Just Another Day

by Steven Clark

  ‘every month; they do this every fucking month?’

  Now it was Frank who interlaced his hands behind his head as he rocked back playfully on his chair.

  ‘They move at least one box a month, sometimes two. Each box contains between 24 and 30 million quid Terry, and the best of it is, your Grand is paid cash in hand. The last thing the Bank want is for someone to become aware that their money is being moved in this way. It was agreed that rather than issue cheques, it would attract less attention if it was paid in cash. What do you think of that then, not bad eh?’

  ‘Not bad, not bad, it’ll be like fucking Christmas every month Frank. Happy fucking days.’

  Frank sat forward on his chair and brought Terry back down to earth.

  ‘A word of warning Terry. It might be nice to be getting this extra cash but, you and I well know there are some evil bastards in our game. I wasn’t joking about the dangers involved. The Bank realise those same dangers which is why they are prepared to pay so well and to do it in cash.’

  Terry realised that Frank was actually serious and concerned for his well being, something he had not experienced before.

  ‘You’re right,’ said Terry being serious himself. ‘It’s not money for nothing. Let’s have the contract to sign before you change your mind and give it to some other wanker of a driver,’ as they both smiled across the desk.

  ‘Now’ said Terry as he signed on the dotted line without even reading the conditions, ‘how does this work and where do we take it to?’

  Frank poured them both another coffee as they discussed the why’s and wherefores.

  Terry’s little germ of an idea he’d had earlier when driving back from Bristol now started to recede. He had been thinking of some way to steal some of the money from the back of the container and thought that by pumping Frank for some information, he might be able to find a weakness in the system. Now that Frank had proposed him as the regular driver from now on, he would do very nicely out of the cash incentives and there was now no need to be thinking dishonestly.

  ‘Right, I get two days notice. They always use the same boxes, they will always be ACLU containers and there are six that they use. They use the same boxes in rotation. The last four digits are 6533, 6534 and so on up to 6538. When you drop one off at the incinerator, they will give you one of the other numbered containers to bring back.

  They look the same as an ordinary box, and they only ever use a standard good quality seal so as not to draw attention to the contents, but the door hinges have been reinforced so that no one can remove the hinge pins and open the doors without disturbing the seal.’

  Terry looked at his boss in a different way than a few hours earlier. He acknowledged that it had taken a degree of courage, whisky talking or not, for him to have opened up in the way that he did. He recognised that Frank had been carrying a huge burden of responsibility in the knowledge that he had and the fact that he could not speak about it previously.

  As he left the yard and Frank, burning the midnight oil and completing more paperwork in the office, he thought that they had both learned something. Maybe they had both earned the respect of each other. They each had their own roles, but it didn’t mean they had to be disrespectful in any way. Better to be a team than at loggerheads thought Terry as he turned out of the dock gate and gave a friendly wave to the Bobby.

  Think I’ll have a pint in the Bramley before I go home he mused.

  Chapter 16

  ‘Just slow down a bit and run that past me again little brother.’

  Luke was now looking intently at the swaying figure at the bar with the bulge in his arse pocket.

  ‘Yeah, he’s been doin it for a few months now. Soft cunt can’t help himself. He’s pissed. Told me all about it Luke. Says he’s doin another one in a few days.’

  ‘Do you think he’s said anything to any one else? Anyone here got wind of it?’

  ‘I don’t think so, I think he realised after he’d told me that he’d already said too much. He tried to pass it off as a joke and said he was just taking the piss and having a laugh. I could see it in his eyes bro, he was telling it for real and that wad in his pocket is certainly real. Peeled off a twenty for his fags and a pint of Guiness from a thick roll before he realised. He quickly shoved it back in his pocket when he saw me looking. Nobody else noticed as we were too close together.’

  ‘Did he say anything about when he’s driving again?’

  ‘Yeah, He’s got the day off tomorrow, no driving, that’s why he’s out on the piss tonight. He’s got a late run over to Yorkshire he said on Wednesday. Just the one container.’

  Luke continued to look at the racing pages as he quietly scanned the rest of the bar. No one paying any attention to Terry as he gently swayed as he downed the last of his ale. All the usual punters, no strange faces, no one else talking to him or wanting to buy him a pint. Pretty quiet tonight. Not many customers on a Monday night. Three regulars at the dartboard minding their own business and engrossed in their own company. Couple of Filipino crew from the Blue funnel boat in the Huskisson Dock, nothing to worry about there.

  ‘Irish Mary’ getting bladdered again and stroking the thigh of her next customer, a 19 year old deck hand off one of the fishing trawlers in the Canada dock. Poor lad wouldn’t know what had hit him when she’d finished with him. Half a dozen lads off the Tugs. They were just leaving to board the nearby Trafalger tug as they were off out to the Bar in the Liverpool Bay to bring in a big chemical tanker.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Terry swaying towards his table. One step forward and two back.

  ‘Fucking had yeh there Tony, eh. Had yeh going there mate didn’t I. Yeh believed every fuckin word of me little joke, didn’t yeh?’

  ‘You’re not wrong there Terry. It took me a few minutes to realise you were taking the piss out of me you old fucking wanker you.’

  He gave Terry a playful punch on the leg.

  ‘I might just give you a slap if you take the piss out of me again. Go on you old twat, piss off and leave us in peace eh?’

  ‘Aye, I didn’t want to fuck off without making sure yeh knew I was just joshing yeh. Just having a laugh, eh? Alright there Luke, just having a laugh with your Tony eh, just a bit of a wind up y’know?’

  Luke never looked up from his paper.

  ‘No problem Terry. He needs a bit of piss taking now and then, don’t you Tony. He was just telling me how he nearly believed you at first, and then he realised you were just winding him up. No problem Terry, mind how you go now, you’ve had a bit of a skinful mate. Look after yourself on the way home. Take it easy out there okay.’

  ‘Ah, cheers lads, I’ll be off now, think yer might be right Luke, maybe one or two over the odds eh. Take it easy boys, see yeh soon. Glad we sorted that out boys before I left. G’night and God bless lads.’

  With that, Terry swayed over to the door, took hold of the door pillar and stumbled out into the cold night air. He was well pissed, but even so, he realised he had spoken out of turn and the words of Frank echoed in his alcohol steeped brain, ‘There’s some evil bastards in our game Terry’; and they didn’t come much more evil than the Johnson brothers. He was well aware of the tales over the years including that of the last landlord to have spoken out of turn. It wasn’t just the chill of the night that made him shiver as he walked alone along the Dock Road.

  ‘You stupid old twat’ he said out loud as he stumbled along. ‘You’re a fucking arsehole Terry Penrose, a stupid, stupid fucking arsehole.’

  He turned the corner up Nelson Street and hoped his last few words to the brothers Grimm would have done enough to convince them that his story was nothing more than a fairy tale. As he hadn’t convinced himself, he doubted he’d done enough to convince them as he put one foot in front of the other and walked unsteadily away from the pub. Normally, he would sleep like a top after a bellyful of ale; tonight, he tossed and turned till the sun rose.

  ‘You OK Terry, you look a bit under th
e weather mate.’ J.J. climbed off the back of the big Mercedes tractor unit where he had been making some adjustments to the air brake couplings.

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine. Must have been something I ate the other day. I had the wild shites all day yesterday but I’m much better now. Good job I wasn’t due to do any driving yesterday. Don’t think I could have sat in me wagon for more than half an hour. Is frank in the office J.J.?’

  ‘You know him Terry, he’s always in the fucking office, think he lives there sometimes. Wish he’d give me a hand with some of these old fucking wagons he keeps asking me to repair. Half of them are like me Terry’ as he wearily climbed back up onto the diesel tank of the unit, ‘ready for the knackers yard.’

  Terry turned and began climbing the steel steps. He felt weary himself and met Frank as he was coming out of the door.

  ‘Hello Terry, didn’t expect to see you today. Thought you had that box to take out tonight. Everything okay?’

  ‘Not really boss, any chance of a quick word? I know you’re busy.’

  ‘Have to be pretty quick, I’m meeting the MD in Liverpool in about half an hour so I can’t be late. Can it wait till later?’

  ‘I really need to see you now; won’t keep you more than a few minutes, but I don’t want to talk to you in the yard.’

  They both went back in the office and Terry sat down on the chair, usually he would wait for Frank to invite him to take a seat but as he knew he was wanting away as soon as possible, he plonked himself down heavily.

  ‘You look a bit worse for wear Terry. You okay? You look like you’ve had a late night.’

  ‘I can’t do it any more Frank. It’s time for me to call it a day. I think I’m going to take early retirement. I’m sixty next week and the job’s just getting to me.’

  Frank also plonked himself down in the chair,

  ‘Fuck me Terry, this has come out of the blue, when did you decide on this?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking of it for a little while now. The kids are long gone and Connie’s been pretty poorly the last few years with a bit of a dicky heart and I’ve been feeling a bit wound up meself for a month or two. I think you know why eh?’

  ‘I did wonder how long you would be able to keep it up for Terry. I think you’ve done pretty good. There’s a lot of stress mate when you’re hauling those boxes, sometimes, I think its better not to know what you’ve got on the back eh? It’s not all about money mate; some things are more important Terry. You’re a rich man if you’ve got your health eh?’

  ‘Appreciate you understanding Frank. I won’t leave you in the lurch; I know how important everything is. I just wanted to flag up the idea to you and give you a bit of notice of what I wanted to do.’

  ‘Okay, when are you looking at going then?’

  ‘Well, I’ll have to sort out my pension and a few other things with the office, so it’ll probably be about a month or so. Will that give you enough time to sort out another driver for the special boxes?’

  ‘Yeah, don’t you worry about that mate, go home and get your head down for a few hours. I’ve got someone else in mind. Will you be back tonight to sort out that box for Yorkshire?’

  ‘Yes, no problem Frank, I won’t let you down or leave you struggling at all. I can do tonight’s job OK and I can easily do the next few specials. Could certainly do with the extra money before I finish.’

  ‘Okay. Leave it with me and I’ll sort something out. Now, I’ll have to love you and leave you. Stockie will whinge at me for being late if I don’t get to town in the next twenty minutes. Come on, I’ll walk down with you. We’ll have to get together for a pint before you go. You really got me out of the shit a few months ago mate and I owe you one.’

  ‘Thanks, Frank. Listen, you go on, I’m going to have a quick chat with J.J. before I go. Thanks for being so understanding. Like I said, I won’t let you down until you’ve got the right man for the job.’

  ‘Right, see you later. What time are you driving over to Leeds?’

  ‘The box needs to be in their yard by about 4 in the morning so to make sure I’ve got plenty of time, I’ll get back here for about midnight.’

  ‘Okay, I think most of the lads will be well gone by then. Jock Burns should be back before ten o’clock and he’s due to be the last man for the day. Just make sure you’ve got your keys with you to lock up when you go.’

  ‘Cheers Frank, see you in the morning. I’ll be in sometime after mid day seeing as I won’t get back from Yorkshire till late on.’

  Frank jumped into his three litre BMW coupe and did a swift exit from the yard. Mr Stock, the MD would not take kindly if he had to wait for his subordinate.

  Terry went wandering into the garage and found his old friend in the mechanics pit under one of the wagons and crouched down to speak to him.

  ‘Well, that’s me J.J. Just told the boss that I’ve had enough. Jacking it in mate and taking my pension. Must say, I’m glad that I’ve made the decision after wondering about it for a couple of months.’

  J.J. put down the torch that he’d been using to get a good look at the brake drums and wiped his hands on an oily cloth as he climbed out to greet his old comrade. Every time Terry saw him, he seemed to be wiping his hands on something or other.

  ‘Good for you Tel. About time you old bastard. Will you manage okay?’

  ‘I think so mate, might have to make a few adjustments and savings here and there; maybe sell the car and get a cheaper one, but you know how Connie is. She won’t get any better and so I think its time I looked after her a bit more eh?’

  ‘Give her a month Tel, and she’ll probably fuck you off from under her feet mate. She’ll probably tell you to piss off out of the house and stop moping about. Tell you to take up gardening; get an allotment or something.’

  They both grinned. ‘You’re not far wrong there J.J. Might fancy a spot of gardening or something. Anyway, talkin about pissin off, I’d better do just that, I’ll be back later to take that box to Leeds. I’m going home for a few hours’ kip, see you in the morning.’

  J.J turned back to climb down the short ladder into the pit and Terry walked out of the garage and drove home. He certainly felt better leaving the yard than he had done a short time ago when entering. Now that he had made the decision, he knew he would sleep better.

  It was pitch black when he got back to the yard. It was a bit later than he had originally planned, just after half past midnight but he still had plenty of time. There wouldn’t be a lot of traffic on the roads on his way to Yorkshire at that time of night. He quite enjoyed doing the odd night run from time to time. Made a pleasant change to have quiet roads instead of wall to wall traffic which was becoming the norm for day time driving on any of the Motorways. He knew he had made the right decision. He’d had enough of driving. Easy street was not far away now. Couple of months would see him sorted.

  Everywhere was locked up and even Frank had gone home earlier. The lights from the office windows would usually help any of the drivers using the yard at night as it shone down from above but there was no light tonight. A heavy, cloudy sky didn’t help matters as Terry pulled up outside.

  Leaving the engine of his car running, he used the headlights to help him get the key in the padlock. After taking off the heavy chain from around the gateposts, he swung the gates open and drove inside. He parked his car alongside the container and gave the wagon the once over making sure all the lens covers were in place on the back of the trailer. Quite often other drivers would ‘borrow’ a brake light cover or a bulb from another trailer, he had done the same himself on other occasions, and the last thing he wanted was to end up with a couple of points on his licence if he got pulled up at night because one of his lights was not on or he was showing a white light instead of a red one. He would check that they were all working properly once the engine was running, but it all seemed ok up to now.

  He unlocked the cab and climbed onto his seat. Frank had sorted the paperwork earlier and left the delivery notes
and the police gate pass under the seat. A few glances and everything appeared in order. Right box number, right registration and all the details on the pass sorted. He drove the wagon and the trailer out of the yard and pulled up just outside the gates. Leaving the engine running and his drivers door open, he climbed out of the unit and walked back to close and lock the gates once more.

  He had his back to the trailer as he was padlocking the chain in place. The gates were made of heavy galvanised steel and took a little bit of getting together, but he had managed ok, same as he had done a thousand times before. Job done, time for the off.

  He never heard a thing, but just as he was about to turn back to get into the lorry, he felt a slight pressure from behind in the middle of his back just below his shoulders blades pushing his chest onto the gate. It wasn’t a sudden pressure, but he didn’t have time to get out from behind the wagon and he was becoming pinned between the gate and the back of the trailer and he couldn’t move. He tried to turn around but the pressure was too strong and he could feel his chest and ribcage becoming constricted, pressing more and more into the gates and he was having difficulty breathing. Suddenly, the pressure stopped. He still couldn’t turn round, but the pain in his chest remained constant, at least it wasn’t getting any harder to breath. He tried to look around but it was impossible. He could only turn his head one way, slightly over his left shoulder, but he couldn’t move at all.

  He suddenly realised that the wagon was on a very slight slope and that he must have forgotten to put the handbrake on when he jumped out. He was positive he had put the brake on. That would explain why the pressure had built slowly, the very slight camber of the roadway had meant that the lorry had rolled back very slow. Maybe, as the pressure had eased, the wagon had levelled off and wouldn’t move back any further. He might be able to squeeze down and climb under the trailer. His arms were trapped just in front of him, maybe if he could free them, he would have a little more room to move. He tried to breathe out as much as possible to shrink his chest a bit more but it was no good. His breathing was becoming more and more laboured as the life was being slowly squeezed out of him.