Heroin Annie (7 page)

Doc spread and waved his hands like the Pope bestowing a benediction. ‘There's no better smack than copper smack, let's see it, Hendrick.'

He moved away from Annie and unbuttoned his jacket; the black butt of the gun curved out near his shirt pocket. He nodded at Dean, ‘You, put the popgun over there near the telly and then go back near the door.' Dean did as he was told after a nod from Doc. Hendrick pulled out a package from his pocket and tossed it to Doc. It was wrapped in plastic, and when Doc had unwound it a couple of dozen small, linked plastic pockets rippled out like a snake.

‘Hip belt', Doc said. ‘Good one. Annie said thirty grand, that right?'

Hendrick nodded and Doc went out of the room. When he came back he was carrying a manila envelope which he handed to Hendrick. Annie watched fascinated; maybe she was still hoping that her deal would go through, but it must have been a faint hope. Hendrick wasn't acting; he counted the money carefully and put it away in an inside pocket. He had no particular expression for thirty grand just as he had no particular expression for tit-grabbing; I wondered what he did for fun.

‘This is a nice place, Doc. Had it long?'

Doc shrugged; he was looking uneasy and Dean was shifting his feet like a boxer about to start punching.

‘What about a drink?' Hendrick moved towards the bottles and then suddenly darted right and picked up Dean's gun. He had the safety off and the thing on full cock in one smooth movement, the way they train them to do where he came from. Our host looked worried for a minute, but his expression changed when Hendrick pointed the gun at me.

‘You know, Doc', he said, ‘you shouldn't deal with fly-by-nighters like this. Could get you into trouble. Is his stuff good?'

‘The best', Doc said.

‘Is it now? Well, I just might take him and it into custody and do myself some good.' He lifted the .45 a fraction. ‘You wouldn't object, Doc?'

Doc licked his lips; there was reluctance in his face, greed as well, but they both had fear to contend with. He let the plastic belt slide in his hands. ‘No, Henk', he said. ‘Be my guest. Nothing rough here though.'

‘Of course not.' He moved up to me and put the muzzle of the .45 under the point of my chin.

‘Where is it?' This was what he did for kicks; he pronounced the ‘where' like ‘vair' and there was a big, blue vein standing out under the pink skin of his temple.

‘No rough stuff here, Henk', I said.

He brought his knee up accurately and I went down with that feeling of pain and violation rolling through my body. As I hit the floor I felt the gun bite into my back and I had the consoling thought that I might get a chance to shoot him where he'd placed his knee. I lay there blinking as the spasms shot through me. My wallet was in the top pocket of the denim jacket I was wearing and he bent down and lifted it out. He looked through the contents letting them drop to the floor one by one. There was only money, driver's licence and stray papers. I contemplated an attack from below but the gun in his hand was nicely directed and rock steady.

‘Clifford somebody; nobody.' He dropped the last paper disdainfully like an ice cream wrapper.

I sat up, controlling the pain and gathered the things from the wallet. I was about to put them back when Hendrick stood on my left hand. He bore down on it with all sixteen stone, and I screamed.

‘Where?'

I shook my head. He swung his other foot at my head; I rolled away from it a bit but he connected near my ear. I felt skin tear and bones click, and there was a roaring sound getting closer. The warmth on the side of my face and neck was my blood.

‘Now, Henk', Doc said.

‘Shut up! How'd he get here?'

‘Sam brought him', Dean said. ‘He said he knew Annie.'

Hendrick looked at Sam with interest, she returned the look.

‘He showed me the sample', she purred.

‘Did he say he had it with him? Hendrick was still looking at her, but as if he'd like to hurt her.

‘He didn't say.'

‘Did he stop anywhere?'

‘No, oh yeah, he did stop. He bought chewing gum.' She giggled. ‘And bananas.'

‘What else did he do? It's important.'

Sam was pretty stoned but she gave it a good try. ‘Well, he gave me some gum and he had some good grass in the car. He didn't smoke and he's got this sort of springy step.' She giggled again.

‘What?' Hendrick snapped.

‘Well, I was thinking how he was Mr Clean, you know, not smoking and that. And outside the shop he shoved his hand into this rubbish bin, like a derro. It looked funny but I guess he was throwing something away.'

He glanced down at me with the look he probably used when he was kicking the kaffirs about ‘Amateur!' he sneered. I groaned and let him have his fun.

‘Well, I think that winds it up here', Hendrick said. ‘Get on your feet you.' He helped me with a kick on the leg and I promised him something for that too. ‘Annie, you're coming with us, and you too.' He waved the gun at Samantha. ‘You can show us the spot.'

‘I don't know …' Sam mumbled.

‘Yes, you do. Let's go.'

‘Hey', Dean rasped, ‘what about my gun?'

Hendrick looked at the .45 and slowly swung it around to point at the bridge of Dean's nose. ‘It's a good piece', he said. ‘I like it.'

I got up slowly trying to look more wonky than I felt. I was glad he liked the gun, a man with two guns isn't looking around for a third; stands to reason. He herded us out of the house and up the steps to his car, a yellow Cortina. Annie moved listlessly and Sam tried to regain some of her oomph, but it was a losing battle, she was stoned and scared. Hendrick gave the keys to Annie.

‘You drive and the blonde can keep you company. I'll cuddle up in the back here with Clifford.'

Annie drove slowly and steadily and Sam sat rigidly beside her. I slumped back in the seat away from Hendrick and groaned from time to time. The blood had stopped flowing and the pain in my head wasn't worse than an impacted wisdom tooth. I concentrated on blaming the man beside me for the pain and the ills of the world generally.

After a while Hendrick asked Sam a few questions, and encouraged her replies with a few prods of the .45. He'd uncocked it, but I remembered the speed he'd displayed before—not yet. We slowed down and after a few false alarms Sam found the right shop. It was closed; there was forest on one side of the road and the houses on the other side were set well back from the road and behind high hedges and shrubberies. There was light from a street lamp a little way off but not much of it. There were two rubbish bins outside the shop.

He got Annie to U-turn and we pulled up twenty feet or so back from the first bin. Hendrick stuck the gun in my ribs.

‘How're you feeling, man?'

‘Lousy.'

‘Good. Now I want you to get out, go up to the right bin and retrieve something. Then bring it back here to me. If you do anything silly I'll shoot you and there'll be all the evidence I need to make it okay. Understand?'

I nodded wearily and got out of the car. There was a light breeze and it hurt the torn flesh by my ear. I limped up to the first bin, paused a minute and then went to the second. I put my hand on its rim and then collapsed, rolling on to my side where I could see back to the car. Nothing happened for several long seconds, and then Hendrick got out. He still held the .45 and he was very wary. I played dead and let him put his boot toe into my ribs. He seemed satisfied and burrowed down into the bin, still keeping the gun on target. He pulled his hand up with the package and proved he was human—for a split second he forgot me and looked at his prize. Adrenalin was flooding me—I grabbed the gun hand and pulled it down while I swung one foot at the back of his knee. He grunted and came down and I ground the fingers into the cement; I felt his little finger break and his grip relax, and I slammed the hand down again. He let the gun go and whimpered a bit. I got up fast and reached back for the .38. His eyes were wide with pain and surprise as I put the muzzle between his eyebrows.

‘Henk', I croaked, ‘you should pick your enemies better.' I kicked the .45 away into the shadows and put the .38 into the rubbish bin. ‘Get up.'

He was good; he came up fast and threw the package at me but I was ready for that, and he missed anyway. I put a straight left on his nose and felt it give. He roared and swung wildly; I let him miss twice and then I stepped up and hooked a hard right into his mouth. The flesh split and a couple of his big, beautiful white teeth collapsed and I hit him there again. His hands went up to his face and he stepped back, then he lowered his head and charged; I stepped away and he went hard into the post which held the bin. I ripped him twice under the heart and he went down and lay still.

I was breathing hard and both hands were hurting, but it was my turn to gather guns and money. I collected the lot and picked up the plastic packet of corn flour from the roadway. Annie got out of the car and walked over to Hendrick
couchant
.

‘You should've killed him', she said.

‘No, he should have killed me.'

The whole thing only took a couple of minutes and if any cars had passed during the action their drivers must have decided it wasn't their scene. A car cruised up now with a genuine citizen aboard; he wound down the window and put his big, bald head out.

‘Trouble?' he said.

I'd taken Hendrick's ID card out of his wallet: it carried the name Hendrick Hasselt and a photograph. I put my thumb over the photo and flashed the card.

‘No trouble. Making an arrest. Good of you to stop.' I tried to look as if I always went about with three guns and thirty grand mad money on me. He didn't like the effect but he wasn't a fool; he nodded and drove on.

Hasselt was wearing a rather nice line in paisley ties; it looked better around his wrists and he looked better on the back seat of the car, bleeding gently over his upholstery. Sam sat in the back with him and Annie drove us to Palm Beach. We had a quiet talk on the way; as she told it, she was right in the middle between Doc and Hasselt and his colleagues. It all rang true and when I asked her how she felt about a loan and a little trip abroad she gave me the first real smile I'd seen her use.

‘Can you do that?'

‘I think so. I'll do it for Ma mostly. You, I'm not sure about. It depends how you feel about the junk.'

‘Never again', she said. ‘Believe me.'

I didn't say anything—what can you say? They opened the door to Annie and we all trooped in. I used the .45 to impress Doc and Dean, but after dumping Hasselt in a chair they didn't need much impressing. Paul was stretched out asleep on the sofa and the little packet of heroin was nowhere to be seen.

Dean looked at Hasselt and breathed out slowly. ‘What happened to him?'

‘He got careless and he wasn't quite as good as he thought he was. Now you just be quiet and you'll get your gun back.' I walked over to Doc and pushed him down into a chair, then I tickled his knee cap with the gun. ‘Tell Sam where the shit is, or you'll never walk again.' He told her and she brought it out.

Hasselt looked bad but he was taking an interest; one side of his face was darkening fast and he was working at a loose tooth with his tongue, maybe several teeth. I took out the plastic bag and showed it to him.

‘Can you cook?'

He shook his head.

‘Pity', I said and dumped the cornflour in his lap, the dust flew up and he sneezed, and that caused him pain and he swore. I poured myself a small splash of Bacardi and sipped it, I could see why they drowned it with Coke.

‘Now', I said, ‘let's all go to the bathroom.' I finished my drink and we all trooped into a bathroom that had white and red tiles and good-looking plumbing. I tossed the plastic belt to Doc.

‘Open it up, Doc, and pour it all into the toilet bowl.'

‘No', he screamed. ‘That's a hundred thousand …'

I smiled at him. ‘As Henk said to me a little while ago, there's enough evidence here to arrange things anyway I like. If you're found dead, Doc, clutching a hundred grand worth of heroin, no one's going to ask too many questions. Start pouring!'

He did, and the action seemed to cause him physical pain. When the water in the bowl was clouded up with the white powder I took the belt from him and held it under a running tap.

‘Now, flush the toilet like a nice clean boy.' He did, and a hundred thousand dollars headed for the sewer.

Back in the living room I put my .38 handy and unloaded the .45. I tossed the gun at Dean and told him to put it all down to experience. I took out the manila envelope and tapped it on the coffee table. Doc and Hasselt looked at it like cats eyeing a bird.

‘I was hired to look out for Annie', I said, ‘and it turned out she needed it. Now you and you have got problems.' I tapped the envelope again. ‘Do you know what this can buy me in Sydney in the way of people to take care of you two?'

They didn't say anything, but they knew what I meant.

‘Right, now Annie's going away. She might be back soon or she might not, either way it's no concern of yours. Do you get me?'

Doc nodded, Hasselt didn't move, it would have hurt him to nod.

‘The same goes for me. I'll put a little of this around, and you won't even piss without me knowing about it. If I hear that you have used my name or Annie's in vain, someone will get a chunk of this and you'll be missing.'

I took Annie home, and twelve days later she was off; after we worked things out with her parole officer and did an express job on her passport. I made her a small loan and paid Primo for the heroin and gave him a bit extra too. That left twenty odd thousand which I split into four lots and posted to deserving organisations. A month later I got a postcard from Annie; it had a picture of a naval gentleman on top of a high pillar; so I gathered she was in London—I couldn't read the writing.