The Evil And The Pure (40 page)

Fast Eddie opened the door. Clint entered and spread his arms, grinding his teeth so they wouldn’t chatter while Fast Eddie was searching him. Fast Eddie did his usual thorough job, stepped back, closed the door. “You here for the show?”

“Wh-wh-wh-what shuh-show?”

“Kevin and Tulip are coming. Phials wants to show them the hounds.”

“Oh.” Clint smiled weakly. “He duh-did mention
something about th-th-th-that.” Stuttering worse than normal. Afraid Fast Eddie would notice. But he was already marching through the lab. Clint followed quietly, feeling nauseous.

“Enter,
” Phials called when Fast Eddie knocked on his door. He was lying on the bed in a robe, clipping his fingernails.

“Visitor for you,” Fast Eddie grunted.

Phials turned his head and squinted. “Hello Clint. Come in, come in. Eddie!” Fast Eddie had been sliding out. He stopped and glanced at Phials. “We’ll head down the cellar about ten to ten, to sedate a hound, OK?”

“
Whatever.”

“There’ll be somebody on the door to let the Tynes in if they come?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you
.”

Fast Eddie left. Clint sank to his haunches and dry heaved
. Phials said nothing, went back to trimming his nails. Finally Clint stood, wiping his lips with a tissue, eyes filled with dread but also resolution. “You told him about the hounds?”

“Yes.”

“He wasn’t suspicious?”

“Not in the least. I said I wished to
impress Tulip. He wasn’t in favour of it, but he knows the Tynes can’t afford to run around shooting off at the mouth. He agreed without a fuss.”

Getting Fast Edd
ie down the cellar on a pretext, the solution they’d arrived at earlier in the day, when Clint had come to tell Phials about the plan. Phials’ idea, once Clint told him how they were going to use Kevin and Tulip. It would also provide the pair of them with weapons and allow them to be close to the front door when the shit went down. Gawl had cackled for five minutes when Clint reported back and told him about the new twist. Not annoyed that he hadn’t thought of it himself. He didn’t care where the ideas came from as long as they worked.

“Wanna watch a film?” Phials asked, finishing his nails and sitting up.

Clint stared at him with disbelief. “Are you crazy? We cuh-could be less than an hour away from having our bruh-bruh-brains blown out the back of our heads, and you want to wuh-watch a fucking fuh-fuh-fuh-film?”

“Relax,
” Phials cooed, switching on the TV. “If shit goes wrong, it goes wrong. Might as well enjoy the calm while we can.” He pointed the remote control at the video recorder and hit play. A film came on and after a few seconds Clint realised it was
Escape From Alcatraz
. He started to laugh. Fell into a chair, crying with laughter, pointing at the screen, giggling uncontrollably. Phials smiled smugly. He’d anticipated Clint’s fear and planned accordingly.

Clint less uptight after that. They went through the plan again, quietly, taking turns to tell it to each other, scrutinising it for any flaws. Neither spoke of what would happe
n later if they were successful, not looking any further ahead than the break-out, avoiding all long-term distractions and pitfalls.

Finally, at twelve minutes to ten by Clint’s watch, Fast Eddie rapped on the door and stuck his head in. “Want to mak
e a move, doc?”

“Certainly,
” Phials said. “Just let me slip on some clothes. It’s cold in the cellar.” The chemist pulled on a pair of trousers, a shirt, jumper, socks and shoes. No jacket — he didn’t own any, had never needed one here.

Down the stairs, through the lab and secret passageway to the cellar, passing two armed guards near the front door, Clint deliberately not looking at them or at the security cameras overhead. Winding their way through the cellar, past boxes stacked with chemicals and guns, Clint’s eyes watering, stomach clenching, bile rising. They arrived at the cages where the
hounds were housed. At the sight and stench of them, Clint lurched aside and dry heaved, moaning with fear and pain. Fast Eddie glanced at him, surprised, then smiled, thinking it was a reaction to the hounds. “He’d never make a zoo-keeper,” he chuckled.

“Mock not lest ye be mocked,” Phials chided
Fast Eddie, walking to the rack where the syringes were kept. The hounds were howling and clawing at their chains, trying to break free.

“Which one do you want?” Fast Eddie asked.

“I’m not particular. You choose.”

Fast Eddie studied the
hounds. All four were spitting and snarling, one as savage as the next. He selected the smallest, opened the door and stepped aside. Phials entered the cage, got close, subdued the savage dog, patted it as it slumped at his feet. Clint thought he was crazy to risk a mauling with so much at stake, but Phials wanted to behave the way he normally did, didn’t want Fast Eddie to get suspicious.

Fast Eddie closed the door
as Phials came out. He turned to Clint, who stood pale-faced and shivering a few metres away. “Come on,” Phials said, striding away from the cages, into the corridor, out of range of the security cameras. “I want to prepare for Tulip.”

Fast Eddie trailed behind
the chemist. “I still don’t see how getting in that cage with the Tynes will impress the girl. You’ve got a funny sense of –”

Phials whirled, locked his left arm around Fast Eddie’s head, sunk the tip of the syringe into the soft flesh behind his left
ear, pushed hard on the plunger — he hadn’t injected all of the fluid into the hound, saving some for Fast Eddie, just enough to knock him out cold.

Fast Eddie gasped with shock then elbowed Phials in the ribs and threw him off. His hand went for his gun. Clint jumped him before he drew, squealing with terror. Landed on his back, dragged him to the ground. Fast Eddie cursed, struggled with Clint, half-shrugged him off
, then went limp, sighing helplessly, eyes rolling.

Clint
slid off Fast Eddie, amazed it had worked. Phials staggered into him, groaning, massaging his ribs. He bent, reached inside Fast Eddie’s jacket and took his pistol. Phials cocked the gun and handed it to Clint, then hurried to the nearby crates, scanning labels. Found one with a loose top, rooted around inside, came back with two pistols smaller than Fast Eddie’s but just as effective, and clips for them. Loaded the pistols, stuck one into a pocket, spun the other on a finger like a cowboy. Winked at Clint. “Ready to rock ’n’ roll?”

Clint stared at the gun in his hand. “Huh-how do I use it?”

“Just point and fire.”

Clint looked down at Fast Eddie. “Is he duh-duh-duh-dead?”

“Just sleeping. He’ll be fine when he wakes.”

“Perhaps we
should fuh-finish him off…”

“
Do
you
want to fire a bullet through an unconscious man’s brain?” Phials asked coolly. Clint thought about that and shook his head. “Neither do I.” Phials pointed towards the exit. “Let’s go. Kevin and Tulip will be here soon. We still have a shit-load to do.” Paused. Held the gun down by his side and smoothed his hair back. “Hide your gun. Walk casually. There are cameras on the way out.”

“What if they wonder where Fast Eddie is?”

“They’ll think he’s lagging behind or searching for something. We’ll be out of here before they have time to investigate.”

“But –”

“We’ll die down here if we don’t move fast,” Phials snapped. Started for the exit at a forced but controlled pace. Clint took deep breaths, stepped over Fast Eddie, hid his gun, tried to look calm for the cameras, then shuffled after Phials.

Kevin despondent when he arrived home. Hadn’t slept the night before. Operating like a zombie at work,
thoughts fixed on Gawl McCaskey and how the brute had disgraced him, reduced him to a wailing mess on his own floor. McCaskey had taken Tulip away from him, rid him of his self-respect and power. Hating McCaskey like he’d never hated before, but fearful too. He wanted to call Big Sandy, explain the situation, trust him to deal with their tormentor, but McCaskey had shaken his faith in their protector. In Kevin’s mind McCaskey was an ogre, a mind-reader, a man of mystical powers. Ridiculous, but he couldn’t shake the fantasy. Afraid to cross McCaskey, sure he’d sense any trap Kevin tried to lay, get the better of Big Sandy, come gunning for retribution.

When Clint rang and said
that Phials had asked for the brother and sister, Kevin wasn’t interested, he just wanted to crawl home after work, curl up in a ball and lick his wounds. But as Clint kept pestering him, Kevin started thinking about Tulip, the contempt in her eyes since McCaskey laid him low, the coldness in her touch. This could be where he lost her. McCaskey had come between them and that might be the excuse she needed to set herself free. Kevin couldn’t let that happen. He had to get things back the way they were. Try thinking of a way to deal with McCaskey later. Tulip his first priority.

He agreed to the appointment, figuring he should
carry on as normal, ignore the events of last night, pretend McCaskey didn’t exist. Time was his enemy. He had to keep Tulip busy. He reminded Clint of Tulip’s scratches and bruises, said Phials would have to be extra gentle. Clint said that was no problem, asked him to come at ten, to be punctual, Phials had a surprise arranged for Tulip and timing was important. Kevin wanted to know what the surprise was. Clint said that Phials hadn’t told him. Kevin unhappy – surprises the last thing he needed – but he accepted the offer. Phoned Tulip and told her. She responded with a grunt. He said he’d have to work through lunch. Another grunt. End of conversation.

Home late. Dinner. A shower. Tulip already washed and dressed, sombre, quiet. As they were getting ready to leave, she looked at him. “I don’t want to do this.”

Kevin suppressed a shiver. “Why?”

“It’s wrong. It’s dangerous.”

“We’ve been to the lab loads of times. Phials is safe. We can trust him.”

“If you take me away from here now, and never make me do this again, I’ll stay with you forever.” Tulip’s eyes were moist with unshed tears. She walked up to her brother and laid the back of her
fingers across his cheek. “Do the right thing now, before it’s too late. We can leave London, go wherever you want, set up home together. Accept this. Settle for it. I beg you.”

Kevin gulped. Covered her small hand with his own. Shook his head sadly. “I know this McCaskey business has upset you – me too – but we can’t let it tear us apart. We’ll figure a way out of this mess.
Running isn’t the answer. We –”

Tulip jerked her hand fr
ee. “You’re a fool.” Not bitter, just making an observation.

H
e had no answer for that except, “Get your coat, it’s cold out. And snort some coke before we go.”

A cab to the Walworth Road, then
a short walk to the lab. They said nothing during the ride or walk. Kevin was dreading the night ahead, wishing he’d turned Clint down. He couldn’t get the thoughts of McCaskey out of his head and he was sure they would interfere with his performance. His penis was soft and cold, and he couldn’t imagine it coming to life. He’d go through the motions, but he was dubious. Thinking,
What if I can’t ever get hard again? What if his face is always there, mocking me, belittling me?
He quashed the crazy notions but they kept returning, stronger each time, his fears steadily multiplying.

The outer door of the lab
was unlocked. He slid it open. Tulip whispered something. He thought she was speaking to him. Looked at her, smiling in the hope of a few kind words. Realised she was praying. Pouting, he angrily pressed the button of the main door and pulled her in close beside him.

The door opened. Two guards inside. Kevin
recognised their faces but didn’t know their names. He stepped in, Tulip just behind him, and spread his arms, neck stiff, head throbbing with anger and pain. One of the guards patted him down. The other was staring off into space, not paying attention, bored. The guard finished with Kevin and turned to Tulip. She was looing over her shoulder, frowning. “You next,” the guard said.

Then a
man burst through the outer door. Large, bulky, dark. He shoved Tulip at the guard. She collided with him and the pair fell to the floor, both crying out with surprise. Kevin froze, staring at Tulip on top of the guard. The other guard snapped out of his daze, snatched for his gun.

The intruder grabbed Kevin
and turned him into a human shield.

Gunfire.