Page 72 of Chaos & Carnage

“He will, won’t you Stuart?” Indie now propped him up, his arm under his shoulder, but the man’s head lolled like it might just fall off his neck. “Won’t you Stuart?” Indie asked again, patting his cheek hard, the man turning and staring at him.

Eventually, he nodded.

“How the fuck you get in this mess, anyway?” Indie asked.

“Owed the wrong people money,” he gasped. “Sold some Gabapentin to pay it back. When they found out, they said they’d wipe the debt off if I kept supplying it.” He swayed back and forth cradling his arm.

“Gabapentin?” I asked. “What the fuck is that?”

“Treats pain and anxiety in animals,” he continued through gritted teeth.

“Yeah. But when you snort it, it’s like taking cocaine,” Indie added, standing over the top of him.

“Nice,” Magnet cooed, “never knew that.”

Stuart looked up at us, his face grey, his clothes covered in blood.

“Yeah. Don’t think he’s thinking that now,” I commented.

“Right then, I’ll bring the truck down. Let’s load these pets up and then we need to vanish. You leaving him here?” Fury nodded at the bleeding man.

“Yeah. You and the others sort the animals. Get Alice home. We’ll give this one instructions and then see you back at theDogfor a debrief.” We all nodded our agreement, and I watched Fury, Magnet, Chaos and Alice, half walk, half trot up the street to where we had left the bikes and the truck.

Indie guided Stu to a seating position on the curb, crouching down beside him on his haunches. The faint ring of sirens wailed in the distance, a growing whisper.

“This is what you’re going to tell the police,” Indie instructed, his face only a few inches away from the man in the gutter. “There was a break in. A gang looking for drugs. They took your fingers and then, when you got the chance, you fought back with their own weapon. But someone pulled a gun on you. He shot the oxygen tanks, and they exploded. You’re lucky to have got out alive. Everything you did was in self-defence. You thought they were going to kill you. Understand?”

The man stared blankly back at Indie.

“Understand?” he growled.

Eventually Stuart nodded, but whether he took any of it in, only time would tell. If the police didn’t come knocking on our door in an hour, we were doing ok.

“Good.” Indie patted the man’s shoulder and then stood up.

The sirens grew louder, closer.

“Come on, boss. We need to get out of here.”

Indie nodded, and we ran to the top of the street. I tossed him the spare helmet, and he climbed on the back of my bike, muttering something about not telling anyone he’d ridden bitch with me. The bike fired up, and we took a U-turn, racing away before our cuts were spotted in the area.

We made it back to theDogbefore the others, to the awaiting faces of anxious old ladies who’d seen us run from church and straight out of the pub. Indie wrapped an arm around Emmie, kissing the top of her head.

“You smell of smoke,” she mumbled.

“Wasn’t our fault this time.”

“Where you been?”

“The vets.”

“Vets?”

“Yeah. Chaos’ lass sent a distress call. It’s sorted. We just needed to cut and run before the cops arrived.”

“Everyone alright?” Suzy asked, stepping out of the booth she sat in with Heidi, who was still typing away on her computer.

“Well, not everyone. But anyone who was a King is fine.” Indie answered.