R.I.P Robbie Silva (11 page)

'
This their routine?
'
I said.

Silva was fiddling with the strap on his gloves.
'
Yeah, yeah ... hang about, you
'
ll see the bloke in the driver
'
s side come out first.
'

The driver
'
s door of the security van opened. He was a short bloke, squat. He walked to the back of the van, stretched a bit and then did a 180 and tapped on the side as he walked back towards the front.

Silva stirred, went to grab the keys in the ignition.

'
Wait!
'
I said.
'
Not until the other one
'
s out.
'

The second door of the van opened up and a slimmer figure got out. It was a woman. I could tell by the shape. She had long red hair coming out the sides of her helmet. This looked like bad luck to me, but it was too late to back away.

'
Right, masks on! Gun the engine!
'

* * * *

There
'
s cons on the inside will tell you, looking back, these things happen in slow motion. Not for me they didn
'
t. It was all happening at 100 mph.

The tyres of the Toyota screeched to a halt as the two guards headed for the Little Chef. It had all gone to plan. We were between them and the van; they had nowhere to run.

I was first out. Had the pair in my sights as I stared over the long barrel.
'
Get your fucking hands up!
'
I sensed Ben and Gail running beside me but my vision was blurred through the ski-mask.

'
Fucking move it, you cunts!
'
Ben had come from nowhere. He pointed the gun at the woman
'
s head. He was close enough to blow her fucking nut right off, helmet and all. She started to scream.

'
Shut your fucking hole!
'
roared Ben. He was side-stepping, dancing on his toes. The woman kept spinning. The whole scene made me dizzy.

'
You. Get the fucking van open.
'
I grabbed the stout bloke by the collar and marched him back to the van. He rattled keys as he went.

'
Fucking move, faster.
'

Gail kept at my rear as we went. We left Ben with the other guard but she was screaming her head off. I turned to Gail.
'
Shut her the fuck up.
'

As I glanced back I saw Gail turn and look at her brother. He was slapping the redhead about. His gun was pushed right up in her helmet now.

I roared at Gail again.
'
Fucking hell ... sort that out!
'
She looked back at me and didn
'
t seem to know what to do. The stocky bloke stood at the back of the van; he dropped the keys. I knew it was all delaying tactics. I pushed the gun into his gut.
'
What are you fucking playing at?
'

'
You haven
'
t thought about this, have you?
'
he said.

'
What?
'

'
You
'
ll do thirty years.
'

I gave him a slap, bust his nose; it started to bleed.
'
You
'
ll not see another fucking day if you don
'
t open that fucking van and get the money on the street.
'

He wiped the blood away from his face and kneeled down to retrieve the keys. I looked at my watch; we
'
d already wasted three of our six minutes.
'
Hurry the fuck up!
'

'
What
'
s going on up there?
'
shouted Silva.

It was chaos.

The redhead was still screaming.

Silva was revving the engine.

I kicked the guard in the gut.
'
Fucking move it!
'

'
I
'
m looking for the keys.
'

I saw the keys on the ground; he
'
d shoved them out of his reach. I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him up. Gail was back at my side; she bent down and got the keys and gave them to me.

The van door had a pin-combination pad and a lock. As the guard stood there contemplating the situation, he said,
'
You don
'
t want to do this.
'

'
Fucking open it or I
'
ll put your brain across the tarmac. Don
'
t fucking test me on that.
'

Silva revved again; he was in a panic.
'
Come on ... get the fucking thing open.
'

I turned to see Silva but my attention was grabbed by Ben. He had the redhead in a head lock and was dragging her to the back of the van. The gun was pointed in the air as he pushed on with his awkward load.
'
What the fuck
'
s going on up there?
'
he yelled out.
'
Where
'
s the fucking money?
'

He was level with us before I could speak again. The redhead was white with terror, whimpering and crying. When the other guard saw her it was like a bolt of bravery shot through him.

'
Now, look here, leave the woman alone!
'
he said.

Ben stared at this fat fuck like he was ready to put a bullet in him. I knew things were spiralling out of control. I stepped in, grabbed the guard again.
'
You stupid fucking cunt, open this door and get the money on the street or I will put a fucking bullet in your head sure as I fucking stand here.
'

He froze. Looked at the crying, whimpering woman.
'
I can
'
t do it.
'

I didn
'
t believe this was happening. We
'
d turned up the one guard in the world who was prepared to duke it out with armed robbers.

I looked at my watch again: we had hit five minutes. We didn
'
t have enough time to unload the van. I turned towards the car.
'
Right. Let
'
s go!
'

Gail trooped beside me, but Ben stayed.

'
What the fuck are you doing?
'
he yelled.

'
Get in the fucking car. Now!
'
I beckoned him back but he was twitching and jumping like a lunatic. The idea of missing out on his take was high on his mind. I knew there was no chance of him listening to me. I was ready to dump him but as I turned to Silva I knew the chances of him leaving his boy behind were nil.

'
Get in the fucking car.
'
I yelled at him again, but it had no impact. I knew I
'
d have to drag him. As I turned tail, headed for Ben, he got even jumpier and started to wave the gun about.

'
Get back!
'
he said.

'
What? ... Put the fucking gun down.
'
I held out my hand to him, but he was gone and I knew it. I kept walking towards him. He sensed I was almost on him when the gun went off.

The redhead fell in a heap.

A pool of dark red blood spilled out from beneath her head.

'
What have you done?
'
I said. The words seemed meaningless.

I felt a rush at my back and saw Silva had got out of the car. He raced towards the scene and took it in. Ben had turned from us all and had the gun on the second guard now.

'
No, don
'
t!
'
I said.

'
Okay. Okay ... I
'
ll open it, I
'
ll open it,
'
said the guard as Ben forced his shooter into the back of his neck.

* * * *

How we made it back to the flop, I have no idea.

When we ditched the Toyota and got into the changeover car there were sirens wailing all over the shop.

We
'
d fucked up, and I knew what that meant but the others had no idea.

Silva had taken Ben into the back room as soon as we got to the farmhouse. I stayed in the front with Gail. She looked shaken.

'
You okay?
'
I said.

She didn
'
t answer at first, just stared at her fingers, then,
'
Did you see all that blood? ... I
'
ve never seen blood like that.
'

I put an arm round her shoulder.

'
He
'
s an animal,
'
she said.

I presumed she was talking about her half-brother.
'
What do you mean?
'

Gail started to cry.
'
How could he do something like that?
'

I grabbed her tighter. All the while I was wondering how long we had before the filth started trawling for us. We were in serious shit now. I wanted to take my share of the money and get moving, but I didn
'
t want to leave Gail behind.

'
Look, things haven
'
t turned out right,
'
I said.

'
No kidding.
'

'
We can
'
t stay here now, it
'
s not safe. I know someone who can help us, he
'
s a friend and ...
'

She wasn
'
t listening. As the door from the back room was opened and Ben strolled out, she got up and started to beat on his chest.

'
You fucking arsehole, you fucking idiot!
'
Gail slung punches and slaps as Ben ducked; Silva appeared at her back and dragged her to the sofa, dumped her.

'
You fucking stupid bitch!
'
yelled Ben. He had scratch marks running down the side of his face. I was ready to add to them.

'
You
'
ve some bottle haven
'
t you, considering your position?
'
As I spoke, Ben patted his cheek with his shirtsleeve.

Silva turned away from Gail, faced us. He noticed I had the long gun barrel pointed at his son
'
s head.

'
Now watch what you
'
re doing there, Jed,
'
said Silva.

'
Shut the fuck up. His card
'
s marked,
'
I said.

Ben
'
s colour changed. His eyes seemed to drop further into his head as he realised I had no intention of letting him off the hook. He looked at me for a moment, then his gaze darted towards his father and his sister. Somewhere inside that fucked-up head of his he had a notion: he wanted to wound me before I finished him.

'
He fucked her for years you know,
'
said Ben. His top lip quivered; a line of sweat formed on his forehead.
'
She didn
'
t tell you that, did she?
'

Silva sparked up,
'
Ben ... what are you doing?
'

'
Ask them, he said ... it
'
s true. Father and daughter. What do you make of that? Still got a thing for her now, have you?
'

I looked at Silva; he had guilty eyes. Gail had her face in her hands. She was in tears again.

My heart started to pound.

'
You
'
re making it up. You think I
'
ll bite on that, you
'
re mistaken.
'

Ben started to giggle.
'
It
'
s true! It
'
s true! ... I used to see them. He made videos too.
'

I remembered what Jasper had said about Silva ''road-testing'' his porn starlets himself.

'
Shut up!
'
said Silva.

I put the gun to Ben
'
s head.
'
You are one sick fuck.
' He had known about the abuse and did nothing. He could have stopped it, saved her. I would have done anything to save Jody – I wished I had killed my own father to save her.

Ben was laughing as the gunshot came. As he fell back a black mess appeared on the wall behind him. At its edges there was red blood and indiscriminate brain matter.

After the gun
'
s discharge the room was silent, except for the ringing in my ears. Nobody moved for some time and then Silva ran for me with his arms out.

I smacked the gun barrel off his head and he fell on the ground, moaning. I started to reload the shooter.