Dead Watch: a fast-paced thriller you don't want to miss

by Steve Liszka

  Then, there were the triathlons. She’d worked so hard to be where she was at this point; number three in the country for her age group, and she believed she’d only get stronger. By the time she reached the over forty category, she was fairly certain she would be number one. Then, there was her career. She loved her job, and the thought of giving it up for the length of time she knew it would entail, was a killer.

  Unlike in most other jobs, due to the nature of the work, the moment that a woman knew she was pregnant she was meant to notify the brigade who would immediately take them off the run and onto light duties. It also meant that they couldn’t wait for the twelve-week window to be closed before they let the cat out of the bag. If she had the baby, she would have to have the full nine months off work doing mind-numbing paperwork, followed by at least another six months off to look after the child. That meant the best part of a year and a half off the run, and the thought of that drove her crazy.

  Finally, and this was the crucial thing in her mind, there was Jo herself. She didn’t want to be a mother. She didn’t even like kids. If she did have it, she’d only end up resenting the child for dragging her away from the job that she loved, and ruining her chances of sporting success. She didn’t think it fair for the kid to have that burden hanging around their necks for the rest of their lives. No, she was pretty certain that if she had a child, and even if it was healthy in the physical and mental sense, emotionally it would be well and truly screwed.

  Even though he hadn’t said much, Bodhi agreed with her. Not the bit about her being a potential bad mother, he was fairly certain if she did have the child she’d be great at it, just like she was great at everything else she put her mind too. But other than that, he was onboard with her thinking. He also agreed with her sentiments about him. She was right; he was basically a childish, selfish motherfucker. She often told him that he loved the sea more than he could ever love another human being, and while he had always laughed at the notion, part of him thought she was probably right.

  He left the van next to the kids’ park and walked up the steep bank that brought him out on the river path that accessed the houseboats. When he walked up the self-made wooden bridge that linked his boat to the land, Vera, his seventy-year-old next-door neighbour was there to meet him. He loved Vera; she was a free spirit like himself and young at heart. When she was in her twenties, she had worked at the fairground, driving a motorcycle along the wall of death.

  ‘That was one hell of a party you must have been having last night,’ she said. ‘Right old racket coming from your place.’

  ‘Sorry about that, Vee,’ Bodhi said, his heart sinking at the thought of what had happened.

  ‘Don’t be sorry,’ she said with a cheeky smile. ‘Just remember to invite me next time. You know what a party animal I am.’

  Bodhi tried to smile back, and walking to the entrance, quickly saw that the keys in his hands were now redundant. The door had been kicked in and was hanging off its hinges.

  When he stepped inside, the place looked like a war-zone. The handmade kitchen that he had spent so long creating was now a pile of firewood in the middle of the floor. The tables and sofa had been flipped over, his books and CDs were strewn across the place, and the TV screen was smashed on the other side of the room to where it normally sat. He guessed that it must have been the same men he had beaten up the night before. They must have dragged themselves up, he thought, dusted themselves down, then come here to get their revenge.

  The pile of human shit in the middle of the floor showed that one of them had probably lost his nerve while in the act. He had laughed when a copper had told them once how burglars would sometimes drop their pants and take a dump at a victims’ homes. It wasn’t them being malicious to the homeowner, it was just the adrenaline build up was so big, something had to give, and in most cases, it was their anal sphincter. As he turned his nose up at the smell, it didn’t seem so funny anymore.

  Before he could go into the spare room and inspect his beloved boards and kites, he noticed a can of petrol sitting on top of what had once been a bookshelf made of scaffold planks. He walked up to it for further examination, half expecting to see a note from the offenders but there was nothing. The message was clear; next time, we’ll burn your boat to ashes.

  Decisions, Decisions

  Jimmy’s lip curled as he sniffed the air. He had a look of pure disgust on his face. ‘I’m telling you,’ he said, ‘I can still smell it. There’s human shit on me.’

  He took his hand off the steering wheel and quickly inspected his arm before re-focusing on the road.

  They were on their way back from helping an ambulance crew rescue a bariatric patient who had fallen off his toilet and become trapped between it and the wall. A bariatric, for those not in the know, is a morbidly obese person whose weight puts them at risk of serious health issues. In this case, the middle-aged man was pushing thirty stones and so big that it had been almost impossible to move him. It was one of those days they could really have done with Lenny being there, but as he was still in hospital nursing his wounds, they’d had to manoeuvre the man with only four of them present. Jimmy had even had to leave the appliance to give them a hand.

  The only way to move the casualty was for one of them to get down there and manhandle him. Being the strongest, the job fell to Jimmy, and so he’d had to wrap his arms as best he could around the patient and do what was necessary. The thing was, the man hadn’t managed to do his business before he fell off the toilet, that came after, when he was lying helpless on the ground.

  ‘Good thing Harrison wasn’t there,’ Jimmy added as an afterthought.

  When it came to amputations, decapitations, or anything else particularly gruesome, Harrison wouldn’t blink. He was the one who usually became the dedicated casualty carer if they got there before the ambulance. Shit and puke, on the other hand, were his worst enemy. Just the smell was enough to make him retch his guts up.

  ‘Your efforts were much appreciated,’ Wesley said to his driver. ‘We would have been stuck without you there.’

  ‘You could always have made up,’ Jimmy said. ‘If we ain’t got enough people, there’s no point killing ourselves. It’s either that, or they try and cut more pumps ’cos we’re not busy enough.’

  Wesley nodded as he took in Jimmy’s words. ‘You’re probably right. I’ll remember that next time.’

  ‘Hopefully,’ Jimmy said, sniffing the air again, ‘there won’t be a next time.’

  He took a quick look over his shoulder at Bodhi and Jo in the back. They were staring out of their respective windows in silence.

  ‘Hey, you two!’ he shouted to them. ‘I hope you’re not getting it on back there. I don’t want the windows steaming up.’

  ‘Fuck you, Jimmy!’ Jo shouted back.

  When they’d started the shift, the two of them had revealed all. After discussing Lenny’s predicament, they had told the others about their relationship over the past six months, culminating in the attack on Jo, and Bodhi’s boat being ransacked. It was fair to say that the others were gobsmacked. Mid-conversation, they had got the call to assist the ambulance crew, and so the opportunity to rip the piss out of them had not yet been taken. The lovers sat ignoring each other as they waited for the firing squad to take them down.

  ‘Can I ask you something?’ Wesley whispered. He knew that if he spoke quietly, the noise of the engine would drown out their conversation from the not-so-happy couple.

  ‘What’s up?’ Jimmy said.

  ‘I was just thinking about what happened to those two yesterday. What happened to all of you.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Jimmy said, slowing down as he approached the fire station.

  ‘Why do you reckon they didn’t do anything to me?’

  Jimmy looked across to Wesley then back to the road as he turned onto the station yard, ‘I don’t know, maybe because your family lives so far away. Perhaps they couldn’t be bothered to follow you all the way back to Milton Keynes to ke
ep tabs on them.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Wesley said as he pressed the button on the remote control that lifted the station barrier arm. ‘Or maybe it was because they thought I didn’t need convincing. Maybe they knew I would do anything they wanted me to do. I didn’t need my arm twisting.’

  ‘Don’t be soft,’ Jimmy said, even though he had thought exactly the same thing. ‘You’re being paranoid.’

  ‘No, I’m not, because they’re right. When you told Mac to go fuck himself at the pub, I was ready to along with whatever he wanted. So, tell me, Jim, what does that say about me?’

  As Bodhi and Jo got out of the vehicle, Jimmy looked across the cab again.

  ‘Listen, Wes,’ he said, ‘no one said being a leader is easy. If you want to do it, you need to stand up and prove yourself. Show Mac he was wrong… show me I was wrong.’

  Wesley nodded. ‘I’ll try.’

  After they took off their boots and leggings, the four of them headed to the canteen where they were met by Dylan, drinking a cup of tea as he waited their return. He was still on his annual leave and should have been at home with Felicity, but after the previous day’s events, he had come in to find out what the fuck they were going to do. When he saw them, a smile spread across his face.

  ‘Hi, lovebirds,’ he said.

  Jo instantly turned to Jimmy. ‘That didn’t take long.’

  Jimmy shrugged. ‘Seriously, what did you expect?’

  ‘Don’t be like that,’ Dylan said. ‘I think the two of you make a lovely couple, I really do.’

  ‘Is that right?’ Jo said.

  Bodhi just stood there, saying nothing. He was too cool to get heated up about such things.

  ‘Yeah, it is. The two of you are beautiful together. I think it was your destiny to be lovers.’

  He stood up, walked toward them and took one of Jo’s hands in his own. He then turned to Bodhi and linked hands with him too. He looked like a vicar about to read out their marriage vows. ‘I’m so happy right now I could cry,’ he said. ‘Let’s sing, and tell the world how much you two love each other.’

  Jo snatched her hand away then used it to whack him on the shoulder. ‘Shut up, knobhead. All the shit that’s gone on, and that’s all you can think about?’

  ‘Jesus,’ Dylan said, rubbing his shoulder. ‘What do you expect? I mean, you and Bodhi, for fuck’s sake. I can’t believe you devious little buggers kept it quiet for so long.’

  ‘Sorry, bud,’ Bodhi said. ‘We shouldn’t have lied to you guys.’

  ‘Yeah, well, if my girlfriend was a crazy bitch, I probably wouldn’t have told anyone about her either.’

  Before he could protect himself, Jo punched him in the stomach with enough force to send him back to his chair. ‘Right,’ she said, ‘if we’ve finished fucking about, do you mind if we discuss this goddamn mess we’re in?’

  Half an hour later, their minds were made up. None of them were happy about it, in fact, they were deeply fucking unhappy about the whole thing, but if it meant the safety of their loved ones, then they would do whatever it was that Mac wanted of them. They hadn’t needed to consult Lenny; he had already told Jimmy what he thought that afternoon when he’d visited him in hospital. He’d also informed him that he’d be back in work by the start of their next tour in five days’ time.

  Lenny had one of the worst sick records in the brigade, and such an injury would normally have led to him dragging it out for as long as possible and getting in at least a month’s worth of sick leave. But this time, he wanted to get back as quickly as possible. He hadn’t even informed his employers of his injuries. If they were going to do this thing for Mac, then Lenny needed to be there; he couldn’t risk the Watch having a temporary replacement shipped in for him. If that happened, it would be a disaster, dragging even more people into the massive fuck-up they had found themselves in. The Watch would have to cover for him as he’d still have his stitches in, but if they kept him solely on driving duties for a few weeks, he was pretty sure it would work out okay.

  ‘So, we’re all agreed, then?’ Jimmy said. ‘We’re going to do this thing.’

  ‘What I’d like to do,’ Bodhi said, ‘is find this prick and kick the living shit out of him, but given the situation, yeah, I agree.’

  It was unusual to hear him issuing such threats. If Bodhi didn’t have something good to say about someone, he normally chose to say nothing at all.

  Jimmy nodded. ‘Listen, mate, I ain’t happy about it, either. He threatened my family, too, remember?’ But as it is, I don’t see what other choice we’ve got.’

  He picked up his mobile phone and held it up for the rest of them to inspect. ‘Yeah?’ he said, checking for final confirmation.

  ‘Just do it and get it over with, Jim,’ Jo said. ‘It’s like you say. We’ve got no choice.’

  Jimmy looked at the card Mac had given him and punched the numbers into his phone. It rang twice before someone picked it up.

  ‘Is that Mac?’

  ‘It is indeed,’ the voice said. ‘Glad to hear from you, my friend.’

  ‘You’re not my friend. You’re a fucking piece of shit, is what you are.’

  Mac chuckled. ‘Funnily enough, you’re not the first person to have come to that conclusion… now, do you have anything else to say, or did you just phone up to hear my voice?’

  ‘We’re in,’ Jimmy said after a pause. ‘We’ll do it.’

  ‘That’s good, Jim,’ Mac said.

  Even though Jimmy couldn’t see him, he was certain the man was smiling.

  ‘That’s real good.’

  A Debt Repaid

  As instructed, Bodhi pulled the fire appliance off the seafront road into the Roedean Café car park. Mac was already there waiting for them in his Bentley.

  ‘Are we sure about this?’ Bodhi asked. ‘I can drive off, if you want. It’s not too late.’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ Wesley answered from the OIC’s seat. ‘Let’s just get it done.’

  They came to a stop alongside the other vehicle, then waited for Mac to emerge.

  It was another two minutes before he stepped out of the passenger side. He nodded at Jimmy sitting in the back of the lorry, riding BA. Jimmy responded by opening his door to its full extent, but rather than get out, he sat and waited. Mac looked around, checking that no one else was observing them, then patted the car’s roof. The rear door swiftly opened allowing a smaller man to get out. He took a couple of quick steps up into the fire engine, squeezing past Jimmy. As soon as he was in, Jimmy closed the door.

  Mac approached Wesley’s window, looking up at the man in charge. ‘You know what you’re doing now?’

  Wesley nodded.

  ‘And just remember, all you’ve got to do is get him inside. Once he’s in, your job is done.’

  ‘I know, I remember,’ Wesley said with the merest hint of frustration in his voice.

  Mac leaned a little closer to the appliance. ‘I meant what I said yesterday. Once this is done, you’re out, for good. A promise is a promise.’

  He looked to the back of the vehicle where Jimmy was staring daggers at him. If the window was open any further, he probably would have stuck his arm out and grabbed the man by the throat.

  ‘Just make sure you get him in,’ he said to Jimmy. ‘I can trust you to do that, right?’

  Jimmy turned his head forwards. ‘We’re firefighters. We can get in anywhere.’

  Mac smiled. ‘See, I knew you were the right people for the job.’ He glanced at his watch before returning his gaze to Wesley. ‘You ready?’

  Wesley nodded again. ‘Do it quick before we get another call.’

  Mac took out his phone, pressed a few buttons, and held it to his ear. He waited a few seconds before speaking again. ‘Fire brigade, please. I think there may be a fire in my neighbour’s house.’

  Wesley rolled up his window and turned to Bodhi. ‘Let’s go.’

  The man who had just joined them, sat in the middle, rear-facing seat. He was opposite Jo,
but it was Dylan his attention was focused on. He was seemingly oblivious to her and Jimmy’s stares.

  ‘How you doing, cliff-hanger?’ the new passenger asked.

  Dylan looked, but was unable to make eye contact with their passenger.

  ‘You should see this guy on the climbing wall,’ the man said, now looking to the other two. ‘He’d give Spiderman a run for his money.’

  Jimmy nodded at the fire-kit on the floor of the vehicle. ‘Get that lot on quick. We’ll get the call in a sec.’

  As he finished talking, the speaker on the computer activated, letting them know they were being called to action. Needlessly, Wesley looked at the screen where the nature of the call and address were displayed. He turned to the rear of the cab. ‘Guess where we’re going.’

  The journey was carried out on blue lights and at a fast pace. Bodhi was known for not hanging about on his way to calls. To give credit to their new recruit, he did a good job of getting his leggings and tunic on as the vehicle accelerated along the coast road.

  When it came to the roundabout at St Dunstan’s, the hospital for blind war veterans, the vehicle rocked from one side to the other as Bodhi skilfully negotiated it. The partly dressed man had to reach forward to steady himself and, in doing so, ended up only inches away from Jo’s face.

  ‘Hi there.’

  Jo’s response was stony. ‘Put on your seatbelt. Be a shame if you had an accident.’

  The man sat down, zipped up his tunic, then did as instructed. He looked down at himself then held out his arms, displaying his new look like a proud peacock. ‘So, what do you think? I’ve always fancied the idea of being a fireman.’

  ‘Firefighter,’ Jo corrected him. ‘We haven’t all got dicks.’

  The man laughed, then looked to Dylan. ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right.’

  A couple of minutes later, they were at their destination. The house they had arrived at was in Rottingdean, a pretty little village along the coast, filled with very old houses and very wealthy residents. They had come off the seafront and travelled through the village’s narrow winding streets until they ascended the base of the South Downs. Suddenly, it felt like they were in the countryside, with the houses being far more spaced apart. Each had their own land and, in some cases, fields and stables. Some of these premises were nestled in their own little valleys, far back from the main road with their own private lanes leading to them. It was one of these tracks they were travelling down as Wesley turned to the back.