Chapter 9 Freedom
As Roland began to take deep breaths of the clean fresh air after being stuck in a freezer for at least an hour he began to cough and he bent over placing his head as near as possible between his legs. A black limousine screeched to a halt by his side and before he could straighten up he was grabbed and dragged into the car. His first thoughts were of Charlie again and the idea of going back into the freezer was not a comforting prospect, but no, these were men he had never seen before and he was wondering what the devil was going on. Up to now he had counted at least three or maybe four gangs who were involved in something big, but to what they were involved in he didn’t have a clue. At least he had not been knocked out and could see where he was going. He was not going anywhere stuck between two men with very broad shoulders almost squeezing him into nothing. A black cloth hood was placed over his head and at a guess they had travelled over forty odd miles judging by the time on his watch which he could see by moving his eyes in a downwards direction as the cloth hood had not been tied round his neck and was dangling loosely for him to be able to see, an oversight by his captors. Roland still didn’t know where he was as the car stopped. The blindfold was tightened round the neck and he was bundled out of the car. Two men picked him up and walked him for some distance.
They stopped and helped him down a ladder and into a boat. He heard one of the men say to the other ‘Toss your penny in the air and I’ll call heads!’ ‘Heads!’ said the other man.
Looks like I’ll be doing the rowing and the business again.’
‘Don’t be too long about it. We have had our instructions, make sure you do a proper job.
Roland began to fear for his life, was he about to meet his maker? By the sound of it all this was going to be the end of him until he thought about Jo, which somehow gave him renewed strength. In their haste, and Roland had not thought about it until this moment in time, they had not tied his hands together and so he had through their forgetfulness allowed him a hidden card of escape.
‘Where are we going?’
The man grunted ‘You’ll find out sooner than later.’
‘It won’t hurt you to tell me!’
‘It doesn’t matter, you won’t be coming back, so shut your mouth!’
‘You might as well take the hood off then.’
‘Okay, but no funny business, I have a gun.’
Roland thought how can this man take my hood off and hold a gun at the same time. As the man leaned forward and with both hands removed the hood from his head and that’s when Roland grabbed hold of him who was off balance in a crouching position and hurled him into the water. He picked one oar and tapped the man on the head and he started disappearing under the water. Roland frantically rowed closer and managed to grab his collar and bring him to the surface. The man went into a bout of coughing and spluttering. Roland let go and the man clung to the side of the boat. Roland asked the man where was he going to take him and the man answered by saying, ‘Look behind you!’ Roland turned the boat round and there bobbing up and down in the water was a buoy with a spike sticking out through the middle. The top of the spike was flashing a yellow light every five seconds. The man continued, ‘I was to tie you to the spike and then shoot you!’ ‘Why?’ said Roland, ‘Why kill me?’ ‘I don’t know why, I just obey orders!’ ‘Blindly it seems.’ said Roland. ‘Well I’ll give you a sporting chance, you climb up on the buoy and sit the other side of it and I’ll tie your hands loosely. I won’t shoot you and after a while you can free yourself and will be able to wave to a passing boat; someone is likely to come by, sometime!’
The man muttered ‘Bastard!’ ‘Yes I know how you feel old chap – goodbye!’
With that done Roland climbed off the buoy which bobbed up and down alarmingly with the waves from a passing speedboat which did not stop to see what was happening but sped on. He waited a few moments and aimed the gun towards the sky and fired a shot. ‘That should convince your friend that you have completed your task.’
Roland threw the gun into the water and decided to row in the opposite direction from where they had set out, because he knew the man’s colleague would be waiting for him. Roland hadn’t a clue where he was, although it must be in a seaside town somewhere in England. He rowed for what seemed ages; his hands were beginning to show signs of blistering. He was not a sporty type and rowing was the last thing on his mind. Eventually he saw land ahead and rowing became less arduous and the grating of small stones rubbing the bottom of the boat assured him he had reached his destination. He got out of the boat and both his legs turned to jelly as he wobbled up the beach pulling the boat behind him. He managed to find a breakwater structure and hid the boat there. Still wobbling he walked the rest of the way to a concrete path that circumvented the area where all the boats were moored and then realized too late that the tide was out and that the rowing boat would be floating out to sea and he hoped he would be long gone before that happened. He wished he had kept the gun.
Chapter 10 Home
The safest place that he could think of was possibly his flat – Charlie and his thugs might not think he would go back as it was in the process of being put back together again, but Roland needed a fresh set of clothes and was prepared to take the chance and besides had not been able to do this since leaving his flat two days ago. He had to call first at the locksmiths who had fitted his front door who gave him his new set of keys, and after a lengthy explanation and confirmation with the police – received his third batch of door keys which he did not recognize and was informed that since his absence, his flat had been broken into again. Obviously, whoever it was, was looking for something and to the best of his knowledge, Roland was not aware of anything that had passed his way. His pockets had been carefully examined and everything that he had on his person at the time of his capture by Charlie had been taken.
Roland found the flat as he had left it two days ago and was surprised that two days had passed since that incident, then being absconded by people he had never met before, who had instructions to kill him and for what reason he had not known and was not able to find out.
Roland decided that a good soak in the bath would do him good and was pleased to note that the company he had employed to clean up the flat and do repair work where necessary had started to clear up the mess round the flat and that the bathroom was in a reasonable state.
He laid in his bath enjoying the bubble bath effect and the hot water was lulling him to sleep because he then realized that for three hectic days he hadn’t had a proper sleep. It all started on a flag pole. He had been knocked out twice, incarcerated in a wine and cheese cellar, placed in a refrigerator, taken on a boat trip, it was all too much for Roland to come to terms with. He heard his door intercom buzz. He lay there still and groaned ‘Not now for heaven’s sake.’ Eventually, whoever it was must have gone away, he was hoping. Roland in a way was grateful for the buzzing as he would have gone to sleep and no doubt would have drowned. He found clothes that the thugs had not torn to shreds or fired bullets through and dressed, There was no food in the flat, well, nothing that was edible after three days and the shopping he had got had all passed the eat by date. Roland got a black sack and immediately emptied the refrigerator and placed the contents in the plastic receptacle in the waste disposal chute and off it went. He thought he had heard someone cry, surely someone wasn’t trying to gain access to his flat via the rubbish chute? For a start it was a narrower chute than the laundry chute, with a circular Perspex tubing round the outside which had been an after thought by the architects of the building. It was a flexible tube and gave way to bulky products that over zealous owners of flats sometimes filled beyond the markings on the plastic box. Roland stuck his head through the sealed doors and Perspex flap and saw someone whose arms were flailing in the air trying to regain his grip on the narrow chute sides, but alas he lost his grip and Roland saw the man swooshing backwards with a peg on his nose, The smell that arose from the rubbish pit would have daunted even the most stubborn person, but obviously this person was stupid as well as stubborn. It was a comical sight with the plastic container pushing the very small man backwards, until Roland saw the gun and the man fired as he went. The bullet shattered the Perspex and grazed the right hand side of Roland’s temple, just above his ear. He cried out in pain and collapsed on the floor, hitting his chin on the ledge and his bottom teeth dug into the roof of his mouth, he held his face and felt the warm trickle of blood running over his hands. He heard a distant voice say ‘I think I got him this time – I saw him go down – Charlie will be pleased!’
Roland didn’t know which hurt the most, his chin, the roof of his mouth or the right side of his temple; he decided that all three were equally painful. He ached all over and decided that another bath was in order and after a short soaking he ordered a Chinese take away and a drink and waited for it to arrive.
