Killing Freedom

by Ryan Casey

  She blushed and her jaw tensed as she stormed off into the kitchen muttering curses under her breath. Gurdit brushed his hands against his legs and stared at Jared. He seemed a little paler than usual.

  ‘Need a word,’ he said, when Jared looked up and met his eyes.

  Jared was initially taken aback by Gurdit’s request. He stood up immediately and followed Gurdit into the hallway. Cindy smiled at Jared as he left.

  ‘What’s up?’ Jared asked.

  Gurdit rubbed his hand against the back of his neck and looked back at the lounge door. ‘It’s the girl,’ he said. ‘Something’s not right.’

  Jared’s body tensed. ‘Wh—what do you mean?’ He could see the door was still slightly ajar.

  Gurdit pulled a piece of notepaper out of his pocket. ‘Found this in my car earlier.’ He opened it with his big clumsy hands as Jared took a moment to register what he was seeing.

  Two words. Big black handwriting.

  Jared’s mouth was dry as he tried to react. This couldn’t be happening. What would she gain from this? ‘What… Why is… What’s it got to do with her?’

  Gurdit folded his big arms and scratched at his elbows. ‘I saw her snooping near the truck yesterday. And we’ve all seen her writing in that pad. Jared… I know you want to look out for her, but it’s time you started thinking about what you really want, and who you can really trust.’

  Who could he trust?

  ‘It doesn’t mean it was her,’ Jared said.

  ‘Then who else?’

  Jared stared back at him and gave too much away. He knew Gurdit had seen it too, that accusing twinkle on the edge of his eyes.

  Gurdit smiled and tutted. ‘Right. Me? Why the fuck would I do anything?’

  ‘I didn’t say that.’

  ‘No, no you didn’t, but it’d be easier if it was me, wouldn’t it? You lot could all be happy, all free and together. Get real—you’re screwed, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’

  Jared clenched his jaw. ‘You’re wrong. It’s just a misunderstanding. I’ll settle things.’

  Gurdit nodded, the side of his nostrils twitching. ‘I hope to God you’re right.’ He pushed past Jared and stepped outside.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Jared asked, as Gurdit walked out into the song of crickets and the fresh air of night.

  Gurdit turned round to face Jared. ‘I’m not taking my chances in that house tonight. Sleep tight.’ He walked towards his truck and unlocked the door.

  ‘Everything okay?’

  Cindy stood by the door, looking over Jared’s shoulder.

  ‘Yeah. I mean, nothing we can’t handle.’

  ‘Good,’ Cindy said, with a smile. She stepped back into the lounge and left Jared on his own on the porch.

  He looked down at the note again. It had to be from Cindy’s diary, which meant that someone in this house wasn’t being completely honest.

  And even if it wasn’t from Cindy’s diary, it meant that somebody was on to them.

  The words clawed at Jared’s skull as he stuffed the note into his back pocket and stepped into the lounge.

  ‘We’re Coming.’

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sat around the dining table, Jared knew he’d have to confront Cindy one way or another.

  There was a contented silence about the room at first. Gurdit didn’t look like he was joining them; a small relief. Jared wasn’t sure if he could go about things the right way. He had to work his magic on Cindy. Maybe she was just struggling, mentally. Post-traumatic stress.

  ‘So, what did you do before all this?’ Faith asked, bringing a forkful of salad to her mouth.

  Cindy shuffled her eyes up at her and then back down to her plate, clearing her throat. She was a meek shell of the woman who had hosted Jared for dinner just a few days ago. And yet the roles were no different, not really. She was still not completely in the know. She was no doubt full of suspicion.

  ‘I just did shifts at a café,’ she said, placing her fork beside her plate. ‘It was… yeah, Brian did the work—the main work. We were going to move away.’

  Faith flicked her eyebrow upwards. ‘Maybe you still will.’

  Jared looked over at Cindy reluctantly, who cleared her throat again and nodded her head.

  ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘You don’t have to fake it anymore. Jared told me.’

  Faith’s mouth slipped at the edges. ‘He did, did he?’

  Jared gulped the lump in his throat. ‘I told her about the people working against her boyfriend. I told her about how I knew Brian.’

  Faith’s eyebrow twitched, like it always did when she wasn’t impressed with him. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘Well, at least that’s in the open.’

  ‘We were going to move away to the country, you know?’ Cindy said, looking around the room. ‘Probably a place like this. Just not… like this.’

  Jared shuffled in his seat. He could sense the discontent in Cindy’s voice, the lack of permanence in her intentions. She’d come round soon enough.

  ‘Anyone for seconds?’

  ‘Jared,’ Cindy butted in.

  He stood slightly elevated above the table, holding the dinner plates in his hand.

  She stared at him with a bloodshot gaze for a few seconds before shaking her head and smiling. ‘It’s okay. It’s nothing.’

  Hands rubbing against knees. Tense shoulders. A sign of a secret.

  ‘Faith, will you take the plates out?’

  Faith opened her mouth to protest and shook her head, her fiery skin blushing. ‘What do you take me for?’

  Jared stood still, looking straight into Faith’s eyes and holding the plate. They used to have a game when they were younger where they’d attempt to transmit thoughts. I need to confront Cindy. I need to confront Cindy.

  It never worked.

  Still, Faith stood up and grabbed the plates, digging her nails into the back of Jared’s hand as she did, and then she disappeared into the kitchen. Jared watched the door click shut and sat on the chair next to Cindy, leaning in towards her. Play this cool. Act the fool.

  ‘Is there something you want to tell me?’ Jared asked.

  Cindy looked up at Jared briefly, and then turned back to the table. He could see her arms shaking, not something an average person would notice, but he was good with details. It was as if she were in a haze and couldn’t snap out of it.

  ‘It’s… Do you ever get the feeling that you’re being watched here?’

  We’re coming.

  Was she playing him? There was a sincerity in her voice. But she’d fooled him before.

  ‘In what sense?’

  Cindy scratched at her head and looked around the room. ‘I—I don’t know how to say this but that man. I… there’s something about him I don’t like.’

  ‘Gurdit?’ Jared asked.

  Cindy nodded. ‘I just, and I know it sounds weird, but I found him looking through my stuff. And then just before I saw him loitering around outside on the phone to someone.’

  Jared didn’t show any signs of acknowledgement or doubt. Either she was telling the truth or she was playing Gurdit off against him. He had to be firm. ‘Why do you carry that notepad around with you?’

  Cindy’s eyes flickered and she stuck her bottom lip out. ‘I—I guess it helps me get my feelings out.’

  Jared nodded as she stared at him. She delivered her answer calmly. No palpitations of the eyeballs or twitches of the forehead.

  ‘Gurdit’s just keeping an eye on us until we’re safe,’ Jared said. ‘He’s bound to be a bit paranoid because these people we’re dealing with are dangerous. But I’ll keep an eye on him.’

  Faith walked back into the room, brushing her hands against her cardigan. She gave Jared an uncertain look as she noticed him sitting closer to Cindy.

  ‘This man, who you and Brian were against. What’s his name?’ Cindy asked.

  Jared pictured his face. You and Brian were against. The ultimate betrayal.

&nb
sp; ‘Raymond.’

  ‘Raymond,’ Cindy said. She muttered the name silently under her breath as she turned her head away.

  ‘You don’t have to worry about him, though. I’ll make sure of that.’

  She barely acknowledged his words as she stared coldly at the table in front of her.

  After they’d eaten some ice-cream that had already been stored in the freezer, they disappeared upstairs.

  As Jared stepped out of the bathroom, he jolted backwards. Cindy was standing in front of his door. Her eyes were still glazed and wide, her mouth muttering as if she hadn’t noticed his presence.

  ‘Cindy?’ Jared whispered.

  She blinked and lulled herself into a dreamy smile. ‘Raymond. This Raymond. You’re going to kill him aren’t you?’

  Jared’s heart thumped as the blood froze in his head. He battled with his throat to get the right words out in response. ‘I—well, I’ll make sure we’re safe. I’ll make sure there’s nothing to worr—’

  ‘I see him watching me at night,’ she said, staring through Jared in her white pyjama top.

  The hairs on Jared’s arm prickled up. ‘Who?’

  She blinked her eyes and she was back, looking around the room inquisitively, out of her haze. Her cheeks blushed as she rubbed her hand up her arm. ‘I’m sorry, I should… yeah, night.’

  And then she was in her room, and Jared was alone in the darkness of the corridor.

  He stepped into his bedroom and took a look out of the window. It was pitch black, and there was nothing for miles anyway. No light, no people, nothing.

  But she was right. He felt him watching him at night too.

  It was only a matter of time.

  The sound of pots and plates clattering against each other woke him from his slumber.

  It had been a relatively peaceful sleep considering the stress of the day before. The notepad, Cindy’s suspicions surrounding Gurdit.

  ‘I see him watching me at night.’

  He brushed his hair from his forehead and stepped out of the soft bedding and into the airy corridor. He turned to look at Cindy’s room at the end of the corridor: the light from her window was visible, which meant she was out of bed.

  ‘Having fun there?’

  The voice made him jump as he turned and saw Faith watching him from the doorway of the bathroom, arms folded.

  He brushed at his nose and cleared his throat. ‘How long have you been there?’

  She kept her eyes focused on him. ‘Long enough to know,’ she said, as she brushed her damp hair with a white towel.

  ‘I—I was just checking—’

  ‘No, your girlfriend is downstairs making breakfast,’ Faith interrupted. ‘Nice little housewife she’s turning out to be, huh? She even managed a smile at me this morning. Quite good for a girl who’s just been kidnapped. Very well behaved.’

  Jared shook his head. ‘I don’t know what your problem is, sis. You’ve always got to have a problem.’

  ‘My problem,’ Faith said, facing up to Jared, ‘is that we’ve kidnapped a girl, and she’s just going along with it like an innocent little kid. My problem is that we’ve managed to hide this long without getting caught after what you did. Does that not seem suspicious to you? Not in the slightest?’

  Jared straightened his back and looked over Faith’s shoulder into the bathroom. ‘She thinks that here’s the only place she’ll be safe. She wouldn’t do anything stupid, not now. Right now all that matters is we work together. Make a clean start.’

  ‘And then what? What next in your little fantasy world? We move on to a new place when they find us? Raymond gives you a pat on the back, one for the road? Wake up, Jared. Wake up.’

  Jared took a deep breath. It had been four days since he’d shot Raymond in the leg, and he’d not yet heard anything. Maybe he’d forget. Raymond always told him he was different, so maybe he’d just accept it and move on.

  Maybe.

  The faint sound of an engine was approaching in the distance. He needed to tell her.

  ‘I’m worried about Gurdit,’ Jared said.

  Faith frowned. ‘What about him? He only went to get some supplies.’

  He thought back to Cindy’s words. ‘I saw him rooting through my stuff.’ Maybe he was just checking for security.

  Or maybe there was more to it.

  ‘I’m not sure Gurdit is being entirely honest with us.’

  Faith narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you sure?’

  Jared stared on over Faith’s shoulder. ‘Yes. No. I don’t know. But we need to keep a close eye on him. I’m… I don’t know whether I trust him.’

  Faith grinned.

  ‘What are you smiling at?’

  She shook her head in dismissal. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘No, tell me.’

  She placed the towel back on the hook and let her hair drop against her cheeks. ‘Do you not know whether you trust him, or does someone else not know whether they trust him?’

  Jared’s eyes diverted to the floor.

  ‘Be careful, brother. You’re in very deep. You know I’ll al—’

  A loud bang cracked through the air outside.

  And then another.

  Faith’s eyes bulged as she and Jared stared at one another. A flush of adrenaline pumped through Jared’s body. He couldn’t process anything.

  ‘Jared?’ Cindy called from downstairs.

  Cindy. Was she okay? He opened his mouth to call back for her but he was rooted to the spot.

  After what felt like an eternity, a sudden bolt of energy zapped through his legs. He threw himself down the stairs and towards the door. ‘I see him watching me at night.’

  When he pulled the door open, the first thing he noticed were the fumes disappearing into the distance.

  Then, he saw Gurdit’s stationary truck, the engine still rumbling as someone’s figure sat in the driver’s seat.

  He held his breath as he stepped over to the truck door, the stones beneath his feet crumbling underneath every step. He looked over his shoulder: nothing but the house behind him and the sound of birds singing. He wrapped his finger around the door handle. He could see him in there, slumped against the steering wheel, and he knew what it meant.

  He opened the door.

  Blood stained the seats and seeped from a small hole in Gurdit’s head onto the dashboard. The sound of blood dripped towards the hard floor of the vehicle as his once bulky arms twitched rhythmically. His eyes were already closed, his face emotionless.

  A solitary, blood-stained note sat on his lap. He knew what it meant. He liked to communicate messages through notes. Jared held his breath as he reached for it with his shaking hand and edged it free from Gurdit’s defenceless fingers.

  ‘What is it?’

  Someone spoke from behind. A woman: maybe Cindy, maybe Faith, he couldn’t tell right now. It could have been someone else entirely, and he wouldn’t have noticed.

  It was just him and the paper.

  She was right. They were all right.

  Jared felt something brush against his shoulder, and he snapped his hand backwards. He felt something hard dig into his knuckles and turned to see Cindy clutching at her face. She looked at him with shock as she stumbled back towards the house. No. He hadn’t meant that. He wasn’t supposed to do that. It’s just—this picture here. He couldn’t think.

  Cindy disappeared back through the door as Faith looked on with concern. She let Cindy brush past her before reluctantly stepping into the house herself.

  Jared looked back at the picture. It didn’t look real, but there was nothing fantastical about it.

  ‘They won’t let you just walk away.’ The memory of the suit’s words. He didn’t want to believe them. They didn’t have to be true, not then. But now, they were.

  Wake up, Jared.

  He stared at the picture. His uncle, gagged and bound. The words, ‘Save Me Jared,’ engraved and dripping with blood on his chest.

  Underneath, that recognisable handw
riting. That handwriting he’d seen so often. ‘Come back home. Bring my money. Doesn’t have to be this way, J.’

  He’d found him. Of course he had.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  He tossed Gurdit’s body into the grave he’d dug and brushed the sweat from his face.

  Jared hadn’t told Cindy or Faith about the incident with his uncle. He couldn’t upset the peace any more than it already had been. He couldn’t risk them walking.

  This could still work.

  There was a way he could handle this, end it once and for all. Maybe it was money. They didn’t need all of Raymond’s money—they’d find a way to get through this, the three of them. Gurdit had some loose cash lying around in his glove compartment. They’d find jobs, he’d pay Raymond off, maybe he could even talk Raymond round. They’d find a way. They’d be free.

  But his uncle. He needed to make sure he was okay. After everything he’d done for him, he couldn’t just leave him to suffer.

  He looked up and saw Faith walking towards him. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her chest. She bit at her lip. ‘You… okay?’ she asked.

  Jared grunted as he pulled a piece of loose wood over the makeshift grave.

  ‘Something else is not right, is it?’

  Jared rolled his eyes as he straightened his back, brushing the dirt from his palms. ‘There’s something I need to go and do.’

  Faith nodded and slumped her shoulders. ‘I knew it. And Gurdit. What you were saying about him… You were wrong, right?’

  You were wrong. He was. Or maybe he wasn’t. He’d never get the chance to interrogate Gurdit now. Raymond had made sure of that. ‘Faith, if you see someone—anyone—arriving, just run. Get as far away from this house as you can.’ He walked past Faith and towards the front of the house.

  Faith jogged up beside him. ‘At least tell me where you’re going.’

  He grabbed the bag of money he’d left by the door and threw it over his shoulder. Faith’s eyes were watery and bloodshot. She didn’t often look scared, not truly. He placed his hand on her shoulder and attempted a reassuring smile. ‘There’s something I have to do, sis. Something I have to go finish that I should have finished a long time ago. I’ll be back and this will all be over, okay?’