Lust for Vengeance

by Katsura

  "Yeah, yeah...your job your rules, I know." Judas sounded irritated but not as irritated as he actually felt. Fergus never let anyone get away with anything, and the banter he had been having with Ewan and Vinny was actually helping Judas, but Mr Big Shot had to take it all as a personal dig.

  Fergus pulled on a pair of black leather gloves, and Ewan loaded and checked the guns. Judas moved to put a hand on the door lock as that was his first job. To open the door when Fergus gave the signal. Judas had told Vinny to stick close to him as he was worried about the younger man. As Vinny had pointed out the previous night, it had been a while since he had been on a job and he didn't really have as much experience as the rest of them. It would be a cruel twist of fate if he ended up back in prison so soon after getting out in the first place, and over Judas's dead body he would allow that to happen.

  "Vinny, you stick close to Ewan, okay?"

  Fergus spoke, his voice slightly muffled by the black wool that covered his mouth.

  Vinny looked over at him, his green eyes widening a fraction through the opening in his mask.

  "Jude said to stick close to him." He looked across at Judas again, and Judas turned to look at Fergus.

  "He can stick with me. I'll look out for him." Judas's blue eyes were piercing and intense, and for a while Fergus just looked directly into them and said nothing, then he pulled the leather gloves tighter over his fingers.

  "Don't make me fucking tell you again, Jude. You will stick close to Ewan, Vinny." It was clear from Fergus's tone that there was not going to be any argument over this, and Vinny simply nodded.

  "It's okay, Jude," Ewan spoke up. His voice had a comforting tone as despite his appearance he really was a bit of a gentle giant. "I will look after him. Nothing is going to happen to him."

  "Nothing is going to happen to anyone,"

  Vinny said, "and after we can all--"

  "Will you all shut the fuck up!" Fergus bellowed. "Just do your fucking job and less of the chit chat, okay?"

  Judas made a mental note to kick Fergus's ass when all of this was over. He also decided never to work with him again if he was in charge. A hood on a power trip was no fun, and there had to be some fun or you would just give yourself an ulcer.

  Ewan passed out the guns in silence, and he and the rest of the gang crouched by the back doors to the van.

  Then Fergus gave a curt nod. "Let's do it."

  Judas opened the back doors. No one needed to look around. Piling out swiftly onto the secluded street, each knew exactly what they were supposed to do.

  Banter in the van had been relaxing, but once outside a sort of soldier mentality kicked in. Those who excelled in this work were the ones who just did exactly what they were told to as though they had been given a script. There was no room for improvisation here, and creativity was never encouraged.

  The bank was a small village branch and so had only two people waiting at the counters and three tellers.

  Fergus immediately grabbed a woman customer and put the gun to the side of her head. "Okay it's a robbery!" he yelled. He glared at the frightened male teller who instinctively put his hands up.

  Judas paced around towards the other tellers and pointed his gun directly at them. He held the gun with both hands and stood with his legs apart, his eyes completely focussed. He knew how chilling he must look, and if he was honest, he loved it. Yes, it was a scary business, but it was also very arousing to have such power over people and have them tremble in front of you.

  Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the security man, and without a need to even say anything to him, Judas knew that there was not going to be any bother from him.

  The sight of such frightening and armed individuals clearly knocked any idea of bravery out of the guard's head. But still, Judas never took any risks and made a quick note to be aware of what the man was doing at all times.

  Fergus moved sideways to let Ewan and Vinny pass him, then he spoke again in his no-nonsense way.

  "Touch the alarm, I'll blow her head off.

  Make a sudden move, I'll blow her head off. Sneeze and I'll blow her fucking head off. You see how this goes? You know the fucking drill. Do as you're told and we are out of here as quick as we can and no one needs to get hurt."

  The woman looked utterly petrified, and Fergus held her close to him, one gloved hand over her mouth. The other pressed the gun to her temple. Her eyes were wide and terrified looking, and she stared straight ahead, trembling from head to toe as though she could not believe that this was actually happening to her.

  Ewan tossed bags across the counter at the tellers as instructed, and Vinny stayed close by his side. But his eyes were fixed firmly on Judas with unconcealed awe.

  Ewan nudged a bag into Vinny's hands and he gripped it tightly.

  Not many things in the life of gangster felt as good as the weight of a ton of used readies, and at that moment, Judas envied the thrill.

  In such a small branch, it wasn't felt necessary to have security glass in front of the tellers so nothing stood between the customers and the staff but a desk. It was a bad design for the bank but very convenient for the bank robber and once the staff were busy emptying the drawers of cash into the other bags, watched closely by Fergus for any sign that they had hit the alarm, Judas moved towards the window. He kept one eye on the street outside, the other on the security man and another customer who appeared to have experienced a robbery before, since he lay on the floor without being asked to, his hands placed on the top of his head.

  Judas hated this part. Anyone could come in, and he would have to get them on the deck with the other guy as quickly as possible before they had time to alert anyone outside who could then call the police. Judas breathed rapidly under the wool of the mask, unable to stop himself from counting the seconds. If it all went according to Fergus's meticulous plans, then they were going to be in and out of the place in no more than five minutes.

  Ewan gathered the filled bags and crouched to tie them firmly together. He finished and threw them over his shoulder as Vinny, his gun trained on the tellers, began to back slowly away towards the door. It was almost over. There was no point in asking the tellers to open the safe like they did in the movies. Fergus had been very clear about that in the planning.

  It always took too long he said, and invariably there was the spiel about the fact that only one certain person who was never actually in the place knew the combination. They would make enough from the drawers and the business section as Fergus had timed the robbery perfectly to coincide with the deposit from the local pub landlord who was careful enough to make sure that his money was safe when it was on his premises but lazy enough to let it pile up before he took it to the bank.

  Once Ewan was sure that they had all of the money, he and Vinny went immediately outside. Ewan jumped straight into the back of the van and Vinny remained as look out next to the van doors. Fergus pulled the woman to the door with him and then pushed her roughly to the ground as he too made his way quickly outside, joining Ewan in the rear of the getaway.

  This left Judas to make sure that no one pressed the panic button or anything until he was sure that the van had started up okay. Apparently it wouldn't be the first time a vehicle had let Fergus down at the last minute, and the thought of them all sitting in the back as the engine spluttered was enough to make him plan for that possibility.

  Judas heard Rasputin successfully start up the ignition, and he backed slowly towards the door, his gun trained on the security man who had changed his demeanour and was looking like he fancied himself as a bit of a hero now that there was only one of the gang left in the building.

  "Don't be stupid," Judas hissed under his breath. He was practically out of the door when he felt a tug on his trouser leg, just at the ankle, and before he knew what had hit him he was on his back. The weapon fell from his hand and skidded across the floor. From out of nowhere, the male customer who had previously appeared to be no threat, straddled Judas's chest and p
ointed a gun directly into his face.

  Judas had no choice. He stared up into the man's nauseatingly satisfied grin and put his hands up.

  Outside, Vinny made a strangled sort of scream as he watched Judas fall backwards and land on the ground. He made at first to run back to his aid but Fergus reached out and grabbed him by the hood of his jacket and practically dragged him into the van. Vinny struggled to free himself but the far stronger man pinned him firmly to the wooden floor.

  "Just drive! Just fucking drive! Get us away from here!"

  Vinny was going crazy, and he struggled furiously as Ewan pulled the van doors closed and the van sped off down the street.

  " Jude!" Vinny yelled, his voice muffled but still frantic. "Jude is still in there! We can't just fucking leave him there!"

  Fergus pulled off his mask and stared directly into Vinny's eyes, his own eyes quite wild and rather manic looking.

  "There's nothing we can do!" He pulled Vinny's mask off for him but continued to keep him firmly on the ground. "There is nothing we can do, Vinny."

  Fergus's voice had calmed down and his chest was rising and falling heavily with the exertion of holding Vinny down. Ewan moved to sit with his back against the side of the van and he too took his mask off. He put his hands up to cover his face and let out a long and exasperated groan.

  "But Jude..." Vinny looked so frightened now, so full of sorrow, and Fergus shook his head slowly.

  "He knew the risk. You know if you're caught, you're caught. If we went back we'd all be caught. He knew that, Vinny.

  He wouldn't want that."

  The van screeched as it hurtled around a bend in the road. Fergus fell back against Ewan,

  allowing

  Vinny

  to

  sit

  up

  unrestricted, and he moved to the van doors and looked out through the window.

  They were travelling at a break neck speed. To try to jump out now would be madness. He would likely be seriously injured or even killed, so Vinny moved from the doors and sat back heavily against the side.

  "We don't want to be fucking killed, Rasputin! Slow down, you fucking asshole!" Fergus yelled as he sat up to brush dirt from the floor off his clothes.

  "We must look like fucking bank robbers on a getaway, dickhead!"

  "You told him to just fucking drive."

  Vinny looked at him mutinously, and Ewan glanced across, shaking his head slowly.

  "Quiet, Vinny." Ewan let out a deep sigh, and Vinny fell silent.

  It wasn't meant to be this way.

  Fergus, Ewan, Rasputin and Vinny sat around the table in the small rented cottage, and although someone had poured whisky into the four glasses on the table, no one was drinking it. They had driven a good few hours mostly in silence to get here to the hideout cottage, and Vinny only interrupted the quiet every now and then by saying his friend's name in an increasingly sorrowful voice. Ewan had never been on a job that had gone so disastrously wrong before, and he had no clue how to comfort the younger man.

  Never in a million years would he have expected Judas to be caught. Having worked with him many times with Rasputin in the past, Ewan considered Judas to be a total pro. Even though Judas could sometimes be a complete jerk, nothing got by him and somehow the fact that there had been more of them on this job had made the chances of pulling it off smoothly seem all the more likely.

  Ewan couldn't have been more wrong, and he thought to himself that if it had been just him, Jude and Rasputin, they would have gone back in and shot any fucker that got in the road of a clean getaway. Why have guns and not use them?

  Rasputin got to his feet and he lifted his jacket from where it had been folded on the back of the chair. "I am going to head off." That was always part of the plan.

  You stick as much as you can to your routine after a robbery so that it doesn't look suspicious if you are questioned later on. Ewan stood up too.

  "Could you give me a lift?" Ewan's voice was flat. He was close to Judas, and a feeling of guilt gnawed in the pit of his stomach because they were all free and Judas was God knows where. The poor sod was likely being given the third degree by some despot of a cop keen to notch up a result.

  Rasputin nodded and then turned to Vinny.

  "You need a lift, Vin?" Rasputin also looked gloomy. Probably not so much because he liked Judas. It was a well-known fact that the two men had never really got on. But one of the gang was caught and so that meant they were all at risk now if Judas talked.

  "He can stay here with me a while."

  Fergus answered for Vinny, who sat staring into space, his face a mask of misery. "It wouldn't look good for you all to leave together."

  Rasputin nodded and he and Ewan left, Ewan patting Vinny on the shoulder as he passed him on the way to the door.

  The car headlights pulled away outside, and Fergus got to his feet. He walked over to the kitchen area to make some coffee.

  Maybe the whisky would go down better if it was in a hot drink. The cottage really was freezing. They had lit the log fire, but nothing seemed able to take the chill out of the air.

  Vinny sighed and then he spoke softly, though still staring rather blankly ahead.

  "He's terrified of prison, you know. Jude is." He looked miserable.

  Fergus made two coffees then tipped some whisky from the untouched glasses into each mug. "Well no one likes prison, Vinny." He passed a mug to Vinny who took it with both hands. "But there is nothing can be done. They have him and that's that. You can't take his place this time. And Vinny...to be honest, I don't know why you did that last time. Whatever you got going with him, he should never have let you go to prison for him."

  "I never gave him the choice." Vinny sipped the coffee, although his hands trembled so much that it looked like there was a risk he would spill the lot. "And we have nothing going on. I was a fucking junkie when I met him and he helped me.

  He saved me from that when no one else cared, so I was just paying him back."

  Fergus sat down opposite him and sipped his own coffee. He remembered years ago when the robbery he got busted on with Jude had gone pear shaped. Still masked, he and Judas had made their way back to the small flat that Vinny had rented for them. It was intended as a place where they would come to stay until the heat was off, but the police had followed them.

  Fergus had been caught just inside the close mouth and Judas had legged it up the stairs.

  Cops were always bastards when they caught you, like brazen kids in a vicious game of hide and seek. That's all it was, a game, and they had pushed Fergus around, laughed at him, been unnecessarily rough with him because Fergus's dad was a known crook. A proper old-school hard man. Bringing in his son when they had never been able to bring in the big chief himself was seen by them as some sort of coup.

  Fergus had sat in the back of the police van cursing his stupidity at being caught when they brought Judas in. They handcuffed him beside Fergus, only it wasn't Judas. When the policeman pulled the ski mask off him Fergus was stunned to see Vinny there instead.

  Fergus lit a cigar. The whisky had already served to calm him a little so he reclined back in his chair more, "All I know is Judas went up those stairs, but it was you who came down. You'll know what was said, Vin? That he threatened you to take his place. That he talked to the cops and pointed the finger at you to take the heat off himself."

  Vinny glared at Fergus. He remembered that night too. He had been in bed in the flat when he saw all of the flashing lights outside and the guy who had been lying next to him was off and down the fire escape before you could say boo. Vinny had thrown his clothes on and was just about to see what the commotion was when Judas burst in, looking terrified and pulling his mask off just as he entered the hallway.

  Vinny had never been a quick thinker, but the thought of Judas getting caught forced him into action. He led Judas to the fire escape and yelled at him to go. Judas did.

  He never said a word, he just did.
/>
  The police started to break the door down and Vinny knew what he had to do. He lifted Judas's mask up from the ground and put it on then he opened the door to the police and apparently gave himself up.

  Judas had never threatened him or tried to frame him. Judas would never do that.

  "Anyone who says that is a fucking liar,"

  Vinny snarled at Fergus. "I knew what I was doing. I made my choice."

  Fergus smiled and shrugged. "Of course, Vinny." He inhaled deeply on the cigar. "I am telling you what some people say.

  That, of course, is not my opinion."

  Vinny was not entirely convinced and he stared at Fergus, over the rim of his mug as he drank the hot and sharp liquid within. Fergus was not like the rest of them. Yes, he'd gone to prison and yes, he'd done his time, but for him it had been different.

  "You were pretty much looked after when you were in the nick, eh? Because of your da."

  Fergus smirked at him and shook his head.

  "I was still locked up. I was still stuck in a fucking cell, Vinny. So, okay, I never had it as hard as someone like you did, but I still did my time."

  Vinny laughed but mirthlessly. "Yeah, no one would have touched you because your da knew guys who knew guys who would break the kneecaps of anybody that looked at you sideways."

  Fergus smiled and raised his eyebrows.

  "What are you trying to say, Vinny? Just spit it out...aw, no, you swallow, don't you? Well that's just what I've heard." He laughed and leaned to poke the fire. "But if you've got something to say to me, just say it."

  "What I am saying is normal folk who don't have a big gangland boss for a da pretty much go through hell in prison. But you were fine, yeah?" Vinny stared at him more boldly than he had ever done before.

  "No chicken run for you."

  The chicken run was a brutal initiation that all new inmates had to go through when they entered prison. It consisted of toilet paper being inserted into a certain orifice of the poor victim and then set alight.