Falling (28 page)
The Clyde might not be the home
to too many shipyards anymore but it was slowly being given the pride of place
it deserved. After all where would Glasgow have been if the Clyde had run dry?
I took a gulp of air and as I
exhaled stepped back into the flat. Tina and friend were still gabbing and I
was sure that our whole story was getting an airing as the kettle boiled.
I needed a slash and popped my
head into the kitchen to ask where the toilet was.
Having been given directions I
entered a world of fragrant smells, candles and pink. I had a feeling Tina’s
friend wasn’t sharing with a man.
I lifted the lid and let rip.
It was then that a new storm
rolled into town.
The door bell rang and I jumped
spraying pee onto the fluffy mat that circled the bowl. I heard Tina’s friend
walk past the toilet and then the click of a Yale being turned.
The crash that followed was so
out of place that I turned round, hosing down the wall and the door. I tried to
shut up shop but I’ve never been able to switch it off mid stream. I whipped
back to the toilet, soaking the toilet paper on the way.
Outside it sounded like World War
III had broken out. Tina’s friend was shouting and a man’s voice was screaming
right back at her. Bodies tumbled past the toilet door and then Tina added to
the din. There was a crash and I put myself away and tried to think what was
going on.
The two gorillas were right at
the top of my Christmas list. I could feel pee running down the inside of my
leg and wished I’d shaken a little before zipping up.
The noise from the living room
indicated that things were a mess. The girls were ratcheting up the screaming
and the intruders were just adding to the cacophony. Another crash and I knew I
needed to move.
Two ways to go. Hit the living
room and wade in. Three against two and we might stand a chance. Or leg it and
call for help. Given I had wanted to call for help as soon as I saw Charlie’s
blood providing sustenance for the pigeons in George Square I decided flight
not fight.
I unbolted the toilet door and
looked out. The main room door was half closed and I could see movement beyond
accompanied by more shouting and more screaming.
I took hold of the door jamb and
pulled myself out, around and into the hallway. The front door was still wide
open - a huge scuff mark under the key hole indicating where it had been kicked
as Tina’s friend had opened it.
The door behind me slammed into
the wall and I knew I had been spotted. I put my head down and ran. There was
nothing else to do.
I exited onto the landing but
reckoned without the shiny, polished floor tiles and as I tried to turn towards
the fire doors and the stairwell beyond, my right foot lost its grip and I went
down head over heels. I scrabbled to get up but my haste was my undoing and
while I was thrashing around my head exploded in a rainbow of lights as
something came down hard on the back of my neck.
I dropped to the tiles like a
pair of whore’s knickers and felt a strong hand grab me by the ankle. I had no
fight in me. Everything was jelly slow and my tongue had dried up and filled my
mouth.
Next to me I saw a shadow pass
over the neighbour’s door but it didn’t open.
I was dragged back into the
house. The door was shut, the bolt thrown and for good measure the chain put in
place. All I could think was horse and stable. A hand grabbed my other foot and
I took some serious face burns from the carpet as I was manhandled into the
main room.
I could still hear Tina screaming
but this time it was cut short with a pistol whip crack as the tall gorilla
smacked her and she fell to her knees inches from my head. The silence held for
a second and then the two gorillas got to work with duct tape and made the
three of us comfortable on the sofa. Me in the middle.
I tried to move my hands but they
were tight together behind me and my feet were taped at the ankles. Tina and
her friend were trussed up the same way.
The tall gorilla disappeared into
the kitchen and returned with a tea towel. He took out a pen knife and tore it
into three long strips. He wrapped a strip around each of our mouths.
Tina tried to wriggle and the
short gorilla took a free kick at her ankle bone and tears burst from her eyes
as she yelled into the tea cloth.
I tore at the bindings and tried
to lunge at him. The short gorilla raised a fist and cracked my jaw with a well
practised left hook. Lights danced once more and this time I got the lesson -
but I still wanted to kill him.
The short one took out his mobile
and began chatting. He stopped mid sentence and asked Tina’s friend for the
address of the flat. She shook her head and he slapped her. He took off the tea
towel and she told him that she was shaking her head to tell him she couldn’t
speak and he hit her again.
She gave him the address.
Karen is driving and Robin is
riding up front with her. I am relegated to the back. My head is still spinning
from the revelations surrounding my Financial Director.
We had spent the morning working
on our approach to the exchange. Robin had rejected everything and ordered Dumb
and Dumber to get the documents and then call.
Bally phoned Robin when they had
taken out the vic. Bally had the documents. Robin told him to follow and capture
the other two. Once this was done Bally was to phone him.
When the phone rang and I was
asked to dial 1471 on my phone and text the number. Ten minutes later the phone
rang again.
The drive to the flats is done at
speed and in silence. There is little to be said. I only want to ask questions
about Robin. He doesn’t want to answer any of them. Karen is stone-walling me
as well.
It is clear that the remaining
two vics are not long for this planet. Robin has some questions he needs
answered and then they will be dropped.
The west end drifts past in fits
and starts. We play leapfrog with the traffic lights. We turn off the main road
and climb a hill. Robin swings the car into a small car park that sits at the
foot of a white high rise.
Karen and Robin get out but don’t
wait for me. I have to jog to get to the main door before it swings shut behind
them.
The lift struggles to the
eleventh floor. We enter the landing and still not a word is spoken. Robin
walks up to a flat. With a knock on the door we are standing in front of the
three vics less than a minute later.
George looks a mess. The back of
his head is matted with blood. He has the start of a bruise across his jaw. The
girlfriend is crying. The other girl next to her is trying not to.
Robin points to the other girl.
He signals Bally’s partner to take her next door. It is the first time I have
met the Dumber half of the duo and he doesn’t inspire confidence. Dumber simply
fireman lifts the girl, smacking her head off the door frame as he leaves.
Robin bends over George. He pulls
the gag from his mouth.
‘I’ll keep this simple.’
He walks into the kitchen. For a
few minutes nothing happens. George sits staring at us. His face a mix of fear
and hate.
I hear the kettle coming to the
boil. Robin reappears with it in his hand. He walks over to Tina and holds the
silver kettle over her lap.
To George:
‘You talk - she doesn’t get a
bath. Understand?’
George nods his head. Tina has
her eyes fixed on the spout of the kettle. The steam drifts into the air.
‘Question one. Do you know what
is in the documents?’
George shakes his head.
Robin tips the kettle. A stream
flows onto Tina’s lap. She tries to howl through the cloth and roll free. Bally
whips round the back and holds her down. Her body is shaking like a jackhammer
as the pain digs deep.
‘Wrong fucking answer!’ shouts
Robin.
‘Do you know what is in the
documents?’ he repeats.
Robin holds the kettle high. Tina
wrenches her eyes from the kettle. Her eyes turn and plead with George.
George nods.
‘Good. Now we continue.’
Robin lifts the kettle higher. He
positions the spout over Tina’s head. She throws herself to the left. Bally
grabs her shoulders and forces her back upright.
Robin bends over and whispers in
George’s ear.
‘Did you take any copies of the
documents?’
George nods.
‘Where are they?’
I could see where this was going.
So could George. With the documents out of the way, George and his girlfriend
were toast and he knew it.
George hesitates. Robin tips the
spout half an inch. A small stream of scalding liquid falls on the crown of
Tina’s head. She goes into a violent spasm.
‘Tip her head up,’ Robin says to
Bally.
Bally does as he is told. Robin
positions the spout an inch above her left eye.
‘Don’t fuck with me or I blind
her in one eye.’
The room fills with the smell of
fresh urine. Tina’s jeans stain around her crotch.
‘Where are the copies?’ asks
Robin.
‘We opened a Mail Box etc
account, copied them and dropped them in our mail box. Please don’t hurt her
anymore.’
Robin pulls the kettle away and
puts it down on the coffee table that sits in front of the sofa.
‘Where’s the key for the mail
box?’
‘In my pocket,’ says George.
Bally’s friend has re-entered the
room seconds earlier, a ridiculous smile on his face.
Robin nods at him. Jim nods back.
Robin nods again. Jim nods back.
‘Get the key out of his pocket
you tosser.’
Jim holds his hand up as if to
stay sorry. He walks over and roots around in George’s trouser pockets until he
finds the key. He hands it to Robin. Robin puts it in his jacket pocket. He picks
up the kettle again.
‘Tip her head to the left.’
Bally obeys. Robin places the
spout above Tina’s left ear.
‘If I tip this in her ear it will
hurt like fuck but that’s not the bad news. I’ve seen it kill people. The shock
you know. So I have one last question and then we can all go home?’
Tina has stopped struggling. The
smell from her trousers changes. It isn’t hard to figure out what she has done.
‘Does…’ Robin says, ‘…anyone else
know about the documents?’
George shakes his head.
Robin tips the kettle a touch but
not enough to let any water come out.
‘No. I’m telling you no. Don’t,’
George screams. ‘Nobody else knows.’
Robin smiles. He places the
kettle back on the coffee table. I am stunned at the cruelty he has just shown.
I realise that the Robin I have known for the last twenty years is not the man
standing in front of me - and for all these years I have thought that I was the
hard man.
Tina is released by the gorilla
and curls up into a ball beside me. The combination of sweat, urine, excrement
and scalded flesh gag in my throat. I try to catch her eyes but she has buried
her head in her chest and I can see her breathing is ragged - no doubt the
water works are full on.
Robin steps away and huddles in
the corner with Simon and Karen. The two gorillas take their cue and
vanish into the kitchen and I hear matches on sandpaper as they both light up.
I feel a wave of depression sweep
over me. I am spent. Emotionally and physically. I can see no other way that this
is going to finish short of Tina, her friend and I ending up on some slab in
the mortuary. It is just a matter of when.
The confab continues between the
three and I touched my head to Tina’s. She jerks and I pull back realising I
have probably touched her head burn. Lethargy has set in big time and I pull my
legs up and curl them under my backside to join Tina in the foetal position.
Robin steps back from the other
two to stretch his legs. His left leg is touching the coffee table, less than
six inches from the kettle. I look at the kettle and then at Robin and think
what do I have to lose.
I shoot both legs out and catch
the kettle square on. It cannons towards Robin and hits him just below the
thigh - the lid flies open and the contents spray across his legs. He recoils
and lets out a scream as the water, still close to boiling, soaks his trousers.
Simon and Karen are caught
unaware and they rock back against the far wall as Robin bounces into them
while trying to undo his belt to rid himself of his trousers. Robin catches
Simon square in the stomach with his left elbow and Simon goes down, catching
his head on the edge of the mantelpiece - slumping to the floor like a wet rag
doll.
Robin continues to swirl like a
dervish and Karen pushes him away. He tumbles forward. He has forgone the belt
and is now trying to rip the trousers off over his shoes. Off balance he
tumbles over the prone figure of Simon, hops once, catches the edge of the
armchair and spirals up and over to land behind it, screaming the whole time.
Karen glares down at me and then
the two gorillas hammer into the room.
I know it is hopeless but I lift
my legs as best I can and lash out. By sheer luck I catch the tall one in the
groin as he rushes at me. The crunch between feet and testicles is almost
edible. He howls like a banshee and drops like a stone. I have hit him square
in the crown jewels.
It occurs to me that for someone
tied up like a Christmas present that I am doing ok but then the short one
steam rollers into me and I gasp.
His momentum takes me onto Tina
and then we all fall backward as we fly over the back of the sofa, tipping it
onto its back. Tina flips over my head and crashes down onto the short gorilla.
I lie for a second, stunned and then I try to wriggle to my left. I hear a
grunt and then the short gorilla’s face appears inches from mine. I do the only
thing left open to me and head butt him with everything I have left.