ASBO: A Novel of Extreme Terror(80)

He pulled out the revolver stuffed down his trousers and pointed it at the man. “Move out the f*ckin’ way.”

The man looked at Davie and laughed. “You a proper gangster, yeah? What is that, a water pistol?”

Davie laughed back. “Yeah man, I’m a regular OG.” Then he smashed the gun against the man’s face and knocked him out cold. His body sprawled back into the doorway and Davie wasted no time in stepping over him.

He would have to find his way around the hospital without having a clue where he was going, but there were no other choices. Currently he stood by a cafeteria, but that didn’t help much. The hospital had three floors and a dozen departments. It wouldn’t be easy to find his brother in this maze. In fact it could turn out to be nigh-impossible.

But when a gunshot rang out, things got a whole lot easier.

The short explosion had come from the same floor that Davie was already on; somewhere down the end of the long corridor in which he now stood. The signs above him pointed in that direction read WARDS 4-7. Davie ran as fast as his battered body would allow. He was still nowhere near recovered from his car accident, but he tried to put the discomfort aside. His trainers squeaked on the floor as he picked up speed.

Davie didn’t know what the gunshot meant for certain, but he knew it couldn’t be anything good. The odds that someone had just been shot were high and the odds that it was Frankie behind the trigger were even higher.

Either that or the police have just gunned down my crazy brother.

Davie didn’t think that was true, though. The police didn’t carry guns as far as he knew. They used pepper sprays and batons and stuff. The only time Davie had seen Police with guns was when they shot some sick nutcase on TV a couple years ago. Raul something-or-other. Other than that, the pigs in this country were harmless – nothing like the American cops he watched in the movies. Now they were badass.

Davie reached the end of the corridor and found himself lost again as he faced several options to choose from. He could go left, right, or straight on. He chose to stand still and listen, hoping to hear something that would make the decision easier. While he was not absolutely certain, he thought he could hear faint voices coming from a ward on the left: WARD 7.

Davie headed there immediately and was relieved when he heard the voices again, more clearly. He soon reached a wide-open nurse’s station and Davie clearly identified one of the voices as his brother’s. What was worrying, however, was that all the other voices he could hear were ones of pleading.

Davie turned a full circle of the room, trying to hone in on where the voices were coming from. Eventually he settled on a room to the left. He could not see inside the room’s windows because a curtain was pulled across them, but, as he approached the door, Davie was certain that it was where his brother was.

“Frankie?” he shouted at the closed door.

The voices inside the room stopped abruptly. Then Davie heard his brother’s voice reply from inside.

“Davie? Is that you? Get your ass in here, little bro. You’re just in time.”





Chapter Thirty-Two


The bullet had hit only centremetres above Bex’s head. Andrew’s heart leapt into his throat and stayed there. Now, as he tried to speak, his vocal chords were so restricted that his words came out choked. “I can’t…b-believe you just…did that! You’re insane.”

Frankie blew the end of the smoking revolver and then winked at Andrew. “Chill out, man. I was just making a point, innit?”

Bex had gone the colour of wet chalk. The gunshot had been so close to her face that the plaster behind her had fallen away and crumbled into her hair. The smell of cordite filled the room and mingled with the odour of blood.

Frankie strolled over to Andrew and crouched in front of him. “Hopefully I’ve got your full respect and attention now? I didn’t want to have to do that but you gave me no choice.”

Andrew was feeling weaker by the minute. His mind must have been shutting off to relieve some of the pain pulsing through his kneecap and ribs. “Just…please…enough. Enough.”

“Begging again, Andrew? I thought you’d grown bigger balls than that.”

“Frankie?”

Everyone in the room looked towards the door. Someone was outside. If Andrew wasn’t mistaken, it sounded like Davie.

Frankie edged over to the doorway and leant his head next to the wood. “Davie? Is that you? Get your ass in here, little bro. You’re just in time.”