Beyond the Rage

by Michael J Malone

  It was really a test. He didn’t think he needed them to help out, but it would see how keen they were for some work if they dropped everything and drove down.

  He heard footsteps, the creak of the door and the rumble of a male voice. Kenny could almost picture Mark trying to act like he was here to protect the President. He’d be all bluster and self-importance. Calum would be standing to the side and slightly behind him, looking more the part.

  Thinking he’d better get downstairs and introduce everyone, Kenny quickly pulled up his trousers and ran his hands under the tap. As he was drying off with one of the softest towels he’d ever held in his hands he heard another voice. Alexis. Even from where he was Kenny could tell it held a note of panic. Then there was a muffled scream, a clicking sound and a thud as if someone had fallen to the floor.

  What the fuck...?

  He opened the door and ran across the small landing to the top of the stairs. His senses screamed danger. From his position he could see that the front door was open, light leaked into the hallway. At the bottom of the stairs he could see a pair of small feet clad in purple leather.

  Without thinking he bounded down the stairs, leaping the last three to land near a body. It was Diana. She was on her back, eyes closed, mouth open and her long wig askew.

  ‘Diana, Diana,’ Kenny shouted and knelt at her side. There was a wound on the upper right section of her chest. Blood flooded into the carpet beneath her. Where was...? He looked up and down the line of the hall into the kitchen. ‘Alexis,’ he shouted. ‘Alexis.’

  He heard someone behind him. He turned in time to catch a single blow from something hard and metallic on the side of his head.

  ‘Alexis,’ he mumbled and fell to the floor beside the supine form of Diana.

  All went black.

  25

  He didn’t know where he was or what he was dreaming about but his head hurt like a bastard and some eejit was saying his name over and over again.

  ‘Kenny,’ it said. ‘Kenny. Wake up, will ye?’

  ‘Leave me alone,’ he mumbled. ‘Can’t you see I’m in agony here?’

  A hand pushed at his shoulder, the voice louder, more urgent. ‘Kenny, you really need to wake up, mate.’

  Two things struck him then. One, he wasn’t sleeping, his head really was this sore; and two, he had been unconscious on the floor beside a dead woman.

  With one hand at the side of his head, he tried to push himself off the floor with the other before he realised he was holding something. Something heavy. He lifted it to his eyes and tried to force them open.

  ‘Kenny, where did you get the gun?’

  He managed to open his eyes; took in the gun and the speaker at the same time.

  ‘Mark?’ he said.

  ‘No. I’m Calum. Mark’s chasing some guy down the street.’

  ‘Wha...?’

  ‘Here...’ Calum held out a hand. ‘Let me help you up.’

  Kenny’s legs felt as if his muscles had been replaced with sponge. His head spun as he got to his feet and he leaned against Calum.

  ‘Is she...?’ He pointed at the body at his feet and then Alexis popped into his head. ‘Is there anyone else here? A young woman?’

  Calum shook his head. ‘Just you and...’

  ‘What happened? What did you see?’

  ‘Shouldn’t we phone an ambulance?’ Calum asked while kneeling down beside Diana. He felt at her neck.

  ‘Is she...?’ Kenny’s gut scored acid. He was almost too scared to ask.

  ‘I can feel something,’ said Calum. ‘I’m no expert but–’

  Just then the door opened. A large figure blocked out the light. Kenny forced himself to look through the pain.

  ‘Put the gun down, mate. It’s me, Mark.’

  ‘We really need to phone an ambulance,’ said Calum. ‘This woman could die if we–’

  ‘Before we phone anybody, is it just us three in this house?’

  ‘Aye,’ said Calum. He turned to Mark. ‘Did he get away?’

  Mark nodded, disgusted at himself. ‘Got in a car and drove off.’

  ‘Was he on his own?’ Kenny asked.

  A nod.

  ‘You sure it’s just us here? You checked every room?’ Kenny asked, looking down at the gun that was in his hand. It was heavy. How did it get there? He felt his knees give and Calum steadied him before he fell down again. Taking his weight, Calum shifted him round to the foot of the stairs and guided him to have a seat.

  ‘Is she dead?’ asked Mark. He leaned forward and peered down at Diana. He looked to Kenny like a small boy who had just discovered the corpse of a dog. All that was missing was a stick for him to poke her with.

  ‘Mark,’ said Kenny, ‘get me a glass of water, please. Calum, from the top tell me what happened.’

  ‘You don’t know?’ Calum screwed his face up.

  ‘I was kinda out of it, mate. On account of someone tried to crush my skull with a... ’ – he held the gun up – ‘... whatever it is.’

  ‘So you didn’t shoot the old dear?’ asked Mark, returning with a teddy bear mug filled with water.

  Kenny took a sip. ‘What did the text say?’

  ‘Protection job,’ said Calum.

  ‘Right,’ said Kenny after another sip. ‘I’m hardly going to kill someone I’m trying to protect. Which reminds me, are you sure there’s no one else here?’

  ‘Should there be?’ asked Mark.

  ‘Mark, could you do a tour of the place and Calum tell me what the fuck happened.’

  ‘Okay,’ Calum said as he watched Mark bound up the stairs. ‘We got your text last night. Wondered at first if you were serious...’ He paused. ‘It was a bit cryptic, like. So we decided it was a test. Left straightaway and we’ve been outside the house since two o’clock this morning.’ He looked a little shame-faced as he described what happened next. ‘We kinda fell asleep... and when we woke up we saw this guy walking out of the front door and down the path. He left the door open so we legged it over here and found you and...’ His voice tailed off. He coughed. ‘…And the old lady lying there. Mark took off after the man and I tried to wake you up.’ He shrugged. ‘Then you woke up.’

  Kenny drained the mug. He felt more alert now, but his headache was still intense. He fingered the lump pulsing on the side of his head. About big enough for an egg, he thought.

  Mark ran back down the stairs. ‘Nobody here but us chickens,’ he said.

  ‘Mark, could you rake through the kitchen drawers and see if you could find me some painkillers?’

  ‘Do I have to do everything?’ Mark looked at Calum.

  ‘I’ll go,’ said Calum, shaking his head.

  Kenny stood up. ‘Feeling a little better now,’ he said and moved round to kneel beside Diana. He felt for a pulse on the side of her neck. Nothing. He leaned forward and placed his ear just before her mouth. Nothing. He put his fingers on the side of his own neck, found his pulse point and transferred that brief experience to Diana’s skin.

  It was cool to the touch, but a vein rose against his fingers. It was weak.

  ‘Did you make much noise chasing after the shooter?’

  ‘Fuck me.’ Mark’s mouth hung open. ‘I was chasing a killer down the street?’

  ‘Stay with me, Mark. We don’t have much time. I need to judge if an ambulance, or worse, the police, are on their way.’

  ‘Jesus. I don’t know what I would have done if I caught up with him.’

  Calum arrived with a packet in his hand and more water. He popped a couple of pills from the packet and handed them to Kenny.

  ‘Thanks, Calum. Did you get a good look at the shooter?’

  Mark was striding up and down. Agitated. The reality of the situation was pushing at his mind. ‘I could have got killed. What the fuck is going on here?’
r />   ‘Explanations later, Mark. We need to stay focused; get help for Diana and then get the fuck out of here.’

  ‘We need to phone the police.’

  ‘We’ll do that once we’re on our way,’ Kenny answered.

  ‘But we can’t do that,’ said Mark. ‘We’ll be aiding and abetting and other such shit.’

  ‘We’ll be giving ourselves space to find the bastard that did this,’ said Kenny. ‘Don’t fucking argue with me, Mark. My head is too fucking sore. I’ve lost my girlfriend and her mother’s at death’s door. I’m not in the mood.’

  Calum stared at him as if making a decision. His brow furrowed. In his expression Kenny could read his thoughts: if we step over this line, we don’t go back.

  Mark was hoping from one foot to the other whispering ‘Holy fuck’ over and over.

  ‘Right,’ said Calum, ‘the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get this old lady some help.’

  Kenny nodded, liking what he was hearing. This lad had promise.

  ‘Right, Mark,’ Kenny said, taking charge and beginning to feel almost like himself, ‘you go to the bathroom and wipe down every surface you think I might have touched.’

  ‘But...’

  ‘Mark, just fucking do it,’ said Calum. He looked at Kenny. ‘Where else were you?’

  ‘Kitchen. Living room.’ Kenny appraised Calum. A cool head, and quick actions in a crisis, he could use someone like this. ‘You take the kitchen. I sat at the table for a wee while. Drank from a mug.’

  As Calum and Mark set about removing all traces of his presence, Kenny did the same in the living room, but not until he had made Diana a little more comfortable. Picking up the quilt and pillow she had given him the previous night, Kenny did his best for her. She gave off a little moan as he lifted her head to place the pillow below it. He felt a hot rush of relief. It sounded like the old bird had some life left in her.

  Moments later they were in their cars and headed back out of the town towards the M74 and Glasgow. Kenny judged that he wasn’t quite safe enough to drive so he asked Calum to drive for him, for no other reason than he needed to think and he couldn’t while Mark was chirping in his ear all the way back up to the city.

  In the car he prompted Calum to phone emergency services. ‘Say there was a gunshot, the gun man is gone and there’s an old woman hurt.’

  Calum dialled and did as he was told. The operator tried to get more information from him. Calum looked across at Kenny and forced his voice up a pitch. ‘Listen, missus, I’m only sixteen and I’m worried about my gran, so stop asking me questions and get the polis and the paramedics here pronto, will ye?’ He closed the connection and turned to Kenny. ‘Let’s get back to the city and find us a madman.’

  26

  Back in Glasgow, Kenny brought the two young men up to his flat. He left them in the living room and went into his kitchen for some more painkillers and something he could use to make a cold compress.

  Some paracetamol dissolving in his stomach and a pack of frozen peas wrapped in a tea-towel against his head, he returned to his guests. Mark was standing by the window taking everything in and Calum was sitting on the sofa, straight-backed, both feet on the floor.

  At the window Mark was looking up and down the street. ‘Hey, you can pure see in to folk’s bedrooms at the other side of the street. D’ye ever catch anybody shagging, Kenny?’

  ‘Your knee okay, then?’ Kenny asked Calum, pointedly ignoring Mark.

  Calum nodded.

  ‘Man, this place is so cool,’ said Mark. ‘When I get my act together I’m going to get me some of this.’ As he spoke, his eyes coasted around the room, taking in the electronics and the expensive furniture. ‘You’re a lucky man, m’man.’

  ‘Luck has fuck-all to do with it, m’man. Turn it down a notch, will you, Mark?’ Kenny asked, making a face. He recognised his irritability and chewed it down. Sometimes the man’s energy was too much for him. He sat opposite Calum and looked from one to the other. They were so different. The one chunkier and lively, the other leaner and steadier.

  What was he going to do with them? He thought back to the moment when he sent Mark the text: what was he thinking about? At that point he hadn’t thought beyond having some back-up. He didn’t think he really needed it, but some sixth sense had prompted him. Good job he had sent the text. If he hadn’t, he might well be warming a cell in Dumfriesshire that very morning as a suspect of an attempted murder.

  Diana. He wondered how she was.

  Alexis. Where the fuck was she?

  One thing was for sure, she hadn’t been taken by the shooter. Mark reported that he jumped into a car on his own. So where had she gone? He was beginning to regret coming back up to Glasgow. He was disorientated; hadn’t been thinking straight. Mind you, he’d been thinking straight enough to remove all trace of himself, and then he’d abandoned Alexis. What a colossal prick. Not his brightest moment.

  All he could see was that he needed to get the hell out of there before the police arrived. The shooter and his boss were in Glasgow, so that was where he needed to be. But only Alexis knew who the boss-man was, and she had vanished.

  Mark walked across the room and sat beside his brother. He picked up a remote.

  ‘You got Sky Sports on this thing?’ he asked as he pointed it at the receiver.

  ‘No,’ said Kenny. ‘Put on a news channel, will you?’

  ‘The news?’ said Mark in a dismissive tone.

  ‘In case the shooting we’ve just come from has reached the media,’ Calum explained.

  ‘Oh, right.’ Mark’s eyebrows all but merged with his hairline. ‘Fuck me, we could be on the telly.’

  What was he going to do with these two, Kenny thought again to himself. Calum returned his gaze, nothing showing on his face, looking as if one word was enough for him to spring into action, but until then energy would be conserved. Mark leaned forward, elbows on his knees, rocking in position, his face and body charged with the possibilities of this new connection with Kenny. All action; little thought.

  The news channels were full of the latest natural disaster. Black heads bobbing in floodwater. Naked children without the energy to swat flies away from their faces. The Westerner raped their lands for centuries, moved out and they continued to pay the price.

  He fired up his laptop. Opened the BBC website and looked for West of Scotland news. There was nothing. Not yet anyway, but he was sure it would make the news. Thankfully, guns were rare in this part of the world and therefore newsworthy when used. The fact that an old woman was shot should get everyone clutching at their breasts in panic.

  ‘Hungry?’ he asked them.

  ‘Thought you’d never ask, mate,’ Mark grinned. ‘I’m hank marvin.’

  Calum nodded.

  Kenny considered what might be in his fridge and freezer and nodded. The staple of the Scottish male was waiting for his hand to put it together. ‘Bacon rolls do you?’

  ‘Champion.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Fifteen minutes later they had each munched their way through two bacon rolls and two cups of coffee. Kenny felt a little nauseous, but he knew he needed some fuel in his body or he would collapse. He forced the food down with a grimace while skimming through the various news channels. Nothing.

  ‘So,’ he said, thinking out loud, ‘I’m in the loo. Diana answers the door. She gets shot. Alexis will be next but I disturb the killer by running down the stairs. He hides from me. Alexis runs – where to? Only place could be the back door.’ He faced Calum. ‘Was the back door open when you cleaned down the kitchen?’

  ‘The door was closed, but I didn’t check if it was locked.’

  Kenny tried to recall the view from the kitchen window. He got an image of a well-maintained garden. Some trees and bushes. Could there have been a hut?

  ‘I need to find out
how Diana is,’ Kenny said.

  ‘Want me to be the grandson again?’ asked Calum.

  ‘Good idea.’ Kenny returned to the search engine. Mumbled, ‘Hospitals in Dumfriesshire,’ as he typed. Got a hit, dialled a number. Handed the phone to Calum.

  ‘An old woman was brought in this morning with a gunshot. Can you tell me how she is?’ Same voice, same note of concern. ‘No one’s been brought in? Who am I? I’m her grandson, Davie.’ A pause. He looked over at Kenny.

  Kenny heard the electronic crackle of a male voice coming down the telephone line.

  ‘This is not a prank, mate,’ said Calum. ‘I saw her body. The blood was all over the place. I’m no telling you where I am.’ He hung up.

  ‘What the fuck was that about?’ asked Kenny.

  Calum was wearing a grim smile. ‘They’ve had no gunshot wounds today. In fact the receptionist can’t remember the last time they did have to treat a gunshot wound. He was going to call the police on me for wasting his time.’

  Kenny pulled up a mental image of Diana the last time he’d seen her. The wound was in the upper part of her chest. With luck it would have missed all of her vitals and exited the other side. If so, she’d be in a lot of pain, would possibly need a blood transfusion, but her life wouldn’t be in danger.

  Could Alexis have doubled back and taken both her and her mother somewhere safe? Man, he couldn’t think straight. That bump to the head was causing him serious trouble.

  He leaned back on the sofa, let the leather comfort his aching muscles and closed his eyes. How tired was he. He felt the pull of sleep and fought it. Not yet. There was work to do.

  ‘Describe the shooter.’

  ‘Kinda ordinary,’ Mark shrugged.

  ‘Slim with a hint of muscle,’ said Calum. ‘About five ten. Short dark hair. Walked like he knew how to take care of himself.’

  It was the same guy. Kenny was sure of it. Hired muscle. But who was he working for? He needed to get out onto the streets, speak to some undesirables, find out who this guy was. Glasgow was a small city. Someone was bound to know.