3
I could hear muffled speech in the corridor. I lifted the gaffer tape as far as I could away from my ears. Heated or just frustrated, I couldn’t tell which, but there were certainly a few ‘Goddams’ and ‘No way, their asses are ours’ being bandied around out there. It sounded like something bad was happening for them, but of course that didn’t necessarily mean something good was happening for us.
That cell in Tbilisi suddenly seemed very close again.
Boots and tyres crunched across the gravel.
I hated times like this, not knowing what the f*ck was happening. Maybe the police were already here, working on Charlie first? He might not be in great shape these days, but they wouldn’t get much out of him.
They’d probably tell me the old f*cker had confessed everything, but I knew the last thing Charlie would do was give them any ammunition. His hands might swing into disco mode and his memory might let him down, but some things are so deeply ingrained they’re second nature.
I spent a moment or two wondering where the silly old fool was. If I got out, did I run around and try and find him? Without a doubt. Even bollock-naked and with my hands taped to my head, I’d still try and break down every door along the corridor until I found him. Then all we’d need were two sets of clothes, our passports and some kind of transport out of here, and Bob’s your uncle.
Back in the real world, I did my best to uncurl myself and stretch my back and legs, trying to relieve the pain in my muscles and the pressure points against the lino.
It started to get cold, so I reversed the process. They’d probably adjusted the air conditioning, to soften me up before they came and read me my horoscope.
Half an hour or so later, I had to stretch out on the floor again, every bone in my body aching. Which god had I pissed off so mightily this time? What wrong turning had led me here, my arse leaking KY jelly, my head mummified with gaffer tape, just when things had started looking up?
Deep down, I’d always known that I’d f*ck up big-time one day, but it had never bothered me much.
Until Kelly came along.
Funny how a snot-nosed kid with a moth-eaten teddy bear can make you pay attention.
I was never the knight in shining armour she deserved, and nothing I did would stop me blaming myself for failing to save her life, but even now I was back in my old familiar world I realized normal service hadn’t quite resumed.
I knew I was always destined to be smack at the bottom of the food chain, and I’d almost got to like it. But Kelly made me dare to think for a moment that there might be something better around the corner.
And now Silky was doing it all over again. She’d become my gatekeeper, my interpreter in a world that spoke a language I barely understood.
What was she doing right now? What was she wearing? What kind of stuff would we do together when I got back? I would take her tandem jumping again for sure, maybe train her to freefall.
I couldn’t believe how much I missed her. For the first time in as long as I could remember, the sum total of my feelings wasn’t ‘bollocks to that’. I was actually looking forward to being with someone, and really wanting it.
If I ever managed to get out of here, I wouldn’t moan at her for the way she strapped her board on top of the VW. I’d even let her play the Libertines all the way from Cairns to Sydney and back again if she wanted to.
In the meantime, I curled myself up again, like the body in the boot of the Audi, closed my eyes and tried to think good things.
It was all I could do for now.