And Nick Black realised he was right. They still had Taki to take care of. And as long as he was still in the vicinity of Old Bill, then they were in danger. Tony, the crazy bastard, had managed to get them temporarily off their case. Now, they had to seize that opportunity before it vanished.
He took a look back at Tony, saw them manhandling him, and—
—Jesus, was that a boot to his face?
‘I said you lot get out of here! I won’t tell you again!’ the sarge shouted, and that sounded like their final warning. Loads more Old Bill were due, and once they came, then there would be more of them to make arrests and search cars.
‘Will do, Officer!’ Nick XR2 shouted back before staring harshly at Nick Black.
Nick Black finally took the hint. ‘All right, let’s go,’ he said, and headed for Nick XR2’s car, not taking another look back at Tony, although the commotion behind him was ringing in his ears. He got in, Charlie and Nick XR2 following soon after.
Charlie—sitting shotgun—turned round and looked out of the rear window. ‘They’re laying into him, you know?’ he said.
‘What do you expect?’ Nick XR2 asked with bitterness in his voice. ‘Astinomia are known for it at the best of times, never mind when someone’s taken a boot to their motor.’ He started up the engine.
‘I can’t believe what you said to that copper back there about Tony,’ Nick Black said to him.
Nick XR2 stopped what he was doing for a second and stared at him through the rear view. ‘I talked our way out of trouble didn’t I?’
‘Yeah, but you’ve landed Tony in the shit. He’s gonna go down big time for this!’
‘What else could I do? The important thing was to get Old Bill as far away from the car as possible. Tony realised that and done what he felt he had to given the circumstances. All I did was implement stage two of his plan. He would have wanted it like that.’
‘You didn’t have to give it the shit about him being the one puffing ganja. That was me!’
Nick XR2 huffed. ‘You wanna go back and straighten that out with them? Be my guest.’
Nick Black stared indecisively back at him for a second, before he sighed and sat back in his seat. ‘Just drive,’ he said flippantly. ‘We’ve still got our mate in the boot to worry about.’
‘Now you’re thinking like a rational human being. I like that,’ Nick XR2 stated.
‘We’ll worry about Tony tomorrow,’ Charlie said, his head twitching as he continued to watch what was going on behind them.
Nick XR2 pulled away. They were back on the road, heading for the cemetery again, with Taki in the boot, leaving Tony behind. Nick Black caught his own reflection momentarily in the window as they passed under a bridge. Something was written all over his face, as clear as day.
It was guilt.
Guilt, for being the one that got Tony nicked.
*****
Nick XR2 got on the North Circular Road, heading for the back entrance to the cemetery Charlie mentioned earlier. Since their unfortunate run-in with the law, they hardly saw another car. They hardly said a word to each other either. Nick Black knew why—they were all pensive, probably each trying to work out what the fuck was going on; Charlie and the ghosts in his head; Nick XR2 discovering Taki’s body, and himself, thinking about Tony getting his head caved in by the police.
‘We shouldn’t have left him there, you know?’ he said, unable to suppress his guilt.
Nick XR2 tutted. ‘I thought we went over this already.’
‘We didn’t have to leave him though. We could’ve rushed those coppers, and had it away. Neither of ’em took any of our details.’
‘And what about CCTV?’ Nick XR2 instantly replied.
And that stumped Nick Black into silence. ‘Well…’ He went to argue, but clocked Nick XR2’s eyes in the rear view; saw the smug, knowing inside them. He had him stumped and he knew it. ‘I suppose…’
‘Do a left here,’ Charlie said and Nick XR2 did.
Nick Black looked around. They had come off the North Circ and were now passing a squat housing estate, which was dark and quiet.
‘Follow the road, then do a right into that small lane,’ Charlie directed.
Nick XR2 rolled along slowly, then turned onto the small dirt track wedged between a thicket of trees. It opened into a clearing behind the estate, which was bare and derelict; a piece of wasteland. At the far end was a strong looking iron fence, and beyond that, Nick XR2’s headlights were illuminating the backs of rounded stones protruding from the ground like giant teeth. Graves. Lots of them.
‘Pull over and turn the engine off,’ Charlie ordered.
Nick XR2 moved the car as close as he could to the fencing.
‘How do you know about this, Charlie?’ Nick Black asked.
‘I just do,’ Charlie replied, his head twitching.
Nick XR2 slipped the car into reverse, and spun it round so that the boot was facing the fence. When he was close enough, he killed the engine, dumping them all in darkness.
A sudden chill jigged up Nick Black’s spine. ‘How we gonna get him to the mausoleum from here? It’s all fenced,’ he observed, speaking in a whisper.
‘Why are you whispering?’ Nick XR2 whispered back.
‘Don’t know. Feels…weird. Like someone’s watching.’
‘You’re just paranoid.’
‘No I’m not,’ Nick Black replied, now speaking in his normal voice. ‘How are we gonna get in there? And how are we gonna lift the lid on the tomb without Tony? He’s twice as strong as any of us.’
‘We’ll have to try our best,’ Nick XR2 said, grabbing the torch they used in the mausoleum from under his seat. ‘Now come on.’ He opened his door and the dead world outside crept in.
Nick Black followed the lead. He stepped out of the car and looked around tentatively. Nothing stirred. The black sky was spotless, bar the full moon shining brightly, bathing the area in cold, grey light.
It just had to be a full moon didn’t it? Just had to be…
When he looked back, he saw that Nick XR2 had already gone over to the fence and was scratching the back of his head.
Nick Black approached him and Charlie. ‘What did you bring us here for, Charlie?’ he asked, irritated. ‘It’s all fenced!’
‘There’s a gate there,’ Charlie replied calmly, pointing over to it. ‘It opens from the other side. I’ll climb over, open it, then you can come in.’ Charlie took a quick look round him, before he stepped up to the fence, grabbed it and hoisted himself up and over it in one swift motion.
He’s done that a few times before, Nick Black concluded from Charlie’s adeptness. Soon after, there was a clank, then a creak as Charlie opened up the gate. He then walked back towards them through the entrance. He dusted his hands and his head twitched.
‘That’s great, Charlie,’ Nick Black whispered loudly. ‘Now that we can’t get the car through there, how are we gonna get Taki to the tomb?’
‘He’s got a point,’ agreed Nick XR2. ‘We’re on the wrong side of the cemetery. We can’t lug him all that way, he’s too heavy.’
‘All right, all right,’ Charlie said, patting his hands on the air ahead of him. ‘Give me the torch and I’ll look inside for something to help.’
‘Something to help? In a cemetery? You hoping someone’s left a spare crane around or something?’ Nick Black’s voice was a decibel away from being a shout, and he had to reel himself in.
‘Just chill out, I’ll be back in a second.’ Charlie’s head twitched, then he disappeared beyond the gate and into the darkness.
Nick Black sighed. He looked around again. The place was just too eerie; too quiet. He glanced over at Nick XR2, who looked unaffected, unflustered, and cool as ice cubes, just casually standing there in his three quarter coat, hands in his pockets. How can he stay so calm and collected at a time and place like this? Nick Black was just as bewildered at Charlie having the nerve to go into that dark cemetery alone. Well, if he can see and hear
dead people, then why would he be scared? Crazy bastard’s used to it!
And then he came back.
He was holding something in both his hands, handles, which were there to help push something along. He rolled through the gate, a crooked smile hanging on his face, his eyes wide and alert. ‘Look what I found!’ he said.
Nick Black couldn’t believe what he was seeing. ‘I can’t believe it,’ he said, announcing the fact. ‘He goes off into the graveyard to find something to carry the body in, and he brings back a fucking wheelbarrow!’
Charlie rolled it triumphantly up to where they stood, its wheel squeaking like a frisky field mouse. It was old and rickety, and caked in a thick layer of dried dirt and cement.
‘Nah, it’s perfect! Just what we need!’ Nick XR2 said with a smile. ‘Well played, Charlie. Bring it over here.’ Nick XR2 went over to his boot as he spoke. Charlie followed.
Nick Black shook his head as Charlie walked past him. ‘You are something else, you know that?’ he asked him.
‘Yeah, you already told me,’ Charlie said and his head twitched.
Nick XR2 opened up the boot, exposing Taki. The two gaping holes where his eyes used to be watched them with their endless stare.
Nick XR2 took a sly look round. ‘Hope no one can see us,’ he said.
‘If we’re quick, we might just be all right,’ Charlie replied.
‘Grab his legs.’
Charlie did just that, while Nick XR2 took hold of his arms.
‘Ready? One… two…three!’
Both of them pulled and lifted, and straight away their necks strained. With all their effort exerted, they managed to get his back off the boot floor.
Nick Black raced over and supported it to help give them extra lift. ‘Bloody hell!’ he shouted as he felt the force of Taki’s dead weight work his arms.
‘Just throw him in!’ Nick XR2 ordered.
They edged to the waiting wheelbarrow, their feet scratching across the gritty ground.
‘Careful! You’ll miss!’ Nick XR2 warned. ‘Lower! Now!’
They all let go in unison and Taki slumped into the wheelbarrow, his arse wedging perfectly into the base. His legs hung over the front edge and his head lolled back between the handles, making his vacant eye sockets stare longingly at the night sky.
‘Nice work,’ Nick XR2 said. He dusted off his hands, shut the boot, then took a final look round. ‘Right. Let’s go.’ He gestured for Nick Black to take up the reins as he spoke.
Nick Black stared back at him incredulously. ‘I’m not pushing him!’ he said, adamant.
‘Pussy!’ Nick XR2 stated.
‘Damn right. He’s your mate, you push him!’
Nick XR2 gave him daggers. ‘Fine.’ He went up to the wheelbarrow, glanced down at Taki’s moon face, and hesitated.
‘What’s wrong?’ Nick Black asked him, a wry smile on his face.
‘Nothing,’ Nick XR2 replied stoutly. He cleared his throat, and then picked up the handles. ‘Jesus, he’s heavy…’ he stated, and Nick Black thought he was hinting that he couldn’t push him alone.
Nick Black didn’t want to go there. ‘Put your back into it, Nick,’ he advised instead in a dry tone.
Nick XR2 pulled up harder, this time getting the wheelbarrow off the ground. He started wheeling. Charlie took up the lead, torch in hand. They passed through the gate one by one, Nick Black taking a last anxious look around him before he entered and pushed the gate shut.
Then they were in the darkness, the moonlight creating silhouettes of the rounded gravestones that now resembled black fingernails protruding from the earth, both the regular squeak of the wheelbarrow’s wheel and their feet thudding on the tarmac amplified in the dead of night. Nick Black felt the skin on the back of his neck crawl. He wanted his bed. And a spliff. A spliff, then his bed, in that order. That would be—
—Something rushed through the undergrowth to his right, almost making him jump out of his skin.
‘What the fuck was that?’ he exclaimed.
‘What was what?’ Nick XR2 asked, stopping still, and scanning the darkness around him, trying his best to keep Taki steady.
‘Something moved in there!’ Nick Black informed him. ‘I saw it. Big fucker it was, I swear!’
‘Probably a fox or something,’ Charlie said, training the torch beam in the area Nick Black was pointing at.
‘A fox?’ Nick Black echoed. ‘What the fuck is a fox doing in there?’
‘There’s loads of ’em about, re,’ Charlie told him.
‘Loads? What do you mean loads?’
‘I mean lots of ’em. Everywhere.’
‘Hey. There better not be anything else in here.’
‘Like what?’ Nick XR2 asked.
‘Dunno… Hobos.’
‘What’s a hobo gonna be doing in here, re?’
Nick Black rolled his eyes. ‘Practicing his breakdancing!’ he answered sarcastically. ‘What do you think? Sleeping, you prat.’
‘There ain’t no hobos here,’ Nick XR2 reassured him. ‘Maybe the odd Satanist, but no hobos.’
Nick Black let out a sardonic laugh. ‘Ha ha. You’re too funny. You know, you should be a comedian, not a part time burial…person!’
‘That would be a pallbearer.’
‘Pallbearer, smallwearer. You always have to be right don’t you?’
Nick XR2 considered the question for a second. ‘Yep!’ he then said with a smile.
‘And how is that for you?’
‘Pretty fucking good.’
‘I’m so pleased for you. You know I wish I was—’
‘Can you two please save your lover’s tiff for when we’re done here!’ Charlie interjected. ‘We gotta keep going, there’s no time for this shit.’
‘He’s right,’ Nick XR2 said. ‘Let’s kiss and make up. And just ignore the foxes, they’re harmless.’ He got moving again, wheeling Taki along the path.
‘About as harmless as a suicide bomber,’ Nick Black mumbled to himself, and took up the rear.
They might be okay with being surrounded by foxes and other wild animals, but he wasn’t. What if they were hungry? What if they liked the taste of people? He followed Charlie’s lead, looking around him, nervous, every rustle of leaves, every crunch of dirt under their feet, every squeak of that wheelbarrow making his stomach twitch.
For the next minute or so, none of them spoke.
Then Nick XR2 glanced down at Taki and chuckled to himself. ‘Penny for the Guy!’ he said out loud in a Mary Poppins, chimney sweep voice.
‘There you go again with that killer wit, Niko,’ Nick black mused. ‘Didn’t know you had it in you.’
‘Well, you know, gotta keep the spirits up,’ Nick XR2 replied.
‘Not the best of places to say something like that. Especially while wheel barrowing your mate to his final resting place.’
‘To be honest, he weren’t exactly my mate. Too much of a mummy’s boy for my liking.’
‘And that’s another thing we’ll have to take care of…’ Charlie added.
Nick Black agreed. ‘Yeah, she’s gonna go fucking bananas once she realises he’s missing.’
‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,’ Nick XR2 said, cutting his hand across the air, almost steering Taki off the path as he let go of the wheelbarrow. He grabbed hold of the free handle again, regained his line, and carried on. ‘It’s no time to worry about stuff like that now.’
‘That’s right,’ affirmed Charlie. ‘Taki himself is the main priority here. He needs to be buried.’
Nick Black shivered at his words.
He took another tense look around him, even though he knew it was a bad idea. Trees swayed loosely high above what appeared to be a section of very old graves, complete with aged gravestones staring at them from the darkness. When he looked ahead of him, he could see the torch beam in Charlie’s hand bobbing around, illuminating statues of angels that now looked like demons, crosses that suddenly looked like giant
daggers drilled into the ground, while high above them the full moon bathed the area in an eerie sea of cold blue light, revealing the epitaphs carved into the gravestones, recounting how each dead soul buried beneath met their demise. Died 1915, from shellshock; A brave soldier who fell serving King and country; Fatally injured during service, aged 17; Fell heroically, 1914, by exploding bomb.
He tore his stare away from the graves, not wanting to be perturbed by his surroundings. Instead he tried to think of the spliff and his bed that was waiting at the end of this crap.
If the foxes and the hobos and the Satanists don’t get you first…
He brushed the thought off as paranoid nonsense and tried his best to think of something else. Tony popped into his mind instead, getting abused by those two coppers. ‘I’m surprised at Tony, he’s scared shitless of police,’ he said aloud.
‘He took a hit for us,’ Nick XR2 retorted. ‘We have to remember that.’
‘If he’s trying to make up for us losing our lives, then he’s got a lot more work to do,’ Charlie said over his shoulder.
‘No one’s gonna lose their life, Charlie,’ Nick XR2 asserted.
‘Try telling that to Taki. He’s just the start.’
Both Nicks glanced down to see Taki’s round face lit up in the moonlight, two black holes for eyes staring eternally. Nick Black noticed his arm was bent at the elbow and his index finger was outstretched, making it appear like he was pointing. When Nick followed that finger, he found himself staring at Charlie’s back, who had stopped dead in his tracks.
‘We’re here,’ Charlie said over his shoulder. He was pointing the torch up and ahead of him. The beam cast a spotlight on the area ahead, revealing the mausoleum standing in the distance like the ghost house at a fairground.
Nick Black’s skin started crawling again, and he shivered, feeling his balls tighten and curl up into his body. ‘Why do I feel like I’m in an episode of Scooby Doo?’ he asked in a quiet voice.
‘Go and open it,’ Charlie said.
The two Nicks looked at each other.
‘Go on,’ Nick XR2 said, taking the key from his pocket and handing it to Nick Black.
‘What?’ Nick Black said. ‘No, you go.’
‘I’ve got Taki.’
Die Tryin' Page 16