The Wicked End

Claire tested the handcuffs that bound her to the chair and craned her neck to try and listen to the conversation that was taking place outside. The small lodge in the hills had no basement and therefore Zacky had kept her chained to the chair for long stretches, only allowing her bathroom breaks and meals. There had been silence between them, no repeat of the violence from before but she knew he was just biding his time.
She was doing pretty much the same. Claire had no intention of waiting around for them to kill her and no doubt that Frank would find a way to get to her if she could just get loose. Zacky was one man, if she could find a way to get a hand free and something to disable him with then she could be out and down the hill with a reasonable head start. Angel’s arrival in the previous hour had made it all the more urgent.
Something had happened, they had carried Johnny past her and into one of the cabin’s two small bedrooms and she recognised Mikey’s work from a mile away. The argument that seemed to be going on outside added to her sudden spring of hope that things weren’t going quite so well for her captors as before. The small man looked to be near death, his pained moans as two men had hefted him inside made her blood freeze.
“Shit, come on !”
Claire winced as she felt her skin tear and blood start to leak down the side of the cuff. She kept wriggling, determined that this lubrication could help her in her task and slowly the cuff started to climb up the fleshy part of her hand. A grim smile stalled on her features as the door was opened and Zacky followed Angel in, still talking in an icy tone.
“What the fuck do you mean Matt is dead ?”
“I did it for us, he was going to back out. This way we get the money and can just leave.”
Zacky paused and stared, shaking his head.
“You are one cold bitch.”
“Maybe but we are fucking close now. Payday time is almost here.”
Angel flashed Claire a smile, enjoying the venom that was oozing from every pore in the other woman’s skin. It was important to keep the remaining men calm and on side, not to let on that what was happening now wasn’t planned and that there was a reasonable chance that none of them would live out the day. Panic now would ruin everything.
“Your old man seems to think he can still win this.”
“Fuck you.”
Angel smiled again and shrugged, following Zacky into the bedroom where they had laid Johnny. The door was pushed to and Claire decided that this was probably going to be her only chance. They had not locked the door, or at least she hadn’t seen them so it was worth taking the risk. She could sneak across and try it at least. If the door didn’t open then there was a window or she could slip the cuff back on and try again later.
Claire tried to keep her breathing even and prayed that her leaden legs wouldn’t make her trip as she loosed the cuff. Her wrist was bleeding freely forcing her to wind down her sleeve to soak up the blood. If there was a trail they could follow her. Listening for any sound she crossed the space quickly and put a hand on the lever. There was a creak and for a moment she thought that nothing would happen before the door gave.
The warm breeze that hit her skin felt odd after her isolation and she carefully closed the door before skirting the side of the building and trying to get her bearings. There was a lot of hills on either side of her, far too high to climb and seemingly guarded as she could see men with guns on both sides. They were thankfully looking the other way but it suggested that the single track down the hill would be guarded too.
Claire scuttled across the path into the bushes and tried to rub some feeling back into her thighs before crawling into the cover that skirted the road. It was hard to stay quiet but at least she was out of sight and elation at being free was a powerful rush of pure adrenalin. She would get down that hill and find Frank, Gee and Mikey. Come back with them and watch the carnage that would ensue. She still intended to ask Frank for the pleasure of killing Zack personally.
It seemed like an eternity of crawling before she saw the man in front of her. He was alone but the road he guarded was blocked by a gate and he clearly had an automatic weapon. Claire knew she only had minutes, maybe less, before one of her tormentors came out of that room and saw that she was gone. There had to be a way past and the rocky path pointed at possibilities. Claire worked her way quietly toward a reasonable size boulder and carefully lifted it.
Still the man seemed not to have heard her and desperation combined with rage as she lifted the rock and brought it down heavily on the back of his head. The man grunted and dropped to his knees, the weapon dangling helplessly at his knees as Claire raised the rock again and broke it against his skull. He dropped and she landed on his back, another two blows making sure the man was never getting up again.
Claire pulled the gun away, the triumphant smile disappearing at the shouts echoing from up the path. She grabbed the key from his belt and slipped through the gate, locking the chainlink again behind her and throwing the key far into the bushes. There was still no one in sight but less cover and she willed her legs to move faster. There was a good three hundred yards before there was more trees and bushes to hide in and part of her expected to hear gunshots and feel the hot sting of a bullet at any moment. Her nerves were completely shredded as she crashed into the foliage and realised too late that there was a drop.
The ground disappeared and she fought back a screech as she tumbled, the only good part being that the gun stayed around her neck and didn’t go off. The floor of the forest connected painfully with her shoulder and hip before she came to a rest among a bed of leaves and moss. For a moment she rested back and let the pain ripple through her before gingerly feeling for broken bones and deciding that she had been fucking lucky.
More noise and then gunshots which told her they had shot the lock from the gate and where now nearby. Claire dug deeper into the welcoming branches and held her breath. She had fallen far enough not to be able to see up and over onto the path and was hoping that they wouldn’t see her either. She gripped the gun closer.
“FUCK, find the bitch. She can’t be fucking far.”
Zacky was fuming, he had four men and a lot of woodland that meant Claire could have found somewhere to hide and now she had a weapon. Angel looked less concerned, there was still only one way in and one way out. All that mattered was that Frank believed that Angel still held his wife captive.
“Leave the men searching and keep watching the perimeter. It’s more important that they don’t get the drop on us. Bitch can’t get far.”
Claire felt her heart rise. So this could only mean that Frank was indeed on his way to find her. All that mattered now was staying hidden and avoiding these men until she found a way down to them. There had to be a way she could feed her boys the information that would give them the edge. That they were actually facing so few foes would surprise them and it worried Claire that it all seemed a little easy. Only a few men and a remote location seemed to be on Angel’s side and Claire knew she was too smart for that.
“You heard the lady. FIND THE BITCH AND IN ONE PIECE.”
Claire waited, listening to the sounds of footsteps dying back before risking a look up and around. There was someone nearby but she couldn’t tell if they were still up on the road and it was a difficult and quite dangerous path to shimmy along the bank and stay parallel with the road. Everything seemed like it ached but she kept her progress slow and persistent until things evened out a little.
There were sounds around but Claire forced herself to keep going and risked another look before climbing back onto the path and scrambling across to the other side where there was deeper cover. A man whistled in the distance and she could hear shouts before they died back into the background. It was beginning to look like there was a town or some sort of habitation in the distance but she still had no idea where she was and the road just kept heading downward for what seemed like an eternity.
Every muscle now ached and she badly wanted to rest but that vision of safety was so close. Claire closed her eyes for a second and took a few deep breaths before dropping to a crawl and carrying on down. The strong hand that gripped her mouth was more of a shock than the arm around her waist and Claire bit down hard, blood against her lips before a familiar voice echoed into her ear.
“Jesus woman, are you fucking trying to take my hand off ?”
Relief rushed over Claire in waves as Gerard removed his hand from her mouth and shook it in a real effort to dislodge the pain. Frank pulled her away from him, his rage rising at the bruised face and torn clothes but grateful to see that she was alive and armed. A swell of pride went through him as Mikey ducked back down beside him and Claire pulled his lips to hers in a long kiss.
“How many Claire ?”
“Not many. No more than six but that’s the only way in and they have a good view of you coming up.”
Claire rested her head against Frank’s shoulder and allowed him to press a flask of water against her lips, gasping the fluid down quickly.
“We will have to wait for nightfall.”
“They know you’re coming.”
Frank grinned at the Way boys. He wanted them to know, wanted Angel to feel the fear like she had before and know that this time he was going to make sure there were no resurrections. Gerard hefted Claire’s gun and checked the magazine before handing it back.
“The car is down the hill. Go and lock yourself in and wait for us.”
Claire stared at all the men before cocking and reloading the gun.
“You have to be fucking joking.”

Notes