by Javi Reddy
Her eyes were lit with a malicious frenzy.
“I’m so pleased that the man who let my mother give it all away is part of the show. This is my kind of reunion”
She walked over to Preega and kicked him in the ribs. He rolled around for a bit, groaning in the process. She then made her way to Amritha.
“I actually feel sorry for this one. In any event, she’s too beautiful for you. Something tells me that if she knew what she was getting herself into when she chose you, I doubt she’d have made the same decision. Hell, I think she’d have even stayed with Hercules over here.”
Thishen flexed his arms harder.
“But there will always be collateral damage. It’s an occupational hazard in this business. When she goes, so will you. Not physically, but you’ll be forced to live the rest of your years with an agony that you’ll never be able to shake. You’ll never know how to be happy again, and then, we’ll finally be even.”
Jay mumbled something. He was barely audible, even to Lalitha, who was merely feet away from his weary face. She launched herself right up to his face and slapped him with the back of her hand.
“Speak up, cretin! Say your last words to them, or I’ll put a bullet in each of their heads right now!”
Jay let the blood drip down his mouth. He slurred his words out:
“Actually, I’d like to say something. To you.”
Lalitha eyed him cautiously before she neatened her hair with her nails. “Oh, this ought to be good. Let’s hear it.”
“You think, I like playing the victim? You think I’m weak? Let me tell you something, sis, the biggest mistake you made was thinking that I would feel sorry for myself. Football, epilepsy. You can’t be weak there. I’ve been quietly working on regaining my strength and movement in my own time, while you and James weren’t around. I didn’t just sit around and mope. Not my style. Guess there are just some things you can’t take away from someone’s memory.”
He tilted his head to the side and let a little more blood drain from his mouth.
“Now, do you know why I haven’t been saying anything? Or why I bled so much when you slapped me? I’ve been keeping a little surprise for you. You want my last words? I’ll give you two. Fork up.”
He leapt forward with the chair still tied to him, with a long-lost power and spring returning to him. He jutted the tip of a tiny gold fork out of his mouth, that had been hidden at the top of his gum, and dug it into Lalitha’s left eye. As she tumbled to the ground, James had his chance to act. He ran for the blowtorch and switched it on. It kept Vinny and Thishen at bay, whilst Jay wriggled his arms free.
Jay untied his legs, then untied Amritha and his father. Vinny no longer cared that there was a blowtorch raging in front of him. He thrust a ninja star towards James, who was too slow to stop it from piercing the front side of his left shoulder. He dropped the torch and Vinny moved in and kicked James across the turf. Thishen moved forward to grab Amritha, but Jay was quicker and landed a punch on the right side of his jaw.
The colossal boy grinned at Jay whilst wiping away a thin stream of blood from his mouth. Thishen’s knuckles hurtled towards Jay’s left cheekbone. Jay rolled back with the punch, rather than clenching his face and trying to resist it. His movement softened the blow and as he shifted backwards, he gripped Thishen by the collar, as they both plummeted towards the concrete. They toiled on the ground, trying to get a dominant grip over each other. They eventually, rolled down a set of stairs.
James had become so fixated on their fight, when he turned around, all he saw was the underside of Vinny’s hand, propelling itself towards him. Vinny connected with James’ nose and the blood squirted out like ink from an open fountain pen. James plunged to the deck, yet again. A ninja-star in his shoulder and a broken nose. It was barely a contest.
“Did you think that she really loved you? Women like her don’t love men like you. They just want the money.”
He was going to kick James and crack his ribs. After that, in no particular order, he’d crush James’ windpipe with his hands, he’d jar his elbow into James’ skull, he’d spear James into the air, and when James landed, he’d have broken almost every bone in his already frail body. James knew this because it was something he’d done to his victims many a time before. Because he was… no… because he is a murderer. A cold-blooded killer.
Why run from it?
As predicted, Vinny moved in for his ribs. James pulled out the star from his shoulder and lodged it into Vinny’s foot. He leapt up and uppercut him, breaking a few teeth out in the process. Vinny regained his balance and took up a more serious stance.
He was now wary of James Tait. They circled each other slowly, wild cats waiting and prowling for the perfect moment to dig their open claws into each other. James moved first. He flung himself at Vinny and headbutted him. Vinny wobbled as James gripped his hair and landed another punch—this time on Vinny’s nose. It was just as broken as James’ was.
The blood blinded Vinny, and he pulled out a gun, seeking to plant a bullet in between James’ eyes. James moved cautiously, trying his best not to give his whereabouts away. Vinny fired a shot, which was whiskers away from taking James’ right ear off. The second shot clipped the bottom of James’ shoe and was enough to put him off balance. As James fell to the ground, Vinny heard him crash against a bunch of nearby steel pipes. He wiped the blood from his eyes and smiled the crooked Vinny De Silva smile.
As James feebly tried to make his way up, Vinny shot him in the thigh. He screamed, for all the good in the world it would do him. He was not getting up again. Vinny threw the gun aside.
“Last bullet. Never mind.”
He pulled James’ arm behind his back and whispered into his ear: “Scream again.”
James couldn’t. Even if he wanted to.
James felt the tissue in his shoulder tearing and the shoulder itself slowly popping out. Vinny leant in to enforce the pain which gave James a chance.
He bit onto Vinny’s tongue and pulled it with his teeth. He pulled like he’d never pulled before. It seemed appropriate to leave the serpent with a forked tongue. Vinny fell to the ground. “Try smiling now.”
James kicked him in the ribs, but Vinny did not murmur or move. Serpent down.
James held onto a side rail and propped himself up. He staggered downstairs using one of the metal pipes idly lying around as his newly found walking stick. Jay and Thishen were still going at it. The pattern was all too familiar in their fight. Thishen aggressively tried to make his move on Jay, who defended himself coyly. Thishen panted out to Jay:
“Do you even know where we are? This is where they kept her. They did things to her that your nightmares couldn’t even come up with. Vinny did everything to her, and when I’m finished here with you, I’m gonna keep you alive, long enough to watch me do things to her. Things I did long before you were even around.”
Jay rushed towards Thishen and it was now easy for the larger boy to grip him by the throat and place him in a headlock. His overly large biceps flexed harder than ever as he crushed Jay slowly. James tried to move towards them quickly, but his broken body could barely cover the ground. Jay thrashed about hopelessly. Soon, the oxygen would no longer travel to his brain. He took out a knife from Thishen’s belt and stuck it into Thishen’s hip. Thishen immediately loosened his grip. Jay pushed up off the floor and kicked Thishen in the groin. Thishen lay on the ground, knife in his side and holding his nether region in anguish. Groaning, he got up and this time, he had a Berretta in his hand.
“As Vinny would say: ‘it doesn’t matter how you win—as long as you win.’”
He cocked the gun and pointed it at Jay. James threw himself on top of Thishen and did what came naturally to him. He snapped the boy’s neck from behind. He had heard that sound far too many times in prison, every time he took a life of those who had threatened his own. This was him—the monster, the darkness. This was James Tait.
Thishen collapsed, the life drained from
his body. Jay rushed over to help James up. “We need to get this bullet out. Your thigh will get infected.”
“There’s a good medic in prison. He saved a lot of men that I tried to kill.”
“You’re not going to prison. Things are different now.”
James looked at Thishen.
“No, lad. They’re not.”
The deafening shrills of police sirens grew closer to the building. The sun was now fully out, trying to make its way through odd crevices in this dreadful domain.
“I can help you escape if you want. We can sneak you out the back. I’ll explain everything to the police. This building holds more than enough evidence against Layla and Vinny.”
“Don’t bother. I called the boys in blue before I came here.”
“What? Why? You’re giving up your freedom!”
“I kill, that’s who I am. I could turn on you one day.”
“You’d never do that.”
“I’d rather not stick around to find out that you’re wrong.”
“I know a part of you was real. Layla or no Layla experiment.” Of all the lives James took, here was Jay. The only one he’d saved.
They eventually got back upstairs and Lalitha was on the ground with both her hands placed over her eye. Preega held Amritha close to him. As Jay and James gathered amongst them, Lalitha let off a shrill laugh, demented as ever in its intensity.
“It’s not over. It’s not over.”
James limped over to her and shook his head.
“The police have taken hostage of your so-called army. Vinny is bleeding out like there’s no tomorrow, and you’re lying here like a hopeless fool. I’m fairly sure it’s over, darling.”
“I told you, I’m going to make this little twit pay. One way or the other.” She coughed up blood.
“When Amritha was here, she drank a toxic liquid that was in Vinny’s whiskey, of which Vinny himself had the antidote in his bloodstream. When I brought Jay here, I also injected him with the toxin.”
James gripped her by the shirt.
“How do we get it out? Tell me, or I’m going to crack your skull open without the anaesthetic.” She laughed again.
“Do what you want. Nothing lasts like the pain inside you.” “TELL ME!!!”
“There’s only one way to get the poison out.”
She reached into her pocket and handed him a contraption. James’ heart began to hammer.
“For the rest of you who don’t understand, James is familiar with this object. It was our favourite toy, wasn’t it dear? You can’t open the other side unless you drink what’s in the first compartment.”
James held the wooden drinking device that Lalitha had used with him, weeks ago. “So, what’s in the device this time? Bloody hell, what’s in it?”
“The second compartment has the antidote.”
“And the first one? What’s in the first one?”
He grabbed her by the throat and demanded an answer.
“More poison.”
James figured it out. Either Jay or Amritha had to drink the poison, so that the other could get the antidote.
“Now, it’s over.”
Layla took out a cigarette lighter from her pocket. James tried to stop her, but she let it drop. Immediately, the whole surface was ablaze.
“There’s paraffin everywhere. You’ll never get enough evidence to take us down. So, you’ll rot in jail, you son of a bitch,” Layla coughed at him.
James finally let go of her shirt and turned to face everyone. “Hurry, we need to get out of here!”
He panicked, realising that he had dropped the device when he had tried to get Layla’s lighter. Preega came forward and gave it to him.
The first compartment was empty.
“It is done,” he told James without a wink of emotion.
“What did you do? No! What did you do?” Jay pressed his hands down onto his father’s shoulders.
Preega smiled calmly at his son.
“Don’t be scared, my boy. It’s your life now. I….I love you.”
He collapsed to the floor and held his heart with his right hand, giving his left hand to Jay. Jay gripped it and squeezed it tightly.
“Go now. Leave me here with my daughter. Let us cremate. Go.” He closed his eyes and his hand slipped out of Jay’s.
“Lad, we have to go. Now.”
James handed the device to Amritha to sip half of the antidote before Jay sipped the other half. Jay screamed and howled but James eventually pulled him out. They stumbled out the front door and the police guided them towards an ambulance for medical attention. James watched the bright colours and the magic of the Ice-Cream Parlour burn away, beam by beam. The fire burnt long into the day. But a fire within them all seemed to die that day.
Chapter 37
9 October 2013. The artist
James sat at the back of the police van, rounding off his statement. Jay and Amritha had already given theirs’ and were basking in each other’s presence. They held each other tightly, fearing that if they let go, they would never see each other again.
“Is that everything?” The obese policeman rubbed his stomach as he ripped off a piece of paper from his pad.
“That’s everything,” James touched the wounds on his face gingerly. It would be hard to believe everything he’d just told the policeman: Vinny gathering and exploiting young children, Lalitha and her experimenting on people’s memories, the kidnapping of Amritha, being framed for Preega’s murder. Although, it didn’t matter what this cop believed. There was too much at stake not to open up further police investigation.
All the players from the Inkanyambas had been taken into police custody to undergo proper testing. It came as no surprise that all tested positive for a steroid-type substance that Lalitha had used in her ‘magical’ concoction. The Morningside flat was also thoroughly searched and a prototype for an antidote that could negate the effects of the substance was found.
“We also found this.” The policeman handed James a Fizz Pop.
“I don’t get it.”
“The Fizz Pop was drenched with the substance from the Datura plant you were telling us about. Looks like there’s something behind your story,” the cop said as he bagged the lollypop.
James smiled to himself. That’s how Lalitha had kept Vinny in check. She drugged him as well, probably realising that she couldn’t use her body forever to keep him at bay. Even she wasn’t that good.
“And what about the dirty men in your force? The ones that Vinny had infiltrated.”
“We’ve begun a wholesale clean up. We’ve discovered that 40% of our force was compromised—thanks to De Silva.”
“That’s only 40% that you’ve found. Who knows how well the others are doing to maintain their cover.”
“This country’s still learning. Our force will learn as well. We’ll get there one day.”
What an answer. He should run for Miss Rosebank, James thought.
“We have this on tape.”
His colleague, a slimmer, younger man, handed the policeman a mini recorder. He played it for James. It was the conversation between Preega and Vinny at the Tab. It took James a little while to figure out how Preega had got everything on tape, having been frisked by Vinny’s men. He didn’t have a recorder on him. He didn’t even have a gun. He did have a briefcase of money, however. Clever place in which to conceal whatever he needed.
“Mr Chetty posted the recorder to the police station in Bramley. We got it this morning, shortly before we got your call about the Ice-Cream Parlour. This finally gives us something concrete on Vinny De Silva, and it clears that kid’s name after the cocaine scandal. Pity Vinny died in that fire. I’d have loved to have hauled his ass into jail.”
James dipped his head and shook it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did you see his body?”
“It must have long burnt up with the building by now.”
“I have learnt many things throughout this or
deal, and one of them is: no body, no proof. Trust me on that one.”
The policeman scratched his head and waited for James to explain further. He was done. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to say goodbye to the boy.”
Jay and Amritha stood on a miniature white bridge, watching the last flames die slowly. Amritha’s hair was filled with dirt and her face had marks all over it. Still, she looked as elegant as ever in the sunlight. She placed her hand on Jay’s shoulder. He finally turned away from the flames and looked at her.
“I can’t begin to apologise enough for everything that you’ve been through. All because of me.” She kissed him, long and hard, like how he’d described it to James in his stories.
James walked over, smiling at them. Amritha smiled tiredly at him. “I’ll give you two a moment.”
She kissed James on the cheek and began to take her leave before halting suddenly. “Before I forget. Here, Jay. Your father wanted me to give this to you.”
She took out a folded up and crumpled envelope that was sitting under her bra strap and handed it to him. James gave Jay a solemn look. “One question, kid. The gold fork in your mouth?”
“When you were out, Layla dropped this in my lounge.”
He held out his mother’s hospital tag that he’d given to Amritha.
"She probably felt that she deserved it more than I did. I don’t know whether she dropped it there on purpose. Almost as if she wanted to get caught. But that’s when I knew something was wrong. I burnt off one of the fork ends and kept it in my sock. Good thing too, because moments later, I woke up in the Ice-Cream Parlour tied to that chair.
“Clever boy.”
“So, what’s gonna happen now?”
“I’ll go to the trial and take whatever they give me.”
“And what about your inheritance? That’s a lot of money.”
“It is. Which is why I’ve donated it to set up an initiative that will help those kids that Vinny tried to corrupt. Hopefully, the antidote can repair most of the damage done to their brains. The money can help with setting up a centre to help educate them, as well as clothe and feed them.”
“You see. A part of the new you was real.”
