H When hell is the favourable option

by David Jaundrell

  Kaye, chastened, changed gear. He had heard about Payne and he didn't want his practice to suffer. Indeed do a good job here and Payne's work was going begging…..

  ‘The situation is this; as may have been mentioned before your husband is very lucky. He is young, very fit and has an athlete's body. He is strong and, I am told, strong willed and because of that his body is healing very rapidly. In relation to his head injury I will have to be a lot less specific as I cannot see or hear what he is thinking. The scan shows some activity and at times a lot of activity but unfortunately that merely tells us that his brain is alive. It does not tell us whether the brain is doing anything useful or intelligent. It may just be churning away absolute nonsense or less than nonsense. His wound is a borderline wound and may, or may not, have severed main cranial nerve paths. We cannot tell at this stage. His brain is all there, so to speak, but has been sliced by the bullet. The part of his skull that was essentially a flap after the incident we have literally stapled back to his head to keep the severed part of the brain in. The brains blood supply is intact and there was no cessation of blood at any point to the brain and so there was no, for want of a better word, stroke……’

  ‘So what do we do?’

  ‘We do nothing……. except keep Mr James warm and comfortable and you talk to him as much as you can. On top of that of course we monitor pressure areas, take care of the mouth, eyes and skin; physiotherapy to protect muscles and joints; reduce deep vein thrombosis risks and monitor stress ulceration of the stomach. On top of that nutrition and fluid balance will be closely monitored and urinary catheterisation the norm. Infection control is in place as is maintenance of adequate oxygenation, with the assistance of artificial ventilation if needed which currently it isn't……..’

  He paused to make sure she was keeping up….

  ‘………..But essentially we sit and wait for Mr James to let us know whether this is temporary in which case he should make a full recovery or whether this is permanent and ……………’ he made a tiny grimace.

  ‘And……………..?’

  ‘He may never recover and could be in that state until he dies. This could be days, weeks, months or years. There is also, of course, an in between situation where he makes a good physical recovery but the damage to the brain may stop speech, or some form of movement or impaired thinking processes along the line of dementia. You could end up looking after Mr James as an invalid for the rest of his life. The point is Mrs James, I really don't know……………. ‘

  But Benny knew. Her man will come back…….will come back…..will come back……will come back……. and she gave his hand a big squeeze.

  She went back to talking to James …….’and then there was the time we went down the Autobahn in the’…..she looked down at the notes……’Ferrari 380 Modena. You went very fast.

  Do you remember that James?

  The red Ferrari?

  Do you remember that?………..’

  Later that night as she lay in bed she repeated to herself

  James………..will come back……….will come back………will come back………will come back………will come back……. will come back………will come back………will come back will come back………will come back………will come back…….. will come back………will come back………will come back………. will come back………will come back………will come back…

  until she fell asleep

  H Chapter 53

  H lies quite still 6

  The argument raged in his brain….

  If you don’t fix that, nothing works

  I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Stop hassling me

  I’m not

  You are!

  ……..

  …….

  Done yet?

  Oh for Christ’s sake! Here! If you can do any better you do it

  Just asking……….

  H Chapter 54

  White pussy

  ..............Two months later on the dot the four black lads that had tried to rob H and Benshima rang the number H had given them. Andy Pandy took the call but it meant nothing to him as it had been weeks since H had told him about them and much had happened since. To say the fucking least! The man on the other end of the phone explained how a big man had told them to ring this number and they could earn lots of money....... A light bulb switched on in Andy Pandy’s head and he finished the sentence silently ....and lots of white pussy.

  Ah yes...he remembered now.

  ‘Gotcha now mate’ said Andy ‘the boss was right impressed with you lot....yeah gotcha now, gotcha..... Where do you live?’ He listened. ‘Ok what you need to do is go to an address I am going to give you so get a pencil or something? Or knife it into your mates head eh?’ he giggled at the joke ‘Go there a week tonight ok? A week tonight at eight o’clock. Ok? Got it?.........good.........yeah no sweat.....lots of money....yeah....ok now the address is.....’

  A week later as dusk silently moved to dark the four lads arrived outside the factory unit and went in through the small side entrance. They were hardly through the door when Andy Pandy and three accomplices stuck guns in their faces.

  ‘Strip off your clothes’ demanded Andy Pandy

  ‘What the fucks going on man?’ asked one of the lads and got a hard metal smack across the face with a pistol for his trouble.

  Andy put a gun next to a head and said ‘If you cunts aren’t stripped before I finish counting to five this fucking gun will blow your head off........one.....’ no one moved ‘........two....’ he held it closer ‘.......three....’ and as one there was frenzied activity and suddenly the floor had clothes scattered on it.

  ‘Put your hands behind your back......’ he looked down '....big boy’.

  ‘Man you gotta be making some kinda mista...’

  He didn’t finish the word as Andy grabbed his hair and put the gun in his mouth and forced it down his throat.

  ‘One more word’ snarled Andy ‘one more fuckin word and I am going to get mightily pissed......’

  They put their hands behind their backs and were tied securely. Sticky tape covered their mouths.

  ‘First things first’ said Andy Pandy ‘which one of you is Phillip? The one with the brains?’

  He looked at them and waited. After a moment Phillip grunted.

  ‘Phil, the boss says I have to sort you out first so come with me’

  He pulled him into a small office at the other end of the Unit, shut the door and sat Phillip down in a chair. He sat opposite.

  ‘Phillip.......so you’re the brainy one eh? How’s that then? You hold up H. You fuck with his woman. How’s that intelligent?’

  Phillip mumbled something behind the gag.

  ‘I see....... And then you come here with a promise of loot and pussy? And that’s intelligent? Are you absolutely fucking mad? Have you cunts got any brains at all?’

  Andy Pandy shook his head and sighed ‘If there was one person in this world you really shouldn’t have crossed it was H. Why the fuck did you pick on H?’ He sighed again ‘I mean anybody, anybody but H........Do you have any idea what happens to people who threaten H? Intelligent? I don’t fucking think so’

  Phillips eyes had changed. He hadn’t worked this out. What did it all mean?

  A promise of loot and pussy? What was he saying? They had been done? Is that what he was saying? No money?

  ‘Phillip, I almost feel sorry for you....’ he thought for a couple of seconds ‘naw....actually I don’t.... I’m fucking lying. But nevertheless you are going to pay for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and making the wrong decision. That’s life Phillip. Life Phillip, according to H, is all about timing. And yours was crap......’

  He got up to stretch his legs and walked behind Phillip. Without altering his stride he picked up the foot long, two inch diameter iron bar off the table and brought it down as hard as he could on the unsuspecting black lads head. The first blow nearly killed him. The second did.
The third, fourth and fifth were only because Andy Pandy liked killing people.

  Andy undid his zip. It was one of life’s pleasures to fuck someone still warm.

  Five minutes later he took out his mobile and dialled a number. ‘Pete it’s Andy.......how ya doin?...good. Pete, got a collection for you, down at the unit. Some garbage for the tip. Ok? Good. Usual collection fee? You robbin bastard...that’s better. Leave it to you. Key will be in the usual place. See ya’

  He left the office to join the others.

  ‘Phillip is not coming on our little journey. He’s going with some mates of mine to help produce methane gas....’

  In the Unit a Ford transit van stood waiting.

  ‘In the van’ commanded Andy and with a few kicks they did as they were told. A few minutes later they were on their hour's journey to the home of a friend of H. The friend was very rich and had a passion for gambling in the evening and early mornings. In the day time he lavished time and money on his other passion....

  In the back of the van the naked and trussed black lads were working on a plan. Whilst they could not move their hands too much they still had their teeth.... One of them stood up and jammed himself against the side so he wouldn't fall over if they turned and another sat behind him and started to pull at the knot in the rope. Bit by bit, and with an aching jaw, he managed to loosen the knot enough for his mate to wriggle his wrists through. He untied his own legs then untied the others.

  ‘What now?’

  ‘Is the door locked?’

  He tried it ‘Yeah’

  ‘Then we wait and when they stop and open the door we get em’

  The other two looked a little uncertain? Naked? God knows where? And we are going to take them....?

  'What do we do? Swing our dicks?'

  ‘What other option do we have?’ said the leader seeing their unconvinced faces.

  True..........

  The van went up the mile long drive through a colonnade of beautiful towering trees to a fork in the road. Left was the enormous country pile he had inherited and right, in the gloom, they could see a group of buildings.

  Turning right, after a few minutes a light came on over a large building and a man directed them to one side. An up and over door opened and the van reversed in. The door shut behind them and the smell in the air was thick and overwhelming. Andy's men got out, opened the back door and the black lads jumped out, swinging punches as they did. Andy and his men backed off and took out their guns. The black lads ran for the door and Andy watched in mild amusement.

  Where the fuck could they go?

  What the fuck could they do?

  They were locked in for fucks sake! Andy would have shot them there and then but H had given him strict instructions......and you did what H said. To the fucking letter....or else.

  With three guns trained on them the black lads realised they had lost their gamble. Of all the places to open the fucking doors it was a locked up fucking barn....or something. They moved intuitively as a group to a corner.

  ‘You do realise boys that we now have to tie you up again? Now lie on your fronts and let’s do this again. If you move I will put a fucking bullet in you...’

  Defeat overwhelmed them and they did as they were told.

  ‘What the fuck is going on man?' One begged ‘You’ve got it wrong. We’re here to work for you man, you’ve got it wrong…….’

  Andy smiled ‘No we haven’t got it wrong. You told a friend of ours, who you treated quite badly by the way, what you wanted and we are going to provide it. To save you having to go out and get it we’ve brought you to it.’

  ‘Come on man’ he pleaded again ‘we just want to make a bit of money, have a good time, eat pussy’

  ‘White pussy……’ said one of the captors.

  ‘Eh……..?’

  ‘You like white pussy’.

  It was a statement but it sounded wrong. There was something in it that had a resonance of malice. How could that be? What the fuck was wrong with fucking white pussy?

  ‘What’s your name?’ asked Andy’s mate.

  ‘Eh….?’

  ‘It’s not fucking difficult is it? You’re the only one that I’m talking to at the moment so what’s your fucking name?’

  ‘Elroy’

  ‘Fucking Elroy. It had to be didn’t it? We’ve got ourselves a fucking Elroy. Don’t you cunts ever have proper names?’

  ‘Eh…?’

  The man looked at one of his partners who was also black. ‘Now Arnold here has a proper name don’t you Arnie?’

  Arnie nodded.

  ‘Arnie here we have no problem with at all. Arnie’s all right. Arnie’s one of us. Aint that right Arnie?’

  Arnie nodded again.

  ‘Now my name is fucking John’ he grinned ‘actually it’s arsy John but that’s a bit ironic eh? Anyhow it’s John; see? Not fucking Delroy or Dwayne or whatever else shit you come up with. I mean, even Michael fucking Jordan, one of your Gods, The Man, is called by a proper fucking name so what the fucks it all about?’

  Elroy was lost. He had no idea what was going on and he was cold and uncomfortable. He was still sure that they would understand it was a big mistake and they weren’t who they thought they were but the ‘white pussy’ remark still bothered him. Andy went to the front of the van for some electrical tape and put it over Elroy’s mouth. He’d had enough of Elroy and it was time to get on. They had a drive back yet and time was moving on. He nodded at the man who had met them, who had still not uttered a word, and he turned and led the way. They dragged their stumbling captives up a long iron stairway on to a balcony. Underneath it was pitch black and Elroy thought it had a smell like a shit house....

  A light was switched and the area below lit up.

  Marvin, Elroy’s best friend since junior school, looked down and dread immediately and completely invaded his mind and body. His mind went completely blank and he stood rigid, staring through unseeing eyes. The others started to understand then started to tremble. Nothing happened for a minute or two and then, from a small entrance, they saw their nightmare come into view. In moments they were shaking and screaming with fear through their gags.

  ‘You wanted white pussy’ said Andy ‘and we the nice men that we are, are providing it.

  John beckoned to one of his compatriots and they grabbed Elroy, picked him up horizontally and face down, and took him to the high wall overlooking the pit below. His body was only just over the wall when the starving six hundred pound white Siberian male tiger leapt nearly ten feet into the air and closed his huge mouth over Elroy’s head and ripped it off as it fell back to the ground. Blood gushed out of Elroy’s headless neck and the men heaved the rest of the dead body into the pit to be ripped apart by his large mate. The tigers had not been fed for a week in readiness for tonight.

  They moved the other black boy the few inches to the wall and pushed his head over. Andy gripped his hips and the other two pushed his shoulders so his head and neck were well over the pit.

  ‘Come on you fucking hungry bastards’ screamed Andy ‘Come out and fucking play’

  The large male circled below, sat back on its haunches and leapt. The black boys head was ripped off as the tiger dropped back down and blood flowed liked a river from the headless neck. John and Arnie threw the body over. Andy pumped his fist!

  Andy looked at the other black lad lying still on the floor. Going to him they found he was already dead; drowned on his own vomit that the gag had not let come out. A touch pissed off they threw him over in disgust. The pair of enormous Siberian Tigers who usually consumed a hundred pounds of meat a day moved in quickly. The female grabbed one of the lads, shook herself and his body went this way and that like a rag doll while the other Siberian amused itself throwing the carcases up in the air like a ball for a few minutes then settled down to eat. Tomorrow every ounce of flesh would have been eaten off their bones and what was left would be thrown in a machine and ground down to powder to make more anima
l feed.

  Nothing wasted.......

  As they drove home in silence, spent by their activities, Andy suddenly said

  ‘Fuckin Delroy. What kind of fuckin name is that?’

  Arnie nodded.

  It was unlike H to take revenge when he had already settled the score but they had threatened Benny and that wasn’t on.

  That just wasn’t on at all…….

  H Chapter 55

  H lies quite still 7

  The ECG flashed like a Christmas tree but still no problems with his blood supply. Thank God again.

  They watched him jerk and twitch. He moaned and muttered……

  H’s brain was going crazy. Bright lights flashed everywhere!

  Words and numbers flooded his brain as the synapses repaired and the neurons signalled to each other and to other non- neuron cells in the muscles and other places waiting patiently on hold for instructions.

  Images flew across his eyes. Images from his history, from his past, from every time he had lived….

  Words gathered in a vast confusion and then he watched as they organised, as though in great armies, and marched forward to a battle……

  Numbers followed. Vast swathes of numbers.

  Every number known to man was there…

  They stretched out there, into the distance, like someone trying to get to the end of Pi……

  And then they turned and circled back. Millions and millions of random numbers circling him. Deciding what to do? Where to go?

  And then they started to peel off and arrange themselves until they were happy that two and two did indeed make four…..

  His eyes opened and the first thing he saw was Benshima.

  ‘Welcome back my love’ she said with huge tears rolling down her cheeks ‘Cerberus decided not to let you in…………’

  ‘Benny’ he said softly……

  H Chapter 56

  Hathaway reflects….

  Hathaway sat at his desk and looked at several large monitors on the wall. They told him many things about his businesses. At the push of a key on his computer he received information from the on site servers at their locations. He knew the sales figures, finances, cash flow, debtors, creditors, everything that you need to know to make sure the people he employed did their job. He loved the position of power he was in; loved having hundreds of people working for him and he loved the ‘yes sir, ‘no sir’ that came with it.