Oblivious (19 page)

Awoken by the sunlight piercing through a gap in the curtains, Joe lifted his hand and rubbed his eyes. He pressed his hands onto the bed and sat himself up slowly, groaning slightly as his muscles woke up. Joe stepped onto the hardwood floor, stretched out his toes and grabbed a variety of clothes from the bags that Francis had brought for him. Still in his underwear he went to the bathroom and turned the shower on, placed the clothes neatly onto the toilet before slipping out of the white underpants and kicking them along the floor to the corner of the room. Joe looked at his reflection in the mirror, his body looked healthier than before but still a shadow of what he was previously accustomed. He turned his body around, looking at the bruises to his torso which had now mostly disappeared, the only ones that remained were a pale yellow, almost unnoticeable to anyone. Staring down past the healed bruises and scarred skin, Joe looked down at the large scab that covered what was once a hole in his leg. Rubbing his hand over the dried blood and red skin he realised that it no longer caused him any pain to touch and the bone was stronger than before, not fully healed but enough for him to move about as long as he didn’t make any sharp movements.

Pulling back the shower curtain, he stepped under the water jet and felt the instant relaxation on his skin. Rubbing the soap across his body and legs to remove the sweat Joe felt better and ready for the important day ahead. After thoroughly washing himself, Joe stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist and used another to wipe the condensation from the mirror. Looking at the unshaven man that stared back, Joe picked up a razor that Francis had got from the shop along with a shaving brush and foam. He carefully shaved off several weeks of facial hair, feeling like a new man, the man he remembered he was before his life changing story began.              Still with the towel wrapped around his waist, Joe left the bathroom and went into the bedroom where he got dressed into a comfortable pair of black jeans, a red t-shirt and a brown jacket. He took the gun from the clothes on the bed and checked the cylinder, still six bullets waiting to be used. He snapped the cylinder shut and slid the revolver down the back of his waistband, hiding the handle with his jacket.

After putting his shoes on, Joe went downstairs to the living room. He picked up a pen and a piece of paper from the drawing table. Pressing the nib of the pen against the paper he froze, not knowing what to write. ‘What if her house is searched and they find a note from me?’ he thought to himself. ‘But I can’t leave without saying anything.’ He glanced out of the window to see a young girl playing in the park across the street with her father. They were flying a kite and laughing between themselves. Joe started to write on the paper and quickly left the note on the coffee table with the words “
Your Uncle would be proud of you.
” Joe placed the pen back on the table and walked towards the front door. Turning the handle he took one last look across the hallway, knowing that he would never see it again.

Once outside the door, Joe felt fully exposed and was suddenly aware that anything unexpected could happen. He turned the collar up on his jacket and pressed his chin firmly against his chest to try and hide his face He walked down the steps and quickly followed the pavement to the end of the street. Joe stopped at the intersection and looked at the street signs to understand where he needed to go. He followed the streets and took several turns before he eventually walked along the bridge and across the river to the docks.

Joe walked slowly along the road that led into the dock area, looking out from the corner of his eye for a way to get in. A large fence and gate with two security guards stopped any unauthorised persons from entering so he knew this wasn’t going to be as simple as just walking in. He stopped far enough away as to not draw any unwanted attention and watched as vehicles and men were being stopped. As he looked up at the fence and the razor wire that topped it off, a pickup truck stopped by the side of the road, just a few feet away, half a dozen men in overalls jumped off the truck, grabbed a set of overalls each from the back and slipped them on over their clothes. The driver remained in the truck but shouted orders out of the window.

‘Remember, the name on your overall is your name for the day.’ He bellowed. ‘Go in through the gate and down to number 234. Just follow the road through for about ten minutes and you’ll find it. Ask for Greg and he will give each of you $10 for a good days work.’ Joe figured out instantly that this was an exploitation of illegal immigrants and a way for the man to make some easy money. As the men all got dressed Joe casually walked over to the truck and grabbed one of the sets of overalls. Putting them over his clothes he fastened the buttons and followed the other men to the security gate. None of the men spoke to one another; Joe figured this may be because none of them speak the same language. The truck quickly drove off in a cloud of smoke being fired out of the rattling exhaust. One-by-one the men walked single file through the gate, the guards watched them with intent but didn’t try to engage in conversation.

Joe was the last to walk through the gate. As he walked past, one of the guards lifted his hand and placed it across Joe’s chest.

‘Where are you guys going?’ he asked. Joe froze and just stared at the guard as he waited for an answer.

‘Do you speak English?’ the guard asked. Joe stayed silent. The other men were already getting further away. ‘Where are you going?’ the guard demanded.

‘234.’ Joe muttered, looking down at the floor.

‘Oh, you do understand me. Wait a minute, if you speak English so well, then why the fuck are you with these fucking stowaways?’

‘I need the money. I have a family to feed.’ Joe said, still looking down at his feet, hoping that the guard doesn’t notice the new shoes that were not made for manual labour.

‘I suppose everyone has to eat.’ Said the guard, stepping out of the way. ‘Now get on with it before your boss refuses to pay you.’

Still fixing his gaze on the ground, Joe walked as quickly as he could to catch up with the other men, trying not to let his weak leg show. He followed them around a corner and out of view from the guards where he stopped and took off the overalls. The docks were much bigger than he imagined and Joe wasn’t familiar with the layout, he needed to find the best place to watch the warehouse from without being spotted.

Walking carefully between each building Joe found the warehouse he was looking for. From a distance he could see that there were at least two men outside guarding the entrance and another on the roof. They didn’t appear to be armed but Joe knew that they wouldn’t be walking around without a weapon. He sat on the floor behind a small pile of wooden shipping boxes, watching the men as they patrolled the building’s exterior, trying to get an idea of their patterns and blind spots. A large fence surrounded the buildings side, stopping anyone from entering without first being vetted. Two of the other sides were only accessible by water which would leave Joe in the open and the back of the warehouse was overshadowed by another building, at least twenty feet taller. After several hours, Joe remained in the same place as nothing seemed to be stopping the guards from watching every angle.

The sun started to set and Joe saw a single light turn on in a high window, possibly an office on the upper floor that he needed to get to. Joe’s attention was turned by the sound of a car getting closer, slowly coming around the corner from behind him. He slipped his body in between the boxes and watched as the car went past. First the headlight beams followed by the car being driven by Tom with Gordy sitting in the back, smoking a cigarette. This was the proof he needed that he was in the right place. As the car edged past slowly, Joe raised his head over the boxes to see the car stop outside the gate for a moment whilst a guard opened it. Tom pulled the car through the gate and into the entrance to the warehouse, the door quickly closing behind him.

Joe tried to see what was happening but the low light was not being helped by the lights on the dock that only illuminated the area below them. From what he could see, the men remained in their positions all the while. Keeping close to the wall and out of the light, Joe carefully walked towards the gate to get a closer look. He stopped a few feet from the fence, staying out of view in the shadows. Joe could hear the two men behind the gate talking.

‘How long do we have to stand out here? I’m starting to freeze.’

‘I don’t know, it all seems a bit much to me. Why don’t you go for a walk to warm yourself up? I’ll be okay here.’

‘Are you sure? Okay, I’ll be back in five minutes.’

The guard walked away and round to the other side of the building as the one who remained lit a cigarette. Joe knew that he needed to get inside the gate and this was his opportunity. He felt the ground around his feet and picked up a small stone. Aiming it carefully he tossed it at a barrel outside the gate.

‘What the hell?’ said the guard, standing behind the chain-link fence as he tried to look at what hit the barrel. Joe picked up another small handful of stones and threw them one after the other against the same barrel. Alarmed, the guard pulled a handgun from inside his jacket and opened the gate slowly, looking around as the barrel continued to chime. As the guard got close to the barrel Joe stopped and watched as he stepped around, looking for a possible explanation for the noise.

‘Is someone there?’ the guard shouted, but no response came from the poorly lit docks. ‘It must be those fucking rats.’ The guard turned away from the barrel, put his gun away and started to walk back towards the gate. Joe quickly ran out of the darkness keeping as quiet as possible and slipped his arm firmly around the guard’s neck. The guard struggled as best he could but Joe’s grip was too fierce and he soon dropped unconsciously to the ground. Still holding him around the neck, Joe dragged the body into the shadows, hiding it from sight in the darkness between some boxes.

Joe slipped his hand into the guard’s jacket and took the pistol from its holster before quickly stepping inside the gate, closing it behind him. He walked over to the front door of the warehouse and placed his hand on the door handle.

‘Hey. Where are you?’ Joe could hear the other guard shouting as he came back around the corner. Without thinking again, Joe ran around the corner, into the darkness between the fence and wall. His eyes adjusted to the lack of light enough so he could see it was a dead-end, nothing but a solid wall on two sides and the tall chain fence on the other. Joe span around on the spot to see the guard approximately twenty feet away, standing at the gate. The guard was looking anxiously through the mesh wire, trying to find his colleague.

‘Hey, Dom, where have you gone?’ the guard took a flashlight from his pocket and shone it along the bottom of the fence. Joe started to panic as the light was getting closer, following along the base of the fence. He looked up around his head and could see a small window with bars on approximately nine feet high on the side of the warehouse with the fire escape platform above. He stepped away and quickly ran against the wall, vaulting his body up the brickwork he reached as high as he could and gripped onto the bars with both hands. Joe lifted his body and legs as high up the wall as he could and looked down as he could see the guard’s light shining on the wall where he stood.

‘Dom, where the hell are you?’ the guard continued to call as he opened the gate. He walked around the other side of the fence, searching for the other man who was no longer there. ‘Where have you disappeared to?’ he shouted. He went back through the gate, locked it behind him and walked to the front of the building. Joe held onto the window bars as well as he could as he heard the guard muttering to himself, most likely displeasure that his colleague has left his post. Joe watched the guard disappear from view and he pulled himself up the window a few inches more and reached his hand to the grating underneath the fire escape. Hanging from the metal frame like a child on the monkey bars, Joe swung his arms to the edge and hoisted himself up and over the railing as quickly as he could.

Taking a moment to get his breath back, Joe lay on his back and stared up at the star filled sky. Uninterrupted natural beauty illuminated the darkness with hundreds of dots of light. For just those few seconds, Joe’s mind escaped the current situation and he drifted to a happy memory, remembering the day that he proposed to Gina. He took her to the roof on a clear summer night and presented a ring to her that he had saved up for months to buy. She laughed as she cried and said yes to his proposition. Joe felt an uncontrollable smile on his face as he remembered the happy times. His fall back to reality came too soon as he heard the front door to the warehouse slam shut.

As quickly as he could, Joe jumped to his feet and started to ascend the metal ladder that led from the fire escape platform to the roof. He gently placed his hands on the top rung and pulled himself up to see another guard standing on the roof, holding a rifle in both hands. The man was constantly watching the other side of the building that overlooked the water, obviously making sure that nobody got too close. Joe quickly stepped over the wall, ducked down behind an air vent and watched the man from a distance to see if he moved. The guard was fixated on his job and didn’t move from his position or turn to look at anything but what was below him. Joe saw this as a good sign and quickly crept up behind the man. He stopped a few feet behind the armed guard and stood up with his arms stretched out, ready to take him out. A gunshot from the front of the warehouse alerted the guard and he quickly turned around to face Joe. Without even thinking, Joe jumped forward and grabbed the gun with both hands. He pushed the guard backwards to the wall, pinning him against the top of the bricks. Another gunshot fired from the front of the warehouse and Joe quickly thrust his head forward, hitting the guard between the eyes. Still holding the gun firmly with both hands, Joe pushed the guard over the top of the wall and heard the dull thud of his body hitting the hard concrete below.