Gangster Girl

Excerpt

Daisy stared at the dead body.

At the growing pool of blood.
At the compact pistol in her hand.
‘Whatever you do, never run’, she heard his earlier warning
beating once again inside her head.

But she ran. Shot out of the room. Down the corridor. Took the
stairs two at a time. Hit ground level. The sweat trickled down her
face from the heat. From the fear. Her breathing cut up the air.
She looked straight ahead. More blood on the fl oor. Red, wavy
lines this time. She kept up her pace. Dodged the blood. Reached
the glass front doors. That’s when she stopped. Gulped in a steady
stream of uneven air. One . . . two . . . three. Shoved the gun into
her pocket. Rolled the balaclava off her face until it lay under the
low hanging hood she wore. She hesitated at the door as his words
came back to her:

‘Whatever you do, never run.’

She took deep breaths. Pushed her head down and the door
at the same time. Stepped outside into one of London’s busiest
business districts. The light from the June sun struck her eyes,
blinding her. She rapidly blinked trying to fl ick the glare from her
eyes. Trying to fi nd out if she could make it without being seen.
Her vision cleared. And what she saw horrifi ed her. The area in
front of her was fi lled with crowds of people, workers enjoying a
drink and chat in the still bright evening light.

‘Whatever you do, never run.’

A deafening, high-pitched, wailing noise screamed blue murder
from the building behind her.

She ran.

Her heartbeat kicked into overdrive. She didn’t look left. Didn’t
look right. Didn’t look at the City workers who she knew were now
gazing up at the building rocked by the alarm. Didn’t look at the
people who were staring after her running fi gure. Didn’t look at
the people who were now pulling out their mobiles to call the cops.

Sprinted around a corner. Kept motoring forward until a hand
snatched her arm swinging her against a hard wall. The air slammed
out of her body in a savage whoosh sound.

‘Where the hell have you been?’ Relief washed over Daisy as she
stared at the familiar face. She opened her mouth to respond but
the other person got there before her. ‘Get your arse into gear, we
need to get to the car.’

Heads down, they bolted towards the waiting car. They kept
going until they saw it in the distance. Saw the fi gure who waited
for them in the driver’s seat. As they got closer the gun nose-dived
out of her pocket. Clattered onto the ground. Daisy skidded to a
halt. Whirled around.

‘Leave it!’ the other person yelled as they kept running forward.

But Daisy knew she couldn’t do that. She grabbed it. Rammed it
back into her pocket. Twisted towards the car at the same time the
other person reached the passenger side. She sprinted towards the
car. The driver blocked the other person from her view. A police
siren wailed between the city blocks somewhere in the distance.
She ran harder. And harder. She was almost there.

Then there was a loud rolling rumble of thunder.

That’s all she heard. A terrifying boom tore through the air.
The car she’d been running towards, exploded outwards and into
a fi reball. Daisy felt the shock go through her body as if she’d
touched a live wire. She somersaulted through the air like a circus
acrobat. She landed on her back, winded, as parts of car and street
lamps came down around her until she was covered in debris and
glass. She could feel something seeping down her face. Blood.
Through her hazy vision she saw the shattered and twisted remains
of the car as red and orange fl ames belched with smoke high into
the air.

Her vision became fainter and fainter. Her mind started to slip.
She heard The Mamas And Papas singing ‘Dedicated To The One
I Love’ as her mind slipped further back. Back to two weeks ago.
Back to the day her life had changed forever. Back to a day that
had started with a death...