“Oh…” Patrick smiled. “Would you like to finish him off, save me the job?” He laughed. “Right, my money.”
“So, I’m going to die?” I sighed. “Kate and Adam also?”
“Yes… I wish I could be sorry, but I have wanted to have you killed ever since you took him away from me.”
I looked up, shocked.
“Edwin, I…” He paused, glancing down. “I loved him, I wanted him to notice me for more than what I was, I wanted him to love me. But no, you nasty little slut! You turned his head, you made him love you. You cannot imagine how much I hated you, how much I wanted to punish you. So yes, bitch! You are going to die. You are going to watch your brother and his friend get tortured, and killed then you will die. It’s all you deserve.”
“Edwin would never have loved you. He loved me, hell I loved him. To be honest, I’m glad the money’s gone. It was stolen from me…” I smiled, hell I was goading him but I couldn’t resist. “So, screw you!” I was too slow to deflect the back-handed slap which caught me hard and knocked me from my feet, I fell just as Adam leapt towards Patrick hitting him hard on the jaw, he was wrestled to the ground and lay next to me.
“Oh God, I am going to enjoy punishing all of you…” Patrick rubbed his jaw. “Get rid of them.”
I was dragged to my feet, I saw Kate and Adam being taken also. We were taken from the room and out towards a waiting vehicle. The boot was opened and Kate was manhandled inside, I was roughly picked up and forced beside her, crammed into the small space. The boot lid was slammed shut. I could hear muffled voices, it was clear that Adam had been thrown into the footwell across the back seat. Patrick was telling them to ‘deal with us’.
The car started and we rumbled out of the building site, Kate and I were bounced together in the confined space of the boot, my head slamming into the bodywork as the car hit a pothole. I reached out and put my arm around her, she reached up and clutched me tightly. I could feel her shaking with fear.
30
Enroute to Fate
In the darkness, the passage of time became no more than bumps and swerves as we travelled away from London. The journey became smoother and I guessed by the sound we must have picked up speed on a motorway, the drone of the tyres was almost soporific and, despite everything I was almost dozing, hugged close to Kate.
***
The man in the passenger seat pulled out a pistol, turning in his seat, he pointed it at one of the men in the rear seat. “Bang!”
“For Fuck’s sake, put that away! What, is it ‘bring a Twat to work day?’ today and I just didn’t get the memo.”
“He’s Big Larry’s kid, just leave him be.” The driver shook his head.
“Yeah! Larry told me I could do the hit.”
“Look, this is not some Fucking game…” The man in the rear seat glanced at his companion, who shrugged. “Okay… Okay, you do the hit. But the boss wants it done right.”
“I know… I’m not a total idiot!”
“Maybe not… But, he wants the man and woman done first, we have to torture them and then hit them while the older one watches. He was clear on that. Now, do you think you can do that? You’re not going to Fuck it up?”
“I can do it!” He waved the gun again.
“Look put that Fucking gun away before there’s an accident…-”
The explosion temporarily deafened the passengers in the vehicle. With the safety catch disengaged, knocking the trigger caused the gun to go off. The bullet struck the driver first in his left shoulder, shattering the bones before embedding in his heart, killing him in an instant. Without the driver’s control, the steering wheel turned sharply, causing the driver’s side tyre to hit the Armco crash barrier in the central reservation at a little over eighty miles per hour. The car scraped along the steel barrier before the impact caused it to catapult, the first impact on the tarmac road surface fatally injured Larry’s son who was not wearing a seat belt. As the vehicle flipped again, hitting the edge of the embankment, the rear passengers sustained massive head injuries with the man on the passenger-side dying before the car could flip again and his companion passing away as the vehicle violently came to a rest at the bottom of the embankment.
***
My senses awakened suddenly, there was a loud bang, the vehicle lurched to the right, there was a sudden impact and we were spinning in free fall. Terrible thoughts of the accident came through my mind as after what seemed like hours but must have been a second or two the vehicle slammed to a stop and all was still. The engine was screaming, wheels spinning in the air. Kate was crying, I could see light. I reached up, the boot lid was loose, crumpled. I struck out hard and it came open, we were blinded by the light for a moment. Gripping the sharp metal of the side of the car I pulled myself out, slithering over the rear bumper and onto the grass. Shakily standing up I reached down and pulled Kate free from the boot of the car.
“Are you okay?” She nodded. I stood back and surveyed our position, terror striking me as we were at the bottom of an embankment. “No…no… no…” The road was above us, the car had been smashed and crumpled, the roof collapsed. I looked into the body of the car and it was a scene of carnage, I turned and vomited unable to take in the scene. I desperately tried to pull the door open, Kate grabbed the steel with me and we were able to
