Diamond in the Rough

Jem stubs out his fifth cigarette and contemplates helping himself to the bottle of vodka that Fiona had hidden in the cupboard underneath the sink. His leg bounces up and down rapidly, almost going as quick as his racing mind. Jem has already decided that if things go sour and he's chased by the cops, he'll let them gun him down. It means permanently losing Fiona, but it means returning to prison isn't an option. Before every robbery he would visit the same dark places and then experience the kick of adrenaline as soon as he suited up.

"Jem?!" Fiona calls from the hallway.

He looks up at the clock, she's supposed to be at work not calling his name.

"Jem?" She calls out again.

"Kitchen" he yells back and listens. She isn't alone.

"Jem, we need to talk" Fiona says, out of breath.

"What's up?" Jem lights up another cigarette, lazily blowing the smoke from the corner of his mouth.

"What are you involved in?"

"Huh?" Jem looks at her open-mouthed,confused."What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"Don't bullshit me, Jem." She snaps."I know about the robberies"

He looks at her, just silently looking at her with a confused expression.

"All this time you've been robbing banks, armoured trucks and cinemas. All this time you've been...a crook." Fiona says with frustration and her voice trails off at the end.

She's beginning to get emotional and Jem can't tell whether it's because she's mad at him for being one of the bank robbers or the fact that she might lose him.

"It's all I know, okay?" Jem replies, sighing heavily."It's part of me and I just can't fuckin' walk away from it like Doug can"

"You haven't even tried" She replies curtly."You made all these promises that you would change and you've done nothing about it"

"Do you really think it's that fuckin' easy to turn your back on The Town?" Jem retorts angrily "You got out when the goin' was good I ended up on the shit pile. You got out. You made somethin' of yourself. I'm a two bit crook whose always fucked up cause his ass got torn apart"

The bitterness and nastiness in Jem's voice alarms Fiona deeply.

"It's one last job" He says, calmer, defeated.

"Jem, there something-" she starts to say.

"Baby, if I get walled in you need to know I ain't be comin back. Not to you or this fuckin' town." He crosses to her."I can't go back to Walpole"

"You can't go on this job, Jem"

"I have to. It's for us" He says.

"Please, just shut up and listen" Fiona asserts herself and doesn't back down."You can't go on this job. It's a set up"

"A set up?"

"Yes, between Colm and the FBI" she confirms. Jem rubs his skull with his hands pacing.

"Nah. Fergie ain't goin' to do that"

"It's true" Doug steps in from the hallway with a grim and serious look on his face. "Show him the tape"

***

"Whose your team, Colm?" Frawley's voice sounds first in the recording.

"You know me, son. I can't divulge me sources." Fergie the Florist's irish accent booms louder."Call it collateral"

"Fine, don't tell me who your team is, but you can tell me the arranged drop-off point. I'm not having my guys go after them at Fenway" Frawley says smoothly.

"The derelict building over on Harlem street. After the robbery. My boys should be there an hour after"

"Good" Frawley says"And you know your reward for this."

"Aye, complete immunity from all investigations. Clean slate. And it better be squeaky clean, Frawley."

"Good. You call me when the boys show up for the job. Once I have these sons of bitches, they'll be admitting to the bank and bread-truck robberies."

***

"We are fuckin' fucked" Jem snaps, his hands on his head. If his hair was longer it would have been pulled out and lying on the floor."We're fuckin' dead"

"Jem, calm down" Fiona says, trying to grab hold of him as he paces back and forth."Please"

Finally he stops pacing and looks straight at Doug.

"What the fuck do we do?" Jem asks"You heard the tape"

"We'll work something out." Doug says, hopeful.

"You can't do this job" Fiona adds.

"The fuck we can't" Jem snaps.

"If you do this robbery you're all heading straight for Walpole" Fiona says loudly.

"Either way I'm fuckin dead" Jem rubs his head and leans against the worktop, his breathing laboured.

Fiona knows exactly what he means and he doesn't have to say it.

"I've got an idea" Doug says and calls Gloansy and Des.