Fighting Chance

by Shaun Baines

  "Daniel?" he heard Panwar ask.

  Was Eisha treading the same path as Angel? A tortuous route to insanity? The comparison made him ill and he clutched his stomach. He thought of the fish in the lake feeding on the dead. Had he done this? Was Daniel feeding her madness?

  An insect buzzed around his ears and he realised Panwar was speaking.

  "You're not her uncle," Daniel said, climbing to his feet. He was met with a smile of polished, white teeth.

  "Of course not," Panwar said. "I just want to help where I can. It was kind of you to invite us to stay."

  "Five Oaks is for family only."

  "I don't have to be an uncle figure, but you're a busy dad." Panwar took the cat from Eisha, poking a finger into its empty sockets. "How about a second father?"

  Springing forward, Daniel swung his fist high, but a movement caught his attention. Lily stood on the stone steps of his home. She watched them, a frightened hand to her mouth.

  Daniel jammed his fist behind his back, fearful it might act of its own accord. The grinding sound of teeth filled his head and he exhaled through a clenched jaw.

  Retrieving her Angry Cat from Panwar, Eisha stroked down its fur and offered it to Daniel. "Would you like to give it a try, Daddy?"

  "It really is an impressive home," Panwar said. "And the Maguires can't reach us here?"

  Daniel pushed away Eisha's offer. "They'd have to get through me first. Can you imagine anyone doing that?"

  The cat fell from his daughter's grasp. Rather than pick it up, she stared at it, her lips moving in silence.

  "I saw a slide and a swing set at the back of the house, Eisha," Panwar said. "Why aren't you playing on that instead of sitting on this dirty jetty?"

  "She doesn't like them anymore." Daniel worked in his knuckles into his jawline, easing the tension.

  "I would have loved something like that when I was a kid, but we never had the money. I do now, of course." Panwar pointed out of the grounds. "How dangerous is it out there? Tyne-der doesn't run itself and I have business to do."

  "Very dangerous," Daniel said. "I'll pack you a sandwich."

  The doors of Five Oaks slammed shut. Lily was inside and Daniel's fist itched to be used, but he stopped himself. Panwar had saved Eisha and he was under Lily's protection, but his unease told Daniel something was wrong. Of course, it was tinged with jealousy, but ignoring his instincts only led to trouble.

  Daniel also needed to leave Five Oaks, but he couldn't abandon Lily and Eisha on their own.

  Panwar pulled up the collar of his jacket. "So I can't leave?"

  "You know you can't. You're the weak link," Daniel said. "The Maguires could use you to get to us. It's too much of a risk."

  "I'm like a prisoner on death row," Panwar said with a sideways glance at Daniel. "Guess I'll go for walk instead."

  He left the jetty and strolled around the wood, his hands clasped behind his back. Panwar's figure was lost in the trees and Daniel fantasied about something bad happening to him.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Thanks to Tyne-der, Angel was on her second date. Her first rendezvous had been a revelation. There were no fireworks, no trumpets, but when she thought of Mr Smith, the voices settled. The carnage of her head was replaced by a deep throb that made her want to laugh and cry at the same time. Her second meeting was with someone new. It was a perfunctory affair and not really a date, but it was progress and progress was always good.

  She didn't agree with his choice of venue, however. Roker Pier was where she had traded her sister for cocaine. It was just out of sight, but the image had stayed with her. No-one would mourn her sister because no-one would find her. The idea of it made her skin itch.

  The sky was a clear, frosty blue and she focused on its clarity, ignoring the flashing lights and chaos of the Funderland arcade. She strolled on, meeting the inquisitive gazes of tourists with a smile. At first, she was hesitant, but her confidence grew. The autumn sun warmed her shoulders and she paused by the funfair. A rickety rollercoaster carried parents and children on a loose configuration of eight. Hardly Blackpool, she thought, but the children didn't seem to mind. They screamed with glee while their parents took selfies of them together.

  A car stopped at the traffic lights behind her. The volume of its stereo vibrated inside her bones, as if the car was a giant speaker. She turned to stare and saw two young men sitting in the front. One was white and the other was black, and they watched her through heavy-lidded eyes.

  "Alright?" shouted the white one.

  Angel pressed her fingers into her ears and he turned down the music.

  "Alright?" he asked again.

  Beads of sweat gathered on her cleavage and she managed a nod.

  "Do you want to come for a ride?"

  Angel scanned the street. The tourists and locals were oblivious. They weren't laughing at her or standing aghast. She didn't matter to them at all and Angel approached the car.

  "I'd love to," she said, twirling a finger through her fringe, "but I can't."

  "What's the problem?" the black man said. "Oh, I bet you're meeting your boyfriend, are you, love? He's a lucky man."

  Blood rushed to Angel's cheeks. "No, he's not my boyfriend."

  The white man glanced at the lights switching to green. "Fat girls are the filthiest," he said. "Bet he's on you day and night, is he? Bet you love it."

  "Go, on. Show us your tits, love."

  The two men sped off, the snarling engine mixing with their laughter.

  Angel stood on the kerb, the heat of her body quenched with cold water. Her hands shook and she felt the eyes of strangers finally taking an interest. She wanted to return to the rollercoaster, to enjoy the happiness of others, but she was frozen, lingering at the roadside. Cars and buses roared by, their gravity drawing her in. It was one short step to freedom. All she had to do was close her eyes and walk.

  A hand alighted on her shoulder. "Don't mind those two pricks."

  She turned to find Panwar smiling at her. The black eye she'd given him was tinged with purple. He wore a padded jacket and Angel admired how he chose comfort over style.

  "Where the hell have you been?" she asked.

  "I can't leave without giving Daniel a reason. He watches me like a hawk."

  Angel took him by the elbow, marching him around a corner. She stopped in front of a souvenir shop selling seaside tat. They moved to a row of inflatable dinghies and beach balls for cover.

  "If you tell anyone what you saw," Angel said. "I’ll kill you."

  Panwar pulled the stopper from a beach ball and listened to the air fizzing free. "No, you won't. You need me."

  Angel scowled and reached into her inner pocket.

  The beachball wrinkled like dried fruit and Panwar quickly raised his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Of course, I'll stay quiet."

  "Relax. You wouldn't be so stupid as to tell anyone," Angel said, producing an envelope thick with used notes. Panwar looked at it, visibly relieved, but he refused to take it.

  "Let me have your computer," he said. "I'd kill for kit like that."

  "No, it’s mine."

  "But you don't even know how to use it."

  And if you tell anyone that either, you're dead.

  Panwar frowned and Angel didn't know if she'd uttered the threat out loud. She cleared her throat and attempted to regain control. "That's why I have an envelope full of money in my pocket. I'd rather you didn't go back on our agreement."

  The envelope was offered again and Panwar handed over a memory stick. "Okay, so I've done your work for you. Again. There are two worms, one bug and a Trojan on there. I think your buyers will be very happy."

  "What the hell is a Trojan?"

  With a sigh, Panwar's fingers flicked through the bank notes. "And try and stay off Tyne-der. Frequent log-ins are difficult to erase. You don't want your information sent to the Russians, do you?"

  "You better not be reading my messages," Angel said, nipping the skin on th
e back of her hand. "They're private."

  "What messages? Oh, and I included the rest of the locations of every known Dayton associate. You're free to do with them as you please. Is there anything else?"

  "Just get everything ready," she said, staring through the window of the souvenir shop. "I'll be coming soon enough."

  Panwar walked away without another word and Angel didn't care. Her plan was working and Panwar knew his part. She was chipping away at the Dayton cliff face, removing one rock at a time. Selling information was making her rich, richer than the Daytons and with time, richer than her own mother, but that wasn't her dream. Power came from the company she kept, just like Mam said and Angel's influence was growing.

  There was still one surprise left and she thought she might enjoy it.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Masani lay in bed, listening to the dawn chorus. Grey light permeated the room, cloaking her in silver. Next to the bed was a chair where her work clothes were washed and folded. Her make-up table was bare, except for a jar of moisturiser and a crumpled tissue. An upright mirror stood in the corner, polished but never used.

  Through the host of birdsong, she recognised a robin's call and imagined it perched on the fence. Morning was her favourite time of day. Snuggled in bed, the possibilities ahead seemed endless. She rolled over for her husband and found an empty space. Masani smiled into her flowery pillow. Today was going to be a special day.

  The kitchen was at the back of the house, overlooking their modest garden. Masani spotted the robin, not on the fence, but at the bird table, fighting with birds twice its size. Marvin was hunched over the cooker. A ruler was stuck to the counter with batter as he measured the size of his pancakes. Each one would be sixteen centimetres in diameter because that was the way he liked them, and Masani loved him for it.

  "Breakfast treat for the birthday girl," he said as she entered.

  His stripy pyjamas were buttoned to the neck, partially covered by a chequered apron cleaner than the kitchen top.

  "Don't you dare tell me how old I am," she said, pecking him on the cheek.

  Marvin patted her backside. "I would never be that cruel. There's a birthday card on the table."

  Taking a seat, Masani ripped open the pink envelope and pulled out a card. On the front was a sepia picture of an old couple sitting on a park bench. They were white, but the sentiment was universal. Inside the card was a £200 voucher for a gunsmith in Jarrow.

  "Thank you, darling," Masani said. "You always know what I want."

  Marvin flipped a pancake. It landed half-in, half-out the pan and he shuffled it back into position. "Before you get settled, we had a visitor last night."

  "Not again."

  "It's by the window."

  "You really need to grow a pair, Marv. What happens if I'm not here?"

  Reaching into a cupboard, Masani withdrew a glass and picked up her pink envelope. A moth with a furry body scuttled up the window, its wings tucked neatly into its sides. Masani trapped it in the glass and slid the envelope underneath.

  Marvin took a seat, offering up his pancakes and arranging his cutlery perpendicular to his plate. "It's a big bugger, isn't it?"

  Masani gritted her teeth. "Huge."

  She opened the window, feeling the autumn damp on her face. The birds had flown, their songs silenced. The robin remained, bobbing on the bird table, its beady black eyes on the moth as it flitted against the sides of its prison. Masani stroked the insect through the glass. "Sorry, mate. I think you're the breakfast treat this time."

  Warbling in fright, the robin took to the sky. A young woman stalked into the garden, her dark hair streaked with blue. Masani jumped back.

  "Lock the door," Masani shouted at her husband.

  The silver barrel of a Bauer Automatic came into the kitchen, freezing Marvin to his chair. The woman followed and he spat out a mouthful of sixteen-centimetre pancake.

  "Get out of my house," Masani said, grabbing the upturned glass. Released from its cage, the moth fluttered around the woman's gun and escaped through the open door.

  "Do you know who I am?" the woman asked.

  The seat under Marvin creaked as he answered. "I think so."

  "Good. I'd like everyone to stay calm," Angel said. "I'm going to ask you some questions."

  Marvin pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose and they slid back down. "Do what she says, honey." The half-chewed pancake rested on his stomach. "Please."

  Turning to Angel, Masani swore and hurled the glass at her. It smashed off Angel's shoulder, jerking her gun hand. A shot rang out. Masani ducked behind the table. She ran a trembling hand over her body.

  "Baby?" Marvin's voice came from the floor.

  Blood leaked from a wound in Marvin's arm, running in rivulets down his plastic apron.

  "I've been shot," he said, slurring his words.

  She gently examined her husband and breathed a sigh of relief. Scanning the kitchen, she saw a charred hole in the cupboard door. The bullet had passed clean through.

  Masani grabbed a tea towel and wrapped it tightly around the wound. "I've had worse periods, you soppy arse."

  Helping him to his feet, she propped Marvin in his chair, like a child at mealtime.

  Angel dusted broken glass from her shoulder. "You see what happens when you don't follow the rules. No-one else needs to get hurt. Now sit down."

  Masani sat next to Marvin, a protective hand over his. Her rifles were locked away at the scrapyard and she didn't believe in having guns in her home. This was her sanctuary, a place of love for her and her husband. But it was violated now, not by Angel, but by her own stupidity and impetuous nature. She might as well have pulled the trigger herself, Masani thought.

  "A little birdy tells me I've been victim to a prank," Angel said. "I want my cocaine back."

  The robin called from the garden, but Masani kept her eyes on Angel. "Bronson and Daniel have it. They took it in a van from the scrapyard."

  "They didn't bring it back in another van?"

  Masani and Marvin shook their heads.

  "They didn't tell you to pick it up from somewhere? Take it someplace else?"

  "The last we heard, they were giving it to you." Masani rolled a pancake into a cylinder and bit off the top. "Did you lose it?"

  Angel stepped around the table and pressed the gun into Marvin's temple. "I'll blow your husband's bald head in half. You won't be as mouthy then."

  The pancake grew limp in Masani's hands. She tried to stand, but Marvin pulled her down and she dropped into her chair.

  "You hurt him again and I'll end you, little girl," Masani said.

  Angel smiled. "I haven't hurt anyone. That was all you."

  The birthday card wobbled in a draught from the open door. Masani looked to the sepia coloured couple and steadied her hands. They were gazing over a tranquil sea and she imagined them content.

  Angel traced the gun from Marvin's temple to his jaw.

  "We're not criminals," Masani said. "We don't have anything to do with Bronson's other jobs. We don't know what you're talking about. Just let us go."

  Keeping the gun level, Angel scraped open the kitchen drawers, their contents clanging as she rifled through them. "The coke is either at the scrapyard or Five Oaks," she said. "We're going to eliminate one of those options today."

  She came back to the table with a bread knife.

  Marvin winced as Masani held his hand too tightly.

  "What are you're going to do with that?" Masani asked.

  "I told you, I'm not going to do anything," Angel said, clearing the table with a swipe of her arm. The breakfast plates smashed onto the floor. Pancakes spun mid-air, landing with a slap, but the birthday card stayed standing.

  Angel moved to Marvin's side, broken ceramic crunching under her feet and laid the knife in front of him.

  "What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Masani shouted, kicking a pancake off her shoe.

  "Let us go," Marvin said.<
br />
  Angel tapped the knife. "Whenever my sister and I had to share a piece of cake, Dad made one of us cut it in half and the other had to choose which half they wanted. That way, no-one ever got cheated."

  The breath was trapped in Masani's chest. She couldn't stop looking at the way the sun caught the steel of the blade. Marvin kept his eyes closed and mumbled to himself.

  "Don't worry, baby," Masani said, swallowing down her fear.

  "I just need the truth," Angel said, pressing the gun into Marvin's face. "One of you is going to saw the others' fingers off."

  Masani's heart turned to water and she grabbed the knife. It wavered in her hand. She was fearful she was about to make another mistake.

  Angel scratched her round stomach. "I'll let you go afterwards," she said, "but this is your only option. I'll kill you otherwise."

  "You'll have to blow a hole in my head before I hurt my husband." Masani's eyes went to the wound in Marvin's arm and her face grew hot.

  "That's what I thought," Angel said, rubbing the barrel of her Bauer under Marvin's nose. "Smell that, you pig. Do you want to die? Do you?"

  Crying, Marvin shook his head.

  "Do you want to save your wife's life?"

  "You can't make him do it," Masani shouted.

  "I asked him if he wanted to see you live."

  There was a pause. Marvin sniffed back snot and slowly nodded.

  "Take the knife, then," Angel said.

  Marvin turned to Masani. Tears spilled down a face wracked with despair. He gasped and mouthed the word 'sorry.'

  "Oh, Marvin," Masani said, sucking down a sob of her own. He was a weak man. She'd always known it, but she loved him. She loved how someone so delicate could live in a world so hard.

  "Take the fucking knife," Angel shouted.

  Masani gave Marvin's hand a tender squeeze and let go, knowing if she didn't release him, she never would. His wet eyes looked at her over his glasses and she pushed them back up to the ridge of his nose. "It's okay, darling. It's okay."