The Evil And The Pure (42 page)

Gawl smiled coldly. “There’s fuck all vacant about my threats. Why d’ ye think I brought the Tynes here instead of shooting ’em and dumping their bodies on the way? If ye do anything t’ fuck things up for us, I’ll fuck things up for
them
. On the other hand,” he added slyly, “if ye play along like a good wee boy, Tulip will be yer reward and ye can do what ye like with her.”

“You’re an animal,
” Fr Sebastian snarled.

“Aye
,” Gawl laughed. “But ye need young girls and I’ve brought one for ye. Cross us, she dies. Help us, ye can fuck her till yer dick drops off.”

Fr Sebastian hadn’t said much since. Wednesday passed quietly, Gawl and Clint dozed a lot, Phials joined them in the study and read, Gawl brought Tulip and Kevin down later. Everybody nervous and sullen
, except Phials. To bed early, long hours of unbroken sleep, exhaustion overcoming fear.

Gawl and Clint more rel
axed when they woke on Thursday, no sign that anyone had connected them with Fr Sebastian. Everything going according to plan. They ate a full breakfast, cracked jokes with Phials. Clint even tried striking up a conversation with Kevin and Tulip, but they were still too dazed to respond.

In the afternoon, as they all relaxed in the study and Clint sipped tea, Phials
set down the book he’d been reading and coughed. “I know the last few days have passed in a rush, and we haven’t had time to discuss our plans, but don’t you guys think it’s time we went over our getaway options?”

Gawl and Clint stared at Phials, then at each other. Clint looked pointedly at Fr Sebastian. “Father, would you mind taking Kevin and Tulip up to their room?”

The priest nodded sullenly and led the Tynes out. When they were alone, Gawl shook his head at Phials. “Don’t talk in front of those three. The less they know about what we’ll be getting up t’, the better.”

“OK,” Phials sm
iled. “But now that we’re alone, what’s the plan?”

“We don’t have one.”

Phials frowned. “You’re joking, right?”

“There wasn’t time to think about it,” Clint said
softly. “We had to get you out and we had to do it fast. We could only afford to look ahead one step at a time.”

Phials began to object. Stopped. Nodded
respectfully. “No, you’re right, getting me out was the priority and you did, and I thank you for that. But now that I’m free, what next? You must have some kind of an idea.”

“That depends a lot on what kind of ideas
ye
have,” Gawl said. “Clint told me ye’ve contacts in the States.”

“Sure,” Phials said, smiling crookedly, “but I can only get in touch with them when we reach America. I don’t have
up to date phone numbers, I haven’t spoken to them in years, I’m not sure who I can trust, who’s down on their luck and who’s riding high. Once we hit New York, I can ask around, get the lie of the land. But I can’t get us there. I thought you guys would handle that end of things.”

“We will,” Clint assured him. “But it’s going to take
a while. We –”

“Ye said ye had contacts,
” Gawl barked, silencing Clint. “Ye said breaking out was the hard part, that it was plain sailing after that.”

“Once we cross the Atlantic,” Phials insisted. “When we’re Stateside I can sell the formula, we’ll make a fortune, it’ll be the good life. But I never said I could get us there. Clint?”

“That was the deal,” Clint agreed quietly. “It’s our job to get him to America. He kicks in with the formula after that.”

Phials leant forward uneasily. “Are you saying you
can’t
get me out?”

Gawl glared back aggressively. “Of course we can. It would’ve been a lot easier if
we had someone at the other end putting up money, papers, arranging a safe hideout. But we’ll manage by ourselves if we must. It’ll just take a bit longer.”

“So you have the situation in hand?” Phials asked
dubiously.

“Aye,” Gawl said. “Even if we had someone in the States, we couldn’t go
yet, the Bush’ll have people everywhere looking for us. We’ll stay here as long as we have t’, wait for the Bush t’ give up, then work something out. We can get false passports, steal a car, drive t’ France, catch a flight west.”

“How will you get the passports?” Phials pressed him.

“Don’t worry,” Gawl grunted. “We’ll get them. In the meanwhile we might as well enjoy ourselves. We’re gonna be locked up here a long time and it could get pretty boring, but it needn’t be all doom and gloom. Clint, wanna make his day?”

“I dropped off a load of shit on Tuesday,” C
lint grinned. “Coke, E’s, grass, even some heroin, enough to keep you and Tulip high for months.”

“
All right!” Phials beamed.

“
Speaking of Tulip,” Gawl added with a chuckle, “the Tynes aren’t part of the team, they’re gonna have t’ pay their way. Any time ye want her, just ask.”

Phials laughed softly. “You guys
are great hosts.” He licked his lips hungrily. “Could I have some of that stash now? I’ve been running on the rush of freedom since Tuesday, but that high’s beginning to fade. I could do with a top-up.”

“Go find Fr Seb,” Gawl smiled. “He’ll
sort ye out.” Gawl kept smiling while Phials rose and exited, but once the chemist was out of earshot, the smile vanished and he spun on Clint furiously. “That cunt has fuck all contacts in America.”

“What do you mean?” Clint blinked.

“He bullshitted us. I saw it in his eyes. He just wants us t’ get him the fuck out of here so he can ditch us and run for the fucking hills.”

“N
uh-no,” Clint frowned. “He needs us.”

“
T’ get t’ America, aye. After that…” Gawl shook his head, disgusted.

“He’ll still need us,” Clint insisted. “To protect him, make
suh-sure he doesn’t get screwed, keep him safe, see that the duh-deal goes down cleanly.”

“What if there isn’t any deal?” Gawl asked softly. “What if
Baby P isn’t ready, if he lied so that we’d sneak him out?”

Clink shook his head.
“He knows we’d kuh-kill him if he tried to cheat us.”

“
Maybe he figured he’d take his chances. Definitely dead if he stayed. At least out here he has a chance t’ get away and give us the slip.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Clint croaked, but his voice lacked conviction.

Gawl strode to the door of the study, opened it a crack, looked out, closed it again. “What if we sold him back t’ the Bush?” he whispered.

Clint stared at him with
disbelief. “
What?
”

“The Bush is a businessman.
He’d be mad as fuck, but if he could buy Phials back for a couple of million, with the promise of the formula…”

“But the formula’s worth
fuh-fifty million or more,” Clint gasped.

“
If
Phials has cracked it. He might have bullshitted us.”

“
No,” Clint said.

“Too many complications
trying t’ get him out of the country,” Gawl muttered. “Simpler this way.”

“No.” Clint came to his feet, hands clenched into fists. “I want America. I want the fortune.
I want…” Stopped short of saying
Shula
. “If we can’t get him out, we’ll suh-sell the formula here, but to some other dealer.
Not
to Dave. Dave would kill me rather than cuh-cut a deal with me.”

“He’s the only
one we know who has that kind of money,” Gawl said.

“And he’s the only one who has
ruh-reason to hate us, especially
me
.” Clint was quivering. “We proceed as pluh-planned. It won’t be easy, but we knew from the start it wouldn’t be. This is no time to puh-panic.”

“I’m not panicking,” Gawl said calmly. He studied Clint’s face
, saw the dealer’s determination, smiled. “But I guess ye’re right. Best t’ hold firm, thrash out a plan, pray that the drug’s real, not make any silly mistakes.” Clint relaxed and Gawl scratched his stomach. “Now, what about Tulip?”

“What about her?” Clint frowned.

“She’s not just for Phials and Fr Seb. We can have a crack at her too.”

Clint shook his head. “I
cuh-couldn’t.”

“
It’s all right,” Gawl chuckled. “I’ll ban Kevin from the room.”

“It’s not that
,” Clint said. “I didn’t mind the hookers. They were happy to take our money. Tulip’s different. It wouldn’t feel right.”

Gawl shrugged.
“Suit yerself. Ye don’t mind if I take a turn though, d’ ye?”

“No,” Cl
int sighed, knowing there was no point taking a moral stand after all that they’d done, he’d sound like a hypocrite. “But no ruh-rough stuff. Kevin’s docile, but if you hurt Tulip, he might fuh-fight back.”

“I’ll be gentle as a lamb,” Gawl promised and slipped out, leaving Clint alone in the study, thinking about passports and plane tickets, beginning to wonder if they’d taken on more than they could handle, Tuesday’s courage slowly deserting him, giving way to confus
ion and fear.

FIFTY-ONE

Kevin had been operating numbly since the events in the lab. An automaton, crushed, bewildered, lost. He retreated into a childish shell — matters would resolve themselves, problems would disappear, somebody would make everything right. He moved when ordered, ate when hungry, emptied his bladder, slept when tired. That was all.

Tulip was as helpless as Kevin, overwhelmed by the suddenness and brutality of what had happened
. That first night she got high to numb herself to the shock, but the next afternoon she woke determined to seek help from less debasing quarters. Cutting down on her drugs intake – unable to abandon them instantly – she turned to God and threw herself into prayer. Late Wednesday and Thursday, when the church was deserted, she went there with Clint and prayed for hours, peaceful, quiet, finding strength in God. She would have liked Fr Sebastian to pray with her but he was ashamed of himself and avoided her as much as possible.

Fr Sebast
ian hadn’t had sex with her yet but she knew it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to temptation. Phials and McCaskey had already taken advantage. McCaskey as rough as he’d been before, stroking her as tenderly as he could with his callused fingers, whispering to her of his past, his future, what he planned to do with his money.

Kevin was in the room when Phials made love to her but he took no part in it, staring off into space. Gawl made him sit outside. Kevin hadn’t objected.

As Friday developed, Kevin slowly emerged from his haze. He found himself thinking clearly for the first time since the break-out, wondering what it had been in aid of (oblivious to all that Gawl and Clint had said), why they were hiding here, keeping him and Tulip captive. Looking around, he found himself alone in their bedroom with his sister. She was sitting by the window (Gawl had nailed it shut), staring through the curtains. Kevin rose sluggishly, walked across, touched her gently on the neck. “Hey,” he croaked. “Are you OK?”

“
Yes. And you?”

“I don’t know.” Kevin squatted. She put an arm around him absentmindedly. “What’s happening? I blanked out for a
while.”

“You know where we are?”

“The Church of Sacred Martyrs.”

“Remember what happened at the lab?”

He nodded. “But I don’t understand it.”

Tulip explained the situation quickly, quietly, a
bout Phials and his new drug.

“But why are
we
here?” Kevin asked, still confused.

“They used us as a distraction.”

“I get that. But why hold on to us? Why not leave us there?”

She s
miled sadly. “They could be here a long time. They need something to keep boredom at bay. They have alcohol and drugs. And
me
.”

Kevin recalled Phials and McCaskey visiting Tulip
and winced. “We have to escape.” He looked at her for reassurance, as if he might be crazy to even voice such an opinion. “Don’t we?”

Tulip sighed. “We were at the lab when they
freed Tony. We left with them. The men hunting them will think we were a willing part of it.”

“We’ll tell them the truth. They’ll listen to reason. We’ll lead them here.”

“Getting away won’t be easy.”