Raven

by Heather Atkinson

  When a furious Aidan made a move towards them, Raven urged him to remain put with a wave of her hand behind Rottweiler’s back, her other hand sliding to the hilt of the machete tucked into his jeans.

  “Who says this can’t be fun?” Rottweiler told Raven.

  “I completely agree,” she said, leaning in closer to him.

  “She’s having you on,” said Jeremy. “For God’s sake, her husband’s right there.”

  Rottweiler fixed him with a hard gaze. “If you don’t shut it, I’ll get Stringbean to cut off your nutsack. He has a thing for doing that does Stringbean.” He looked back at Raven. “Rottweiler and Raven. Like it.”

  “It does have a certain ring,” she smiled, pressing her lips to his.

  A beeping drew all their attention to Aidan, who was holding up a small black object with a red flashing light.

  While they were distracted, Raven yanked the machete from Rottweiler’s belt and pressed it to his throat.

  “You thick bastard,” said Jeremy while Rottweiler’s eyes bulged with horror.

  “I’ve planted explosives all around this building,” said Aidan. “All I have to do is press this button and they’ll go off.”

  “Bollocks,” said Pitbull.

  “You recognise this, don’t you Jeremy?” said Aidan, waving the black device in the air. “Explosives were part of your training, only they scared the shit out of you.”

  “He trained you?” spat Pitbull. “You kept that fucking quiet.”

  “What does it matter who trained me?” countered Jeremy.

  “It matters when we’re trying to kill his wife you fucking plum.”

  “Now is not the time to argue. She’s got a knife to your friend’s throat.”

  “That’s his own stupid fault. His dick’s got him into trouble more than once.”

  “Shut up the lot of you,” yelled Aidan. “You’re like a bunch of fucking kids. Now, I have control of the explosives hidden all around this building and Raven has a machete to that arsehole’s neck.”

  There was a moment of tense silence, broken by a high-pitched giggle from Stringbean.

  “What’s the matter with him?” said Aidan, nodding at Stringbean.

  “He’s a terminal cretin,” sighed Pitbull.

  Raven thought it scary how Pitbull seemed sensible and intelligent compared to his friends.

  “You’re not going to do anything with that,” said Jeremy, pointing at the device Aidan held. “You’d blow up yourself and her if you detonate.”

  “But only I know where the bombs are planted.”

  “Go on then,” said Jeremy. “Press it.”

  “You remember how reckless I am?” said Aidan. “You really want to go there?”

  “Yeah, I do. Press it.” He smiled when Aidan’s eyes flicked to the ceiling above Raven. “You can’t and you won’t. Shoot him.”

  “Stop or I’ll slit his throat,” said Raven when Pitbull’s goons raised the shotguns.

  “Fuck’s sake Rottweiler,” said Pitbull. “We could have had this all finished by now if you hadn’t fallen into her trap.”

  “You let him fall into it,” said Jeremy.

  “Shut the fuck up you, I’m getting sick of your mouth.”

  “Where’s the rest of your men?” said Raven. “There’s only half of you here.” Pitbull’s answering smile made her stomach drop.

  “I’ve sent them on a little errand.”

  “What errand?”

  “One Eye. The old man should be here any minute.”

  “Why are you dragging him into this?”

  “We don’t want him sticking his oar in once you’re dead. He’s pretty useless now with his shaky hands but he was one hard bastard back in the day. We’ll use him to draw out Damon and then kill them both. The whole family gone and buried together here. We’ll open up your mum’s grave and stick you all in there with her.” When there came the sound of the main door slamming shut, followed by multiple pairs of footsteps, Pitbull smiled. “That’ll be them now.”

  Four men half-walked, half-staggered in, battered and bruised, two of them propping one up.

  “What the fuck happened to you lot?” said Pitbull.

  “One Eye happened,” smiled Raven. “You underestimated him.”

  “Did you ram his car like I told you?” said Pitbull.

  It was Luke who replied, who was having to be supported by his friends. “He hit me in the balls with a baton. It fucking hurts.”

  The others released him, allowing him to slump to the floor. Luke remained there, cupping his crotch.

  “Did you ram his car?” bellowed Pitbull.

  “Yeah, as hard as we could,” replied another of the men, dried blood crusting around his left temple. “He must be made of metal. He got out of the car and he…”

  “Kicked the shit out of you,” said a disgusted Pitbull. “How could you let yourselves get beaten up by an OAP? I mean, there were four of you.”

  “One Eye is not an OAP,” said Raven. “He’s only fifty four.”

  “That’s old,” retorted Pitbull.

  “Oy,” yelled Aidan. “I’ve got the detonator and I’ll…”

  “He was like a ninja,” continued Luke, making Aidan roll his eyes. “He used his car door as a weapon.”

  “I don’t care if he used the Queen’s titties to whack you one,” said Pitbull. “You failed miserably, you pathetic sacks of shit.”

  “Oh for God’s sake,” said Raven. Despite the danger they were in, she couldn’t help but find Aidan’s outraged expression comical. He wasn’t used to being ignored.

  “Come on fat boy,” she said, urging Rottweiler forward, keeping the machete to his neck. “We’re leaving.”

  “Not so fast,” said Jeremy, jamming the gun into her back. “You’re going nowhere. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.”

  “I’ll cut his throat.”

  “So? I don’t care.”

  “But I do,” said Pitbull, glowering at Jeremy. He turned his rabid gaze on Raven. “Let him go.”

  “We’re going round in circles here. At this rate we’re going to be stuck in this place all night.”

  Stringbean was brought crashing down off his high. “All night? I don’t want to be stuck in here all night, it’s bad enough in daylight.”

  “Keep a lid on the crazy, will you, for once?” said Pitbull.

  “I don’t want to be here when it’s dark,” he positively snarled, covering himself in spittle.

  “I’ve had enough of this shit,” said Aidan, holding up the detonator.

  “Oh give it up,” said Jeremy. “We all know you’re not going to do it.”

  “Didn’t you learn anything when I trained you?” he grinned before pressing the button.

  The blast shook the building, sending plaster raining down on their heads. Raven sidestepped just as Jeremy pressed the trigger, shooting Rottweiler in the belly, who screamed and went down, a hand pressed to his pendulous stomach, blood seeping through his fingers.

  Aidan grabbed Raven’s hand and together they ran down the corridor deeper into the hospital, vanishing into the gloom.

  “You shot him,” yelled Pitbull, rushing to his fallen comrade’s side, cradling him in his arms.

  “It was an accident, I meant to shoot that bitch but she moved.”

  “Then you’d better get after her because if he dies and she doesn’t, I’ll kill you myself.”

  Jeremy glowered at him before chasing after them, the rest of Pitbull’s men - those who were physically able anyway - following. All four of them. He was dismayed by Stringbean running alongside him, snorting more powder. He released that disturbing shriek again, drew a large knife and threw out his arms, charging ahead of them, plunging deeper into the blackness.

  “We need to stick together,” called Jeremy.

  But Stringbean vanished into the darkness that lay ahead.

  Jeremy, knowing how Aidan Gallagher operated, slowed his pace. It wasn’t
that bastard he wanted anyway, it was Raven. He let the rest of Pitbull’s men go on ahead. Fucking useless. If only he’d found better allies than that shower of shite.

  The sound of feet pounding on the tiled floor receded, until it was just him, the only noise his soft breathing. Gun at the ready, he approached the rooms for the non-violent patients, which were a lot more comfortable than those for the violent patients on the floor above. Every room was empty and all was silent. For all he knew, Aidan and Raven had run outside, preparing to detonate the building and he was wandering around here in the dark like an idiot. But instinct told him that wasn’t Raven’s way. She would want to finish him personally, as would Aidan. Plus they couldn’t be sure he was going to be where the blast would kill him, the same with Pitbull’s men. No, they were still here, he could feel it.

  “What are you doing?” whispered Aidan when Raven slowed to a halt.

  “We’re leading them away from the explosives,” she whispered back. “We need to make sure they’re right above them when they go off or their bodies will be found.”

  “We need to be bait.”

  She nodded.

  He took her hand. “Come on. Let’s lead the minnows into the shark pool. Sorry, too cheesy?” he added when she appeared unimpressed.

  “Very.”

  “Sorry about that. Let’s explode a bunch of dickheads then. Is that better?”

  “Much,” she winked.

  CHAPTER 38

  Stringbean was running faster than he’d ever run before. The walls of the corridors whizzed by, turning into a messy blur streaked with colour, his legs moving so quickly they were almost numb, hair flying back off his forehead with the breeze he was creating with his immense speed. He must be breaking all records. Stick it up your arse Usain Bolt, he thought. You’re a fucking tortoise compared to me.

  Doberman looked around at Stringbean, who was walking so slowly he was almost at a standstill. “Would you bloody hurry up? We’re going to lose them.”

  “You can’t see me. Blur…so fast.”

  Doberman looked to his best friend Staffy, who clutched a shotgun. “What’s he on about?”

  “No idea. I never know what that twat’s talking about.”

  “Not surprising with the amount of powder he jams up his nose. It’s a miracle he’s still breathing.”

  The three of them were standing outside the dayroom, waiting for their friend to catch up. Jeremy, Raven and Aidan had vanished.

  “I don’t like this,” said Doberman, looking up and down the corridor, hands sweating because he was gripping his shotgun so tightly. “Let’s go, I’ve had enough.”

  “You want to let go the woman who killed Terry?” said Dozer, the fourth of their number, a short yet wide and sturdy man who had got his nickname by displaying incredible stubbornness, a knife in one hand. “If it had been you she’d murdered he wouldn’t have stopped until she was dead.”

  Doberman hung his head. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s find the bitch and make her suffer.”

  Staffy grinned. “Like it.”

  “Finally,” said Doberman when Stringbean caught up with them.

  “There’s something down there,” he said, pointing down the darkened corridor.

  They all looked to where he indicated.

  “Can’t see nothing,” sniffed Doberman, not wanting to admit he was nervous.

  “Why’s it so bloody dark in here?” said Staffy. “It’s daylight and it feels like night time.”

  “Because it’s a creepy bastard of a place,” said Doberman.

  “There’s something there,” repeated Stringbean, eyes bulging.

  “I can’t see anything,” said Doberman.

  Stringbean produced more white powder, inhaling it before rubbing the rest on his gums. His eyes bulged even more, so wide Doberman thought his eyeballs were going to fall out of his head. He released another of those disturbing shrieks and set off down the corridor. Slowly.

  “He’s probably imagining it,” said Staffy. “With the amount he’s taken he’s probably seeing unicorns and dragons.”

  “Actually, he might be right,” said Dozer, squinting down the corridor beyond the shuffling figure of Stringbean. “I can see someone. They’re coming this way.”

  “Jesus, he’s right,” said Doberman, backing up. “What the hell is that?”

  “Probably Aidan or Raven,” said Staffy. “Or maybe that tosser Jeremy. I can’t believe I’m working with someone called Jeremy, I’ll never live it down.”

  “I don’t think it’s any of them,” said Doberman, continuing to back away. “You can’t see their face.”

  Staffy looked back down the corridor, Stringbean continuing to shuffle his way forward while thinking he was travelling at the speed of light. “You’re right,” he whispered. “He looks like a monk, in black, with a hood.”

  “Oh fuck, it’s a ghost monk,” said Doberman. “They’re not good. I’ve seen those ghost programmes on the telly.”

  When the monk released a bellow and charged towards them, Doberman shrieked and ran, Staffy hot on his heels. Dozer however, staying true to his nature, refused to flee. Stubbornly he remained put, waiting for the apparition to charge at him. He watched it fly past Stringbean, knocking him onto his back where he lay, gazing up at the ceiling, arms and legs still doing a slow parody of a run.

  “Cowards,” yelled Dozer at his retreating friends, who had vanished into the blackness.

  He turned back to face the phantom, swallowing hard, refusing to budge, bracing himself for the inevitable collision. He was knocked off his feet from behind, falling face-down.

  Raven threw back the hood of her coat, dark hair spilling down her back, grinning as Aidan took aim at the back of Dozer’s head with the gun. “I can see why Leo enjoys doing that so much. Not here,” she added when Aidan cocked the weapon. “We don’t want to leave any trace for the others to see.”

  Aidan whacked Dozer around the back of the head with the butt of the gun when he tried to push himself upright, knocking him out.

  Taking one of his arms each, Aidan and Raven dragged him into one of the rooms for the non-violent patients. As Raven peeked around the door, assessing where the others had gone, Aidan pointed the gun at the back of Dozer’s head. There was a dull thud and Dozer, the immovable object, was permanently removed.

  “Two down, nine to go,” said Aidan. “I think. If we can shepherd them all down here it’ll be fine. This is the epicentre of the explosion.”

  “Unfortunately I scared the shit out of the other two. They’ve vanished. Except him,” she said, pointing at Stringbean still lying on the floor on his back, limbs moving like a stranded beetle.

  Aidan poked his head out the door. “We use him as bait.”

  The further Staffy and Doberman ran, the sillier they felt.

  “If we tell Pitbull we ran because we saw a ghost, he’ll fucking kill us,” said Staffy.

  They came to a stop. “You’re right,” sighed Doberman. “We’ve got to go back.”

  “But that thing…”

  “It wasn’t a ghost, it was a trick by Aidan and Raven and it worked but not again. This time we don’t run.”

  Staffy looked around. They’d run into a huge room, all that remained some stained mattresses and tattered bed frames, curtains hanging from the ceiling, along with discarded hospital gowns and bed pans. “Where the hell are we? I thought we would have been back at reception by now.”

  “Dunno. Looks like the hospital.”

  “The whole place is a hospital.”

  “For loonies. This is where they brought the sick loonies.”

  “It gives me the willies.” He regarded one of the curtains stretched out alongside a broken bed frame with unease as it wafted in a non-existent breeze. “Let’s go.”

  “Right behind you,” said Doberman, looking over his shoulder at that disturbing curtain as they hastily filed out of the room.

  “I don’t like it,” said Pitbull. “They’
ve been gone too long.” They were still in reception. Pitbull had knocked Rottweiler out with a punch because he’d got sick of him writhing and complaining about the pain.

  “Give them a chance,” said Luke. “The hospital’s a big place.”

  Pitbull produced Raven’s Glock from the back of his jeans and checked it was loaded. “Let’s go.”

  “But we’re not up to it,” said Luke, gesturing from himself to his injured friends.

  “You’d better get up to it and fucking fast because I want to die aged one hundred in bed with four blonds and not now in a derelict loony bin.” He aimed the gun at him. “You get that?”

  “Yeah, totally,” said Luke, forcing himself to stand upright. “Right behind you, we all are.”

  Pitbull sighed and produced a bag of white powder from his pocket, waving it before the four men, whose eyes lit up greedily.

  “Anyone wanting a little boost?”

  “Yeah,” said Luke, snatching it from him.

  The four men passed it around, the bag almost empty by the time they handed it back to Pitbull, who stuffed it back into his pocket. He for one wanted to keep a clear head but these four, far from looking like they’d taken a proper hammering, looked ready for battle, standing strong and tall, teeth grinding, muscles popping out of their arms and necks.

  “Let’s kill these bastards,” yelled Pitbull.

  The four men cheered and raced off in the direction the others had gone. Pitbull smiled to himself as he followed, clutching the gun, leaving Rottweiler lying on the floor, unconscious.

  Jeremy was getting fed up of creeping about Stonefort in the dark. This certainly wasn’t panning out how he’d imagined. His grand revenge was turning into a joke but then again, he hadn’t had much time to prepare. If Aidan hadn’t been here he would have been confident facing Raven alone, but he’d seen Aidan Gallagher in action, had been trained by him, which at times had been brutal, so he understood only too well what that man was capable of. He’d tried to get that across to Pitbull and his men but the apes hadn’t listened, they’d just thought he was soft. Well they were about to get a taste of the Aidan Gallagher mayhem, something he wanted no part of. Instead he was going to keep to the shadows and let Pitbull and his men be the cannon fodder. All he had to do was figure out a way to get Raven away from her husband and up to the segregation unit, where he intended to tear her up into tiny little bits.