My Payday

Danny and Terry were quick to react, grabbing their guns and their duffel bags. The sirens weren't close but they were nearby, and regardless it put the fear of god into all three of them. The all scrambled, I looked inside the van. There were two of my duffel bags, and the others were scrambling for the remaining four bags. Michael took one, Danny took two and Terry took the last one. They were leaving me with the two bags of my own, it was clear 'every man for himself' was the name of the game now.

"We'll contact you once the heat dies away, do her now and get out of here." Michael said shouldering the duffel bag over one shoulder and with his free hand shoved his rifle into the bag, before running towards the garage door.

Danny and Terry were shouldering their own bags, and already pouring from two cans of petrol onto the van's bonnet, and as much of the body work as they could cover in it.

"They burn me alive." Katja wept clutching her hands to her wet face, in fear of the fire coming.

"No I won't let them dae' that a' swear tae' yer'." I said to her, low enough so that the guys couldn't hear me.

I turned to Danny, Terry and Michael; all were pouring fuel onto the van, collecting their weapons and the duffel bags they'd come out with from the robbery.

"I'll torch dae' van, you lads get oot' of ere' and I'll finish her off." I said to them all, as they turned to listen to me.

Michael as the leader, who was near the garage doors sighed hard, looking around the interior of the garage once more.

"You better finish the job, or you'll get no more work with us, or anyone else on the Network." Michael growled at me, before turning to the garage doors dropping his now empty can of petrol. Danny and Terry didn't award me another look, as they threw down their cans of fuel and ran following behind Michael, leaving me to finish off torching the van and garage, as well as killing Katja. I looked around, and as the garage door opened the trio ran out, with four duffel bags split between them, and their weapons now hidden inside them.

"You kill me now, I will not beg no more." Katja gasped, and simply lay on her thighs with her arms supporting her weight.

That cold hard, stainless steel tool of murder was heavy in my hand, even the grip melt like it weighed a tonne. It was too much for me, I had killed before but I had never killed a woman; and definitely not an innocent. Everyone I had killed had somehow deserved it, or had it coming to them; either gangsters or fellow criminals at best. I sighed, and lowered my gun, craning it to my left I pulled the trigger firing off a single shot into the left wall of the van. Katja jumped, like a bag of nails frightened at the sound of the gun going off, but then looked up at me.

In a low whisper I spoke to her again.

"They'll think I shot you, noo' we torch dae' van an' we get oot' of ere'." I said to her.

I took from my pocket, a lock-knife and opening it I brought it down to her bound wrists; cutting the zip-lock apart on her wrists.

"You free me?" She asked me, rubbing her wrists where the cuffs bit into her skin.

"Aye, but you need to come with me; they cannae' know you're still alive. I'll take yer' to ma' place." I said sliding out of the van onto my feet in the garage.

"I do as you tell me, you save my life." Katja said struggling with her English, as she slid out with me from the van.

"I've got two of dem' duffel bags tae' carry to ma' place. There is a hoodie in dat' box over near the wall, take it out and put it on." I said to her.

Katja nodding, and slowly moved over to the box positioned next to the garage wall; it was an old, metal trunk and she knelt down to get it out of the box. I remember we put a baggy hooded top in the box in case one of us needed to hide our faces from CCTV or cameras on the estate. It wasn't much, we all agreed it couldn't have any identifying symbols or anything the Police could link back to us via CCTV footage. It was a simple, black hoodie in a XL size.

I came back to the van, and opened one of the two duffel bags - shoving my shotgun inside it. Katja followed me, now with the hoodie on and baggy, over her petite chest. We moved out of the garage together, and as we stood a few yards from the garage door now in the open, I pulled Katja's hood down over her face, in case CCTV saw her; she was probably believed by the Police to still be a hostage.

"My hoose' is about half an hour from here, stay close." I told her, taking from my bag a box of matches, I removed one and ignited it on the box, it lit up into a blue flame, I moved closer towards the van inside and threw it at the bodywork of the van.

The side of the van, including the bodywork and tires set alight from the match, and a wall of fire etched across the van's bodywork within less than a few seconds. The entire garage eventually came alight as well, from the nearby petrol on the floor. I turned to Katja, holding both duffel bags either side of my hips.

"Come on then, yer' better follow me." I said, and we set off towards my place, it wasn't much as I was always on the move accordingly for work and jobs.

*

Hope you guys enjoyed this story, I know it's a bit of a new type of story in regards to my previous works, but I hope it hit the right notes for everyone. All comments and feedback is appreciated, in fact I insist for some from readers if they can leave a comment. Next installment is on the way, following feedback and comments from you guys.