Divide and Rule

by Solomon Carter

  “You can wait here, if you like.”

  “No way. I’m through with all that.”

  “Your call.”

  As they moved across the road, a set of headlights appeared from the seafront end of the road. Another set turned onto the road and followed close behind. And then a third joined the queue. The cars were all big and dark. They were moving fast. Eva took a breath.

  “Move purposefully now, like we’re not scared but just out walking. Get into the park before those cars make it much closer. Come on.”

  They moved quickly across the street, and made it round the same hedges as Dan had earlier. As soon as they got round, Eva broke into a run and made for another row of hedges at the edge of the clearing. The hedges hid them from the road and the entrance to the park, just as the first of three cars bobbed up onto the gravel track that led inside. The other two followed. They went straight past the hiding spot and drove out onto the field beyond, drawing to a halt a hundred yards up in the car park field. Tonight there were maybe one or two dog walkers around the vast dark field beyond the pond. The big pond reflected the swirl of silver edge clouds. Damn it! Where was he?

  “What shall we do, Eva?”

  “Stay quiet. I need a minute to think, okay?”

  They were whispering as the car doors slammed, and the moody, deep voices of men in dark clothing with white egg heads cut through the air. The wind blurred their voices. Eva watched them gather in a loose huddle, as one smaller figure began to point and talk as if directing the others.

  To their right, the grass began to crunch. There was a quick noise of movement, and the snap of twigs. Eva span around, staring past Jess’s fear filled face towards the road. A silhouette filled the light from the streetlamp. Eva’s heart stopped. Then it started again as the silhouette whispered “Boo.”

  “You son of a bitch.”

  “Come on, Eva. You’ve met my mother, she’s really not that bad.”

  “Well, that’s just your opinion. Where are they?”

  “Who? The Burton’s?”

  “Who else am I talking about? Of course.”

  “Look straight over there, beyond the pond. You see the swans over there, by the edge?”

  Eva looked. Two swans looking pale blue in the night, sat on the water close to a bank of reeds.

  “I tracked the Burtons to the reeds. He’s walking around now, still carrying his son. I thought Will Burton was broken, beaten, and weak. But he made a fool of me and almost lost me.”

  Eva nodded towards the men at the car park the other side of the big pond.

  “I know. They must have followed you here,” said Dan.

  “You. They followed you here, we saw it. Didn’t we Jess?”

  Jess nodded.

  “It’s only a matter of time ‘til they find him. Just a walk around the pond,” said Eva.

  “I know. One way or another, it ends here.”

  Eva studied his face in the half light from the moon. His face was half cloaked in shadow, half cut with light. Dan looked feral, more Hyde than Dr Jekyll. Was he lost completely? There was no way to tell, but at least he was fighting. At least he was on their side.

  “They’re moving – look,” said Jess.

  Dan started moving away before Eva had a chance to look around. The group had broken apart, one bunch starting out towards the far end of the field, while a group of four had turned towards the bushes which hid Eva and Jess. They were slow and purposeful.

  “This way,” said Dan, in a loud whisper.

  “They’ll see us,” said Jess, saying exactly what Eva was thinking.

  “You’ve got no choice,” said Dan.

  “Come on,” said Eva. “Dan - wait – you need to know the truth.”

  Eva gave chase, hoping that the dark and the wind would aid them. She didn’t look back, and was happy to feel Jess running at her side.

  “Are they coming?” she said.

  “No,” said Jess looking back. They’re as slow as ever.”

  “They think they’ve won,” said Eva.

  Eva ran harder now, her training giving her an edge over Jess as she determined to catch Dan. Dan made it to the edge of the pond when he heard Eva behind him. He turned and took a breath.

  “There he is, see?”

  The pond was long and wide. It was shrouded on this side by an increasingly dense wall of trees, bushes and grass as it got further down. This side of the field was also narrow – garden fences walling the other side. It was a great place to hide but a terrible place to get trapped. In the distance, the moonlight picked out the bald head of Will Burton as he began to kneel and placed his son before him on the grass.

  “This isn’t good,” said Eva, as Jess drew up with them.

  “This was never going to end well, Eva. But at least its ending.”

  “Dan… you don’t get it…”

  Dan began to move again, striding at first. “Dan you need to hear this…”

  “We haven’t got time, Eva.”

  “Stop.”

  Dan stopped. “Be quick, Eva. Be quick as you can.”

  “It was Will Burton. Will Burton was the attacker, Dan. Will Burton hurt his son, because his political ambition was more important to him than a relationship with his son, and the love and respect of his wife. Will Burton is a sell out and a thoroughly weak and selfish man.”

  Dan’s eyes went wide, and glazed over as if considering what he’d been told. Then his face went tight and his eyebrows fell low over his eyes.

  “What about Serge?”

  “Peter Serge allowed him to cover it up. Dan, they used us to help cover this up. We were part of a diversion tactic.”

  “I thought Peter Serge was behind all this.”

  “And he is. He was allowing Burton to cover it up just so they won the election. It was all in his interests too. As soon as…”

  “I get it. As soon as Burton won, he would become expendable. Villains. Scum. Putrid evil scum, the lot of them.”

  Eva didn’t say anything. The wind whipped up any an answer through the trees.

  “What about Coulson and the gym?”

  “Partly a diversion. You were right. We were getting close, so they used the fake kidnap to throw us off track. We were never meant to uncover the truth.”

  “Bastards. They used us… just like Rowntree…”

  “Rowntree never used us, Dan.”

  “You’re wrong, Eva. Just like Devon Parker, he used us too…”

  “Dan. Hold it together, for God’s sake hold it together for me now.”

  “It’s okay Eva.”

  Dan reached out and laid a hand on Eva’s shoulder. His hand reached up and touched her cheek.

  “I know the score. We’ve been through a lot, right?”

  “Dan…”

  “I love you whatever happens, Eva. Hell, I even like blondie here.”

  “Dan.”

  “But I’ve had enough of being used so scum can do whatever they like…”

  “Dan. Will Burton is going to kill his son.”

  “I guessed that part. But that’s not going to happen, Eva. Not on my watch. Tonight, everything these bastards ever hoped for is going to fall apart. Every dream these sickos ever had is going down in flames. Tonight, I’m going to get the poison out of my system once and for all. And everyone here gets exactly what they deserve.”

  “Hold it together, Dan.”

  “I don’t need to. Not anymore. Especially not for these guys.”

  “Dan!” He broke into a run, his body angled like a sprinter. Behind them, Eva heard mutterings, the growling jokes and the crunch of grass and gravel as the skinhead pack approached. She turned and saw them clearly now. Everything was happening too fast. It was way out of control. Yet all she could think of was the fate of Dan and an unconscious young man held in his father’s brutal arms. Eva wondered if there was any chance she could stop a murder happening tonight… was there any chance at all?

  Twenty-seven
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  Behind and to their left, a group of four men approached. The light changed as the clouds whipped along, breaking to soak them in silver light. Eva saw two old faces, and two young ones. She instantly recognised Freddie, the desperate sicko from Cordy Farm. His face looked swollen, his nose looked odd - presumably where Dan had broken it. She and Jess were difficult to see, as the tall reeds obscured them from view.

  Up far beyond Dan, beyond the huddle of the man kneeling with his son, other dark figures emerged from a gap between tall trees that bristled in the wind. Skinheads, all of them bar one. The one who was not a skinhead was short and had a dark swathe of hair falling to one side. He was far away in the darkness, but the chill in Eva’s body told her exactly who it was. Eva’s heart thudded as she thought of Dan. If Serge made him freeze and choke up like before, Dan was in very deep trouble.

  “Press further into the reeds,” said Eva.

  “What about Jerry Burton?”

  “We can’t help him if those bastards catch us, can we?”

  Jess didn’t protest. Eva pushed into the dank insect ridden tall grasses, and held her breath. She pulled Jess close, and hoped there was enough grass to cover them both. They both held their breath, and Eva could feel Jess’s heart thudding along even faster than her own.

  They stayed hidden long enough for the gang to pass them by. They smelt of beer and takeaway food. Even with the wind, Eva could feel their tension on the air. These men were ready for violence.

  “This is going to be a bloodbath, Eva,” whispered Jess.

  “If we call the police, it could be worse. They act rash under pressure.”

  “If we don’t, they might kill someone before it’s too late.”

  Eva shook her head. She couldn’t call the police. Dan would have hated her for it, she knew him all too well. In his despair. She knew he wanted a chance to redeem himself. He was always trying to redeem himself. Now at the end of the line, he needed this chance more than ever.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Jess.

  “We’re going to be ready. If any one of them looks about to do something drastic, we shock them. We draw their fire.”

  Jess was wise enough not to ask “What then?” Because the answer was obvious enough. Eva had no idea.

  Dan reached Will Burton’s back. The man’s suit jacket clung to him like another skin. It took Dan a moment to realise the man had been sweating so profusely it had soaked through his politician’s suit. Dan thought only very ill people sweated like that. In more ways than Dan had realised, Burton was unwell. Dan saw a white wrapper by the man’s legs. He squinted at it to define it more closely- a white paper bag, the kind you get from shopping in a pharmacy. Up ahead shapes were beginning to appear in the indigo blue by the night.

  “What is that white bag for, Will?”

  “Medicine. Like I told you,” the man replied, bitterly.

  “You lied, Will. You’re more rotten than I could have ever guessed.” Dan walked around to face the man and saw Jerry Burton sprawled over the man’s knees in an undignified arch, his shoulders and feet touching the grass either side. It wasn’t a kind position. In this weather, with just his pyjamas and a coat over him, it had to be unbearable. The unconsciousness was helping, but hypothermia would get to him if he stayed.

  Dan saw the figures approaching from the roadside, coming up past the tall reeds where the swans nested. Eva was out of sight, but he knew she would be around, watching. Dan found his body warming, limbering up, the adrenaline seeping into his veins, the edge of darkness encroaching his temples and the corners of his eyes. He blinked and the feeling was still there. Now he didn’t fight it. He smiled and he welcomed it, like it was a part of his team.

  “Will, please… Tell me you haven’t just done what I think you did. Convince me.”

  “What?”

  “You know what! I already know that you hit your son, that you were the one who sent him into hospital. But then you had a chance to redeem yourself. But now, you are losing every last thing you had left. If you simply left him here, Will, your son would die all by himself. Because of the cold and nothing more. But you didn’t want to take that chance, did you, you sick son of a bitch? For some pathetic egotistical reason, you had to ensure he wouldn’t wake up to tell his side of the story. Well, guess what, Will, you’ve got no reputation left. Less than zero. You’re not Mr Slick anymore my friend. Come tomorrow morning, you’re going to be as popular as Harold Shipman.”

  “You know nothing. He’s my son. I’m his father. It’s broken, all of it is totally broken. Our lives have been totally wasted. There was no way to restore any of it. It’s over.”

  Dan leaned down into the man’s face. “No. Jerry has a life. You… you’re over, Will. Not him. Tell me. What have you given him?”

  “It was just to ease the pain…”

  “Whose pain, Will? Tell me or I will break every one of your ribs and leave you to the mob.”

  “He was in pain.”

  “He was waking up! You self-serving, lying bastard. Be honest with me. Be honest with yourself, just for once.”

  Burton’s face contorted, his lip shook. Tears poured in glistening torrents down his face.

  “Codeine. Lots of codeine. He will never have to live the terrible life I helped cause him. It’s finished. Both of us are finished now.”

  Dan roared, and stood up tall on the balls of his feet, burning emotion rushing through his veins like acid He unleashed a kick slamming his boot around the side of Will Burton’s head. Burton topple sideways, Jerry Burton’s body rolling off his knees sideways onto the grass. Will Burton moaned gently and held the side of his head.

  “I’m going to die…” he whispered.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. But your son is going to live. Now listen to me, Burton. If I tell you to move, you move. Right now, you stay put. Stick right where you are, understood?”

  Dan didn’t wait for a reply. He looked to the front, then to his back. The furthest bunch of skinheads were those coming from the trees at the far end of the pond, still about a half of the distance of the pond away from him. The four who had passed Eva hidden in the reeds were nearest. He could see their shapes tensing, hunching, and preparing for the fray. Some would be armed, of course they would. Dan had seen it all before. He knew he couldn’t afford to fight both sets of men at once, and he smiled, because they had already miscalculated. They had planned a pincer movement to trap them. But they had divided their main strength – their strength of numbers – into two, and mistimed their approach. Instead of the pincer arriving at both sides, it was now like two separate attacks. Dan had a chance, but only if he was quick, brutal, and abandoned caution altogether. If he held back, the enemy had a chance. If they had a chance, Dan, Jerry and Will were dead before they started. The blackness was around him. Yes, the blackness was death. He saw it now. If Dan was unlucky, it would be his. But if he used it, death was going to hit the enemy and decimate them.

  Dan faced the gang of four, but kept an eye on Burton too, scanning the man for movement. There was a chance he had a weapon of last resort in his jacket. Dan looked at the four, checking their threat. They were almost silhouettes, but not quite. Light fell upon them and blurred back to darkness as the clouds whipped by on the wind. Among the four was a bigger figure, made of muscles, fat and gristle, and there were thinner shapes, younger ones from the farm, maybe. Warriors brought out for the purpose of murder. It was guaranteed that the bigger man would have more experience of surviving confrontations, which made him the one to watch. Logic dictated Dan should have saved the confrontation with the danger man until last. But Eva did logic, Dan never bothered. Dan was a blunt instrument. Tonight rage pulsed through him, pushing in at the edges of his reason. Pain was on his mind. Tonight, he had something to prove to every single man, woman and beast in this dark wasteland. Dan took a single slow pace forward, then launched into a sprint. The figures stopped. Shock maybe. The big man waited and the thinner ones formed an arrow
head to cut past him. Dan was silent until he reached the first one. There was no weapon in sight. Dan used his forearm to parry a strong punch aimed at his gut, and then he smashed his fist through the angular jaw behind it. The young skinhead’s head made a crunch, he yelped and fell back across one of the other two, making the other man topple back. The third thin one emerged and a wash moonlight fell across his face. His face was a sneer, teeth gritted, eyes blank and staring. Dan recognised him as one of the young ringleaders from the farm. Just in time Dan saw the arm surge upwards towards his gut, but the fist was aiming all wrong for a punch. No – there was a knife in his hand. Dan took a lurching half step past the youth so the blade cut the air beyond him, and when the knife arm was fully committed, Dan span back on his hip. All of the momentum of his hip was propelled through the swinging right arm. He smashed the youth a clear one-eighty degrees around. The youth fell flat on his back. Dan stamped hard on his arm and felt something crack. The sound of another male scream got swallowed in the wind, and Dan snatched up the knife to face the two men. One big, and one smaller one.

  “What you got boys?” said Dan.

  The tall one held back, a cautious sentinel. The eager pup stayed ahead. From his movements and aggression, Dan guessed the young shadow had a weapon with him too.

  “You’re on the wrong side. You’re dead meat,” said an angry young voice.

  “Not from where I’m standing,” said Dan. “Come on small fry. Come on!”

  The youth took the bait. The shape came forward.

  “Remember your training!” shouted the big man. The young man came forward with a long blade, he jabbed it at Dan. Dan dodged, but he’d been tricked. The blade zagged backwards on itself, and sliced at Dan’s chest. He leapt backwards knowing his jacket had been cut, but not his skin. It was a skilful move, but it didn’t make the skinhead a Jedi. Dan skipped to the left, facing the blade arm. The boy wanted to jab and thrust to the right. Now it wouldn’t be so easy for him. The knife swept outwards towards him, and now Dan worked in, dodging the big knife, he stabbed his own blade into the fat lump of upper arm beyond it. The boy squealed. Dan pulled the knife free. At the same time, he stepped in close and smashed his forehead through the skinhead’s face. The youth dropped like a paper stuffed Guy Fawkes.