The Value of Life

by Andy Crowson

  Chapter 19: K

  K woke around eight feeling drugged. He splashed some cold water on his face and fixed himself a sandwich. The food woke him up a little and he pottered around tidying up. Around nine he fixed himself a whisky, dropped into the couch with the bottle at his side and sipped from a diamond cut glass. K turned on the TV and waited for the news. Tonight was the first night he'd had to catch up with the TV news. The way his schedule was looking it might be the last for a while too.

  Tomorrow was the first big day for K and he wondered how much money the family had been able to come up with. He hoped it was a lot. Tomorrow would be the culmination of months of hard work and planning.

  As K drank he hummed and sang and waited for the news. When the news came on his story was lead.

  "Yessss!" he said, throwing his fist half up in front of him. He watched as the parents of each of the boys cried for the TV and asked for their child back. He listened as the police described a white male thirty-five to fifty posing as a football talent scout. He was a little stunned but he supposed it was the most public contact he'd made with any of the boys. He didn't think they had the any info on the van otherwise they would have mentioned that too. No, they didn't have much, but the parents, that was great, he'd captured the attention of the nation.

  When K went to bed he was happy and he lay for a long time imagining the future. When he finally drifted off to sleep he slept soundly till morning.

  K woke early and fully rested. He'd eaten well and slept well and now he was ready for business. He showered, shaved and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He made a flask of coffee and had one cup with some toast for breakfast. K took the van and set off for the cottage. He stopped to tank up and bought the day's papers. His story had made the cover of only one of them, but it had made the first few pages of the rest. He dumped them on the passenger seat and headed south-west.

  He made steady progress and because he was heading against the traffic, he got the satisfying feeling of flying along whist the other direction was sitting in a long stationary queue.

  K reached the cottage just after ten. He didn't check in on the boys straight away, instead he fixed some food for them, scrambled eggs on toast with bacon chunks in. He took a plate in to Daniel. The boy was watching TV.

  "Morning," K said.

  "I saw my Mum and Dad on TV this morning. Who were those other kids you took?" he asked. "Are they here?" The boy looked scared and K was thrown off guard, he hadn't thought about that last night, just how happy he'd been with the publicity. He didn't answer, instead he said,

  "Scrambled egg on toast," and handed the plate to Daniel.

  "I'm not hungry," he said putting the plate on the bed, "Have they paid you?"

  "It's not time for another hour yet, then we've got a long drive so you'd better eat and get washed up," K shut the door.

  He took a plate for Jamie but when he opened the door the stench of stale urine hit him. The boy was lying on the bed curled up in a ball, he was crying softly. K could see the bed was wet. He shut the door and went to Bryan. When he opened the door Bryan was sitting on the bed.

  "Scrambled egg on toast," K offered. The boy took the plate without speaking.

  "How are you?" K asked.

  "Okay," Bryan relied.

  "Good," K smiled and shut the door. He went back to Jamie's room, the boy still hadn't moved. K went in.

  "Jamie, come and get a shower," K said. At first he thought boy didn't hear, Jamie didn't say anything.

  "Jamie get up," K said. The boy continued crying.

  "Jamie get up now!" K said with more authority.

  "I want my Mum," the boy whimpered.

  "Get UP!" K said louder.

  "I want my Mum," the boy whimpered again.

  "If you don't get up right now you will never see her again." The boy began wailing and K waited patiently, after a minute Jamie toned it down a peg but didn't move from the bed.

  "Jamie Beacham," K yelled. "Shut up this instant." The boy dropped the wailing another decibel. "You will go back to your mother tomorrow if you do what I say, is that clear." K made a little progress. The boy nodded and lowered the sound of his crying but he didn't stop.

  "I want my Mum," the boy cried.

  "You will see your mother tomorrow if you do as you're told. Now come with me. You're going to have a shower."

  K took Jamie for a shower. He locked the boy in the bathroom and while the boy showered he went back in the room, stripped the bedclothes and flipped the mattress. He remade the bed but left he covers off for the bed to air. He found an old tin of air freshener under the sink and sprayed the room. When he went back to the bathroom Jamie was toweling himself down. K handed him clean pajamas.

  "Feel better?" he asked. The boy just nodded.

  "Give me knock when you're ready," K said and left the bathroom. He waited outside thinking. After several minutes the boy knocked on the door. K led him back to his bedroom.

  "You've got to look after yourself. It's only one more day now, if your Mum and Dad pay me tomorrow then you're on your way home," K smiled. The boy's eyes filled with tears. "It's okay," K said, "it's gonna be all right. You want those scrambled eggs now?"

  "Yes please," Jamie nodded. K fetched the plate from the kitchen, he brought a can of coke with him also.

  "Thanks," Jamie said as he took the plate. K smiled and left the boy alone. He checked his watch. It was a little after eleven. He collected the other plates and sat in the kitchen with his own scrambled egg on toast and read the papers. When the time finally crept round to five minutes to twelve he went into the study and switched on the laptop.

  K had tried this several times and he knew it was painfully slow with just an infrared connection to a mobile phone but he had no choice; there was no landline here.

  When the laptop had booted he connected to the internet. The mobile phone was a pay as you go with a massive amount of credit on it. He needed the credit though because it was bloody expensive to do this. At last the Swiss Bank's home page loaded. K had a pile of papers laid out on the desk along with a small calculator looking object. He typed his details and accessed the account.

  Eighteen thousand one hundred and thirty nine pounds. K smiled. He pulled out some more papers and began to transfer the money to another account. When he was finished he returned to Daniel. K stopped at a cupboard and removed a bag of clothes.

  "I can take you home now," he said. Daniel jumped up on the bed.

  "Yeah," he yelled and jumped up and down.

  "Enough," K said and the boy dropped to his bum, still bouncing. "Get washed and brush your teeth and put these on," he said, dropping the bag of clothes on the floor. The boy nodded. K went back ten minutes later with a big box.

  "Climb in," he said. The boy looked doubtful.

  "I can't let you see where you are can I? I'm just gonna drive you back in this box and then let you go," K said. Daniel got reluctantly in the box and sat down. K closed the box and taped the lid,

  "No peeking through the handle holes," he said as he wheeled Daniel out to the van.

  Once the box was safely in the back of the van K headed toward the motorway.