Six

A Chapter by Darius Greeves

"Oscar gets in deep"

Oscar looked at his watch. He didn’t know why. He wasn’t waiting for a particular time or in fact anything at all. He realised that although he’d looked at his watch he hadn’t really looked at it. He glanced to his wrist again. 3:05am. He thought back to George. God, why couldn’t he get him out of his head? It was that stupid stain on his tie. Who wears a stained tie? He kept thinking. Who wears a tie these days anyway? It seemed that the more you do your job does not necessarily mean the easier it gets. In fact this whole killing thing was getting less and less palatable. When he’d followed Herbert Reinhardt he’d seen he was the same. A family man by all accounts. Wife, two boys. He’d tried to argue to station; ‘I’ll put a mask on’ he’d said.

‘You’ll have to kill anyone who sees you’ they just kept repeating ‘anyone who knows what you were asking for’. He didn’t know why. Why couldn’t he just tie them up until it was done? He had to get a new job, he thought. 3:06. He knew he was stalling. Of course he was. He wasn’t scared of killing, he’d done it plenty. He was just starting to wonder if it was all necessary. ‘Don’t let their lives deceive you’ he remembered the training ‘Young, old, thin, fat, good looking, ugly, anyone can be a killer’. He shook off these thoughts and got out of his car, and yet he knew he hadn’t really shaken the thoughts off, otherwise he wouldn’t be in this stupid mask. Man, he hated this f*****g mask. As he walked toward the house he started to pity the people inside, and then himself for having to do this. Why me? He thought. He always thought himself a hero, but now he was in the position to do anything heroic he was struggling to do anything other than what was programmed into him. But that was just it. To do anything other than what he had been trained to do would be to defy programming. It took a lot to do that. He realised he was but one nail in a toolbox. Hammered where and when needed. He stifled a laugh as he cut the wires he’d dug up under the garden after completing the circuit through an alternate route he’d made himself. He then made his way into the house as quietly as he could. He made his way upstairs " he didn’t know which room was Herbert’s but it didn’t take much looking around to find it. When he did he wandered inside quietly. As he stood there looking at Herbert and his wife he prepared himself. He knew that to get what he wanted he’d have to play a part. The part of the villain. He coughed and the two startled awake, Oscar held his gun up and put his finger to his lips, he noticed Herbert trying to subtly push a button next to his bed.

‘Did you know’, he spoke slowly and quietly. The mask slightly muffled his voice, he enjoyed the strange sense of anonymity. ‘There are 36 separate alarms around this house, and all I had to do was cut two little wires’, he noticed Herbert stop pushing the button and go to say something, ‘Shh, not too loud, we don’t want to wake the boys do we?’, the parents looked at each other,

‘What do you want?’ Herbert seemed as if he was trying to stay calm, perhaps for his wife.

‘Get dressed and go downstairs now’, the pair looked at each other and did as requested, when they got downstairs Oscar tied up Herbert’s wife, whom he’d established was called Carol, and took Herbert into the kitchen. He pulled up a chair for him and sat him on it. He let silence fill the room as he lit a cigarette and smoked it by lifting his mask slightly. He didn’t smoke often, but when he did it was to make a point. He turned to Herbert ‘I am going to ask you one very simple question. If you answer truthfully I will leave you alone. You will be tied up and held here until I am finished with my job, but once that is done I will not harm you, I will not harm your family’, Oscar paused ‘If you do not… none of that will happen’. Herbert said nothing. Oscar crouched next to him, such that he was at his level. He looked right into his eyes and somehow knew how scared this man was of him. As much as he hated it, he was good at his job. ‘Where is Eli West?’. The room went silent. Herbert looked up at Oscar but said nothing, he hardly moved. ‘You know what I’m talking about’, this was half statement half question, but again Herbert didn’t move. Oscar stood up and walked to the kitchen door, placed his hand on the handle and turned back to face Herb. ‘Last chance’. Herb said nothing. He opened the door and walked confidently upstairs. This was the bit he really hated. He grabbed the two boys who were screaming and took them downstairs. Herb was alternating between screaming to let them go and trying to comfort them. Oscar tied up the younger one and dragged the older one to the doorway. He kneeled him down in the doorway and pointed the gun to the back of his head before shouting as he looked around at the various sources of noise ‘SHUT UP!SHUT. UP’. It worked. The house went silent. Other than the boys’ quiet sobbing nothing could be heard. ‘Last chance. I don’t want to kill him, but don’t forget I have three opportunities to do this’, this last sentence led to a louder sob as well as some sort of plea from the mother.

‘Please’ that was all Herbert would say, so Oscar looked him back in the eyes

‘This is you’, he fired the gun. The boy fell down onto his face - scar was relieved, he knew what should’ve happened but didn’t think Herbert would be so defiant. Everyone started screaming as Oscar slammed the door shut and walked into the kitchen, ‘SHUT UP HERB! You still have a son and a wife in there you better start thinking about them!’, all Oscar could here was a f**k you between the sobs. This b*****d he thought. Then went back out to grab the wife. As he reached for her wrist he heard Herb scream,

‘WAIT!’ He had him. He walked back into the kitchen and crouched again,

‘Tell me’, Herb desperately tried to cut through his own tears

‘I don’t know exactly where he is’, Oscar raised an eyebrow, ‘On my laptop, there is a file under the protected folder - I’ll give you all the passwords - it’s called homes. It’s a list of safe houses we use’, Herb was still crying.

‘How many?’

‘About 750’

‘That’s not good enough Herb’, Oscar started to get up

‘No! No! Listen, I know we were moving him tonight, but the file takes a while to update. Within the next 24 hours, maybe 48, one of those addresses on that list will disappear. That’s where he’ll be’ Oscar stared at him with scepticism,

‘If you’re f*****g lying to me Herb…’

‘No I’m not please, just don’t hurt my other son, please’, satisfied, Oscar stood up and turned around, as he walked out the kitchen door and went to get the laptop he started to explain the situation to Herb. At the same time he decided what he was going to do.

‘Your son’s fine’ Oscar explained. The remaining members of the family stopped crying for a moment and concentrated on the boy and Oscar, ‘I shot him just above his shoulder, he fell over from the force of the bullet and the shock " which is probably the same reason he hasn’t moved enough for you to notice with all your crying. A few stitches and he’ll be fine’. Oscar picked the boy up and placed him on the sofa. The rest of the family remained silent, obviously not knowing how true all this was. As Oscar went to get the laptop and open it they realised the boy was indeed alive. All at once they seemed to release a breath, relief sweeping over them. The passwords Herb proceeded to give Oscar all worked in opening up the laptop and finding the mentioned files. Satisfied, Oscar closed the laptop and walked over to Herb. The man was sweating profusely " to such an extent in fact that his glasses had almost slipped off the end of his nose. ‘Now listen, I’m going to take this with me and I’m going to leave you all here tied up’. Herb listened intently, ‘I’m not going to hurt any of you and you’ll be able to get whatever you’ll need to eat but if you try to run, or call anyone, don’t take my mercy now to mean I’m not prepared to hurt you’.

‘I understand’ Herb hastily nodded. Oscar stood back up and went to walk out of the kitchen but just as he did a yellow streak caught the corner of his eye. He looked over at it - one of those childish calendars which have sections for each family member, he glanced at it for a while reading the names. Something bothered him - there were four names on the calendar each with their own column. These names were printed on, they were “Mom, Dad, James and Kieran”. However further over scribbled on as if in haste was a fifth name “Lucy”. Oscar grabbed the calendar starting to panic. What had he missed? He’d done his research. He ripped it off the wall and pulled it in front of Herb - pointing at the name frantically.

‘Who the f**k is this? WHO THE F**K IS IT?!’ Herb was startled by the shouting and stumbled over his words,

‘It’s its Lucy….she, we, uhm, we took her in last month, you know like one of those struggling young people programmes we….’

‘Where is she?’

‘She’s not here, she’s away’

‘Is she coming back? Could she come back??’

‘No she’s away I swear!’, Herbs screams didn’t convince Oscar. Although the man seemed in trouble he remembered this was a trained professional. He will have sensed Oscar’s fear and would be prepared to use it against him. Oscar turned away from Herb and went towards his wife.

‘What car does she drive?’

‘Wha…’

‘I said WHAT F*****G CAR DOES SHE DRIVE!!’

‘A red BMW…an, an X5 I think…’

‘F**k!’ Oscar screamed. He hit a table with his fist as he hurried out of the room clutching the laptop. ‘Don’t f*****g move!’, he shouted back. He knew this was bad. The girl could come back at any moment and spot his car " or anything. If anyone spotted anything he’d have to kill them. He was fed up with all that. He’d planned it so well. He hurried out of the front door and walked 20 steps towards his car, preparing to move it to a less obvious spot, then it happened. The blast flung Oscar 10 yards through the air before he finally fell to the ground. The landing winded him thoroughly, but none the less he could still feel the heat on the back of his neck. He didn’t have to lift his head to know it was the house. Ears still ringing, he dragged his body up from the gravel and turned around, glaring at the raging inferno that now filled his vision. He pulled his mask off his face and lit a cigarette, this time not for show, there was no one to be showing to any more. F**k, f**k, f**k. That was all he could think. He didn’t know how long he stared at the house for, it could’ve been 10 minutes or 30 seconds. Thoughts whizzed through his mind. How had they gotten to the house before him? Why had he been so blind, the whole time he’d been watching the house they’d been watching him. Station always had back up plans. Oscar stuffed the mask into his pocket and went to pick up the laptop, thrown free from his grasp in the blast and lying on the charred floor. Holding it in his hands he wasn’t able to notice any immediate signs of damage. He hurried over to his car, placed the laptop on the back seat and put out his cigarette. Staring at his hands on the steering wheel he noticed some soot on the edges of his fingers. He was lucky to be unharmed, at that range he could easily have been hurt by shrapnel. Then suddenly Oscar remembered why he’d gone outside. He sat thinking - wondering. He was tempted to turn the key in the ignition and just drive off. He had what he needed, there was nothing left for him here. But he couldn’t. He felt some strange sense of responsibility. Then out of the corner of his eye Oscar caught a red flash, he knew it was the car. He readied himself and stepped out, still unsure as to his exact plan. The BMW pulled up and a woman exited from behind the wheel. Initially she stepped towards the flames but sensing the heat she stopped and stared. She seemed not to have noticed Oscar walking towards her. She had long brown hair, possibly straightened. Her earrings hung loosely from her ears, visible as she pushed her hair back. She wore a black leather jacket and blue skinny jeans. Her white plimsolls were well worn and flecks of black marked them. Her gaze landed on Oscar and Lucy began to shout. The crumbling brick that was once the house was still making a fair bit of noise.

‘What the f**k is going on?!’ she screamed, ‘Who are you? Where is everybody, are they in there?’. It struck Oscar that in times of panic people rarely settle on one question, but rather try to fetch all the answers at once. An obviously futile tactic.

‘Lucy, I need you to come with me, I can tell you everything in the car but right now…’, suddenly the girl seemed to realise Oscar was unlikely to be a friend and ran back to her car. Oscar pulled his gun out and pointed it at her. ‘Stop right there!’, she stopped and turned around putting her hands up, ‘Get in the car’, Oscar gestured towards his own vehicle with his head. Lucy remained still, unsure what to do. ‘I’m not going to hurt you, I’m trying to help you, but please right now it’s really important you just get in the car’. The girl refused to move. Oscar decided to try a different tactic. He lowered his gun and held his hands up in a defensive posture. ‘I didn’t do this. I’m trying to save your life but if you don’t come with me there’s nothing I can do’. The girl’s facial expression seemed to soften for a moment and Oscar felt that he had succeeded in his plea, but then the girl bolted off over the grass taking out her phone and attempting to dial. Oscar ran after her and although she had caught him by surprise, he was able to rugby tackle her to the ground. She started screaming for him to get off as he tried to hold her down. He quickly realised that to save time she would have to be unconscious. Reluctantly Oscar brought down the butt of his gun on her head, and with that the wrestling ended. He sat back panting, gulping in air. After a few moments rest he moved back towards Lucy. Returning to his car to fetch rope, he tied her hands and feet, placed her in the front passenger seat and got in himself. For just a moment he rested his head against the back of his seat and questioned his own sanity. Why didn’t he just chuck this girl in the fire and be done with it. Of all the family it was obvious she would be the least missed, and cause him the most hassle. He looked over at the girl, a small trail of blood trickling from her head. No. He shook his head at the realisation of what he was doing. With that he turned the key in the ignition and drove off, leaving behind the fire to burn itself out.

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