by Vance Huxley
“He’s a paramedic so no, but that shooter knew I’d left. We’ve got a watcher, someone who knows me and possibly my truck.” Harold looked over at the three people round Janine. “How bad is it?”
“Just clipped her leg, more like a cut. She can still walk on it thank all and any Gods.” Emmy paced, too angry to stand still. “He didn’t aim at her. The bastard aimed at me again Harold, and Janine happened to be behind me. If we hadn’t seen him again I’d be picking out a real Liz special for that Einstein.” Harold realised that some of Emmy’s anger had to be shock and maybe fear, a natural enough reaction to being hunted.
“Maybe you should work elsewhere for a while, until he’s bored?”
“No, or in a year’s time he’ll be waiting again. Put your soldier head on and kill him, then send his head back to Einstein as a hint.” Emmy’s smile looked a lot more like a snarl. “I’ll bag up what’s left if that’s where you hit him.”
“Deal, but you’ve got to keep moving if you’re in the open, and keep a bit further away. Usually sixty or seventy yards is tops with a shotgun unless he’s got a rifled barrel and proper ammo, and if he had them?” Harold shrugged. “He’d have hit you.”
“I can do that, keep moving at seventy yards from that fence. That might even tempt him over the fence.”
“He’ll never get back.” Alfie waved the two-two. “At that range both me and Billy will nail him.”
Harold opened his mouth to say he’d do it and realised, everyone expected him to stay away to tempt the shooter in. “It’ll be easier with the 303, Alfie.”
“Really? Oh boy, he is sooo screwed. That’ll go clean through the fence.” Alfie had been disappointed because the two-two didn’t go through the thicker timber around the fence panels.
“In that case go and get it, and find a good place to lurk. It’ll cost us three woodcutters, and your muscles will definitely be missed so get him first time.” Harold turned towards Janine. “I’ll take Janine back and hope he tries again, and misses.”
“At least if we’ve got a paramedic he can sort Pippa’s arm out.” Emmy pushed him. “Go on. I’ll remember, walk about a lot and stay back a bit.” Emmy sounded almost eager now.
“Hey, girlfriend kiss.” Holly whispered in his ear after the level two. “Keep it all normal, because that cheers the rest up.” She grinned. “And I like the practice.” Either might be right since several people smiled as Harold and Billy helped Janine into the pickup, maybe anticipating the kiss, maybe anticipating someone nailing the shooter.
* * *
“It’s not working. We’ve seen him twice, well back, but the bastard won’t come closer. He’s got a pair of binoculars and must know about the sentries.” The strain showed on Emmy. “I want to go over the border mob-handed and flush him out.”
“Not allowed.” Harold frowned because the continual tension wore away at everyone, that and the state of Pippa’s arm. Though Janine limped around smiling because the wound had been quickly dressed and she knew there’d be no permanent aftereffects. “Maybe he sees the shooters setting up in the morning?”
“No, the three with rifles come in across the gardens and after the first day I thought about that. None of them even peek, just wait for him to shoot.” Emmy paced, she did a lot of that the last few days. “Curtis wants me to stop.” She smiled. “He’s really sweet but I’ve explained. If its Einstein the swine will just wait.”
“Maybe there’s a watcher our side, deep inside the border. Someone who tells him when the rifles come up?” Alfie frowned. “He’d have to live there or come in really early, in the dark.”
“We can do that, earlier than he can.” A little smile broke on Harold’s face. “If we catch the spotter, I’ll bet Emmy can make him talk.”
Alfie looked at Emmy’s face. “Cripes, yes.”
* * *
“I ought to come.” Harold felt useless.
“Someone might be watching for you as well. If you disappear he’ll get nervous.” Emmy had come to see the party off
“But still.” Harold gave it up. “Just be careful.”
“Yes mummy.” Alfie grinned and hefted the rifle. “You can come when this goes off.” He let himself gently down over the wall at the opposite end of Orchard Close, in case someone was watching the gate. This bloke needed killing before the general paranoia grew any more. Harold, Emmy and Holly watched in silence as the three men disappeared into the dark. The trio would spend a cold night lurking in position, a lot nearer the border than expected, and even with taking a couple of hours to sneak up slowly they’d be in place by two a.m.
“I’m going home, though I might call by Curtis for a hug.” Emmy’s teeth showed briefly in the gloom. “I wouldn’t want to be shocked by whatever you pair get up to on the doorstep.”
“We’ll walk you to Curtis’s door first.” Holly’s smile showed. “So I’m sure you’re safely occupied.” From the welcome when she turned up at midnight, Emmy was definitely going to be occupied for a while. Harold turned down a half-hearted offer to come in for a cuppa, and walked Holly home.
“I’m worried about the others, Harold.” Holly had been holding his hand tightly while they walked so Harold already knew that. “Not only that, but Valentine’s is in two days.”
“True, but you’ve been practicing your level four.” Three times on the doorstep and once in the pickup, and the level four in the pickup had been just as tempting the second time.
“I’d better practice again, because that might help me to stop worrying.” Harold recognised the pause while Holly wet her lips. That innocent licking stayed the same, but looked a lot sexier to Harold every time he saw it. Then all his concentration went into not turning the four into a seventeen. Having a girlfriend backed off the others, now Harold had to keep himself backed off.
Sharyn had waited up to report that Daisy had been good enough for her first lesson with Curtis. “Though Hazel isn’t so keen on the new curriculum after skinning a rabbit. Well not actually skinning it, but watching seems to be gross enough for now.”
“Holly has agreed to take Veronica and Hazel out to empty traps one morning, then she’ll be faced with cats and rats as well.” Harold went into the kitchen. “I’ll just have a drink and work through some things.”
“You’ll go to bed and worry there, about Emmy and Alfie and Pippa’s operation. I feel just as useless but Patricia and Lenny are certain they won’t kill her.” Sharyn pushed Harold towards the stairs. “I stayed up to make sure you didn’t sit down here all night, worrying.”
“But they’re going right up to her elbow, just to be sure.”
“They’re trying to leave the joint, then Sandy and Liz will try to make a limb so Pippa can still give Robert a Berrying now and then.” Sharyn pushed harder. “Go, before I get big-sister on you.” Harold went. He stayed awake worrying quite a while but eventually went off to sleep.
* * *
“Go away.” Hilda smiled, a tired smile. “I’m not disturbing Patricia and Lenny just to answer questions. Go and soldier.” She relented a bit. “I’ve already told Sandy to joiner, Casper to mother, Finn to electric and Janine to limp. Oh look, more people to say no to.”
Harold looked round and yes, half a dozen more were hanging about or drifting closer. He raised his voice. “I’ve been told to go away, really politely. Hilda will let the guards know once she does.” Harold took out his radio and waved it. “I’m giving Hilda this, so most of you will find out before me.”
Hilda looked at the little plastic gadget. “Really?”
“Yes and no. Press that and let us know the operation is over, then any other news to make us all feel better. Then use the phone and get Faith on the switchboard to tell everyone on the system. I’ll be someplace near to the gate or Casper so I can hear their radio or phone.” Harold went to find Casper and keep occupied, which turned out to mean knocking down some of the ruins and barrowing the bricks across the
open ground to strengthen the wall. Harold soon found out why; pounding on things with a hammer helped with anger, worry and frustration.
* * *
“Crap.”
Harold didn’t answer, saving his breath for running across the open ground towards the pickup. Running and worrying because the 303 had fired all by itself followed by the pops of the 22s. No shotgun first so something had gone wrong. Neither spoke as Harold did his best street racer impression in the pickup until a frantically waving figure stopped him.
Bernie’s huge grin spoke volumes. “Alfie nailed him before the bastard took a shot.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Emmy reckons she knows where the lookout is so I’m here to watch along these gardens, just so Mr. Sneaky doesn’t run off when Emmy comes to call.”
“We’ll stay and watch as well.” Harold smiled. “Wouldn’t want Mr. Sneaky to get away. How does Emmy know?” He took his two-two out of the cab and settled down to watch the long strip of open ground at the back of a row of houses.
“The woodcutters were all talking in the minibus, apparently, and decided that the watcher couldn’t use a radio in case it was overheard.” Harold nodded at that because he had the same problem. “As soon as the minibus arrived, three of them went into houses and ran upstairs into a back bedroom. Then they watched the houses they could see, back into our bit. He uses the curtains on a derelict house. Toyah saw them close when nobody with rifles came up.”
“The gunman must watch for the curtains.” Harold grinned. “The watcher would see there were no guards coming in secretly today.”
“Yeah, and then the three in the bedrooms moved to the front and watched for the gunman. Sal wandered down and across the road where he couldn’t see her, and into Alfie’s house to give the exact position. Alfie pointed your big rifle in the right direction, then popped up and fired. The bastard went back and down and both Billy and I hit him as well.”
“Dead then. Well done.” Harold would have liked to question the bloke, but dead was definitely good.
“I reckon the first did it, or would have. Here we go.” Harold could hear voices, then the crash of a door going in. Casper’s radio crackled.
“I tried Harold’s radio and got Hilda. Where are you?”
“Hi Emmy. With Harold, helping Bernie to watch the back door.”
“Come along to the next side street, and turn down there. Someone will wave. He’s alive.” Even on the crackly radio, Emmy sounded really happy about that.
The unshaven scruffy man on his knees in the garden didn’t seem happy. “Who sent you in here?” Harold resisted an impulse to smack him one just on principle.
“I’ve asked, and I think he’s being truthful.” One look at the man’s face and Harold believed Emmy. “The scroat got caught on Geek territory, living rough. Someone who sounds like our gunman offered him a place in the gang for this one job. He’s got food for another week in there and the water is working.”
“I didn’t know it was about shooting a woman.”
Harold looked at the terrified face. He would have loved to shoot the man out of hand, and thought that right now Emmy and several others would do a lot worse. “There’s a woman having an arm amputated right now because of you.”
“Eye for an eye?” Emmy lifted her machete. “Someone pull his arm out straight.”
“No Emmy. He’ll bleed out so you might as well just kill him.” Harold held up a hand to stop her reply. “I know you’re good with that, but he’s an unarmed man. Later you might not want to think about that, late at night.”
“I want him to suffer.” Emmy still hadn’t given up on his arm, the way her machete kept going up and down a bit.
“Send him to Cadillac.” Alfie curled a lip. “Send him unarmed in his underwear, you know what a nasty sod Cadillac is.”
“Cadillac might sign him up and give him a gun.” Holly frowned. “But he can’t do that if this bloke is a runner, can he?” A big smile broke over her face. “Unarmed, in his underwear, and we send a message first saying he’s a runner.”
Emmy scowled at the man. “You’d better sneak all the way across the Hot Rod patch without being seen, because if Cadillac hands you back I’m taking that arm.”
“But it’s freezing. I’ll die of cold or starvation.” Emmy lifted her machete again. “All right. I’ll do it!”
“There’ll be curtains and maybe clothes and food in some of the houses.” Alfie’s smile wasn’t pretty. “Though if you get caught scavenging the Hot Rods will kill you anyway. Their far border is only four or five miles south and maybe the next gang will be less trigger-happy?”
“To be fair, if we wound you badly enough the Army will take you for the work gangs?” Emmy hadn’t quite given up on eye for an eye.
“I’ll run.” The man stood, very carefully, and started to strip.
“Don’t ever come back.”
The face looking back at Harold meant every word. “Not in this life, no chance.”
As Casper and Bernie set off in the pickup to get rid of their prisoner, Harold sighed. “I’ll give him a day before telling Cadillac or they’ll hunt him down for fun. Now let’s see this gunman.”
When he saw the body Harold agreed that the first shot was enough, and at least one of the others would probably have been fatal in time. Billy inspected the ammunition. “At least we’ve got another shotgun. Why didn’t you make all ours shoot these big bullets?”
“If you miss they’re no more use than anything else, and shotguns aren’t accurate. I’ve put nine smaller balls in ours which will spread but they’re also big enough to hurt, really hurt.” Harold looked along the border fence. “Leave the posts but take this thing down and we’ll use it for pyres. His for starters. Do you still want to send Einstein his souvenir, Emmy?”
“Too true.” She moved forward. “Who will deliver it?”
“Robert wants to. He promised not to go ape and start shooting but wants to see their faces.” Robert, back in Orchard Close waiting to find out how well his wife came through losing half an arm, deserved that much. “Casper can go as well, with a white flag on the pickup. He can complain that the Geeks are letting assholes use their territory to shoot at the neighbours.” Harold inspected the small binoculars with an inbuilt rangefinder. “I can’t prove this or the coupons were given to him by the Geeks.”
“At least we can get on with the trees now.” Alfie flexed his shoulders. “I need to hit something.”
Harold grinned. “Me too.” He felt even better mid-afternoon, when the radio told them that Pippa’s arm was off and the bleeding stopped. Despite the shooting, the woodcutters were in a terrific mood at the end of the day. Some of that showed in the banter about Valentine’s, because anticipation was growing. Not least because the girl club were winding the men up with promises of something special.
Chapter 6:
Visitors and Visiting
Sharyn produced her very best older sister look. “Here, this disgusting exhibition is for you.”
Harold took the sheaf of cards and envelopes that hadn’t needed a postman to arrive through his door. He leafed through them and sniggered. “Not all for me. There’s some for you.” Harold lost the smile. “And Hazel.”
“Ooh, your face!” Sharyn scowled. “Who sent me a card? I’m not interested in all that.”
“You don’t really expect me to look at my big sister’s Valentine cards, do you?” Harold mimed being sick. “How about you open yours and I open mine?” He hesitated. “What about Hazel’s?”
“You’re going to open hers? She’s fifteen in a few days, Harold, and don’t tell me you never looked at the girls at school.” Sharyn’s eyes brightened. “Did you send anyone a Valentine?”
“Maybe?” Harold sighed. “Sorry, I came over all Uncle-Harold for a moment.” He put Hazel’s envelopes on the table. “I shouldn’t be getting any cards now. Well one, hopefully.”
“Hopefully? What happened to just a girlfriend to back off the
rest?” Sharyn nudged him. “I’ll close the curtains so you can walk her home.”
“You’ll be too busy with whoever your Valentine partner is.” Harold sniggered. “Maybe that’s the real reason for shutting curtains.” He looked at Sharyn’s stunned face and gave her a hug. “Hey, I’m joking. Everyone knows you aren’t after a bloke. Why do you think your partner is always one that the girl club aren’t interested in?”
“I know. But it’s just not Valentine’s without Freddy.” A long hug later she sighed. “I’ll put these up or that girl of yours will ask where they are, because I’m more or less certain the hussies over there sent them.”
“But you can’t be sure.” Harold ducked the Berrying, and opened his cards. As expected none had a name, though he was fairly certain who sent the one with a big ‘Level 5!’ written in kisses. The one about wimps might have been from either Casper or Liz and had the original writing blacked out. Next year all Valentine’s cards would be reused ones, or they’d be back to home-made because not very many had been scavenged. Sadly, there were no Birthday, Christmas or any other greeting cards in the mart.
Harold got out before Daisy started asking questions about cards with kisses, because answering that sort had to be a Mummy’s job. Halfway up the path he realised that his Valentine’s kiss might be the real reason he’d hurried, and Harold stopped dead in his tracks. Crap. Holly might not be up for that sort of fun if this got much more serious. Holly only had one boyfriend before the crash, one who never walked her home or kissed her properly. Worse, Harold didn’t want someone more serious, he enjoyed the quiet talks walking Holly up to her door and his level two and three hellos.
Someone had watched the path, since the door opened after one knock and Harold’s worries went out the window when Holly met him with a big smile. “Happy Valentine.” Holly was already wetting her lips so conversation never happened. Then she hugged hard and whispered. “Are you ready to try five?” She giggled. “Since you are definitely walking me home.”
