‘Martine,’ I shrieked. ‘Martine.’
I ignored the pain in my hand as I threw myself at Sally. I grabbed her gun arm and twisted it, bringing my elbow down onto the outside of her elbow.
She screamed as her arm let out a grisly crack. I plucked the gun from her fingers and turned it on her.
‘Get down,’ I roared.
Sally dropped to her knees, tears tracking mascara down her cheeks.
Martine. Oh, Martine.
I looked around the warehouse as I moved to her side.
Trent had finally gained control of the shotgun. He whacked Dave with the butt and then turned the barrel on him. The big truck driver raised his hands in the air and sunk to his knees.
Nick and Christina had their hands around each other’s throats. They rolled from side to side, gritting their teeth as they strained. But their hands were too little, and their throats too broad for either of them to strangle the other.
Luca and Stefano lay on the ground with their hands on the back of their heads. Billy stood over them, his gun in one hand and his phone held to his ear with the other.
‘Martine.’ I dropped down next to her.
She let out a groan. ‘It hurts,’ she said.
I placed the gun on the ground next to me and pulled at the little hole in her Miss Muddy shirt. It tore open to reveal the bullet, compressed to half its length where it lay against the vest.
I sagged against her. ‘You’re going to be okay.’ I wiped at my eyes with the back of my arm. ‘The vest stopped it.’
She raised her head and looked at me. ‘I’m not dying.’
‘No.’ I hugged her. ‘You’re a hero. You saved my life.’ I kissed her forehead. ‘Don’t get up. The bullet may have cracked a rib or two. We’ll need to get you x-rayed.’
‘A hero, huh? Wow. Wait till I tell the girls.’ She put her head back down and closed her eyes
I picked the gun back up with my left hand and stood. ‘You.’ I nudged Sally with my foot. ‘Get up. And don’t do anything stupid. I want you over there with the others.’
She cradled her arm as she climbed to her feet and, with the gun pressed into her back, made her way over to where Luca, Stefano and Dave lay.
Nick smacked Christina’s head into the ground a couple of times and she sagged backwards, her eyes closing as her limbs relaxed. He stood up and grabbed one of her arms, shaking his head as he dragged her over to us. ‘Genetically thick skulls,’ he said as he lined her up next to Luca. ‘Makes us hard to take out.’
I walked over to where Carlos still lay on the ground. He moaned as I nudged him.
Nick came over to stand next to me. ‘Oh look,’ he laughed, ‘he’s drooling.’
‘How much did you hit him with?’ It looked like he had wet himself as well.
‘It’s an X2 Defender,’ Nick said as if that explained it.
‘And?’
‘It’s got the backup shot feature. I gave him both shots straight up.’
‘Oh.’
We each took an arm and dragged him to our pile of bodies.
Billy finished on the phone and placed it back in his pocket.
‘The cops and paramedics are on their way,’ he said. ‘Here.’ He held the gun out to Nick, shaking it when the little man stared at him in confusion. ‘Take it.’
‘But Billy.’
‘Just take it Nick.’
Nick took the gun and trained it on the hostages.
Billy walked to the nappy pile and sat on the edge.
‘What’s up?’ I sat next to him and put an arm around him.
He looked at me and smiled as he brushed at my cheek with his fingers. ‘I love you so much,’ he said.
‘Billy. What’s going on?’
‘Even covered in mud you look like an angel.’ His smile was radiant as he gazed at me.
‘You’re scaring me,’ I said. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Just wanted to tell you, before….’ He let go of my face and sagged forwards.
‘Billy?’ I pulled my arm from around him and knelt down in front. ‘Billy. Are you okay?’ I reached up and touched his face. Red fingerprints stained where I touched him.
I looked at my hand. Blood coated my palm. Fresh and wet, a bright, shiny red.
‘Billy.’ I shook him. ‘Billy?’ I ran my hands over him. Blood, invisible in the black fabric of his t-shirt, coated his side.
Billy,’ I screamed as he toppled forwards onto me.
I lowered him to the ground onto his uninjured side and felt along his stomach. It was dry. I ripped my Miss Muddy shirt off and tossed it to the side. It was too dirty to use. My next shirt wasn’t so bad. I balled it up and pressed it to his side, trying to stem the flow of blood.
‘How?’ I asked.
He looked up and me and smiled. ‘The first shot.’ It was the merest whisper. He closed his eyes and I felt his body relax against me.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ I said. ‘You talk to me Billy. Talk to me.’
I rocked him with my body but there was no response.
‘Don’t you dare die, Billy,’ I yelled at him. ‘I didn’t go through all of this, just to have you die.’
Tears blinded me but I couldn’t let go to wipe them away. I had to keep the pressure on the wound. It was the only thing I could do for him. The only chance I had of saving him now. But there was so much blood. It seeped through my shirt till my hands were coated in it.
‘Hang in there, Baby,’ I whispered. ‘Please.’
‘Here.’ Martine was back on her feet. She handed me her clean t-shirt.
I placed it over mine and held it firm. He was still bleeding. Did that mean he was still alive?
I couldn’t let go to check for a pulse. Was he already gone? Had I missed my chance to say goodbye?
Martine sat next to me, her hand rubbing my back as I cried silent tears.
It felt like forever till the noise of approaching sirens could be heard. The ambulance arrived at the same time as the police.
Trent went to meet them, returning quickly with the paramedics. ‘Over there.’ He pointed to Billy.
The two men trotted towards me. One of them carried a stretcher, the other a bag and cylinder of oxygen.
‘He won’t stop bleeding.’ I looked over at the one who knelt down beside Billy to feel for a pulse. His name badge said Ralph.
‘Easy love.’ Ralph had a deep, calm voice. ‘We’ve still got him. And if I have anything to do with it, it will stay that way.’ He looked over his shoulder. ‘Roy, I need a pressure bandage.’
Roy opened the bag and pulled out a padded bandage.
‘What’s his name?’ Ralph asked.
‘Billy,’ I whispered. ‘Billy Milano.’
‘Any known allergies?’
‘No.’ Not that I knew of. Allergies were not a conversation we’d ever had.
I backed away to give them room to work. They pulled the drenched shirts away and strapped a bandage on instead.
‘Special trauma bandage,’ Ralph said. ‘They designed them for the military to use in combat.’
I nodded, too worried to reply.
‘Oral airway.’ Ralph held his hand out and Roy deposited a plastic device into it.
I shuddered as Ralph opened Billy’s mouth and forced the device in. I’d seen it done before, but never to someone I loved.
‘Rebreather.’ Roy handed Ralph a mask and then an oxygen pipe which they attached to the mask.
‘The caller said there were two shot,’ Roy said as he turned on the oxygen.
‘I was.’ Martine said. ‘But I had a vest on.’
‘Lucky you.’
Ralph and Roy lifted Billy onto the stretcher.
‘Can I come?’ I asked.
‘Love.’ Roy’s voice was kind. ‘You need to get cleaned up before you touch him again. Last thing he needs is an infection.’
I nodded, but held onto Billy’s foot as they wheeled him to the ambulance. They didn’t stop me.
‘Where are you taking him?’ I asked.
‘Prince of Wales,’ Roy said. ‘It’s just up the road. Don’t you worry. The surgeons are waiting for him.’
I sucked in a breath and nodded. It was out of my hands. All I could do was hope and pray.
‘You come with us,’ Ralph said to Martine.
She squeezed my hands as she climbed into the ambulance and took a seat on the bed across from Billy.
Ralph climbed in the back and pulled the doors shut and Roy jumped in the driver’s seat. The engine roared and the sirens started up. I felt my heart rip out as they drove away.
‘You did good.’ Trent put his hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head. ‘I was meant to save him.’
‘Chanel, if not for you he would be dead for sure. Now he’s got a chance. And we’ve got the main players.’
‘I need to….’ I wasn’t sure what I needed to do.
‘You need to get home, have a shower and go to the hospital.’
I nodded. Yes. That’s what I needed to do. ‘What about here?’
‘I’ll handle this for now,’ Trent said. ‘You can deal with your paperwork later. Are you right to drive?’
‘I’ll be with her.’ Nick took my arm. ‘Come on, Princess. Let’s go get you cleaned up.’
‘I’ll see you at the hospital,’ Trent said.
I nodded, too numb to answer. Home. Shower. Hospital. I concentrated on those three thoughts.
12
Billy
I wasn’t sure how we got home. I know I drove, but I have no memory of the drive.
Climbing the two flights of stairs felt like climbing Mt Everest. I struggled to get my limbs to move.
Billy.
I unlocked the door to the apartment and pushed the door open.
‘Chanel.’ Mum jumped up from the couch and crossed to me. Harry looked over from where he was adding milk to mugs. ‘What happened? Why are you so dirty?’
‘Oh, Mum.’ I started to cry, and once I started I couldn’t stop.
She pulled me into her arms and rocked me as I sobbed.
‘Billy.’ I hiccupped. ‘Billy.’
‘What about Billy?’ Harry wrapped his arms around both of us but I could feel the tension in him.
‘He’s alive,’ Nick said. ‘He got shot. He’s undergoing surgery as we speak. We need to shower so we can go to the hospital. I’ll go first.’ He trotted up the stairs to the bedroom to get some clothes.
Mum pushed away and peered into my face. ‘Is he going to be okay?’
‘I’m not sure,’ I hiccupped around a sob. ‘I thought he was fine, but a stray bullet got him. And then he just collapsed. And there was so much blood. And I couldn’t stop it.’ I started to shake.
Harry walked me over to the couch and pushed me into it. ‘Tess,’ he said. ‘Can you make Chanel a cup of tea? Put plenty of sugar into it.’
He sat next to me and took my hand. ‘If I know anything about my boy,’ he said, ‘it’s that he’s a survivor. If anyone can make it through, he can.’
I nodded, staring at the floor, torn between wanting to remember my last moments with Billy, and wanting to forget them.
‘By the way,’ Harry said. ‘When we arrived there was a strange man tied up to your balustrading. ‘I hope you don’t mind but after reading your note we decided it best we call your friends at The Station. They came and took him, and urrrr, all the other stuff away.’
‘Thanks,’ I said. I wasn’t capable of dealing with Big Bad Ben right now. ‘What time did you get here?’
‘We came here instead of the airport.’
‘What about Spain?’ I looked up at him.
‘Pumpkin.’ He shook his head. ‘Do you really think we could leave not knowing if you and Billy were safe?’
I took a deep breath. I hadn’t looked at it from that point of view. ‘No,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry.’ I knew how much they had been looking forward to it.
‘We can go anytime,’ Harry said. ‘But today we get to be here for you two.’
Mum held a cup of tea out to me. I looked at it but didn’t take it. It felt selfish to be worrying about my own needs when Billy was hurt.
‘Drink it,’ she ordered. ‘You need to stay strong for Billy.’
I sighed and took it from her. The sugar made me shudder but I swallowed it. She was right. I needed to pull myself together.
‘Next,’ Nick called out as he came out of the bathroom. ‘You have no idea the places I just had to wash mud out of.’ He shook his head. ‘There was some inside the end of my pecker.’
‘Nick. Please.’ I took another sip of the overly-sweet tea.
‘What?’ he said. ‘I’m a man. I have a pecker. I can’t help it.’
I sighed and stood up from the couch.
‘Want me to heat you up some pizza?’ he asked.
‘No.’ I put the tea on the coffee table and headed for the bathroom. The thought of food made me feel sick.
‘You snooze, you lose,’ he said as he opened the fridge. ‘Harry, Tess, what about you?’
I shut the door before I heard their response.
Billy. How long had it been since he got to hospital? Was he still in surgery? Was he still alive?
I let the water wash away my tears with the mud as I sagged against the wall. I washed my hair and got as much mud out of the cracks and crevices of my body as I could. Nick hadn’t been exaggerating about that.
When I felt I was clean enough to be let in to see Billy, I hopped out and dried myself. A little more mud came off on the towel, but overall I had done a thorough job.
‘Chanel.’ Mum’s knock accompanied her voice. ‘I have some clothes here for you.’
‘Oh. Thanks.’ I opened the door wide enough to take them from her. ‘A dress?’ I held it up.
‘You want to look pretty for Billy don’t you?’
‘It might be hours before they let us see him.’ I had often seen people trying to sleep in the hard, plastic, waiting-room chairs. And it got cold in there if you were sitting still for too long.
‘Jeans,’ I said. ‘And a jumper, to go.’
She nodded and took the dress back off me. I towel-dried my hair and put on the underwear she had left. I pulled my hair back into a hair band and put some deodorant on.
She knocked again and I took the jeans and shirt from her. ‘Thanks.’ I slipped into them.
‘Right.’ I was feeling better now that I was clean. Or maybe it was the sugar. ‘Let’s go.’
Nick shoved the last of his pizza into his mouth while I dragged on my shoes. I grabbed my wallet out of my vest, transferred it to my handbag and then followed Mum and Harry out the door.
I stared out the cab window, ignoring the idle conversation happening around me. The cab driver was a chatterer, and I was incapable of chatting.
He dropped us off at the Prince of Wales Emergency Department. I marched through the doors and up to the reception counter.
‘A gunshot wound was brought in here about ninety minutes ago,’ I said. ‘Billy Milano. We are his family.’
The clerk nodded and looked at her computer monitor. ‘Take the lift to the second floor. Turn right as you exit and follow the hall, past the canteen, to the end. There’s another waiting room there. Ask the nurse on duty.’
‘Thanks.’ We followed her instructions and easily found the next station.
‘Billy Milano?’ I asked the nurse. ‘We were told to come here.’
She looked at her monitor. ‘He’s still in surgery love. Take a seat. I’ll let you know when news comes through.’
Still in surgery. It was better than some of the alternatives. I shook my head to dislodge the picture of Billy being zipped into a bag in the morgue.
‘Let’s sit down.’ Harry tugged on my arm.
I nodded and followed him to the chairs. They were as hard as they looked.
I sat with my head back as I stared at the clock on the wall. The big hand pointed at the twelv
e, while the smaller was on the one. I couldn’t believe it was only one o’clock. Only two and a half hours since we were lining up to start the Miss Muddy.
If I could go back, what would I do differently? How could I have stopped this? How could I have stopped Sally from shooting Billy?
If I had gone for that gun first, rather than give Billy mine, then he would have been unarmed against Luca. Would that have made things better or worse?
If I hadn’t tackled Billy, would he still have been standing in the exact spot that he was when the gun went off?
If I had tackled Sally, rather than go for the gun, then she wouldn’t have pinned me down. She wouldn’t have been trying to shoot me. Then Martine wouldn’t have hit her.
The day’s events went round and round in my head as the hands on the clock went round and round. I knocked back food, I knocked back coffee. I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. But all I could think about was what I could have done differently.
‘Chanel.’
I opened my eyes and looked up at Trent. ‘Hey.’ I patted the seat next to me.
‘Your Mum asked me to give you this.’ He held a coffee out to me. ‘They’re down at the canteen.’
I stared at it for a second before taking it.
‘How is he?’ he asked as he sat.
‘Still in surgery.’ My voice broke a little on the word surgery, but I managed not to cry. He’d been in there for five hours.
He nodded and took a sip of his coffee.
‘How did it all go?’ I asked.
‘The Super is very pleased,’ he said. ‘They’re in the process of going through the warehouse offices at the moment.’
I nodded. They would be taking all the files and computers back for the detectives to go over.
‘What about, Gloria?’ I whispered her name.
He leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of him. ‘I was worried it might become a case of her word against Billy’s,’ he said. ‘But Sally Sparkles rolled over. Something about trying to avoid a murder charge.’
‘But…he’s not dead.’ The unspoken word ‘yet’ hung heavily in the air between us.
Billy Page 25
