The Girls Club Page 21

  Are you happy now?

  What choice was there any more?

  She set off back down the stairs two at a time, she reached the back door just in time to see Charlotte, the amazing human fire lighter, plummet from the balcony. She had fallen short of the pool that was there and was crawling desperately to get to the pool and the water to put herself out.

  FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

  She could hear the wailing of sirens now, those men in blue who wouldn’t care about Rochelle or getting her out of LA. No.

  But this is WRONG!

  A sob escaped her, she ran over to burning woman and picked her up, “ARRRRRGGH!”, the arm that had been shot shivered, she took three running steps and chucked her into the pool. Charlotte hit the water with a hiss, she broke the surface gasping. She wasn’t done for after all.

  Can we get the fuck out of here now? Or is having burning hair…BURNING HAIR???

  She beat at her head.

  Some fucking plan chief. Some beau coup clever fucking plan.

  But I’m not a gangster, I don’t do these types of things everyday, IT’S NOT FAIR!

  Charlotte was on the steps that led out of the pool puffing and blowing. Very much alive, but out of commission. For now.

  Karen snapped awake in an instant, self pity and recriminations were going to have to wait. Grabbing the rucksack she’d left on the stoop, her bloodied arm flapping bonelessly about she made for her car. Karen was crying. For her arm, for Rochelle, for Charlottes now charcoal outlook on life. She put her damaged left arm on the bottom of the wheel and keyed the ignition. She could smell burnt hair and clothes. It was like brimstone.

  Next stop. Holiday Inn.

  And what are we going to do for an encore? Stick dynamite up our pisswar, light it, and stand in front of the door waiting for a goon to open it?

  She headed back to the freeway. She typed airport into the sat nav, if her memory served, the Holiday Inn would become apparent when she reached the periphery of the terminal.

  Her mobile chirruped. Looking down at the idiot contraption she left the wheel to the grace of her bad hand and pecked the talk button and then jammed it to her good shoulder. She didn’t spare a look for the name of the caller.

  “What?”

  “Where are you dear?”

  Karen swerved viciously.

  “Sarah?”

  “None other sweetie. Where are you again?” she sounded pissed. To the power of ten.

  “I’m taking a drive, where have you been?” Karen wondered just how much worse today was going to get before it finished.

  “Oh Karen. I’ve been to hell. But since getting back, I’ve realised that some things are more important than others, I’ve decided to kill Rochelle, and let you live”

  “NO!” the car fishtailed, at 80 miles an hour it was now more than a possibility Karen would end up splashing across three lanes. The mobile was gripped so hard she could still hear Sarah laughing whilst she jockeyed the car for her life. An 18 wheeler honked its disgust as she found the embankment and stopped just short of a tree. The engine cut out.

  Laughter, hearty and slightly out of joint still came from the mobile.

  “Oh Karen. I only wish I could have seen your face just then.”

  “You’re not right in the head are you? You won’t kill her, you’d fuck her first”

  “Maybe so. But she’d like it. She used to before she knew we were relatives.”

  Karen’s stomach lurched.

  “She was good too. The best I’ve ever had.” Sarah trailed off. A sigh came then, “I know its wrong and I know we can’t be together in that way any more. It doesn’t mean I have to let her go though does it?”

  Karen’s arms were shaking, cars and trucks flew by and dusted the side of her small car with grit, a tanker truck left a backwash that rocked the car on its springs.

  “Well. I guess you have two choices looney Brit. Keep coming, and I promise you that as you open the door I’ll empty her fuckin’ brains on your shoes. Or keep going, follow the road until you run out, and keep it that way!”

  Blood was pooling against the seat and she moved forward, the thought of becoming joined to the seat too painful to consider.

  “Why Sarah, why can’t you let her be happy?” Karen was finding it hard to stay awake.

  “She is. When she’s on her own. I tried so hard with you, I even let you get your bite early from my table and what thanks do I get, YOU FUCKED MY SISTER!”

  Karen smiled against the steering wheel.

  “She was good though. The best, and that little sound she makes if you hold her just right, one hand behind her head and one hand on her…”

  “ENOUGH!” Sarah was beyond angry now.

  “What did they do to you. Did it hurt? Did they cut anything? I bet they did, I really do. I wonder how else you stop a woman putting it about where she shouldn’t”

  A miracle reserve of energy started to animate her movements again, she started the engine and prayed to God that she could keep the strength until she’d at least saved Rosh.

  “Some people would mark a person, say, by carving their initials into them , like they were a fucking tree in a park!” she pulled back out into traffic, dead arm down the car door side and good arm over-arming the wheel while she kept the mobile pinned to her ear.

  “Others. Well. Others might seek a much meaner punishment, a marking all the same though. Did they cut your bits off Sarah? Did they cut your flaps off because that’s the bit that got you into shit with the Chain brass?” her voice rose and as it rose she pushed her foot further to the floor.

  All she was getting was cawing and laughing, the sounds of Sarah destroying whatever place she was in, fury at being balked of her physical retribution.

  “I’ll make you a deal Sarah, a once in a lifetime offer that you can’t refuse”

  Karen winced as a blood curdling cry filled her ear.

  “YOU DON’T DARE TO DEAL WITH ME, NEVER, ARE YOU LISTENING?”

  “You’re really going to want to hear this though.”

  Just keep following the arrow.

  “The only thing, the ONLY thing.. .”

  “Shut the hell up a minute. I’ve left something at your house. A present”

  Quiet now. Bangs and crashes forgone for the moment.

  “I knew I had to do something to get rid of you, I promised Rochelle I wouldn’t hurt you. And I haven’t. But if you don’t get to your house pretty quick the cops are going to find a pair of gloves on your couch covered in blood.”

  “What the fu…”

  “Oh I was real clever”, her vision doubled, “The gloves came from your office, I put them on over my own gloves. Someone had already been there you see, and off’d the desk man. I bet it was you wasn’t it? Gonna frame me for that? Or maybe Charlotte because she also knew you for what you were. A FREAK!” Karen was grinning now, burnt hair and hoody, blood splattered arm. If she got pulled over now it would be over for Rochelle.

  “You wanted people to think you were still missing, you were spying on Rochelle weren’t you? Do you touch yourself when you think about her? I just bet you do.”

  Silence now. Angry emptiness on the line.

  “Well now Miss Steiger, I’d say it’s been nice catching up, but I’m trying to drive and I don’t want to get arrested now do I?”

  “You’re passport!”

  “…is back in my pocket, thank you ma’am, it was rather helpfully in the same drawer as your driving gloves. How’s that for handy?”

  More silence from Sarah. It felt like perhaps the first time ever she had been gazumped, and she wasn’t finding it to her taste. Karen hadn’t heard her hang up, just as she was letting the mobile slip from the nook it was in she heard, “You’re dead”

  Maybe so. But not today crazy lady.

  The point of no return had been passed.

  Karen pushed on towards whatever was waiting for her at the airport Holiday Inn.

  Chapter 14

/>   “Something beginning with ‘H’”

  “Are you fucking kidding me, again?”

  Sky smiled.

  “Sorry”

  “No. It’s alright. Guess it shouldn’t be too much longer”

  They had made the best of a bad situation and passed the time congenially enough. Sky sat on the floor next to Heidi who was still trussed up against the big ‘H’ of the Hollywood sign. Sky had brought a blanket from the car up and gave it Heidi to sit on, no one had said kidnap had to be cruel.

  Sky still harboured quite a crush for the fiery redhead. And if truth be told, Heidi was finding it easier to smile with this young lady all the time. If not for the fact that she was bound up and being held hostage it would have been the nicest afternoon she‘d spent in a long time.

  “Bet you haven’t got anything to eat” Heidi said morosely.

  Sky looked genuinely sorry, “No, you’re really hungry by now I guess”

  “Fuckin ’A’” as she shifted loose debris skittered away.

  “She would have had to get there as quick as she could”

  “She retarded? She’ll get shot to shit when she gets there” Heidi grinned sickly.

  “She’s a good person” Sky protested.

  “Oh? Good enough to blackmail you into doing this to me? Yeah, a fuckin’ saint”

  Sky bit her tongue. Miss Huntington-Wolfe wouldn’t get it, it seemed the higher up you were on the Chain the less you thought about the very real emotions that can exist between two people. And she pitied her for it.

  “Let’s play eye-spy some more”

  “If you come out with one more fuckin ‘H’…”

  “I won’t”

  Heidi’s cell. Which had been on the dusty ground next to Heidi’s leg mostly forgotten, sprang into life.

  Sky looked at Heidi, her wits momentarily having escaped her.

  “Better answer it, I always answer my cell”

  Sky picked it up, “Heidi’s phone”

  “Aww Skylar. How have you been?”

  She almost dropped the phone. Heidi watched her face go pale.

  “Sarah...hi!”

  Heidi’s face also went pale.

  “So, I hear you’re fucking the starlet, good move. Where are you sweetie?”

  Her tone was of ice covered glaciers sprinkled with fresh powder for good measure.

  Sky told herself to relax, Sarah had no way of knowing where they really were.

  “I’m at Heidi’s place”

  “WRONG ANSWER!” Sky flushed.

  “Gimme the phone, quick!” Heidi hissed. Perplexed and horrified by the anger permeating from the tiny phone she held it down against Heidi’s head.

  “Sarah? The fuck you been?”

  “Heidi?” she almost sung the word.

  “Yeah, what gives?”

  “I’m at your apartment, ready to go over your case on Monday, you know, the one I’m helping you get out of, and you’re not here. That’s upsets me Heidi. I thought we had something a little deeper than that”.

  Sarah had lost whatever tenuous grip on reality she’d had. Wherever she had been and whatever the number one had ordered it had tipped her over.

  “I can be right there, no problem”

  Sky didn’t know when to believe what Heidi was saying, lies and truth mixed together without distinction.

  “I’ve got a better idea. Apparently there’s some trouble at my house. I can’t get there directly, I have…stuff to do first. Would you go attend to that for me whilst I go back to the office and pick up your file?”

  “Sure thing Sarah. How bad is it?”

  “I’m not sure but one of my neighbours called me to tell me that the upstairs was on fire. This means I am prioritising my role to you, as lawyer, rather than my own home and possessions”

  Sky was looking down at the cars bustling busily about. She wanted to know what Karen was up to, whether she was alright, it had been hours since she had left with a wink and a smile. She didn’t dare call her though in case she wasn’t in a position to answer.

  “I appreciate that Sarah. I’ll get right over there now. What is it that needs shifting?”

  Oh Heidi, I thought you were such a nice girl.

  “Thankfully most of the really distasteful things, were in my safe at work,” she laughed at this, “Or they were, there’s just one thing if you see them. A pair of black gloves, I think they’re on the couch. Lift them if you see them, discreetly!”

  “Sure thing Sarah”

  Sky shifted on her feet, her legs were going to sleep being bent down like this.

  “I look forward to seeing you later Heidi, I hope you are willing to cut your weekend with Skylar short and spend some time with me. I need a friend right now”

  “Ok. I’ll call you later Sarah. Bye”

  Sky hung the cell up.

  “Sarah sounded really mad, as in mad as a wet hen mad and out of her mind mad”

  “I think that’s an apt description of the situation. Now untie me”

  Sky was torn.

  She didn’t tell her anything though, not really.

  “Listen, babe, if you don’t untie me I can’t do Sarah’s little errand and then I’ll be as dead as the rest of you idiots. Untie me, help me do what I need to do and we’ll come out of this OK enough to still be able to live here”

  Karen would know what to do.

  But she couldn’t call her.

  “You know I’m right” covered in dust and weary looking in the afternoon light Sky believed her.

  “And I’ll help you get whatever it is that fuckin’ limey has of yours too”

  Sky coloured at this.

  “She hasn’t got anything of mine” she almost whispered down to her feet.

  “You’d do this for her anyway? Risk pissing me off? What happened to rank sweetie, I’M YOUR FUCKING SUPERIOR, NOW LET ME UP!”

  “Please don’t shout at me, I’m getting a headache.” a tear escaped and tracked through the dust on her cheek.

  “Another fuckin’ word that begins with ‘H’, WHAT DID I SAY!” and she let her act slip then, a smile broke her face.

  “Come ‘ere”

  Sky bent down.

  “I’m not interested in anything bad happening to your friend, just saving my own ass. You in?”

  Well Karen, I hope you’ve had all the time you need. Because LA time is catching up to you now.

  She went round the front of the ‘H’ supports and started picking the rope apart.

  “I’m gonna need some clothes, and a piss!”

  Sky grinned, she could be so down to earth and friendly, she hoped this wasn’t the start of a run of bad decisions.

  The ropes fell down and she went round the other side to help Heidi up, it took a minute for her legs to come back after being on the hard ground for hours and she stomped off round the other side of the ‘H’.

  “Heidi?”

  Liquid gushing sounds, followed by a hearty sigh.

  Sky picked up the cell and the water bottle, when Miss Huntington-Wolfe came back she had regained some of her composure, now the need to urinate had been dealt with everything else felt clearer.

  “Are you a Wal-Mart girl Sky?”

  “Sometimes”

  “Me too, lets go see what they have on sale in pink!”

  Chapter 15

  “What’s that Sheila? You’re not making much sense girl” she lifted her head out of the toilet.

  “I, I, I…”

  She ducked her head again and flushed. It washed some of the blood off.

  Infused with a power of utter hatred as she was she also knew she couldn’t linger. But if you didn’t show people the error of their ways they were always destined to do naughty things again.

  She had broken into Heidi’s apartment after banging for minutes with no answer. She hadn’t been convinced that no one was home. Sheila had arrived not long after and come charging in, a goofy grin on her face, perhaps the thought of tackling
a burglar for Heidi had given her a hard on.

  It had gone downhill from there.

  Dragging the large woman across the lino of the bathroom Sarah knew that standards always slipped when she wasn’t around.

  Dressed in what had been brand new denims this morning and a red shirt she cut a haggard figure. Her usual bouncy locks were matted in places. Her face bore bruises of all colours. Prestons. Fucking Prestons! She couldn’t believe the sanction that had been agreed against her. She’d made the fucking top ten! How dare they treat her so disrespectfully!

  She left Sheila garbling on the floor and went over to the kitchen. This was going to be a harsh lesson indeed.

  But she saw nothing that held her eye. Until she saw ‘Steve’.

  Smiling she took the huge black dildo back over to where Sheila, concussed and waterlogged was trying to turn over and get off her back.

  Placing a foot on her shoulder she wielded the dildo like a knife and brought it down again and again and again. Sheila, who had left her post in a time of crisis, felt all of her front teeth break under the blows and when the front end of the dildo split Sarah turned it round and started using the heavier battery end.

  “THIS IS WHAT YOU GET! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET!”

  Sheila felt a piece of tooth slid down her windpipe and coughed, as her mouth opened the dildo caught her bottom jaw and she felt a sickening crunch. Her nose, eye socket, cheek bone and almost full compliment of teeth had been shattered. Pulverised.

  “This is…what…you get” winded she took her foot off the lackey. “I haven’t got the fucking time” she tossed ‘Steve’ aside and gathered her jacket and cell. She had a date at the airport.

  She was driving a rental. She didn’t want them knowing she had made the scene just yet if possible at the Holiday Inn. In the back of her mind though she didn’t care if they did know. On guard or off they were going to catch hell for the fuck-ups that had happened in abundance during her absence. If anyone had touched Rochelle they would see the sun come up tomorrow through an oxygen tent. If Sarah allowed them to live that was.