Run Johnboy Run: The Glasgow Chronicles 2 (57 page)

  ‘Why?’ he wanted tae scream doon at Tiny, bit he couldnae bring himsel tae say anything. 

  Tiny broke everywan’s silence as his chattering teeth, weeping and sobbing grew louder.

  “He wis only fucking ten years auld, fur fuck’s sake!” Paul screamed doon at him, kicking the wooden side ae the tank, making everywan jump, as his voice boomed and ricocheted aff the walls.

  “Boys, please, help me…help me oot.  Please…Ah’m sorry...” Tiny sobbed, continuing wae his doggy-paddle swimming motions, tae keep afloat.

  “Tiny, who else wis involved?”  Tony asked him, almost gently.

  “Tony, please, please help me!  Ah cannae keep masel afloat fur much longer.  Ah don’t want tae droon…Ah don’t want tae die…” Tiny sobbed, spluttering and choking efter swallowing some mair water.

  “Tiny, who else wis involved?  We know it wisnae jist yersel and Horsey John.” 

  “Oh God!  Please, Tony…Ah don’t want tae be in here…please help me, boys.”

  “Tiny, jist answer the fucking question.  Who else wis involved and it better be the fucking truth.  We know a lot mair than whit ye think we dae, ya wee fucking wet maggot, ye,” Joe spat doon at him.

  “Oh ma God… Mammy!”  Tiny wailed, flailing his erms aboot as his heid and body submerged before resurfacing choking like a hauf droont rat.

  “Tiny, who else wis there?  Ah’m gonnae ask ye wan mair time and if ye don’t answer me, we’re offskie,” Tony warned him.

  Johnboy started tae wonder whit they wur gonnae dae wae Tiny wance they goat him oot ae the tank.  As Tony hid jist said, they didnae really hiv a plan. Johnboy turned roond tae see whit Silent wis up, bit Silent wis jist staunin looking between Tiny and Tony, white aboot the gills.  Johnboy wis jist aboot tae ask Silent if he wis okay, when he wis drawn back tae the tank.

  “Ah’m…scared, Tony,” Tiny sobbed, they wee erms ae his in continuous motion, fighting tae keep himsel afloat.

  “Ae whit?” Tony replied, coldly.

  “That if Ah tell ye, ye’ll leave me in here,” Tiny spluttered, bobbing aboot.

  Aw eyes wur fixed oan the circular ripples emanating fae Tiny inside the tank as the whole building shook wae an express train picking up speed, passing nearby.

  “Ah’m no gonnae ask ye again, Tiny,” Tony warned him.

  “Mick…it wis Mick Murphy.”

  Silence.

  “Whit aboot Shaun and Danny?”

  “Naw, they didnae know anything aboot it,” Tiny sobbed, coughing oot water.

  “Wis The Big Man involved tae?” Paul demanded, as The Mankys held their breath.

  “Naw…Mick telt us tae dae it oan the QT,” Tiny sobbed.  “Mick wis convinced that it wis youse that tanned their loft.  He thought that The Big Man wis letting youse aff too lightly.  We wurnae tae mention it tae them.  Nowan knew that we wur involved.  Everywan, including The Big Man, believed that it wis the bizzies that burnt the cabin doon tae throw whoever tanned the loft aff the scent…please Tony, Ah’m sorry…help me, please?”

  Jist then, the light bulb flickered and dimmed before slowly brightening up again.

  “Tony, please…that’s ma battery gaun doon.  Help me oot, Ah beg ye.  Ah swear tae God, Ah didnae mean it…Ah didnae…” Tiny sobbed and girned. “Ye kin hiv aw the horses and carts ye want… free ae charge, so ye kin.”

  Tony looked across at Paul, who shrugged.

  “Let’s go,” Tony suddenly said, before turning and heiding fur the stairs, taking Johnboy by surprise.

  Paul and Joe quietly trooped efter him, withoot another glance back doon intae the water.  Johnboy hesitated, no sure whit tae dae as Silent brushed past him, following the other three.  Tiny hid started tae scream the place doon.  His wailing wis echoing and bouncing aff ae aw the walls.  Johnboy looked doon intae the tank. Tiny wis bobbing aboot wae the movements ae his swishing erms.  Suddenly, he locked they eyes ae his oan tae Johnboy’s when he noticed him still staunin there, his lips violently quivering wae the cauld.

“Johnboy, Johnboy…please…there’s a spare rope beside ma tool bag.  Pass me wan ae the ends doon…please, son!”  Tiny pleaded, hope rising in that frightened voice.

  Johnboy couldnae get his legs tae move fae beneath him.

  “Ur ye coming, Johnboy?” Tony’s voice suddenly rang oot in the semi-darkness, making Johnboy jump in fright.

  “Ah, er…” Johnboy gasped, looking at the shadow staunin oan the other side ae the big tank fae him.

  “Johnboy, please!  Don’t let them leave me…”

  “Johnboy, if it wis Skull staunin there insteid ae you, whit dae ye think he wid dae?” Tony asked him quietly…calmly.

  “Ah, Ah don’t know…” Johnboy whispered, his mooth parched.

  He wis starting tae feel desperate, as he looked aboot the empty cavern, hating the sound ae the swishing water coming fae the inside ae the tank.

  “Aye, ye dae.  Ye hiv tae think very carefully here noo, Johnboy…there’ll be nae turning back oan whitever ye decide,” Tony challenged him gently, clearly disappointed at Johnboy’s hesitation.

  “Johnboy…please,” Tiny whimpered, as Johnboy continued tae stare
across the gap between himsel and Tony.

  Tony stood, looking back intae Johnboy’s eyes.  Fae where Johnboy wis staunin, it wis like two dark, glistening, black diamonds, piercing the space between them.  The bulb attached tae the battery started flickering again, distracting Johnboy fur a second.  When he looked back across tae where Tony hid been staunin, he’d disappeared.  Johnboy looked aboot fur Tiny’s tool bag.  He could jist make oot a looped rope, sitting oan the flair beside it.  He thought aboot Skull and the hurt expression oan that face ae his back in the cells in Central.

  “Johnboy…look at me…please…Ah’ll die if ye leave me here…don’t leave me, son…please?”

  Johnboy thought ae poor Elvis, staunin there in the burning cabin.  Skull hid said that Elvis knew they wur fucked before he hid.  He tried tae remember whit the song wis that wis playing as the cabin wis burning.  He wis sure Skull hid said that it wis a Bob Dylan wan.  He looked at the rope and back doon at Tiny, quickly averting his eyes. He remembered his ma wance telling him that when he grew up, she wis sure that he’d dae something wan day that wid make her proud ae him.  She’d always drummed intae him never tae lift his hauns up tae a wummin.  Only cowards resorted tae that kind ae thing…bit she never mentioned murdering midgets wae wan leg shorter than the other who frizzled ten year aulds in fires. He knew within himsel that it wid be wrang tae jist walk away…he couldnae jist walk away…despite whit Tony hid jist said, he wisnae a murderer.

  “Johnboy, Ah’ll…Ah’ll put in a good word wae Mick…Ah’ll tell him aboot the others, bit no you.  It’ll jist be between us…Ah promise!” Tiny spluttered.

  At that, Johnboy snapped oot ae his quandary.
 
He looked back doon at Tiny and wis shocked tae catch a fleeting slyness pass across they eyes ae his, as the light bulb flickered again.

  “Ah’m…Ah’m sorry…” Johnboy mumbled, quickening his step tae catch up wae the others.

  “Boys!  Tony!  Tony!  Please, please, don’t leave me…Ah’m sorry…” Tiny wailed, as Tony slammed the ootside door shut behind Johnboy, cutting Tiny’s wailing voice aff and gieing Johnboy an uncertain look while he wis at it.

The light wis starting tae fade and the frost lay thick oan the ground.  Johnboy looked across towards the tenements in the distance, beyond the sawmill and the rope factory in Baird Street.  The heavy clouds oan the horizon looked grim, wae the heavy smoke fae the chimneys belching oot ae the tenement roofs, as a heavy-laden steam goods train hooted oan its way past tae somewhere.

   “Whit ur we gonnae dae aboot Charlie then?” Johnboy asked, looking across at the horse, which wis staunin there wae two white streams ae hot air snorting oot ae its nostrils, which turned intae expanding billowing white clouds as it chewed, unconcerned, oan its feed, staring at them.

   Joe went across and put Charlie’s feedbag back oan the cart.  He turned the horse and its cart roond, creating a semi-circle pattern ae black tracks oan the frost-covered ground wae the tyres, before tying the reigns tae the cart, leaving enough slack in them tae gie Charlie his heid.  He gied Charlie’s arse a wee gentle slap and Charlie slowly moved aff, taking his time, as he heided fur the opening oan tae Pinkston Road that he’d come through earlier wae Tiny.

  “He’ll find his ain way back tae the stables,” Joe said tae Johnboy, as The Mankys heided in the opposite direction, across the tracks, towards Buchannan Street Train Station.

Chapter Twenty Six

  The second event tae occur, happened when they wur heiding back up fae the toon later oan that night.  They’d jist goat some chips oot ae The San Remo at the bottom ae Parly Road, where it joins Sauchiehall Street, and wur heiding up Cunningham Street, towards the backs behind Grafton Square, when they wur clocked.

  “Furget it, it’s nae use running.  He’ll only track us doon the morra if he disnae get us the night,” Tony telt them, resigning himsel tae the inevitable.

  “Youse fuds ur something else, so youse ur.”

  “Aye, hello tae yersel, Billy,” Joe said tae Billy Whizz, The Big Man’s replacement runner fur Calum Todd, who’d gone aff and won a bronze medal in the nineteen sixty six British Empire Games in the eight hunner and eighty yards in Jamaica.

  “Ah’ve been aw o’er the place, trying tae track youse doon fur days noo.  Ah fucking lost a bonus because ae youse,” he panted.

  “Whit dae ye want, Billy?” Tony asked him.

  “The Big Man wants tae speak tae ye.”

  “Whit aboot?”

  “How the hell should Ah know?  Aw Ah dae is pass oan the message and anyway, even if Ah did, Ah’m no at liberty tae tell the likes ae youse wee arse-bandits,” Billy said, making himsel sound mair important than he actually wis.

  “Where aboot?”

  “The Capstan Club.”

  “Tell him Ah’m busy.”

  “Naw, ye kin tell him yersel.  Ah work fur him, no fur the likes ae youse minnows.”

  “Dis it never make ye feel embarrassed tae know that ye’re the auldest message boy in Glesga, Billy?” Joe mocked him.

  “Fuck you, McManus.  If ye’ve a problem wae me and whit Ah dae, take it up wae The Big Man.  Ah’ve delivered whit Ah wis supposed tae.  Is there anything else ye want me tae tell him?”

  “Ah thought ye only dae messages fur The Big Man, ya wee gnaff, ye,” Paul growled, getting in oan the act and scaring Billy wae the tone ae his voice.

  “Tony, kin ye tell them tae lay aff?  Ah’m only daeing whit Ah’m telt, ye know?”

  “Aye, shut the fuck up.  Kin ye no see Billy’s getting upset here?  Right, Billy, tell him Ah’ll be doon the morra morning.”

  “Fine, Tony,” Billy said, obviously relieved, before he aboot-turned and tore doon towards Dundas Street.

  “Wee fucking wanker!” Joe shouted efter him.

  “Fur Christ’s sake, that wee prick will report aw this back tae him noo,” Tony said as they continued up the street, scoffing their chips while keeping their eyes peeled fur The Stalker and that pal ae his, Bumper.

Chapter Twenty Seven

  “Right, this is whit we’ve goat so far, Colin,” Bumper said, staunin aside, while pointing tae the two big sheets ae paper, joined thegither in the middle by Sellotape, that wur stuck up oan the interview room wall, which they wur using as their planning HQ.

  “Whitever it is, it looks impressive.  Carry oan.”

  “Whit ye see here is a diagram ae aw the streets that run parallel wae each other, between Parly Road and Cathedral Street, fae Dundas Street, right up as far as Glebe Street.”

  “Right, Ah’m wae ye.”

“Each block ae tenements that ur shaded in green, ur the hooses that hiv been vacated.  The blank wans ur the wans that still hiv people living in them.  Every time somebody moves oot, we shade in a box,” Bumper said proudly, haudin up a green wax crayon.

  “We’ve goat aw the lists aff ae The Corporation boys ae who’s moving oot.  Each night we know that a family his been decanted, we heid up tae the tenement and coont the chimney stacks.  If the smoke coming oot ae the chimney tallies wae the amount ae people staying up that close, fine.  If it disnae, then we know that we’ve goat them,” The Stalker said, puffing oot his chest towards the imaginary medal he wis expecting tae be pinned oan it any time soon.

  “Christ’s sake…that’s brilliant, so it is.  So, sooner or later, we should be able tae track the basturts tae exactly where they’re holed up then?”

  “Bingo!” said Bumper.

  “We’re only missing wan batch fae The Corporation and that’s fur the bottom ae McAslin Street, at the St James Road end, doon beside Sherbet’s.  We’re expecting tae get that in the next few days or so, so we ur.”

  “And ye think this will work then?” Colin asked, moving closer and studying the diagram, clearly impressed.

  “The only other way is if we bump intae them oan the street.  They’re definitely aboot, bit they’re covering their tracks well.  Ah wis jist telling Bumper before ye came in that fur a while there, Ah hid the impression the basturts wur bloody-well stalking me.”

  “And wur they?”

  “Naw, Ah wid’ve smelled the fuckers a mile aff.” 

  “Well, we’re okay, as long as they’re no tanning any ae the local shoaps.  As soon as that starts happening, the shit will hit the fan, especially if we hivnae telt JP Donnelly that they’re oan the loose.  He’ll go bloody bananas when he finds oot.  Ye’ve goat tae nip them soon.”

  “Aye, well, don’t ye worry aboot a thing, Colin.  Another couple ae days and we’ll hiv them. We’ll probably need tae call in a few reinforcements wance we locate them, bit we’ll be in control.  It’ll take a bit mair than these wee amateurs tae get wan o’er oan us…eh, Fin?” The Stalker said, nodding o’er tae his partner.