‘Mr. Stranks, I think it would help if you stopped fidgeting. Let’s get you back to the ward, then I can check your chart and see when you’re due your next lot of meds.’ Curtly ignoring Terry’s whines, the nurse smiled gratefully as Officer Mansell held the door open for her and the hospital porter.
As the lift doors opened, Officer Mansell watched as the porter wheeled Terry inside. Just about to follow, he pulled his mobile phone from his pocket. Seeing as Terry clearly wasn’t capable of going anywhere, Mansell decided to meet them up on the ward.
‘Actually, I’m just going to make a quick call to my governor. Won’t be a minute, okay?’
The nurse nodded and the lift doors closed.
Mansell desperately needed a cigarette. He’d only be a few minutes.
He’d already been filled in on what a sorry sack of shit Terry Stranks could be, and after spending the day with him, he’d seen it for himself first hand. Hopefully, by the time he’d had a quick smoke and re-joined his patient, the nurse would have had time to administer Terry’s pain relief and sent the moaning git back off to a deep and, most importantly, sound sleep.
Making his way to the hospital’s main entrance, Mansell pulled out his packet of cigarettes, and lit one up as he huddled underneath the porch that covered the main doorway entrance.
The sky had turned black, and the rain was just starting to fall.
Right about now his wife would be putting the kids to bed. Another night that he could have spent with his kids, lost because of some lowlife like Stranks.
Thinking about the long night ahead of him, Mansell ignored the steely looks he was getting from the elderly woman standing next to him, as she exaggeratedly wafted the smoke cloud that hovered around her to express her obvious irritation at him smoking.
Mansell took one last pull, savouring the last bit of nicotine, before he stubbed his fag out, and purposely flicked the butt down on the pavement next to him to wind the old busybody up.
‘Here, you should be setting an example,’ the elderly lady piped up, pointing at Mansell’s uniform with disgust. ‘That’s littering that is.’
‘So it is.’ Mansell smirked as he made his way back through the main doors. ‘What are you going to do about it, sweetheart? Arrest me?’
Chapter Seventeen
Reaching the second floor, the porter steered Terry along the busy corridor, the nurse following closely at his side.
‘I need a piss.’
‘Well, another few minutes and we’ll be back on the ward, and we’ll get you sorted out. Okay?’ the nurse replied tartly.
‘I don’t think I can hold it. I’m busting.’ Terry shook his right knee erratically, desperately trying to hold it in.
‘Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait, Mr. Stranks. You’re still in police custody and I’m under strict instructions to take you straight back to the ward.’
‘What, so you’re happy to just let me piss myself? Don’t I have any basic human rights? I need a piss, and if you don’t let me go to the toilet in the next two minutes I’m going to piss myself.’ Terry purposely spoke loudly, so that the people they passed could hear him. This bitch was a proper jobs-worth. Out of all the nurses in the hospital, trust him to get stuck with the one that had a face so sour, she could curdle milk. Where were all the tasty Essex birds when he needed one?
‘Well, of course you have rights . . .’ the nurse said, feeling uncomfortable as the porter flashed her a look, in obvious agreement that the nurse was indeed being too harsh on the patient. ‘I’m just saying that you will have to try to hold it.’
‘I really can’t. Look I’m sorry for being an arsehole today. Really I am. I’m just in so much pain. And I have been holed up in that horrible machine for ages. I just need a wee. Look at the state of me . . . It’s not as if I’m capable of wiping my own arse at the moment, let alone doing a runner if that’s what you’re worried about.’
Seeing the disabled toilet up ahead, the nurse reluctantly gave in and nodded at the porter to stop.
‘Okay then,’ she resigned. ‘But you have two minutes, and the porter is going to go in there with you, in case you need some help. Is that okay with you, William?’
The porter nodded.
‘Thank fuck for that,’ Terry said, relieved that the nurse had finally seen sense.
Wheeling Terry inside the cubicle and closing the door behind him, the porter offered Terry his arm so that he could help him get up.
Grabbing it gratefully, and gritting his teeth as he eased himself out of the wheelchair, Terry hauled himself up onto his feet.
‘You okay?’ the porter asked as Terry let go of his arm and stood up unaided.
Terry nodded. Resting his hand on the wall, he leant up against it, wobbling unsteadily on his feet as he did so.
As he stepped forward to help, Terry shrugged the man off.
‘I’m fine, thanks.’ Pulling his gown up so that he could take a piss, Terry turned abruptly to the porter who stood beside him now. ‘Do you wanna hold my tonker as well as stand there bloody gawping at it?’
Terry smirked as the porter, clearly embarrassed by his insinuation, finally stood back and let him have his piss in peace.
‘You want a hand getting back into the chair?’ the porter asked apprehensively once Terry had finished, not wanting to antagonise the patient any further by being overly helpful.
Terry shook his head. ‘What’s the point in plastering these posters everywhere if you lot ain’t going to practise what you preach, eh?’ Terry said as he nodded over to the boldly written notice about patients washing their hands in order to prevent the spread of germs. ‘I gotta wash my hands, ain’t I? This place is probably crawling with all sorts of contagious shit.’ Carefully stepping past the porter towards the sink, Terry turned on the tap. The water spurted out loudly.
Terry knew that if he got back in that wheelchair he was done for. As soon as the doctors and the Old Bill realised that there was fuck all wrong with him, he’d be carted off straight down the police station. If he had any chance of escaping then it was now or never.
Grabbing the porter by his collar, Terry dragged the man down with a fast, swift movement that shocked him just as much as it did his poor unsuspecting victim. Smashing the man’s head against the sink, Terry felt the man struggle, before he did it again. This time even harder, with full force. The man’s skull cracked loudly as it whacked against the steel tap.
Mesmerised, Terry stared as the porter flopped to the floor unconscious.
The attack was over in just seconds, and the poor bugger hadn’t known what had hit him.
‘Is everything all right in there, William?’ the nurse called, hearing the commotion. Quickly locking the cubicle door now, Terry wheeled the chair over to the far wall directly under the window, and ripped off his neck brace.
He ignored the nurse; the snooty bitch probably had her ear up against the door, listening in.
‘Mr. Stranks? What’s going on in there?’ Banging on the door now, the nurse sounded flustered and Terry couldn’t help but smile as he hoisted himself up onto the window ledge. He almost wished that he was sticking around, so that he could be a fly on the wall when this jobs-worth bitch explained to her superiors how she had let a police guarded patient abscond from her care.
He’d played a blinder with his acting skills too. Surpassing himself.
Not only had he managed to fool the police and the paramedics, but he’d even duped the doctors and specialists into believing that he’d been badly injured. Apart from the odd scrape and bruise, the paramedics had been right. He had been lucky. He was totally unharmed.
He’d waited all day for his chance to escape from the watchful eye of the police officer, and now, while the copper was nowhere to be seen, Terry was grabbing the opportunity with both hands.
Hearing the snooty
cunt of a nurse as she persistently banged her fists ferociously on the door, Terry grinned as he ducked his head down and managed to squeeze himself out of the tiny window and onto the grass verge. Finding himself down a secluded alleyway at the back of the hospital, Terry smiled again. He couldn’t have planned his getaway better. Squatting down on the floor, he could see in through the office windows, and the lights were all out. This late in the evening, the coast was clear.
This was his chance.
Terry ran as fast as he could, but the wet sludge beneath his feet together with his eagerness to get away proved too much of a hindrance. Slipping, Terry fell backwards. Lying on the grass with his hospital gown clinging to his body, already drenched from the pouring rain, Terry couldn’t help but laugh. Once he started he couldn’t stop. Roaring with laughter, he couldn’t help thinking what a sight he must look. Sporting a hospital gown and no under-crackers, and covered head to toe in mud. Who cared? He’d escaped. That was all that mattered.
Getting back up onto his feet, Terry ran for cover to the woodland that ran down the side of the hospital.
Blanketed by the dense overgrowth he ran so fast that his chest felt like it would explode.
He was free.
Chapter Eighteen
‘Any excuse to crack open another bottle, eh, Dad?’ Nathan laughed. He often wound his dad up about how much champagne he drank. Lately he’d been drinking even more than usual. ‘I reckon you must bathe in this stuff going by the amount of bottles you manage to get through.’
‘It ain’t a crime to have a taste for the good stuff, son. Life is short, so bloody enjoy it. And besides, tonight we are celebrating,’ Harry reasoned as he proudly raised his glass in the air and toasted his youngest son’s success.
‘To our very own champion, Christopher.’
‘To Christopher,’ everyone chorused.
Christopher beamed, cherishing the moment of rare praise from his family. He’d earned it. With Harry Woods as his father, Christopher always felt like he had a lot to live up to, and tonight for the first time ever he really felt like he had. He had surpassed himself. Tonight, with the world and his wife watching, Christopher had more than proved his worth as a fighter.
‘Walker went down like a hot sack of shit, didn’t he? Knocked the fucker out in just over two minutes. I’m a fucking legend.’ Knocking back his drink in one go, his adrenaline surging and heightened by the coke he’d been doing all night, Christopher was still buzzing.
‘You made a right mess of him,’ Raymond agreed.
‘Bet it’s a long time before he thinks about getting back in the ring with anyone after tonight, eh?’ Nathan was impressed; his brother had beaten the man senseless.
‘Well, it ain’t like the bloke’s got to worry about brain damage or anything. He must already have that if he thinks he can go around spouting shit about taking me down. That’s what they call a punch-out. Someone who spouts their shit, but can’t back it up in the ring,’ Christopher snarled.
He hated blokes like Walker. As far as he was concerned, if you were tough enough to walk the walk, then you didn’t need to back it up with chat. And chat was clearly all Walker had.
‘He’ll be fine. Getting knocked out is an occupational hazard. Walker knows that. Or at least he does now.’ Harry grinned.
As always Harry’s event had been a roaring success. Tonight, Christopher had given the attendees exactly what they had wanted: a fight to remember. Every influential person in Harry’s orbit had been there, and the boy had made his name in front of them all.
Harry had made a fairly decent earn from it all too.
‘Poor Evie, you geared yourself up for nothing. I think you blinked and the whole thing was over.’ Nathan laughed as he hugged his younger sister to him.
‘To be honest I’m glad it finished as quickly as it did. Don’t think I could have stomached much more,’ Evie admitted as she swept her long dark hair behind her ears before taking another sip of her drink, the bubbles fizzing up her nose as she did. Christopher had fought like a wild animal and she had been left unnerved by the entire experience. She had seen the evil glint in Christopher’s eyes as he fought. Even afterwards when he had coldly stepped over his opponent who was sprawled out on the floor like a wounded animal, Christopher hadn’t shown even so much as a flicker of remorse. Evie had searched his face for it as he stood there victoriously, but she had only been met with a look of triumph. Maybe that was the whole point, though. What did she know about boxing after all? Her brother was the fighter.
Placing her glass down on the side, Evie sat on the sofa next to her sister.
‘Well, I for one couldn’t be prouder,’ Kelly slurred. ‘That was the best night out I’ve had in bleeding ages.’ Grinning from ear to ear proudly at her brother, she hiccupped loudly before bursting out laughing. After the amount of booze she’d knocked back tonight, she was feeling more than a little bit tipsy.
‘Shall I order us in some pizza or something?’ Harry rolled his eyes, and then laughed too. ‘You look like you could use a bit of grub, Kelly, to soak up some of that alcohol.’
He was glad that she had managed to put Terry out of her head for the evening. Tonight, surrounded by his kids, and of course Raymond, Harry was thoroughly enjoying himself. So much so that he didn’t want the night to end. This was exactly what he needed.
‘I’m stuffed, Dad,’ Evie said as she kicked off her heels and sat back on the sofa, hugging a cushion to her. The excitement of the evening, combined with the couple of glasses of champagne her father had allowed her to have, had left her feeling shattered.
Ray sat down next to her. ‘Stuffed? You barely ate anything,’ he teased. He had watched Evie during the meal and the girl had picked at her food and pushed it around her plate as if it was contaminated.
‘I think it was nerves. I didn’t really know what to expect,’ Evie said honestly.
‘If you think that was nerve-racking you should have seen your dad back in his day. Now he was a force to be reckoned with. They didn’t call him Harry “The Hammer” for nothing, you know. Your dad could knock his opponents out cold in one almighty strong blow.’ Raymond winked at Harry. ‘Where do you think Christopher got his technique from? Your dad taught you everything he knew, didn’t he, Christopher?’
Christopher smiled, masking the fact that Raymond was getting his back up.
Tonight was about him, not his dad.
All he ever heard about was how great a fighter his dad had been. Times had changed, and his dad was retired for a reason. If he got in the ring now, there was no doubt in Christopher’s mind that he would wipe the floor with his father. He may have been a force to be reckoned with back in his day, but it was Christopher’s turn to be in the limelight now.
He was intending to enjoy every second of it.
‘Don’t order any in for me, Dad. I’m off out,’ Christopher said as he checked his phone. He’d been bombarded with messages after his win tonight, and he was determined to go and celebrate in style. He’d worked his nuts off for tonight’s victory and now it was time to bask in the glory.
‘I’m meeting Russ and Darren for a few drinks in a bit,’ he said, standing up as he smoothed down his grey suit trousers. His crisp white shirt, almost bursting at the seams, clung tightly to his torso, enhancing his muscly physique. ‘You coming, Nath?’
Nathan glanced at his watch. It was half eleven, and the night was still young, and normally Nathan would have gone with Christopher without so much as a second thought, but right now the only person Nathan wanted to see was Cassie.
‘Nah. I think I’m going to go over and see Cass.’
Christopher rolled his eyes. Nathan had turned into a right soft cunt since he’d hooked up with that bird. The girl was stunning, there was no denying that. Nathan had always had impeccable taste when it came to women. They might look like classy birds, but n
ine times out of ten, they were just fame-hungry slappers. Nathan never bothered getting close to any of them. This Cassie seemed different, though. She’d somehow wormed her way inside his brother’s head. It was like Nathan could only focus on her now, and her alone. Christopher could admit that the bird had tits to die for, but she was still just a bird and they were two a penny. Great for a ride, but they came with far too much grief. Since Nathan had hooked up with Cassie, Christopher had seen him change right before his eyes.
‘Be careful, Romeo . . .’ Christopher leaned over to where Nathan was sitting and playfully swept his hand through his brother’s hair. ‘That massive thumbprint on your head might leave a bald patch.’
‘Oi. Leave it out,’ Nathan said, annoyed. ‘I ain’t under the thumb. I just really like the girl that’s all. There’s no harm in that, is there?’
‘Fair do’s,’ Christopher said, holding his hands up. He couldn’t be arsed to say any more on the subject. Nathan got so touchy about her. Tonight was his night, and if Nathan didn’t want to join him in celebrating then that was fine by him. ‘I’m off then.’
‘Don’t get wankered, though, eh? We’ve got to be over at The Railway first thing tomorrow morning. The decorators are meeting us there at ten.’
‘God, I’m so bloody excited.’ Kelly beamed. Nathan had asked if she wanted to manage the new bar and, of course, she’d jumped at the chance. Sure that her Terry would be home in no time, Kelly knew that he’d be a hundred percent behind her. Managing a fancy wine bar would be a great opportunity for them both. They could put all this rubbish behind them and both start afresh.
‘Hang about, Christopher, do you want a lift?’ Raymond said as he stood up and got his keys. ‘I’m heading off now myself. I can drop you at Cassie’s place too if you like, Nathan.’
‘Yeah, great,’ Nathan said gratefully. Just about to call a cab, he put his phone back in his pocket.
Shaking the boys’ hands, Harry said goodbye before turning back to his daughters. ‘Well, looks like it’s just me and my girls tonight then,’ Harry said turning back to his youngest daughter. ‘Are you sure I can’t tempt you both with a slice of pizza? Just so your old man doesn’t feel like a gluttonous pig eating it all by himself.’
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