by Darren Dash
Toni got to her knees and rested a hand on my shoulder, taking aim. Fired once and blew half the guard’s face away. Put four more into his torso, sending him flying back into the toilets. Stood and puffed on the mouth of the barrel, as if blowing smoke rings away. Smiled and began to say something.
I’d never properly struck a woman before, but I felt I had legitimate reason to break the habit of a lifetime, so I decked her. Knocked her out with one punch. She dropped unconscious and I considered leaving her there. The mental killer didn’t deserve to be rescued, not after what she’d done. Three people executed before my eyes. I’d seen hell like this in the desert, but never on my home turf, in such a cold fashion, killed so clinically, so mercilessly, so needlessly.
So neatly.
There’d be every kind of shit I could imagine over this. You could stick a knife in someone, even shoot them somewhere dark and quiet, and not ruffle too many feathers, but you didn’t take out three people in a packed bar and walk away without any repercussions.
And I was the one they’d tag. Nobody in DEL’S knew this girl. (Nobody living, at least.) She was from out of town, an anonymous stranger. Eyrie Brown, on the other hand… there were plenty here who knew my face and name and could answer any number of questions about me.
Local kid. Ex-Army. Used to box. Drives a taxi. Lives down Bermondsey way, I think. Nice guy. Hard to believe he got hooked up with a mad bird like that. Did he kill any of them? I’m not sure, but he was certainly shooting at the guy by the toilet door.
My only hope was if they didn’t talk. And they might not. Folk in DEL’S were usually slow to cooperate with the police. It would become local gossip in no time, and I’d be called in eventually when word trickled through to the investigating officers. But there’d be no proof if nobody volunteered to be a witness, and moral, upstanding citizens were scarce in DEL’S.
If I left her where she lay, the police would take her in and I might get away with it. There’d be no reason for them to look any further. Her gun. Her bullets in the corpses. Witnesses galore who couldn’t hide if the assassin was still on the scene when the Old Bill arrived. She could drag me into her mess by naming and shaming me, but I could work with the police, help them build their case against her. Serve a few years, time off for good behaviour, back on the streets in no time.
Except…
One of Lewis Brue’s men would be waiting for me. Standing outside the prison gates, grimly smiling. He wouldn’t do me there, but he’d follow me, hound me a little, let me think I was escaping, then corner me and let me know he had a present for me from his boss, for a job well screwed.
Cursing, I picked up Toni’s limp body and draped her over my uninjured shoulder. Made for the front door, not running, being careful not to slip. People parted and let me pass, silent, averting their gaze. I could hear the snakes hissing behind their glass barrier, and blood dripping on the grimy tiles. The only sounds in the entire bar apart from my galloping heart.
Outside, the night was cold and the city uncaring. I drew stares as I stumbled to my car, the unconscious girl on my back, Golding Mironova’s blood soaked into my shirt and pants, but nobody was keen to stop or question me.
I fumbled for the keys and got the door open after what seemed an eternity. Tossed Toni into the back seat. Took her gun and knife. Wiped the handles clean and stashed them under the dash. Checked my face in the side mirror. Glimpsed at my wound — little more than a scratch, nothing to worry about, wouldn’t even need a plaster. Looked around to make sure I wasn’t being observed. Sat in. Hit the passenger seat a few times, venting my rage. Started the engine and drove away, leaving the mess, the blood, the witnesses and the bodies behind.
She revived about ten minutes later. Sat up groggy, rubbing her chin. She was lucky I hadn’t connected with her nose, or her looks would have been spoiled for life, or at least until she could book an appointment with a very good plastic surgeon.
“What happened?” she groaned.
“I hit you.”
Her eyes flared wide. She tried grabbing the back of my head but her hands were slippery with blood and I easily shook her off. “I’ll kill you!” she shouted. “I told you I would if you ever hit me again, and now –”
“I could have left you there,” I said, busy trying to lose us in the winding back streets of the East End. “Think about that before you fire a few bullets into me. Not that you can fire anything when you don’t have a gun.”
Her eyes narrowed and she checked to see if it was true. “What did you do with it?” she snarled.
“Left it there with your prints all over it for the Bill to find.”
“You didn’t,” she gasped.
“No?” I looked at her in the mirror. I was mad as hell, but the fear in her eyes mollified me slightly. “No,” I admitted. “I should have, and you with it, but sucker that I am, I didn’t.”
She began feeling her jaw. “You’ve some punch,” she winced. “I’ll have to get my teeth checked. I can feel a couple of the lower ones coming loose.”
“Get your brain checked while you’re at it,” I growled.
“Hey,” she said, sounding hurt. “What’s with the attitude?”
“Fucking hell! You just killed three people. Took out your gun and butchered them. In a public fucking bar.”
“Had to be done,” she said. “Golding was going to tell Jeb Howard that I’m in London. If she’d done that, we’d be dead. Eliminating her and the guards was our only option. It’ll be fine. Nobody else in there knew me.”
“What about me?” I snapped. “They know me.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what you’re getting paid for, isn’t it? But you didn’t kill anyone. Most they can charge you for is accessory.”
“Jesus.” I began to laugh, though I felt like crying. “You’re some piece of work.” I took a sharp left, then slowed down. I’d been speeding. Didn’t want to get pulled over. That was the last thing we needed.
I noticed a strange smell. Sniffed the air. It seemed to be coming from inside the car. “You smell that?” I asked.
“What?” She lifted her nose. “Oh.” Cleared her throat and grinned oddly. “I, um, kind of lose control when I get excited, and sometimes wet myself a little when I kill someone.”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw the damp spot between her legs. “Well, for Christ’s sake, don’t get it on the seat,” I told her, not wanting to have to explain a piss stain to Larry. Then her words sank in. She sometimes wet herself when she killed someone. That meant she’d done it before, and not just the once.
“How many people have you killed?” I asked sharply.
“That’s not a polite question, Eyrie,” she reprimanded me.
“Don’t play games with me. How many?”
“I don’t know. Seven or eight. Maybe more. Sometimes you don’t see where all the bullets go.”
“Fuck me!” I squeezed my eyes tight for a second and prayed this was a dream. I would have kept them shut longer if I hadn’t been driving. “Lewis fucking Brue set me up with a psychopath. That’s why he paid so much. Fuck!”
“Chill out, Brown,” she said, looking bored. “You keep saying you’re not part of my world. Well, this is how it turns. Golding Mironova made a dumb move back there. She shouldn’t have let herself be seen. She should have sneaked out, contacted Jeb Howard if she was able to find him, left it at that. In my world, if you make a mistake that big, this is the price you pay.
“You told me about your first rule of survival. Not a bad rule, but I have a different one — drop the fuckers before they drop you. Stick with me, kid. You might pick up a thing or two.”
I was appalled and awed in equal measures. She wasn’t yet what I’d call a proper adult, but already boasted an ice-hearted outlook that many soldiers who’d seen active duty never developed, and the guts and skill to back it up. I hadn’t forgotten how she’d dropped the second guard while my bullets were flying wide.
“What now?” I a
sked. “Do we ring Brue?”
“Are you a child?” she snorted. “You’re being paid to do a job, and this is part of it. Forget Lewis Brue. Take me back to your place. We’ll wash off the blood, I’ll grab my stuff, and we’ll hole up somewhere safe and wait for Sunday.”
I nodded slowly. “Brue doesn’t need to hear about problems. He expects us to use our initiative and sort things out ourselves. Right?”
She smiled encouragingly. “Now you’re getting it.”
“Yeah,” I replied with a sick laugh. “I’m getting it. It’s all becoming clear as a fucking blood diamond.”
And I drove.
And I said nothing else.
But in the silence I was thinking furiously.
I parked several streets away from the apartment, in case the car had been spotted and reported to any interested parties. We hurried back to the flat and rushed upstairs. Toni ducked into the bedroom and began looting through her suitcase for a change of clothes. I went slower, searching a drawer for the right lengths of rope — I had plenty from my skipping days as a boxer.
“Do you want to shower first or will I?” she asked, coming out of the room, slipping into a robe. I caught a brief glimpse of her bare breasts but they didn’t interest me right then.
She stopped when she saw the ropes in my hands and the look on my face.
“Eyrie?” she asked uncertainly.
“Turn around,” I told her.
“What’s going on?” Voice starting to rise.
“Turn around.”
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re –”
“I’ve hit you twice,” I said. “The second time harder than the first. I don’t think you’d like level three. Turn around.” She complied silently. “Hands behind your back.” She offered me her wrists. “I’m going to tie you up. Then I’m going to ring Lewis Brue and have him collect you.”
“You’re a fool, Eyrie Brown,” she sneered.
“Maybe. But I’m a live fool and I plan on keeping it that way. Brue told me to ring if anything off the scale happened. Said he’d let me keep the money too, as long as I helped you out of any jam that might arise. Reckon I’ve done that.” I wrapped the rope around her thin wrists and tied a couple of knots that she wouldn’t slip out of in a hurry. Gave it a few jerks to be sure.
“Sit down,” I said. “Put your feet together. Don’t even think about kicking.”
She watched as I laced the rope around her ankles. The robe had slid up and I’d have had an uninterrupted view of paradise if I’d been in the mood to glimpse it. But there was nothing on my mind other than phoning Brue and getting shot of her. She was bad news. Fatal.
“Eyrie, listen to me,” she said calmly. “You’re not acting rationally. That was a sticky situation back there but we got out intact. You did a good job and Lewis will commend you for it. You might even be able to hit him up for a bonus. But if you quit now, he’ll look for the money back, I don’t care what he said. Come on. Untie me. Use your head.”
I didn’t reply. Went to the drawer again. Found masking tape and a clean handkerchief.
“You’re going to gag me?” she asked incredulously. “You fucking ape. I can’t believe Lewis entrusted me to a chump like you. What sort of a mug panics at the first whiff of danger? You’re a –”
I stuffed the gag in her mouth and sealed it in place. Made sure she was able to breathe. Checked the ropes, heedful of circulation. All fine. I could leave her trussed up until morning and she’d be none the worse for wear.
I stripped and showered. Studied my wound in the mirror, but it was as minor as I’d suspected, so I paid it no further mind. Pulled on a fresh shirt and trousers back in my bedroom. Felt miles better. Thought about dunking Toni in a tub of cold water, to clean her up and cool her down, but didn’t want her dripping all over the floor.
I made sure I had my phone, then checked Toni one last time before leaving to make the call. Her eyes were wild with rage and hatred, but otherwise she was fine. I kissed my fingers and applied them to her heated forehead. “Back soon,” I smiled. “Don’t go anywhere while I’m away.”
She jerked her body at me as best she could and grunted a curse into the gag. I sighed wearily and locked the door carefully behind me as I went.
SEVEN — A CHANGE OF PLAN
Although I had his number on my mobile, Brue had told me to ring him from a payphone if possible. Although payphones were getting to be relics of the past, there were still a few within walking distance of my apartment. I picked one at random, read his number from my mobile, thumbed in coins and dialled.
Brue had told me I wouldn’t get through to him directly, so I wasn’t alarmed when a woman answered. I said I was a friend of Stan’s (the name he’d told me to use) and had a problem with the flowers he’d sold me. She put me on hold, then I was transferred and a guy asked if the flowers were damaged. I said they were fine but I didn’t have a place for them anymore. He asked if that meant I wanted to return them. I told him I did and I was transferred again.
This time Brue answered. He listened silently while I gave him the bare facts. I spoke fast but clearly. Didn’t want him to think I was out of control.
“She’s in your apartment?” he asked when I finished.
“Yeah. I tied her up.”
“Was that necessary?”
“I thought so.”
A long silence followed. I could almost hear his brain whirring. He finally said, “Jeb Howard was mentioned, but Golding Mironova didn’t have a chance to contact him — is that correct?”
“Correct,” I said.
“Good,” he sighed. “If Howard was part of this, I’d have to re-evaluate the whole thing, but he wasn’t there, his people weren’t there, it was just Golding and her two guards who recognised Toni — yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then we can forget about Howard, and unless someone else there recognised her, we’ve nothing to worry about. If you go to ground –”
“I want her off my hands,” I interrupted.
Another long silence. I broke it this time.
“You told me.”
“Told you what?” Brue replied neutrally.
“That you’d take her back if anything serious happened, assign her to someone better suited to a more delicate situation. I’ve done my share. I don’t want to get in any deeper. Three people are dead, I can be linked, and that’s as far as your twenty-five thousand flies with me. Will you stand by your word?”
He said nothing for a few seconds and my fingers tightened on the receiver. Then, to my relief, he came back with, “Like I said when I hired you, I want to do you a favour, not dig a hole for you. I can have a guy at your place in half an hour if that’s how you want to play this, but maybe we don’t have to go down that route. Can you meet with me first?”
“Meet you?” Alarm bells started ringing.
“I’d like to discuss this, try to work things out so it’s sweet for both of us.”
“Are you setting me up?” I asked softly.
“Is that what you think?” He sounded amused.
“You didn’t warn me about Toni. Didn’t tell me she was a killer who could fly off the handle in the snap of an eye.”
He grunted with exasperation. “I didn’t expect her to run into Golding Mironova and never guessed you’d have to deal with a mess like this. If you want to back out, I’ll repeat myself — a guy can be at your place in thirty minutes. But my advice is to come talk with me. If you think I’m setting you up, obviously you’ll ignore that and run for the hills, but if you still trust me, if you still believe I’m an appreciative guy who’s only trying to return a favour…”
I took a deep breath. It would be easier (saner) to wash my hands of this messy business. But Lewis Brue could be a very useful contact if one of the patrons of DEL’S threw me to the police. I might need a friend like him in the not too distant future, if I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in gaol.
Not sure which
way to turn, I tossed a mental coin and took a wild chance.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll come hear you out.”
“It’s the sensible option,” he assured me.
“I’ll get Toni and –”
“No need,” he interrupted. “She’s fine where she is.”
I paused. “Are you sure?”
“It will do her good to spend some time trussed up, so that she can dwell upon what she did wrong. Not that killing Mironova was wrong – I agree with her that she had no choice in that regard – but she should have taken the business outside the pub and struck in a place without witnesses.”
“If someone comes looking for me and finds her…” I said uneasily.
“They won’t,” he said confidently.
“You can’t be sure of that.”
“No,” he admitted, “but I’m still hoping we can keep this between you and me. Leaving her tied up isn’t ideal, but it’s the least complicated course of action. I think she’ll be safer there than anywhere else right now.”
I would have preferred to take her with me, but he was calling the shots.
“OK,” I said. “Tell me where to go.”
The first stop was a dark house off the Old Kent Road. Rabbit was waiting for me. He looked like he’d only just woken up. In yesterday’s rumpled clothes, which he must have rescued from the laundry. He led me to his car and got in without saying a word. I sat in back.
“Do you want me to wear a blindfold?” I asked.
Rabbit laughed. “You don’t have a clue, do you?”
“No,” I replied with a grimace.
Rabbit drove carefully, west, finally stopping outside a firm of accountants in Vauxhall. The offices were deserted, not even a security guard on duty, only Lewis Brue, waiting for me in a small room on the first floor, leaning on a desk, chewing a nail thoughtfully.
Brue looked up when Rabbit opened the door and let me in, before closing it behind me and disappearing back to the car.
