"Some men have to ask things more than once. I gentlemen, am not such a man. I like to ask a question and have that question answered straight away, is that clear?"
Rajeev and Amir assume that was a rhetorical question. Tommy Rae kicks Amir's stool from under him, and he begins to choke has he hangs by his neck eighteen inches from the floor. Tommy Rae then kicks Rajeev's stool from under him. Rajeev and Amir both try to remain still. They tighten their necks, and breathe slowly through their noses. Tommy Rae was about to tell Daz to put them out of their agony by putting them back on their stools, but stops. Tommy Rae and Daz both look at them hanging there.
"Look at that Daz. Is that fucking amazing or is that fucking amazing?"
"They must have been hung before Tom."
"How long do you think they could keep that up for?" Says Tommy.
Daz just stares in disbelief and doesn't answer. They continue to look at them hanging there. Not panicking. Breathing slowly through their nostrils. Tommy Rae crosses his arms and waits. One minute, two minutes, five…
"You're a funny pair." Says Tommy. "Put them back on their stools Daz."
Daz puts them back on their stools.
"I take my hat off to you two. And I, don't even wear a hat. That was quite impressive. Most people start panicking, and kick and swing and they're unconscious in thirty seconds. Well done boys." He then has an afterthought. "We should have filmed that Tom."
"I doubt if anyone would believe it Daz, they'll all think it was a trick." He looks at Rajeev and Amir. "Now where was I?"
"You were telling them that you like to be answered straight away Mr. Rae. Which is why you kicked their stools from under them, because they didn't."
Rajeev and Amir look at each other and realise that even if they think it's rhetorical, answer it anyway.
"Oh yeah, so I was." Says Tommy. "Some men have to ask things more than once. I gentlemen, am not such a man. I like to ask a question and have that question answered straight away… is that…"
"Yes" Rajeev and Amir say in unison.
"Clear?" Says Tommy Rae slightly irritated.
Rajeev quickly answers again, fearing the end of the question was actually, the 'clear?'
"Yes"
Followed by Amir.
"Yes"
"Don't be too eager boys. Listen to the questions first, eh?"
"Yes." They both shout.
"That wasn't a question ok?" He says becoming more irritated.
Rajeev and Amir are confused; do they answer?
"Ok." Says Rajeev and Amir.
Tommy Rae walks behind Rajeev, and pokes his finger into the two holes in his shirt, made by the two bullets. He then walks around the front, and does the same with the two holes there.
"You have four holes in your shirt." He says gently outlining the holes with a finger. "Two entry holes, two exit holes. Each hole is covered in blood. But here's the thing." He violently rips open the shirt and the buttons fly across the room. "There's no holes in your back, and there's no holes in your chest. Now I know you were shot because I witnessed it with my own eyes. The gun used is one powerful little fucker, I should know, it used to be mine. I gave it to my brother on his fifteenth birthday. So, I'd like to know how." Tommy Rae looks at Amir. "You did what you did… and, what the pair of you were doing tonight at my brother's house." He pauses and looks at Rajeev and Amir, and adds. "And they were questions by the way boys."
"My brother and I were hoodwinked." Says Rajeev.
Daz laughs out loud.
"Hoodwinked? I aint heard that word for years Mr. Rae."
Tommy Rae shoots him a look.
"Well I haven't… it's the sort of thing my granddad used to say."
Chapter 21.
Gus comes back into the bedroom covered in blood and dirt.
"It's done. I've buried him. Can I go now?"
"No you can't. Check on my Kenny make sure he's ok." Insists Jane.
Gus sighs and feels the pulse in Ken's neck. Larry looks puzzled.
"Buried him? Where have you buried him? I didn't tell you to bury him."
"Yes you did."
"No I didn't."
"Put Craig in the boot or something, just get him out of sight. That's what you said. Well he's out of sight. And it's ok he won't be found. I managed to drag him behind an old garden shed."
Larry's stomach sinks; he knows he's talking about his garden shed.
"Kenneth is fine, can I go now?" Gus adds.
"Oi you." Shouts Jane "You said you've given him a lethal dose. So you'll stay here until he comes around, otherwise you'll be getting a lethal dose off me."
A sudden realisation hits Larry for six.
"Where the hell's Rajeev and Amir?"
"Ah" Says Jane.
Larry's shoulders drop again.
"Ah? What's ah for? Please don't tell me you've killed them too."
Jane screws her face up and takes a deep breath…
"One of them might be dead."
Larry's shoulders now hit the floor.
"After I shot Craig one of them tried to steal the money. Well it's not their money, its Ken's."
"Where did you shoot him?"
"In the driveway" She stops, realising what Larry means this time.
"Oh, in the back, twice."
"Was it Amir or Rajeev?"
"I don't know."
She thinks for a moment and then it starts to come back to her. She screws her face up again.
"Tommy and Daz were there too."
Larry's shoulders jump back on his shoulders.
"In the driveway?"
"Yeah."
"Fuck, Tommy's got them."
Gus has had enough. He doesn't mind being unethical for Ken and Jane; with Ken and Jane you may have to stitch-up a Stanley knife gash across someone's face. No problem. Remove the odd bullet from someone's leg, backside, or knee cap. Couldn't be easier. January 4th last year, is a date branded, stamped, carved, and forever fixed into Gus's memory. That was the date when Tommy Rae first made contact with him. 'This is Tommy Rae, Kenny Webster's brother.' Gus knew Ken had a brother, but had never met him or knew anything about him. But he guessed right, that a family member like a brother, would be an unsavoury type just through association. 'I need your help, and I'll pay you a thousand pounds' What he didn't know until he got there was, he was going to have to remove a man's testicles and penis while he was conscious. Tommy wanted it done professionally; wanted the man to live, and not to bleed to death, which would have happened had he or Daz performed it. Of course Gus said no. But after being told why the man was in this rather unfortunate pickle, and more importantly, being given the choice between removing the man's testicles and penis, or having his own removed, by Daz. Gus performed the procedure. The man had just been released from prison after serving just six years of a twelve year sentence for the abduction, forced imprisonment, and rape of two young girls on their way home from school. One of which was the daughter of Tommy's yoga instructor; who incidentally watched the operation taking place that morning.
Gus brushes himself down and looks around for his jacket.
"I'm going. I don't care anymore. If you offered me fifty thousand pounds to remove a splinter from your fingertip, I'd say no. If that lunatic psychopath Tommy Rae's involved in this, then I'm out of here."
Chapter 22.
Daz is holding his mobile phone up in the air filming Rajeev and Amir hanging by their necks again. Apart from a gentle swing of the rope, they are hanging there perfectly still.
"I think we should send this in to, You've Been Framed. Says Daz. If we tell them we don't want the two-hundred and fifty quid for showing it…"
"Yeah. Tell them they could give it to charity or something. The survivors of hanging."
The pair of them watch Rajeev and Amir swinging.
"Get them down Daz. I'm beginning to like them. Fuck knows why." Says Tommy.
Daz gets them down, unties their feet and hands, and removes t
he ropes from around their necks.
"You two are funny. Are people taught that in…" He pauses. "Where are you from again? Just give me the country this time."
Rajeev and Amir aren't really up for a conversation at the moment; but Rajeev manages a squeaky…
"India."
"Do you know what boys?" Says Tommy. "I've been absolutely everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Every country on gods sweet earth, I've visited. Done the lot. I've got air miles coming out of my ears. I've got photo albums coming out of my ears. Daz'll tell you. Where haven't I been Daz?"
"You’ve been everywhere Mr. Rae. You name it. You’ve trod it."
"I've never been to India." Says Tommy. "And do you know why I've never been to India?"
Rajeev is about to shake his head no…
"Well I'll tell you. Every time I've seen India on the telly, there's been flies. Flies in their food. Flies around their mouths. Flies on their baby's faces; which by the way, they don't shoo away. What the fuck's that all about?"
He looks at Daz.
"It's beyond me Mr. Rae."
"If there's flies on your baby's face, you flick the fuckers off, don't you?"
"Well I would Mr. Rae." Says Daz.
"That's why I've never been to India. Filthy country. Clean it up, and I'll be there in a shot. I fucking hate flies with a passion. Do you know I once emailed Airwick the spray people saying; never mind your sprays stinking of apple blossom and honey and lemons, give me a bastard spray that squirts fly killer every couple of minutes. They didn't get back to me. I now employ a fly-man and pay him three hundred pound a week to keep me fly clear. If I see a fly though, he gets fuck all and a slap."
Rajeev hasn't a clue what Tommy Rae and Daz are talking about, and he has no intention of asking them to explain.
"I want you to tell me what you meant by Hoodwinked?" Asks Tommy.
Daz can't stop himself from laughing through his nose.
"Sorry Mr. Rae, but hoodwinked is funny, you've got to admit that."
Tommy Rae just stares at Daz, which should, and normally is enough for Daz to know to stop talking; but not this time.
"He must've learnt English out of a really old dictionary or something." He laughs.
Finally Daz reads Tommy Rae's face and shuts up. Tommy Rae wants to repeat the question, but doesn't want to use that word again and is searching his brains for an alternative. Daz realises what Tommy Rae is trying to do, and whispers to him tricked? Tommy Rae makes no acknowledgment of Daz's helping whisper.
"How were you tricked, and who did the tricking?"
"We were told we were going to make a follow up documentary about my brother." Says Rajeev.
"Documentary?" Asks a puzzled Tommy Rae.
"Yes." Answers Rajeev, but then stops.
He's waiting for Tommy Rae to ask the next question. He doesn't know how to react to this man, this even worse man than his last captor. He's frightened of upsetting him. Tommy Rae waits for Rajeev to continue, but he doesn't. Tommy looks at Daz and laughs.
"This is like pulling teeth." Says Tommy Rae.
"Shall I have a go?" Asks Daz.
Rajeev tenses up fearing Daz will let the punches flow down upon him again.
"Listen little man." Says Daz. "Mr. Rae wants you to tell him what you're doing in our country, what you were doing in Kenny's house, and why you were trying to nick Jane's handbag."
"We…" Rajeev starts to answer. But Daz hadn't finished…
"Oi, I haven't finished yet."
"Sorry."
"But, much much more importantly. Why the fuck you aint dead."
Chapter 23.
Gus hasn't left the bedroom. Jane won't let him.
"You're a hundred percent sure it was Tommy Rae?" Says a worried Larry.
"Yeah." Says Jane. "It was him."
"Oh it was him alright. I can feel it in the air." Says Gus.
"Shut the fuck up Gus, just pump more of that stuff into him if he starts waking up." Says Larry.
"Don't you dare." Shouts Jane.
Gus closes his eyes and starts laughing in disbelief at his situation.
"My wife asked me to retire a few years ago. Move to the Isle of White. I said forty-nine was no age to retire, but guess what? If I ever get out of this ghastly house, this hell hole that you call home. If I ever set foot on the pavement outside. I'm on my way to the Isle of white."
Neither Jane nor Larry takes any notice of him.
"Larry love, we need Ken. We need to wake him up. He'll know what to do."
"Yeah, he'll know what to do alright" Says Larry. "Kill us all."
"Oh lovely." Gus says sarcastically.
"Can you wake him up?" Jane asks Gus.
Gus sighs because that's exactly what he doesn't want to do.
"Yes. I suppose I can."
"Then do it."
She looks at Larry.
"We're chasing our tails here Larry. Ken will open his eyes and see us. Us. He'll know we had nothing to do with all this."
"But we did." Says Larry.
"He won't know that though."
She looks at Gus.
"Wake him up."
Gus has no fight left in him. If tonight's the night he'll meet his maker, then so be it. He searches through his bag, finds a small bottle of fluid, fills a syringe with the fluid, and injects it into Ken's arm. They wait. Nothing.
"Well?" Asks Jane.
"You shouldn't mix livestock antidepressants with alcohol. So we'll just have to wait and see for a minute. Just give it a minute."
Jane thinks for a second… then…
"Livestock? You said bovine. Not livestock. Bovine means men and apes doesn't it?"
"No of course it doesn't. Bovine means…"
But Jane cuts in…
"What the fuck have you put into my Kenny?" She shouts.
Much to the relief of Gus, Ken's eyes snap open. Gus is so used to filling his syringe with 30ml of Quianazine and jabbing it into the hindquarters of a cow, he forgot to reduce the amount and gave Ken the same 30ml; a lesser man would have just fallen asleep and died.
"Hello love." Says Jane being the first to be brave enough to gauge the situation.
Ken just looks around the room.
Gus doesn't have a brave bone in his body, but he knows it's his turn to speak and slowly stands up. The manner in which he does so, worries Jane. He clears his throat…
"Their maybe a slight…"
Jane jumps up and cuts in again.
"How slight?" She asks
"Huh? You don't know what I'm going to say yet."
"How slight?" She shouts.
"Fifty percent-ish?" He answers nervously.
Ken is looking at Larry who quickly looks away from him.
"Right ok I'm ready now." Says Jane. "Fifty percent chance of what?"
"Paralysis."
"What?" Scream Larry and Jane.
"Short-term, not permanent." Gus quickly adds.
Jane falls on her knees at the side of the bed and holds Ken's hand.
"Can you hear me Ken?"
Ken begins to blink hard and deliberately.
"Oh god look at his eyes," She turns to Gus. "What the hell have you done to my Kenny's eyes?"
Ken is trying to let them know he can hear, and he can use his eyes to blink yes or no. Larry worked it out after the first blink, but is rather scared to talk to him; even if it is only with his eyes. He walks over to the bed and looks down at Ken.
"Blink once for yes. Twice for no." He says.
Ken blinks twice, then pauses and blinks once.
"Do you know what happened to you tonight?" Asks Larry.
Gus steps forward; he wants to see the answer. Ken blinks twice.
"Thank god for that." Says Gus.
Ken hears Gus and looks at Larry. Larry knows he has to tell him something, but what? The truth? Could he take the truth? Well as Ken can't move, perhaps this would be the best time to hit him with the truth. But Larry hesitates. H
ow short-term is short-term? Will the truth be a miracle cure and make Ken jump out of the bed in anger and throw him out the window?
"Oh what the hell, let's just do it." Says Larry's syndrome has he takes a deep breath. "Jane killed Craig by shooting his head off because Craig killed you. But the bullet hit your mobile phone and not you and knocked you unconscious instead. But obviously Jane didn't know that when she shot his brains out… oh, and Gus has pumped you full of tranquilliser shit."
Gus gasps.
"I don't think 'pumped and tranquilliser shit is the correct vernacular Lawrence."
But Larry's going for it and continues.
"Craig was trying to sneak off with Rajeev and Amir. He wanted to cash in on them himself."
Jane and Gus keep their eyes on Ken. Both are thinking how brilliant Larry's lie is. He's taking the blame away from them, and placing in on a dead man. A man who has no course of redress. Gus steps hesitantly forward.
"It was just a very small injection of a mild sedative Kenneth. To ease the pain you understand." He says as he steps back.
Ken moves his eyes slowly and stares at Gus. Although Ken's facial expression is a blank page, Ken deliberately blinking twice, sends a shiver down Gus's spine. Ken looks back at Larry.
"I found out what Craig was up to and set a trap for him. Sorry Ken, but it sort of went wrong." Larry is struggling to expand on the lie which Jane senses and decides to take it over.
"Your brother and Daz turned up." She says.
Ken's body jolts. Jane stands up. Larry takes a step backwards. Gus leaves the room unnoticed; he'll call his wife from the Isle of White just as soon as he gets there.
Ken is slowly beginning to regain slight movement here and there.
"We think Tommy has Rajeev and Amir." Says Larry.
Ken suddenly sits bolt upright. Larry's head nearly hits the ceiling. Jane throws her arms around Ken.
"Are you ok love?" She asks.
Ken takes her arms from around his neck, and gingerly moves his legs so his feet are touching the floor.
"Ken?" She asks again.
"Who the fuck are you lot?" Asks Ken.
Jane and Larry do a tiny double take.
Million Pound Appointments Page 19
