The Wild Heart

by Menon, David

  The next morning Alice came in to see them.

  ‘ You look better than you did a few days ago’ said Alice ‘ I just wanted to come by and ask what your plans were’.

  ‘ We’re staying here’ said Ian.

  ‘ We’re not running away’ said Mark.

  ‘ I can’t go off and start another life again’ said Ian. ‘ Even if this time I wouldn’t be by myself. All of my enemies who knew who I am are dead. There’s no threat to come from anywhere. You see, Alice, Mark and I are making a new start but we’re not running off to do it. Mark’s family is here, my business and the men I employ, and now my mother is back in contact’.

  ‘ Yes, your mother’ said Alice in measured tones. ‘ You broke the original terms of the deal by contacting her. It made things difficult with my boss at the last minute’.

  ‘ I did that’ said Mark. ‘ Don’t blame Ian’.

  ‘ You know you must never try and contact us again, Ian’ said Alice.

  ‘ What about the other way round?’ Ian asked.

  ‘ We retain that right but your file will no longer be considered active’.

  ‘ And as for me, Alice’ said Mark. ‘ My earlier decision stands’.

  ‘ So it’s still no’.

  ‘ It is’ said Mark who’d decided to put his relationship with Ian before anything. Ian hadn’t tried to stop him but Mark knew how he felt and that was enough.

  ‘ Okay, fair enough’ said Alice. She handed him a card. ‘ But take this and contact me if you ever think I can be of help to you in any way’.

  ‘ He’s already told you no’ said Ian, firmly. ‘ Alice, go back to the other side of the mirror and feed your cat, water your plants, do whatever it is you do when you’re not safeguarding our democracy in wonderland. Your job is done here. It’s over, finished’.

  THE WILD HEART

  EPILOGUE

  It had now been six months since they’d regained control of their lives. They’d sold Ian’s flat and Simon had agreed to the sale of Mark’s family home. With the proceeds from the two, and after Simon had been given his share, they bought a 1930’s villa style semi in Swinton, just inside the M60 Manchester orbital. It was on the main road with a long uphill drive and three bedrooms.

  Mark had been promoted at the bank. He was now section head of customer loyalty. He was still treading water with his career, still didn’t know what the hell he wanted to do, but in the meantime the pay rise was enough to keep him there. The only people he had to share space with now were the other four section heads and that suited him down to the ground. They were mature. They were adults. They weren’t obsessed with who was going to win X-factor.

  Ian had fully reconciled himself with his mother and his sister Claire and her family. But his father was a different matter altogether. In his eyes his son had let the entire protestant community down, a community that he saw as being under siege from creeping nationalism. It had driven a knife into Ian’s heart that had angered Mark. His father had no right to do it to him. Ian had suffered enough. But Mark hadn’t been able to persuade Ian’s father that his son deserved a second chance and he felt bad about that.

  Mark and his brother Simon had drifted apart for a few weeks after Ian came out of hospital. Simon didn’t trust Ian’s presence in his brother’s life and that had hurt Mark deeply. But slowly but surely it had started to come together again, nobody knows when or why, but now they were the best of pals once more which pleased Mark no end. He couldn’t stand for the two people he loved most in the world to be at loggerheads.

  ‘ It’s our anniversary tomorrow’ said Mark over the breakfast table. He didn’t have to get up as early as Ian but he lied to and he liked to get his breakfast for him.‘ A whole year’.

  ‘ I know’ said Ian. ‘ Who’d have thought it after what we’ve been through’.

  ‘ Too right there’ said Mark.

  ‘ Did we get confirmation of the wine being delivered?’

  ‘ It’ll be here at ten in the morning’ said Mark.

  They were having a barbecue in the back garden to celebrate their first anniversary and had invited all their friends, neighbours and family. Ian’s Mum was coming with Claire and her family in the car, using the ferry from Larne to Fleetwood.

  ‘ It’s going to be a great day’ said Ian.

  ‘ I can’t wait’ said Mark.

  Ian headed out to his van whistling to himself. Life couldn’t be sweeter than the way it is now. He was about to put the key into the lock of the door of the driver’s side when his attention was taken by a brown envelope that had been placed on the windscreen, underneath one of the wipers. He picked it up and saw that it had ‘ JUDAS’ written on it. He looked around but couldn’t see anyone who would arouse his suspicions. He opened the envelope and inside were photos of him and Mark. Who the hell had left them there? This didn’t make any sense. Then a voice behind him provided him with the answer.

  ‘ Hello, Duncan’.

  He turned around and was shocked to see Angela standing there pointing a gun at him. She was also carrying a package about the size of a shoe box and Ian knew what that would all be about.

  ‘ What’s the matter? You thought I was dead?’

  ‘ Everybody did’.

  ‘ Everybody hoped more like’ said Angela. ‘ Well as you can see, I’m very much alive and I’m here to finally make you pay’.

  Ian looked back to the house, fearful that any harm might be coming to Mark.

  ‘ Oh don’t worry yourself’ said Angela ‘ Your little friend is safe but only as long as you do as you’re told. So get in the van and drive. I’ll tell you where to go’.

  ‘ Angela, it’s over, for God’s sake, let it go’.

  ‘ I’m not going to tell you twice’ said Angela. ‘ Now do as I say and get in the van’.

  ‘ Where are we going?’

  ‘ You’ll see. Now move it’.

  Mark got to the office at his usual time just after half past eight. He’d just sat down at his desk when his mobile rang.

  ‘ Hello, Mark? It’s Len’.

  Mark recognised Len’s voice straight away. ‘ Hi, Len, how are you doin? Are you looking forward to the barbecue tomorrow?’

  ‘ Yea, fine thanks, mate, and yea we’re all looking forward to the barbecue but look, do you know what’s happened to Ian?’

  ‘ How do you mean what’s happened to him?’

  ‘ He hasn’t shown up this morning’.

  ‘ What? He left the house at the usual time just after seven. I don’t understand it. Have you tried ringing his mobile?’

  ‘ Yea, but it just goes straight to voicemail. You don’t think something’s happened to him, do you?’

  ‘ Ah Jesus, Len, I hope not’.

  ‘ Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just that he’s never not shown up before’.

  ‘ Len, I’ll try and get him on his mobile and see what I can find out. I’ll ring you back’.

  ‘ Okay, mate, thanks’.

  Mark put his hand to his mouth. He hoped to God nothing had happened to Ian. But where the hell was he? He called Ian’s mobile and to his surprise he picked it up.

  ‘ Ian? Ian, where are you? Len’s been on and says you didn’t show up at the site’.

  ‘ Mark, I need you to meet me’.

  Mark knew from the tone of Ian’s voice that something was terribly wrong. He also got the feeling that somebody else was listening to the call.

  ‘ What’s this all about, Ian?’

  ‘ No questions now, Mark. I just need you to come down to Castlefield Lock. You’ll see the van parked by the metrolink bridge’.

  ‘ When?’

  ‘ Straight away. And don’t tell anyone else you’re coming’.

  Ian had feared it might be the case. Angela had a bomb and she’d placed it in the back of his van. At Castlefield Lock she made him reverse down over the grass verge but he couldn’t get the van underneath the bridge so she told him to park just before it
. She then told him to get out of the drivers seat and into the back where she bound his hands and feet.

  ‘ So now we sit and wait for your friend’ said Angela.

  ‘ Why did you choose this place?’

  ‘ I’ve been living in a flat here for about a month’ said Angela. ‘ It seemed as good a place as any’.

  ‘ What the hell are you going to gain from this, Angela?’ Ian wanted to know. She was as cool as anything.

  Angela smiled. ‘ The satisfaction of seeing the two of you go up in smoke’.

  ‘ You’re an evil witch’.

  Angela slapped Ian’s face. ‘ You left me with a daughter to bring up! A daughter who turned out to be a liar and a cheat just like you’.

  ‘ A daughter you took out a contract on!’.

  ‘ She’d been asking for it for years!’

  ‘ She was your daughter for God’s sake!’

  ‘ She was an inconvenience. I should’ve got rid of her a long time ago’.

  ‘ Angela, do what you want with me but leave Mark out of it, please’.

  ‘ No pleading’ said Angela, coldly. ‘ He dies with you’.

  Mark drove down to Castlefield Lock and parked his car at the end of a block of trendy apartments as close as he could to the metrolink bridge. The centre of the city was only a few blocks away but it could’ve been miles. He didn’t know what he was getting into here but it was clear that Ian was in some kind of trouble.

  He looked all around and then spotted Ian’s van at the lower end of a grass verge next to the footpath that ran along the bank of the canal. He moved towards it one step at a time, trying not to make any unnecessary noise and when he got close he could see that Ian wasn’t at the wheel but his voice was coming from the back. But who was that woman with him?

  ‘ So who was that in the car with Peter Irvine?’

  ‘ It was me you idiot. But I saw the guy coming and managed to get out the car in time’.

  ‘ And it was republicans who did it?’

  ‘ They’d been tipped off by your friends in the intelligence services. The sharpest knives always come from within’.

  ‘ Did you do away with your husband Richard, Angela? Someone like him wouldn’t just up and disappear’.

  ‘ He took Natalie’s side against me, I owed him nothing’.

  ‘ You know it amazes me how calmly you can just sit there and tell me you killed your husband and had a contract put out on your daughter’.

  Angela laughed sardonically. ‘ That really is rich coming from you’.

  ‘ Not very original, Angela’.

  ‘ But true! I’m not the one who sold out their people!’

  ‘ And I paid for it for twenty long years, Angela. I did my time’.

  Angela? thought Mark. But she was dead.

  ‘And so did I after you left me you little shit!’

  Angela struck Ian with her gun and it knocked him out. He slumped down onto his side and lay there motionless. Mark feared the sudden silence and didn’t think about the consequences. He took a chance. He had to get Ian out of there. He opened the door and took advantage of how startled Angela was. He grabbed her wrist and forced the gun out of her hand.

  ‘ Right’ said Mark, pointing the gun at Angela who looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. ‘ Untie him and get him out of the van’.

  ‘ I don’t do what you say’.

  ‘ I said do it now!’ he bellowed. ‘ He wouldn’t have shot you because you’re a woman but believe me I have no such hang-ups. Now do it’.

  He watched her free Ian’s hands and legs. She then pulled him out of the van and let his body fall onto the grass.

  ‘ You think you’re so clever’ she sneered. ‘ You’re just a boy trying to do a man’s job’.

  ‘ So what you did to your daughter and your husband is grown up behaviour? The likes of you can justify your actions however much you like but you’re still a coward. It takes the strength of real men and women to make the necessary compromises for peace and you just don’t have what it takes. Without your meddling a lot of people in Northern Ireland will be able to get on with a normal life’.

  ‘ I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to see this so-called peace!’

  ‘ Yes, that’s right. Some politicians try to do a good wrecking job too but eventually the ballot box will deal with them’.

  Angela scoffed. ‘ You wish’.

  ‘ That’s right, Angela. I’m the eternal optimist’.

  Angela glanced round at the bomb inside the van and Mark took his opportunity to push her inside and slam the doors of the van shut. He managed to lock it despite Angela’s desperate struggle with the handle on the inside. She was slamming her hands against the inside of the van and screaming for help but it didn’t move him. She’d hurt too many people. She’d taken out a contract on her own daughter, her own pregnant daughter, and nobody should shed a tear over this bitch.

  Ian began to stir and open his eyes. He tried to focus but everything was a bit of a blur. All he did know was the searing pain going up the side of his face where her gun had struck him. He started to sit up when Mark grabbed him and pulled him away as fast as he could.

  Then the bomb went off.

  Alice arrived at Mark and Ian’s house shortly after they’d got back from hospital.

  ‘ Where’s Ian?’ she asked.

  ‘ He’s upstairs resting’ said Mark who led her through to the kitchen. ‘ The crack she gave him almost fractured his skull’.

  ‘ Mark, … ‘

  ‘ … why didn’t you tell us that only one body had been found in the car bomb that killed Peter Irvine?’

  ‘ We weren’t certain’.

  ‘ But you told us that Angela had been killed in that blast too. If you weren’t certain then why did you tell us that?’

  ‘ Sometimes bodies don’t conveniently fall where we want them to. We knew that Angela had been in the car with him only seconds earlier’.

  ‘ Alice, the car was in an airport car park with lots of other cars around it. If her body had been blown free you would’ve found it quite easily’.

  ‘ Yes, well, we didn’t actually say she’d been killed in that blast. We only said we believed she’d been in the car with him but I don’t think we need to dwell on that point. What I can confirm is that she most definitely did die in today’s bomb blast’.

  ‘ Well don’t ask me to break my heart’.

  ‘ Did you have to make sure she was killed?’

  ‘ If she’d have gone to court she’d have talked and that would’ve put a lot of people at risk’ said Mark. ‘ It could’ve cost Ian his life’.

  Alice smiled. ‘ You don’t have to justify anything to me. I’m just trying to get you to justify your actions to yourself. The job is still open, Mark’.

  ‘ Then I’d like to give it a try’.

  ‘ What’s brought about the change of heart?’

  ‘ I can’t go back to the bank after today. There are many more Angela’s out there who are set on destroying people’s lives. They have to be dealt with’.

  After Alice had gone Mark went upstairs and slipped into bed beside Ian. He snuggled up to him and Ian wrapped his arm around him.

  ‘ That’s the second time you’ve saved my life’ said Ian ‘ It’s getting to be quite a habit’.

  ‘ And I’d do it again’.

  ‘ Well let’s hope that the old saying of never two without three doesn’t apply in this case’.

  ‘ Your Mum called’ said Mark. ‘ They’ve arrived at Fleetwood and will be here in about an hour. I said you’d tripped over and knocked your face’.

  ‘ I take it Alice has gone?’

  ‘ Yea, just’.

  ‘ So when do you start?’ asked Ian. He had a feeling Mark wouldn’t have been able to resist Alice’s offer any longer.

  ‘ I’ve to call her once you’re fully recovered’.

  ‘ I see’.

  ‘ Do you mind?’

  ‘ Do
you want to do it?’

  ‘ I want to give it a try but not if it puts anything that we’ve got at risk’.

  ‘ Mark, with all due respect to Kenny’s memory you are the love of my life’ said Ian ‘ And if you feel the need to do this then I’m behind you every step of the way. I’ve seen the way you can handle yourself, it’s instinctive, and I can’t try and get to you on moral grounds, not with my history’.

  ‘ You won’t ask me to leave then?’

  ‘ Mark, I’ll never ask you to leave, no matter what you do’.

  .

  .