Crossfire (27 page)

A flick of the torch revealed butane bottles, gas
rings, a kettle. The fuckers made them watch the
water come to the boil knowing what was about
to happen.

I gave the live girl a slap. I had to make it
sound like I'd come up here to carry on spreading
the good news. Noah heard the scream and
approved.

I left the door open and headed to the one
opposite. It opened, but there was nothing inside
except a tea chest in the corner. That left the
padlocked room.

The keys hung from a nail punched into the
doorframe. The reek of shit coming from the
other side made me gag. I knew this wasn't going
to be a good day out.

The Yale turned and I pulled open the door.
The torchlight swept across a huddle of maybe
twenty girls, heads bowed, bodies naked,
emaciated, bruised and cut. Some were so young
they didn't even have pubic hair.

The heads of the two nearest me were swollen
from beatings. I pushed them aside. There was no
sign of Dom. I moved through the middle of them.
All they could see was torchlight, and they were
flapping big-time. This wasn't whore-conditioning,
this was sadistic shit. These fucks were enjoying
this. That was why they were here in-country. They
could get away with it.

I left the room and locked them back up for
now. It had looked like a scene from a Nazi death
camp, or the Idema pictures on the door at the
Jock's. The guys hanging, burnt and whipped,
the guys in the cupboard, the guy in the . . .

The hanging girl was still whimpering as I ran
past and into the empty room. I shone my light
on the tea chest.

Noah's laugh rolled up the stairs.

I ripped the nail holding the hasp closed and
lifted the lid. The body was big, and white, its
skin bruised and battered. They must have
jumped up and down on the poor fucker to get
him into this thing.

I leant closer. He was breathing.

I put down the weapon and torch, grabbed a
handful of matted, blood-soaked hair and pulled.
There was a moan. I couldn't make out what he
was saying, but it was definitely Dom.

He rasped at me through swollen lips and gaps
torn in his once perfect teeth. 'Please, please . . .'
His eyes were so swollen they couldn't open.

I tipped the chest gently on to its side and
pulled him out. He was cramped into a ball
and his joints had locked. He couldn't unfold.
Blood and saliva poured from his mouth as his
begging went into overdrive.

It was Noah's kind of music.

'Only a few more hours, dude – he's gonna
make us fucking millionaires!'

I ran back, unpadlocked the other room and
threw the door open. The girls cowered in the
corner, each not wanting to be the one the torchlight
picked out.

'Go! Go! Get the fuck out!' I pointed the Mini-Ero
at them, trying to get them sparked up.

A couple of heads lifted and stared. I dragged
them out by their hair. 'Go on! Get the fuck out!'
I left the rest to it. They looked too scared to
move, but they'd get the idea.

I went back to Dom. He hadn't moved an inch.
These fuckers hadn't any intention of releasing
him, and he knew it.

The hanging girl managed a scream. I ran to
her room and grabbed the chair. She started
pleading, wondering what the fuck new kind of
pain was coming her way. I climbed on
the chair and told her to shut the fuck up.

'Yeah!' Noah liked to hear his mate Joey
having fun.

Fighting to keep control of myself, I yanked on
the rope knot that secured her to the ceiling hook
and tried to break her fall as best I could.

She crawled across and ran her fingers over the
dead girl's face. She wasn't going anywhere
either.

I stopped in the hallway as the first two girls
from the room scrambled towards me. They froze
in the torchlight like petrified rabbits and I
hurried them towards the stairs.

Dom hadn't moved. I leant down and put a
hand on his shoulder. 'Come on, Fat Boy, come
on. Dom, get up, we're moving.' I couldn't tell if
he recognized the voice. It didn't matter either
way. We could have a hug and a love-in later on,
when he understood what was happening. I put
my arm around him and took his weight.

More naked bodies hobbled past us as I
staggered towards the stairs.

Noah had a sudden rush of blood. 'The bitches
are getting away, man! Get the fucks, c'mon!'

There was more movement at the bottom of
the stairs as the other maggots stirred. 'What the
fuck, Joey?'

Dom's body began to unfold as naked, scared
but now increasingly excited girls streamed past
us to freedom.

Noah was outside, hitting the ones he caught,
shouting at others melting into the darkness. The
other two were out of their bags and joining in. It
wouldn't be long before they stumbled across the
real Joey. It was going to get noisy.

Weapon up, safety grip pushed in by the web
of my right hand, I took my time going down the
stairs.

'What the fuck . . .?'

They'd found him.

I waited halfway down, torch up in my left
hand and parallel with the barrel, ready to light
up the targets.

The first body stormed back in, shoving the
girls aside to get to his maggot and weapon.

I waited some more. I wanted the full set.

The other two ran in. The moment they saw
them, the girls still on the stairs below me were
screaming. I thought my eardrums were about to
explode.

I wanted the fourth body, but the other two
already had weapons and soon they would have
light.

I had to kick off now.

I hit the torch button and caught them both in
a tunnel of light.

All I could do was stand my ground and fire,
both eyes open, bringing the torch and weapon
to bear on their centre mass.

Double-tap.

Double-tap.

It was almost like a range day, and had to be.
Otherwise I would make mistakes and die.

Cordite filled my nostrils and the blast of the
Mini-Ero filled my ears as I kept on firing into
the killing area below me.

A thick cloud of cordite now hung in the torchlight
and there was no movement from the
bodies. The two bearded fuckers lay at the
bottom of the stairs. The black-haired one had
died with a sneer on his face; the brown-haired
one with a look of utter shock.

I lowered the weapon. The remaining girls
needed no second bidding to get the fuck out.

I cleared the doorway and moved outside, but
Noah had gone. He'd left the others to it.

I had no time to lose. The Turks would be here
soon and I wasn't going to waste time looking
for the wagon keys only for them to follow me
down the hill.

I ran back upstairs to Dom and gripped his
arms. 'Get up! Help me, Dom. I can't do this
alone!'

'My legs . . .'

He was trying, but not much of him was working
yet.

I got him as far as the top of the stairs and had
to move down three or four so I could get my
shoulder under him and lift.

His feet bounced off each step as I went down.
The torch lit the way, sweeping across two dead
bodies and one very live one. Noah's massive
frame filled the doorway.

'Fucking asshole!'

He ran at me.

I tried to avoid him, but with Dom's weight on
me it wasn't going to happen.

He body-checked me. Dom slid off my
shoulders as I stumbled over one of the dead and
fell on to the concrete, syringe-strewn floor.

Noah threw himself on top of me. He wasn't
bothered about grabbing a weapon. He was
going to tear me apart with his bare hands.

'Asshole – fucking gonna die.'

He sat up, his entire weight pressing on my
chest. His hands covered my face, then moved to
my neck. I kicked and bucked to try to dislodge
him, but it was like being trapped under a car.
The Bergen dug into my back.

His huge fingers gripped my windpipe. I
bucked again as he squeezed. I started to choke.
My hands flew up to his wrists but I knew he was
going to win.

I jerked my head from side to side.

'Fucking die.' His saliva sprayed across my
face.

My hands dropped. My Adam's apple was
being pushed deep into my throat and I couldn't
breathe.

I felt a stabbing pain in my neck and chest. I
thrashed and bucked, but more weakly than
before. My right hand felt for a syringe. My brain
was telling me to breathe, but I couldn't. I saw
showers of white stars and the pain subsided.
Not good. I gripped the syringe as the world
blurred and faded and my head began to
explode.

I focused on his eyes, or where they should
have been in the shadow above me.

I swung my hand up and stabbed and stabbed.

He screamed and his scream became a howl.
His hands loosened on my throat as Dom tried to
pull him off me.

I kicked and pushed, looking for a weapon in
the torchlight.

Coughing and retching, I scrambled to my feet.

Noah swept Dom aside and got to his knees.
His agonized screams reverberated round the
room.

I spotted the Mini-Ero's muzzle jutting out
from beneath Dom's thigh. I grabbed his foot and
pulled him away from Noah's flailing fists, then
lunged for the weapon. I gripped the safety and
squeezed off the rest of the mag.

Noah jerked like a puppet as he took the
bursts, then toppled over on to his mates and lay
still.

Everything went quiet for a second or two
until real life elbowed its way through the door.

I could hear engines rumbling down the hill
and hysterical girls begging for help.

I should have moved but all I could do for now
was sit. My Adam's apple was still most of the
way down my throat. I could hardly swallow.

Dom was moving, trying to curl up and protect
himself. I heaved a blood-soaked sleeping-bag
from under Noah.

'Help me, Dom. Come on.'

I pulled him up, got him on my shoulder. I
threw the bag over him and headed through the
door.

A cold wind blew and headlights bounced
across the night sky. Searchlights swung left and
right from the top of the Turks' vehicles.

I took the path to the right, the one that headed
further uphill. I stepped over Joey's body. Light
was flooding from the houses about thirty metres
away. Contouring the ground with the heaviest
weight I'd ever had on my shoulders, I staggered
a few paces, stopped, made a fruitless attempt to
get the sleeping-bag round him to protect him
from the biting wind, and staggered some more.

My ankles twisted on the uneven footing. Dom
felt like he was getting heavier and heavier. His
legs bounced off the ground in front of me as I
tried to shift his weight more evenly on my
shoulders.

We made maybe two hundred more across the
face of the mountain, still level with the house,
and gradually lost ourselves in the darkness. I
unloaded Dom on to the rocks. He didn't react.
I got him tucked inside the maggot as best I could
and zipped it up. I couldn't see if he had his eyes
open. There was starlight, but my night vision
hadn't kicked in yet.

I crouched down next to him. A horrible
rasping noise came from the back of his throat.
'Oi, Drac – it's Nick. Nick Stone. It's over.'

The kidnap might be. But once I had him
sorted out there were questions that needed
answering.

He moved an arm inside the bag and tried to
grab mine through the material. His grip was
weak. His lips moved soundlessly. I thought he
might be trying to thank me. I patted him
through the bag. 'You owe me big-time.'

His breathing became shallow and rapid. A
hand snaked out of the bag and tried to grip my
shoulder. His chest heaved and tears streamed
from his eyes.

The wind whipped the sweat from my face,
then forced its way between my wet back and the
Bergen. I was starting to freeze.

I looked up at the commotion round the target.
The two wagons were static. The house was lit
up like an historic monument. Girls were being
wrapped in blankets and comforted. Soon they'd
be drinking hot tea and getting medical
attention.

I eased Dom's hand off my shoulder. 'Let's get
you warm, eh? Not long now. We'll be out of here
soon.'

I tried to zip him up some more but he was just
too big. The top of the bag came up to his chest. I
took off the Bergen and dug inside for the
shemag
.
I wrapped it round his head, then packed away
the Mini-Ero and mags. I'd need both hands to
grip him now he was in the bag.

From down in the valley, a long line of flashing
blue lights was making its way towards us. The
cops would be over the moon. They could take
the credit for busting yet another freelance
torture chamber, and the dead men were all
foreigners.

I pulled out the personal mobile and slipped it
into the front pocket of my jeans before re-shouldering
the Bergen. I gripped Dom in the
nylon sleeping-bag and somehow got him back
over my shoulder. 'Not far, mate. If they're not
broken, your legs will be working by tonight, no
drama.'

I started to pick my way downhill. The blue
lights were nearly level with me now. Their
headlights splashed across a couple of Turkish
armoured trucks and their .50-cal gunners
looked as though they'd shoot at anything that
moved.

I pushed on for maybe another ten minutes,
with the buildings and the road to my right, but
I couldn't keep it up. Dom was just too fucking
heavy.

I laid him on the ground again and sorted out
the sleeping-bag. I held his head and leant in
close again. 'Dom . . .' Fuck, I wasn't too sure
who smelt worse. 'Dom, I'm going to check the
road, OK? I'll be two minutes.'

I slid between two mud houses and made my
way down towards Magreb's Hiace. It was
locked. So were the two buses. The school
was battened down. I needed to get into cover
with Dom, and it wasn't just to keep him warm.
The blue lights were still heading this way. In
another couple of hours it would be light. Fuck
the Yes Man, I'd deliver Dom when I was good
and ready.

I moved back to the mud houses and sat under
a corrugated lean-to with a pile of plastic bowls
and a couple of old sacks. Below me, the
Gandamack district was lit up again.

No curtains twitched in either house. Their
inhabitants were either asleep or just wanted to
get on with their lives and send their kids
to school.

I powered up the mobile. It rang a couple of
times, but I didn't hear where.

'Hello, mate, it's Nick. I'm going to need your
van.'