Die Tryin' (31 page)

‘Just call me Jack fucking Bauer!’ Nick said, and Tony laughed. ‘Went down to the Storage Centre and got my cousin John to give me a spare key to our storage unit. Hid the tracker in with the bag just after Nick got together with that Carla sort.’ Tony began laughing again, nodding his head in appreciation. ‘You’re not the only one who lost trust in him once he hooked up with her,
re
, believe me,’ Nick told him. ‘Can’t fucking trust a man with that much bling once a woman comes on the scene. Two don’t mix.’

‘You’re damn right there,’ Tony said. ‘You see that shit, Charlie? That’s what you call using your fucking brains!’

‘I got brains,’ Charlie said and his head twitched.

Tony dismissed him with a
pfff!
and a flip of the hand. Charlie sunk back in his seat, suddenly feeling small.

‘We better get moving ’cos there’s a range on this thing,’ Nick XR2 informed them. ‘If he goes beyond it, we’ll lose him.’

Tony clicked his seat belt in. ‘Buckle up boys!’ he said in an excited voice. ‘We’re going for a car ride!’

Charlie had something on his mind, something that he needed reassurance about.

‘Listen you two,’ he said, squeezing his head into the space between the two front seats. ‘What exactly are you gonna do to Nick when you catch up with him?’

Nick XR2 glanced at Tony, who just continued staring out of the windscreen, focussed, and in the zone. Nick Black was now on the M6 well on the way to Birmingham; they were still on the M1, some way behind, but gaining fast.

‘I mean, look,’ Charlie continued. ‘I know you’re pissed with him and that’s all good, but he’s still our friend…’

‘Not any more he ain’t,’ Tony said before taking a swig of Stella from the can he held.

Charlie then glanced at Nick to see him shrug indifferently.

‘So, what
are
you gonna do?’ Charlie repeated. ‘I-I mean, are you,
are you gonna kill him?
What about Carla? What are you gonna do to
her
?’

Silence answered him, and Charlie realised that meant something bad. ‘I don’t suppose it matters anyway,’ he said and fell back in his seat. ‘Marco’s gonna sort them
and
us out pretty soon…’

‘What are you talking about now, Charlie?’ Nick asked, staring at him hard through the rear view.

Charlie didn’t answer, just looked out of the window instead.

‘Tell him what you told me back at the garage, Charlie,’ said Tony.

Charlie shifted uneasily in his seat, and just carried on staring out of the window.

‘Tell me what?’ Nick asked, getting impatient.

‘Tell him, Charlie!’ Tony snapped.

Charlie suddenly sparked into life. ‘Marco’s back,’ he said, and his head twitched. ‘Okay? That’s what I told Tony, and it’s true. Marco’s back. I saw him.’

‘Don’t start that shit again, Charlie!’ Nick said sharply, giving him daggers via the rear view. ‘Marco’s dead. Stop your superstitious bullshit!’ He shifted in his seat, and both Charlie and Tony could feel the car speeding up as Nick had unconsciously put his foot down in anger. ‘All we’re gonna do is catch up with Nick Mavro and sort this out,’ Nick continued. ‘And whatever happens, happens. As long as we sort it out, get the bling back, then that’s all that matters.’

‘Even if one of us loses their life?’ Charlie asked.

Nick stared at him through the rear view with cold eyes. ‘Yes,’ he replied, and then began watching the road ahead of him once more.

*****

Nick Black stepped out of the small shop next to the all day café, the holdall gripped in one hand, something else clutched in the other, and a big smile planted on his face.

He returned to where Carla was sitting—a plastic chair that had been merged with a plastic table, inside a plastic building that served plastic food. There weren’t many people around, the odd pocket here and there, and when he looked around him, he couldn’t help but feel like he was in a school dinner hall after 3 pm.

When he got back to Carla, he took a seat next to her, that smile still on his face. He put the holdall down on the seat next to him, but didn’t let go of the handles. ‘I got you something,’ he told her.

‘What?’ she asked, a small smile now emerging on her own face.

Nick placed a postcard down on the surface of the table, picture side up. Carla looked down to see a white sandy beach that melted into a sea so crystal clear, she could make out a school of fish swimming within it. It met with a cloudless deep blue sky. A palm tree with overhanging leaves like giant wings sheltered a happy young couple from the blazing sun as they strode along the beach, hand in hand. The expressions captured on the faces of the couple reflected to perfection the words that danced across the top of the postcard in vibrant red, green and yellow lettering—SMILE JAMAICA.

Carla began laughing. ‘Where did you get this?’ she asked.

‘In there,’ Nick said, pointing to the shop he just came out of. ‘They got loads of ’em—Scotland, Germany, America, Hawaii…’

Carla glanced out of the windows that lined the cafeteria to lay her eyes upon a grey, overcast sky that threatened to spill a torrent of rain onto the population below. ‘Complete contrast to here, isn’t it?’ she remarked, and sipped her coffee.

‘Well, that’ll be us soon,’ Nick stated, indicating the beaming couple on the beach in his fantasy postcard. ‘So it won’t matter any more.’

Carla put her drink down and gave him a serious look. ‘We can’t go to Jamaica, Nick.’

‘Why not?’

‘Where are we going to live for a start?’

‘You said you got family out there, that’s a good enough start for me.’

‘And what about our families here?’

‘We can visit whenever we want. Do you realise how much money we’ve got in this bag?’ He leant in close as he spoke so no one else could hear, even though they were alone. He stared at her with big, sincere eyes. ‘Once we sell this lot, we can do what we like. Getting a plane back here whenever we feel like it will be like getting a bus. Fuck it, on second thoughts, we’ll move ’em all over with us!’

Carla laughed.

‘I’m serious,’ Nick said.

‘I dunno,’ Carla replied in an unsure voice, shaking her head. ‘I got a bad feeling…’

‘Well don’t. We’re gonna go stay with your cousin until we sell these, then we’re off. I don’t care where, as long as we’re out of here. And I tell you what, nothing would make me happier, believe me.’

Carla gave him a warm smile, and Nick felt a lot of his anxieties melt away. Deep down, he too was unsure how this thing was going to play out. Something at the back of his mind
(I’m gonna fucking kill you)
was gnawing away like termites on a freshly cut tree stump, telling him that something was going to go wrong, something was brewing
(for what you did to me)
and there was nothing he could do to stop it. But, one thing he did know was that to entertain such thoughts around Carla was a no-no. He had to be strong, remain firm, and stick to his plan, or he could end up losing everything.

Just a few days to sort it all out was all he needed, and then they would be free.

He glanced down at the postcard and the vibrant colours of freedom helped ease his anxiety even further. But, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t feel completely at ease until they were well away from London. From England.

He sighed, and then replanted a smile on his face for Carla. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Finish up and let’s go.’

*****

‘You done well not to go into one last night with Maria,
re,’
Nick XR2 said to Tony as they moved further up the M1. The GPS told them that Nick Black had stopped for a while, but was back on the road again. Nick XR2 had no intention of stopping, so they had gained a bit of ground, but were still around an hour behind. ‘If it was
my
sister, I think I would’ve gone apeshit,’ he added.

‘Yeah, well… violence ain’t always the answer,’ Tony said and glanced to the side, towards Charlie in the back seat, who thankfully had stopped with the Marco/superstitious mumbo jumbo.

‘So what are you gonna do about it?’ Nick asked Tony. ‘I mean we can’t just let the prick get away with this, otherwise he’ll think we’re weak, and he’ll just keep on doing it, maybe even worse stuff next time.’

‘Don’t stress about it,
re,’
Tony replied. ‘Charlie sorted it,’ he added cocking his thumb behind him.

Charlie just watched the front of the car with calm eyes.

‘Charlie?’ Nick asked, confused. He twisted his head round for a split second to face him. Charlie stared blankly back at him. ‘Charlie?’ Nick repeated, cocking his thumb behind him just like Tony did a few seconds before.

‘Yeah. Charlie,’ Tony reaffirmed. ‘Went down to Mario’s café and kicked the shit out of him.
Done him proper innit, Charlie?’

Tony put his palm up for Charlie to hi-five him. Charlie leant forwards and gave his hand a small slap before falling back in his seat, not wanting to revel in the fact he had put someone in hospital. He actually felt slightly ashamed.

Nick just continued to look nonplussed for a second or two. ‘Nice one, Charlie,’ he then said, and turned his mouth downwards in appreciation of what he was hearing. ‘Prick deserved it.’

‘Damn fucking right he did!’ Tony agreed and had a big gulp of Stella.

‘Yeah, well, I’m thinking maybe I did the wrong thing, you know,’ Charlie told them.

‘Why?’ Nick asked.

‘Just reducing myself to his level. I’m no better than him now.’

A few seconds of silence ensued.

‘Well, if it makes you feel better,’ Nick said, wanting to try and raise Charlie’s spirits. ‘We promise to talk to Nick Mavro first before we do anything else. Ain’t that right, Tone?’

‘Eh?’
Tony answered, not believing what he was hearing.

‘Ain’t that right?’ Nick repeated and winked.

‘Oh, right.
Yeah, we’ll just talk to him, Charlie.’

‘You’re sure?’ Charlie asked.

‘Yeah, yeah. No worries, man. We’re just gonna sort this out like adults, believe me.’

Charlie fell back further into his seat. ‘I’m relieved to hear it. There’s no need to hurt each other.’

‘That’s right,’ Nick said, and glanced cagily at Tony, who was now staring out of the window with a distant glare in his eye.

Deep down inside him, Nick knew that was a load of old bollocks. Tony Savva was gonna do whatever Tony Savva wanted to, and Nick knew that he and Charlie would just have to clean up his shit like a couple of obedient servants.

And that was the way it always had been.

*****

Carla’s cousin, Jocelyn, greeted them at the front door, her face lighting up like Piccadilly Circus once she saw Carla standing on her doorstep.

They made it to Wolverhampton in one piece, and for that Nick was grateful. Every step of the plan they survived was a blessing. He had never been anywhere in the UK north of Watford, and to him, Wolverhampton—or the Black Country as the signs read—was like stepping into a time warp and going twenty/thirty years back in time. He kept getting this weird sense of being on the set of Coronation Street for every row of tiny terraced, brickwork house he passed. Jesus, he felt like some kind of alien. He tightened his grip on the handles of the bag, and pulled it in close tight to his thigh, looking edgily around him as Carla greeted her cousin with a big hug.

‘So good to see you, love,’ Jocelyn said, who Nick noted, was a big, hearty woman.

‘Hi, Lynne. It’s been too long, girl,’ Carla replied.

Nick just carried on looking around, paranoid about being on the street with a bag full of jewels.

‘This your fella?’ Jocelyn asked in her Brummie accent, diverting the attention towards him.

Carla turned round to face him. ‘This is Nick. I told you about him.’

‘Indeed you did,’ Jocelyn said and put out her hand.

Nick smiled, took her hand, and shook it lightly. ‘How you doing?’ he said.

‘All right, love,’ she replied.

‘Thanks for letting us stay here for a few days,’ Carla said.

‘Yeah, we really appreciate it, Jocelyn,’ Nick added.

‘Call me Lynne. And it ain’t a problem. You guys can stay as long as you like.’

Like
came out
loike
and for a second Nick thought of country bumpkins sipping cider in corn fields, and he realised just how little he knew about England outside of north London, how uneducated he was.

‘Nick’s got one or two family problems he needs to sort out, then we’ll be out of your way,’ Carla informed her.

Nick nodded at Jocelyn, and gave her a slight shrug.
Family problems. That’s right, my Greek brethren are after my blood, but apart from that everything’s cool, oh, except my Alzheimer’s suffering gran who’s been possessed by the bloke we killed and buried.

What bloke?

Ah, well you see it goes like this…

‘Families, eh?’ Jocelyn said, rolling her eyes. ‘Always the same. Problem after problem…’ Carla smiled ruefully and then slapped Jocelyn lightly on the shoulder. Jocelyn laughed. ‘Anyway, get yourselves
insoide
, and we’ll have a
coppa.’

Jocelyn ushered them both into her house. Carla went in first. Nick took another look round him, somehow feeling like he was being watched, like he could feel Tony’s eyes on him. He told himself that was paranoid nonsense.

How the hell could Tony know he was here?

He laughed to himself, and stepped inside Jocelyn’s house, suddenly feeling a little more secure than before.

*****

Tony looked round him, his face scrunched up in confusion.

‘Where the fuck are we,
re
?’ he asked, just staring at his surroundings like he had just stepped onto Mars. ‘What is this shit?’

‘Wolverhampton,’ Nick XR2 stated.

‘Wolver-
where
?’

‘Ach
. Birmingham. All right, Tone? Birmingham. You heard of Birmingham, right?’

‘Yes,’ Tony replied stoutly as if he had just his intellect questioned. ‘Place looks like the 1970s, apart from the Mosque on every street corner.’

‘Muslims,
re,’
Nick informed him. ‘There’s a lot of ’em up here.’