Nick Oldham
Facing Justice
ONE
Massey was amazed to wake up alive. He was certain he’d be dead, that the horrific beating he’d endured — the fists, boots, sticks and bats — would have, should have, killed him. He’d obviously been lucid at the start of it, expecting to get a good hammering, basically what he deserved. But, only a short way into the assault, he realized this was much more than a punishment beating. He could tell by their faces and their eyes and their determination. And he knew this would be the last time he would ever be assaulted by anyone. But there had been nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t protect himself or fight back in any way. Being securely gaffer-taped to a chair ensured that.
Then the pain took over, followed by the distortion of sight, sound and thought. Next the in-and-out of consciousness, vision blurring as though he’d opened his eyes deep under murky water, unable to see, then unable to feel, then unable to breathe. And then the merciful blackness of what he assumed was his death.
As consciousness returned, his eyelids fluttered but he didn’t open them. Just lay there on the cold, gritty surface and explored how his body was feeling. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe he would have fooled his captors into thinking he was still out of it. He knew he’d moved, knew he’d groaned, knew his breathing was in a different rhythm, but he didn’t care. If they wanted to start on him again after they’d realized they hadn’t killed him — which must have been their intention — eyes open or closed would not make one bit of difference.
Searing pain arced through his cranium, starting at a place just behind his eyeballs and radiating out in agonizing pulses, like a migraine times a thousand. Did this mean he had a fractured skull? He recalled the vicious stomp on the head that must have been the origin of the pain. That was when they’d got really carried away and lost it, after the chair had toppled over and one of them had jumped on him. His whole face had been forced out of kilter, distorted like a kid standing on a balloon.
Massey ground his teeth and moved the tip of his tongue along the back of them. Many were loose, hanging there in the gums, barely connected any more. There were two big gaps and he recalled spitting out fragments of crushed teeth when the men had heaved the chair back upright. He’d spat out the broken teeth and blood and squinted at the men through his pus-swollen eyes, then seen the baseball bat arcing towards him.
Now he did open his eyes. At least as far as they would open in the liquid-filled sacs of swellings now encasing them. He coughed, swallowed blood, and pain tore at his chest. Broken ribs? He moved a fraction, convulsing at the pain in his knees from the blows delivered by the bat.
He tried to control his breathing as a deep, long shudder passed like a ghostly shockwave through the entire length and breadth of his body.
He was in darkness, unable to work out where he was. So he lay still, moving his ankles and wrists slightly, realizing he was no longer taped to a chair, nor was there any duct tape binding his arms or ankles. He was lying on a hard floor now. He wondered if they thought they had succeeded in killing him, whether they had ripped the tape off and dragged him to this place that was like a basement of some sort. Somewhere to stash the body before disposing of it?
Massey brought up his legs, a movement that made him gasp. Then he eased himself very slowly and painfully up until he was sitting on his backside, still trying to control his breathing as if by doing so he could control the agony. He swayed a little, not wanting to move. What he wanted were painkillers and then to close his eyes and reawaken in a week’s time, having healed.
Keeping his body as still as possible, he squinted at his location, and saw that he was definitely alone. They were not waiting for him to sit up just so they could begin again.
From what little light there was, it seemed as though he was in a basement room of some sort. A square room, not much bigger than a police cell — and he’d been in plenty of those in his time — with rough-hewn concrete flooring and inner walls constructed of breeze block. There was a tiny window, maybe a foot square, high up on one wall. Massey could see it was made from opaque, reinforced glass with three iron bars set into the window ledge.
And yes, he was definitely alone.
And there was a door.
Massey inched his head around and slowly tried to focus on it. It was steel-reinforced — another reminder of a cell, even down to the inspection hatch just below eye level. At ground level there was also a flap in the floor through which a food tray could be slid, something which puzzled Massey faintly. His eyes, though watery and swollen, were starting to work better now, seeing things more sharply even though he could not open them any wider than slits. The door had no handle on this side, so its locking was controlled from the outside. Again, just like a cell door, not a basement door.
He groaned involuntarily, spat something out that dribbled messily down his chin and on to his chest. He rocked, his head feeling as though lots of sharp stone chips were inside it.
But he was definitely alive. Of that he was certain.
Death, he now knew, had no feeling. Being alive meant sheer agony.
He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. Then, closing one nostril with a finger, he blew down the open one, clearing it of blood and phlegm. He repeated the process with the other nostril.
His nasal passages clear, he smelled something other than his own blood and gagged at the odour. Something… a combination of heavy urine and dead flesh. Very strong and almost overpowering. A smell he could not place even though it was familiar and he had smelled it before. Sometime in his past, many years before. Or was it somewhere else in his memory, deep-rooted and primeval?
He shivered in fear.
‘Fuck it,’ he said and slowly curled his body around and eased himself up to his knees. He didn’t stay in that position for long because his kneecaps had been hit by the baseball bat — but, as painful as they were, they had not been shattered. Then he recalled something else that puzzled him a little.
The man hitting his knees with the bat. And the other one holding him back. What had been said?
‘No… don’t break ’em. He needs to be able to…’
Massey tried to remember. Couldn’t quite put the piece there.
‘Able to what?’
‘Fuck it,’ he said again and pushed himself slowly up to his feet, then lost balance as everything inside his skull rolled loosely around. He staggered to the wall for support before he fell again, the palms of his hands holding him upright, his face just inches away from the breeze block.
He cursed and rested his forehead on the wall, then, puzzled, he drew back a few inches and made his eyes focus on a sign spray-painted on the wall. It was a diamond shape, basically an orange-coloured square tilted on to one of its corners. The word ‘EXPLOSIVES’ was written across it in thick black capitals. There was a graphic image above the word representing an actual explosion. Massey realized he was looking at a health and safety sign.
‘What the…?’ he started to say, thinking, explosives in a basement? But he could not be bothered continuing with the thought thread.
He inhaled another stuttering, painful breath, wincing as he felt the jagged end of a broken rib touching a lung. He turned, leaned on the wall, again exploring his current situation.
Despite the sign, the place did remind him of a basement, maybe situated under the main house. The ceiling seemed to be made of thick concrete and a light bulb dangled, unlit, on a foot-long thread of wire.
Then that smell. That odour. Where had he smelled it before? There was something horrible about it. Animal.
Using one hand on the wall for support he took an uncertain step towards the metallic door and stood in something soft. He looked down. It was shit. Despite his physical condition, Massey pulled a face and dragged his shoe across the floor to get it off his sole. He heard a click as the foot connected with and moved something.