The Second Son, page 17
‘You got till Friday to deliver the first payment and it better be some serious cashola. That’s it. I’m not fuckin around.’
I turn and stride towards my car, trying not to run, horribly aware of my exposed back. I jump in and gun the motor.
I will myself to drive away slowly, still trying to hide my fear. I doubt I fooled Ink Slater and I’m not fooling myself. I can feel the sweat drying on my face and neck as the air-con does its work. I can smell myself. The animal scent of fear. Something I usually smell on others. I should have brought Anto or Marko with me. I had the perfect opportunity when Marko called me. Why did I keep it to myself? What came over me? Am I a liability to everyone, including myself? But what would’ve happened if I hadn’t been alone? A bloodbath in a suburban street, the kid on the bike the only witness. The kid could have ended up a casualty too, taken out by a stray bullet.
Over-dramatising things is not something I normally do. There’s enough happening right now, without imagining the worst. I need to stay calm, stay focused, start using my allies more competently, start thinking like a general, not a footsoldier.
As I pull up at a red light, I think about Ink Slater’s message for Dad. Not gonna happen. No way will I be taking that proposal to my father. I’m in enough trouble already, without admitting I’ve come off second best in a face-off with an enemy.
The blood rushes to my head as I remember Slater’s evil fucking smile when he talked about Amy. How does he know her name? How long has he been following her? Since he first saw her at the cop shop years ago? My blood rises thick and angry. I’m gonna kill that skinny prick.
AMY
Sasha has been inconsolable. Once I got over being angry, I relented. Besides, I have to convince Johnny to agree to my plan. At the very least, I need to know who the hell is following me and why. So I bought some groceries and took Sasha back home. After a clean-up, the place didn’t look too bad. I found an old doormat to cover the bloodstain on the front patio. Johnny’s V8 rumbled up our driveway as I started on dinner and he and Sasha had a noisy reunion in the garage.
Now they’re wrestling like puppies on the living-room floor, huge smiles on their faces. When he sees me, Johnny disentangles himself, jumps up and wraps me in his arms, nuzzling my neck, breathing me in before kissing me. Sasha has his arms wrapped around our waists, squealing with excitement. I decide to bring things down a notch.
‘Why don’t you keep Sasha company while he has a bath, and he can fill you in on what he’s been doing at school?’
‘Anything you want, Ames. Come on, kid.’ They head off, Sasha holding his father’s hand as if he’s afraid to let go.
I’ve prepared lamb chops with five different veggies. Based on the sheer volume of takeaway-food containers I threw out earlier, there’s no way Johnny’s been getting enough greens. While it was still daylight, I made sure to take the bins out, too. If I fail to persuade him to leave with us, at least I can try to protect him from getting shot tomorrow night.
We sit around the kitchen table as if nothing strange has been going on in the Novak household. I smile the whole way through dinner; I can’t help it. Johnny and Sasha are so pleased to see each other.
Sasha finally gets serious. ‘Are you and Mummy getting divorced?’
Johnny stares at me, shocked, as if I’ve put this thought into his son’s head. ‘No, we’re not getting divorced, Sash,’ he says slowly. ‘I’ve had to work really hard since Uncle Ivan went to heaven. But that will all be over in a couple of days. Then the three of us can go away on a holiday together.’
‘I miss Uncle Ivan, Dad.’ Sasha is so earnest it makes my heart break.
‘I miss him too, Sash.’ Johnny looks away, trying to keep his own emotions under control.
I’m probably the only person who does not miss Ivan.
‘School breaks up on Friday, doesn’t it, Mum?’
I nod.
‘Dad, are you coming to the school concert on Thursday night? I’m a spaceman.’ Sasha is suddenly animated again. ‘Mrs Glen gave me a really good part. She reckons I’m a natural. Mum and Nanna made my costume. You should see it, Dad. It’s awesome. I look totally like I’m from outta space!’
Johnny eyes cloud over and he silently beseeches me for some sort of guidance. Okay, then, the job is happening on Thursday night. I fold my arms across my chest. Let’s see how you get out of this one, Johnny Novak.
‘I’m sorry, mate. I’m working on Thursday night. There’s no way I’ll be able to be there. But Mum will take a video on her phone, so I’ll see everything.’
Sasha is so crestfallen that I come to Johnny’s rescue.
‘Don’t worry, Sasha, we’ll show Daddy your costume on Saturday. You can put it back on again, use your laser gun on him and then I’ll show him the video. Okay?’
Sasha nods bravely, but he’s clearly not happy.
‘Why do you have to work at night, Dad? Everyone else’s dad works in the daytime.’
And this is the reason we have to get out of this life. Right there. Johnny sees it too.
‘It’s the last time, Sash. I’ll be there for the next school play. I promise.’
‘Right, Sasha, it’s time for bed.’ I look at Johnny. ‘Why don’t you tuck him in and read him a story while I clean up?’ It’s only seven-thirty and I usually let Sasha stay up until eight, but he’s exhausted, and I need some time alone with my husband.
By the time I’ve turned the dishwasher on for the second time this evening, Johnny is closing the door to Sasha’s room.
I follow him into the living room. He folds me into his arms again. I touch the swelling on his jaw and raise my eyebrows. He ignores me and leans down to kiss me. I put my hands on his chest and push him back, just a bit. A month ago, I would have been all over him. We would have tried to stifle our laughter as we ran down the hallway to our bedroom, as mad for each other as we were the first time.
But a lot has happened in the last month and, right now, making love to my husband is not an option. I stare up at the two bullet holes in our living-room wall. They’re bigger now. I start to wonder why, but then remember what I came here to do.
‘If I say I need space from you, Johnny, that means your whole fucked-up family. I don’t want Josef rear-ending me outside the school. I don’t want Marko or Anto lurking around outside Mum and Dad’s, waiting to escort me to school and back. By the way, it was Anto this evening. But you know that, because he would have been waiting outside in his car when you got home. Right?’
Johnny nods.
‘It’s driving me insane. You have to stop.’ I can’t help it, my eyes are filling with tears.
‘Okay, I get it. But, Ames, I’m trying to protect you. We just need to get through the next few days and then we’ll go away together. Why don’t you book something, and we’ll leave on the weekend? The three of us, somewhere nice, like Byron. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’
‘The job is on Thursday night. Right?’
‘It’s the last job I’ll ever need to do. It’s the big one, babe. After this we’ll be set.’ He tries to pull me back against him, but I spring away like a scared cat. Sitting down on the sofa, I point to an armchair.
‘Johnny, you need to listen very carefully. This is the last time I’m telling you. And yes, I am issuing an ultimatum.’ Now I’ve got his full attention. ‘We need to leave now. Before the job on Thursday night. You can see Sasha is right on the cusp of understanding his dad is not like other dads. He’s not stupid. He looks up to you. He wants to be like you. He’ll put it together soon, and what sort of message will you be giving him? Being in a gang is cool?’
He looks devastated, I got him where it hurts. I know there’s no way he wants Sasha following in his footsteps.
‘We can sell the house remotely,’ I continue. ‘We’ve got two hundred and fifty thousand in cash. That’s enough to set us up somewhere new, while we both get jobs. Real jobs. Hell, most people never manage to amass that much cash. Don’t be greedy.’ He has his head in his hands now. This could be working. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this job,’ I continue. ‘And you still haven’t told me why I need protecting? Who was following me last night? If you’re putting Sasha and me at risk, I will disappear for good. That’s what I’ll do, Johnny. That’s what’s at stake for you, right now.’
I’ve laid it on the line. He needs to understand just how serious I am. I’ll put Sasha’s welfare before his, every single day of the week.
‘Ames, let’s talk this through properly, I’ve got a plan too.’
‘The only plan right now is my plan. I mean it. The plan where you agree with me. It’s Tuesday night. In the morning you call off the boys. Tell them I’m home and they’re all off the hook. We pack up and leave. Tomorrow. I can’t tell you how deadly serious I am. You can call your father when we get up north. He’ll forgive you, and Branka will be happy. At least you’ll be alive.’
Johnny is sitting across from me, poleaxed. He seems older and very tired, but he still doesn’t look convinced. I want to punch him. What will it take to get him to change his mind?
‘I’ve told you.’ His bloodshot hazel eyes are pleading. ‘I can’t leave everyone in the lurch. I can’t leave Mum and Dad right now. Give me until Friday, Ames. Two days. Can you please just give me two more days?’
I want to relent. I want to walk around the coffee table, sit in his lap and kiss the worry from his face. I want to promise him I will never leave. But I look up at those holes in the wall again and harden my heart.
‘Help me load Sasha in the car. I’ve got to get out of here. I’m going back to Mum and Dad’s.’
‘Leave him be, he’s asleep. I’ll stay here on the sofa and you can sleep in our room. You’ll have all the space you need tonight, and I’ll feel better, knowing you’re safe.’
‘But I’m not safe here, am I, Johnny? And neither is Sasha. We’re leaving. You can help, or you can sit there.’
I march up the hall before I can second-guess myself, and open the door to Sasha’s room. He’s fast asleep, sprawled across his spaceman sheets, left foot dangling off the bed. Johnny follows me, gently picks up our sleeping son and settles him in the back of my car. Sasha barely stirs.
Johnny holds me by the shoulders. ‘Don’t you get it, Ames? You’re putting yourself and our son at risk, being out there on your own.’
There’s such a big part of me wanting to stay, but he has to believe that I’ll deliver on my threat to leave him for good. It’s the only way I can change his mind.
‘You’re the one putting us at risk, Johnny. You did this, not me. You want us back? You need to walk away from it all.’
He insists on following us home in the Jeep. It’s only as the boom gate closes behind me that I remember he didn’t answer my question. Who followed me home last night?
JOHNNY
A loud throbbing roar jolts me awake. After a moment, I work out it’s motorbikes. Lots of them. I pull on a pair of jeans and grab my gun from under the pillow. Leaving the lights off, I run to the living room and peer out the window, trying not to be seen. There are at least ten bikies in leathers propped on the lawn in front of the house, revving their engines. I recognise the Hyde twins by their size. I’ve no idea which one is Slater. They’ve all got helmets on.
More bikies are driving up and down the street, one of them popping wheelies. What the fuck? The noise is incredible. Lights come on in all the houses I can see from the window. Someone will call the police. I’m going to have to go out and confront these fuckheads. My guts turn to ice as I stick my gun down the back of my jeans and move to the front door. I grab the cricket bat too—it might come in handy if I live long enough to wield it.
Just as I’m about to open the door, the noise changes. I rush back to the living-room window. The bikies are pulling out, one by one, heading away. Damage done. My reputation in this street has gone from bad to worse.
Wide awake, furious and frustrated, I head to the home gym in the back corner of the garage. It’s been a couple of weeks since I had a good workout and I might as well make use of the energy coursing through me. My hands are shaking as I bind my wrists and pull on my boxing gloves. I start out with simple combinations on the punching bag hanging from the rafters. Working up the rhythm. I swap over to the speed ball in the corner, right for four, left for four, then alternate hands, over and over, faster and faster. Then back to the bag, dancing around it this time, pounding it with left and right jabs and solid roundhouse hooks, then complicated combinations, until I’m just a punching machine beating the shit out of the hundred-pound bag, sweat flying. Faces appear in front of me, Dad, Marko, MacPherson, Slater. When I finally grind to a halt, I take off the gloves, roll out the mat and give myself one hundred crunches, one hundred squats, then one hundred push-ups.
After a quick shower, I collapse face-first on the bed.
This time, I wake to the sound of my phone ringing. Marko.
‘Can you come to your parents’ place?’
‘Why? Not sure I want to see Dad right now.’ My hand goes straight to my jaw as I sit up and check the time—7.30 a.m.
‘It is important you come now.’ Marko insists. ‘You need to talk to the boss, and Tetka Branka wants to make you breakfast.’
The thought of my mum’s breakfast overrides the memory of how I got my aching jaw.
‘Okay. I’ll be there in twenty.’
I check myself out in the mirror. Clear-eyed. The midnight work-out did me good. But there’s a big purple bruise on my jawline. I have a shower and head over to Mum and Dad’s.
The smell of grilling bacon welcomes me. Mum gives me a hug and touches my bruised jaw, before kissing me on both cheeks, a sure sign of a thaw in relations. I hold onto my mama for longer than usual, letting myself relax. I want to unburden myself, let the tears come. She must feel it, because she pats me on the back and pushes me away, handing me a mug of coffee as she points towards the back of the house.
‘Your tata wait for you. His mood better today. After, you come back here and eat. You too skinny.’
‘Thanks, Mum, I’m starving.’
As I walk down the hall, I realise that I don’t actually care what my father thinks of me right now; all I care about is Amy and Sasha. I want this over. I want them safe at home.
Dad’s in his chair at the end of the table, Marko on his left, as if they haven’t moved since I left in disgrace yesterday. I stop a few feet from the table and raise my cup as a salute. Dad and Marko raise theirs in response.
‘Sit, son, sit. Marko tell me I owe you apology.’
I sit down slowly, giving myself time to think. I know that cunning look in Dad’s eyes—this is a test. Marko looks worried, as though this wasn’t the plan.
‘I owe you an apology, Dad. I should have checked with you first, before I involved the police.’
Dad’s face splits into a grin. It’s such a rare sight, I can’t help but grin back at him. He leans over and slaps me on the shoulder.
‘You are right, my son. You are right, you owe me apology and I am big man.’ He spreads his arms wide. ‘I accept.’ His gaze moves away from me to Marko. ‘Your cousin, he convince me. This new idea is good idea. Good for us, not for Stanislav. Not for Ink Slater. What you think, son?’
‘Right, Dad, you’re right, good for us. Bad for everyone else. The way it should be.’
‘Marko, look at my son. The way it should be, us here together. Ivan should be here too.’ His face falls. ‘We take care of that at right time.’ He raises his coffee cup again.
Marko mouths You owe me and I nod in return.
Dad drains his coffee.
‘Marko also tell me Amy and Sasha come back to you last night.’
‘Anto told me he followed them to your place after school,’ Marko explains, before I get the wrong idea. ‘He waited outside until you got home. He told me we could all have the morning off because you would be taking care of it.’
And that’s exactly what I thought would happen. I’m not going to admit she didn’t stay. Besides, she made me promise—no more tails. She has to be able to trust me, and I have to trust her to be careful.
Dad looks at Marko and then at me. I can almost hear the cogs whirring in his mind as he calculates his next move.
‘Now Marko works with you. Wherever you go, Marko goes. Anto as well. You stay together. You protect each other until this is over.’ He slaps his palm down on the table and gets up, pronouncement made. Marko and I have already agreed to work together on this job; we exchange wary glances and nod our agreement.
Dad holds up his hand; he’s not finished yet.
‘You owe Marko big debt, so you treat him with respect. Together we clean up after you.’ Dad points a thumb at himself and then rotates it ninety degrees to point at Marko. I’m getting a bad feeling.
‘What do you mean, clean up?’
‘We clean up your friend Nick. I told you, no loose ends. Now we have all crew onboard for Thursday night.’
My empty stomach flips over.
‘Fuck, Dad. Why? That was completely unnecessary.’ I shoot a look at Marko, who has the grace to wince as he shrugs. Anto is going to think I was in on it. ‘I had a perfectly good plan. I promised Anto. I promised Nick the worst was over. Fuck, fuck, fuck.’
‘Grow up, son. You sound like baby. Plans change. Is good for family.’ Dad’s smile is cruel.
‘If it is any consolation to you, Nick was high on the ketamines,’ Marko adds, as if it’s going to make me feel better. ‘He had no idea what was happening, he thought we were going fishing when we took him out to the middle of the river in Baz’s boat. I was behind him and used my silencer. He felt no pain. So you owe me for that, too.’
Christ! There’s no way Nick had to die. My plan would have worked. What a fucking waste. It’s too late to argue about it with my father, or Marko. It’s done and I need to let it go. Fuck.
What else will my father decide to change before tomorrow night? There are still all sorts of ways this job could go pear-shaped and we could all end up in jail or dead.
