“Fuck.” I could hear noises in the background, then mumbling, like Alice had covered the mouthpiece to speak to Danya without me hearing. I carried on walking at a steady pace, and I covered my other ear so I could try to hear what they were saying.
“We’ll leave, now,” Alice stated. “Danya has a cousin up north that could put us up.”
“Okay. That’s good.” I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “Will you text me when you get there, so I know you’re safe?”
“Of course I will. Listen, I have to go. Finn… Stay safe, and please don’t do anything stupid. Hopefully, when he sees he isn’t getting the attention he wants, he’ll leave and never come back.”
Or move onto another victim. That is blood I do not want on my hands.
I sighed.
“Whatever. Be safe, sis.”
I hung up just as I crossed back into Sandland. The twist in my gut eased up, and I wasn’t sure if it was because Alice was running or because I was on my own turf. Either way, the winds were changing. They had to.
Firing off a quick text to Zak, I asked him if it’d be okay if I crashed at his place. He replied instantly, letting me know that it was cool and he’d make up the airbed in his spare room. I knew Brandon would question why I hadn’t asked him, but he had Harper, and with the babies due soon, I didn’t want to bring any stress to his door. Tomorrow, I would get my shit together. Drive that piece of crap out of the area and get my girl. Tomorrow, it would all go right for me.
The buzz from my mobile phone jumping around on the floor beside the airbed woke me up and I reached out my hand, blindly slapping against the carpet with my eyes still closed, trying to find it. I hadn’t slept well last night, too much swimming around in my brain. But now, I was groggy and felt like my head was a lead weight, I was that tired.
The door to the bedroom creaked open and I squinted against the light streaming through the blinds. Zak stood there, holding a mug of coffee and a look that told me he wasn’t going to buy my evasive answers to his questions this morning. I suppose I needed to tell him something plausible. I was freeloading off him, after all.
“You okay, man?” he asked, placing the mug on the floor next to me and passing me my phone.
“Yeah.” I sat up and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to calm the tufts that were sticking up all over the place. “Thanks for putting me up.”
“Not a problem. You know you’re always welcome. Stay as long as you need. It’s nice to have the company.”
I nodded my thanks.
“Finn, I know shit is going down. I don’t know what shit exactly, but I want you to know, if you need anything, even just to talk, I’m here. Okay?”
Again, I nodded, picking up my coffee and si
pping it. Zak sighed and gave me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He was obviously hoping for more from me, but he didn’t push it, he just turned around and left. I held onto my phone and waited until he’d closed the door before I tapped in my code. I had a bunch of missed calls and text messages. The first was from Alice.
We’re here. We’re safe. I’ll call you in a few days. Don’t worry about me. Just stay away from him. Please. Alice x
I didn’t respond right away. I didn’t know what else to say that hadn’t already been said. There was another message, and I hoped it was from Effy, but it wasn’t. This was from an unknown number. When I opened it, I saw a link to a video, a message that said, ‘You need to watch this,’ and a cartoon meme of The Joker laughing that’d been sent straight afterwards. I shouldn’t have clicked the link, I knew that, but I wasn’t in my right mind. It could’ve been a virus. But the sticker and the message got to me, and against my better judgement, I opened it. What I saw next would live with me until the day I died.
The video was grainy and unfocused at the start. There were muffled voices, echoes, and laughter that sounded distorted, like in a horror movie. But then the view became clearer when whoever was blocking the camera moved backwards and into focus.
A man, wearing nothing but a pair of black jeans and a white balaclava over his head, stood in front of the camera. Why he’d covered his face though, when his whole chest was painted in identifiable tattoos, was ridiculous. But he wasn’t bothered about being recognised. The mask was for effect. To look menacing to me, and whoever else was in that building with him.
The video was being recorded in a warehouse of some kind. There were broken windows situated high up around the dirty, crumbling walls, showing that the place was derelict. A perfect setting for what was about to go down.
The guy held a metal baseball bat in his hand, and when he started to swing it around, four other men came into shot. Each one wearing the same jeans and balaclava disguise. All of them with distinctive tattoos on their chest, arms and back. Every one of them with a weapon.
The video flickered like there was interference, and then the main guy spoke, his words distorted by a voice changer that sent shivers down my spine.
“Welcome to the game of consequences, Mr Knowles.”
He stood centre of the screen, with his legs wide, swinging his bat to and fro like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Let me tell you how your game is going to work. We are going to set you some tasks. You can choose whether to carry out those tasks or not, but like the game says, there are consequences. If you comply, things go well for you. If you don’t… Well, let’s just say we have something that you might be interested in.”
The guy stood to the side, and behind him, strapped to a chair and looking like he’d already taken a pretty bad beating, was my Uncle Tony.
“He squealed like a pig when we caught him. Spilled all of your little secrets within minutes, Mr Knowles. I’m guessing you’ll want those secrets to stay hidden. All the stuff about Alice… and you. See, that’s where we come in. Play the game and your little problem goes away. Choose to forfeit your turn and all the filth that came out of his mouth just now goes viral. Everyone will hear. Is it becoming clearer now?”