Even Angels Fall (32 page)

“ALEX?” Tom shouts him, but he doesn’t have time to answer as he scrambles awkwardly to his feet. The adrenaline is pumping, his heart is beating loudly in his ears, and everything from that point on seems to happen at a super heightened speed. The shop keepers rushes forward and grabs hold of the gun. Alex’s gun. The gun that is fully loaded. And points it at him with a look of sheer determination. Alex spins around, hardly able to move fast enough and feeling as though he is in one of those dreams where you are running and running but just not moving forward. He hurls himself through the office door as the shopkeeper fires, shattering the woodwork inches above his head.

“Jesus… what the fuck…?” Darren gasps, panicked, as Alex staggers across the shop.

“GET BACK…” He warns them, throwing himself over the counter and landing underneath the window as the shopkeeper fires again, blowing the cash register and the newspaper display to pieces.

Before Darren can react further, the man who attacked him takes advantage of the distraction and charges, tackling him into a set of shelves. They begin to fight, but Tom doesn’t help, doesn’t even flinch, as the horror of what is unfolding in front of him slowly registers and it freezes him to the spot. Alex pushes himself up off the floor as the shop keeper reloads, but he has nowhere to go and nowhere to hide… he is completely exposed. Running purely on instinct, Tom drops his gun and charges forward.

“Alex… NO…” He chokes out, slamming into him and throwing him backwards. There is another shot, and Alex looks up to see Tom clutching his stomach as blood begins to seep through his fingers and drip onto the floor beneath him.

“No, no, NO…” Alex yells in horror and the shopkeeper stares in wide eyed shock as Tom drops to his knees and falls forward. Alex instinctively leaps over the counter and kicks the gun out of the shopkeeper’s hands before he has chance to compose himself, punching him hard in the face, knocking him to the floor and reigning blow after blow down on him until he is unconscious.

Darren grapples with his opponent -desperately trying to fend him off so that he can help Alex and Tom - and as the burly man overpowers him, he lashes out, kicking him in the chest and launching him backwards, buying him enough time to clamber off the floor and gather himself. He almost trips over and looking down he sees the discarded cricket bat at his feet. He quickly picks it up, and as the man charges at him again Darren swings his arm back, connecting the bat with his jaw and knocking him out cold.

“Oh no, no, no, please, no…” Alex sobs quietly, cradling Tom in his arms while trying to stem the bleeding and Darren rushes over, kneeling down beside them.

“Alex we have to move him, now…”

“Go get the car…” He screams, pulling Tom to his chest and rocking him back and forth “God what did I do, what did I do, Tom just hold on mate, please…” Alex begs, with his tears falling freely as Darren races out into the pounding rain and sprints across the road. Tom is still alive, still breathing, but he is losing a lot of blood. It is only moments later when Darren returns and they carry him awkwardly outside, carefully laying him down on the back seat.

“Hurry the fuck up Darren, drive…” Alex shouts as he struggles to keep pressure on the wound.

“Where to?”

“To the fucking hospital, where the fuck do you think?!”

“No…” Tom gasps, “They’ll ask… questions…”

“You need to get to the hospital now mate, you need help…” Tom shakes his head and his eyes roll back as he drifts in and out of consciousness.

“He’s right…” Darren shouts, panicked, “They’ll ask him what happened, and when those guys report the robbery, they’ll know Tom was involved…”

“He could die… he’s gonna fucking die, just get him to the FUCKING HOSPITAL…” Alex screams and Darren fights back tears as he speeds through the deserted streets and out toward Leeds General Infirmary. Tom grabs hold of Alex’s arm and shakes his head again, struggling for breath.

“Just… leave me…”

“What…?” Alex gasps, horrified.

“Outside… leave me… you have to…” Tom chokes, coughing and writhing in pain.

“I can’t just fucking leave you, I won’t do that…”

“You have to…”

“If they see us, they’ll know we’re involved…” Darren whispers, explaining Tom’s request, “If anyone sees us drop him off, we’re done too…”

“God Tom, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, it should have been me… why didn’t you just fucking leave it, why did you have to push me out of the way, you stupid bastard…?”

“I… told you…” Tom smiles despite the fear in his eyes, “I’d die for you, brother…”

“No… God no, please…” Alex sobs heavily as Darren slams on the breaks and comes to a screeching halt outside the A&E department. He climbs out and hastily flings open the back passenger door and they both struggle as they haul Tom out of the car, carrying him over towards the entrance. He drops to the floor just outside the automatic doors as they buckle under his weight.

“Go…” He breathes, barely conscious, “Go…” Alex hesitates, refusing to release his grip on Tom, crying and sobbing as Darren wraps his arms around his waist and tries to pull him away.

“We have to go Alex…”

“NO…”

“We have to go now…” The panic in Darren’s voice reaches a fever pitch as he looks up to see a doctor and two nurses running through the hospital towards them. Alex finally relents and they both stagger backwards, causing Darren to trip over as he forces Alex back into the car. He climbs clumsily into the driver’s seat and floors the accelerator as two nurses crouch down beside Tom and another rushes over with a gurney.

Darren drives as fast as he can within the speed limit while trying desperately to hold himself together, but his breathing is rapid and his hands are shaking on the wheel. Alex rocks slowly back and forth, staring down at his bloodied clothing, lost in a trance like state and struggling to process what has just happened. His phone starts to ring in his pocket and he blinks hard, unable to function as tears stream down his cheeks and drop into his blood stained hands.

“Answer it…” Darren stares at Alex’s vacant expression in the rear view mirror, “ALEX…”

He looks up in response, temporarily snapping back to reality and out of his extreme state of shock as he lifts the phone to his ear, managing to connect the call just before it rings out.

“Head back to the flat…” He whispers after a long moment. Darren can hear Liam’s frantic voice on the other end of the line but can’t quite make out what he is saying. He sounds panicked, and he has a right to be, “We need to get rid of the car. Just go back to the flat, we’ll see you there…”

Liam continues to shout anxiously down the phone, screaming at Alex to tell him what is wrong and what has happened, but he doesn’t answer. Instead he cuts him off and hangs up, dropping the phone into his lap as he cries silently, shaking with utter disbelief.

The kitchen door bursts open and Lucy, Sophie, Abbey and Gemma all turn expectantly, their hopeful smiles quickly vanishing as they see the fear and anguish in Liam and Nathan’s eyes.

“Are they back yet?” Liam asks.

“What? No. I thought you were waiting for them at the warehouse, you all came back together last time…?” Lucy frowns, alarmed at their apparent urgency and she stares quizzically at Nathan. He says nothing as he slowly crosses the room and pulls her into a gentle embrace.

“What’s going on?” Abbey asks, breathless. She can barely speak. Her face flushes and she feels light headed and nauseous as a deep sense of dread washes over her.

“Something went wrong…” Nathan whispers, “We don’t know what, they just told us to come back here…”

“Where are they?” Sophie yells, looking frantically between Liam and Nathan, “Where the fuck are they…?!”

“We don’t know Soph. They were taking a while so we called Alex… he answered, but…”

“But what…?” Abbey prompts and Liam shakes his head.

“Something was wrong with him…”

“What, what do you mean wrong? Wrong how…?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. But he sounded, strange… like he wasn’t quite with it. I asked him what had happened but he hung up on me…”

“But he answered…” Gemma points out, “if he answered that means they’re OK and they’re on their way back here, right?”

“It sounded like they were in the car, yeah…” Liam adds, un- reassured by her optimism.

“We need to ring them…” Sophie hastily retrieves her phone from her bag but before she has chance to dial, Nathan steps forward and grabs it out of her hand, while still holding on tight to a very pale looking Lucy.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“They might need help? They could be hurt…” Sophie shouts, snatching it back.

“Alex hung up on us Soph, he told us to come back here and wait…”

“So that’s it? We just wait?!”

“I don’t know what else we can do…?”

“Oh my god…” She gasps, “Anything could have happened to them. They could have crashed the car or been caught by the police. How the fuck would we know?!” She screams again, trying hard not to cry but unable to stop herself. Gemma pulls her into a hug and she begins to sob as the others look on, all struggling with their own fears and rapidly increasing worry.

Nobody speaks as they sit in a subdued silence around the long glass table adjacent to the kitchen. Another half an hour passes slowly, and the waiting becomes almost intolerable. Abbey feels physically sick. One minute she wants to throw up the next she just wants to scream as loud as she can at the top of her lungs. It is absolute torture, knowing that something is wrong but not knowing exactly what. She is petrified to find out, but desperate for the agony to be over. Just when she feels like she can’t stand it any longer, the key turns in the lock and the door opens.

They all rise to their feet in anticipation and Darren walks in, seemingly unscathed but looking pale, tired and incredibly sombre. It is obvious he has been crying. Sophie takes a careful step towards him, hesitating slightly before she reaches up and holds his face between her hands.

“What happened…?” She asks softly, but all he can do is shake his head as his lip begins to tremble. A few moments later, Alex enters the flat in a complete daze and everybody stares at him in absolute horror. He has blood on his hands, on his face and down his neck and although his clothes are black, it is clear to see that they are saturated. Gemma steadies herself against one of the chairs looking like she is about to collapse, and asks the question that no one wants to hear the answer to.

“Where’s Tom?” Her breath catches in her throat and Alex stares at her with a haunted expression on his face as a single tear escapes from the corner of his eye, creating a track in the blood on his cheek as it falls.

“I am so sorry Gem…” He whispers, barely audible.

“No…” She cries, shaking her head, “No, don’t you dare… don’t you fucking dare…”

Alex approaches Gemma and tries to reach out to her but she slaps him hard across the face, lunging at him again before Liam pulls her away and she collapses into his arms.

Alex slumps into one of the chairs and rests his head on the table, trying to block out reality and the sound of Gemma screaming as the others look on in shock. This can’t be happening. This can’t be real. Everything seems distant and dreamlike as if reality has shifted and they are suddenly trapped in a living nightmare with no escape.

Abbey leans back on the wall and slides down to the floor, clutching her knees to her chest as she tries to fight off the horror and despair, but she can’t. This is real. Tom has been shot and the only reason he agreed to do the raid in the first place is because she convinced him.

Now he might be dead… and it is all her fault.

N
early a week has passed since Tom was injured in the attempted raid and the rain hasn’t stopped once. It is very befitting of everyone’s sombre, forlorn mood and it shows no signs of waning. Tom is still unconscious in a coma in intensive care and with Sophie by her side for moral support, Gemma finally found the courage to visit him yesterday morning. She hasn’t stopped crying since.

Abbey is still struggling with her conscience and the part she has played in all of this. Tom probably wouldn’t have changed his mind about the raid if she hadn’t pushed him into it; guilt tripped him and emotionally backed him into a corner. But all she could think about was Alex. All she wanted to do was protect him and now he is hurting more than ever. They all are.

The irony of what Abbey said to Tom that afternoon on the balcony certainly isn’t lost on her now. She told him the guilt he would feel if something happened to his best friend would never leave him, would eat away at him and now she can see it destroying Alex in the same way.

He has hardly left his room since the bungled robbery, unable to face his friends or look them in the eye, knowing that they blame him - at least partly - for everything that has happened. No one blames Alex more than he blames himself and Abbey is battling to get through to him, but she can’t ease his pain, no matter how much she wants to help. All they can do now is hope and pray that Tom pulls through. Thankfully, he has already started to show signs of improvement, but the comfort that brings is tainted by the knowledge of what is waiting for him when he wakes up. The police have already been to the hospital and are keen to ask Tom a number of questions as soon as he is well enough. They know he was at the raid, they know it was him who was shot and almost killed by the night manager. There is no denying it; so even if he does make a full recovery, he is looking at a long stretch in prison.