You Don't Know Me

20

So, yeah, it was Bless. At the door. Man I was furious. My sister? What the hell was he doing bringing my sister into this? It was bad enough that Ki was here and now her? Shit, we had like two minutes and we had no fucking way to get rid of her. I couldn’t leave her here. And I couldn’t send her back out in case she bumped into them coming in.

‘Bro. What the fuck we going to do with her?’ I say pulling Curt to one side as I step out of the bedroom and into the main room.

Curt says nothing but points his chin behind me to where Bless is standing. She is already undressed and has a mask on. I can’t even look at her. This is fucked up. How has this happened? Shit. I look at the floor when I speak to her.

‘Bless. Bless. What the –?’

I am proper vexed about seeing my sister there. My mind is going round in circles. I’m angry and I’m scared you get me. I look over at Ki at that time to see if she’s going to step up for me.

‘It’s okay,’ she says. ‘She’s fine. I will look after her.’

‘Ki what the fuck? Bless? Curt man, what the fuck we supposed to do with these two now?’

‘Bro do we have a choice? Boy’s going to be here in like two minutes.’

And that was that. There was really no choice. I couldn’t have them in the room where I was going to jack Jamil. There was barely enough room in there for me with all the crap in that room. And besides it was the last place I wanted either of them to be. In a room with a shooter. And a shotter.

‘Listen, Ki, promise me, as soon as he is in that back room, you throw your coats on and you leave. Straight away. No waiting, no watching, no nothing. Just please get the fuck out, both of you. Please.’

I am almost crying now and I don’t know whether it’s the tension of waiting to smash someone over the head or the worry of what might happen to the girls. Then the knock comes for real.

Curt is supposed to let them in. Jamil and his mans Shilo and Binks would want to have a quick check of the room, we knew that. They’ll check Curt for weapons, Curt will check Jamil. The two bodyguards will then leave. Curt will then come into the back room. Jamil then follows. I bang Jamil on the head. We take the money. Job done.

How Curt told me afterwards about what actually went down was this. Jamil and them had come in as expected to check the place out. I could hear them in the room chatting shit being all loud and proud. At one point Jamil looks at one of the girls apparently and says to Curt, ‘You might have to throw these bitches in, innit.’

‘Fuck off,’ says Curt, ‘they’re working.’

‘Just a quick suck off for my boys in one of the rooms innit, while we doing business?’ says Jamil.

‘Hey I ain’t having your boys in here while we dealing. I got to watch my back blood,’ says Curt.

‘How you know we ain’t just going to roll you over right now?’ Jamil says with a cheesy grin.

‘That’s easy,’ says Curt. ‘You can’t score at these prices and if you want more, you need me. And anyways blood, you roll me and you a dead man. Now get these fuckers out of here and let’s do some business.’

Shilo walks out and Binks hangs back a bit to say loudly how they’ll be just outside. I am in the back room waiting but even I can hear that bit. Two guard dogs really just making noise. I hear the bolt going on the front door. Then as quick as anything I hear Curt bringing Jamil to me. As they near the door, I hear Curt:

‘You got the dollars?’

‘In the bag,’ says Jamil.

‘I want to count it first,’ says Curt.

I’m thinking now about Ki and Bless. Somewhere in that room in masks. But no clothes to hide behind. And here I am, with a gun and I am so scared. I hate being here.

Then there is a second where it’s like time has stopped. Then what I hear next makes my blood cold.

‘Count this,’ says Jamil and pulls out a gun.

I can’t see the gun at first. All I can hear is that suddenly there’s loud banging on the front door. Shilo and Binks are trying to kick the door in. I can hear Ki crying out and then there’s the scrape of the table as it goes to block the door. Curt is trying to calm Jamil down. I am hearing what I can and making pictures to fit the sounds but it’s patchy and I really want to step out so my eyes can catch up with my ears. Then I hear Curt’s voice.

‘Easy man. Take the fucking gear if you have to blood. But unless you are prepared to shoot me here and now, I will be coming after you.’

‘I am taking the gear blood. And you ain’t coming after no one. Do you know who’s even got my back? Your shit lickle crew ain’t going to do fuck all. Now give me the block man or you eating bullets.’

I hear Curt sigh heavily. ‘In here,’ says Curt and pushes in through the door I am standing behind. Light floods into the room. I see Curt with his hands out come into view. Jamil follows. Curt suddenly leaps away and jumps on top of all the shit that’s in the room and looks at me to do something quickly. But for some reason I feel as if I am walking through jam. Nothing about me can move quickly enough. I see Jamil’s face which starts to change colour as if he has realized what is going to happen next. He hasn’t seen me yet, but he knows this is all wrong. Then I see his shooter. In my head all I can hear is my own voice, saying ‘nine mil’. He brought a gun. For some reason I never thought he would bring a gun.

Just then a spark ignites somewhere in my body and starts the motor. I drop to the floor and swing the metal bar I still have in my hand at Jamil’s legs. It’s too risky to hit him higher in case I catch the gun and bullets start flying. Jamil screams out then falls down flat. In a second Curt is on top of him, crushing him with his huge weight. It’s only seconds before Curt has him knocked out cold. Jamil’s gun is still in his hand. I pick it out. It’s nice as guns go, nickel-plated Browning. Where the fuck he get that kind of shooter from? I stick it in my pocket. Right next to my Baikal. I almost feel sorry for my shitty gun next to this one. Then I ain’t thinking about that no more. Suddenly the only thing in my head is the girls and I am ashamed I forgot them for even a second.

I look at Curt and we run to the front door where there’s still the sound of it being kicked in hard. The lock has already gone and the door is splintering. The table has been pushed flush against the door and the girls are doing everything they can to stop it flying open. I don’t even see how they got there. All I know is that every scrap of soul they got is trying to keep that door shut. A gap starts to open up as the men behind it are pushing it. Then I see the nose of a gun poking through. Binks is calling out for Jamil, his voice all jumpy and high. As soon as they realize Jamil ain’t answering back, the kicks to the door get harder and more violent. The door jumps open and shuts again as the girls push against it. Curt runs across and sweeps the girls away with one arm.

‘Go and sit on that idiot,’ he says and nods at the back room. ‘He’s out cold.’ Curt takes care of the gap that the men are trying to make by slamming it shut with one huge heave and then sits with his back against it, breathing hard.

I throw their coats at the girls as they head to the back room and then remember something and run after Ki to hand her the Baikal. It’s not as pretty as the Browning but I know mine works. ‘If he even moves,’ I say. Then I run back to help Curt who though he has his whole weight against the table is now straining against heavy kicks to the door. I know we ain’t going to be able to hold it for long. I ain’t even that sure the door ain’t going to split.

I need to think but it’s getting slow again in my head. More jam jamming up the parts. All I can think is that the door ain’t going to hold for much longer now anyway. I know Ki is watching Jamil but I have no idea what Bless is doing. When I caught a glimpse of her face earlier I swear she was looking at me like this might be the last time she ever sees me. The door bounces again and I know we have to do something quick.

‘On three, pull the table away. They’ll come tumbling in. You put your hands up high and surrender. I’ll get behind the door. They won’t be expecting me. I’ll take their legs out,’ I say whispering, showing him the Browning.

Curt nods. He stands and yanks the table back. As they come crashing in, he flings his arms in the air. The two men come tumbling in, tripping over themselves as they do. Their faces are like the perfect picture of surprise as they fall to the floor on top of each other. I am behind the door and they see only Curt with his hands up. Their faces change as they jump to their feet. Binks is holding some fat weapon and has it pointed straight at Curt. The image of it for a second seems almost funny. This skinny guy holding a gun that big makes him look like a cartoon. He’s all edgy and has a look like a person who’s had too many drugs.

‘JC!’ he shouts out, keeping his eyes on Curt but spinning his head round the room frantically.

I aim my gun. They are both moving around the room looking for their boy, making it hard to keep them at the other end of my barrel. Shilo is the easier target. He’s big. Bigger than Curt even and he moves slow like an elephant. He lumbers over to Curt, probably planning what to do to him. It’s going to be seconds, if that, before they see me. Or worse, seconds before they are in the back room where the girls are. Just the thought of them now makes me desperate to go to them. I can’t see them and that’s making me even more nervous.

Binks then comes in my eye-line but he doesn’t see me. I line him up but each time I get ready to fire he moves again. He’s twitchy but all I need is one second of still. I get it when he turns suddenly and sees me. He raises his arm with the huge gun and points it at me. I don’t want to kill him. I just need to stop the guy. I look at his legs and in that split second I pull the trigger. I pull it once but three rounds go off. Bang bang bang. One catches him in the leg and he drops and hits the deck.

Shilo, who by now is nearly at the door to the back room, looks round stunned. Then in half a second, Curt’s huge right hand comes hammering down on top of Shilo’s head like he is dunking a basketball and he goes down hard. It’s like seeing the Hulk knocking out the Hulk’s brother.

Binks’ gun has gone skidding across the floor like a delayed reaction. I run over to it and pick it up. It’s heavy like a hammer. I walk over to Binks who is clutching his leg. There is blood spurting out of it and his screams are filling the air. I have to shut him up or who knows what is going to walk through that door next.

I pistol-whip him across the head and I’m expecting him to go out cold but instead he starts screaming louder and suddenly he doesn’t know what to do with his hands. They go up to his head from the pain of the whack and then the blood from the leg comes squirting out again in jets and they come back down again to stop the blood. I hit him again. Harder. This time though he goes proper out.

Curt starts calling out for tape and I run to the kitchen to get the parcel tape we been using to tape up the windows. Curt starts winding it round Shilo’s arms and legs and then he starts on his face. At first I think he’s taping up just his mouth but then I see that he’s taping up his eyes too. He throws over the tape to me and I start by taping up the bleeding leg. I ain’t trying to save him. I just don’t want blood everywhere. Then I copy Curt and tie up the legs the arms and then the face. It’s not till I have finished off the last of the tape that I suddenly remember the girls. Curt starts walking towards the room as if he has read my mind but then just before he opens the door there is the sound of a gunshot.

I get up and start running to the back room. I can hear Ki screaming. I get there just as Curt has walked into the room. That’s when we see it. Ki is holding the hot Baikal and Jamil is on the floor. Dead.