by Ian Chapman
I came to my flat. Tommy was singing to himself downstairs. His version of a hymn.
I opened the door and went into the living room. Gregg and Will sat in the two chairs at the table.
Gregg had his hand on a pistol that lay on his lap aimed at me. ‘Wondered when you’d arrive,’ he said.
Will laughed as Gregg cocked the gun.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Decider
GREGG FROWNED. ‘YOU’RE IN luck. Nico wants you alive.’
‘Yep,’ said Will.
They both looked dreadfully disappointed.
‘What’s this all about?’ I said.
Gregg grunted. ‘You know what it’s about. All your games with him in the cell. Do you think we’re stupid?’
I did think they were stupid but obviously they weren’t quite as bad as I’d assumed.
‘Got you now!’ added Will.
‘Aye,’ said Gregg. ‘We know you’ve been working against us.’
‘So now what?’ I said. The pistol was aimed at me. Still tight in Gregg’s hand.
He waved it around, onto my feet and torso and head. It was an old revolver, chipped and marked but good enough this range. His lips were tight and brow furrowed like he was thinking something through. Like he was ready to pop a shot into me. He could tell Nico it had been an accident. The gun went off in a scuffle, or something. ‘We’re going to work you over. Make you squeal. Slowly. Until, well…’
‘Until you’re dead,’ said Will.
Gregg stood up. ‘Come on, out.’ The gun was waved again but this time to make me move.
‘Right.’ I went towards the door and took the handle. Tried to work out some way to get out of this. If they had something on me from Casper, I really was in the shit. Maybe he’d let on that I’d mentioned Becky. Told them that I knew his sister and had helped him. Now Round Up were going to knock me around. Finish me off.
‘Wait.’ Will shoved past me and took the handle himself. ‘Don’t want you running off.’
As he went out Gregg pushed up close behind me. He jammed the gun in my back and made me walk out. ‘No funny business, you hear?’
‘I hear,’ I said.
Will was ahead of us on the stairs. He walked down backwards watching me as he went. Gregg came out of my door leaving it open.
‘Are you going to shut that?’
‘What the fuck for?’ he said.
‘Nico might want to go through my stuff. He won’t want it stolen.’
Gregg grunted at this. Mentioning Nico always pressed his buttons. He kept his eyes on me but reached back with his left hand to grab the door handle and pull it shut. He couldn’t reach it so he glanced round.
As he did I grabbed his wrist, the one holding the gun. With his free hand he punched me in the ribs but he was too close to get any force behind it. Before he got the idea to push me down the stairs I braced myself against the railing. He still wouldn’t release the gun so I got both hands on it, aimed it down the stairs and got the end of my thumb on the trigger. Fired a shot.
It cracked off over Will’s head. ‘Get him, Gregg,’ he shouted.
‘I’m trying!’
As Gregg tried to pull the gun free, I launched myself at him, using the rail to shove against. I sent him off balance and he raised up his hands but I got hold of the pistol, twisted it hard and he had to release it to stop his finger being broken. He cried out and I pulled the pistol free, elbowing him in the face while I had the chance.
With the gun in my hand I stepped back and aimed it at him.
‘You nearly broke my finger!’ he said.
‘You’ll have worse in a minute.’
‘Nico will hear about this! He’ll have your skin!’
‘Wasn’t the plan anyway?’
‘Now you’ve really —’
‘Save it.’ I shifted back towards the door. Will had advanced up the stairs so I aimed at him. ‘Back off.’ He kept coming so I fired a shot into the stairs, just in front of him. It blasted a chunk of wood off the edge and he backed down and stood in the yard. I waved for Gregg to follow him. He didn’t move for a second then trudged down. As he went ahead I popped out the chamber to see how many rounds there were left: only two. He’d know that so I’d have to be careful.
Once he was beside Will I set myself on the second step. Now I had to work out what to do with them. Shooting them wasn’t an option. Nasty pieces that they were I wasn’t one for executions. I’d have to work out where to put them.
‘Empty your pockets,’ I said.
‘Nico will hear about this,’ said Gregg.
‘So you said. Go on.’
They felt around in their overalls. Both had cash. Will had a knife and Gregg car keys. I made Will throw the knife across the yard.
‘Take me to the car,’ I said. I only had the two shots so I didn’t have much freedom now. But they were cowards. That was helpful.
They led me across the road to the disused park. There was a track that ran through it and the Volvo was parked part way along, just under the bushes so it was hard to spot. I popped the boot and checked for guns. There wasn’t anything dangerous in there, just tools and spares.
As I shut the boot Will leapt forward so I flicked out the gun. Cracked him across the face and makes his lips bleed. He staggered back with his hand to his mouth. Gregg just stared at me. If they’d both rushed me I’d have struggled to keep them off.
I waved the gun around. Made myself look braver than I was. These two weren’t the brightest of sparks but they were quite capable of killing. In fact, it was what they liked doing.
Next I checked the inside of the car, going round to the passenger side while they stayed at the other. There was a crowbar and some sandbags but not much else. Under one of the bags there was a good length of rope.
‘Get in,’ I said.
Neither moved so I took the crowbar. I went round to the them and raised it up
‘I said, get in.’ To make the point I hit Will on the back, a satisfying thud.
Once they were in the front seats I held the gun to Will’s head and made him tie Gregg’s hands to the steering wheel. Then I tied Will to it myself. He’d not done much of a job securing Gregg so I added a few of knots of my own. Once they were good and tight I popped the bonnet, ripped the leads off the starter solenoid and chucked them into a bush. Then I double locked the car and took the keys.
They’d get out in a while but it gave me a little time. Time to pull myself together and head off. Go and see Becky. Her deal was starting to sound better now. If I went off on the bike Nico would soon catch me up in one of his cars. Blow me off the road. Even if I hid out in a nearby town he’d use his contacts to track me down. I needed to get away as far and fast as I could in something with equal firepower to the weapons he had hidden in Round Up Central. Something like a tank.
I went back to the flat and loaded up my panniers with spare spark plugs and a roll of tools. The crowbar and pistol from Will and Gregg. I slid them into the bottom of the bag and shoved a blanket on top.
I went into the wardrobe and pulled out Gehenna and the bag with the shotgun. Took the wad of money. Counted through it and rammed it and my clothes into a rucksack. There wasn’t much I wanted to take but I put it all together.
Outside I manoeuvred the bike around, started it up and rode out of the yard, facing towards High Town. The Volvo was still parked in the bushes with Gregg and Will in it. They’d expect me to ride off out of town now. They’d never guess I was going to Round Up Central to take their precious tank. With any luck it would be a complete surprise.
I shot across Faeston and was soon at High Town.
I parked at the front of Bay Hotel and went straight up to Becky’s room.
She opened the door. ‘All set?’ If she’d wondered about me coming back she didn’t let on.
‘Yeah, I’m all set.’ I dumped my bags on the bed and sat next to them. It was tempting to tell about all the weird shit that had gone on since
I’d left. Instead I said, ‘So, what’s the plan?’
She picked up a map and ran her finger across it. Then she put it down and leant towards me. ‘Tell me the layout of their place.’
I went through the setup at Round Up Central. The different floors: where they had Casper. She nodded, raised an eyebrow when I told her about the doors from the prison. She asked about the ways and way out. Where they kept their weapons.
‘Is that where the Eblis is?’ she said. ‘Next to the armoury?’
‘Yeah. But forget about that. We’ll never get it out.’
She put her fingers to her lips, said nothing for a moment. ‘If we can get the key for Casper’s cell we’re fine,’
‘If.’ If Nico was around he’d never hand the key over. Never.
‘After that we can haul Casper out and he can drive the Eblis. Get us out of there.’
‘Just like that?’
‘The Eblis can blast its way out,’ she said. ‘Once we’re into it —’
‘Once we’re into it.’ It’d be a lot easier if we didn’t need to get him. Especially as he was such a miserable piece. And it sounded like he’d let on to Nico. ‘Can you drive it?’
‘The Eblis? Well, I can get us into it but he is the expert —’
‘So we need him?’
‘Yes.’
I left it at that but if things got tough I’d lead her down to the tank. Leave Casper.
She grabbed her bags up. ‘Ready to go?’
I didn’t really feel it. Then I thought of Gregg and Will in the car. Getting free and warning Nico. ‘Yeah. I’m ready.’
She led out, down the back staircase with its threadbare carpets and busted banister. Then we went through an internal door into the hotel’s old garage. The R6 was parked in the centre on a paddock stand, looking as immaculate as ever. There were a few cars at the other end. A security guard sat in a hut at the far side. Becky waved to him and he nodded back.
As she loaded up I walked out round a barrier to the Scrambler parked outside. I slid onto it and started it up.
A moment later she came out as the guard opened the barrier. She stopped beside me and the two bikes ticked over, the smooth four of hers and the lumpy twin of mine: one immaculate and cared for the other worn out.
Without a word she pulled off and I followed her, heading along Bay Road. She opened the R6 up and popped a wheelie, the back wheel skidding along the road once the front end dropped down. I worked the Scrambler to keep up. It really was a good bike, and she knew how to ride it.
We raced across town towards Round Up Central, ready to spring Casper. Take the tank. End my time at Faeston.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Rescue
CASPER WAS IN THE far end of Round Up Central, the part that joined the old shopping mall to the multi-storey. We parked across the road in an overgrown car park, behind the derelict Citizen’s Advice Bureau and next to a busted ticket machine, out of view.
‘Just go through the layout again,’ she said.
I explained what was on the main levels. Where the office was and Casper’s cell. The basement with weapon’s-store and Eblis. She reached into her rucksack and took out several grenades and a semi-automatic pistol.
As she slipped several clips of bullets into her trousers, I opened my bag taking out the shotgun, sliding in the one cartridge I had. There was also the crowbar and pistol with two rounds I’d got from Gregg. Becky reached into her bag again and pulled out a whole box of cartridges, passing them over. I loaded one and put the rest in my jacket.
‘Where did all this come from?’ I said.
‘Where does anything come from?’
I looked over at the building. The place where I’d worked for the last eighteen months.
‘What’s the best way in?’ she said.
I pointed towards the far end. ‘The fire exit. It’ll bypass some of the security doors. We’ll raise the alarm going in. Once we trigger it we need to get a move on.’
‘We go straight for Casper?’
‘Yeah.’ But if we couldn’t get him out I’d be off to the tank. I’d need Becky to get into it. Or find out how it was locked, at least.
We headed along the road next to the decaying BT building then up the side of the multi-storey car-park. We went to the fire exit, locked with three heavy hasps and padlocks. I raised the pistol ready to shoot them off but Becky smiled and pulled out a cloth bag, picking out a lump of soft material, playing with it in her hand. She took off three pieces, rolled them and shoved them into each padlock. Once they were in place she felt around in the bag again, this time bringing out small fuses with a detonator attached. One of each went onto the padlocks as well.
‘Plastic explosive?’ I said.
She nodded and lit each fuse with a lighter. ‘Stand back.’ As she moved over to the side I joined her. A few seconds later there were two loud cracks and the tinkle of metal falling to the ground. The third didn’t fire. I was about to go over to it when it blew.
‘Not the same without electric detonators,’ she said.
I pulled the remains of the padlocks off, opening the door.
We went inside and shut the door behind us. There was no sound of alarms. No one running down towards us. The staircase smelled of smoke from the explosive.
‘Follow me,’ I said, leading her up.
We stopped on level two. Footsteps came down towards us, fast, two people. I grabbed Becky and pulled her under the stairs. Two Round Up men went off at the floor above us. They looked like a couple of the new fellas: young, keen to see some action. Once they’d gone we carried on to level three and stopped at the door. This led to the corridor where Casper was. The door was one of the reinforced ex-prison ones. It was locked.
‘Make a hell of a noise getting in here,’ I said.
‘Don’t you have access to the keys?’
‘No chance.’ Not now. Not with Nico after me.
She examined the lock and door. ‘We could wait for someone to come out.’
‘There’s not time.’ There was a fair chance they’d already noticed our entrance.
She took out a piece of dynamite and wedged it under the handle, taping it by the lock.
‘That won’t do it,’ I said. At best it was going to damage the mechanism and weaken it. Most of the blast was going to bounce back, destroying the stairwell. It would certainly alert Round Up. We’d have them all on us.
‘It’ll do it, don’t worry.’
‘We’d be better off using the plastic explosive —’
‘No, this I’ll do it.’
I grabbed her wrist, stopping her. This was a stupid idea.
She swung towards me with her gun in her other hand. The pistol was aimed at me. ‘Back off, Trent!’
We stood like that for a moment then I released her, let her carry on taping the explosive in place. The gun was still aimed at me as she worked. Once she’d finished she lowered the weapon. ‘Look, Trent…’ she said. Then made some sound from the back of her throat. A grunt. She lit the fuse and went down the stairs.
I joined her as we huddled on the second level, neither of us saying anything.
There was a noise from the passageway and the door to level two opened, the one right beside us. Two men came through, Tyler and someone I didn’t know. For a second they stared at me. At Becky.
Then she raised her pistol. ‘Don’t move.’
I pulled out mine as well.
A moment later the explosive went off. It roared down the stairs over us and the two men. Chunks of masonry flew off, bounced around the stairwell and one hit Tyler on the head. He fell to the ground and lay there without moving.
The other man stared at his body.
I went over to Tyler and shifted the chunk of concrete that now lay on his neck, felt for a pulse. There was nothing.
‘Trent,’ said Becky.
‘He’s dead.’ I stood and waved my pistol at the other man. ‘Are you armed?’
He shook his he
ad and pulled out his pockets but his eyes were still on Tyler.
‘Stay here. Don’t move.’
I went over to Becky. Joined her and went up the stairs. She kept her gun trained on the fella the whole time but he didn’t move. Didn’t shift from the side of Tyler’s body.
The door to level three was still intact, the handle blown off, metal scorched but lock holding.
‘Shit,’ she said.
‘I said it wouldn’t blow —’
‘I know. I know.’
As she paced in front of the door, there were voices and shouts from below. I was ready to forget about Casper. Go straight for the Eblis. Get the hell out of there.
Then the door opened. It swung out and a Round Up fella peered out: Luke one of the regulars. Someone I recognised but didn’t know well. He went to say something and Becky swung the gun towards him.
‘Easy does it,’ she said.
He raised his hands and moved back through the doorway and into the passageway. When he looked at me I thrust my pistol towards him.
We followed him through the door, pulled it shut and locked it.
There were voices up ahead, several men. Becky shoved her pistol into Luke’s neck and pinned him against the wall. I slid past her and carried on.
When I came to the office I stopped at the doorway and looked round. There was Aaron and another man. Aaron had started in the last year. He was in his thirties. Keen but not too daft. I didn’t know the other fella. He was younger and look less sensible. There was no sign of Gregg or Will.
Aaron was doing all the talking. He said they had to stay there and guard the prisoner. The other man suggested they should investigate the noises. They argued and did nothing. Didn’t even notice me peering in.
Finally, Aaron sent the man off and he came towards us. I slid back towards Becky and held up one finger, then made a walking motion with the other hand.
When the man came round the corner he saw me. Before he had time to say anything I hit him in the neck, a sharp blow that made him gasp and grab at his throat. His eyes bulged and he staggered backwards towards Becky who smacked him round the back of his head with her pistol. He dropped like a sack of potatoes and sprawled out on the floor.
