Famous Most Wanted

Twenty-odd minuets later, the van juddered to a halt. Johnny and Taylor listened as the driver turned off the engine and got out. They listened to his echoing footsteps and his keys jangling as he shoved them in the lock of the back doors.

'This is it,' sighed Johnny, bracing himself for the worst. Taylor's grip on his hand tightened.

'I'm not losing you,' she told him in a whisper as the van doors were wrenched open and several guns were pointed at them.

'Out,' ordered a voice of one of the gun holders. They climbed out and the driver moved to shut the doors. Taylor glanced over her shoulder at the sacks. Her phone was still hidden out of sight. Hopefully she had signal here and Norris was able to trace the call to this very location. The van doors slammed shut and the echo reverberated off all four walls several times. The two gunman led them through what appeared to be a warehouse, while the driver followed behind.

A door to their right opened and another man stood by while they entered. This room was filled with crap. Old cars, torn to bits for parts, old furniture, piles of wood, scrap metal. It was like a handyman's workshop. Around an armchair was a cluster of men. They all had weapons and they all looked threatening. Stood beside the armchair, Johnny recognised a tall bald man. It was bullfrog from the petrol station. Then Johnny noticed the man sat in the armchair. It was Goatee.
It became apparent to Johnny that Goatee was the one in charge here.

'Johnny Carolina,' he addressed in a grand voice, looking up for the first time. He had an accent. Spanish maybe? 'Please to finally meet you.' Goatee stood. 'That was very rude of you, Johnny.' he faked disappointment. 'Leaving the pardy before it got starded.' Johnny assumed he was talking about the night at the petrol station, where he escaped. Goatee's eyes flicked between the two of them and a man instantly grabbed Taylor while another grabbed Johnny and marched him forwards. Taylor gasped and struggled to break the man's grip, almost succeeding.
The other guy pushed Johnny down into Goatee's armchair. Obediently, he stayed sat.

'But I guess we can have the pardy now instead,' said Goatee, drawing his gun and waving it around as he talked. 'You've been tough to find, Johnny. But if you weren't such a nosey fucker we wouldn't need to be finding you.'

'But I wasn't-' Goatee whacked Johnny with his gun and Taylor yelped. Johnny rubbed his face and spat blood on the floor before meeting Taylor's eyes. Goatee pointed the gun at Johnny's face and Taylor cried out. Goatee lowered the gun and looked at Taylor a moment before smirking. Johnny's eyes filled with panic as Goatee turned on Taylor instead. He stood before her, grinning smugly as he swept the hair from her face with the barrel of his gun. Taylor was scared. She wasn't too proud to admit that. She struggled to keep her shaky breathing even and not show fear or weakness in front of the enemy. Goatee turned and looked back at Johnny.

'This your dama, huh? Your Senora? She your lady?' Johnny said nothing, his eyes narrowing as Goatee turned back to Taylor. 'How would you feel, Johnny, if keeled her? Keeled her right now?' he paused. 'BANG!' he shouted, making both Johnny and Taylor jump. Goatee laughed and paced back to Johnny.

'Oh, don't worry, Johnny. I will keel your lovely dama. She is police, no? She's seen too much. She will die. But you will die first.' Goatee lifted the gun at Johnny. 'Or I could keel her first if you like?' Johnny met Taylor's teary, panic filled eyes and sighed, leaning his forehead against the tip of Goatee's gun, volunteering to go first. Taylor could feel the tears roll down her cheeks. Not only was she going to lose Johnny, she was going to have to watch him die. She released a chocked sob and Johnny's eyes darted back to hers. Strangely, he didn't look scared. He didn't look anything.

'Anything you wanna say before you die?' offered Goatee.

'Don't miss,' said Johnny slowly. Goatee's finger began to close around the trigger.
And then all hell broke lose at once.
The doors to the warehouse burst open and men dressed in padded suits and helmets rolled in with machine guns. It was the police, but a fraction of a second too late. The sound of a gunshot was already ricocheting off the walls. Taylor screamed, only now noticing another scream. A deeper one. One of agony. She opened her eyes and saw who it was.
Johnny was holding his leg as red oozed from the hole there.

'You missed, ya cunt!' he roared as police moved in on Goatee and arrested him with the rest of his men. 'Are you fucking brain dead?!' Johnny continued to shriek. 'Who misses at point blank range?!' Medics scurried in and gathered around him. Vinny engulfed Taylor as realisation sunk in. Johnny was still alive. Backup had arrived just in time, albeit a few seconds late. Now medics were nursing the bullet hole in Johnny's leg while trying to calm him as he slipped into shock.
Taylor pushed Vinny away, who only held on tighter.

'No,' she cried. 'Let me go to him. Please, just let me go to him.' Vinny reluctantly let go of her and she stumbled to Johnny's side. 'Johnny, Johnny,' she sobbed. He looked up at her, barely registering it was her. 'What's wrong with him?' Taylor asked one of the medics constantly reassuring him. She wiped at her eyes and tried to sound level and professional.

'He's in shock and losing a lot of blood. He'll pass out soon from the pain.'

'What?' hissed Taylor, looked frantically back at Johnny. His eyes were already losing focus. She longed for him to reach out to her, call her name, tell her he loved her in case it was his last opportunity. But he didn't. He just passed out as the medic had said. They lifted him on to a stretcher and carried him out to a waiting ambulance. Taylor stood by the armchair watching. Vinny was stood waiting for her. And in those mad five minutes, it was all over. The bad guys were caught, Johnny was alive and safe, he could go back to his life and she could go back to hers.

Taylor looked at Vinny and walked to him. He opened his arms and she stepped into them. He held her but she didn't hold him back.
Taylor knew this was the reality of her life. Her and Johnny would go their separate ways and everything would go back to normal.

'C'mon, Taylor love,' Vinny said soothingly into her ear. 'Let's get outta here.'

***

When Johnny came to, he felt weak and tired and, above all else, confused. He cracked his eyes open and frowned at the five blurry shapes surrounding him. The one closest, and holding his hand, came into focus first. It was a woman. Dark hair. Soft smile.

'Mum?' croaked Johnny, frowning harder.

'It's okay son. You're safe now.'

'Where's . . . Where am . . .'

'You're in the hospital. You got shot in the leg. But the doctors removed the bullet and you'll recover. You lost a bit of blood, but you'll be fine.' Another figure came into focus.

'Kev,' Johnny smiled weakly. He pulled his chair to the other side of Johnny's bed. Kool-Kevin shook his head.

'You're unfuckingbelievable, Johnny, y'know that?' he smiled.

'Yeah,' grinned a voice from the bottom of the bed. 'Only you can manage to get on the bad side of bloody gangsters.' It was Zach. Johnny acknowledged him with a fond smile. He never thought he'd see his best friend again.

'You know what happened?' Johnny said, trying to sit up and hissing from the pain of his leg. 'Fuck sake,' he muttered.

'Yeah. A policewoman told us everything. Think she was waiting for us to arrive before she could leave. She wanted to explain the story personally.' It was Tommy who spoke up this time. Johnny could see around the room now. He was surrounded by friends and family, but someone important was missing. Johnny sighed.

'Was it Detective Reynolds?' he asked.

'Yeah, her,' nodded Tommy. Johnny shook his head. He couldn't believe it. When he needed her the most, she'd bailed on him. Buggered off with Vinny, no doubt.

'The world's going to go crazy when they hear you're back,' said Curtis with a smile. He looked almost excited at the prospect.

'Kev, when can you book the next flight out to America?' Johnny asked. Kevin frowned.

'Um, tomorrow maybe? Why?'

'Cause we got a job to do.'

'Are you insane?' laughed Kevin. 'They're not going to let you on a plane in that state. Besides, you've got a few loose ends to tie up in this country first.' Johnny knew Kev was talking about the press, the fans and also Grace and her baby. He just shook his head.

'It can wait. Get me on the road. Get me to America, Kev. I just wanna get outta this fucking country.' Kool-Kevin exchanged looks with the band members who all nodded or shrugged, indicating they were up for it. Kevin sighed and nodded at Johnny.

'Okay . . . I'll get hold of the record company. They'll get the tour up and running again. Probably won't be for another week, but we can ship you out to America if that's what you want?' Johnny stared at the pile of letters on the table next to his bed.

'Yeah, it's what I want.' He picked up the pile and sifted through. The one on the very top was in a purple envelope. Inside was a picture of a curly haired little girl. Johnny frowned in wonderment at what all the letters were and read through Milly's messy scrawl.

'The fans have been worried about you, Johnny. Don't you want to at least show your face before you bugger off again?' asked Kevin. Johnny sighed and put Milly's letter and picture back into the envelope. He looked at it a minute.

'Two days. Book the flight for two days time then. Just get me outta here.'

***

Taylor knocked on Chief Inspector Norris' office door and entered when he called her to.

'Ah, Reynolds,' he beamed. 'Just the woman I wanted to see.' He stood from his desk and walked out from around it. 'Top job keeping Johnny Carolina alive. Cracking job indeed.' It hurt to here his name spoken so casually. Johnny was still a tender subject to Taylor, she didn't want to get into a massive conversation about him.

'Actually sir,' she interrupted. 'I just want to give you this.' She held out a piece of paper and Norris took it frowning as he read it.

'It's my letter of notice,' she said sheepishly after Norris said nothing, frowning at the letter.

'Shame,' sighed Norris, shaking his head. 'You're a damn fine cop, Reynolds, Why quit now, at the peak of your career?'
Taylor shrugged. 'I just feel it's time to move on,' she said simply. Norris shook his head again before sticking out his hand.

'You're a sensational woman, Taylor, and a pleasure to work with. I wish you all the best with your future.' Taylor shook his hand and thanked him.

As Taylor cleared her desk, Vinny watched her with a grim expression, arms folded disapprovingly. She tried to act like his gaze wasn't making her uncomfortable. Neither one said a thing until her desk was totally clear and everything in a box.
Taylor looked at the box and thought, My whole career in a single box, and felt rather deflated by the thought.

Vinny took the box and walked silently with Taylor to her car. Passers-by looked at the pair questioningly and Taylor knew they'd all think she'd gotten fired.
There was a chilling breeze whipping around the car park. Taylor opened the boot of her car and Vinny put the box in. Taylor closed the boot.

'Where will you go?' Vinny asked.
Somewhere he can't find me, she thought. Instead she shrugged.

'Think I'll travel. I'd like to see some of the world before I pop my clogs.' Vinny nodded.

'When you're done travelling, I'll be waiting for you. You'll remember that, yeah?'
Taylor smiled weakly and nodded. 'Yeah, I'll remember.'

'Y'know,' Vinny began. 'I was so sure you were in love with him.' Taylor looked at her feet.

'Nah . . . That's nonsense.' She was only trying to convince herself. Vinny stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Taylor's shoulders.

'Have a nice trip, Taylor. Send me a postcard,' he laughed. Taylor smiled, ready for a long holiday on her own. She needed to be alone with her thoughts to settle back to a normal life. She needed to sink back to reality and she needed to do it away from all the men in her life.

'Thanks, Vin,' Taylor said, stepping out his arms and getting in her car. She started the engine and waved at him as she drove away. She was going to start in Paris and work her way across Europe from there, and she was going to forget about Johnny Carolina and how in love with him she was.