Chapter 6

Graham Inch sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the items in front of him. Two pistols; a Glock and one which he wasn't too sure of but looked like it was from a John Woo film. A sawn off shotgun, his butterfly knife and a screwdriver. The screwdriver wasn't meant to be part of the arsenal but his axe was lodged in the arm of a traffic warden somewhere and he need a replacement. He covered up the sawn off and the Glock and put them in his shoulder bag. The rest of the weapons he concealed about his person and he made his way downstairs to the payphone. He only had a small amount of money left in the world as the rest had gone on purchasing the weapons and he knew it was not part of the plan but he wanted to hear their voices one more time. He put 60p in, took a deep breathe and dialled. The youngest picked up first.

'Hey baby it's daddy. How you doing?'
'Daddy is that...is that you?'
'Yes baby it's really me. How are you? Looking forward to tomorrow? Not long till Santa comes now baby'.
'Daddy you're not supposed to call here. I've been told not to talk...'
'I know baby but I couldn't go Christmas without talking to my baby girl now could I? Where are your brothers baby'?
'Danny is out with his friends.Tim's in bed upstairs. Should I go and get him? Should I call Mummy'?
'No Sweetie no need to disturb them. I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and...'
The line went dead. She must have heard them.

Graham left the phone box and sat on the wall outside. He lit a cigarette and started to sob. It was a bad idea to have phoned them. He had a job to do and he couldn't let his emotions get in the way of that. He wiped the tears out of his eyes and blinked until his vision unblurred. Two teenagers were stood in front of him.
'Give us a fag mate?'
'What? Oh yeah, sure.' He opened his packet and pulled out a cancer stick . When he looked up they were staring menacingly into his eyes.
'And your phone and your fucking wallet.'
'I'm sorry?'
'I said give us your phone and your wallet before we smash your face in.'
'But....your not even carrying a weapon? I'm not going to give you my wallet. I need it.'
'Did you hear us right you fucking cockstain. Hand them over now before we mess you up.'
'No thankyou gentlemen.' And with that Graham reached into his pocket pulled out a screwdriver and buried it deep into one of the teenagers eyes. The screams were even louder than the traffic wardens had been. It probably would have been quieter to use the gun. Graham got hastily up and ran away down the road. In his haste he realised he had left the tool in the teenagers head. Dammit! he thought to himself. He needed to stop leaving items embedded in people. He couldn't go back to the motel now. He was going to have to use his cellphone. There was only one number he could call. And they were going to be pissed off. They weren't supposed to have any contact until tomorrow after all. He paused before dialling the number but he knew he didn't have any choice.

'Hi it's me. I need somewhere to stay. The motel has been compromised. Can I come to yours please? Two hours? Perfect. I'm sure I can think of things to do.'
He hung up the phone and hailed down a taxi. He instructed it to take him into town and when the driver tried to overcharge him he stuck his butterfly knife into his chest.