The Girls Club Page 20

  “Morning sweetness. How do you feel?”

  Heidi glared up at the girl grinning down at her, then she looked past her at Sky and laughed.

  “What? What. The. Fuck. So you wanna play gangster as well do ya? Let me up now and you might get through today with your pussy still in your pants” her arrogant tone made zero difference to the look the grinning girl was giving her.

  “I have a problem” Karen knelt down on her hunkers.

  “You’re telling me, when I...”

  SLAP!

  She was cut off mid-rant.

  “Just listen to me. I haven’t got time for any posturing bullshit and to be honest,” she stood up, “I don’t fucking care” She reached out to Sky and a cell was placed in her hand.

  “I want you to call whatever crazy lez you have to and find out where they’ve taken Rochelle”

  Heidi seemed to consider this.

  “Is that it?”

  “That’s it” Karen’s grin remained. Heidi didn’t trust a grin like that, it was lunacy in action.

  “You could have just fucking asked me, drag me up the fucking hill and stick me, stick me, WHERE THE FUCK AM I?” her head scanned the landscape, Karen thought she had a pretty good idea where she was really.

  Sky walked back down to her car. She didn’t want to hear any more of what happened between them. Karen silently respected her for it, she had a life here, maybe, if she kept out of this part of it.

  “I’m surprised you don’t recognise where you are Miss Huntington-Wolfe. Oh right, it might have been dark last time you were up here. Dark and quiet. How many of you were there? How many, SICK FUCKS, were up here when Demi got cut?”

  Realisation dawned on Heidi’s face.

  “Wait just one fucking minute, I didn’t…”

  “I know you didn’t, I know Sarah did. Just like she did with Denise Fontaine and God knows who else. All in the name of Rochelle eh?”

  Heidi looked down. Rope around her wrists and rope leading left and right. She was attached to the bottom of the ‘H’ support struts. Fitting enough.

  “Sarah’s a sick bitch. Always has been. We put up with her because she’s got money and talent. Its just a shame all that talent came with a neurosis that would give Freud a hard-on”

  Karen grabbed the collar of Heidi’s dressing gown, “But you were there, guilty by keeping your mouth shut. Guilty by letting her do it!” Karen’s face was flushed with red. Sky beeped the cars horn.

  “This is how you make up for it. This. If you don’t I’ll leave you here for fucking dead, I swear it”

  “People come up here all…”

  “Then I’ll have to kill you!” and she grabbed her up again. To her credit, Miss Huntington-Wolfe didn’t even flinch.

  “Chill out alright. I didn’t say I wouldn’t, did I?”

  “This is your cell. Who do I dial for you?”

  Heidi looked thoughtfully down at the ropes for a moment. There were about three top Chain guardians who could be called on in a pinch, she was trying to think of one that Charlotte would know. Bingo!

  “Sheila. It’s in the list”

  Karen picked through the number list and found Sheila, she hit call, “Aren’t you gonna warn me not to do anything funny?” Heidi smiled.

  “Nope. I’m here and she’s there. That’s all you need to know”

  Heidi looked at Karen’s raised eyebrow and decided never a truer word had been spoken.

  Karen bent down and held the cell against the side of Heidi’s head.

  “Hey babe.”

  “H?”

  “Yeah. How you doin? Long time no talk, I wasn’t that rough was I?”

  Roguish giggles from the cell.

  “No. I was waiting for you to call me, I didn’t want to seem too, you know, eager. I know some chicks get put off by that.”

  Heidi shuffled her butt to get comfy.

  “Well, what are you doing right now?” she could ask this of Sheila, theirs had been a tawdry affair, months old now but as a Chain top ten Heidi would have her questions answered.

  “Well,” the sound of a door shutting in the background, “We’ve had to pick up Rochelle and hold her here, it’s a helluva weird thing. No one knows where Steiger is, not even the top Chain brass claim to know where she is, Rochelle was going to skip town apparently.”

  “Bummer. Where have you got her that’s safe in this town?”

  That sounded just right Karen thought and admired Heidi’s cunning given the bind she was in.

  “Well, we’re not really IN town, we’re at the Holiday Inn at the airport. There was a snag though”

  Heidi rolled her eyes up to Karen whose arm was aching by now, holding the damn phone out for lady muck to make her call.

  “You don’t say?”

  “Yeah. There was supposed to be another girl there, she’d cleaned out before we got there, Casey was pissed!” Sheila giggled. Case always got pissed at something, probably all the steroids she took.

  “Guess that means we can’t hook up today then…Shame”

  “Aw Jeez. I could leave the girl with Case, its not like she fighting us or anything. She’s pretty quiet. I could come over to your apartment?”

  “Yeah. Sounds good, are you coming right away?”

  Alarm flashed in Karen’s eyes and Heidi tipped her a wink. If Heidi was playing up Karen couldn’t get a beat on what she was doing.

  “I’m on my way. Make sure you’re wearing my favourite”

  “I will sweetie, bring me doughnuts”

  Still laughing Sheila hung up.

  “What the hell?”

  “Cool your jets, they’re at the Holiday Inn at the airport, one of the Chain guards is a rather personal friend of mine. She’s breaking away from the little gathering to come to my apartment, which, if I’m not mistaken, means I’ve done you a fucking favour bitch!”

  Karen started chortling to herself. What a hellion this one was!

  “Miss Heidi you are a minx” she clapped her hands.

  “So when do you let me up?”

  “Not yet princess”

  She whistled through her fingers and Sky came back up the hill with another bottle of water.

  “Miss Heidi, I appreciate your help, did you happen to find out just how many people were watching Rochelle?”

  “No. But at any one time there’s three floating Chain goons. They’re always ferrying the top ten around, we’re pretty fucking important you know” venom dripped from this last statement.

  Karen bent down to Heidi’s level and put her hand under her chin, searching her eyes she tried to weigh up whether it was fear, or just sheer nastiness that was making her behave this way.

  Pretty. Yeah. Pretty scary!

  She leaned forward and planted a kiss on Heidi’s trembling lips. Heidi gasped in spite of herself, there was a presence about the girl she could respond to.

  “It’s a pity”

  “What’s that?” Karen dusted her knees off.

  “I think we coulda been fuckin’ hot”

  She’s got balls. Got to hand her that.

  Sky was standing behind her now.

  “It’s alright. Sky here has been blackmailed into helping me” this was their cover story to try and minimise the damage this would cause to Sky when the whole thing blew sky high.

  “I have something very important of hers that could land her right in the hot water next to you if she doesn’t get it back. In return for what I have of hers, she’s going to look after you until I have Rochelle and we’re out of LA”

  Sky tried her best to look scared of Karen, they had an act to keep up for Miss Heidi.

  Karen put the cell back into Sky’s hand and Sky opened the bottle of water for Heidi to take a sip. Heidi took a large swallow and coughed a little. Sky put it down and followed Karen round to the front of the ‘H’, a little further down the hill.

  “Did you get the address where she is?”

  “Yeah.”

 
; “Are you scared?”

  “Yeah, but I’m the crazy Brit. I’m also the one with the plan.” Karen picked her rucksack up. It had in it all the things she felt she’d need.

  Sky’s bottom lip wobbled. Karen thought she was going to blubber.

  “Silly bugger” she let Sky enfold her.

  “Don’t let them kill you, don’t let it happen to you too” Sky’s chest hitched, she too had realised this was really final stuff they were getting into.

  Sky kissed her cheek and Karen did something next she never forgot. She took Sky’s hand, and shook it like a man.

  “Be careful Sky. I’ve left something in the glove box of your car to soften the blow with Miss Heidi for you. But don’t give it her ‘till I’ve given the all clear.” And off she went, down the hill.

  Karen managed to hitch back into the city without much trouble. She was clean cut enough she guessed. She needed a car and wondered what Miss Toulouse would be up to at this moment? Mid Saturday. What would any lawyer be doing? She might be at the office but it was real risky going back there. She had to keep visibility down to a minimum.

  Think, think. You had a plan. Remember?

  She took her mobile out of her pocket.

  Rosh, I’m at your apartment, where are you?

  She sent Rochelle the message, hoping against hope that she’d catch on to what Karen was trying to do. Whilst she waited for a response she knuckled sweat out of her eyes. If she played it right she could wheedle down those present further by having at least one of them dash over to Rochelle’s apartment.

  The text tinkle told her a new message had arrived.

  Stay there babe. Coming home.

  She hopped into a cab outside the store she been waiting at whilst the plan formed around her. From there she went back to her own apartment block. She dashed upstairs as fast as she could and grabbed some clothes and loose cash. Into the rucksack they went. At the doorway she gave a lingering glance. The start and end of her new life.

  Blink and you’d have missed it!

  Karen didn’t think they’d know her car, surely they weren’t that far along into finding her.

  The airport. She needed to get to the airport.

  I’m gonna fix this. God damned if I can’t.

  But first, Sarah’s place and Rochelle’s passport. Wherever they ended up she wasn’t going to let Sarah keep it. It wasn’t hers. Who knew what kind of shit she could do with it?

  Once things started rolling they rolled fast.

  Almost fast enough for Karen to have missed a vital piece of information.

  “Fuck!” she hissed, she couldn’t remember where Steiger lived.

  Distracted by the back seat politics though weren’t we? The number 10. The limo. Karen hadn’t had her mind on location. Only a deep seated nugget of wisdom that her boss was a low life scum bag with questionable past times.

  Driving one handed she sent Sky a text asking her. Even if Sky didn’t know Miss Huntington-Wolfe would, moments later she had the address.

  Now to find the fucker.

  She switched her sat nav on and punched in the details. Following the arrow now became all that was important. Her line of thought had narrowed down to a pinprick. Everything could be won or lost in the next few hours.

  Do you remember when excitement was smoking a cigarette whilst on your paper round?

  Yeah.

  The fear of getting caught, but how fine it made you feel, how grown up, made it worth the risk didn’t it?

  Yes. I guess it did.

  There has never been a greater risk then this.

  I know.

  Almost an hour later and she was snooping along an expansive porch, trying to find a way into Sarah’s luxury home. An inspection of the back showed her a broken door panel. Someone had already been here.

  Or might even still be here.

  She took a gun out of her rucksack and pushed the door that was still off its catch.

  It did feel like someone was there still. Karen wondered if the passport couldn’t just be replaced with less aggravation.

  Whose to say the bloody passport inspectors aren’t on the Chain.

  That was absolute paranoia to be sure. Still. The thought remained.

  She held the gun at her side, her finger just outside the trigger guard, playing the unlikely action hero would be even fucking harder sans foot.

  A switch was flicked in her head. Clarity washed over her. If someone was here, chances were she would have to kill them. She’d come too far in this crazy escapade to have it fucked up now by some junkie robber.

  Karen took something else from her rucksack and made her way through the kitchen, stepping lightly she strained to hear anything from the other person, a shuffle of feet, a barely contained cough. The more she strained the more she heard the sound of her own blood beating in her head. The items she brought in she placed casually on the back of the couch. She then set about what she had to do next.

  “God save our gracious Queen, God save our noble Queen, God save the Queen…HAPPY AND GLORIOUS, LONG TO REIGN OVER US!” She was giving whoever was here the tone challenged chance to clear the fuck out before she found them.

  Forgetting the words because really, it had been years since she had sang the national anthem she skipped straight into something more secular, “Mr.Sandman, give me a dream, make her the cutest that I’ve ever seen, two lips like peaches and fucking clover…”

  A crash from upstairs. The place was in ruins, drawers pulled out, items pushed off sides and onto the floor.

  “OH MR SANDMAN! SIT ON MY BEAM! Wanna hear some lawyer jokes?”

  Footsteps stopped when she did. Directly above her head. Whoever it was they weren’t coming to get their share of the fun. She’d have to cruise upstairs and see just why they were so afraid of her.

  “OK THEN!” still shouting, inside willing the person to take the chance, make a bolt for it.

  “RIGHT! WHAT’S BLACK, AND BROWN…” she was half way up the spiral staircase, “AND LOOKS GOOD ON A LAWYER?”

  She lifted the gun and trained it on the first door at the top of the stairs, then she pulled it closer to her face to see if the safety was off.

  Steady as she goes.

  “A DOBERMAN!” she laughed in spite of herself. She heard something being pushed over and knew when she tested the door it wouldn’t be movable.

  “Oh do behave” she rattled the handle, “I’m not gonna hurt you! Why would I do summat like that? Because you mad bitches like to torture each other, and cut each other, and KILL each other. I guess that’d be a good reason”

  A shot rang out. It came right through the middle of the door and hit Karen in the top of her left arm making her stagger.

  “Lousy CUNT!” she shot three times back through the door and was almost thrown down the stairs by the recoil. Each shot felt like a mule kick, still, she couldn’t steady herself with her other arm, wasn’t even sure it was still attached at this point.

  “FAAACK!”

  Some good fuckin’ plan. What’s next?

  “Why don’t you come…out so we can talk” she pulled one of the sleeves off her dark green hoody with her teeth and wedged it between her shirt and the hoodie itself. It would have to wait a moment.

  “But, ba, ba, but, but,ba, but…YOU’LL KILL ME!”

  Charlotte?

  “Come out Miss Toulouse and tell me one thing. Then you can go”

  “Really?”

  Her arm was throbbing. Pulsing. Raw. She wasn’t going to promise the lawyer because it wasn’t in her blood to lie.

  “Put the gun out first, just open the door, a little, and drop it.”

  It went quiet. Blood pumped out of the shot, it felt like more was leaking out the back, she grimaced. It didn’t take a genius or reader of murder mags to know the hole round the back was more likely to be in an odd place, and three times fucking bigger.

  “Right!” she jumped up from the top step, “I don’t have much fucking time for
this, you leave me no choice!”

  She cocked the gun.

  Fucking empty the clip at her. There’s plenty of shells in the bag.

  But time. Time was the problem, cops would be on their way and Rochelle’s protection was at a minimum as yet. Things were getting away.

  “What do lawyers and sperm have in common?” she asked as she piled up against the wall at the side of the door. There was a smallish gap now and she needed to see the bitch.

  What the fuck?

  Crying?

  “1 in 3,000,000 has a chance of becoming a human being” she whirled across the front of the door and shot twice right into the space. Up against the wall on the other side she couldn’t hear the crying any more.

  “All I wanted was Rochelle’s passport.” she slid the clip out the gun and saw there were five more in it and that would do just fine.

  A scurry of feet and a flitter of pages and a passport came flying out through the splintered door.

  Nice. And. Easy.

  Karen reached out with her foot and brought it back towards her so she could check it.

  Tucking the gun into the waistband of her jeans she picked it up. How was she going to drive now?

  Are you kidding? You drive one handed when you text in a pinch.

  And wasn’t she in a pinch now. She opened the cover of the little book and saw a young and shiny face. A face she had taken to heart. Her angel.

  “Why did it have to be the hard way?”

  “Are you going now?”

  Yeah, so you can warn them I’m coming?

  She hadn’t thought of it before.

  “Yeah. I’ll be going now. I guess I can trust you not to call those strapping ladies looking after my Rosh eh?”

  “YEAH! YEAH!”

  “See you around then” she ducked all the same past the splintered door middle and walked down the stairs. Charlotte wasn’t going to leave her bolt hole until she had driven clean out of sight. Might be on her cell right now calling the goon squad.

  Tough times call for tough decisions.

  Her eyes found the well stocked bar.

  Two birds with one stone.

  BUT IT’S MURDER!!

  But Karen had heard the death of a lawyer wasn’t a mortal sin. She took a dishcloth from the side in the kitchen, silence as expected from the little mousie upstairs. She undid the screw top on a very large bottle of vodka, almost took a sip and remembered she was already going to have fight blood loss to keep conscious. She corked the bottle with the rag and tipped it over until she felt the dampness on her hand. The top kitchen drawer had a rather grand kitchen lighter and she trudged upstairs. Feeling suddenly very tired and very ill. The makeshift wick caught quickly and she lobbed it through the gap in the door. Charlotte screamed, fiery liquid tasted her flesh and sought about consummation.