by Aline Riva
As evening shadows began to fall and I was calmer now, another day had passed and we were still free, that thought was enough to get me through the fact that we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. I stood there and watched Jack soak the car with petrol. Then he set light to it. And then as we watched the flames curling upwards, sending black smoke into the darkening night, I picked up the bags and he took the suitcase and we walked hand in hand across the field, towards the motorway.
We hitched a ride from a lorry driver who was heading for Essex. While I sat there and closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep I heard Jack ask him if he knew Matt, if he knew if a pub called The Black Dog. What was said between them drifted away along with me and when I woke it was morning and my head was resting on Jack's shoulder. The driver dropped us in the nearest town and we headed for a cafe where we had breakfast. Jack was in a much brighter mood now.
"That driver told me a lot of useful stuff - Matt's running a pub about ten miles from here, at least it sounds like him, but he's calling himself Danny these days, I heard his pub was called The Black Dog so I have to hope we're on the right track. And I have to get another motor."
"Steal one?"I suggested.
Jack laughed.
"Well I’m not going to pay for it, am I? The money's gone as far as I’m concerned. I need to get some more together, I need to pull off one more little job. Then I'll go and see Matty boy and find out why the fuck he's done a vanishing act on me."
"I thought you said you trusted him?"
"After all the shit I’ve had over the last couple of days I don't trust anyone now," ,e told me, "Except you. I do trust you."
And his hand closed over mine. As I looked into his eyes I suddenly thought of the possibility that all this craziness could end one day - maybe, just maybe, it would end in a good way.
"When everything is sorted out do you think we could go somewhere quiet and live like everyone else does, just you and me and making love and no guns and no more of all this?"
Jack smiled.
"I couldn't think of a better ending. It sounds perfect," he agreed, and in that moment, I really did believe him.
Stealing a car took half the morning; I waited at the cafe until Jack finally pulled up in a black saloon car.
"Where did you find this one?"
"Behind the library. The silly cow left the door unlocked and the keys in the ignition."
I kissed his cheek as we drove away.
"You make all of this seem so easy. I know you say it's not, but you do make it seem that way."
"Well like I said, one more job, just to tide me over, that’s all I need. A few quick grand."
I wondered what he would do when the money from the next job ran out, but for now he was talking as if he could see an end to this too, so I agreed with him and hoped this would be the last time. We drove off, Jack deep in thought as we travelled through nearby towns, he was casing the shops and whole areas, just thinking about the next job, the one that would see us set up for a while until he got another plan together. While he did it I could see hi, growing more and more tense. Then he parked up outside a small bank. I felt a cold sense of dread creeping over me. The last time he had done a bank job had seen him caught and cost him eight years of his life behind bars...
"What are you thinking? Not the bank, Jack -"
He fell silent for a moment.
"I don't know anyone else who wants to buy gold so the jewellers isn’t a quick fix option, not right now. The bank is a quick way to get a few grand, depends how much they got in the safe today. I did four building societies before I got caught, two on my own, that was years and years ago but I can still do it, Sal. And the nearest old bill shop is all the way down the other end of this town so we can get in and out fast. I have to do this, I can't start my life again, I need something behind me, do you understand that? I had the money and now it’s gone and I have to do this. If I don’t do it now I won't do it at all."
I looked into his eyes.
"I love you."
"I know, I love you too."
Jack took a coin from his pocket.
"Heads I go in the bank, tails we drive off and find Matt."
My heart was in my mouth as he flipped that coin in the air. As he uncovered it a cold dread swept over me and chilled me to the bone.
"Heads it is." Jack said, and checked his gun, put it into his pocket and got out of the car. He didn’t even bother with the balaclava.
"After this you and me will go off somewhere, lie low and I can find out what Matt's done with the money. When we leave here we will go back around the way we came in and take the back roads, then dump the car and get a train to Matt's place and find out what’s going on, okay?"
I nodded, my heart hammering in my chest as I tried to stay calm. What he was about to do scared the hell out of me. He was so matter of fact about it that I was starting to wonder if those eight years inside had made his lose his mind...
He leaned in the car and kissed me.
"I won't be long. Look, the last two customers just came out so it's a quiet moment, best time..."
And he turned away and walked into the bank.
Chapter 6
It was a warm day, the doors were open and I could see through the window. I watched in silence, aware I was in his car while the engine was running, waiting for him to come running out again. I thought about police and armed robbery situations and the worst scenario I could imagine was Jack being shot.
"Please God." I whispered, "Please keep him safe...”
Then the thought occurred to me that maybe God - if he existed - had better things to do than look after thieves. I found tears filling up in my eyes and as I blinked them away I looked back through the window:
Jack was standing at the counter, gun trained on a cashier who was stuffing bundles of notes into a bag. As he snatched it an alarm started to scream and metal shutters slammed down, he bolted for the door and tossed the bag through the open window and then got in the car. We tore out of that car park and shot up towards the motorway. Jack was breathless and he was sweating.
"That was fucking close; I thought I was finished when that alarm went off!"
"How much did you get?"
"About eight grand, might be ten...that's it now, that's enough. We can manage on this. Let's go and find Matt."
We drove for miles, keeping off the motorway, then we suddenly went down a quiet lane and pulled off the road, to as spot where where the car was shaded by over hanging trees. Jack was still shaken up.
"I have to stop the car."
As I watched him pull to the side of the quiet country lane it shocked me to think he could be so shaken up, he was pale and his hands shook as they stayed gripping tight to the wheel. I had never seen him lose his nerve before.
"Bad memories," he said, "That job eight years ago...it really went tits up, started with the screen slamming down and shots going off and everything turned bad, everything... Drake shot his way out with me and Matt, Gary was identified later as a suspect but they couldn't prove it - but someone named me and I’m sure it was him, that’s why I wanted to kill him. Drake fucked us over by taking the money and getting out of the country - but he's dead and Matt's still alive so ...I don't know. I saved Matt's life. I shoved him down on the seat when a bullet came through the back of the get away car. He idolised me, used to call me his big brother, I can't see Matt betraying me, but then I never thought any of them would have betrayed me...it's so much to take in..."
I leaned over and softly kissed him.
"Then just forget everything, just for now, for this moment. I love you."
As he looked into my eyes his own expression softened and it dawned on me that maybe if I gave this man all my love and heart and soul, all of his pain would go away, he didn’t need to dwell on the past, not when I could love him and show him how much I loved him every day. It broke my heart to think this beautiful man had been locked away for so long. I didn't think he was
bad, loving him made me see he was justified to be angry - he had taken a lot of wrong turns in life but my love for him was so strong I was convinced I could change things for him. I didn't know if I was being blind or if I really believed I could do that for him, but I wanted to believe it.
I slid my hand inside his shirt, ran my fingers over his chest, and as I did it I felt his heart pounding.
"This is what matters." I said to him, "Being here to tell the tale. No matter how bad it was, that is not this moment - this moment here and now is you and me together and I love you so very much, the rest doesn't matter, all the shit and the problems and the past and everything that's ever gone wrong - its insignificant because we have each other and that is what matters."
Jack took me in his arms and kissed me.
"I want to marry you," he told me, then he unzipped his jeans and pushed my head down. I took him deep into my mouth, my lips closing around his hard on as I sucked him and never wanted to stop. When he came sharply in my mouth I sucked again and swallowed, wishing we were in bed right now because I could have given him so much more pleasure if his legs had been wide open and my hand had been caressing him everywhere else down there...
As the afternoon grew dim and dusk closed in, we pulled out of the shade of the heavy trees and headed up the road, taking a slow and careful route towards the road that would lead eventually to The Black Dog. As we turned a corner, we passed a police car heading in the opposite direction.
"Don’t turn round and look back," Jack told me, as he took a glance in the mirror I saw he had broken out into a sweat again.
"He’s calling something in. I saw him lift the radio. It's the plates, he's reading the plates. We have to get off this road, we have to lose that car!"
Sure enough, as I looked up at the mirror I saw the car had turned around and joined our side of the road. The siren began to scream and as other cars moved aside, it sped towards us and Jack put his foot down and took the car up to almost eighty, weaving in and out of traffic, hurtling along the road as it seemed the car behind us was ever gaining. Then a second car pulled up further up the road, the patrol car was blocking the exit up ahead. Between the patrol car and the road ahead spikes glimmered in a row standing out against the tarmac, ready to burst the tyres.
"They've set a fucking stinger!” he exclaimed, the only other way out was the road turning left, which meant the car would miss the stinger, but beside the parked car stood two armed police. They were shouting Police and drop your weapons, it was something I'd only ever seen on TV but this was real, we were really hurtling towards all this and Jack looked at the stinger and then at the armed police. He had made his mind up - he was not going down. He glanced at me.
"Keep down. And I love you."
Then he grabbed the wheel and the car turned sharply, missing the stinger and flashing past the armed police. Shots rang out like bangers being let off on bonfire night, I was down in the seat and could only see the floor, the car was still speeding and swerving like crazy and I heard Jack give a cry of pain but he kept driving.
"Get up..." he said breathlessly, "Help me, help me hold the wheel...”
As I took hold of the wheel I realised the driver's door was peppered with holes. There was blood running from his side and from a wound to his shoulder.
"Jack you’re bleeding, oh my god, you've been shot!"
"We have to get off the road. Hide the car...call the Black Dog..."
Some how he held on long enough to get us off the road, into the countryside again, by now it was dark and we passed a pub called The Swan and then he turned into some dense woodland and stopped the car. He was pale and weak and blood was leaking all over the seat. His eyes barely focussed as he looked at me.
"Call Matt..." was all he said, and then he lost consciousness.
I grabbed Jack's phone and searched for the number. He had already found it earlier and put it on his call list but my hands were shaking so much I dropped the phone twice before I managed to make the call.
"Black Dog," said a voice at the other end.
"Are you Matt? Or Danny? Do you call yourself Danny now? Please, if you're Matt help him!"
"Help who?" the voice demanded.
I started to cry.
"Please, Matt...If that's you, come and help. Jack's hurt. He's hurt bad."
To my relief, the reply confirmed I'd found the right man.
"Jack's still inside."
"No, he’s just got out. He's in trouble...he's been shot and he's bleeding...”
"Right, where are you? I'll get down there."
"The trees behind a pub called The Swan..."
Matt sounded agitated now. And it made me realise Jack had been wrong to doubt him - Matt was distraught.
"Okay darling, you stay put, okay look after him, keep him warm. I'm on the way now."
The phone went dead.
I looked at Jack lying there bleeding and started to cry. I grabbed a coat from the back of the car, a new one I'd bought when we went shopping together, I tried to drape it around him to keep him warm like Matt said - but as soon as I did, more blood started to soak through. I put my arms around him and sobbed against his shoulder.
"Please don't die, I love you," I said tearfully, "Matt's on his way please hold on, please..."
Chapter 7
As headlights broke through the darkness I held him tighter, afraid that the police had found us. I'd heard helicopters, but here the woods were so dense and dark we were covered and the helicopters had long gone, off to circle another area.
The car door opened.
I didn't let go of Jack, just turned around and looked at the person who had opened the door:
He was around thirty, with short dark hair and a heavy gold chain around his neck that stood out against his fake tan, a real Essex boy. He had a matching bracelet and a sovereign ring that caught the light as he took hold of my arm and gently pulled me off Jack.
"Just let me have a look at him," he said.
He leaned over and looked inside his jacket, then turned him over and cautiously touched the second bullet wound. He gently pressed his fingers against his neck and gave a sigh of relief as he felt a pulse.
"Right, listen - your boyfriend's hurt bad but I think we can save him. I know I'm going to try to. Give me one second, okay?"
I nodded.
He stepped away from the car and took out his phone and called a number on speed dial.
"Listen, I got a mate of mine in a bad way. He's took two bullets, lost blood... “ he paused, listened, then relayed more information,
"Nah, just the one. The shoulder wound's clean, I can see the bullet. The other one's in his side, one way, no exit wound. How much blood? I don’t know, there's fucking claret everywhere, man. I'm getting him back to the Dog and I need you there asap."
Then he hung up.
"Mate of mine, he's a medic. Now I got to do another call and we can move Jack into my car, alright? You can start by clearing everything out - do it now, everything. Don’t leave anything behind. Just throw all your stuff in my motor."
As I started to clear out the car, he made a second call.
"This is urgent," he said, "There's a black saloon car round the back of the Swan in the woodland. It's got more holes in it than a friggin' teabag and it has to be taken away tonight. Crush it, okay?" then he paused, "Good man, there’s a drink in it for you, bleedin' big one, cheers for that..."
Matt helped me move Jack into the back of his car, then he told me to sit with him. I sat in the back of Matt's car cradling Jack in my arms not caring that I was covered in blood, I just held on to him and tried to keep him warm, willing him to live as we drove through the darkness.
Matt knew the road well and only switched on his headlights when we neared a large old pub that had a sign above it that said The Black Dog. The pub was locked up and in darkness, Matt got out and unlocked the door then helped me get Jack off the seat, between us we got him up the staircase and Matt put h
im on the bed in a spare room. Matt glanced at him then looked back at me and his face was white with fear.
"Please, please tell me this is not a gangland thing. I’ve worked hard to make my own way and I got my own contacts but there's people I don't mess with and -"
"It was the police."
Matt stared at me. Then it all fell into place.
"Bank job? Police fired shots at the getaway car?"
I nodded.
Matt sighed and shook his head.
"Let me guess: He's got out early, seen Gary, thinks all the money's gone and then he's gone off on one?"
"Exactly."
"I'm taking care of Jack's cut," he told me,” I have been since he went down. The moneys abroad. Invested. Safe."
Then he heard a shout from down stairs.
"That'll be my mate. He's a paramedic."
I sat downstairs in the bar while Matt's contact took care of Jack. Matt came down and sat with me and offered me a drink.
"He's had a look at him and he said he can sort his shoulder out easy,he can take the bullet out and sew him up and that’s sorted - but the other one went in through his side and he won’t know till he takes it out, how far it's gone. He can open him up and get it out but if it’s deep, its bad and he said he can't make any promises." Matt blinked back tears as he sat beside me,"Oh shit this is bad, he's in bad way! You go upstairs and have a shower, bathrooms last door on the right. I'll bring your stuff up and you can get changed, okay?"
I was so worried about Jack it was not until I looked in the mirror behind the bar that I realised I was covered with blood.
"Thanks." I said quietly, and went upstairs.
As I showered and watched the blood run from my skin I sobbed to think that the man I loved had been hurt so badly, but he had chosen this rather than run into the police trap, taken bullets rather than go back to prison. If he died now he would die a free man, but the thought of losing him was ripping me to pieces.