CRASH (A Logan Brothers Novel) (19 page)

“
You never loved me did you,”
he growled, his voice low and intense and full of hate.
He said he
loved me, but I could only feel the opposite.

“
I would have done anything
for you Elle, anything. You broke my heart, smashed it into a million
pieces. You owe me.”

He leaned in and planted his
lips onto mine, his hand sliding to the side of my face. I felt my
heart exploding in my chest,as his thin lips pressed against my own,
a tear rolling out of his eye.

I was paralyzed, helpless, my
body limp and drained of energy. He leaned back, tears dripping from
his eyes. “I'll never love anyone like you Elle,” he said, “I
need you back.”

He moved in again as I made a
move to scream, to shout out for help, but my voice was lost, stifled
by his cold lips. I searched with my eyes for someone nearby but
there was no one there, the parking lot as silent as a dungeon.

Then, from nowhere I heard
footsteps rushing down behind him, and a voice, shouting in the
distance.

“
Elle, Elle.”

It was Lexi, running down
towards me.

Brad leaned back and turned,
seeing the girl rushing down. He looked like a deer caught in the
headlights, glancing round to the left and right for an escape route.

Then, without a second thought,
he sprung away, sprinting off to the left and through a door. It
slammed heavily as Lexi reached me, rushing in to give me a hug.

“
Elle, are you OK. Who was
that? What's going on?”

My legs gave way and I collapsed
to the floor, my pulse galloping, my breathing short and sharp and
intense. Tears gushed from my eyes as Lexi joined me on the floor,
squeezing my hand and asking me what was wrong over and over.

I couldn't speak or think. My
whole body was shivering in fear, turning over on itself.

I began to see spots, everything
beginning to blur, Lexi's worried face in front of me fading away.

Then, suddenly, everything went
black.

Crash

My breathing was intense now.
Not intense through exertion or fear, but anticipation. I licked my
lips at the thought of what was going to come. I was about to get
revenge.

“
And where exactly are you?”

Jones told me the address. “It's
an abandoned barn outside the city. Miles from anywhere, completely
safe. We won't have any visitors, don't worry.”

“
And is he still out?”

“
He is. I gave him a small
dose. He should be coming round shortly.”

“
OK. I'll be with you soon.
Don't do anything until I get there. I want to look this motherfucker
in the eye before he leaves this world.”

I shut the phone off and dialed
another number. It rang and picked up quickly.

“
It's time,” I said.

The was silence on the other
end.

“
I'm going to text you the
address. Memorize it and delete it. I'll see you there in 30
minutes.”

I shut the phone off once more
and stood, my legs heavy. It felt like nerves, but different. Nerves
of excitement, nerves that signalled the culmination of a journey.
For months my mind had been dominated with thoughts of retribution,
of vengeance. Now I was about to see my promise to my father kept.

I'm doing this for you
father. I hope you're watching.

....

“
Remove it,” I said to Jones
as he stood next to the man seated fixed to a chair.

He grabbed the hood that was
covering Lithgow's head and pulled it off him.

Lithgow's eyes widened
immediately at the sight of me, his words muffled by the tape
covering his mouth. He mumbled loudly and thrashed around in the
chair, his eyes growing in fear as he looked around the room.

He sat in the center of an old
barn, a trickling of rain dripping through cracks in the ceiling. The
space was filthy and full of old equipment, rusted and disused. Old
pitchforks and spades clanged lightly as they swayed in the breeze,
the wind whistling in through holes in the weak wooden walls.

I leaned in to him and
whispered, his eyes coming back to mine and showing his terror. It
was the look I had wanted to see for some time.

“
Now, I'm going to remove the
tape around your mouth. There is no one nearby so please don't
dishonor yourself by screaming out.”

I looked for agreement in his
eyes before standing up and grabbing at the loose end of his gag,
ripping it quickly off his face as he yelped in pain.

His jaw was set firm, clenched,
his eyes now beginning to burn. Fear, hatred, anger. They were all
the sort of emotions I wanted him to feel before he died. I wanted
him to know what my father must have felt. I wanted him to suffer as
my father had suffered.

I walked casually over to the
side of the barn and grabbed an old stool, placing it a couple of
meters in front of him and sitting down. Jones stood behind him to
the side, his own eyes betraying him. He was always so calm, so
collected, so professional. But right now I could sense he wanted
personal revenge as I did.

I pulled a cigar from my pocket
and lit it up, dragging the moment out as long as I could. He
couldn't take it any more, his words slipping out from between
gritted teeth.

“
What am I doing here Crash?!
What the fuck do you think you're doing?”

I raised my head to him, puffing
nonchalantly on my cigar.

“
I think you know.”

He shook his head vigorously,
his voice beginning to rise in response to my callous relaxation. “I
have no fucking idea! I gave you what you wanted. I got your project
off the ground. What the fuck else do you want with me.”

The stupid old shit was
defiant to the end.

“
Don't play dumb Walter,” I
said. “It won't save you.”

His breathing began to increase,
his eyes beginning to widen in fear one again. “Save me? What are
you going to do?”

I leaned in on my stool,
speaking slowly to elicit maximum impact.

“
I'm going to kill you Walter.
End your miserable fucking life.”

“
No, no, you can't. Why would
you? What have I done to deserve this? I helped you, I can still help
you.” He was growing more frantic once more, shaking in his chair,
the realization dawning on his stupid fucking head.

“
You thought you would get
away with it?” I asked. “For killing my father?”

He shook his head even more
ferociously now, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“
Your father? No, I had
nothing to do with that. I could never kill anyone. I'd never do
that. Your father was an old friend. Why would I do that to him? I've
never hurt anyone in my life.”

The guy was a good actor I'll
give him that. I guess when faced with your own death you'd do and
say just about anything to survive.

“
An old friend? Do old friends
screw each other over? Do old friends try to destroy each others
businesses? You were no old friend of my father. Not after what you
did.”

He kept this look of utter
bewilderment on his face. “No, that was just business, and years
ago. Why would I kill your father over that?”

“
Because he was coming for
you!” I said quickly. “Because YOU were next on his list. You had
to get there first, I understand that. I'd have done the same. But,
unfortunately, my hand has also been forced. Someone needs to answer
for his death.”

“
BUT I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH
IT. NOTHING!” he shouted, his words impassioned.

At that the door behind me
creaked open, the sound of the rain outside growing louder. I stood
and turned suddenly to see Kyle walking in, his eyes looking over the
scene in front of him. He looked pale, sick almost, his skin pallid
and eyes dark.

“
Why are you so late?” I
questioned fiercely.

He shook his head, his voice
weak. “I'm sorry, I - got lost.” It sounded like a lie.

I looked him up and down. He
looked as though he was about to throw up.
Pull yourself together
man, for fucks sake.

“
Well you're here now. Kyle,
meet Walter Lithgow, the man who murdered our father.”

“
No, no, I didn't do it. You
have to believe me.” His eyes landed on Kyle, noticing his uneasy
complexion.

“
Kyle, I didn't do it. Please,
I didn't kill your father. I never would do that. Please, don't let
him kill me.”

I walked up to him and grabbed
at his hair, pulling his neck up and staring down into his eyes.

“
Shut. Your. Mouth. Your pleas
won't save you Walter. You're a fucking snake. Your silver tongue
will get you nowhere this time. You can't manipulate your way out of
this one.”

I nodded to Jones as he kept on
screaming and crying his innocence. I'd had enough of it, I couldn't
hear any more. Jones stepped forward and launched his fist into the
side of Lithgow's face, his head rocking on his neck and falling
forward.
That shut him up.

A silence now fell on us, the
clattering of rain on the roof of the barn the only sound.

I turned back towards Kyle, who
looked at Lithgow's now limp body, his eyes mournful.

“
Maybe he's telling the
truth,” he said in a whisper, his eyes not deviating from the
figure in the chair. “Maybe he didn't kill father.”

I felt a pang inside me,
something not fitting together. I couldn't place it, but my lust for
revenge was beginning to desert me.
What if it wasn't him? Was
this all just a big mistake?

No, it was all lies. He'd done
it his whole life, lied and manipulated people to get what he wanted.
Now he was trying to lie his way out of trouble, saying anything to
save his life. He didn't deserve to live. For everything he'd done,
for everyone he'd hurt and screwed over, he deserved what was coming
to him.

I reached for my belt and pulled
out a gun. Kyle's eyes flared at the sight of it.

“
Crash, no. You can't do
this.”

I didn't listen to him. I didn't
care what he had to say.

“
Crash, you don't know he did
it. He might be innocent.”

I lifted the gun to Lithgow's
body, aiming it at his chest. My hand was shaking slightly, my finger
locked to the trigger. I could hear Kyle pleading to me at my side,
asking me to stop and think, to see reason.

I was blind to him now, though.
I had come this far, there was no turning back.

My finger squeezed tighter, the
trigger about to pop. I stood there for what seemed like hours, my
arm getting heavy, my hand continuing to shake as the tip of the gun
swayed around Lithgow's body.

I was breathing heavily, a
grimace on my face, my eyes beginning to well up. This man had killed
my father, robbed him of life. He needed to die.

But I'd never killed a man. I'd
never gone that far. I thought it would be easy. I thought I'd almost
enjoy it. I had dreamed of seeing someone pay for what they'd done,
dreamed of being the one to do the job.

But now that I stood there, I
couldn't do it. I couldn't take this man's life.

I felt a hand on my arm, the
touch light. I looked up, the barn coming back into focus, and saw
Jones. His eyes were like steel, his face expressionless.

“
You should leave Crash,” he
said quietly. “You don't need to do this. It's better to keep your
hands clean.”

He slid the gun from my hand, my
finger softening over the trigger as it slipped from my grasp.

“
Walk away Crash. Leave
everything to me. I'll see it done.”

Jones nodded at Kyle and I felt
his arm at my back, turning me towards the door. He walked me towards
it, the rain splattering down onto my head as I emerged into the dark
evening.

I felt completely numb. I had no
idea what to feel.

“
I'm proud of you brother,”
said Kyle as we walked. “Taking a life is nothing to be proud of.”

It looked like tears were
dropping from his eyes but I couldn't tell, not in the rain.

A bolt of lightning shot down
from the heavens in the distance, followed shortly by a heavy crack
of thunder. The rain began increasing as we stood there, my clothes
growing drenched as I looked up to the dark clouds. Another crack of
thunder followed quickly by another.

But it wasn't thunder this time.
It was the sound of gunshots.

Elle

I sat in a hospital bed, Tess
and Alice and Lexi around me. They were pleading with me, asking me
to see sense.

“
Go to the cops for Christ's
sake Elle. The guy's fucking dangerous. Get a restraining order
against him.”

A restraining order. I'd heard
it all before from many others. All of my friends back in California
had sung the same tune. Now my new friends were demanding I do it as
well.