon! Simon.”

  The man was by the front gate. He turned into it, and mounted the first step up towards the house.

  “That’s not my name, remember?” He climbed another step, and now his hands were around his hat, unfurling it, pulling it down over his ears.

  “How did you find this place?”

  “Scum attracts scum, like unto like. Who else would dare take on Bad Boy Brian? You need a Galvan sized ego for that.”

  “Simon…”

  “Stay out of this, and out of the way.”

  “Simon?” he looked back. He was the masked man now. He didn’t say a word. “Just make sure Eva comes out of this alive.”

  He turned away
without response and walked up the steps of the house and arrived at the front door.

  Dan heaved himself over the wall. He was in the garden. So far no vicious hounds or musclebound security to throw him back across. He landed squarely on his feet and took in the surroundings as quickly as he could. He skipped along to the marquee, hoping to use its white bulk as a hide. He walked along to the front edge of the flapping white tent, and peered carefully at the whole face of the house. It was a wide building. There were windows set into the roof tiles. Chances were a place like this would have a wine cellar too. For people like the Galvans, pretentious and foolish, a wine cellar was near compulsory. A house like this had to have plenty of rooms. And because they were gangsters, they would have some back-up around, and the back-up would be armed. It was going to be an interesting evening. He needed to be quick, and in sizing up the house he had just spent at least ten more seconds. He peered at the other back rooms harder, looking for more people, and hopefully Eva. No sign of Eva, but he saw some movement by the central back door. Dan ducked back as the door shook a little and an outside light came on. A fat suited bald guy with a doughnut beard came out and sparked a cigarette. He was talking to another guy who lingered just inside the doorway. Great, just great. They were blocking the whole way in. Dan started to move anyway. The wind was getting stronger, and he knew it would distract them.

  “…she doesn’t look like a dyke, does she?”

  “No. I’d risk a slap to test the theory.”

  They were talking about Maggie of course. It was just stupid banter. These idiots had no idea how wild and dangerous she was. She would garrotte idiots like these and eat their remains for breakfast. Maggie’s looks were deceiving, but not to Dan. He saw the evil in her eyes. Dan kept low to the side wall in the darkening day. He huddled low and moved silently out of the vision of the suited gang boys. They were too busy fantasising, too busy feeling safe to notice him. If only Eva wasn’t in danger, this would have been easy. His heartbeat was racing now, as he got closer to the action, closer to the moment of truth. He was crouching and moving at the same time now, keeping below the line of the windows at the back of the house. He stuck his hand into his pocket, and pulled out the pistol. It was going to be noisy, so he hoped not to use it. As soon as he pulled the trigger on this thing, the curtain would fall – the police would be dispatched within minutes. He took a breath. The one on the right in the doorway looked bulky and strong. The doughnut beard looked like muscle dipped in fat. He’d lost whatever threat he once had. Dan would take him first. One more breath, and Dan would be ready to launch. He got the power down low into his ankles, feet and knees ready to spring forward. In the half second just before he launched the sound of a loud door chime filled the air, coming from the darkness beyond the muscle in the doorway. Dan swore under his breath. The dumbbells looked at each other for a second before doughnut dropped his cigarette. The moved inside and left the door hanging open an inch.

  “Thank you Mr Doughnut,” said Dan. That would be Jess’s boyfriend at the front door. Game on. Dan was going to beat him to it, every time. Dan moved into the house through a long tiled kitchen and past the long oak table. The dumbbells had gone out through a doorway on the left of the kitchen straight towards the front door. Dan tracked another exit on the right. He held low and out of sight, and the crouching was already hurting his back. He needed to be the quickest – he had to be the quickest. Carefully, he pushed the door and came out into a long strip of hallway between the rooms. He saw the dumbbells by the other end of the kitchen. Their guns were drawn. Dan heard more feet and saw the slick haired shape of Alexander Galvan, the pretender to the old idiot’s throne appear. He looked wired full of adrenaline.

  “We’re not expecting visitors, and we don’t want any visitors, do you get me?”

  They nodded.

  “Have you looked yet?”

  “Professionals shoot through spy holes, Alex,” said the doughnut beard. Dan pressed himself against the wall, listening, and at the same time he looked around. Nearby there was a door which could have been a toilet door or could have led down into the basement. For some reason Dan felt basement, but that was no place to stash a beauty like Eva. He thought about Alexander Galvan. He would respect the girl’s beauty. He wouldn’t throw her in the basement. No, he’d stash her upstairs for later… Dan looked down the hall in the dim light and saw the beginning of a staircase and a long sweeping bannister.

  “Someone needs to check. If that’s the motorcycle hitman I want you to guard the front of the house and call in some extra help immediately. Someone needs to check right now.”

  The tough guy tutted. “I’ll check it.” Dan took the opportunity and moved swiftly on up the stairs. Dan knew Alex Galvan would retreat before the door was opened. Now he wondered what he would learn about this masked man he’d read about in the press. He was almost at the top of the stairs when he heard the entrance.

  “Who the fuck are you, dickhead?”

  The aggravation turned into sounds of pain, guttural pain, and the noise of violence. Thudding, and the sound of bones crunching. No gunshot sounded. The violence lasted maybe twenty or thirty seconds before the other shouting started. Now he heard Galvan shouting, and doors slamming. He needed to find Eva to prepare for what came next. Dan was acutely aware of another threat beyond the masked man downstairs. The chaos, the open doors left everyone vulnerable to an unexpected attack from the hitman.

  Jess watched the masked man as the door was opened. She saw the big men in suits look at him with derision and for a split second she almost agreed with them. Simon was miniscule in comparison to them, and they were armed. But as soon as they mocked him, the masked man replied with fists and feet. The masked man filled the doorway with scything punches and kicks. Every blow connected. He levelled them flat in no time at all, and then he was inside. Next, a younger slimmer man with slick hair in a suit appeared shouting at him, but keeping well back at the same time. The masked man darted forward, and pulled a pistol from his hand before he could use it. She saw him shove the man away. Lastly, the masked man turned around, looked out into the evening and his eyes met hers. He nodded at the road telling Jess to go. Without another gesture, he rolled the two heavies out of the way with a kick, and slammed the front door behind him.

  A house as big and wide as the Galvan residence has a special kind of layout. Special houses always did. In the sitting room a fake holographic log fire had been comforting Maggie and Alexander Galvan. Maggie was no longer comfortable or happy anymore.

  “What the hell is going on?” she demanded. “You’re supposed to keep me safe. If you can’t keep me safe from Brian’s horrible little band, then what bloody use are you to me?”

  “Watch your mouth, Maggie. I mean it. If that was a professional hit, we’d already be picking your brains out of the carpet.”

  Maggie looked at him, her mouth wide open. .

  “Who is it then?”

  “I don’t know. A guy in a mask.”

  Maggie’s face changed. “The vigilante. You’ve read about him, haven’t you?”

  “He’s here? What the hell for?”

  Maggie’s face changed again, from shock to understanding, and then anger.

  “He’s not come for me. He’s come to take Eva Roberts.”

  Maggie surged towards the door behind Alex Galvan.

  “Maggie. Stop. He’s armed and he just put my two best men down in a mess.”

  “Those are your best? My God, you Galvans are worse than I thought. Whatever payment you thought you were getting, divide it by five. You Galvans haven’t got a clue.”

  “You’ll pay in full, Maggie. Mark my words.”

  “I’m marking them as bullshit.”

  Alex Galvan took a step forward with a smile on his face. Before his smile wiped, he landed a heavy fist on Maggie’s face, full force, it jerked her head back hard. Maggie laid a hand on her cheek. There was no blood, no injury. She peered down at Galvan with wild da
rk eyes.

  “You’re not getting a fucking penny you scrawny little piss bag. In fact, you’re going to pay me.”

  “Whatever. If you want me to save your girlfriend, follow me.” “You’re digging a hole, Galvan”

  “Whatever you say, Maggie. There’s another way upstairs through here. This prick is in my house. He’s messing with the wrong family.”

  Maggie rubbed her cheek. She wanted Eva alive for what she had in mind, so right now she needed Alex Galvan. But later, maybe not so much. Maggie stayed quiet as Galvan opened a side door towards the farthest end of the house. Here there was a narrow wooden staircase, a far less grand affair than the one at the other end of the house Galvan stopped at a dark wooden Ottoman case set on the floor before the stairs, bent down and opened it. He lifted up some folded red blankets, and tossed them aside. He found some others sheets and did likewise, then he said “ah-ha!” and stood up proudly holding a shining black handgun and a small plain white box of ammunition. Maggie smiled at Alex Galvan, then threw her hardest slugger’s punch straight through his little sissy jaw, sending his head careening to the right. The man dropped to his knees and spilled the gun and the bullets. He hit the ground and Maggie kicked him hard in the side of his head over and over - until he stopped moving. “Goodnight, Alex” said Maggie. She picked up the gun and loaded it with bullets until it could take no more and started up the stairs. Already there was a commotion starting at the top…