Falling (7 page)
And then there is the impostor on
the roof. If he comes round he might struggle to the door and get help or someone
might stumble onto him or he might croak. The latter is a real bad news story.
But there is fuck all I can do about any of that. Let’s keep it simple. Find
Leonard. Deal with him and get the hell out of here.
We drop three flights of stairs,
passing the cupboard that holds the maintenance man. Thankfully there is no
noise coming from behind the door yet. We exit the stairwell and head for the
lifts and I press the call button.
The lifts have indicators above
telling you what floor they are servicing. The one on the far left is on floor
thirty two and rising, the other two are much lower down - so we walk over and
wait in front of the due lift.
I look round at Jim who is
humming a dirge and tapping the index finger of his right hand against the palm
of his left. The lack of concern on his face goes some way to explaining why he
can be useful on jobs like this. He is the original Mr ‘Point and Shoot’. He
also exhibits little or no regret at events. He can happily beat the crap out
of someone - regardless of age or sex and once done walk away with an air of
total indifference. I’ve been told that he is slightly psychotic and this may
be so but I also think he was too far down the queue when the brain cells were
being divvied up and this has more to do with the way he acts than being
psychotic.
The lift has one floor to go and
I step forward anticipating the doors opening. They slide apart and I start in
and stop as two policemen exit. They look at me and Jim. I smile at them like a
recent escapee from a mental institution. Jim says hello.
There is a moment when they stand
in our way, blocking entry to the lift. They look at us. Jim nervous, me
entering panic.
Common sense calms my panic. This
is an office. We are both wearing business suits. Good quality business suits.
Why shouldn’t we be waiting on a lift in an office block? The police can’t know
what has happened. Can they?
There was no one else on the roof
but did someone spot us from another building? Unlikely - the building we are
in tops out anything else nearby by ten floors.
The smaller of the two policemen
steps back to prevent the lift door closing and then they are asking questions.
‘Have we seen anything suspicious?’ ‘No’. ‘Have we been up on the roof?’
‘No’. ‘Do we work here?’ ‘Yes’. ‘Where?’ ‘Cheedle, Baker and Nudge.’ ‘What
floor?’ ‘Twentieth’. ‘What are you doing up here?’ ‘Seeing a client’. ‘Who?’
‘Matman and Sons’.
I point to an office door with a brass plaque on it.
They pause for a second and then
stand aside to let us in the lift. The first policeman watches as I press for
the twentieth floor and the doors close. Jim farts. He often does that when he
is uptight.
How long before they find the
impostor? Five minutes maybe longer if they don’t cover the whole roof straight
away. We need to get out of here. Leonard will have to wait. I press the ground
floor button and do what everybody else in a lift does and watch the numbers
drop. Jim does what Jim does and starts to hum his dirge and tap out the rhythm
on his palm. At the twenty fifth floor the lift stops and the door opens to let
someone in.
My jaw drops as I stare at a man
who can only be described as a ‘gormless fucker that looks like a pervert’
walks in. He glances at us and then seeing the twentieth floor button is lit
looks back at us.
Leonard Thwaite, delivered on a
plate.
I can see he is trying to figure
out why we are heading for his floor. Given the whole floor is given over to
Cheedle, Baker and Nudge he is trying to figure out who we are.
The twenty third floor flicks
past and I make a decision. I lean over and tap Jim on the elbow and nod my
head towards Leonard. Jim screws his face in confusion. I haven’t time to
explain as the doors will be open in a second.
Twenty second floor.
I step behind Leonard and remove
a knife from my inside pocket and jab it into his side. He jerks to one side
and with practised ease I pin his arm and pull him towards me.
‘One move, one sound and I skewer
your liver.’
His mouth begins to open and shut
at speed.
Twenty first floor.
‘Jim stand over here and help me
keep him still.’
Jim is still five seconds behind
the action but he dutifully obeys as the lift opens on the twentieth floor.
Someone gets in.
‘Hi Leonard,’ the stranger says.
Leonard says nothing and I see
the confusion in the stranger’s gaze.
‘Leonard, don’t be so rude,’ I
say.
Leonard turns to look at me and I
give the knife a dig. I think I draw some blood and it does the trick. Leonard
greets the stranger. The lift heads for the ground floor. Too slow for my
liking. The police must be on the roof by now. As soon as they find the
impostor they will put two and two together and we are still in the building.
The eighteenth floor.
I adjust the knife a little and
try and place Jim between Leonard, me and the stranger. Leonard moves and I dig
the knife in a little more and he squeals. Too much. The stranger looks round.
‘Everything ok, Leonard?’
I twist the knife and Leonard
nods his head and says yes. The stranger is suspicious.
‘Who are your friends?’
Jim sees the danger and acts like
a whippet after a rabbit. He delivers a haymaker to the stranger’s head. The
stranger wobbles but doesn’t go down. Knocking someone out with a single punch
is a lot harder than the movies make it look. Jim throws a second punch and the
stranger staggers into the lift wall. Jim’s third fist finds fresh air. Thrown
off balance by the air shot Jim topples into me and I’m pushed away from
Leonard. Leonard swings round and I see the intention in his eyes - I have no
choice but to go in hard.
Twelfth floor.
The stranger, reeling from the
unexpected punches, still doesn’t seem to know that he needs to defend himself
and Jim regains his balance and this time his fist connects with the stranger’s
stomach. I hear the air wheeze out from the stranger’s lungs at the same time
as I lunge at Leonard.
I hold my knife hand out to one
side and use my free hand to try and land a punch. Leonard leaps to one side.
The wrong side. There is nothing I can do to stop my forward momentum and
Leonard’s eyes widen as the blade enters his guts. He looks down and I pull
back.
Jim has the stranger on the floor
and is giving him the good news in a big way. I should stop him before he goes
too far but Leonard has my full attention. I step back and Leonard slaps his
hand to the knife wound and staggers forwards, bowling me into the lift wall.
Warm blood spurts between us and Leonard clings to my suit. I try and push him
off but he grabs like a limpet. His face is inches from mine.
Sixth floor.
‘This shouldn’t be happening,’ he
says.
Leonard utters the words in a
whisper.
Tell me about it. We have entered
a whole new world of screw ups here. I shout at Jim to stop and with one last
kick to the stranger he obeys. Leonard begins to slide to the floor.
Second floor.
I grab Leonard and haul him back
up. I tell Jim to get to the far side and take his other arm. I pray there is
no-one waiting on the ground floor.
The doors open and we get a
break. The lobby is empty. I urge Jim out and we walk, half dragging Leonard
between us. I look back. I can’t tell if the stranger is breathing. I reach
back and punch the twenty first floor. I have no idea why that floor, other
than I need to gain a few seconds and leaving the stranger on the ground floor
is asking for discovery. The doors slide shut.
We are in a marble palace with
three lift doors on each side. Behind us there is a wall covered in a mural. In
front of us I can see the main lobby.
Someone is walking towards the
lift. An open shirted man with an expensive taste in shoes. I start to walk
toward him and as we pass I mumble something about drinking during the day. He
watches us go past and as I turn my attention to the lobby, I can feel his eyes
on my back.
Twenty feet to the main reception
desk. It is manned by two uniformed guards. Someone is signing in and I keep as
much distance between us and the guards as is possible. We are almost level
with the desk when the nearest guard shouts over and asks if everything is ok.
I tell him that everything will be ok when our friend gets a breath of fresh
air.
The main door is ten paces away.
I haul Leonard a little more upright. Jim does the same and Leonard moans. He
is passing out and leaking blood on the floor.
I push on and we hit the
revolving door at pace. I shove Jim and Leonard into the first section and push
the door round - diving into the next section. I hear a shout go up as the
guard spots the blood on the floor.
Jim and Leonard crash to the
pavement as they exit and, as I follow them out, I stumble over them and
struggle to keep my feet. I reach down to grab Leonard but he is now out cold.
I leave him and help Jim up. Behind me the guard is entering the revolving
door.
‘Leg it,’ I shout.
Jim doesn’t hesitate and sprints
to the left. I sprint to the right. Leonard will have to take his chances. I
hope he doesn’t make it. I’m not going back to finish the job.
I hear the guard shout and I put
the pedal to the metal and hit top speed and birl into a woman hurrying along
the pavement. She looks up at me and for a split second holds my gaze and then
I’m gone. I hear her shout after me.
What a fuck up.
What a right royal fuck up.
The running man outside George’s
building nearly takes me down. For an instant we are eyeball to eyeball. He
sprints off and I call him an arsehole. No, strike that, I call him a complete
arsehole. I re-focus on getting on with the job in hand and head towards the
entrance of George’s building.
It’s the liquid on the ground
that I see first. For a second I think the man on the pavement has peed
himself. But a guard is shouting and waving his hands like a man possessed and
there is screaming going on from a woman holding a shopping bag. The revolving
doors of George’s building spin and a second guard dives out.
I’m looking down at the man on
the pavement. The liquid is way too thick and way the wrong colour for pee.
Blood. I have never seen so much blood. I had no idea that people contained
that much blood. I watch, transfixed as it spreads slowly towards me.
The first guard is on his knees.
I’m not sure he knows what to do. He fumbles at the guy’s neck and then fumbles
around his wrist. The second guard hovers above - equally useless.
‘Ambulance,’ I say as I step away
from the advancing blood. The second guard looks at me, pauses and then it
dawns on him what I mean and he is off back into the building.
I step round the man and the
guard but I can’t decide if I should try and help or keep with plan A. The
guard makes my mind up for me when he looks up and asks if I know anything
about first aid. I don’t. He asks if I have something to stop the blood. Hasn’t
he? His eyes are pleading for help. I pull off my cardigan and hand it to him.
He takes it and bundles it into the man’s stomach. I suspect I may never wear
my favourite cardigan again.
Around me the world is beginning
to focus on our little tableau. At a discreet distance pedestrians are
beginning to congregate. Rubber necking. Whispering to each other. People are
such shitheads. They are forming a tight circle with me, the guard and the man
on the pavement at its centre. In seconds the circle is two or three deep.
There is nothing like a crowd to draw a crowd. They all stare. Not help but
stare. I hear one man say ‘Can you move? I can’t see. Is there blood?’
I give him my best ‘tosser’ look.
Unbelievable. A man is dying on a public footpath and someone is more
interested in seeing the blood than helping. Then the man on the pavement makes
a sound like a cat giving up a furball.
I turn away and the people nearby
look at me as if I’m about to say something. I do. I ask if there is anyone
with medical training. A man steps forward. He is tall, painfully thin, with a
suit that seems to struggle to stay on his body. He brushes me aside and bends
down; informing the guard that he is a doctor.
I take the opportunity to step
back into the crowd. George is back on my mind and I can see a train load of
questions coming my way if I stay here and I don’t have the time. George needs
me. The man on the pavement has nothing to do with me. I push back through the
crowd.
The second guard is back on the
pavement looking up and down the street. No doubt searching for the ambulance.
I squeeze past him and into the lobby.
The lobby is empty and I cross to
the lifts. There is no one waiting and there is a lift on its way down. It
flicks from floor six to five as I watch. Come on. The door opens and I’m
almost flattened as a policeman barrels out, eyes darting.
‘Did you see two men in suits?
One tall. One short.’
I say no and he takes off towards
the lobby and I get in the lift. I realise that I may have just lied. My gut is
beginning to churn. Events are piling up in a bad way. The men on the roof,
George on the roof, the push (and it was a bad push), the man on the pavement,
the rushing policeman. The running man in the suit. Are they all connected? I
hit the top floor button and lean back on the lift wall.
At the twenty fourth floor the
lift stops and there is a man standing in an agitated state. He steps in, hits
the ground floor button and sees the top button is lit. He asks if I’m going
up. I say yes, he swears, jumps back out and swears some more. The door closes.