Fury - Page 75

“Not anywhere near enough.”

“Let me get you another. Fuck it. Let me buy you the whole fucking bottle.”

“I don’t want anything, Magnet. Now fuck off and bother someone else.”

But Magnet didn’t move, sliding his arse onto the seat of the barstool next to me and saying nothing. Together we sat there, saying nothing, Whitesnake wailing in the background, lyrics I could fall into. ‘And here I go again on my own’.

“You know Father Leverett has been let off?” Magnet said suddenly as the song played out its last verse.

“Fuck, really? And Gordon Fischer?”

“Convicted of the whole thing. He’s out on bail, waiting to be sentenced.”

My stomach flipped, a deep, sudden feeling of dread. But Heidi was long gone, tucked away in London, in her own city with her own friends, who would look after her. And the damage was done. Her brother convicted of fraud, no amount of going after her would change the outcome now. Father Leverett, the slimy bastard, was out to defraud another granny. Maybe the club would have a view.

There was a commotion by the doors, suddenly. Loud voices, urgent. Then a smash of glass and the smell of something burning. Rubber and fuel and intense heat. The bar moved, leather jackets rushing to the front doors, shouts and instructions, but not any discernible from the front.

Magnet stood up, the twins coming along beside us.

“What the fuck is going on?” Indie stepped out from behind the bar and together we moved towards the doors of the pub.

“Fire!” someone shouted. “The bikes are on fire!”

“Fuck!” I pushed through the crowds out into the open, to the billowing smoke rising in the night and the crackle and pop of flames and heat bending metal.

The bikes lined up against the wall of the pub were well ablaze. Three of them at the front, but with so many crammed in together, the rest would be up in flames in a few short minutes. And mine was only sheltered by one more bike.

“Get ya keys!” I shouted over the roar of the fire. “Get these bikes moved or we’ll lose the lot!”

Bikers poured out into the car park, scrambling for keys, the growl of engines competing with the raw crackle of the fire. A pushed mine backwards, searing heat at my arm, Magnet rushing to my side, to where his bike was the only thing between me and the fire.

“Magnet, leave it. It’s too close!” I shouted over the clamour of engines and flame.

“No fucking way. I’m not losing this bike.”

“Fuck.” I stopped moving backwards and kicked the stand out. “Throw iz your keys, then. I’ll start it from here. Then you can just jump on.”

A bundle of metal flew from behind me, my fingers just wrapping round the keyring and catching them before they fell to the ground. Dismounting, I leant over Magnet’s bike, the heat on my face, baking, melting heat, and I could smell burning hair. I couldn’t tell whether it was the leather of the bike next to Magnet’s or my hair. But I didn’t look up, reaching for the throttle and turning the engine on, praying the flames and heat weren’t so close that it caught the bike the moment the engine started.

Magnet’s precious bike stuttered, the engine not quite turning over. I tried again. And again. The surrounding air was baking hot, my face sweating, flames licking at me as the fire crept ever closer. I could hear shouts. My name. The bike stuttered again and still I didn’t look up. Didn’t check how close those flames were getting. Come on. Come on. I twisted the throttle; the engine shouting and then a purr. A deep, vibrating, wonderful fucking noise.

“Magnet!” I shouted over the resonating roar of the fire at my side.

The man rushed forward, jumping on the bike and pushing it backwards, out of the line of the fire, the four bikes next to it crackling angrily, and I followed him, moving my bike out of the way, to where the Harleys now gathered at the far side of the car park, like a frightened flock of sheep, cowering from a predator.

“That was fucking stupid,” Indie shouted over the noise, sirens and blue lights emerging through the clouds of billowing smoke.

“You know how much Magnet loves that bike. And how much Suzy loves Magnet. If anything happened to him…”

“And if anything happened to you? How would I tell Mamma Dot she’d lost another son? Huh? What do you think that would do to her?”

“I can’t live just for someone else.”

Indie shook his head angrily, then wandered off towards the firemen diving out of the trucks and attaching hosepipes as we watched our bikes burn in front of us.

“Which club’s done this, then?” Chaos or Carnage spoke from beside me.

I went to shake my head, to say I didn’t know, but as I looked across the carpark to the trees that stood sentries at the entrance, I saw the t-shirts hanging there. The bear staring down at us with its red eyes. I nudged whichever twin stood the closest, pointed over at the t-shirts swaying in the breeze.