Imagine There's No Heaven - 4. Chapter 4

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people, sharing all the world…*

Mr and Mrs O’Malley knelt beside a wooden cross in the cordoned off area of the blast zone, and Mr Lachlan, the town’s only vet, added a single yellow rose amongst the hundreds of wreaths that crowded the side of the road. Dolly Loman, wept as she pinned a colour photograph of her daughter Rose on the makeshift notice board donated by the school. Her hands trembled and the drawing pin fell from her fingers. Ralph Henderson, a man who had fought in the Second World War, put up a poem dedicated to his twin great-grandsons who had died in the blast. He stooped to pick up the drawing pin and helped Mrs Swinden place it on the board. She stood back and wept louder. Mr Henderson held her in a comforting embrace as they both wept.

***

A cool breeze drifted down the main street of Laferty.

Colton stepped out from behind a parked car and made a dash for the bakery across the street. He was careful not to be seen, but he noticed the closed sign hanging from the doorknob and headed for the back entrance around the corner. He slipped through the entrance of the building and climbed the fire-escape up to his apartment on the second floor. He inserted the key. Turned the doorknob. It was locked. He knocked several times and waited, he knocked louder and louder until eventually the door was unlocked and his mam greeted him with a smile. He brushed passed her and headed straight for his room.

‘Colton Greaney, at least greet. If I recall correctly I raised you to have mann… Colton, what on earth is wrong with…’

She stepped towards her son who buried his face in his hands and wept like a jilted teenager.

‘Oh, my. What is it? Is Jack all right?’

He shook his head and tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come out. His face was pale and he bit the knuckles of his hand.

‘Good lord, my boy. I’ve never seen you like this. What has happened? Tell me.’

‘Oh, ma. They…they took him,’ he cried, unable to gaze into her eyes.

‘Took him? Jack? Who took him?’

He shrugged and sniffed. ‘I…I don’ know, ma. Know one knows. They…they said it was a police matter but I don’ think ‘twas the police, ma. So…so much blood.’

‘Blood? Where?’

‘In…in the ward. Someone killed three people to get to him.’

‘Oh lordy, my boy. Thank god you’re fine.’

‘No…no ma. I’m not fine. We…we have to leave here. It’s not safe. We have to get out of here, now. The cops will be lookin’ for me.’

‘Looking for you? Colt, what did you do, my boy? Why would they want you?’

‘No time to explain , ma. We have to go. It’s not safe here.’

‘Wait son. You’re thinking irrationally. I’ve lived in Laferty all of my life and everyone knows that if they have a beef with any one of my family, well, they’ll have to deal with me.’

‘Ma, you’re not listenin’ to me. This is not a family squabble where you can make amends the next day and say I’m sorry. This is serious business. They don’t care who they kill or mame to get what they want. They’ll kill us ma.’

She stood up and faced him with anger in her eyes. ‘I’m not going anywhere. What about the bakery? All these years. All the money wasted. This is my home and I will not be forced out of…’

‘Ma, you can go to Jesse, your sister. They’ll take good care of you, please ma. You have to listen to me.’

In the background the telephone rang. It was only when Ma Greaney turned to leave the room that she heard it. She went to answer but Colton beat her to it.

‘Whoever it is, you don’t know where I am. I haven’t come home for two days.’

Ma Greaney glared at him but knew that if they wanted Colton, it was serious business. She had no option but to protect her child. She lifted the receiver. ‘Sue Greaney, hello.’

‘Tell Colton that he has somethin’ that belongs to us. If he wants to see Jack alive, he’d best do whatever we tell him. Otherwise, you ALL die.’

The line went dead. She turned and glared at Colton with fear behind dark blue eyes.

‘It’s begun, then,’ he whispered.

***

Darkness surrounded him. It was cold and damp and his body trembled to retain warmth. He had dreamed of darkness and the moment the light was turned on, he always awoke from his nightmare. It was like dreaming of nothing. Like being dead with no light in a tunnel, no-one to meet him on his journey to heaven, if there was one at all. His face hurt. His eyes hurt. Without his sight, he may as well have been dead. Most importantly, without his sight, he couldn’t escape.

A door creaked open and slammed shut. A light came on. He couldn’t be sure, but there may have been three sets of footsteps coming towards him. He could smell them. They reeked of alcohol, like gin.

Two men approached him. One large and unshaven, the other chewing gum. One had a cross tattoed on his head. The other wore rings pierced through his eyebrows, lips and nose.

‘Well, well, well, what have we here?’

Jack recognized the speaker.

Peter Hunt.

He thought he would never see him again after he had fled the cell during the Warrington bombing.

‘Lost your tongue in the explosion, Jack?’ Hunt asked, giggling like a schoolgirl. ‘No matter. Let me tell you what we have here. A scared little gay boy who deserted us. Oh. Wait. This isn’t about you being gay. It about you squealing on us. You worked both sides. A mole for the British government. I’m amazed you didn’t die in that bus. You do know of-course that bomb was meant to kill you. But, now that we have you, we’re goin’ to make your life a livin’ hell. Yes, sir…’

Jack’s throat constricted. He coughed softly. ‘Why don’t….why don’t you kill me now and get it over with.’

‘Kill you now? No. No. That’s too easy. For sure, you will die, Jack. But not now, not today, not here. Yours will be a long, painful death. It’ll be my pleasure to watch it all happen. And when I’m finished with you, it’ll be your boyfriend’s turn, then his mother. Or maybe his mother first. Sweet, sweet Ma Greaney.’

‘Touch them and you’re dead.’

‘We aim to get it, Jack. That little notebook of yours. We should have it in a couple of hours. Then I will watch you die.’

***

‘What did they say, Ma?’

Silence.

‘Ma!’ he snapped his fingers close to her eyes.

She blinked and sat on the sofa. ‘’Twas a man’s voice. Soft and taunting. Said you have somethin’ that belongs to them. They want it back. If you don’t, we all die.’

‘The notebook.’

'What Notebook?'

'It belongs to Jack, Ma.'

'And you have this book?'

'Yes.'

'Well then, best you return it to them,' she smiled.

'I can't do that. There are things I need to know, Ma, and they're in that book.'

'Stop being so stubborn, Colt!' she said, and ran off to her bedroom. She shut the door.

Colton sped after her. ‘Please, we don’t have time to be doin this, Ma.’

‘Colton, go and pack some things,’ she shouted.

‘Ma, please. Open this door. I can’t leave without you, Ma.’

‘For God’s sake, Colton! Don’t take much. Just the clothes on your back and maybe your leather jacket. Do it, Colt.’

He opened the door.

“What…?’ he exclaimed.

She had a weapon in her hand and fumbled around with the bullets as she tried to load the chamber.

‘Where did you get that?’

‘Like you say, no time for explanations. These people don’t want to interfere with my family. They have no idea what I can do.’

‘That’s a gun, ma.’

‘I know, and it knows. But you need to know that I know how to handle this weapon. Now you best get going. I don’t know what this is all about, but when I do find out, you and Jack better have a royal explanation.'

Colton’s eyes grew wider when he heard the sirens.

‘Get out, now! Mary’s husband returned Jack’s bike. The keys are on the kitchen table. Go! I’ll deal with the police and whoever else comes knocking. No one is going to take what we built up from nothing. No one.’

He didn’t have to be reminded twice. He grabbed the keys and sprinted out of the apartment. Used the fire escape. No helmet. Key inserted. Kick start applied. The bike roared then died. Kick start. Roar.

Within moments he was away, taking the back route out of town.

He turned the corner just as the sheriff and seven police vehicles stopped in front of the bakery.