Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (2 page)

“Hey kid, long time no see!” someone called.

I glanced over to Ray lifting his welding mask from his face. I smiled, this guy taught me everything I know about cars, well scratch that, everything illegal I know about cars. I walked over and gave him an awkward hug while he patted me on the back affectionately.

“Hey Ray, how’s it going?” I asked, looking over at the silver Porsche DB7 on the ramp, its bonnet removed for easy access to the engine.

“Things are great. I have a daughter,” he stated proudly.

“No shit, really? Congrats,” I said honestly. Ray would be twenty nine now and must have been married for ten years. Him and his wife were trying for a baby when I knew him, he didn’t think they would ever get pregnant.

“Thanks, we called her Samantha, she’s two,” he gushed, grinning. I slapped him on the shoulder, he always took care of me and would make an awesome father.

“I’m really pleased for you man, honestly, that’s awesome.” I grinned, at least someone’s life is working out for them, he deserved to be happy. Yeah he had an illegal job, but Ray was one of the best people I knew and I was honestly ecstatic for him.

“Thanks. How you been?” he asked, sounding concerned looking me over slowly, probably to see if I had any cuts or anything.

“I’m good. I’m about to go see Brett, I’ll talk to you later, maybe we could go for a drink or something?” I asked hopefully. I wanted nothing to do with anyone in this world anymore now that I was trying to go straight, but I loved Ray and would love to keep in touch with him. Well, that’s if I lived through the next few minutes, which was highly doubtful.

“Absolutely, here I’ll give you my number and you can call me and sort something out. You have a place to stay? You could come and stay with me, Tracy wouldn’t mind, you could meet Sam,” he offered hopefully.

I shook my head smiling as I slipped his number in my pocket, jeez I forgot what a nice guy he was.

“It’s ok, I got a place, they set it up for me, but thanks anyway.”

“Kid, come on, you know Boss doesn’t like to wait!” Ed called from behind me. I sighed and gave Ray another man-hug and followed Ed up the back stairs feeling like I was taking the long walk to my death. Maybe I should have stayed downstairs and have him kill me down there, so that poor Ed wouldn’t have to carry my body down a flight of stairs.

I thought about my life as I walked up the stairs, my short eighteen years of life, wasted, a pile of shit, what was the point in me even bothering? I had eighteen years of life and to be honest for about fifteen of them I wished I was dead. Maybe this wasn’t too bad after all, at least I wouldn’t have to bother anymore, I wouldn’t have to try and change, changing would be hard, probably the hardest thing I would ever have to do, so maybe I should be grateful I was about to bite it.

I stopped outside the office door, Ed smiled as he knocked. Crap, maybe I should have given Ray my money that I’d been given, he could spend it on his daughter or something instead of it just being buried with me, damn it I should have thought of that!

“Come in!” Brett shouted through the door.

“See you after Kid, we’ll catch up,” Ed said, opening the door and slapping me on the shoulder as I walked past him into the office.

“Sure Ed, whatever,” I said dismissively, rolling my eyes. Why he was bothering to act like he didn’t know what was coming, was beyond me.

I stepped in and he was sitting behind his desk, his office was still done out exceptionally, just like I remembered it. His huge antique oak wooden desk that had taken four huge guys to carry up the stairs it was so big and heavy, was still pride of place in the centre of the room. The expensive vases and statues behind him, even the house plant on his desk looked exotic. Brett liked the best, he always did. He stood up, smiling warmly at me in his expensive grey tailored suit.

“Hey, Kid! Good to see you,” he said, coming round his desk and pulling me into a hug.

“Yeah you too, Brett,” I lied, trying to control my voice. I was actually quite scared, I just prayed he liked me enough to do it quick. A nice shot to the face, or even better, the back of the head so I wouldn’t see it coming.

He pulled back and smiled at me, “So how was it? Ok?” he asked, gripping his hands on my shoulders affectionately.

I nodded, “It was ok,” I said honestly. I glanced round and saw two guys sitting on the sofa off to the side, shit one of them was Terry from juvie. Great, well I guess killing me is a fitting payback for me breaking his face! “Terry,” I greeted, nodding in acknowledgement. Brett started to laugh and slapped me on the shoulder as he walked back round to his side of the desk.

“Yeah, I forgot you two may have some issues to work out before you can work together,” he said, still chuckling. Work together? What the hell does that mean? I looked at him, trying to work out what he meant by that comment. “Maybe you should kiss and make up,” Brett suggested, shrugging and looking extremely amused.

“He can kiss my fucking ass if he wants,” I answered, looking at Terry warningly, he glared at me and stood up. Yeah right, as if he had a chance.

“You little shit, Jamie. I swear to god I’ll…” he started, but Brett held up a hand silencing him.

“Enough! I won’t have you two fighting. Terry, you’ve been here for the last three years so I’ve seen how you operate, but trust me, you don’t want to be having a problem with the kid,” he said laughing.

I gulped, I didn’t want to get into a fight but I knew I could defend myself if I needed to. I’d always been good at taking care of myself, probably because I’d learnt how to block out pain. I mean sure I still felt it but I just didn’t care, pain made you strong, meant you were still alive, pain could be your friend when you think you’re dead inside.

I smiled challenging at Terry, I’d love to see him go against Brett’s orders. Terry was a real asshole and I’d seen him make many guys lives misery in the year that he was in juvie at the same time as me. He sneered at me and sat back down, I looked back to Brett who was smiling at me proudly.

“So then kid, where are you staying? I’ve set up an apartment for you, just in case. I thought you’d like a couple of days off to get settled, then back to work when you’re ready. I’ve missed your skills and loyalty,” Brett said, rummaging through his desk drawers. Holy shit he thinks I’m going start to work for him again? Oh crap!

“Um Brett, I don’t want this life anymore, I want to start over. I’m gonna get a job, go straight,” I said quietly.

He laughed and looked at me, obviously thinking I was joking. “That’s funny, kid.” He pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to me, “Here, it’s a two bed. We’ll sort out rent and stuff later, go chill. I would imagine that you need to hook up with some girls, right? Four years is a long time,” he said, winking at me.

I looked at him shocked, it would be so easy to take the keys and go, go find some hooker and settle back into this life, I was good at it, going straight would be hard. I looked at the keys in my hand, a nice apartment, good money, wow, it would be easy. But I didn’t have the reason to do it anymore, I didn’t need to bring home the money and have this life. The reason I had to do this died the day I became a murderer. I put the keys back on the desk and shook my head.

“Brett, thank you for going to all this trouble for me, but I can’t, I don’t want to do this.” Oh God please let me try to go straight!

He looked at me shocked, “Kid, I need you here, we’ve been lost without you. The car orders aren’t getting filled, we have no one who can boost like you can.” I could see by the slight tightening of his jaw that he was getting annoyed. He always got what he wanted, no one ever said no to Brett.

“I’m sorry Brett, I am. But I’m not doing this,” I said sternly. I’d made up my mind, either I went straight, or he would have to kill me.

He slammed his fist down on the desk, “You think you can just walk away? For two years I looked after you, showed you my business, two years I spent training you, and you think you can just walk away? You can’t!” he shouted.

“I can’t do this. I’m sorry, Brett, I won’t.” I shook my head and looked him right in the eye showing him I wasn’t going to back down.

He nodded to the two guys behind me, I closed my eyes waiting to die, they both grabbed me and slammed me face first into the desk pinning me there. Someone’s arm was across the back of my neck pressing down, making it hard to breathe, I would imagine it was Terry. I felt something hard press against my temple and the click as the trigger was cocked.

“Kid, I won’t let you walk away, you haven’t put in enough time to walk away. You know the rules, you want out, you earn it, just like everyone else. You still owe me,” Brett growled angrily.

I opened my eyes to see he was the one holding the gun, I didn’t bother to struggle, I was dead either way there was no way I was getting out of here. “Just kill me then, I’m not doing it,” I said.

The gun pressed harder into my temple making pain shoot down my jaw.

“I don’t want to kill you kid. You’re good at what you do, probably the best. It’s a waste,” Brett admitted, looking at me hopefully.

The pressure on the back of my neck increased, “No!” I choked out.

Brett sighed. “I need you to do a job, it’s five cars, one night, I need the order filled, you’re the only one that can do it. I waited until you were out before agreeing, if I can‘t fill the order there‘ll be trouble for me and you don’t want that now do you?” Brett said angrily. “One job, then you’re out, but I need you to do this boost.”

One job? But would it stop at one? I loved boosting cars, the thrill of it was like some sort of addictive high, if I started would I be able to stop? I don’t think I would.

“No, Brett. I’m sorry,” I said squeezing my eyes shut, knowing that this wasn’t going to be painless.

“You should think of your mother kid, she’s so screwed up, having her daughter murdered like that, then her son getting sent down, she kind of went off the rails. I’ve been looking after her, it’d be a shame if something bad happened to her while she’s doing so well,” he said shrugging.

Son of a bitch is threatening my Mom? I pressed my hands down on the desk shoving myself up, the two guys slammed me back down to the table.

“You leave her alone! Don’t you fucking dare!” I shouted acidly, making Brett laugh.

“Kid, I like her, honestly. I don’t want to have to break her bones or make her bleed, the choice is yours, one job and I’ll leave your mother alone,” he offered.

Damn it! As much as I hated my Mom, she was still my mother at the end of the day and I didn’t want her hurt, especially not the type of hurt I’d seen Brett inflict on so many other people.

“One job?” I asked breathlessly.

“One job,” Brett confirmed. Christ, I didn’t have a choice!

I nodded and Terry yanked me back up by the back of my shirt, he patted the top of my head,

“There’s a good boy,“ he said condescendingly, I gritted my teeth trying not to react to him.

“Great! The job is in three days, five cars. Here, take this cell and I‘ll call you with the details, I had it all set up for you and take the apartment too.” Brett smiled, sliding a phone and the keys back across the desk.

I grabbed the phone and shoved it deep into my pocket. “I’ve got a place. One job is what we’ve agreed so I don’t need the apartment, thanks anyway,” I said, trying to be polite even though I just wanted to kill him.

He nodded and smiled a sly smile, “Ok kid, whatever you want, I’ll speak to you later, and it really is good to see you,” he said affectionately.

“You too Brett, and thanks for looking after my Mom for me.”

He nodded, “Of course, you’re like family to me kid, of course I’d look after her, she was grieving,” he said, shrugging. I gulped and tried not to think about my mother grieving for her daughter, my sister, Sophie.

I turned to leave and just as I got to the door I stopped and looked at Terry, he sneered at me so I punched him as hard as I could in the face, hearing the satisfying snap of his nose as blood spurted out of his nostrils.

“Don’t ever touch me again, there’s a good boy,” I spat angrily. I turned and walked out of the door, ignoring Brett roaring with laughter behind me.

I shoved my way past Ed, who was waiting outside the office door, and stormed off down the stairs to the workshop. “Ray, I’m now leaving, I’ll call you and we’ll go out for that drink, ok?” I gave him another man hug.

“Sure, kid. You doing the order?” he asked curiously. I nodded reluctantly, “Awesome! It’s been a while since we had a pro here, most of the time the cars turn up with broken windows and scratches, it’s pathetic.” He shook his head in disapproval. Broken windows and scratches? Wow, no wonder he wanted me back if that’s how they were boosting cars now days!

“Right, well I better go, I’ll speak to you later.” I turned and headed out of the warehouse quick, before Brett could change his mind and have me killed in some brutal manner. The only thing I could hope for was that he kept his word and left it at one job, and that I didn’t get addicted to the rush.

I jumped in the first cab I saw and gave the driver the address for the apartment that the parole officer had set up for me. The cab driver looked at me strangely, “You sure you want to go here?” he asked, looking at me skeptically.

Wow, that wasn’t a good sign at all.

“Yeah thanks,” I confirmed, looking out of the window not wanting to talk to him. I couldn‘t stop thinking about the job, five cars in one night was a lot, it would be hard, hopefully Brett will have scoped out the owners routines and stuff for me so they’ll be exactly where they should be.

As the cab drove, the streets outside the window got worse and worse, trash and graffiti everywhere, smashed bottles on the sidewalk, windows and doors boarded up on the houses. He pulled to a stop outside this awful looking building, there were people all milling around smoking joints and stuff in broad daylight.

“This is it,” he announced, looking around cautiously.

I handed him the money and stepped out, smelling the sweet smell of burning weed as soon as the door opened. The cab sped away as soon as I shut the door leaving me standing there amongst the scummy looking people, who were all looking at me like they wanted to beat and rape the crap out of me. Wow, nice place.