To Catch A Storm (8 page)

He lasted about two minutes before ducking out of the crowd and made for Janet’s table in the corner. He wore dark, slim jeans, a white polo shirt with orange stripes on the collar and loafers. He had his jeans rolled up slightly showing tanned ankles. His wispy hair style was the sort that was supposed to look ‘just out of bed’ but had actually cost a pretty penny at a decent hair salon.
“That was getting a little uncomfortable.” he told her puffing his cheeks out in relief. “Are you expecting someone or do you mind if I sit with you a while until I’m safe again?”

“Not expecting anyone, so help yourself. If you wish.” Green eyes and he looked a little like a mod she noted to herself. “Thought you were going to get eaten alive just then. They seemed to have a taste for you.” she said with a smirk.

“I think you’re right. If I stayed, I may have ended up on a hen do for the rest of the night. I think they wanted me as a good luck charm or something.”
“Believe me, that’s not what they wanted you for,” she said ominously, “more like sex slave I reckon.”

He spat some of his beer out almost choking, causing some of the younger hens to turn around and semi glare at Janet. She held her glass up to them as if wishing them a good night and under her breath whispered “Lucky escape.”

“I’m Janet by the way. Would you like another drink? You seem to have drunk or spat most of yours away.”

Just about able to speak again after his choking episode, “I’m Charlie, nice to meet you and yes I’d love another beer thanks. Becks.”

‘What are you doing?’ she asked herself as she set off for the bar with the eyes of some of the hens burning into her. She had ruffled some feathers of some younger, more ‘made up’ girls who were on the hen do, but her growing confidence meant she was right up there in their grill ordering drinks for the two of them. Previously, she’d have shrunk away but not any more. She was now a woman who got the better of people. This time she refused the large G&T in favour of a regular; she needed to retain a certain amount of control.

“So what do you do Charlie?” she asked sitting back down and sliding his beer over to him.

“I do IT stuff. I’m up here working for a firm of solicitors. Setting up networks and systems for a new office. How about you? Actually, let me guess… You do something to do with marketing?”

“No.”

“Ok, you’re a scientist?”

“Oh dear Charlie you’re not very good at this are you? I’ll let you have one more try.”

“Mmmm, this is tough. Something career ish, I can definitely see you power dressing for a meeting... Accountant?”

“My God! Do I really look so dull? I’m in... Well actually something that’s not much more exciting to be honest. I’m in banking but I don’t work in a bank, I work for consumer banking at a head office. So actually, I guess it’s similar to an accountant in that I work in money.” Ironic, she thought once again, I certainly am in MONEY.

“What does that involve then?” Charlie asked looking genuinely interested like it was something he’d never heard of.

“Good question. Mmm, what do I do? Well I work on a team who come up with financial products for consumers.” My god it sounded so dull she thought to herself. Then added “I used to work as a fund manager where I was very good at moving large amounts of cash around.” She finished feeling very pleased with herself and her own little in joke.

“Cool, sounds interesting. And do you work here? In Edinburgh?”

“No, I’m just here on a financial conference. Actually, the conference has finished now, but I’m taking a few days off work to explore Edinburgh.” she said, galvanising something in her own mind. “It’s my first time here. Such a lovely city.” Although, I’ve hardly seen that much of it she thought slightly guiltily. Must get out and see some more of it tomorrow. “How long have you been in Edinburgh then Charlie?”

“Ooh, about a week now. It’s my first time here too. We’re Edinburgh virgins.” he took a swig of his beer. “Cheers!”

“So have you found any cool places you can recommend to me?” she asked hopefully.

“I was going to ask you the same question. I’ve barely had any time off since I got here, lots of waiting around and not being able to go out.”

“I heard the Candy Lounge is fun, it’s not far from here... Want to try it?”

He did. They walked slowly along George Street in the warm evening. ‘This feels a little too much like deja vu of the other night don’t you think?’ A little Angel on one of her shoulders asked her. ‘Don’t listen to that crap’, said a voice from the other side. ‘He’s cute, he’s fun, go with the flow. What you going to do? Lock yourself in the wardrobe in your hotel room and never come out again?’

Candy Lounge was a little busier than where they’d come from, but still not rowdy.
“My turn. What do you want?”
“Ooh, Hendricks and Tonic please.” She excused herself to go to the loo.

She found herself in front of the mirror. Touching up. Staring at herself. At her face. Drifting away on her romantic road trip with Charlie. Top down. Wind in her hair. The coast flying by to her side. Charlie taking care of the driving. Of her. Heading for a beautiful hotel in LA. Blissful. Content. Then just blank. Staring. Staring. The door opened as a women came in and Janet came back to herself.

“Wake up you idiot!” she whispered at herself. “You just met him an hour ago.” Her mind finished off with ‘What you doing you shallow fool?’ She exhaled heavily realising she was tense and holding her breath. Shaking her head at herself, she applied some lip gloss which worked out quite well. The side to side movement of her head as she berated herself meant the lip gloss went along the full length of her lips.

She leaned into the mirror and pointed a finger at herself. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough adventure in the last few days for a while?” With that, a toilet flushed in a cubicle and she exited back to the bar.

As she returned, Charlie was sat at a booth awaiting her. A booth always felt so much better than a table for some reason. More intimate and cosy and sociable. Charlie was holding her G&T up. “Can I just express my shock at you ordering a drink which comes with cucumber in it? That’s blown my mind.”

“This is the twenty first century you know.” she replied sarcastically. “I see you’ve pushed the boat out with a...” she swooshed her hands around his drink as if displaying it on a game show, “pint of beer. How imaginative.”

“Well I am but a simple IT worker me lady.”

They talked about where they were from. Holidays. Bosses. As Janet neared the bottom of her glass. She suddenly felt incredibly sluggish. It hit her like a wet slap around the face. Her eye lids heavy and her head had become leaden to the point where she could barely hold it upright. Her eyes were struggling to focus on him now. She blinked several times but they stubbornly would not do as she wished. Several times, he swam between semi focus to just blurred blobs of colours and back in front of her.

She was aware of Charlie saying they’d better get some fresh air as they were drunk and he helped her out of the booth and out of the Candy Lounge. Outside they walked down the street a little. By now, she was really struggling and had her arm around his shoulder. He had his arm around her and under her arm. She thought she heard him say ‘Come on you thieving whore’ and asked him what he said.

“I said, ‘Come on you big bore.’” She looked at him, confused and still wasn’t really sure what he was saying. She squinted and shook her head, but that just made her vision go worse. A thousand lights shooting across her vision. It felt like her brain was loose and wobbling around inside her skull. Swimming about in a gin rinse.

“Where are you staying?” He asked her, but she just continued walking. It was too much to talk and walk. Her body was just telling her walk and keep walking. If you want to stay conscious and not puke, then keep walking. She was aware he was on his phone speaking to someone arranging to pick them up from somewhere. Good, she thought, he was getting some help as she couldn’t walk much further. He was soothing her and telling her she would be fine. She’d simply had a little too much to drink. She started to say that she hadn’t had much, but her mouth was no longer connected to her brain. He asked if she’d eaten and had maybe got food poisoning. Finally, a car pulled up beside them. It looked like a taxi. A big black car. He opened the door for her and she fell in across the back seat. Another car door opened and she was vaguely aware that Charlie got in and slammed the door. The car sped off pushing her back against the back of the seat and then hit the brakes hard rolling her forward and almost went into the footwell. The last thought her mushy brain could manage was ‘this is no taxi Janet’.

Two days after

There was that feeling again. Deja vu. Was this a dream? A nightmare? She wasn’t really sure what the feeling was, just that it was familiar. She was struggling to open her eye lids. Her body felt poisoned and pained, like she’d run a marathon and just crossed the finishing line. She could hear people talking but she wasn’t sure who. Her head was spinning; she put it down and shut her eye lids as tight as she could and the conscious world swam away to blankness.

She slept for another two hours. Not a peaceful sleep. She twitched and flinched. Her muscles tensed and spasmed and locked. In the midst of a fog of a dream, she was being chased around a hotel with very long corridors. Someone, or maybe something, was following her, it wanted her, for what, she didn’t know but she couldn’t seem to make her legs work as they should. It was as if they were tied together and she could only take very small baby steps. Dripping in sweat, her hair was stuck to her face and in her eyes. She couldn’t find the room she needed. It was further along the corridor. Aware that she was counting up as she passed each room 360, 361, 362… She wasn’t at all sure what number she was trying to find, but it wasn’t any of the ones she passed. Each time she looked back over her shoulder, she could see the shadow just out of sight. Menacing her. Growing as it gained on her. A hand reached for her and dark fingers crept over her shoulder.

She awoke with a start. Out of breath. Trying to pull her shoulder forward, but it wouldn’t move. She was in a large leather chair. Peach leather. Stuck to her skin. There was a car in front of her, but she was indoors. It was confusing. The lights were overhead strips and bright. Way too bright for her sore eyes. The strip lights reflected brightly in the cars black paintwork. She couldn’t move and was bound to the chair. Rolls and rolls of brown plastic tape wrapped around her and the chair. Stuck fast. Her forearms loose but her upper arms and body were tight to the chair. Her legs were loose too, but completely useless. All she could do was kick them in the air.

She racked her mind to try to figure out what happened. Was this something to do with Joseph? No, that was all sorted, she’d remembered all that now. He was dead, he’d died in the hotel room they’d shared and she’d taken his bag and his car. She’d left there and gone to Edinburgh. Then what? She seemed to remember going out and having some drinks in a bar. Her brain once again was just not working properly.

She could hear men talking, but not in Scottish accents. She couldn’t place them but they definitely weren’t Scotch. There was another car in front of the one directly in front of her. Was she in a car auction? The men were not all together, she could hear some to her left and another group to her right, each with roughly two or three men. No women’s voices. These men must definitely have done this to her. There was no other explanation of how this could have happened.

“About fucking time Goldilocks. She’s up Carl!” a man to her left signalled the news.

The two groups of men came around the two ends of the cars and converged in front of her. She looked up at them. They looked at her like people might look at a caged animal at the zoo. A new species which they had not come across before. The man on the far left she recognised. She blinked hard, forcing her memory to come back. It was Charlie. Cute, handsome Charlie from the bar. And he was just allowing this to continue. She saw now. He was with them and he had done this to her. And next to him was another guy she recognised… The car park in Glasgow.

“Ooh Charlie, I think she just recognised you. Maybe you’d better get her some water as a peace offering, otherwise she might not speak to you again. You may have a little headache from a fairly hefty dose of Rohypnol you slugged down in some gin last night darling.”

“I think she remembers now.” Another of them said.

“She looks rough.”

Charlie came back with a large glass of water and offered it to her. She opened her mouth slightly for him to give her some. She was incredibly thirsty. Off the scale thirst. She drank half the glass but rather than feeling better, immediately felt worse. Her stomach somersaulted. The water had awoken a monster. She felt water begin to fill her mouth.

Without warning, she projected vomit in the direction of Charlie and covered his jeans as well as herself in clear bile. She caught her breath for a short second and then felt more was coming. Charlie jumped back and slipped in her vomit and then the men were laughing so loud at her and him and it made her head hurt even more. She vomited again. Her body involuntarily heaving even more powerfully this time. Her vision blurry as her eyes watered. The laughing filled her ears and made her head pound. She retched again but the volume was much less this time. Her stomach empty. She hated being sick, but things seemed better now it was out. That strange twilight feeling between wretched and knowing that you’ve purged yourself of all the poison.

“Want more water? You probably need to rehydrate yourself Janet.” the large bald man they called Carl said to her. “You’ve been sleeping for a long time.”

“How long?”

“Since last night. About eighteen hours. I think you have most of it out of your system now which is good ‘cos that means you should be about ready to answer some questions for us. You see, we seem to have mislaid two point five million quid somewhere.” He paused and raised his eyebrows as if awaiting an answer. “I think you have it. But first we’ll get you something to eat, you’ll need to get some strength back. Charlie, would you do the honours?”

One by one, they walked away from her. One of the other men came back with a towel and mopped her face. She instinctively pulled away and then thought to herself why am I doing that? Idiot. He mopped her and walked away. You are a fucking idiot she told herself. How could you allow this to happen? She was oddly thinking pretty clearly now. Must be the adrenaline or something but she remembered now that Charlie went to get her a drink and he must have spiked her then. It’s the oldest trick in the book. She started going through in her mind, examining how this was going to play out. They wanted the money pure and simple. Surely, they have her handbag and would just find her keycard for her room. It clearly says which hotel it is, so they’d just find it and go and help themselves. Unless... She had an idea what may have happened.

She was going through all this and they were watching daytime game shows. Trivia questions about Sport, Film, Politics and Geography. She took everything in to try to see some way or means of escape from this.

Charlie came back to her with a cold bacon roll slathered in ketchup. He offered a very small smile. She did not offer one back and neither of them spoke. There was nothing to say. Nothing that he could say that could patch things up for her. Nothing that she could say that could express how utterly pissed off she was at him. So they remained silent. He put the bread roll into her hand. She took it and stretched it to her mouth with her free forearm. It felt good to put something other than booze into her stomach.

They left her for a good half hour, seemingly until the quiz show they were watching had finished and the theme tune was playing. There was some hushed talk among the group, then the leader, Carl came over on his own. He had a cup of either tea or coffee, she couldn’t tell which.

“Could I have some more water please?”

“Of course you can Janet.” he said, holding up the glass of water to her lips. “Maybe just sip it instead of gulping it, hopefully you’ll be able to keep it down then.” She did as he said.

“Now, Janet, I’m going to ask you a few questions. I’m going to need honest answers and I’ll warn you. I am low on patience.” She simply stared at him.

“Where is Joseph Janet? He was a bad lad and he double crossed the five of us. He was supposed to meet us. Here.” He motioned to the space they were in. “But he never turned up. We were supposed to share the two point five million that he got from the art dealer, but he did a runner. I think he did a runner to meet you Janet.”

She was quiet for a few seconds as if waiting to see if he had finished talking.

“If I know Joseph or know where he is, whatever your
boy
slipped into my drink last night has removed it from my brain.” she croaked. She felt rough, but she needed to lay it on thick. “I hope that is a temporary thing, but I’m not sure.”

Carl thought for a second. “What do you do for a living Janet?”

“I work in banking.” She decided it was best to omit the details.

“So you remember that at least?” he mocked.

“I remember most stuff, I know who I am. I don’t have complete amnesia, but the last few days now seem blank.”

“And yet you seemed to recognise Charlie when you saw him. Why would that be, if you’re blank, do you think?”

“I’m not sure.” she said trying to look forlorn at the blankness of her mind. The expression was supposed to say - ‘I want to help you Carl, I really do, but at the moment, I just can’t seem to remember.’

“Do many of your colleagues have Lamborghinis Janet? When you turn up to work, do all your work mates drive up in super cars? What does your manager drive Janet? A Bugatti?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean you were driving a Lamborghini when we saw you in Glasgow two days ago and I have to say that’s the first time I’ve seen a girl your age driving a hundred grands worth of Italian sports car. It says to me that you’re in cahoots with our old friend Joseph.”

“Really? OK, well I’ll have to take your word for it until some more of my memory comes back to me.”

He put his cup down and folded his arms. “I think you’re working with Joseph and that he saw us in Glasgow and asked you to get the money away from us. Sound familiar?”

“Not so far.” She shook her head. “Nothing sounds familiar. Your little boy there nearly poisoned me and made my head feel like it’s full of mush. I think I have short term memory loss.”

“It had better be short term. It’s going to start wearing pretty thin this memory loss soon Janet. Have a little more sleep and then we’ll have another chat later. The next time we chat, I’d like to walk away from you with the whereabouts of Joseph and more importantly, our money. If I don’t, then there is very little point for me to keep you here.” He was bright red and seemed out of breath. He walked around the back of her and grabbed onto the sides of her chair. He pulled the chair back onto its two rear casters and then pushed her forward toward the others who were gathered around the other side of the cars. They parted to let her though. This was odd she thought. She was tipped so far back, so she could see his face upside down. He pushed her in between the two cars and back to where she started off. His breath was bad. Coffee and cigarettes and a distinct lack of brushing. It was making her stomach want to wretch again. He leaned close and spoke into her upside down ear. “You’re surprisingly mobile. I’ll bet if I wheeled you outside this lockup in your arm chair, I could have you to the dock side in half a minute. In fact, let’s give it a try! Dan, get the doors!”

Dan ran around the car and pulled back the big doors as Carl wheeled her in the chair through them and across a dimly lit dockside. Until the front of her chair was butted right up to the waterfront.

“I think if you went into the water in your
current
situation, unable to flap your skinny little arms about, I think you would sink very quickly.” He pushed her slightly further until the front wheels dropped over the side and tipped her forward until she was leaning tightly against the tape and that was all that held her from dropping into the inky, icy water. There was a lot of commotion around her with the other men whooping. She heard one say ‘I’m not gonna’ fish ‘er out’.

“How does it look Janet?” Carl snarled into her ear. “I don’t know about you Janet but the thought of drowning makes me feel a little bit ill. Think you’d like it? Think you’d float?”

As much as the tape held her firm, she still gripped the ends of the arm rests until her knuckles were white. ‘He needs me, he’s not going to drop me in. I’m his only hope of finding his money.’ she told herself. ‘Be strong Janet!’ She shut her eyes tight. Carl pulled her back and dropped her chair back onto its four wheels and her head jolted backward. She was vaguely aware he asked one of the others to move her back inside. He walked back in front of her. Red faced and panting slightly.

“You didn’t answer Janet, do you think you’d like to go in?” Carl asked, his shoulders hunched and his eyebrows raised.

“No I wouldn’t like to drown.”

“Well, all that is standing in the way of you and the water Janet is what’s in your little head... I don’t believe that you can’t remember Joseph and how you came about that Gucci bag and that Lamborghini. I do believe you can’t remember what happened last night, that’s what Rohypnol does, it blanks your short term memory out. But it doesn’t affect your memory of what happened days before. All your plans with Joseph. About how you’re helping him get that big bag of cash to safety. Away from us. That, I believe is still very much in your mind. So have a little sleep and have a think about your future. And whether or not you want one.”

He reached out and grabbed her neck and pushed her back into the chair so she was looking directly into his eyes. Her airway was cut off. “We understand each other?”

She nodded her chin as much as she could, though it was difficult in his grip. “Clever girl. Clever Janet.” He released her neck and gave her cheek a friendly clap. Then he smiled and walked away.

He had been gentle with her, but there was some real power in those meat slabs of hands. She shut her eyes. She was desperately tired, but she needed to think. Think how she was going to get her stupid self out of this mess. She traced herself backward from this point, back to the bar where he bought her
that
drink. He didn’t give a thing away. He was so subtle. What a scum bag. So smooth as he handed her a double gin & Rohypnol with lots of lime. Her deadly apple in a glass. Ready to put her to sleep and render her defenceless.

She didn’t have any pockets and everything she had with her was in her bag. She could probably cut herself out if she could get her nail file from her bag, but that wasn’t going to happen, they wouldn’t be handing that over anytime soon. What else did she have that was sharp? Her nails. They wouldn’t penetrate the tape. Earrings. Sharp but no match for the tape which was probably ten layers thick at some points. If they hadn’t used so much, she might just be able to break it by pushing her arms out, but it was gripping her like a vice. No give whatsoever. She looked down at herself. Scanning for something sharp. Belt buckle. That would be able to pierce the plastic. If she could perforate a line from top to bottom, she might be able to rip through it. She wasn’t sure if she had the strength to do it. She’d probably only have one chance, if they saw what she was up to before she escaped, she’d be in trouble.