I woke up over a period of a few days. The first time I opened my eyes I found I was in a dimly lit room with a million tubes coming out of my body. Katie was curled up fast asleep in a chair beside me and I wondered why she didn’t get in with me! I awoke again and saw her looking at me.
“Hi.” she said and I tried to say the same, but nothing would come out, so I went back to sleep again.
The next time I awoke, there were people all around me and I didn’t seem to have quite so many tubes in me.
Katie said. “Hi.” again and this time my voice worked for the reply.
A bloke in a white coat looked at me and asked how I felt.
“Hungry,” I replied.
He laughed, “Well, David, I’d say you’re getting better.”
“What’re all these bloody tubes and pipes for?”
“For the first two days, they were keeping you alive. Now they’re monitoring you and feeding you.”
“Well they’re not feeding me very well, I’m bloody starving.”
I heard my sister’s laugh beside me and reached for her hand.
“What happened, Princess?”
The doctor said it could wait a minute or so while he had a look at me. He fussed about for a while and announced that the nurse could take the drip off me.
“Have you got a headache, David?”
“No but I feel a bit fuzzy.”
“Hmm, I’ll call to see you tonight,” and with that he was gone.
“Was it a pressure pad job?” I asked Katie,
“The police said he’d put a small pressure pad under the carpet like you said. It was wired to a slab of Semtex inside the television, so that when you went to switch on the set, you’d have to stand just where he put his foot.”
“Is the cottage wrecked?”
“Pretty well I’m afraid, I’ve only been back once but it looked a bit of a mess.”
“What do you mean, once. When did it happen?”
“Eight days ago.”
“WHAT?”
She giggled again, “You’ve been unconscious.”
“Bloody hell.”
“The paramedics found you lying under the other man. He was dead and you weren’t far off it.”
“What about Dominic?”
“There wasn’t a lot left of him. David, did you know him?”
I nodded and asked the extent of my injuries, a broken collar bone, several broken ribs and severe concussion.
“Is your hearing all right?”
“Yeah why?”
“They were a bit worried in case the blast had deafened you.”
“What happened to the driver?”
“He was still sound asleep when the police arrived. You must have hit him pretty hard.”
“I tried,” I said with a grin and then grimaced as I realised my face was painful.
“Bits from the television,” she exclaimed.
“Is Claire still around?”
She looked a bit sad at the question and shook her head.
“She went hysterical Dave, screaming and crying, She was in a heck of a state.”
“So where is she?”
“She went home that night, said she couldn’t handle that sort of thing.”
I squeezed her hand, “Sorry Princess, will you see her again?”
“No,” she shook her head, “No I don’t think so, Dave.”
I felt bad about that and resolved to do something about it as soon as I was able.
“So where have you been sleeping?”
“Here.”
“You’re joking!”
“No the staff have been brilliant. They gave me whichever bed was free at night and I’ve spent all my days with you.”
“Silly tart,” I said, but she knew how grateful I was.
“Well I suppose the security deal’s shot it now.”
“Not at all David, you’ve got some good friends around you.”
“What?”
“That chap Steve?”
“Yeah?”
“He called as soon as heard about you, as did the other two, John and Sandy. They’ve been working from Sandy’s home. You employ twelve security guards and four German shepherd dogs.”
“What about their wages?”
She laughed at that one, “And you owe me a little bit of cash too.”
I began to feel drowsy then and nodded off again.
“Are you sticking around this time mate?”
Sandy’s ugly mug grinned down at me.
“God you’re fucking ugly. I hear you’ve been busy mate.”
“Yeah, well it beats doing fuck all except fishing don’t it?”
Sandy had left his left foot behind in the province and lived on the meagre army pension and his wife’s earnings as a school dinner lady.
“I owe you.”
“Bollocks.”
“Where’s Katie?”
“She’s at my house, mate, having a shower and tarting herself up a bit. She’s knackered.”
“Thanks Sandy.” I said and meant it.
“Bollocks again.”
“What’s the cottage like?”
“It’ll need a lot of work mate, when you’re up and running again. But one bedroom and the kitchen are habitable, just.”
“Thank Christ for that.”
“Katie can stay with me and the missus while you do it up. She’s a great girl that one.”
He didn’t have to tell me that, I knew it better than he did, but I wanted her with me not at his place.
“We’ll see about that mate. Tell me about these guards we’re employing.”
“We?”
“Yes mate, we; me, Katie, you and John. We’re in it together all four of us, so we need to expand and rapidly if we’re going to make any money.”
We talked for about half an hour until the doctor came on his morning rounds. He shooed Sandy off and told him I’d be out soon enough.
“Now you’re awake,” he said as he looked into my eyes with one of those bloody searchlight things, “We can just keep an eye on you tonight for concussion and if you’re clear, you can go home tomorrow.”
A wooden top was next asking me a lot of questions which I really didn’t want to answer, in any case I wasn’t sure that I’d be allowed to answer. He got a bit awkward then and asked about a Walther.22 that they’d found among the rubble.
“Don’t know a thing about it mate,” I said, “It must have been his.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you believe.”
“I can arrest you for unlawful possession.”
“Thank you constable, I’ll deal with this now.”
I looked round and saw a tall, blonde haired man, hands in pockets and a sardonic smile on his face.
“Who might you be?” the constable asked and I winced for him.
“I might be Santa fucking Claus.” the man hissed and shoved an open wallet in the unfortunate wooden top’s face, “But I’m fucking not. So read that sonny and then fuck off.”
“They’ll try again Dave, you know that don’t you?”
I watched the copper walking out, his face bright red, before sticking a hand out and gripping my visitor’s. A man whom I’d last seen on the road between Dublin and Belfast.
“Hi Joe, how’re you doing?”
We chatted for a while about this and that. He asked me to reverse my decision to leave and I said no chance, so we parted friends. But I promised him I’d heed his warning.
It was much later when Katie came in. I was dozing but the aroma of her perfume roused me and without opening my eyes, I said, “Hello Princess.”
“How did you know it was me?” she laughed and I could have drowned in the sound of that laughter.
She had a quick look round and then leaned over me to kiss me. Her lips were full and soft, the swellings of her breasts inviting yet unattainable at least until tomorrow!
“You look fabulous Katie.” I said and kissed her again as I feasted my eyes on her, “Oh God, those breasts!”
She giggled and stroked my head.
“You’ll be out in the morning, then we’ll have all day to ourselves.”
“Get in here with me now,” and I slipped a hand under her skirt.
“I’ll come back later shall I?”
John had come into the ward in the manner that had earned him the nick name of creeping Jesus in the Regiment.
“Sorry mate,” he looked embarrassed, “I didn’t mean to… sorry.”
Katie blushed prettily but looked him in the eye and said.
“Well now you know the truth, John. What’re you going to do about it?”
“It’s got nothing to do with me Kate,” he said and handed me the grapes he’d brought with him. “But I’ll just say that I think he’s a very lucky man.”
Katie kissed him on the cheek and he blushed an even deeper shade of red than she had.
“Cheers John,” I said and meant it, “Pull up a chair mate and give me all the bullshit.”
He told me that either him or Sandy knew all the guys they’d hired, they’d been on site for five nights and the vandalism was virtually non-existent now.
“A mate of that Steve feller called to enquire about us and our rates. I put him off ‘cos I ain’t got a clue about them things.”
“No problem, John. We’ll have a meet at Sandy’s place tomorrow and get everything thrashed out then.”
He was still a bit embarrassed, so after a bit more banter, he made his excuses and left.
“Damn,” Katie swore, “I was just getting nice and wet with your hand on my bum.”
“I was making bloody tents in here,” I groaned, “But it’s done now and if old creeping Jesus says he’ll say nothing, that’s good enough for me.”
I was discharged the next morning and climbed gratefully into my car.
“Home Princess,” I said, “Our home.”
“Okay,” and she grinned at me, “I don’t mind roughing it for a while, Dave.”
“Let’s see first of all what’s to be done.”
As she drove, she reached over for my hand, took it in hers and placed it on her thigh.
“I’ve missed you David,” she said softly, “I’ve really, really missed you.”
“Thanks, Princess,” I replied with a smile.
“For what?”
“For being there.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else David.”
We pulled up outside the cottage and I groaned.
“Jesus.”
“Come on,” she grabbed my hand and practically dragged me into the rubble, “It’s not that bad.”
She was right too, the living room had all but disappeared, huge sheets of heavy duty polythene hung in place of the outside wall and the roof above sagged threateningly.
“We can do it David, you know we can,” she tugged my arm again and I yelled in pain.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry darling I forgot about your collar bone.”
“It’s okay baby,” I pulled her into my embrace, “I’ve got another one.”
Steve pulled up and surveyed the mess, “What’re you going to do Dave?”
“I’m going to re-build it, mate.”
A kick from Katie made me change the words.
“We’re going to re-build it,” I said with a grin and slipped an arm round her waist.
“I’ve got a mobile home that’s doing nothing, I can have it over here in two hours. It’s yours mate until you can move back in.”
“It’ll be just like when we were kids on holiday,” Katie laughed and kissed him.
“I’ll take you up on that Steve, thanks.”
We spent the next hour or talking about the business and Steve told me that the guy who’d phoned John was his brother in law.
“He’s got a dozen or so plant hire depots scattered around the south of England. He wants a static guard every night of the week on every one of them and he wants a mobile guard to pay them all an unannounced visit to make sure they’re awake.”
“I haven’t got a clue about wages or things like that, Steve.”
“That’s where I come in,” Kate interjected, “I was a wages clerk before I left Pete, remember?”
“Sorted,” I laughed and phoned the number John had given me.
The guy was even easier to please than Steve and less than five minutes later I put the phone down having agreed on absolutely everything.Aall I needed now was a van, a sign writer, a name, another twenty odd men and we were in business!
Katie drove me over to Sandy’s place, where we thrashed out all the details of what wages we’d pay and who’d be in charge of what. Steve had agreed to supervise the siting of the mobile home that was going to be home to me and Katie for the next few months and Sandy’s lovely wife fed us all. By the time we left it was early evening and I was knackered.
I reached up to the gutter of the caravan and found the keys where Steve had said they’d be and opened the door for a grinning Katie to go first.
“You mean you’re not going to carry me over the threshold?”
I didn’t do that, but what I did do was to walk down to the local with her and buy two big bottles of champagne.
“Stay and have a drink on me, Dave,” the landlord offered, “I’ll put this in the freezer and it should be nicely chilled by the time you’re ready to go.”
Well it turned out to be more than just a drink, as all the locals drifted in they all wanted to buy us a drink.
“I think we’d better leave the champagne for another night don’t you Dave?” Katie whispered as yet another round of drinks came our way, “And anyway, I’ve got something to tell you.”
“Go on then,” I put my head next to hers so she could whisper again,
“I took my panties off in the loo and this little lady is so fucking horny that any minute now, she’s going to drag you out of that seat and rape you in front of everyone here!”
The drink went down faster than George Bush’s credibility and clutching the champagne we rolled home in high spirits. There were no services as yet, so my dream of soaking in a nice warm bath was out of the question until Katie pointed out that the cottage was just ten yards away. So she went and drew a bath whilst I poured out two glasses of champagne. She was already soaking when I got to the bathroom, submerged under a mass of bubbles with just the areole of each nipple peeking out above the suds.
In spite of my desire to drink the champagne, the desire for my sister proved stronger and we actually drank it in bed in the caravan.
“Here’s to the firm,” she giggled and knocked the glassful back,
“What do you reckon we should call it?”
She sat up and poured another glassful and I reached for a breast.
“Nipple security?”
“No you silly sod, raise your glass: Princess to Who Dares Security, Limited.”
