Gangster Girl

by Dreda Say Mitchell

  Stella ignored Tommy. ‘What did the place look like?’

  ‘Same as before. If they’re inside there somewhere they must be the invisible men. And the woman said . . .’ Daisy held back.

  ‘Spit it out.’

  ‘That she’s gonna call the cops if I come back.’

  ‘I told you so. Right, that’s it, Mum, we’re leaving.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘She’s most probably on the blower to the Bill right now.’

  ‘Then we’d better get inside the house before Mrs Bank Manager does anything stupid.’ Stella checked the chamber of her gun. ‘Balaclavas on. You both follow me and do what I say . . .’

  ‘But, Mum—’

  ‘I mean it, Tommy.’

  His swearing tore up the tense air, but he did what she said and put his balaclava on. Daisy did the same with shaking hands. They shoved their hoods over their heads. Stella was the first to get out of the car. Daisy and Tommy followed. Heads down, with quick steps they walked briskly to the house. The rain was pelting in a mad, rhythmless dance. ‘Tommy,’ Stella commanded.

  He knew what she wanted. He positioned himself in front of the door. Raised his leg. Flung his foot back ready to kick the door in. But before his foot could connect the door was flung open.

  A breathless Billy ushered them inside. He panted heavily behind his balaclava. The hallway was deserted, an unnatural silence hanging over its few furnishings, the heart-shaped wall mirror, the lattice-engraved panel that covered the radiator and a long coat rail filled with a jumble of coats.

  The door slammed, shutting the world out. Tommy immediately shoved Billy against the door. He grabbed the front of the older man’s jacket and got right into his face. ‘What took you so fucking long?’ His spit hit Billy with each word.

  ‘There was a dog on the other side of the fence. A big mother. As soon as he saw us he starts growling like he’d seen his dinner. There was no way we were gonna get in without him either attacking us or waking the whole bloody street. So I chucked him a couple of my sleeping pills. Gobbled them up like it was the bone of the week. Then we just had to wait for them to work. Took a good ten minutes. Once he was out cold we were up and in.’

  ‘We were sitting out there like total pricks.’

  Tommy finally let Billy go. Billy straightened his clothes. ‘They’re in the front room.’

  They walked to the room. Stepped inside. No one took any notice of its homely set up, with family pictures littered around the walls, a reproduction fireplace, an elaborately patterned rug covering the deep blue carpet and plasma screen TV tucked neatly into a corner. All they saw were the people inside. A terrified woman sat with her arms around two children. A boy and a girl. The little girl’s body shook as she sobbed quietly into the woman’s side. The boy clung tight to his mum’s hand as he stared at them with tear-filled eyes. The man of the house, Abdul Miah, was across the room propped in a chair. Bruised and bleeding from a cut above his right eye and the side of his mouth. His hands were bound and there was metallic silver tape over his mouth. And sitting calmly in a chair was Ricky Smart. With a gun pointed at the boy’s head.

  ‘Me and Mr Miah need to have a little chat.’

  Stella’s voice was calm. Billy briskly walked over to Miah and pulled the tape from his mouth. The man gasped huge lugs of air into his lungs.

  Stella took a few, unhurried steps towards the bound bank manager. Her voice was polite. ‘I’m real sorry to disturb you so early in the morning but I need to ask you a little favour.’

  ‘Please let my wife and children go,’ he pleaded.

  ‘I’m going to let them go, dear, but I need you do me a favour first.’

  ‘Please don’t hurt them.’

  Stella widened the stance of her legs. ‘That’s up to you, Mr Miah. If we’re all sensible, nothing bad is going to happen. You just need to help me out.’

  The little girl’s sobs rose to an hysterical level.

  ‘Want me to shut her up?’ Tommy took a menacing step towards the girl. He drew the shotgun from its hiding place against his legs. Pointed it at the terrified girl.

  Miah’s wife grabbed both children’s heads and slammed them protectively into her body.

  ‘That’s alright.’ Stella’s answer was soft. ‘Excuse my colleague, Mr Miah, but I’m afraid there’s a touch of insanity in his family. That’s why you need to do exactly what I say or who knows what nutty boy here might do.’

  The man rapidly shook his head. Stella moved forward and perched herself down next to the girl. The woman tensed as any mother in this situation would. Stella’s hand came out and touched the girl’s hair. The small girl tried to burrow deeper into her mother, but Stella didn’t remove her hand. Instead she caressed the girl’s hair as she spoke.

  ‘They’re God’s gift, ain’t they, kids?’ Her stroking deepened. ‘All any parent wants to do is see their young ’uns grow up. I hear it hurts like crazy to have to bury your own child. So this is how it’s gonna go, Mr Miah.’ Her hand dropped from the child’s head and she turned to fully face him. ‘You’re gonna help us get into your bank. You’re gonna go to work as usual. I’m gonna give you a list of instructions so listen carefully.’ Stella paused, watching his face. ‘Number one, your first instruction is to send an email around telling everyone they need to be out of the building by five because your private security company is going to be doing a check of the alarm system. Number two, let the security people in the bank know that all cameras are to be turned off by half past four in order to help with the security check.’ She looked hard at him. ‘Are you with me so far?’ He nodded. She carried on. ‘Number three, you’re to tell your secretary that you’ve got some people coming from the private security company for an appointment for four forty-five. For the rest of the day you stay calm, go about your usual business. Three things, that’s all you’ve gotta do. I want you to repeat back what I’ve just told you.’

  Through his bleeding lips he quickly recited what she’d just told him. ‘Good man. When it’s four forty-five we’re gonna arrive at the bank. You’re gonna take us to your office where we will stay until everyone exits the building at five. Once everyone’s gone you’re gonna take us down to the safety deposit boxes. You get it open for us and we take what we need. Once that’s all done and dusted, we’ll be out of your hair. Then you can have your loving family back.’

  She stood up. Walked slowly towards him. Stopped in front of him. He looked up at her, the blood drying on his face. ‘I’m not going to repeat myself so listen up.’ She crouched down. ‘If you make one stupid move, like get on the blower to the Bill, the next time you see your family they’re gonna be . . .’ she looked over at Tommy. Laughing he pulled out a wicked-looking knife from his inside pocket. ‘In pieces. I’m gonna chop your little girl in the hallway, so she’s the first thing you see when you get back home. And your wife, well, she’ll be a little surprise for you upstairs on your bed. That would be so unnecessary and we really don’t want that to happen.’ Miah’s skin became paler at Stella’s chilling words.

  ‘Do we understand each other?’ He nodded like the weight of the world was pressing down on top of his head.

  Suddenly the boy shot to his feet. His knees rubbed together as he moved his legs awkwardly, crying. ‘I need to go for a number one.’

  Stella took some pity on him. She’d seen that look before. Knew what it felt like to be young and terrified of what was waiting around the corner. Hadn’t she wet herself enough times each time her mum bought a new man to her bedroom before she was thirteen years old. She swallowed a wave of sick. A tough woman like her should’ve got a handle on those memories years ago. But she hadn’t.

  She turned to Daisy. ‘Go with him.’

  Go on, Daisy, this is your chance to leg-it and not look back. Forget about your plan and hightail it outta here.

  The words terrorised Daisy’s head as she led the kid out of the room. The full horror of what she was involved in had played
out before her in a suburban sitting room. Crying children, guns and a knife. If she’d known what robbing a bank really involved she would have never got involved in any of this. Would she? Even to save her respectable life?

  The boy’s sniffles dragged her thoughts to the present. He wiped his eyes as he made his way to the staircase. She lightly touched his shoulder with a hand. He froze. Gently she squeezed. ‘You’re going to be just fine. OK?’

  He sucked in his bottom lip as he gazed at her with deep, chocolate eyes.

  ‘Let’s get you sorted out.’ Daisy grinned at him. Then realised that he couldn’t see it because of the balaclava. What must she look like to this kid? One of the baddies out of one of the computer games she was sure he played. He moved up the stairs with her following him. They reached the top. He looked over his shoulder at her, with a look in his eye that said his brain was on the go. They moved along the narrow landing. He darted a look back at her. Then twisted back around and looked straight ahead. His eyes fixed onto the wall where there was a button, which she assumed was a light switch. As she lifted her foot into the next step, the boy suddenly sprinted ahead of her. She lunged for him, but was too late. He reached the end of the landing. Leapt up and banged his palm against the button on the wall. A deafening, high-pitched, electronic wailing filled the house.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  The boy cringed in the corner as Daisy stared at him dumbstruck. Yells and shouts boomed from downstairs. Daisy ran towards the alarm button the same time footsteps sounded in the hall underneath. She pressed her hand against the button as footsteps took the stairs two at a time. But the noise wouldn’t stop. She pressed it again. And again. But it wouldn’t stop.

  ‘What the fuck’s going on?’

  She twisted around to find Tommy and Ricky standing behind her both with their shooters aimed high ready to go. Daisy’s hands fluttered in front of her. ‘I couldn’t stop him. He just ran and hit this button.’

  ‘You total twat.’ Tommy barrelled forward and before Daisy could stop him he’d delivered a stinging slap to the side of her face. She rocked back on her heels and hit the wall. Dazed, she looked back up to see his fist coming her way. She held up her hands in a defence move. But his fist never connected. Ricky had grabbed his arm and held it in a vice grip. ‘You don’t put your hands on her. Ever. You get me?’

  Tommy stared back at him with fury bubbling from all the pores in his body. ‘No one touches me and lives to tell the story.’

  Ricky eyeballed him back ‘You wanna slug it out I’ll meet you in the playground anytime. But for now you’re gonna have to put your fists away because we need to stop this racket before God knows who comes to the door.’ He let go of Tommy’s arm. Stepped back.

  Ricky tried punching the button with the side of his fist, but the alarm wouldn’t go off. Tommy twisted around and looked at the terrified boy. He lunged for him and dragged him towards him by his collar. With one hand he lifted the boy up and slammed him into the wall. The boy cried out as the air was knocked from his body. Tommy shoved the barrel of his gun into his small face. ‘You’ve got three seconds to tell me how it stops.’

  The boy swung his head from side to side. ‘I dunno. I dunno.’

  ‘1 . . .’ the boy carried on shaking his head. ‘2 . . .’ Now he screamed out for his mum. ‘3.’ Tommy’s finger curved around the trigger.

  Bang. A shot rang across the landing.

  They stood in silence. Stared at Ricky, who held his smoking gun. He stared at the huge hole in the wall he’d made where the alarm button had once been. The gunshot had blown a deep hole in the wall, finally silencing the alarm.

  A woman’s heaving sobs floated up from downstairs. Tommy was the first to make a move. He dropped the boy to his feet, but didn’t let him go. He dragged him behind him. He cried as Tommy carried him like a bag of rubbish down the stairs. Ricky moved to stand in front of Daisy, who was still shaking and dizzy against the wall.

  His hand came out to touch the balaclava on her cheek. ‘You alright, babe?’

  She took in a couple of shattered breaths as she nodded. She pulled herself straight. Off the wall. Without speaking they moved down the stairs. The sight they found in the front room made them both halt in the doorway. Daisy gasped. Tommy held the tiny girl off her feet, his arm locked around her. His gun big and dangerous pressed against her temple. Stella’s hand was wrapped around Miah’s wife’s mouth. The woman’s blouse had been ripped open. Her left breast bulged outside of her bra. Stella held Tommy’s knife under her nipple.

  ‘Who’s connected to the alarm?’

  Stella’s voice managed somehow to be soft and hard at the same time. The woman in front of her trembled. Miah opened his mouth, but shut it quickly when Stella growled, ‘I’m asking her not you.’

  The woman’s eyes were piled high with fear. Stella pushed the blade higher. The woman sucked in her breath as it cut a thin line into her skin. A red line of blood appeared.

  ‘The police,’ she finally answered.

  ‘Oh great,’ Tommy rubbed his face, ‘let’s get out of here.’

  Unfazed, Stella calmly carried on. ‘How long will it take for them to get here?’

  ‘Five, ten minutes, I would think, we’ve had false alarms before . . . I don’t know.’

  ‘We’ve gotta get out of here.’ Tommy’s tone was frantic. His legs moved from side to side, his gun still at the girl’s head.

  ‘She could be lying,’ Ricky calmly put in, taking a step into the room.

  ‘I’m not,’ Miah’s wife threw back desperately. ‘The bank had it installed just case anyone tried to do what you’re doing today.’

  Tommy dropped the girl, who immediately scrambled for safety in a corner. He began to frantically pace, waving his gun in the air. His swearing and cursing tore up the air.

  ‘Cool it,’ Stella called out.

  But he wasn’t listening to her. ‘I told you we should’ve skipped out when we were in the car, I was right as usual but no one listens do they?’

  ‘Skipped out?’ Now it was Billy’s turn to join in, escalating the tension.

  ‘Well, what were we meant to do when you two monkeys didn’t get it done in ten minutes?’

  ‘Shut up the lot of you,’ Stella’s voice struck with the power of the blade she was holding. The situation was fast descending into one of chaos and if she didn’t pull it back the whole operation was going to go tits up and she couldn’t afford for that to happen.

  ‘Listen up because this is what we’re gonna—’ But she never finished because the phone in the hallway started ringing.

  Stella flung the woman away from her. Pointed the knife at the bank manager.

  ‘Answer it.’

  He sprang out of his chair. His feet were unsteady as he moved towards the door, his hands still bound. Tommy’s gun was aimed at him every step of the way. Stella kept pace with Miah as he reached the door. He stepped out into the corridor. Found the phone on the table underneath the oval mirror. Stella picked it up and held the receiver to his mouth.

  ‘Hello?’

  The blood drained from his face in response to whoever it was on the other side. He looked at Stella and mouthed, ‘The police.’

  She whispered in his ear, ‘You know what to say.’

  ‘Everything’s alright at home. One of my kids accidentally touched it,’ Miah let out a nervous laugh. ‘You know these kids, as soon as you tell them not to do something they want to do it . . . so sorry for wasting your time.’

  Stella whipped the receiver away from him and replaced it on its cradle. She shoved him back towards the main room. He stumbled back towards his seat.

  ‘Right we’re all back on track now.’

  ‘I don’t like what he said to them,’ Billy said.

  ‘Whatcha mean?’

  ‘He said “everything’s alright at home”. That’s a strange way of speaking if you ask me. Say it was code for something else. If they put an alarm in here because they’re w
orried that this kind of stuff will happen they will have worked out a code that only him and they know.’

  ‘I’m telling the truth,’ Miah yelled, his voice clogged with unshed tears. ‘There’s no way I would endanger the lives of my wife and children.’

  ‘Let’s hope so, Mr Bank Manager,’ Stella spat. ‘Because if the cops come calling all they’re gonna find is a fucking bloodbath.’ She marched across the room to where the girl was being comforted securely in her mother’s lap. Grabbed the little girl, with one hand and dragged her crying away from her mother. Stella sat down. Pulled the hysterical girl onto her lap. She soothed the girl’s hair. ‘Hey, there’s no need to cry. Everything’s gonna be alright.’ Then she pulled her gun out of her pocket. Held it loosely in her hand.

  ‘What now?’ Ricky asked.

  Stella let her gaze take in everyone in the room. Only the ticking of the clock could be heard.

  ‘We wait.’

  Ten minutes came and went and no one came to the door. Fifteen minutes. Twenty.

  ‘Looks like you were right,’ Stella told the bank manager. She let the girl off her lap. The girl rushed over to her mother.

  ‘If I don’t leave soon I’m going to be late,’ Miah said softly. ‘And I’m never late. People are going to know that there’s something wrong.’

  Less than ten minutes later Miah waited nervously, with his rucksack on his back, by the front door.

  ‘Make sure everything gets done,’ Stella reminded him tersely.

  He nervously nodded. She turned from him and called out, ‘Bring the woman out here.’

  They appeared in the hallway. The woman’s blouse was smeared with blood over the area Stella had cut her. Tommy prodded her forward using the gun he held in her back. Stella smiled at her. ‘Just thought you might wanna kiss your hubbie goodbye. I’m soft like that.’

  The woman threw herself at her husband. They embraced strongly. Kissed deeply. Reluctantly Mrs Miah stepped back with tears streaming down her face.