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by Rachel Martin

  “Why Sade’s?” He began stroking her face and hair. “Why?” Her head was soaked with sweat.

  She let his hand go and put it in her pocket. She pulled out some old photos and a letter. They fell onto the marble floor.

  “You’re my brother.” They stared at each other. “My Dad’s your Dad.”

  “What?” Ashley gasped.

  He quickly ran his eyes over the photos and the letter. It was a letter from his Mother to her Father. Oh my fucking God, the man in the photos was one of the men that used to come around to his Mother’s flat. He was one of the men that was actually nice to Ashley, he always bought him things, or gave him money. How could he not have realised? He thought it was all to placate his insane Mother. But, no, it was true, he knew it was true, he and Sadie were siblings. He couldn’t believe it. He laughed a happy laugh. Sadie and he shared a deep knowing look. She blinked slowly for comfort. He actually had someone like Sadie for a sister. He gripped her hand tighter. A rush of happiness flowed through him. He finally understood the connection he felt with her. He felt almost as if he had always known. For the first time in his life, he had a real sense of home and love, of what true happiness could be. For once things just felt right. He fitted in. This was why he was alive; this was why he had lived so long in a world full of hate. There was still love for him.

  “I love you,” Sadie said smiling, gripping his hand weakly.

  “Sister… I love you too.” He kissed her cheek, then looked back into her eyes, and watched her life slip away.

  She was gone, forever. And so was he. As she disappeared he felt all the happiness and hope dissipate from his body, along with his soul, and all the things that made him a human. Nothing made any sense. This was not supposed to end this way. What had just happened? He dropped his face into her chest and wept uncontrollably. A black hole was engulfing him. His one chance to know respect, understanding and love, something pure, not marred by sex or machismo, had risen and died in the same moment. His moment of bliss had been so utterly short-lived. But, at least he had felt it. He now knew what it meant to be a real person, with real feelings, a single moment is all it takes to know for sure, and now he knew. Why was this happening? He felt as if he had been heading home his whole life, on a journey filled with torment and desperation, only for his home and everyone in it to be totally destroyed when he got there. The world was spiralling around him. Nothing made any sense. Why was this happening to him? What had he done that was so bad that he deserved a life like this? Misery and hatred filled his heart. He tensed absolutely. His head filled with blood. It was about to explode. How was life continuing on like this? He began violently thumping the floor beside Sadie’s head. He was screaming: “Why?”

  The man who was kneeled down beside Sadie’s body suddenly sprang up, as if he were repelled by some unseen force. He stepped back, away from Sadie and away from Ashley.

  “What have we done, what have we done?” he kept repeating almost silently as he stepped back.

  “What has she done more like?” Ashley cried, standing up suddenly, glaring at the woman in the balaclava, his eyes were wild, his teeth clenched.

  He lifted the shotgun and aimed it at her. She was standing perfectly still letting him take aim at her:

  “It, it, it … was a fake, it went off in my hand,” she stuttered. “I, I, I didn’t mean it…”

  “You didn’t mean it. You’ve ruined my life,” Ashley shouted. “You’re a murderer.”

  The drug dealer and his girlfriend were furiously struggling trying to get out of the chairs.

  Ashley stepped closer and closer to the woman. She stood perfectly still as if she couldn’t see the approaching danger ahead of her.

  “It was a replica, you said it was a…. I’m so sorry.” She looked at the gun in her hand, and dropped it. “What have I done, Oh no, oh no.”

  She started crying.

  “You’re sorry. You’re sorry. She was my sister,” he yelled.

  Ashley stepped even closer to the woman, but still, she didn’t move. Ashley pulled the hammer back and put his finger on the trigger of the shotgun.

  Then he felt a strange sensation. He twisted. The shotgun exploded in his hands. Everything went black.

  Twenty-four

  Why wasn’t she moving? He wanted to shout out to make her move, but he was afraid the gun would go off in the youth’s hands while it was still aimed at Mia. Move Mia move, move, move, he repeated in his head. He caught Zach’s eye. He was thinking the same thing. He looked at the dead girl on the floor. It was an accident. It was not supposed to happen. That idiot had mixed the guns up. He should have taken more control. The story of his life. Well not anymore. Jack started creeping around behind the young, crazed man.

  “She was my sister,” the youth was shouting at Mia, spit flying out of his mouth.

  He didn’t even notice Jack as he was so fixated on Mia, he was utterly blind to anything else. Even so, the sound of chairs banging and scraping on the marble floor was the perfect cover for Jack’s footsteps. He was stood behind the youth, whose fingers were playing on the trigger. Jack had to act now. He grabbed Ashley by the head, lifted him, and twisted his neck in one fast jerky movement. The gun exploded. The banging and scraping stopped. He dropped the youth’s dead, lifeless body onto the floor with a hollow thud. He rushed to Mia. He checked her over, she was completely unharmed, physically. He grabbed her by the shoulders roughly, and gripped her hard, so she would feel it through the shock.

  “It was an accident,” he told her forcibly.

  He couldn’t catch her eye. He lifted her, squeezed her gently, and shook her a little.

  “Wake up Mia. It was an accident. It was not your fault. Not your fault, do you hear me. Not your fault.”

  She blinked as if regaining consciousness. She looked up at him. She needed him, his strength, his masculinity. This was why he was alive, for these moments, it was all about survival, screw everything else. Survival of the fittest. The only things that mattered were him and her. Nothing else, he knew that now. He grinned and licked his lips beneath his mask, this was his time to rise.

  “Yes,” she said, mysteriously, airily, “you’re right, it was an accident,” she added with more conviction. “It wasn’t my fault.” She was staring at Jack now. “It was him.” She laughed, angrily. “He lied to us, the gun was real.”

  “That’s right. He did it. He’s the murderer.” Jack let her go, by gradually releasing his grip.

  “He’s the murderer.” Mia looked down at the dead body of the youth. “It’s not my fault, I’m innocent,” she said devoid of any emotion.

  She started laughing and laughing, then suddenly stopped, and was silent for a moment. Then she began kicking the young man’s body violently, wickedly. “This is all your fault,” she screamed. “It’s all their fault, it’s all their fucking fault.” She kicked his head over and over. “The world is fucked because of them, fuck them all, fuck them all. Fuck!” It was all coming out now, the rage. It would never go back in. The heels of her boots were digging into his head.

  Zach watched on completely motionless. A rising smirk was growing behind Jack’s mask. This was all so surreal, yet, completely expected. There was a groaning noise coming from behind them. It was the dealer. Mia fell to her knees laughing as she picked up the shotgun lying beside the bloody mess. Zach ran around to face the dealer, he pulled the tape off his mouth. The dealer began coughing harder, there was blood dribbling out of his mouth. The drug dealer’s girlfriend was slumped over, she’d taken the full blast from the shotgun. Jack walked over to her and stuck his finger on what was left of her neck. There was no pulse, obviously.

  “She’s dead,” he said coldly.

  Jack stepped back away from the body. The drug dealer looked up at Zach, he had a pathetic expression in his eyes.

  “Help me,” he begged.

  Zach grabbed the tape, he was about to untie the dealer. Jack walked over calmly and picked up the handgun from
the floor.

  “Step back,” Jack said to Zach aiming the gun at him.

  “What?”

  “You heard me, let go of him, stand up.”

  Zach stood up straight while Mia ran round to the fridge, following her there were her own bloodied footprints on the tiles. She laughed as she opened the fridge and grabbed a beer.

  All three men watched her crack the beer open, she gulped some down through the mouth hole in the mask.

  “But,” Zach said turning back to Jack, his voice sounded broken, winded. “He’s been hit.”

  “I know. Step back,” Jack said coolly, with authority, he was existing on another level now. “Don’t make me say it again.”

  “But...”

  Jack shook his head, slowly and calmly.

  Zach stepped back away from the dealer. Jack stepped towards Zach and shoved the handgun into his hands. Mia ran to Jack and passed him the loaded shotgun.

  “Finish him,” Jack demanded.

  “W w w w what?” Zach stammered.

  “Finish him.”

  “What?”

  “The dead girl’s from the compound right?”

  Zach nodded, “she lived opposite us, our kids are with her parents right now, oh God.”

  There was silence.

  “So she’s an asset then?” Jack continued

  Zach nodded again and said nothing.

  “They will definitely take exception to that.” Jack paused and stared hard at Zach. “Kill him. He’s going to die anyway, look at the blood. It’s a mercy killing. There’s nothing we can do. And even if he does live he may be able to identify us, is that what you want?”

  The dealer’s eyes widened, “don’t, please,” he was shaking his head wildly. “I’m no grass.”

  Jack re-taped his mouth.

  “Everyone’s a grass in the right circumstances.”

  The dealer kept professing, but his screams were muffled. He shook his head harder, his eyes were wide open.

  “Kill him. He’s a dealer, he’d rape or poison your kids if he had half the chance!”

  Zach slowly raised the gun while he kept his eyes on Jack, they were wild and confused. Jack nodded. Zach looked towards the dealer and pointed the gun at his head. He started shaking, the gun was wobbling about. They could hear the magazine vibrating inside it. He put his finger on the trigger, he didn’t pull it.

  “I can’t. I can’t,” he whined.

  He dropped his arm.

  “You have to. One kill each, and we’re in this together. I can’t trust your wife unless you’re in as deep as us. No one talks, else we all go down. You have to do this.”

  “I… er,” Zach lifted the gun again.

  “Do it,” Jack yelled, “Do it now.”

  Zach still hesitated.

  Jack lifted the shotgun and aimed it at Zach.

  “Do it, or I do you, then your wife,” Jack said with perfect calm.

  Zach blinked, then pushed the gun against the dealers head. The dealer was trying to move, but he was weakening by the second. Zach pulled the trigger. Blood and brains flew across the room. Mia laughed, clapped her gloved hands, and jumped up and down excitedly. Jack smiled to himself.

  “Drop the gun,” Jack ordered, Zach obeyed.

  Jack dropped the shotgun and grabbed the suitcase.

  “Mia, bring that can with you. Don’t leave it whatever you do. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  The three of them ran to the stairwell. No one said a word as they spiralled down.

  At the bottom, Jack held them back. Mia was looking up at him with a new spark of passion in her eyes. Zach was looking at him with eyes filled with fear and confusion.

  “Right we’ll go 50/50 on the money, OK?” Jack said.

  Zach and Mia both nodded.

  “You get half cause it’s your job to keep your wife’s mouth shut. The soldiers will think it’s a drug deal gone wrong. They will hunt the dealers. We will not be suspects. We never showed our faces. We never removed our gloves. There will be no evidence we were ever here. We will never talk of this again.”

  There was a deep silence.

  “You’ve changed,” Zach stammered.

  “This place’ll do that to you,” Jack replied.

  “Promise us you’ll stay quiet,” Mia added.

  “Yes, yes, I’ll stay quiet. I’ll keep her quiet. I’ll lie to her. I’ll do anything. I promise she won’t say anything. She’d be too scared and embarrassed anyway. I’ll do whatever it takes. She’ll believe me. Or she’ll pretend to. I promise I can do this. I understand completely. We’re in this together. One kill each. One kill each. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.”

  “Good,” Jack said, tapping him on the shoulder for comfort. “Just stay calm, and we will get through this. If anyone does ask us why he spoke to us on the train, just say he was asking for a beer. That’s all you know. OK?”

  “Yes, OK, OK.”

  “What did I say?”

  “On the train, he asked for some beer. We said no.”

  “Good. Let’s get the Hell outta here before the soldiers come.”

  Twenty-five

  The alarm was blaring. Mia sat up and switched it off. She turned and dropped her feet to the floor. She was sat on the edge of the bed as if she was going to get up and out of it. Jack heard her lift the bottle of water she always kept beside the bed, to her mouth. She glugged on it then put it back down, yawned loudly and lay back down again.

  “Not going to work then,” Jack asked.

  She turned and looked at him.

  “Was that real… last night I mean?” she said.

  “You mean do we really have nine hundred K in a suitcase under the bed?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s real.” He tapped the suitcase with his knuckle.

  “Did all that really happen?”

  “It did.”

  “Well, work can kiss my bloody arse then.”

  They both laughed.

  Jack rolled behind her and pulled her close. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  They kissed. They had sex for the fifth time since they got home. It was even more passionate, even more intense. They had both found their mojo. Now they knew who they really were. What they were really capable of. Everything was better now. The world was their oyster. Their pleasure was multiplied. They lay on their backs staring up at the ceiling. Jack’s headache was completely gone.

  “What are we going to do now?” Mia asked.

  “Nothing’s changed. We’re going to Canada on the next boat.”

  “But the money, we haven’t got enough, we’re a hundred grand short.”

  “It’ll be enough. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Mia jumped on Jack and straddled him.

  “I love this new calm, collected, insane you,” she said.

  He grinned. Their relationship had definitely turned up another gear. All Jack could think about was her, and the money, and escape. Together they could do anything. Fuck the world, fuck other people, fuck society. They were going to go out with a bang. She leaned down and kissed him. He pulled her close.

  “We’re getting the Hell outta here,” he said, then ran his hand down her naked body.

  There was a thunderous knock at the front door.