Disobey

by Jacqui Rose

  Having no luck in the bedroom, Chloe made her way through to the walk-in-closet. Again she pulled at clothes, suitcases and shoeboxes; determined and frantic to find the gun. It was her only hope.

  Running through to the lounge, Chloe went through the desk. There were photos, jewellery, and a bundle of fifty-pound notes. There were an array of keys, a diamond bracelet and other precious items, but none of it was of interest to Chloe.

  Nothing. There was nothing which could help her. She had to think. The kitchen; maybe Franny had put the gun in there.

  Diving into the handmade cupboards, Chloe pulled everything out. Pasta, rice, biscuits and multi-vitamins; all thrown and spilling onto the marble floor. The cupboard with all the crockery in it was the last place to look through.

  Seeing nothing besides the expensive cut glass and tea sets, Chloe, about to go through to the bathroom to search, froze. Right there, tucked behind the decanter at the back was a small flap at the back of the cupboard.

  With a lurch, Chloe stretched her arm further in, trying to get to the flap. In her haste she knocked the glasses over, sending them flying to shatter on the kitchen floor.

  Chloe, focused only on what was behind the flap, pulled it open. And there was what she’d been looking for. Franny’s gun.

  ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ The voice behind Chloe-Jane startled and terrified her all at the same time. It was Franny.

  Chloe whipped round, relief on her face. ‘Fran, Fran, I’m so pleased you’re here … It’s Alfie. It’s Uncle Alfie.’

  Franny stared at Chloe, unable to say anything as she looked around. Her entire kitchen had been ransacked. Food, letters, bills and broken crockery strewn everywhere. Forcing her eyes away from the floor, Franny spoke angrily.

  ‘It’s not enough for you to mess about with people’s lives, you have to rob them as well.’

  Chloe’s face drained. ‘No … No … Oh my God, no, it ain’t like that.’ She paused to look around. ‘I know it seems like that, but I was looking for something.’

  Franny’s eyes flashed. ‘In my house! You were looking for something in my house!’

  ‘You weren’t in.’

  Franny shook her head in amazement. ‘So what? You thought you’d break in? Have you heard yourself, Chloe?’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Sorry! I got a call from Vaughn, saying you might be in trouble, but clearly he’s got it wrong. He obviously don’t know you’ve taken up burglary.’

  ‘I didn’t break in. I used keys.’

  ‘What?… Oh, this gets better.’

  Chloe shifted on the spot. ‘I … I …’

  Franny’s voice was loud and furious. ‘Actually, I don’t care! I don’t want to hear it, Chloe, only for the fact I don’t see eye to eye with the Old Bill I’m not calling them … Now get out, before … Oh, just get out, Chloe!’ The hurt showed in Franny’s face as she grabbed Chloe by her arm.

  Chloe pulled away, staggering backwards. ‘I ain’t trying to upset you, Alfie’s in danger. Mr Lee has got him. He’s got him locked up.’

  ‘So that makes it fine to burgle my house?’

  Chloe shook her head. ‘No, I wasn’t, I swear. I was looking for this.’ Chloe pulled out the gun from the cupboard. Franny froze, her voice dropped to a whisper.

  ‘Put it down, Chloe … Put down the gun.’

  Chloe cocked her head to the side, pain in her voice. ‘I’m not going to hurt you.’

  Franny stepped towards her. ‘Chloe, give me the gun, sweetheart.’

  In a tiny voice, Chloe replied. ‘No.’

  ‘Chloe! Please!’

  Tears fell from Chloe’s eyes. ‘I need it.’

  Franny reached out again to her, slowly; making sure she didn’t make any sudden movements. ‘No … No you don’t. It’s dangerous, Chloe. It’s loaded and it can hurt you. Look what happened to Casey.’

  ‘I ain’t stupid.’

  ‘I know you’re not. Nobody’s saying you are. All I’m saying is, give me the gun.’ Franny took another step towards Chloe.

  ‘I can’t. Uncle Alfie needs me.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘He needs me, he’s in trouble, he …’

  Franny interrupted. ‘Chloe, look …’

  Inconsolable, Chloe raised the gun, not wanting to hear anything more. She pointed it at Franny. ‘No, I’m sorry, I never wanted it to be like this. But you ain’t going to help me, are you?’

  ‘Chloe, listen to me. You don’t know what you’re doing, sweetheart. These are dangerous men you’re dealing with. Alfie may be your uncle, but he’s a face, Chloe. Money, drugs, turf war, people getting killed. That’s his world; he’s a part of it all. It’s what he does.’

  ‘I don’t care, he still needs me, whoever and whatever he does. So will you help?’

  ‘Chloe, we can’t. You can’t, you’ll end up getting hurt.’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  Not taking her eyes off the gun, Franny pressed on, desperate for Chloe-Jane to see what she was asking and wanting to get involved with. ‘Chloe, please. Perhaps I’ve been too tough on you, maybe I didn’t see how you felt through all of this, but Alfie doesn’t need anyone apart from himself.’

  Chloe shouted hysterically, her whole body shaking. ‘You’re wrong! You’re wrong! What do you know? You never heard him. You never heard him crying for help. You don’t know what it’s like to need help and there’s no one to come and help you. You don’t know how it feels …’ Chloe trailed off, unable to speak through her sobs.

  ‘This isn’t about you, Chloe. I know you didn’t have anyone, and I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve that, but you can’t confuse the two, babe. This is Alfie, you can’t …’

  Franny’s words were like a slap to Chloe. She lifted her head up, staring angrily. The gun still pointing at Franny.

  ‘I know this ain’t about me, Franny, but unlike you, I ain’t holding a grudge against me Uncle Alfie. So I want you to put your hands up and turn around. Do not move, and let me go. Like I say, I’m sorry Franny, but Uncle Alfie needs me and … and … and I need him. He’s all I’ve got. Don’t you understand that? He’s all I’ve got left.’

  44

  Chloe-Jane sat in the back of the cab, willing the driver to go faster but ending up having to resort to the direct approach. ‘Oi mate, can’t you rev this up a notch? I’m in a rush.’

  The cabbie, having perfected over the years the, I don’t give a fuck how much in a hurry you are, look, glared at Chloe-Jane in the driver’s mirror.

  ‘If you’d rather walk, be my guest, love. I can’t go any faster.’

  Before Chloe had time to argue back, her phone rang. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Hey Chloe, it’s Jodie, where are you?’

  ‘I should be there in a few minutes.’

  ‘Okay, good. Mr Lee’s been on the war path, so we’ve got to be careful.’

  ‘Has he gone now?’

  ‘Yeah, he left about an hour ago … You okay? You sound stressed out.’

  For a moment, hearing Jodie’s voice on the other end of the phone was such a relief, but then Chloe remembered. Remembered she couldn’t trust anyone, especially Jodie. ‘I’m fine. Just tired from shopping.’

  ‘Did you get anything?’

  ‘No … Listen, I’ve got another call coming through, I’ll see you in a minute. Shall I meet you at the corner of Beaumont Street as usual?’

  ‘Yeah, okay.’

  Jodie put down the phone. Her face was throbbing from where Lin had punched her.

  ‘Well?’ Mr Lee sat next to Lin in Jodie’s room.

  ‘She’s on her way.’

  Chloe-Jane switched over to the in-coming call. ‘Chloe?… Chloe?’ Franny’s frantic voice sounded in Chloe’s ear.

  ‘Chloe, listen to me. Tell me where you are. I’ll come and get you. It doesn’t matter what happened, we can sort it out. Just tell me where you are, or get in a cab and come back to my flat.’
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  ‘I’m sorry Franny, I can’t do that … Goodbye.’ Chloe put the phone down, watching the traffic go by as she felt the gun in her pocket.

  Jodie stood on the corner of Chilworth Street as she had for the past thirty minutes. She looked over to the waiting car, seeing the figures of Mr Lee and Lin. The passenger window slowly was lowered, and Lin spoke, angrily. ‘I thought you said she was coming.’

  Jodie shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. ‘Maybe she’s changed her mind.’

  ‘Then if she has, it’ll be down to you.’

  ‘Look, she didn’t say anything. Maybe she’s just decided not to bother anymore and gone back to her mum’s.’

  Lin shook his head. ‘And you don’t think that’s strange?’

  Jodie pulled a face. ‘No, she was always talking about going back.’

  ‘If I find out you’re hiding anything …’

  ‘I ain’t. I told you everything didn’t I?’

  Lin stared at Jodie. It had taken him a while to figure out quite where he’d seen the girl, Chloe, before. But then it’d come to him. Whispers nightclub, the day the woman had been shot. She’d been there with Alfie and now what he wanted to know was, why.

  He’d thought about making Alfie talk, but he was enjoying the fact he was languishing, no doubt terrified in the basement of the building.

  He hadn’t mentioned to Jodie about the girl being in the nightclub; he hadn’t told her anything. He didn’t entirely trust the girl. All he’d said was he wanted to talk to her, see what she knew. Jodie had been evasive but after he’d reminded her who was in charge, she’d let it out of the bag that she’d been letting Chloe stay.

  Harmless perhaps, although Jodie had disobeyed the rules in having her to stay and she’d been lashed on her back because of it, but maybe that was all there was to it. One friend helping another out, and it was just an innocent coincidence. On the other hand, maybe there was more to it – but there was only one way to find out.

  ‘Try calling her; see where she is. I want to talk to her.’

  Jodie nodded, watching Lin put the window back up. She pulled out her phone, but instead of pressing the dial button, she simply lifted the phone to her ear, pretending to talk to Chloe.

  Perhaps by now, Chloe-Jane would’ve gone back to wherever she came from. Safe and unharmed. Perhaps when she hadn’t turned up on the corner of Beaumont Street as arranged, Chloe would’ve hung around for ten minutes or so and realising that she wasn’t coming, gone home, or gone anywhere, as long as it wasn’t here.

  So as Jodie stood on the corner of Chilworth Street instead of Beaumont Street, pretending to talk on her mobile, she crossed her fingers, hoping that Chloe-Jane was long gone.

  On the other side of Paddington, Chloe-Jane was far from long gone. She’d waited on the corner of Beaumont Street for over an hour, surprised and agitated Jodie hadn’t arrived. After trying Jodie on the phone several times and only getting her voicemail, Chloe-Jane had made her way to the building where Jodie lived. And here she was, standing outside.

  Chloe-Jane was terrified, as well as confused. She didn’t understand why Jodie hadn’t shown, but then, it was probably as she’d suspected. Jodie wasn’t to be trusted.

  Making her way down to the back door where the entrance for the girls was, Chloe looked around. There was nobody about which was something, but it still left the problem of how she was going to get inside.

  Walking around the outside of the building, Chloe saw it was impossible to climb through any windows; most of them on the ground and first floor were boarded up, and the others which weren’t had steel bars protecting them.

  As Chloe went round towards the back of the building, she noticed an aluminium grille on the side of the wall. A ventilation outlet. It was small, probably no bigger than two foot by two foot but if she could get the cover off it, it would allow her to enter the building.

  Quickly going over to it, Chloe investigated further. Through the grille she could see the basement was now dimly lit, helping her see where she needed to be.

  The top two corner screws of the grille were bolted tight into the concrete but the bottom ones had almost eroded; brown rusting screws barely able to hold the steel in place.

  Looking round, Chloe saw a bit of wood. She hurriedly picked it up and began to use it to lever the grille away from the wall, lifting it open; giving her access to the dark basement.

  Checking around again to make sure the coast was clear, Chloe lay on the ground, wriggling to squeeze herself through the tiny hole. The fit was tight. Too tight, and at first Chloe didn’t think she’d manage to get through. She scrabbled back up and turned herself round, entering this time head first, instead of feet first.

  Managing to push herself in enough to grab hold of the inner walls, Chloe heaved herself in; closing her eyes as she dropped hard onto the floor below. She landed on her wrist awkwardly and a shooting pain drove through her arm.

  Giving a moment for the pain to pass, Chloe pulled out the gun in her pocket and tried to get her bearings. If she was at the back of the building, that would mean the entrance the girls used should be over to the right. From there, hopefully she’d be able to find her way to where Alfie was.

  There was a temptation to call out to her uncle, but she had to be certain there was no one around. With her heart racing, Chloe-Jane shrank into the walls, afraid someone would come round the corner and see her.

  Getting to the end of one of the corridors, she paused for a moment, suddenly seeing the steel door in front of her which led through to near where the girls slept. She’d gone too far and missed the turning but at least now she could find her way back.

  Turning round, Chloe heard a noise behind her. She froze as the steel door began to open; with trembling hands she raised the gun as she squinted through half-closed eyes, too afraid to look, too afraid to see who it was.

  Piercing screams were heard as two Chinese girls stared at Chloe holding the gun.

  ‘No!… No!… Please, I’m not going to hurt you.’ The girls continued to scream as Chloe begged them to be quiet. If they carried on, somebody was bound to come

  ‘Please!… Please!… You’ve got to keep quiet. Look, Shhh!… Quiet!’ The girls clung onto each other in terror, not understanding what Chloe was trying to say. They began to back away and suddenly the thought came to Chloe that if she let them go, they’d go running to get help. But what was she supposed to do? How was she going to stop them? She couldn’t risk them raising the alarm.

  ‘Stop!… Don’t move!’ Chloe pointed the gun, and although there was a language barrier between them, there was certainly no mistaking what having a gun pointed in their direction meant.

  ‘Hands up … hands up …’ Chloe signalled her meaning to the girls who immediately nodded, moving forward into the darkness of the corridor.

  The girls, having fallen silent now walked in front of Chloe. She pushed them deeper into the corridors, hearing their whimpers which hid her own. She had to keep her mind on Alfie, and nothing else. Once she found him, she’d feel better; safer. He would know what to do and where to go.

  Venturing on, Chloe-Jane continued along in the depths of the basement. This was it, she was sure of it. Feeling slightly more confident that no one was around, she held the gun in one hand and her phone in the other to guide her, calling out in a whisper. ‘Uncle Alfie?… Uncle Alfie?’ The Chinese girls turned round looking puzzled, as if Chloe was giving the instructions. She shook her head, smiling warmly at them as adrenaline continued to charge round her body.

  ‘Not you … not you, my Uncle Alfie. I’m trying to find my Uncle Alfie.’ The girls said nothing, but from out of the darkness, Chloe heard a voice call back.

  ‘Uncle Alfie? It’s Chloe.’ She listened carefully under the watchful eyes of the two girls.

  ‘Chloe!… Here!… I’m here!’

  Pushing the girls in the back with her hands to make them hurry forward, Chloe turned right. Seeing the door, she ran forward
, speaking through it with urgency.

  ‘It’s me, I’m here … Tell me what to do.’

  Alfie’s voice was weak but still hopeful. ‘Chloe, listen to me, tell whoever you’ve got there to help you crank the door, it’s thick but from what I can see it’s old and a crowbar should do it.’

  Chloe didn’t say anything as her uncle’s words sank in.

  ‘Chloe?… Clo? You still there?’

  ‘Yeah, yeah I’m still here but … but it’s only me. I’m the only one here.’

  Alfie sounded frustrated. ‘Well, go call them back. Hurry Chloe, the sooner we get the fuck out of here the better. It ain’t safe, sweetheart.’

  ‘No, you don’t understand. It’s only me. I’m on me own.’

  The long protracted silence burnt into Chloe and the two Chinese girls looked confused as Chloe leant her head on the door and burst into tears. ‘I’m sorry. I tried … I really did. I went to see Lola, I went to see Vaughn and …’

  ‘Did you go to see Franny? She’ll help. You should’ve gone to see her.’

  ‘I did! I did! But she wouldn’t help.’

  Alfie was desperate. ‘You should’ve tried harder. Why didn’t you try, Chloe?’

  ‘I did, I swear but—’ Chloe stopped, she didn’t want to say any more. ‘Listen Uncle Alfie, I don’t know how long we’ve got, Mr Lee is bound to be about.’

  ‘Well we’re fucked, ain’t we?’

  ‘No, no, I’ve got a gun. I got it from Franny’s house.’

  ‘Okay, what I need you to do is shoot the lock out. It’ll probably take a couple of shots but the door’s old and it’ll no doubt give. But you need to stand back, Chloe, there’ll be a ricochet from the bullet as it hits the door.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘If you ain’t careful, the bullet will bounce back on you; in other words you’ll shoot yourself … Now hurry up, Chloe.’

  Chloe-Jane looked at the gun, then at the door; she had no idea how to use it, and what her uncle had just said scared her.