‘Which one is it?’ she asked Daisy.
Daisy moved quickly to stand in front of the locked boxes. She scanned her eyes from left to right. Bottom to top. Her gaze slammed onto it. Number 41. ‘It’s here.’
Stella scrambled towards her. ‘Right, we can’t make it obvious what we were after. So we’re gonna unlock them all. Empty maybe ten of them into Ricky’s bag.’ She drilled her gaze into both Ricky and Daisy, with a warning. ‘But not Charlie’s box. You give me that one in my hand. We start with Charlie’s box. Ricky.’ She chucked the keys at him. He caught them. ‘Start with Charlie’s and then do the rest. Daisy you hold the bag.’
Ricky and Daisy got immediately down to work. Ricky shoved the key into number 41. Turned the lock. Click. He pulled the steel box out. Looked up at Daisy. What they wanted was finally in Ricky’s grasp. This was their chance. Could they take it?
Daisy lowered her head towards him. Whispered, ‘We’ll never get it past her and Tommy.’
‘What are you whispering about?’ Stella’s voice boomed behind them.
Daisy sprang up. She had to find a lie quickly. She found it. ‘Ricky was going to put it on the floor, but I told him to give it straight to you.’
Stella smiled. Moved forward. ‘Good girl.’ She held her hand towards Ricky. He clutched the box. Ran his tongue nervously over his bottom lip. Then he passed the box to her. Stella shoved it under her right arm.
‘Do the other boxes.’
With speed, he jumped up and began to unlock the boxes starting at the top. As he unlocked Daisy moved swiftly in, pulling each box out and emptying their contents into the bag. Once done she discarded the empty boxes on the floor.
She twisted to face Stella. ‘We’ve got about ten.’
Stella looked at Ricky. ‘Just pull the rest out and chuck them on the floor and kick them around.’
Hands and legs moving quickly, Ricky followed her instructions. He pulled and threw.
Thud. The first box hit the ground.
Thud, the second box went down.
Clank.
Clank.
Clank.
As he pulled at the next box, he heard Stella’s surprised voice pierce the air.
‘What you doing?’
Daisy and Ricky twisted around. What they saw startled them as well. Tommy and Miah were slowly moving into the room. Backwards. Their eyes were on something in front of them out of the room. They didn’t have to wait long to find out what they were looking at. Two men holding guns rushed into the room. One of them roared, ‘Freeze. You’re all under arrest.’
Chapter Thirty-nine
‘Weapons on the floor. Then place your hands in the air.’
Both men were tall and big wearing black flak jackets and chequered patterned baseball caps. No one moved. Then Tommy swore and threw his shotgun onto the floor and then raised his hands. Stella followed. As she raised her arm the box under her arm clattered to the ground.
‘And you,’ the cop shouted at Daisy.
‘I haven’t got one.’
The men inched closer to them, their guns steady and high. One of them moved towards the guns on the floor and kicked them to the side.
‘I told you we shouldn’t have trusted him. That he’d call the Bill,’ Tommy stormed at his mother.
Stella looked at Miah, her mouth ugly and twisted. She ran one of the fingers under her throat as if it were a knife.
Miah shook his head, knowing what her action meant. His family were fucked. ‘I never called anyone, you have to believe me . . .’
‘Keep your hands in the air.’ The cop in charge yelled at Stella. She shoved her hand lazily back up. ‘You the bank manager?’ he continued as he stared at Miah.
Miah nodded, his lips trembling. ‘My family are being held hostage,’ he croaked.
‘Don’t worry about them. Just step to the side please sir.’
Miah hustled away from Tommy. ‘Face down on the ground, the lot of you.’
They scrambled down, except for Ricky. The cop in charge stomped over to Ricky and yelled, ‘I said, get down.’
‘I ain’t getting down for you or no one, mate, until you show us your warrant card.’
‘Are you for real?’
‘Your badge.’
The man quickly darted a look at the man next to him. Shuffled his gaze back at Ricky. ‘If you’re not careful, mate, you’re going to be shot “in the confusion”.’
Ricky defiantly held his ground. ‘It’s standard police procedure, you must remember from Hendon, don’t you? Let’s see something.’ Daisy gazed at him, surprised by the tone he used. One she’d never heard him use before. Authoritative. As if he was the one making the arrests. ‘Let me take a wild guess here, lads,’ he continued. ‘If you’re officers of the law then I’m the Lord Chief Justice.’
The man suddenly leapt at Ricky and gave a powerful blow to the side of his head with the butt of his gun. Daisy and Stella gasped as Ricky hit the deck. He moaned as he rolled on his back.
‘They’re not cops,’ he mumbled quickly, his voice streaked with pain.
Stella made a desperate leap for her gun. But one of the men pointed his gun. Pulled the trigger.
The bullet blasted into the ground by her feet. The echo shook the room. She froze, half up, half down, her hand out stretched for her gun.
‘Leave it out, darlin’, I’m a better shot than that usually,’ the man who’d fired at her shouted.
She straightened up, breathing harshly.
‘On the fucking floor,’ the main man hollered, his ill-fitting police voice now pure underworld.
They scrambled down. Lay flat. From her view point Daisy could see Charlie’s deposit box lying on its side on the ground.
The man moved towards Miah. Shoved his gun into Miah’s face. ‘Where’s the cash?’
Miah shook his head. ‘We don’t keep any here . . . .’
The man curved his finger around the trigger. ‘Don’t try and blag me cocksucker, I’ve been around too long. We’re in a bank aren’t we?’
‘It’s the truth. Most of our money transactions are done via computer. We don’t keep large cash deposits here.’
The man’s face grew red with rage. ‘I’m gonna take your fucking head off . . .’
‘I’m telling the truth.’ Miah’s shout echoed around the room.
‘No he ain’t.’
Everyone shifted to find out where the voice had come from. From someone lying on the floor. Tommy. Slowly he rose to his feet. With disbelieving eyes Stella stared at her son.
‘What’s going on?’
He didn’t answer. Instead he moved towards the guns kicked to the side. He found his gun. Stevie King’s Remington shooter. Picked it up. Moved back to the group. He stepped over his mum and shrugged his shoulders. Stood over her for the first time in his life. Angled the barrel straight down at her head.
‘I’m in charge now,’ he pumped out, not once taking his eyes off his mum. He carried on, his voice filled with scorn. ‘Did you really think I was gonna pull this job and come out with my arse hanging out of my trousers? You should’ve listened to me from the get-go and none of this would have happened. That money’s my winnings and I’m collecting.’
Stella twisted her face in disgust at Tommy as if the gun aimed at her meant fuck all. ‘You think you’re smarter than me Tommy? You poor deluded sod.’
‘Well, we’ll find out won’t we?’ Tommy’s voice was tight. His finger twitched on the trigger. ‘You weren’t meant to find out this had anything to do with me. Miah was meant to tell them where the stash was and then they would scarper. But since he ain’t talking I had to tell them instead. If you played it my way you would’ve left with what you came in here for. I got my dough and you got your poxy box.’
‘I’ll run you down, you know that—’
‘I know.’ His response was quiet. ‘I’m sure. But that depends on you ever coming out of here again. And I wouldn’t rely on that if I were you . . .�
�
Stella didn’t show her shock. But she did open her mouth. Not to ask why, not to beg. Instead she spat a contemptuous gob of spit at his feet. Tommy visibly flinched and paled as if his mum had spat in his eye. He turned to the men. ‘The money’s in the other vault.’ He flicked his blazing eyes at a cringing Miah.
Having already been on the end of Tommy’s nutty-boy antics, Miah didn’t lie this time. He got the vault open in double quick time. Tommy’s two men whistled in appreciation at what they saw.
‘Fucking hell, how many bankers’ bonuses does this add up to?’ one of the men said.
‘Hold your noise and bag it up,’ Tommy yelled back.
One of the men unzipped his jacket and pulled out a bag. Soon both men were shoving the money into it like kids in a sweet shop, their professionalism blunted by the sums on offer.
‘I think it’s time we found out what was in that deposit box that’s been giving my mum the willies,’ Tommy said, with a huge grin on his face. He looked at Miah again. ‘Open it.’
Miah yelled back, ‘But I don’t have . . .’
Tommy pointed his gun at him. Immediately Miah dug into his pocket as he rushed to his feet. Trembling, looking at the scattered boxes on the floor he asked, ‘Which one is it?’
Tommy scanned the ground near his mum. Located box number 41. ‘That one.’
Miah scrambled over and down. Picked the box up and quickly opened it with the master key he held in his hand. He tipped the lid open. His head reared back in shock.
‘It’s empty.’
‘You what?’ Stella screamed as her head came up.
Tommy started laughing maniacally. ‘Doesn’t sound like I’m the only one pulling a double cross on you today, does it, Mum? You must be losing your touch. Now put that sweet head of yours back down.’
Tommy watched his prisoners intently as his men continued to gather the cash, moving his gun from time to time, so it was covering his mum, then Daisy, then Ricky. Finally he was in control. His mum’s day was over and his had finally arrived.
‘Get up,’ he shouted at Ricky, waving the gun at him.
Both Daisy and Stella tensed at his words. They twisted their heads to gaze at Ricky. But Ricky didn’t look at either of them, he just got slowly to his feet. He stared at Tommy with bring-it-on eyes.
‘Twice you’ve pissed on my shoes today, Ricky boy,’ Tommy explained, a nasty smile spreading across his face, but never touching his eyes. ‘That weren’t smart was it? You said you’d meet me in the playground anytime you wanted me to sort this out.’ He raised the gun. ‘Well here we are.’
Ricky’s hooded eyes rested on the gun. ‘Feels like two on one to me.’
‘I know. Ain’t life a bitch?’
He pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot ricocheted across the room. The bullet slammed into Ricky’s left arm, twisting him half around.
‘Oh my God,’ shot out of Daisy’s mouth as she watched in horror as the blood gushed from Ricky’s arm. She wanted to get up, but knew she couldn’t.
Ricky didn’t even make a sound. Just let his arm hang limply by his side as he looked defiantly back at the younger man. ‘Real tough guy, aren’t you?’ he said as if he were talking to a naughty schoolboy.
‘Not quite. Now this is gonna make me feel top of the world.’ He shifted the gun. Straight at Ricky’s chest.
‘No,’ Daisy screamed. But it was too late. Bam. The impact of the bullet twisted Ricky in the air. He staggered back and fell face down. He didn’t move again. Daisy let out heaving sobs as she watched the blood spread from his still body. Ricky couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be dead. Not Ricky.
‘You bastard.’ Her voice echoed around the room.
Tommy kept his position as he aimed the gun at her. ‘You better tuck your head down, bitch, and settle unless you wanna go Ricky-style.’
Daisy knew she couldn’t do anything. So she did what he asked, shaking and crying softly.
Tommy swung around to find his two men looking at him as if he had grown another head. ‘Get back on with the job!’
They got back on with it until one of them shouted out, ‘Look at this.’
Tommy looked. The other man held a diamond necklace in his hand. ‘Found this in a box at the back.’ He draped the necklace over himself, ‘My missus is gonna look great in this . . .’
‘What’s the matter with you?’ Tommy shot back. ‘This ain’t the Antiques Road Show, get it in the fucking bag and stop pissing about.’
Tommy caught his mother’s eye. He was ripping her off and he resented the sneer on her face. Tommy looked away from her and started shouting orders to his men to hurry it up. His look away was all Stella needed to make her move. When you’re in a tight corner, you’ll always get one chance and you have to take it. Her hand darted down and pulled the .22 revolver she kept hidden in an ankle holster for special occasions like this one. It wasn’t a big or powerful gun but it did the job and that was enough.
The shot sounded more like an explosion. The guy in the necklace clutched his throat, blood oozing from between his fingers as he began sinking to the floor. Diamonds from the necklace, scattered on the floor like broken glass. Tommy thought at first that the little twat had shot himself by mistake. It was only after another shot blew away part of the second guy’s head showering the metal vault’s door in a spray of blood and brains like a graffiti artist’s paint can that Tommy realised something was up. He swiftly turned his head back around the same time Daisy scrambled away on her bum towards the other side of the room. She shoved herself against the wall next to a discarded deposit box. But Tommy took no notice of her, he only saw his mum. With her gun pointed straight at him. His own was hanging at a useless 45 degrees. His mother looked at him with contempt.
‘Two things,’ she finally spoke to him, her voice bristling with rage. ‘Always remember to frisk prisoners – that’s pretty basic, you don’t know what they might be carrying. They might have dialled 999 on a mobile in their pocket for all you know. The other is, never take your eyes off anyone in a situation like this. People only need one chance . . .’ Calmly she stood up.
‘Mum, I weren’t really gonna kill you.’ His voice wobbled.
‘Sh. Sh.’ Stella soothed softly. Tommy nodded his head as his Adam’s apple bobbed convulsively. ‘There’s a good boy, Mummy’s here.’
He only saw the flash of the gun. He never heard the shot. Then he had the sensation of flying which ended when he landed on the floor. The only pain he felt was the cut on his face where it scraped on one of the scattered diamonds. And then darkness came.
Chapter Forty
Daisy’s hands came out from under her jacket as she watched the scene with horror. Blood and bodies, one of which was Ricky’s. She pushed her hand down the back of her pants and pulled out the pistol. What she was going to do with it she didn’t know, but she held it protectively in her lap. Miah sat weeping in a corner with his hands covering his head. Then the sound that he made was joined by someone else softly sobbing. At first Daisy thought it was Tommy. Then she realised it was Stella as she gazed down at her son.
‘You stupid boy,’ she said between broken sobs. ‘Why couldn’t you just do what you were told?’ Then she aimed the gun at his head and sent two more slugs into him. Daisy cringed against the wall as Stella made her way to the other bodies and pumped more shots into them. Miah let out an animal scream as she made her way to him.
‘Please, please,’ he pleaded.
‘Shut up.’ He choked back the noise coming from his throat as he nodded at her. ‘We’ve still got your kids and wife. You wanna see ’em again, just sit around with the stiffs for half an hour and mind your business.’ She didn’t wait for his response, instead swung around to face a dazed Daisy. ‘We’re outta here,’ she told Daisy, already moving towards the door.
Daisy leapt to her feet, still holding the gun. But instead of moving towards Stella she ran over to Ricky.
‘Leave him,’ Stella command
ed.
Daisy ignored her. She fell to her knees just outside the pool of blood around the left side of his body.
‘Daisy, come on.’
But Daisy reached a hand to touch Ricky’s hair. She ran her hands through it as a sob escaped her body. ‘Ricky,’ she mourned.
Daisy heard running and knew that Stella was gone. She didn’t look around, instead she stroked Ricky’s hair for a few more seconds. Leant over and kissed the back of his cool neck.
Then she heard his voice. Calm. Reassuring. ‘Daisy, baby, you need to shift yourself now.’
She looked up to find her dad standing by her side. She hadn’t even taken one of her pills and was seeing him. She really was going nuts. She couldn’t see his face because he wore a black balaclava. Held a sawn-off shooter in one hand. ‘Told you this was gonna be ugly.’
‘He wouldn’t be dead if it weren’t for you. Why did you have to be my dad?’ Her anger exploded in the air.
‘I’m your old man and always will be. Running away from the inevitable only causes pain. We’ll have to finish this chinwag some other time, babe, because in less than a minute . . .’ He paused tilting his head to the side. ‘The alarm’s gonna be screaming blue murder.’
‘What alarm?’ Her hand tightened on the gun.
‘Automatically kicks in forty-five minutes after it’s been switched off . . .’
‘But Miah never said . . .’
‘Sounds like our bank manager was holding an ace up his sleeve all the time.’
now
Forty-one
Daisy stared at Ricky’s body.
At the growing pool of blood.
At the compact pistol in her hand.
‘Whatever you do, never run,’ she heard her dad’s earlier warning beating once again inside her head.
But she ran. Shot out of the room. Down the corridor. Took the stairs two at a time. Hit ground level. The sweat trickled down her face from the heat. From the fear. Her breathing cut up the air. She looked straight ahead. More blood on the floor. Red, wavy lines this time. She kept up her pace. Dodged the blood. Reached the glass front doors. That’s when she stopped. Gulped in a steady stream of uneven air. One . . . two . . . three. Shoved the gun into her pocket. Rolled the balaclava back off her face until it lay under the low hanging hood she wore. She hesitated at the door as his words came back to her:
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