Geezer Girls, page 7
‘I don’t need fucking riddles . . .’
He finally looked at her. Her words halted when she saw the coldness gripping his face.
‘Look,’ she pleaded, softening her tone. ‘I just need to know who did this to me.’
‘What is the point? You will never see them again.’
‘Whatcha mean?’ A frown slashed across her forehead. ‘When I get out of here . . .’ Her voice trailed off as a pant of fear exploded from her. ‘I am getting out of here?’
He spread his legs. Gazed at her with pity or contempt, she wasn’t sure. His hand moved to the back pocket of his trousers. Pulled out a folded piece of white paper. ‘Your lawyer asked me to give you this.’ He threw it at her. It landed by her on the bed.
She grabbed it. Unfolded it. Read.
‘By the authority of the Sankuran supreme court, Nikki Flynn has been charged with the illegal importation of heroin. It is the judgement of this court that Nikki Flynn be sentenced to death . . .’
The word death swam in front of her. The letters got bigger. Bolder. Darker. A wave of dizziness pulled her forward. Shit, she was going to fall over. All that time he’d been fucking her with her death warrant in his pocket, ready to screw up her life as well. Bastard. The fury drove her to her feet as she yelled out, ‘You can’t sentence me to death without a trial.’
‘As I’ve told you in the past, we do things differently in Sankura. We don’t believe in long trials that will cost the government lots of money or see the need to have the defendant in the dock. All the judges need to see is the evidence presented by your lawyer. Nice and quick, just like the execution. But there’s no need to get too upset . . .’
‘You cunt . . .’ She advanced towards him. Raised her hand. But his own large hand grabbed her wrist.
The cell door was thrust open. An agitated soldier stood in the doorway and said in Sankuran, ‘Major . . .’
‘What is it?’
‘Information, sir, that the rebels will attack the National Bank tonight.’
He let go of Nikki. Shoved her away. She tried to stay upright, but she couldn’t keep her balance. The onslaught of emotions pulled her to the floor. Her face crumpled as the tears came.
‘Nikki.’
The major’s hard command made Nikki raise her tear-streaked face. The expression she read on his face startled her. Compassion.
‘We will talk later,’ was all he said. Then he was gone.
What was the point of talking later? Nikki bellowed in her mind. They were still going to drag her kicking and screaming outta here to kill her. She was never going to see her beloved Jade again.
Frankie quickly pinched Jade’s nose. Covered her mouth with his. Pumped two long breaths into her still body. He pulled his mouth away from hers. Clamped his hands, one over the other, onto her chest. Pressed down. Once. Twice. Kept going until he reached ten. But her body didn’t move. He swore as he tore his hands away and went back to her mouth. Two more breaths. Back to her chest. Ten more compressions. She still wasn’t moving. He went back to her mouth. On his second breath, her chest jacked high into the air. He pulled his mouth away. Her green eyes sprang open as she let out a series of hard, choking coughs.
‘That’s it, little one,’ Frankie whispered. ‘Breathe.’ He swung his head around, calling out, ‘Someone get some water.’
But no one moved. Jason stared back at him, crouched on the floor, his eyes still bright from his last drug hit. Ruby stood bollocks scared and pinned to the wall, the sound of her wheezing breath tipping into the room as she sucked hard on her inhaler. Amber stood next to her, shock cemented across her face.
‘Water. Next. Door,’ Frankie yelled at Amber.
Wide eyed, the girl scarpered across and out of the room. Frankie turned swiftly back to the gasping girl on the bed. Gently he raised her, until she was in a sitting position. ‘That’s it, easy breaths,’ he coaxed.
As he spoke, Jason slowly raised himself to his feet and moved towards Frankie. Sensing his approach, Frankie turned towards him. If it weren’t for the presence of the girls, Frankie would bitch-slap him into the back end of tomorrow. But instead he sent Jason a look loaded with meaning. A reminder that in front of the girls they had to assume their roles. Jason as top geezer. Frankie as foot soldier.
‘I’m really sorry, boss,’ Frankie mumbled. ‘I didn’t mean to rough you up, but I know that you said that you needed the girls. All of the girls.’
Jason puffed his chest out. ‘I thought I told you to make sure they stayed put upstairs? I found the bitch on the blower downstairs holding an address book . . .’
‘An address book?’ Frankie interrupted, giving Jade a sharp look.
‘That’s right,’ Jason continued. ‘She needed to be taught a lesson. Taught who’s boss.’ With that he reached into his jacket. Pulled out a beige A4-sized envelope. Dropped it on the bed beside Frankie. ‘Make sure this lot understand the shit their old ladies are in.’
He threw a final look at the terrified Jade. She cringed back on the bed. Frankie cuddled her close, his hands running down her body and over her trouser pockets. With a snarl Jason turned towards the door. Opened it. But instead of pushing outside, he turned back around to face Frankie. ‘Don’t push your luck, Frankie, because if you ever touch me again, it will be your head I’m banging on death’s door. And don’t get soft over these bitches.’ With his words of warning hanging in the air, he left. Frankie continued to soothe Jade as one of his hands left her and moved with a flash to his back pocket. A few seconds later, a breathless Amber rushed back in, with a mug of water. She handed it to Frankie. Then stepped well back. Frankie clasped the back of Jade’s head, as he raised the cup to her lips. Slowly she began to sip. Finally she moved her mouth away from the cup.
‘That geezer,’ she croaked frantically between high-kicking breaths, ‘tried to top me.’
‘Jason just got a bit moody. . . .’
‘That was Jason?’ The disbelieving interruption came from Amber. ‘That’s the guy our mums work for? You work for him as well, don’t you?’
Frankie opened his mouth, but before he could answer Amber’s quickfire questions, Jade knocked his hand away and started to clamber unsteadily off the bed. Frankie grabbed her arm in a bruising grip. She tried to shake his hand free, but he wouldn’t let go.
‘I’m going to the Old Bill . . .’
‘You can’t do that.’
‘As soon as you let me go, I’m gonna leg it . . .’
‘No you ain’t. And you wanna know why?’
He released her hand and quickly reached for the envelope Jason had dropped on the bed. She was transfixed by the movement of his hand as he opened it. Reached inside. Pulled something out. Gently placed it on the bed between her and him. Jade gasped when she saw what is was.
In a shaky voice she said, ‘It’s my mum’s necklace.’
eight
Jade swallowed hard as she reached for the necklace. A fine gold chain with a heart-shaped locket on the front. She picked it up. The chain was broken. She quickly opened the locket. She shot a sharp breath into the room when she saw the photo inside. A picture of her when she was eight dressed all in fluffy white for her first Holy Communion. Her mum never went anywhere without it. The last time she’d seen Nikki wear it was just before her mum left to get her flight to Sankura.
Jade’s hand clutched the chain as she raised her tear-filled eyes to Frankie. ‘How did you get my mum’s chain? She never goes anywhere without it.’
But he didn’t answer her. Instead he reached for the opened envelope. Stood up. Swung his head around the room. Caught each girl with his intense blue eyes. Ruby still against the wall. Amber marooned by the dressing table. And finally Jade, still pulling the life back into her body. Then he spoke. ‘I think we need to make ourselves comfy next door. See, the thing is, girls, it’s time we had a little chat. A chat about how you’re gonna help to save your mums’ lives.’
‘How did you get my mum’s necklace?’
Jade still held her mum’s chain as she sat with the other two girls facing Frankie at the table. And between them, on the table, sat the envelope. Frankie tilted his head. A lock of blond hair flopped across his forehead, deepening his boyish good looks. ‘One of Jason’s mates in Sankura sent it to him . . .’
‘But how did he get?’ Jade persisted.
Frankie pushed his head straight. Looked directly into her gleaming, green eyes. ‘One of the bad men in Sankura ripped . . .’ Frankie’s voice rolled, long and hard, over the last word. ‘. . . it from her neck.’
The girls all gasped.
Jade’s voice shook as she asked, ‘She ain’t . . . ?’
‘Dead?’ Frankie quickly supplied. Jade rapidly nodded her head. Frankie gave her a grave look. ‘No. Well, she weren’t the last we heard.’ His tongue flicked out. Moistened his bottom lip. ‘But I’ll be straight up with you, girls, things ain’t looking too bright for your old ladies.’
Suddenly his hand reached for the envelope. He picked it up. Pushed his hand inside. Slowly his hand came out holding three photos. He laid them on the table. Flipped each around, so the girls could see them.
‘Ohmygod,’ Amber said as she and the others stared at the photos.
Individual close-up shots of their mums’ faces. The first one showed Nikki with blood running down from a cut on her face. The next showed an exhausted Jasmine, with bruises next to her mouth and left eye. The last was Maxine. Her skin was unmarked, but the scared, battered expression she threw at the camera told its own terrifying tale.
‘I ain’t trying to scare you.’ At the sound of Frankie’s voice, the girls pulled their gazes away from the pictures to stare helplessly at him. ‘But if we don’t do something soon I think your mums are gonna be brown bread.’
‘But what about the Foreign Office?’ Ruby piped up, speaking for the first time. ‘I thought it was their job to make sure British citizens weren’t abused.’
Frankie stretched his hands across the table. Locked his long fingers together. ‘What you gotta understand is that when you get banged up abroad it ain’t like being held at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Here we believe in innocent until proven guilty. Other countries have their own way of doing things. Sankura ain’t no different. You just have to look at those pictures to know that your mums ain’t at no tea party.’
‘But if we show these pictures to the Foreign Office surely they’ll help our mums?’ Ruby continued.
‘The Foreign Office know full well how prisoners are treated in Sankura and so far they’ve done dick about it. And the Old Bill ain’t gonna do shit either.’
‘But if no one’s gonna help get them out . . .’ Jade started.
‘Who said no one’s gonna help them?’
The girls all looked at Frankie with a collective expression of surprise.
‘Who?’ Amber’s body sprang to alert in her chair.
‘Jason.’
Jade pushed herself half out of her chair as the words erupted from her mouth. ‘I ain’t having nothin’ to do with that head case . . .’
‘Sit down,’ Frankie threw at her. When she didn’t move he added. ‘Please.’ Jade reluctantly resumed her seat.
‘Jason feels well bad about what happened to your mums, especially as they were working for him at the time. He’s got some contacts in Sankura. Important contacts. People that can make things swing the right way for your old girls. One of his mates sent him the photos and Nikki’s necklace. His people in Sankura are saying that they can get your mums outta the poke, so Jason’s gonna pull every string at his fingertips. But . . .’ He left the word hanging in the air. Took in their expectant faces. ‘No one in this world is prepared to do anything for nothing. The only way Jason’s mates are gonna help is if he greases a few palms.’
‘But we don’t have no dosh,’ Jade said.
‘Nor does Jason. We can get some cash, but it all depends on you girls.’
‘What you chatting about?’ Amber said.
‘You girls are gonna have to earn that money. All you’ve gotta do is a few jobs . . .’
‘Jobs?’ Jade jumped in. ‘What sorta jobs?’
‘What the jobs are don’t matter for now. The important thing is Jason needs an answer ASAP. His people in Sankura are getting impatient. They want their money or they ain’t doing dick to help your mums. So what’s it to be, girls? You gonna help your mums or you gonna let ’em swing?’
The girls shifted and looked uncertainly at each other.
‘Can me and the girls have a chat about it?’ Jade asked.
The side of Frankie’s mouth flipped into a lopsided smile. ‘Of course you can. But remember that any minute now your mums could be six feet under, so we ain’t got time to waste. You got one minute.’ Frankie picked himself up and left the room.
The girls moved their chairs closer together.
‘Are you alright?’ Amber asked, touching Jade’s arm. ‘My eyes nearly bugged outta my skull when Jason started flippin’ and slammed that pillow over your face.’
‘If Frankie hadn’t been there . . .’ Jade shivered as her words trailed off.
‘What are we going to do?’ Ruby’s voice was strained and stressed.
As Jade flicked her eyes away from Ruby, Amber reached for the photo of her mum. She ran her thumb caressingly over her mum’s features. ‘We ain’t got no choice,’ she replied softly. ‘Jason might be a twenty-four-carat arsehole, but he’s the only one who’s gonna do the business for our mums. So far no one else has said they will.’
‘What you saying?’ Jade rushed out. ‘That we gotta do what he wants?’
Amber flicked her eyes away from the picture towards Jade. ‘From where I’m sitting, girl, it don’t look like we’ve got much choice. Anyway, if Jason was telling porkies Frankie would’ve told us, wouldn’t he? I mean, he did save your neck from that whack job.’
Before they could say anything else, Frankie re-entered the room. Leaned casually up against the wall. Folded his arms. ‘So what’s it to be, girls?’
Jade looked nervously at the other two. Finally Amber and Ruby both gave her short, uncertain nods.
She gave him the answer he was looking for. ‘Alright, we’ll do it.’
But Frankie didn’t speak. Didn’t push off the wall. Instead he pinned Jade with a hard blue-eyed stare. Moved his hand to his back trouser pocket. Pulled something out. Displayed it between his fingers in the air.
‘Hey, how did you get that?’ Jade said in shock as she stared at her mother’s address book.
‘The five-finger discount . . .’ He stopped when he saw the puzzled look on her face. ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s a little trick I learned along the road. I got it out of your pocket while I was helping you on the bed. This belongs to your mum?’
She hesitated for a split second, then nodded.
‘Did you manage to connect to any of the names in the book?’
She shook her head.
‘Jason can’t help you if you’re on the blower to people he don’t know.’ His voice dipped to a husky whisper as he added, ‘I don’t know.’
A tight silence filled the air. ‘I’m gonna keep this safe for you.’ Frankie shoved the book into the inside pocket of his jacket. ‘And when your mum comes back I’ll give it to you. Deal?’
Reluctantly Jade nodded.
Frankie pushed off the wall in a smooth motion. Walked towards the table. When he reached it he started gathering the photos together and placed them back into the envelope. Jade’s hand quickly clenched around Nikki’s necklace. She didn’t want to give it back. She raised pleading eyes to Frankie. He met her gaze and nodded his head. She pushed the necklace into her trouser pocket.
‘So what jobs do you want us to do?’ Amber asked.
‘Don’t worry about that for now. You’ll soon know what you’ve gotta do.’
With that he left them alone. Jade gave it half a minute before she lunged for the door.
‘What the arse are you playing at?’ Amber called out as she marched towards Jade.
Jade twisted her head around to face the other girl at the same time as her hand grabbed the door handle. ‘Getting outta here . . .’
Amber’s hand slammed over Jade’s on the handle. ‘You need to clean the wax outta your ears, girl. Didn’t you hear what Frankie said? Didn’t you see those photos? You might not give a toss about your mum, but you ain’t putting no noose around my mum’s neck.’
The girls stared hard at each other, their fury sizzling in the space between them.
‘You better let go of my hand.’ Each word twisted slowly out of Jade’s mouth with anger.
‘Whatever,’ Amber threw back defiantly, tightening her grip.
Jade tried to move her hand, but Amber wouldn’t let go. They began to struggle. Amber’s free hand came up. She slammed it into the smaller girl’s shoulder, pushing her against the door. Jade wobbled on her feet, taken completely by surprise by Amber’s attack. Her face scrunched into a mad mask as she raised her arm. Swung it back and whacked the other girl in the face. Amber cried out as she staggered back, finally letting go of the door. The taller girl’s hand came up to touch her throbbing cheek. Seeing her chance, Jade turned back to the door. As her hand reached out again for the handle, she felt fingers, like claws, grip her tracksuit top from behind. Amber spun her around. The taller girl’s arm was raised, ready to administer retribution, and she shouted, ‘I’m gonna slap the fat outta you, girl . . .’
‘Stop it. Please stop brawling like dogs in the street,’ another voice screamed out.
Both girls’ gazes shot across the room. They’d forgotten all about Ruby. The hysterical girl sank onto her bed with her hands clamped over her ears. Her head dipped low as her sobs grew louder. Jade forgot about her mission to leave and rushed over to the fragile girl. She shoved herself onto the bed beside Ruby. Placed a comforting arm around her shoulder.
Jade rocked her as she soothed, ‘Everything’s gonna be alright. Our mums will be back before you know it.’
