Honey

Chapter Seven

Footsteps thudded over the wooden floor above us and a grunt from the gunman as he walked into the side of the bar.  Tom put his hand over my mouth and shoved me as close to the wall as possible to make sure we were hidden from view.  I heard more footsteps approach from the other side of the pub.  "Where are they?  He said she would be here with that surfer boy."  The gunman growled.  His steps were headed our way and looked at Tom in panic.  He was laid over me and his blue eyes softened as he looked at my face.  I could feel him urging me not to panic but it was clear who they were looking for.  "I haven't seen either of them but I'm going to check the cellar."  The second man replied.  He started to walk this way, his footsteps getting louder and louder until he finally stopped at the top of the steps.  I was shaking in Tom's grasp and tears started streaming down my face.  Whatever was going on, they didn't want him, they had come for me.  There Tom was draped over me like a human shield and there was nothing I could do to stop the man descending the steps, ready to shoot anyone who got in his way.

Sirens wailed in the distance and the first gunman called out, "we have to move, if there is any chance that's the police coming here, we have to be well shot of this place."  I heard glasses smashing on the floor.  "Kick over some chairs on your way out to make it look like a robbery.  Hurry now, the boss won't be happy if we get caught."  There was more sounds of glass breaking and shattering as it hit the wooden floor and a couple of dull thuds from the chairs.  The second gunman was halfway down the steps and I winced as the piece of gravel stuck in the cleats of his shoe scraped against the concrete step as he turned.  My heart was hammering against my rib cage and I counted each step he took away from us until the pub was too quiet.  Tom peeled himself away from me and I stayed stuck to the wall, frozen with fear.  The sirens were closer now and I heard the rumbling of an engine on the pub forecourt.

"Honey.  We have to go, that's our bossman.  Honey, take my hand.  We are safe now."  Tom gently coaxed me out from under the steps and his big hand closed over mine as he guided me up the stairs.  The front door swung open and Alex, our boss strode in with a tool box in one hand and his set of keys in the other.  "What the hell happened in here?  Lucky I called the Fuzz, they should be here any minute now."  Alex eyed both of us warily as he walked to the bar and dumped his toolbox on top of it.