The Graft

by Karen Woods

  The man started to snigger and buzzed the door open. This was working, his plan was actually working. He just needed to get out of the gate and he was home free. The walk down the garden path seemed like it would never end. Just as he got to the gates the door started to open. His eyes welled up and he squeezed Emily’s hand in his. “You’re safe, Emily, it’s over.” Jordan couldn’t breathe when he got to the car. He ragged the door open with shaking hands and dipped his head inside. Where was Jane and the dog? Where the fuck was the dog? This was getting worse by the minute. He had to keep his sister safe and go back for his father, he couldn’t leave him there, he needed to find him. Emily was still out of it. He laid her down on the back seat and covered her body with a coat. Jordan ran back to the driver’s side and started the engine. He needed to park up somewhere safe, a place nobody would find them. The engine roared as he sped off. There was no time to waste.

  After he’d parked the car he ran back to the house. He was huffing and puffing as his feet pounded the pavement. Jordan knew this time that he would have to do things differently. He needed to find a way back inside the house, his dad was still in there. His feet crunched over the branches and the trees were hanging low blocking his vision. The silver moon was bright and gave off just enough light so he could see. It was only now that he could feel the fear pumping inside his veins. The vein at the side of his neck seemed like it had a heartbeat, his adrenalin overflowing. He sprinted to the side of the house. A window was open nearby and a light was on inside the room. This was his only way in. He gripped the window as he hoisted himself inside. This was not looking good, a woman’s voice started to scream and she ran at him with what looked like a candlestick in her hands. “You thieving fucker,” she yelled. Jordan was wrestling with her, throwing her one way then the other. He would never beat a woman, but this bitch was like a bloke. Her grip was strong and she was holding her own. He gripped her face and he could see her now for the first time.

  “Tina,” he yelled, “It’s me Jordan, you fucking idiot, get off me.”

  Tina broke free and ran to switch the light on. Her jaw dropped. “What are you doing here?”

  He moved about just in case she launched something at him. “Our Emily has been here, they kidnapped her and made her do stuff. Jane was with her too, but she got away. These pricks are groomers. They take young girls from the street and drug them so men can have sex with them.”

  He tried to tell her as much as he could in the time he had. Tina staggered and looked like she was going to pass out. She pointed at the key in the door as she tried to get her words out. “Lock it, close the door.” Tina collapsed onto the small chair near the side of the door, she looked bewildered.

  Jordan stood behind the door and spoke in a low voice. “These cunts have ruined our Emily; how will she ever get over this? My dad is in here somewhere too. He came in first to try and find her, but fuck knows what’s happened to him. I need to find him because he must be in here somewhere.”

  Tina was flabbergasted, how could this be? Alex was a gentleman, a kind caring guy. She needed to hear it again to make sure she wasn’t hearing things. “Are you sure? Alex said he has a few girls working here for him and he wanted me to run them, he never mentioned anything about girls from the street.”

  Jordan pumped with rage. “As far as I know, Emily met a guy called Mark on Facebook, she got chatting to him and ended up meeting him. Jane went with her too and met a guy called Omar. Jane told me she was drugged too and once they were out of it these dirty twats brought men in to have sex with them.” For fuck’s sake how many times did he have to tell her what was happening. He didn’t have the time for this.

  Tina was gagging into her hands, her cheeks were bright red. She looked directly into his eyes and pleaded with him. “I knew nothing about this. I swear on my son’s life. I met Alex on a night out and I’ve been dating him for weeks. He’s not into grooming and having sex with young girls.”

  “He’s in with Jimmy The Chop, Tina. I’ve been driving these girls about and dropping them at punter’s houses. I owed a bit of money and to cut a long story short I had to work it off.”

  Tina bolted up from her seat. “Where is Emily now? Don’t tell me she’s still here?”

  Jordan had to quieten her down, she was loud and somebody could have heard her. “I’ve just blagged it in here and got Emily out, but my dad is in here. I need to find him and once I’ve got him, I’m going to phone the police on these sick twisted bastards. There is no way they are getting away with this.”

  Tina was already getting her clothes on. She knew in her heart the story was true and she wanted out of here. The sooner the better. “I’m coming with you. I want no part of this. I thought it was too good to be true. I should have gone with my gut feeling. It’s never let me down before. How could I have been fooled like that?” In a flash Tina was ready. “You stay here and I’ll have a wander around and see what I can see. There is no point in you coming out yet until I know where your dad is. I’ll be straight back.”

  Tina was gone and he was alone. His heart was racing and he couldn’t keep still. He listened carefully and he was sure he could hear a dog barking. Shouting, screaming, a dog barking again. “No, sack this,” he mumbled under his breath. He needed to find his dad. He couldn’t sit here any longer biting his fingernails. Jordan swung the door open nearly taking it from its hinges. He ran towards the disturbance. His body froze, his dad was there with Jane and Frank was stood in front of them ready to attack.

  “Come on you dirty cunts,” Tony screamed, as he swung a machete about in the air. “I’m not going nowhere until everyone of you is on your arses.”

  Jane was stood with her back against the wall and she’d finally found her voice. “All of you will rot in jail. We were innocent girls, untouched and you’ve ruined that. Scum bags you are. Tony, waste them, make them suffer.”

  The odds were against them and Jordan stormed towards his dad and stood by his side. He yanked a silver pistol from his pocket and pointed it at Alex and his boys. Shit had just got real. “Come on then, let’s have it,” Jordan ranted. Alex stood tall and Mark came to his side. None of them showed any fear, they stood tall and looked at their opponents nodding their heads. Tony had never been one for thinking about things first. He was ready for war. Mark was eyeballing Jordan and any second now something was going to happen. Alex sneered over at Tony. “And, do you think you are going to walk out of here alive?”

  Tony was bouncing about on the spot. His cage had been well and truly rattled. He’d had enough of this bullshit and he wanted revenge for his daughter, his girl. Without thinking he raised the silver blade over his head and stormed into the men. “Come on you fuckers,” he screamed at the top of his voice. This was a blood bath already and Jordan made a beeline straight for Mark while Jane stood holding Frank by his collar. He was barking and jumping about as Tony screeched over at her. “Let him go.” The red nosed pit bull jumped into the air. He was a foot soldier now. He knew this was war and he savaged a man’s arm who was trying to grip him. Tony was struggling and Alex seemed to be getting the better of him as Frank lunged and bit into his leg. Blood splurged from Alex’s leg and he was howling in pain. Tony saw his chance and took him down, booting him and punching him until he curled up in a small ball on the floor. Jordan was going blow for blow with Mark, but it was time to end it, time for the gun to come into play. His hand squeezed the trigger as Mark tried to grab the pistol from his hand. It was pointing one way then another; a loud bang, smoke and a body folded in two came smashing to the ground.

  Tina ran into the room now and yelled at the top of her voice. “Stop it, for crying out loud, stop it.” She was hysterical and ran to cover Jane as the men scuffled. Frank howled and fell to the floor; he was bleeding from a large gash in the side of his stomach and blood was pumping from it. The poor mutt limped to the corner of the room and fell to the floor, his tongue flopped to the side of his mouth and his breathing was shallow.
Upstairs, the front door burst open and police rushed the place. It all happened so fast, handcuffs were put on everybody and bodies were dragged about.

  Jane collapsed to the floor. She was shaking from head to toe. “It’s them, arrest them,” she howled. Tony was on his knees covered in claret. Jordan stood tall and his nostrils flared as he watched Alex’s men being dragged out one by one.

  Tina spoke to the female officer in a desperate voice. “I made the call, go down the corridor, that’s where the girls are. I will give a full statement. These people here are innocent and had no part of the gang.” They uncuffed Tony and Jordan but told them to stay put. Tony asked if he could go into the next room and get his coat as he was starting to shiver and the officer let him.

  Now the WPC was on her radio asking for more assistance. The nightmare was finally over. When he came back Tony paused, his heart was in his mouth and from the corner of his eye he could see Frank. He let out a scream from the pit of his stomach and raced to his four-legged friend. “Frank, come on mate, don’t you be dying now, come on mate.” This was such an endearing moment and it seemed like everyone in the room stopped and watched this scene. “Somebody help him, get somebody quick. He needs help, help him please.” A police officer came to assist and radioed for a vet, but it didn’t look good. The dog was struggling for breath and his eyes were closing. Maybe it was time for Tony to say goodbye, to tell the animal how much he loved him. It looked like Frank was taking his final breath.

  CHAPTER TWENTY- EIGHT

  Emily lay in her bed. The duvet was tucked tightly under her chin and she was staring into space. She didn’t look good, there were dark circles under her eyes. Her body was thin and scrawny. A tear rolled down her cheek landing on her top lip. The sun was trying to burst into her bedroom, but it was blocked out by the dark brown curtains and only a small yellow ray of sunshine seeped into the room. The door opened with a slight squeak and Elsie stood hovering at the doorway. Ever since her daughter had been brought home safely, she was heartbroken and unable to talk about the ordeal. She blamed herself, hated that she’d let it happen. If she would have been more on the ball and put her own shit on the back-burner this would have never happened.

  The aftermath had been horrific. Mark had was recovering from gunshot wounds and Alex from several stabs wounds, but they were now due to face trial. Tony and Jordan had been questioned by the police and after an investigation they were released with no further action. The pair of them were still recovering from very bad injuries and the doctors had told Tony that, in time, he may need an operation to fix his leg but he was now on a higher payment from the Benefit Agency, so every cloud had a silver lining...

  Elsie’s voice was low; you could barely hear her. “Are you awake love?”

  Emily raised her head slightly from the pillow and made eye contact with her mother. Elsie edged into the room and sat on the side of the bed. There was a silence while Elsie was thinking about what she would say. How could she even put this into words, she didn’t have a clue. Should she just hug her, cradle her in her arms and tell her everything would be alright? But, that would have been a lie. You didn’t need to be a rocket scientist here to know nothing would ever be the same again in this young girl’s life. Elsie touched the top of Emily’s shoulder softly. “How are you feeling? Do you fancy a piece of toast? You’ve not eaten anything for days.”

  Emily rolled on her side and faced the wall. “No thanks, I’m not hungry.”

  “You have to eat something love; you’ll make yourself ill if you don’t eat.”

  “If I’m not hungry then you can’t force me to eat. Just leave me alone.”

  Elsie choked, her emotions were bubbling in her throat. Should she just walk away and leave her for a bit? She may have needed some time to get her head around things. She raised her voice. “No love, I won’t leave you alone. This is why all this has happened, because I left you alone. I’ll never forgive myself for this. Go on, say it, you blame me. I deserve it, punch me, whack me, just don’t push me away.”

  Emily twisted her body so she could see her mother. “It’s my own fault mum, not yours. I just got caught up with Mark and thought that he loved me. He’s not the man I thought he was, how could he let them do that that to me? He said I was special, his princess.”

  Elsie was in tears again. “He’s a bastard love, a dirty no good bastard who will go to jail for his crime. The lot of them will. When those men stand in the dock, I will make sure everyone there knows what evil sick cunts they are.”

  Emily squeezed her mother’s hand. “I’m scared mam. Everyone will know what’s happened to me. I feel dirty inside. Will that feeling ever go away?”

  “Of course it will love, we are going to get you all the help and support you need. You and Jane are going to be fine. It’s not your fault. You’re young and your only crime was trusting somebody you thought was genuine.”

  “I loved Mark, and part of me still does. Is it wrong to feel like that? Am I ill? Messed up in the head? He let me get hurt but he said he cared about me. If he cared about me how could he let those men do what they did to me? You don’t treat someone you love like that, do you?”

  Elsie was snapping, temper boiling up high in her throat. “That’s what these kinds of people do, love. It’s all part of the plan to get girls to trust them. You weren’t to know. It’s a dangerous world out there and I should have prepared you for it. Maybe, I should have had more talks about what was on the news because there are always stories about young girls being groomed on the internet. I should have made you aware of it.”

  Emily was sobbing, the hurt was deep in her heart and there was anger too, rage burning inside her for being such a fool. “I want to see Mark mam. I want to look him in the eye and ask him why? I want to ask did he really love me or was it all just part of a game?”

  The poor girl, she was so mixed up and her head was all over the place. In her own mind she thought this man would have been her husband in time. He’d got inside her head so much that and had let her down like she’d never been let down before. She would struggle to find love again, the wall around her heart was growing bigger by the day. She would make sure no man would ever fool her again - love was nothing but a distant memory now. She would never trust another man for as long as she lived.

  Tony was lying on the sofa talking to Jordan. “This court case can’t come quick enough for me, son. I won’t rest until them twats are behind bars. I feel sick to the pit of my stomach every time I think about it.”

  “It’s some fucked up shit, dad. I just hope Emily can cope with all the trauma when she has to give evidence. Jane’s head is in bits too. Her mam has had her at the doctors and she’s on tablets to help her sleep. Fucking hell, she’s only a kid, she shouldn’t be going through stuff like this, none of them should.”

  “Well, our Emily is not going down that road, pill popping is not going to solve anything. That’s how I started out because when my old man was kicking fuck out of me, I needed something to help calm me down. The doctor wasn’t arsed about how long I was on them either. My mam just handed them out like fucking Smarties, anything to keep me quiet.” Tony hated talking about his childhood but every now and then he poured his heart out and told his family a little bit more about his early years. “I was hooked on sleepers by the time I was seventeen. Bad that. Isn’t it? The doctor stopped giving them to me, so I started to search for other stuff to sort my head out. It’s a vicious circle you know, and one thing leads to another. Anything to just feel calm.”

  Jordan cracked his knuckles. “Did you ever have it out with your dad when you got older because if you were bullying me, as soon as I was big enough, I’d have put you on your arse.” Jordan watched his father while Tony was fidgeting about. You could tell he wasn’t happy talking about his past.

  “Just let’s say he got what was coming to him. I fucked him off out of my life a long time ago and to tell you the truth I’ve never thought about the old cunt or even mi
ssed him. He was no dad, no role model, so why did I need him in my life? Change the subject now son, it’s making my blood boil!” Jordan wisely kept quiet.

  Elsie come back into the room and she was white. “Tony, I’m worried about her, she can’t just lie in bed every day. We need some help for her, counselling, therapy, something.”

  Tony was hurt deep in his heart and it was visible all over his face. He’d felt pain before but nothing as gruelling as this. He had no control over this, his baby was hurting and there was nothing he could do to take the pain away. “I thought Jane was coming over. Maybe, when they sit down and talk things through things will be a bit better.”

  “Emily wants fuck all to do with Jane she said. At the end of the day she left her up there with them guys, didn’t she? What kind of mate sells her best friend out when something like that was going on? To tell you the truth I can’t even look at her without wanting to punch her lights out. I mean, why didn’t she let us know what was going on? Is she a fucking retard or something?”

  Tony nodded, he had to agree. “Just let’s play it by ear for now. She will calm down and see sense when they start talking. Anyway, once this court case is over I’ve got something up my sleeve that will cheer her up. I made her a promise and I’m sticking to it.”

  Jordan huffed and shook his head. “Dad, stop chatting shit, don’t promise things you can’t deliver. She’s had enough let downs without you adding to them. For once in your life just tell the fucking truth. I’m sick of hearing your lies if I’m being honest.”

  Tony was up in arms now, why did nobody ever believe a word he said. “Watch this space my laddo. That’s all I’m saying. You’ll eat your words when I show you.” Tony was still bruised and his eyes were a purple and yellow rainbow of colour. He was lucky to be still breathing. He’d been to hospital and walked away with ten stitches in the side of his head and lots of aches and pains. His worst injury was in his leg. A large gash was still visible where a blade had dug deep into the muscle. Jordan was lucky too, he only had minor injuries, a few cuts and bruises but there was someone who was still injured that everyone in the household was giving extra love and affection to. Frank was a warrior for sure and after a visit to the vets he was set for a remarkable recovery.