Chapter 6
The pit doors close with the sound of the iron vibrating through the air, two men then come over and begin to weld the shutter doors closed. The man next to me is still holding my arm, the grip is now beginning to become painful pushes me to the floor as I watch these two men seal the body of my best friend into his stone cold grave.
Once the job was done the two men look extremely pleased with themselves as they high five each other on completion. I now need to work out how I can get myself out of this situation alive and seek revenge on the death of my friend. However, going against - whom I'm guessing is the mafia or some sort of underground criminal gang I will probably be committing suicide.
I get pulled off the ground by the American guy and dragged to who I believe to be the boss. This is the same guy who held a gun against my head. He's sitting in a large room behind a big make shift desk made out of boxes and debris. He hands a piece of paper over to me.
'Right, you need to write down exactly where you hid the bag and draw a map of its exact location.' I take the paper and grab a pen off the make shift desk in front of me. I basically begin to draw where we dumped the car originally.
As I’m drawing he watches me with anticipation, the truth is I have no idea about the bag or its location, I don’t even know what the bag looks like. I will basically draw where we dumped the car and act as though I threw the bag into a hedge nearby. My plan will be, when they take me to the location, I will make a run for it and scream blue murder with the hope to escape.
Finally the map is drawn, I’m no Rolf Harris however I think they’ll be able to make out where it is.
‘Right, give it here!’ Snatching the paper from my hand, he looks at the map.
‘You know we’ve searched this area don’t you?’
‘Ok, well that’s where I left the bag,’ he leans over the desk, getting his face close up to mine.
‘Don’t get smart with me, or you’ll end up like your friend!’
‘This is where we left the bag sir!’
‘Do you even know what’s in the bag?’
‘Money?’ a pure guess, as I have no idea at all.
‘No child, there’s nothing in the bag that would benefit you but, me and my team can't have it fall into the wrong hands!’ out of nowhere one of his guys enters the room.
‘Sir, we have a slight problem’. Taking deep breaths.
‘What is it Kit?’
'Jean is here!'
'Fuck sake, distract her please!'
'Yes sir.' Kit then leaves the room I can hear a lot of commotion in the background and a voice I recognise. Then a woman barges into the room, with my back to the door I don’t see her face but I freeze with total shock. My knees feel weak, my hearts races and a pressure fills behind my eyes.
'Dem!' shouts the woman, I know exactly who she is but too terrified to turn round and show her my face.
'What did I tell you Dem?' she shouts again.
'To notify you if we lose the bag!'
'Yes and where is the bag?'
'We'll have it back soon, isn’t that right James!' winking at me. I can't take anymore and spin round.
'James, what are you doing here?' her eyes widen with total shock.
'Same goes for you, mum?' suddenly I become extremely brave, 'apparently I lost your bag!' I look over to Dem who is now looking extremely worried.
'Dem! You know not to bring my family into this!' She pulls a gun from her bag. Dem holds up his hands, I notice fear fill this man. Who on earth is my mum?
'Jean, put the gun down don’t do anything stupid now.' He winks at her.
'Don't you fucking say a word!' she shouts, I'm shocked at my mum, I've never heard her talk like this.
'Don’t you think the boy has a right to know?'
'No! Move or say another word and I'll put a bullet through your brain!'
'Boy, listen to me I'm you're…' before he finishes his sentence there's a loud bang and Dem's brains spray onto the wall behind. I duck down fast covering my head.
'James, your next!'
'What?'
'Fucking hell, why have you put me in this position?' she shouts pointing the gun at me.
'Mum, what is all this?' I run out of the room, there's a young guy just on the other side of the door who blocks my way.
'Where do you think you're going?'
'My mum told me to leave.'
'Your mum?'
'Yes my mum!' Who then moves her head round the door.
'James, get back here now!' I barge Kit out of my way and sprint towards an open door.
As I approach the door I spot Ray come through it standing tall pointing a gun straight at me. I remember from a film I once watched where they zigzag to make themselves a more difficult target – I do exactly that. I zigzag my way towards him, Ray takes aim, but hesitates too long giving me the chance to dart through the door rolling arse over tit.
I lie for a split second, leap up and leg it towards woodland straight in front of me. My shoulder is painful, a burning sensation, I begin to feel weak and queasy. I spot a small opening in the ground that looks like an old sewer pipe or something and take the initiative to lay low and catch my breath for a bit.
The sun is shining with a thickness to the air. I can hear a lot of commotion going on in the distance. I move deeper into the pipe and eventually hit a dead end. There’s a grate above me letting in light and take the opportunity to look at my shoulder. To my horror I’ve been shot. Strange that I didn’t feel it much before, but put that down to adrenaline. Now the pain is intense and I can hardly move it. I pull off the sleeve from the top I'm wearing and wrap it round to try to stop some of the bleeding at least until I can get some help.
Having a few minutes to myself to take a breather was quite pleasant – apart from the pain I’m in. All of a sudden I hear voices and twigs snapping, I hold my breath and listen – it’s my mum and Ray.
'I fired at him but think I missed.' Says mum.
'Why would you want to shoot your son?'
'He's in too deep now this won't be a life for him, I've protected him and his sister from this my whole life until now.' Her voice is hard as though she doesn’t care for me.
I quietly breathe through my nose slowly, take another deep breath and hold again. Their voices begin to quiet as they move further and further from me. I lay my head on the ground and think, I see Karl's face as I close my eyes, thinking about him lying in the horrible damp pit sealed shut, and for what? I try to work out how my mum is involved in all this, my life has now been turned upside down and seeing my own mum kill a man like that in cold blood is horrific. I don’t know who she is anymore, my heartaches from sadness and my shoulder is throbbing with intense pain from a bullet my own mother shot.
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