Words in Deep Blue(44)

It’d be one thing for George to have said she might be at Laundry and then not turn up. But to tell Martin to come here to wait for her is a shitty move.

I check my watch and see it’s only a little after seven. ‘Come to Laundry. I’ll buy you a beer while we wait for Rachel.’

He looks deflated after the news of George, so says he’ll just get a taxi and go home. I’m not leaving him alone around here, though, so I sling my arm around him and walk him to the door.

We leave Pavement and head towards Laundry. ‘How long do I have to pay?’ Martin asks. ‘I mean how hard does a guy have to work to be friends with your sister?’

I’m starting to wonder this myself. I know George has had some trouble at school that’s not her fault, but she’s throwing away the chance of having a friend by her side for her final year. I’d love to explain George to Martin but I can’t because I don’t understand her myself.

As I think this, I see Amy ahead. She’s leaning against a building, not far from the bookshop. My heart still goes crazy when I see her. All she has to do is turn up and I’m right back where I started.

‘I’m waiting for Greg,’ she tells me.

I think back to her text, and the first thing I want to ask her is, ‘What does at the moment mean?’ Because ‘at the moment’ sounds hopeful. But before I have time to ask, Greg arrives. He pulls up in a car, gets out, and stands between us.

‘Stop hassling Amy,’ he says.

I step to the side so I can see Amy, and ask my question. ‘What does “at the moment” mean exactly?’

‘Did you hear me?’ Greg asks, but I ignore him.

‘Are you okay?’ I ask Amy. ‘Are things okay?’

‘I think you should go,’ she says. ‘We can talk later.’

‘We’re talking now,’ I say.

‘Did you hear me?’ Greg says again, this time loudly in my ear.

‘Not very well. Because my ears are not tuned to the language of dickhead,’ I say, turning around to see four guys, all of whom I know from school, each one of them, a dickhead.

‘Maybe your ears should be tuned to the language of dickhead,’ Greg says, and Amy and I laugh, which makes him even angrier than he was a second ago.

He tells his friends to get us, and there isn’t much time to get away. There’s just enough to lunge at the guy who’s taken hold of Martin. ‘Run!’ I yell after the guy let’s go, but Martin stays where he is. It’s a brave move. Stupid, sure. But brave.

They haul him towards the car first, throwing him in the back and slamming the door. They grab me second, and shove me in the boot. Before they close it over, the last thing I see is Amy standing on the footpath, staring in my direction.

The car starts and I feel the rhythm of the road. It’s an understatement to say that the night is not turning out how I’d imagined. I wish I were the kind of guy who didn’t panic but I am not that guy. As it turns out, I’m the guy who panics quite a bit. They won’t kill us but they’ll do something bad, and at this point I think it’s best not to imagine what that bad might be.

All the while I’m lying here, I’m trying to work out what Amy sees in this guy. I’m trying to interpret her expression before they closed me in the boot. Anger at Greg? Fear? Pity for me?

Surely she can’t be even a little bit in love with Greg now. What is there to be a little bit in love with? Part of me is happy he’s done this because there’s no way she’ll be able to stay with him after tonight. Love’s insane but it’s not fucking insane.

I try to work out which way we might be going based on the speed of the car. First they move slowly, I’m guessing because High Street’s full of traffic on Friday night. The car picks up to about sixty for a while, so I think they might be going down Melton Street, which means they’re taking us through the city. Slow, fast, slow. I map it out but I’ve got no real idea. My instinct is they’re taking us across the other side to the harbour.

It’s about fifteen minutes before they stop. One of them opens the boot but Martin’s putting up a good fight in the back seat, so he pushes it back down to help his friends contain him. I stop the boot clicking shut at the last minute. I’m free but I can’t run. I’m not leaving Martin and anyway, there’s nowhere to run. I was right. We’re at the stretch of road that runs along the docks.

Packing crates are behind us, a double lane freeway in front. There are a few warehouses spread out along the road on the other side, but that’s about it. Apart from that it’s deserted.

There’s enough time to send a dropped pin to Rachel and a help! text while I’m waiting for them to come back. Out of respect, I close my eyes when they start to strip Martin of his clothes. I can hear him put up a good fight, though. It takes a while for them to get everything off him. I open my eyes when they’re winding the tape around and around his body, securing him to the pole. They’ve got a couple of rolls of the stuff so they’re not stingy with the amount. He’s wrapped up tight when they stop.

And then it’s my turn.

All of them haul me out of the boot and throw me on the ground. They tell me to strip and they kick me when I don’t. I’ll admit I give up pretty quickly. ‘If you want to see me naked so badly, Greg, who am I to ruin your night?’