Purgatory Blues (2013), page 29
“There’s no more money! I told you that!” Allen shouted at Frank, “and that money was supposed to be mine anyway! That was my money to buy the Sink until this fuck”, Allen said, jamming his Glock toward Andy, “gave it all away!”
“Let me remind you both”, Carl said, cutting Allen off as he took aim at him, “that you work for the cartel”, Allen lowered his gun and Carl did the same before continuing, “and that means that the money was ours to begin with. You will take what you are given and be grateful that you were not given less”.
Andy wondered if it might be a good time for him and Melissa to slip in to the shadows while everyone else argued amongst themselves, but the moment he shifted his stance, Stephan took a step forward and had his weapon trained on him. Andy froze instantly and Stephan relaxed.
“Now”, Carl announced to everyone, “as you know, we are here to clean up your mess”, he said and waved towards Frank with his gun.
“I am appy wid wateva di boss says, it was a mee-stake, it won’t appen again, wateva ee says, it is good, you are in chage”, Frank rattled out fearfully. Carl nodded and slowly broke a smile, looking at Frank in way that seemed to say “thank you for stating the obvious”.
Carl turned and began walking slowly, as though the pacing was helping him to think. “It would appear”, he said, in his slow, methodical style of verbalization, “that recovery of the missing funds would likely…pose more of an inconvenience than the money is worth”, he paused in reflection and continued, “and the value of the missing product can be deemed negligible. As we have turned Mr. Maureau’s transgression to our advantage, it would seem that all that remains to be done is to terminate these interlopers and our business here will have been concluded”.
“Not yet it’s not”, Allen said as he stepped toward Andy, throwing out a vicious right hook and connecting.
Andy stumbled but he didn’t drop, he could feel that Allen had pulled his punch. Before he could regain his composure Allen tackled him and lifted him into the air, drawing him into a bear hug before slamming him to the ground. With Allen on top of him and both pairs of hands out of view, Allen carefully passed a small knife to Andy.
“Get her out of here”, was all Allen could afford to whisper into Andy’s ear before he pulled out his hands and threw a few more punches at him.
Andy knew that Allen had to make their tussle look real, but the look on Allen’s face showed that he was enjoying it more than he should.
“Get off him you son of a bitch!” Melissa shouted and delivered a knee to the side of Allen’s head. Allen took the hit with all its force and found himself on his back while Melissa knelt at Andy’s side.
“Play along”, Andy whispered to Melissa, to which she nodded in surprise. Andy scrambled to stand before someone else came to help him up. They would’ve undoubtedly raised him from behind and discovered the knife.
Frank went over to pick up Allen and brought him away from Andy and Melissa. They were all standing back in their places in time to see an annoyed Carl shaking his head at Allen, “amateur”, he said in disgust.
“Now”, Carl said to Allen, “if your little reunion is at an end”, he turned back to Andy and Melissa, raising his gun.
Frank and Stephan both took aim as well before Andy and Melissa shouted, “WAIT”, in unison.
Andy turned to Melissa and almost smiled at her perfect timing.
“What is it?” Carl asked impatiently as he lowered his weapon.
Andy and Melissa exchanged a confused look. The fact that she’d shouted with him made him think that she had something to say, but she frowned and jerked her head in Carl’s direction, indicating that he should be the one to speak.
“Well”, Andy began, looking around at everyone uncertainly, “if we’re going to die, then I want that asshole”, he said and nodded toward Allen, “to tell us how he got involved in this whole thing and what he’s done, because this is all coming as a bit of a shock to me Carl. Let’s call it a professional courtesy shall we? It would make me feel a hell of a lot better before I go”.
Carl looked down at his wristwatch and then back at Andy with a sigh, “far be it from me to deny a man his last request. The floor is yours, puppet”, he said to Allen.
Allen shot Carl a filthy look and then stepped toward Andy and Melissa, “still haven’t figured it all out yet, have you?”
“Enlighten us you traitor bastard”, Melissa said.
Allen returned her a look of contempt, after which Andy spat some blood on the floor.
“Classy”, Allen said to Andy. “Six months ago Frank’s people approached me, you know…a couple of years ago I would’ve never even thought about betraying the club, I guess love makes you do stupid things. It just wasn’t the same between us after you saw him at that funeral a year ago”, he said to Melissa.
“That had nothing to do with anything and you know it!” Melissa countered. “You were always paranoid!”
“Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. All I knew was that you were slipping away from me. When they offered me a piece of the business, I saw a way in to the big leagues, to fix things. It was only a matter of time before Liz would lose the Sink…and with Frank’s connections we were able to lean on her creditors enough to force the issue. All I had to do was feed Jack and Lee the wrong information while I kept Frank’s runners working in the area”.
“And how’d you think that was going to end up?” Andy asked.
“Quite fucking well actually”, Allen said dramatically, “Lee would start mistrusting Jack because he’d think he was in on it. I mean come on! If the all-powerful Jack Prescott can’t stop some small time thugs muscling in on his turf, it must be because he wants them there right? So Lee would eventually break down the club and have Jack forced out of town…then we’d take care of Lee with something like what you did, only you pulled the trigger too soon. I’d have enough money to buy the Sink and we’d start a new club and M would be my first lady”.
“Very ambitious. You know everyone hated Caesar in the end right?” Andy said with a smirk before spitting out more blood.
“But they respected him”, Allen growled back.
“Fear isn’t respect Allen”, Melissa said, “I can’t believe you did all of this, I can’t believe you thought I would ever go along with any of it!” She cried out in disbelief. “Sergeant at arms is just a title, it doesn’t mean you have to ride around with a gang and beat up people that you don’t like. You always took everything so fucking seriously! You wanna know why things started falling apart between us? Huh? Because I never really loved you in the first place!”
Andy turned to her with a stunned look on his face, wondering what kind of person had the moxie to be that cruelly honest to a gun-wielding ex-boyfriend.
“I could never love someone like you!” Melissa continued, “What you’re doing right now proves that I was right! What happened to loyalty? What happened to the oath you took? Do you even know what you’ve put us through tonight? You’re a fucking murderer!” She finished off her tirade with tears, seeming inconsolable.
“I’m sorry you think so”, Allen said to her with sadness in his eyes.
Andy allowed an appropriately timed paused before asking, “how’d you manage to keep everyone fooled for so long and what were you doing at the Sink that night?”
Allen sighed in frustration, “It was easy, Dennis suspected for a while but I blamed my absences on depression, I told him that I was riding a lot on my own, thinking about my troubles with M. That night at Sink I was meeting with Frank’s runner and saw your car, nothing fancy”.
“And how are you going to explain this to everyone when we turn up dead tomorrow you fucking psycho!?” Melissa asked.
“I’m not”, Allen said, “as far as they’re concerned, you both got what was coming to you”, he turned to Andy, “the fruits of your labors. You done now?”
“Yeah”, Andy replied with false resignation, he was in actuality referring to the fact that he’d finally cut through his cable tie.
Allen gave him a last look and nodded to him. It spoke volumes. It said that he was sorry, it said that they were still brothers…but mostly it said…get ready. Allen walked back to the barrels and lined up with Frank, Carl and Stephan.
“On three”, Allen said to everyone. Carl shot Allen a quick look as if to say “who put you in charge?” but he followed suit nonetheless.
They all raised their guns, two at Andy and two at Melissa.
“One”, Allen called out loud.
“Two”, said Andy.
Carl’s surprise was written all over his face. He turned to Allen, suspecting that he’d been crossed, but he was too late. There was no “three”, Allen had already turned to his left and with deft precision put a bullet through Stephan’s eye. Lead began to fly. The ensuing confusion was all the distraction Andy needed to grab Melissa and bolt for the Rover. Carl took cover behind the barrels and returned fire at Allen, who was slowly backing up towards Andy and Melissa. Frank, caught in the middle, crawled toward his Cayenne.
Behind the cover of the Rover Andy cut Melissa’s bindings and slipped the knife into his boot, “get in, keep low and start the engine”, he told her. Andy popped out his head to see Frank almost at his Cayenne while Allen and Carl were still exchanging fire. Frank, not knowing whose side he was supposed to be on, had obviously decided to stay out of the action. Allen was moving around slowly but kept his sights trained on Carl. It seemed that Allen was the better shot and it forced Carl to fire blindly from cover. He knew that the moment he showed his head the battle would be over.
“Time to go Al”, Andy shouted after he heard the Rover’s engine growl to life.
“No!” Allen yelled back. “This ends tonight! Come on Carl, let’s see what you’re made of you slow talking motherfucker!” He shouted.
“There’ll be another time”, Andy yelled back, “let’s go!”
“Fucking pussy!” Allen shouted at Carl. He turned around and ran for the Rover. He was almost there when Andy saw Allen’s eyes widen and his body go limp. Allen slumped to the ground face first and Andy heard Melissa’s scream from inside the Rover. He’d landed right beside Andy, the shock of seeing him there made the world stop for a moment before he snapped back to reality. Carl had put a bullet into the back of Allen’s head. He was gone.
Suddenly the door to the Rover was flung open and Melissa was leaping out across the passengers seat, she’d seen the whole thing. Andy grabbed her and they struggled. He had to keep her from leaving the safety of the Rover.
“We have to get him! We have to get him!” She screamed hysterically as she fought against Andy.
Andy held her head still and shouted, “HE’S DEAD!”
The look on her face was one of incomprehension, but he didn’t have time to explain, the words had stopped her from struggling enough for Andy to push her back in to the vehicle. He looked out from behind the Rover and saw that Carl had begun his advance. Carl fired three times, he missed with the first two shots, which were meant for Andy, but landed the third, which was meant for the Rover’s driver side wheel.
Andy grabbed Allen’s fallen Glock and fired two rounds back in Carl’s direction, causing him to seek cover behind the barrels once more. It was the opening Andy needed to get in to the Rover, he glanced back at Allen once again before he did, wishing that there were something more they could do, but there was no time. “We have to go now!” Andy said to Melissa once he was inside.
“Are you sure he’s…” Melissa began.
“I’m sure”, Andy said gently, “and we will be too if you don’t get us the hell out of here”.
Just then a bullet shattered the glass of the side rear window. Melissa jammed her foot to the gas pedal as Andy slammed his door shut. He watched for Carl with Allen’s Glock at the ready. The wheels screamed as Melissa reversed in a semicircle, she put the Rover in drive and Andy saw Carl running for the Cayenne through their back window. As they sped away, there was just enough time to see Carl’s muzzle flash in the darkness. Carl had killed Frank.
Chapter 17
The flat tyre made the Rover hard to control, especially with the poor visibility in the rain, but Melissa was able to keep them on the road. “We just left him there!” She screamed and slammed her hands in to the steering wheel over and over in frustration.
“We had no choice! We have to keep moving, do you know your way out of here?” Andy asked.
“I think so”, Melissa replied, still crying.
She took a series of turns leading them back along the route they’d come through earlier. She drove like a woman possessed. Even with the combination of the burst tyre and the torrential rain, she’d covered a great distance very quickly. They didn’t speak. Their hearts were racing. They needed the time to collect themselves.
“Head for that bridge that we came over, we can get back to a populated area from there”, said Andy as he pulled out his cell. “No fucking service! Let me see your phone”, he said to Melissa.
Melissa wasn’t listening though, her eyes were fixed to the rearview mirror, “behind us”, she said, “it’s him!”
Andy turned and saw the lights of the Cayenne in the distance. It was approaching rapidly. “Fuck! Give up already!” He shouted. Andy looked around at their surroundings for an option, “quick, let’s turn off the lights and cut across this field, maybe we can lose him in the dark”.
Melissa killed the lights and quite promptly diverted to the empty lot on their right. The sudden dip jostled them both and Andy felt the burst tyre finally abandon them. The driver’s wheel had become nothing but a metal rim. The ground they traversed was flat but muddy…even with Melissa pushing the vehicle to its limits, their pace had slowed to a crawl. It was like wading through a swamp and the Rover’s missing tyre was to blame, the rim only spun in the wet dirt while the other three wheels struggled to propel them forward.
“Don’t use the brakes if you can help it”, Andy said. “The red will give us away”.
Behind them Andy saw the Cayenne’s fog lamps and high beams switch on. Carl had indeed lost sight of them. Andy saw the beams slowly turning. Carl had come to a stop and was moving the vehicle in a slow arc searching for any sign of them.
“Let go of the gas pedal, but don’t touch the brakes, he’s looking for us”, Andy said. “If we’re moving it’ll be easier to spot us”.
They quickly came to a stop with the sludge on the ground acting as friction, while Andy continued to watch the Cayenne slowly turning.
“What if we just ditched the Rover and made a run for it?” Melissa asked.
“Too dangerous, there’s nowhere to go. We could hide, but in this weather…I don’t know…it might be more risky out there than in here. Plus there’s no way Carl’s just going to give up”.
They weren’t given the chance to decide, Carl’s lights paused on them for three seconds before the Cayenne lurched forward in determination. It was airborne for a moment as it left the road and then crashed onto the field in a splash of mud. He was coming at them fast.
“Go!” Andy yelled.
Melissa hit the gas and switched her lights back on. Hiding was no longer an option. She turned towards a lip where the field ended and became road again. Melissa aimed for the shallowest part of it and forced out every bit of power from the Rover. Carl doggedly corrected course and was on top of them in seconds. The Cayenne rammed the Rover squarely from behind and Melissa cursed at Carl.
The rain and the roar of the two engines became deafening. The sound of the wheels treading mud was like a song mocking their struggle to escape, the noise of the two bumpers rubbing against each other was the chorus. As they lurched toward their point of exit, the lack of one front tyre made Andy wonder if they’d make it over the lip. They were almost there when Melissa yelled, “we’re not going to make it!” Andy held his breath while Melissa silently prayed for a miracle.
If it weren’t for Carl ramming the back of the Rover at just the right moment, Melissa would have been right. They both screamed as the nose of the Rover tipped up, fearing that they’d be capsized. Carl had given them just enough of a boost to mount the lip, but the undercarriage was now caught on the edge. They were caught seesawing but soon leveled out because of their weight in the front of the vehicle. With only one wheel to pull them forward, they were going nowhere.
Carl’s unrelenting persistence however, worked in their favor once again. Instead of reversing to let the Rover fall back, he’d continued forward in his attempt to flip them over. The result was that the nose of the Cayenne had been pushed firmly against the lip and the Rover’s back wheels found purchase on Carl’s hood. They had just enough traction to make it on to the road. Melissa floored the accelerator and they met the asphalt screeching with sparks flying off their mangled rim. Somehow Melissa controlled their entry and was able to swing them on to the straight of the road before they flew across it…and that’s when their engine stalled.
Carl was still stuck below the lip with no means of mounting it. He’d lost all his momentum pushing them up and would have to circle back with a head of steam if he was going to try following. Andy looked back as soon as they’d come to a stop and saw Carl produce his weapon. “Down!” He yelled and forced Melissa beneath the window line as shattered glass spewed into their vehicle.
Carl had gotten off four rounds before Melissa managed to turn over the ignition. “Fucker!” She shouted and took off up the road.
Andy kept her head down till he could no longer hear any shots. Seconds later he checked to make sure it was safe and then corrected her steering before they went off course. “We’re okay”, he said, allowing himself to breathe a little easier. Andy turned to Melissa and laughed in relief, “whew, that was a close one”.
“You’re telling me!” Melissa replied with a nervous laugh of her own, “that guy just won’t quit!”
