The Driver

by Mandasue Heller

  ‘I don’t mind,’ Joe said truthfully. ‘He’s all right.’

  ‘Yeah, so long as you stay on the right side of him,’ Carl said ominously. ‘’Cos I’ve seen how he deals with people who cross him and, trust me, it ain’t pretty.’

  ‘Well, I’ve got no reason to cross him, so I’ll be okay.’

  ‘Course you will,’ Carl said, passing the spliff to Joe. ‘Next left,’ he said then. ‘And you’d best start remembering, ’cos he’ll expect you to know where you’re going without having to be told.’

  Grinning, Joe said, ‘Best get myself a satnav, eh?’

  ‘You can buy one with your first wages,’ Carl teased.

  ‘God, that’ll be a good day,’ Joe said. ‘Then I can pay you off and get you off my back.’

  ‘It’ll never happen,’ Carl declared confidently. ‘You might pay me off this week but you’ll be after another lay-on next week, I guarantee it.’

  ‘We’ll see.’ Joe smirked. ‘We’ll see.’

  11

  ‘Downstairs, five minutes. Wear black.’

  Squinting at the phone when Eddie abruptly disconnected, Joe groaned when he saw that it was two in the morning. He’d only been in bed for an hour.

  A quick wash later, he was dressed and heading down to the car park. Shivering as the freezing air bit into his cheeks when he stepped outside, he nodded when he saw Carl already standing by the car.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he asked, jumping in and starting up the engine to get the heater going.

  ‘No idea,’ Carl told him as he clambered onto the back seat. ‘Eddie just said to meet him down here in five. Didn’t he say anything to you?’

  Shaking his head, Joe glanced out of the window. When he saw Eddie coming out a couple of minutes later, he frowned and said, ‘Oh, great, he’s bringing the dog.’

  ‘Fuck,’ Carl muttered, scooting right up against the door. He eyed the dog warily when Eddie shoved it in beside him before hopping into the front. Eddie made out like it was some kind of baby, and it might have looked sweet if it had been any other dog lying there with its head on its paws, sighing as if it had been woken in a hurry. But its red eyes and battle-scarred head made it look positively demonic to Carl.

  ‘Just had a call from Kenny,’ Eddie told them. ‘Daz is hiding out in Longsight.’

  ‘Really?’ Carl was surprised, because he’d started to wonder if Daz had skipped town.

  ‘He’s at some junkie bird’s flat,’ Eddie went on. ‘She turned up at a smack dealer’s house over in Rusholme earlier on and bought a load of gear. Long story short, there were a load of guys there and she offered to pay some of them to go to her place and sort out this dude who she reckoned had been holding her hostage for three days. She said she’d spiked him with Temazepam so she could get out, and now she wanted rid. But one of the guys had heard I was looking for Daz, so he put two and two together and got word to Kenny. He’s there with her now, and he reckons she’s got my money – apart from what she’s already spent getting high, but I’ll deal with that later.’

  ‘At least you’re getting most of it back,’ Carl said.

  ‘Better than not getting any,’ Eddie agreed, glancing at his watch. ‘But I still want to catch up with the cunt before he wakes up and legs it.’ Turning to Joe now, he said, ‘Head for Dickenson Road. I’ll tell you where to go from there.’

  Joe set off, a grim expression on his face. He didn’t mind driving but he hoped that Eddie wasn’t expecting him to get into any rough stuff, because he hadn’t signed up for that.

  When they reached Longsight, Eddie told Joe to pull into a deserted car park at the rear of a block of Asian clothes shops.

  ‘Stay here,’ he said, getting the dog out of the back. ‘And if you see any coppers hanging about, give us a ring.’

  Nodding, Joe watched as Eddie, the dog and Carl set off down the road.

  Daz was still sprawled on the couch where Billi had left him. Roused by the sound of scratching at the back door, he didn’t immediately know where he was, or even if it was day or night.

  Peering out through the gunk that was still partially gluing his eyes together, he felt an icy breeze waft over his face as the back door opened and closed. He peeled his lips apart and croaked, ‘Billi?’

  ‘Try again,’ Eddie drawled, strolling in and looking down at him.

  Scrambling to sit up as everything came back in a sickening rush, Daz’s mouth flapped open and his eyes swivelled furtively.

  ‘All right, Ed, I was, er, going to ring you in a bit.’

  ‘That right?’ Eddie said quietly, sitting down on the armchair and crossing his legs.

  ‘Yeah, about the money,’ Daz waffled. ‘Kenny left it in the motor the other night, so I brought it back here for safe keeping. I’ve, er, been a bit sick, or I would’ve got word to you before.’

  ‘And what made you think you had the right to make decisions about where my money would be safe?’ Eddie asked.

  Nervous of the dog, because it looked like it was just dying for the go-ahead to attack, Daz said, ‘Kenny was wasted, man. I mean like really, really wasted.’

  ‘Was he fuck,’ Carl blurted out from the doorway. He couldn’t believe that Daz was lying through his teeth when he knew that Carl had been there that night. And everyone knew that Kenny never touched shit when he was working.

  ‘You didn’t see him after we dropped you off,’ Daz argued, twisting his head to look back at Carl. ‘He had a couple of proper big sniffs and went totally off it, waving his gun about and talking shit. That’s why I did one, ’cos I thought he was going to get us both banged up.’

  ‘And you thought you’d take my money along for the ride, did you?’ Eddie said calmly, not believing a word of it so far.

  ‘Nah, man, it wasn’t even like that,’ Daz protested, sweating like a pig now. ‘I didn’t even know it was there to start with. But when I realised, I figured I’d be best holding on to it ’cos Kenny probably would have lost it. And if you think about it, he did,’ he added, giving strength to his argument. ‘He left it in the car. And you’re lucky I found it when I did, ’cos it’s not exactly safe round here. Anyone could have caved the window in and nicked it.’

  ‘So why didn’t you let me know what was going on?’ Eddie asked, wondering if Daz thought he was a complete numpty.

  ‘I didn’t want to disturb you,’ Daz said lamely. ‘But you’re here now, so you can take it.’ He stood up unsteadily, his head still woozy from the drugs he didn’t even know he’d had. ‘It’s all here, safe and sound. I’ll get it for you.’

  He staggered past Carl and stumbled into the tiny bathroom. Dropping heavily to his knees, he rested his cheek on the toilet seat and reached around to the outlet pipe at the back. Shoving his fingers into the gap between it and the wall, he almost yanked the toilet off its moorings when he didn’t feel the money bag, hoping that it had just slipped further down into the gap. But it wasn’t there.

  Going back into the living room, Daz looked around frantically, his groggy head telling him that he must have moved the cash and forgotten where he’d put it. He’d never been so relieved when he saw a corner of the bag sticking out from between the couch and the sideboard. But when he grabbed it, it was obvious that it was empty.

  ‘No way,’ he gasped, his face as white as a sheet now. ‘No fucking way! It was there, I swear it was. Billi must have took it!’ Turning, Daz rushed towards the kitchenette, yelling, ‘Billi . . . BILLI! Where are you, you fucking bitch?’

  Carl blocked his path and gave him a forceful shove, sending him sprawling over the couch.

  ‘She’s took it,’ Daz bleated, his eyes swimming with tears of injustice and fear. ‘I can’t believe she’s done this to me. I’ll kill her when I catch up with her, I swear to God!’

  Still sitting quietly, Eddie stared at him. He could have put him out of his misery and told him that he already knew exactly where the money was, but he didn’t see why Daz should get off the hook that ea
sily.

  ‘Kenny was right about you,’ he said, reaching down to unclip the dog’s lead. ‘You are a fucking bottler. And a thief.’

  ‘No, man, you’ve got it all wrong,’ Daz cried, scrabbling back on the couch as the dog snarled and strained to get at him. ‘Honest, you’ve got to believe me, there’s no way I was going to keep it. I was going to ring you, I swear.’

  ‘And a barefaced liar,’ Eddie added softly, holding on to the dog’s collar. ‘And if there’s one thing worse than a thief in my book, it’s a liar. You’ve got thirty seconds to tell the truth.’

  ‘Please, Ed, just hear me out,’ Daz pleaded. ‘This isn’t my fault, I swear.’

  ‘Twenty-eight . . .’ Eddie drawled, skipping the first twenty-seven because he couldn’t be arsed with all that counting. ‘Twenty-nine . . . Thirty.’

  Screaming when Eddie released the dog, Daz threw his arms up to protect his face. But the brute wasn’t fussy: flesh was flesh, and it went for whatever was available.

  As the blood started to spurt, Eddie sucked a loud breath in through his teeth and shook his head at Carl. ‘Now that’s what you call an animal!’

  Watching in horror as the dog mauled Daz, Carl nodded. He felt sick to his stomach but he wasn’t about to show it in case Eddie took it as a sign of weakness.

  Glancing at the window after a torturous couple of minutes and seeing that it was an ancient single-glazed one, Carl warned, ‘Don’t you think you’d best make it stop now, Ed? Pigs could be on their way if someone’s heard him.’

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ Eddie agreed with obvious disappointment. ‘Should have taken him out into the sticks and finished the job in peace, eh?’

  ‘Mmm,’ Carl murmured, wishing that Eddie would hurry up and call the beast off – it sounded like it was having way too much fun.

  At last Eddie yelled, ‘Leave!’ Annoyed when the dog didn’t obey immediately, he punched it in the back of its head and yanked it off by its collar. Resecuring its clip as it cowered at his feet, he passed the lead to Carl to hold.

  Daz was curled up on the floor, sobbing like a baby as he tried to hold a loose flap of skin over a bloody gash on his arm. Squatting down beside him, Eddie said, ‘I’ve already got my money back, you thieving cunt, and that’s the only reason you’re not dead right now. But if I ever see you again, you will be. You got that?’

  Daz nodded his agreement.

  ‘Don’t test me,’ Eddie warned him quietly, sticking one of his fingers into the wound and smearing the blood down Daz’s cheek. Then, getting up, he took the dog back and followed Carl out.

  ‘Everything all right?’ Joe asked when they got back in the car.

  ‘Sweet as,’ Eddie said, grinning at Carl over the back of the seat. ‘All went nice and smooth, didn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah, fine,’ Carl said sickly, even more wary of the dog now that he’d seen what it was capable of.

  ‘Where to?’ Joe asked.

  ‘Platt Lane,’ Eddie told him. ‘But don’t worry, we won’t be stopping. I’ve decided to give the bird a break for handing that muppet over. I’ll just pick up my money, then you two can get back to your beds.’

  ‘Great,’ Carl mumbled, doubting whether he’d sleep for a week now that he had all those images to haunt him.

  Arriving back at the flats a short time later, Eddie said, ‘Cheers, guys. I’ll see youse right tomorrow.’

  Breathing a sigh of relief when he took the dog and left, Carl flopped his head back and ran his hands through his hair. ‘Thank God that’s over.’

  ‘What happened?’ Joe asked.

  ‘Trust me, you don’t wanna know,’ Carl told him, opening the door and climbing out. ‘But I’ll tell you this for nowt: I am never getting a dog. They’re fucking dangerous, man.’

  ‘You don’t have to tell me,’ Joe agreed, getting out and locking the doors. ‘I can’t stand the things.’

  ‘Anyway, let’s not talk about it any more,’ Carl said, rubbing his hands together. ‘I need a drink and a smoke. You up for it?’

  ‘Your place or mine?’ Joe asked.

  ‘Ooh, baby, I thought you’d never ask,’ Carl quipped in a girly voice.

  Glad that he seemed to be shaking off whatever had made him look so sick, Joe shoved him in through the door.

  12

  Eddie’s night had started out pretty good. Earlier in the week Clive had bumped into the lap dancers they had partied with that time, and he’d arranged for him and Eddie to take them out again. So Eddie had splashed out on a meal at a fancy Italian restaurant for the four of them tonight, followed by a couple of hours at a nightclub before they’d headed over to the casino in Chinatown that was fast becoming Eddie’s favourite haunt.

  Gambling was his latest passion. He loved the rush when his chips were in place and the wheel was spinning. And the buzz when the ball landed in his chosen slot was better than an orgasm. But like all addictions, this one had gripped him and was now happily stripping him of everything he owned.

  They had been having a great time for the first hour or so, lapping up the complimentary champagne and flying on the coke that Eddie had been handing out like sherbet. But when Eddie’s luck turned, it turned with a vengeance. And the more he lost, the darker his mood became, until even Clive had had enough. He’d tried to persuade Eddie to quit while he was still ahead, but the coke had made Eddie incapable of admitting defeat and he’d refused to leave the table, so Clive and the girls had eventually left him to it.

  By four a.m. Eddie’s pockets were so dry that he didn’t even have enough for the bus fare home, never mind a cab. He still didn’t want to leave, though, because he was convinced that he was about to hit another winning streak. But the casino management thought differently and he quickly found himself out on the street. Which would ordinarily have resulted in an almighty kick-off – if he hadn’t been alone. And if the casino hadn’t been run by Triads.

  No amount of coke could make Eddie stupid enough to think he could take them on single-handed, so he set off in search of his whores, intending to take whatever they’d made so far so that he could try to recoup some of his losses at a different casino.

  Hanna was nowhere to be seen when he reached her spot, and neither were Tasha or Elena when he went on to theirs. So he headed over to see if Katya was around, ringing Joe on the way and telling him to come and pick him up – just in case. Yes, it was late, and he’d probably be sleeping. But so what? He got paid plenty for the inconvenience.

  Katya was in trouble. The car’s headlights had been dipped when it had come slowly around the corner, and she’d stepped back into the shadows, only moving back out into the light when it pulled alongside and she saw that it wasn’t a police car.

  ‘How much?’ the man asked, sliding his gaze down her body and back up again.

  ‘For what?’ Katya asked, knowing better than to state a price up front, because that was how the vice squad trapped you.

  ‘Anal,’ he said.

  It wasn’t the word that stirred the hairs on the back of her neck but the way he’d said it and the glint of something predatory that she glimpsed in his eyes.

  ‘Sorry.’ She shook her head. ‘You’ll have to find somebody else.’

  ‘Nah, I want you,’ he drawled. ‘Get in.’

  Katya’s mouth dried up and her legs began to wobble. Her instincts were screaming at her to run, but the street was long and totally deserted, and her feet were sore from the hours she’d been standing in her heels, so he would easily catch her.

  ‘Please, just go,’ she said, managing to sound much calmer than she felt. ‘I can’t do what you want.’

  ‘You’ll do whatever the fuck I tell you,’ the man growled, pushing his door open and leaping out.

  ‘Get off me!’ Katya cried, struggling when he grabbed her and tried to drag her towards the car. ‘I’ll scream!’

  ‘I’ve got a knife,’ the man warned her, pinning her up against the side of the car. ‘So shut your mouth and do as you
’re told, or you’re dead.’

  Releasing a strangled scream when he shoved his hand up her skirt and tore at her knickers, Katya sank her nails into his cheek and raked the flesh as hard as she could.

  Infuriated, the man headbutted her. Then, glancing around to make sure that no one was about, he threw her back into the shadows of the doorway and slammed her face into the wall. But just as he’d pulled her skirt up and her knickers down and was unzipping his fly, somebody grabbed him from behind and yanked him back out onto the pavement.

  Squealing in terror when Eddie started punching the man and kicking him in the head, Katya squatted down and covered her face with her hands. The man had been about to rape her but she still couldn’t bear to watch him being battered.

  Joe drove around the corner just then. Still half asleep from having been dragged out of his bed, he squinted out at the fight that he could see going on up ahead. Assuming it to be a couple of pissed-up idiots, he wasn’t going to interfere. But when he suddenly recognised the silhouette of the one who was stamping on the other’s head, he drove quickly on up the street.

  Eddie heard the car’s engine and glanced wildly around. He’d expected it to be the police so he was relieved to see that it was only Joe.

  ‘I told you to wait at the corner,’ he barked, wanting to finish what he’d started.

  ‘Get in,’ Joe told him firmly, flicking a glance at the mess on the floor. ‘Come on, man, before you end up in serious shit.’

  Eddie inhaled deeply. If anybody else had told him what to do like that, they might have pressed all the wrong buttons and sparked him right back off again. But Joe rarely spoke out of turn so his words penetrated to the zone of reason in Eddie’s mind and made him look at what he’d done. And he immediately saw that he’d come dangerously close to killing the man. One more kick and it might have been over.

  Turning to Katya, he held out his hand. ‘Give me what you’ve got and get moving.’