Die Tryin' (20 page)

Is he letting him beat him on purpose?
Nick Black pondered, unable to answer.

Lewis grabbed Tony’s arm and yanked it behind his back, making him cry out in pain. Lewis—his face bright red—used Tony’s arm as a lever to bend him over before kicking his leg out underneath him, sending him to his knees.

Meanwhile, the sarge was yelling frantically into his radio, calling for back up.

Nick XR2 took the opportunity to sleekly move up next to him and smooth talk him. ‘He was the one who was smoking the cannabis, Officer,’ he whispered in his shell like. ‘I’ve told him not to so many times I’ve lost count ’cos this is what it does to him. Sends him…
crazy
, you know? But, he’s a big bloke and…’ Nick XR2 puffed his cheeks and shrugged as if to say ‘what can I do?’

‘He’s your friend?’ the sarge asked.

‘Not really. I know him from round my way. But, to tell you the truth, we’re a little bit scared of him.’

There was a yell as Tony struggled beneath Lewis, who was sprawled on top of him having now managed to lay him flat on the road.

Tony’s eyes still retained that blankness. ‘Fucking police scum! Fight like a man, you
malaka
!’ he screamed, the veins on his neck ready to burst.

Nick XR2 shrugged. ‘See what I mean?’ he said to the sarge. The sarge looked at him with his cold stud like eyes, then at Tony and the havoc he had caused on his car.

The sarge sighed, and scratched his forehead. ‘You got him, Lewis?’ he shouted.

Lewis, pinning Tony down like a wrestler, turned his head. ‘I’m gonna need a hand with him, Sarge! He’s lively!’

Nick Black chuckled to himself.
Lively? Try totally fucking deranged, then you might be close…

Tony continued to struggle beneath him, ranting and raving, swearing in both Greek and English.

‘Back up’s on its way,’ the sarge told him. ‘Just hold on till then.’ He turned his attention back to Nick XR2. ‘Bloody cannabis!’ he said. ‘This is what it does to people. That’s why it’s illegal.’

Nick XR2 nodded. ‘I know. I know. I’ve told him so many times. But, what can you do, Officer, when someone doesn’t want to listen?’ He glanced at Nick Black as he spoke. Nick Black looked away. Nick Theodorou wasn’t his dad, he couldn’t tell him what to do and what not to do. And this copper obviously knew as much about cannabis as he did nuclear physics.

Tony shouted out again, and managed to knock Lewis off his back, alerting the sarge, who immediately raced over to try and pin him down again before he could get to his feet.

On his way, he spun his head to the side. ‘You lot get out of here,’ he shouted. ‘We’ll sort this out.’

‘Are you sure?’ Nick XR2 asked. ‘We could help you with him.’

Don’t milk the situation, you prick!
Nick Black thought to himself with mild concern.
It could backfire!

‘We’ll sort him out,’ the sarge replied over his shoulder. ‘You get out of here!’ He then shouted something into his radio that sounded like ‘urgent backup!’ before diving on Tony’s back, slapping him back down to the tarmac. Tony began lifting his arse up and down to try and shake him off, guttural sounds flying out of his mouth. For a few seconds it looked like they were dry humping. And for the first time in what seemed like ages, Nick Black actually laughed. A few hip movements later and Lewis joined them, and then they were both holding Tony down, who was somehow still managing to shout abuse even though his face was pressed into the tarmac. The sarge was frantically barking into his radio while bobbing up and down on top of Tony, riding him like a surfer rides a big wave.

He looked back at them and cut his hand across the air. ‘I told you three to get out of here!’ he shouted again.

‘We better go,’ Charlie said, his stare never diverting from Tony and the two coppers.

‘What about Tony?’ Nick Black asked, suddenly concerned for him.

‘We’ll worry about him later,’ Nick XR2 said.

Nick Black looked back at him coldly. ‘We can’t just leave him.’

‘Remember. Why. We. Have to. Go,’ Nick XR2 said monosyllable, attempting to hammer the point home.

And Nick Black realised he was right. They still had Taki to take care of. And as long as
he
was still in the vicinity of Old Bill, then they were in danger. Tony, the crazy bastard, had managed to get them temporarily off their case. Now, they had to seize that opportunity before it vanished.

He took a look back at Tony, saw them manhandling him, and—

—Jesus, was that a boot to his face?

‘I said you lot get out of here! I won’t tell you again!’ the sarge shouted, and that sounded like their final warning. Loads more Old Bill were due, and once they came, then there would be more of them to make arrests and search cars.

‘Will do, Officer!’
Nick XR2 shouted back before staring harshly at Nick Black.

Nick Black finally took the hint. ‘All right, let’s go,’ he said, and headed for Nick XR2’s car, not taking another look back at Tony, although the commotion behind him was ringing in his ears. He got in, Charlie and Nick XR2 following soon after.

Charlie—sitting shotgun—turned round and looked out of the rear window. ‘They’re laying into him, you know?’ he said.

‘What do you expect?’ Nick XR2 asked with bitterness in his voice.
‘Astinomia
are known for it at the best of times, never mind when someone’s taken a boot to their motor.’ He started up the engine.

‘I can’t believe what you said to that copper back there about Tony,’ Nick Black said to him.

Nick XR2 stopped what he was doing for a second and stared at him through the rear view. ‘I talked our way out of trouble didn’t I?’

‘Yeah, but you’ve landed Tony in the shit. He’s gonna go down big time for this!’

‘What else could I do? The important thing was to get Old Bill as far away from the car as possible. Tony realised that and done what he felt he had to given the circumstances. All I did was implement stage two of his plan. He would have wanted it like that.’

‘You didn’t have to give it the shit about him being the one puffing ganja. That was me!’

Nick XR2 huffed. ‘You wanna go back and straighten that out with them? Be my guest.’

Nick Black stared indecisively back at him for a second, before he sighed and sat back in his seat. ‘Just drive,’ he said flippantly. ‘We’ve still got our mate in the boot to worry about.’

‘Now you’re thinking like a rational human being. I like that,’ Nick XR2 stated.

‘We’ll worry about Tony tomorrow,’ Charlie said, his head twitching as he continued to watch what was going on behind them.

Nick XR2 pulled away. They were back on the road, heading for the cemetery again, with Taki in the boot, leaving Tony behind. Nick Black caught his own reflection momentarily in the window as they passed under a bridge. Something was written all over his face, as clear as day.

It was guilt.

Guilt, for being the one that got Tony nicked.

*****

Nick XR2 got on the North Circular Road, heading for the back entrance to the cemetery Charlie mentioned earlier. Since their unfortunate run-in with the law, they hardly saw another car. They hardly said a word to each other either. Nick Black knew why—they were all pensive, probably each trying to work out what the fuck was going on; Charlie and the ghosts in his head; Nick XR2 discovering Taki’s body, and himself, thinking about Tony getting his head caved in by the police.

‘We shouldn’t have left him there, you know?’ he said, unable to suppress his guilt.

Nick XR2 tutted. ‘I thought we went over this already.’

‘We didn’t have to leave him though. We could’ve rushed those coppers, and had it away. Neither of ’em took any of our details.’

‘And what about CCTV?’ Nick XR2 instantly replied.

And that stumped Nick Black into silence. ‘Well…’ He went to argue, but clocked Nick XR2’s eyes in the rear view; saw the smug, knowing inside them. He had him stumped and he knew it.
‘I suppose…’

‘Do a left here,’ Charlie said and Nick XR2 did.

Nick Black looked around. They had come off the North Circ and were now passing a squat housing estate, which was dark and quiet.

‘Follow the road, then do a right into that small lane,’ Charlie directed.

Nick XR2 rolled along slowly, then turned onto the small dirt track wedged between a thicket of trees. It opened into a clearing behind the estate, which was bare and derelict; a piece of wasteland. At the far end was a strong looking iron fence, and beyond that, Nick XR2’s headlights were illuminating the backs of rounded stones protruding from the ground like giant teeth. Graves. Lots of them.

‘Pull over and turn the engine off,’ Charlie ordered.

Nick XR2 moved the car as close as he could to the fencing.

‘How do you know about this, Charlie?’ Nick Black asked.

‘I just do,’ Charlie replied, his head twitching.

Nick XR2 slipped the car into reverse, and spun it round so that the boot was facing the fence. When he was close enough, he killed the engine, dumping them all in darkness.

A sudden chill jigged up Nick Black’s spine. ‘How we gonna get him to the mausoleum from here? It’s all fenced,’ he observed, speaking in a whisper.

‘Why are you whispering?’ Nick XR2 whispered back.

‘Don’t know. Feels…
weird
. Like someone’s watching.’

‘You’re just paranoid.’

‘No I’m not,’ Nick Black replied, now speaking in his normal voice. ‘How are we gonna get in there? And how are we gonna lift the lid on the tomb without Tony? He’s twice as strong as any of us.’

‘We’ll have to try our best,’ Nick XR2 said, grabbing the torch they used in the mausoleum from under his seat. ‘Now come on.’ He opened his door and the dead world outside crept in.

Nick Black followed the lead. He stepped out of the car and looked around tentatively. Nothing stirred. The black sky was spotless, bar the full moon shining brightly, bathing the area in cold, grey light.

It just had to be a full moon didn’t it? Just had to be…

When he looked back, he saw that Nick XR2 had already gone over to the fence and was scratching the back of his head.

Nick Black approached him and Charlie. ‘What did you bring us here for, Charlie?’ he asked, irritated. ‘It’s all fenced!’

‘There’s a gate there,’ Charlie replied calmly, pointing over to it. ‘It opens from the other side. I’ll climb over, open it, then you can come in.’ Charlie took a quick look round him, before he stepped up to the fence, grabbed it and hoisted himself up and over it in one swift motion.

He’s done that a few times before,
Nick Black concluded from Charlie’s adeptness. Soon after, there was a clank, then a creak as Charlie opened up the gate. He then walked back towards them through the entrance. He dusted his hands and his head twitched.

‘That’s great, Charlie,’ Nick Black whispered loudly. ‘Now that we can’t get the car through there, how are we gonna get Taki to the tomb?’

‘He’s got a point,’ agreed Nick XR2. ‘We’re on the wrong side of the cemetery. We can’t lug him all that way, he’s too heavy.’

‘All right, all right,’ Charlie said, patting his hands on the air ahead of him. ‘Give me the torch and I’ll look inside for something to help.’

‘Something to help? In a cemetery? You hoping someone’s left a spare crane around or something?’ Nick Black’s voice was a decibel away from being a shout, and he had to reel himself in.

‘Just chill out, I’ll be back in a second.’ Charlie’s head twitched, then he disappeared beyond the gate and into the darkness.

Nick Black sighed. He looked around again. The place was just too eerie; too quiet. He glanced over at Nick XR2, who looked unaffected, unflustered, and cool as ice cubes, just casually standing there in his three quarter coat, hands in his pockets.
How can he stay so calm and collected at a time and place like this?
Nick Black was just as bewildered at Charlie having the nerve to go into that dark cemetery alone.
Well, if he can see and hear dead people, then why would he be scared?
Crazy bastard’s used to it!

And then he came back.

He was holding something in both his hands, handles, which were there to help push something along. He rolled through the gate, a crooked smile hanging on his face, his eyes wide and alert. ‘Look what I found!’ he said.

Nick Black couldn’t believe what he was seeing. ‘I can’t believe it,’ he said, announcing the fact. ‘He goes off into the graveyard to find something to carry the body in, and he brings back a fucking wheelbarrow!’

Charlie rolled it triumphantly up to where they stood, its wheel squeaking like a frisky field mouse. It was old and rickety, and caked in a thick layer of dried dirt and cement.

‘Nah, it’s perfect! Just what we need!’ Nick XR2 said with a smile. ‘Well played, Charlie. Bring it over here.’ Nick XR2 went over to his boot as he spoke. Charlie followed.

Nick Black shook his head as Charlie walked past him. ‘You are something else, you know that?’ he asked him.

‘Yeah, you already told me,’ Charlie said and his head twitched.

Nick XR2 opened up the boot, exposing Taki. The two gaping holes where his eyes used to be watched them with their endless stare.

Nick XR2 took a sly look round. ‘Hope no one can see us,’ he said.

‘If we’re quick, we might just be all right,’ Charlie replied.

‘Grab his legs.’

Charlie did just that, while Nick XR2 took hold of his arms.

‘Ready? One… two…
three!’

Both of them pulled and lifted, and straight away their necks strained. With all their effort exerted, they managed to get his back off the boot floor.

Nick Black raced over and supported it to help give them extra lift. ‘Bloody hell!’ he shouted as he felt the force of Taki’s dead weight work his arms.

‘Just throw him in!’ Nick XR2 ordered.

They edged to the waiting wheelbarrow, their feet scratching across the gritty ground.

‘Careful! You’ll miss!’ Nick XR2 warned. ‘Lower!
Now!’

They all let go in unison and Taki slumped into the wheelbarrow, his arse wedging perfectly into the base. His legs hung over the front edge and his head lolled back between the handles, making his vacant eye sockets stare longingly at the night sky.