588

Source

He still hadn’t made up his mind by the time he’d pulled up next to a petrol pump. 

“Fill her up, using the credit card facility on the bowser” said the Killer, quietly.  “If you try anything, I’ll shoot your boyfriend first, then you, then as many others as I can get.”

Luigi had no idea how many bullets the Killer’s gun held.  He remembered vaguely that some guns had 6—or was it 7?—bullets in the revolving thingy at the base of the barrel.  But there were others who which held the bullets in a cartridge in the hand-grip.  How many did they hold?

Well, it didn’t matter. The Killer would kill Cody and maybe others.  Recalling his earlier cowardice, Luigi resolved to do something else. 

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Episodes 1 to 500

587

They were just a couple of K’s before the Calder Raceway when the dashboard beeped.  A notice came up warning that the fuel tank was nearly empty.  Luigi exulted.  Yes!  Yes!  They weren’t going to go anywhere now.  There was no way the killer would do anything out in the open, next to the freeway. 

“Pull into the BP service station up ahead,” came the quiet order from the back. 

Luigi’s heart sank.  The service station was about a K further on.  Over and over again, in his head, he went through the options he had. He could get out and run.  As soon as he was safe he could phone the police and tell them what was going on.  And they would save Cody.  But he knew—profoundly, deep in his heart—that the Killer would use Cody as a hostage, and Cody would in the end be killed. 

He flicked the indicator on and turned his car onto the exit ramp leading to the service station.

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586

When they got to the car, the killer made Cody get in the back and gestured him to move over to the other side.  He pointed his gun at Luigi. 

“You drive,” he said.  “Don’t try anything or your little friend will get it.”  He got into the car at the same time as Luigi, his gun once again directed at Cody. 

Just for a second, Luigi was tempted to run, leaving Cody behind.  He tried to justify this to himself by rationalizing that he would be better able to save Cody by getting hold of the police.  And that there would only be one person to save instead of two.  And that two hostages gave the killer more power than one.  But he hesitated too long, and the killer pressed his gun against Cody’s head, and said softly with utter conviction. 

“Get in or I’ll do him.  And I’ll get you straight afterwards.”

Luigi got into the car, feeling ashamed and angry and very frightened.

They drove in silence for 20 minutes out of the inner city on to the freeway and then along the almost empty freeway. 

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585

(Source)

As soon as Luigi and Cody were dressed, the killer gestured to them with the gun to go outside onto the walkway.

“Downstairs!” he ordered quietly.  Luigi had half hoped they would use the lift.  Somebody might get in and then the killer might be distracted and Luigi could grab his gun … or maybe in the close confines of the lift, he might get close enough to do it anyway.  He turned round to see what was happening. 

“Just keep walking!” the killer growled.  His quietness and confidence were terrifying.

At ground level, the killer asked, “Where’s your car?”  Luigi thought of lying, and saying he didn’t have one. “I know you have one,” said the killer.  “I’ve watched you.  I’ve seen it.”

Luigi almost lost hope then.  How were they going to escape?  He also felt especially stupid.  He’d automatically put his key ring into his pocket when they’d left the flat.  Habit.  A couple of years before, he’d locked himself out of the flat and had had to go and beg to be let in by the building supervisor, who lived in a flat on the ground floor.  Mr Albanese had made his dislike of Luigi’s effeminacy quite clear, and Luigi had resolved never to let it happen again.  He’d made a habit of putting his keys, his wallet and his phone in his pockets whenever he left his flat.  Stupid! he thought to himself.  The police might know the killer’s car make and registration number and might be able to track them if his car was used.  But obviously the killer thought so too.

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584

The policeman nodded to them. Then he turned on his heel and went back along the walkway and into the flat.

“Loik to live dangerously, don’t ya?” murmured Keith when the lift doors had at last closed.

“Homophobic bunch of arseholes and wankers!” stormed Jason.

“Oi think he had a hard-on for ya, Jace,” said Keith.

Jason just tightened his lips and shook his head.

 “They’re so unprofessional. So inept.”

“You were very blunt,” observed Esmé.  “People hate being criticized.”

“Yeah.  But how unprofessional is it to raid his house and let him escape!  And then to argue with us when we point that out!”

They’d reached the ground floor.

“What’re we going to do now?” asked Esmé.

“I don’t know.  I feel we have to do something.”

His phone rang.

It was Luigi.

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583

“You can’t just walk off like that!  After accusing me of neglect and incompetence!”

Very quietly, Jason hissed, “There are two men out there whose lives are in danger.  Who might die because the police screwed up.  And while they get further and further away you are wasting time having an argument with us?  You are angry because I have told you some home truths.  I am livid because my friends are about to get murdered. While you do nothing. ‘Uphold the right’ it says on your badge.  What are you going to do, Sergeant Kaminski? Are you going to do your job, or are you going to arrest us, waste time by taking us down to the station and filling out forms?”  He paused to let that sink in.  “Now, if you would be so good as to move your foot, we would like to go home.”

For a long time, the sergeant glared at Jason and then sighed.  “Don’t get involved,” he said.   He was brave enough to meet Jason’s implacable blue gaze.  “Yeah, I know we screwed up.  And I’m really sorry.  But we’re still better at it than you amateurs would be.”

Keith could see that Jason was still angry, but he smiled at the policeman, a trifle tightly, but a smile all the same.  “I’m sorry, sergeant, for losing my temper.  We’re very worried.  I know it’s not because of you personally. I apologise.”

The policeman nodded.  “We’ll do our best.  I promise.”

Jason lifted his lips off his teeth.  No one would call it a smile.  “Just save our friends.” 

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582

“So our friends’ lives are at risk because you guys screwed up?”  Jason was furious.  Keith had never seen him angry.  It was a revelation.  Jason didn’t go red in the face or start sweating.  His voice was ice-cold, but his eyes blazed sapphire with rage.  His wrath was even more telling because it was manifested in a quieter voice than normal.

Kaminski got angry too.  “It had nothing to do with me!”  He showed he was angry by raising his voice, and going scarlet.

Jason tilted his head to one side, inspecting the other man, and was silent for several heartbeats.  “True,” he said at last.  “But our friends are out there with a killer.  He took Cody already, but Cody escaped.  Only after he’d been tortured.  For hours.  He was nearly killed. The killer cut a piece of flesh out of him.” The sergeant looked visibly shocked at this.  “ And he’s with that man now, knowing that this time he might not escape.  And frankly,” raising his voice when Kaminski tried to speak, “the police haven’t given a fuck about the investigation.  Because we’re just a bunch of queers.  Who don’t count.  If my friends die because of this, you—the Police—will be hearing about this and I will be taking steps to see that this bias and incompetence are properly punished.  Good morning to you, Sergeant.”  And he turned on his heels, and taking Keith and Esmé by the arm, marched off to the lift.

“You can’t just …. Dammit!”  Kaminski started following them down the walkway to the lift.

The lift was still on their floor, and its doors were still open.  The three of them got in, with the policeman still several meters behind.  But the lift doors were as slow to close as they had been on the way up to the fourth floor.  Kaminski slid his foot between them before they closed, and obedient to their safety overrides, they opened again.

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