CHAPTER 54
She was there on my return. Already in bed, which was, well, a little disorienting. Thus far, we had mostly ended up there, when we did, after an evening of, well, increasing intimacy. To find her simply lying there, burbling a little as she slept, set off all sorts of thoughts and feelings. I cleaned up, changed into pyjamas, and tried to slip in without waking her, which didn’t work.

She rolled over, mumbling a little, then cuddled into me.

“You’re all tense, love”

“Sorry. Been a hard one”

“What happened?”

“Not now, okay? Not before sleep. What did you get up to?”

“Mam brought us new pillows, and a thicker duvet”

“The old one---”

“The old one, you spread a sleeping bag over the top. And there’s more samosas in the fridge, plus some more raitha. Oh, and she did a pot of scouse as well”

“Is she trying to move in or something?”

“Think of it as her version of chicken soup. Got to do her Mamming, she has. Anyway, snuggle down. I topped up the breakfast stuff. Those mushrooms were manky, for a start”

I slept well, and assume Amina did as well, so it was another lazy morning of breakfast, some laundry and a few phone calls to letting agents to ensure I was still on their list. Unfortunately, that led to a couple of conversations along the lines of:

“Yes, you’re still on our list. Are you and Ms Meads still looking to pay a joint deposit?”

That sort of question did little to ease my mood, still up and down, but every so often I caught Amina looking at me, and she would smile and, well, all I could do was melt.

Tom was cheeky indeed when we compared our packed meals, echoing my words when he asked if Hira was also moving in with me, but he didn’t say no to a couple of her lamb samosas when I offered them to him.

As so often, the afternoon was frittered away in taxi duties, including a dialysis transfer, and once that fun and delight was done and dusted, Tom went looking for a spot to park, lurk and sample the contents of our flasks. As soon as he saw mine, he started to do his impression of a shampoo advert.

“Take two flasks into the wagon?”

“One’s tea, butt. The other one’s cawl”

“Whose?”

“Hira’s. She keeps filling our fridge with stuff”

“Keep talking like that, Jen”

“Uh?”

“You said ‘our fridge’, woman”

“Oh”

Yet again, just as we were about to pour, the bloody radio went, wanting our location. I was sure they must have a hidden camera somewhere in the cab.

“Regents Trade Park, Central”

“RTC Ocean Way, by the Premier Inn. One vehicle, now single occupant. Traffic on scene”

“Please explain ‘now’ single occupant?”

“Foot chase underway. No further info”

“ETA one minute, Central. Out”

I cuddled three flasks to me as he roared out of the car park, the site literally just up the road, and the police blues were visible in seconds. Tom parked up as close as he could get, for the car was on the wide grass verge, marks suggesting it had rolled at least one before ending up in intimate congress with one of the trees. I set the flasks down as quickly as I could without breaking them and grabbed my BGB as Tom called in that we were on plot.

Barry was hauling at the driver’s door, which was buckled, the occupant surrounded by the remains of airbags, the windscreen lying in one fractured lump on the bonnet.

“Hi, Jen. Bryn’s off running. Good to see you. Just need to get… this… open”

He had one foot on the door pillar, both hands wrapped round the edge of the door itself, so I joined him in hauling away, just as the fire ignited in the boot. Fuck.

With a scream of unhappy metal, the door opened, just as something in the boot itself went bang. Barry shouted, “Fuel thieves!”, and I decided that, just this once, sod checking for injuries, because they could be treated later far more easily than full-on cremation. He didn’t have a seat belt on, of course, , so it was hands to armpits as I heard Tom start up the wagon to get it away from the flames. I still had the BGB on my back, and there was another loud bang just as I got him around ten yards from the car, so I lay down over him just before a much louder bang, and I felt and heard something fly past me. There was the sound of smashing glass, and FUCK, I was on fire.

Someone wrenched the Big Green Bag from my shoulders, and then started hitting me across the neck, and it was a second or two before I realised they were beating out flames.
Barry was swearing away, random phrases including “New fucking issue, that coat!”, but the bangs had stopped, and the next thing I heard was the SHOOSH of a fire extinguisher as I managed to sit up, and there was Tom, fire extinguisher in hand, putting out what was left of my BGB.

“Barry, mate? Can you call in for the Brigade, and request another ambulance? Ours is fucked”

I realised he was shaking even more than me, so I dug back into being professional. Keep it together, woman. I ran the numbers on the driver, who was groaning, thank god.

“What’s your name, love?”

“Fuck off”

Better than no comment, I suppose, if that’s your taste.

“Okay. I’ll try and make things clearer to you. I am a paramedic. I am here to help you. I am bound by a duty of care to preserve life, all that sort of thing, so despite what your attitude is I can’t just fuck off and leave you, okay? To treat you, you need to answer my questions. Are we clear?”

“You a tranny?”

“No, and it wouldn’t matter if I was. Have you lost consciousness at any time?”

Gradually, I drew out the necessary info, and then Shona was with me, taking over care of the casualty as quickly as possible.

“Gary’s waiting for you, love. Done with Barry”

“Sorry?”

“Burns, woman. You’re blistered on the back of your neck, and a load of your hair’s gone”

“Shit! Wondered what that was”

“And smile. Tom’s having a bit of a moment, needs to see you’re okay”

“What happened?”

Gary was now with me, and he started dressing my neck and head.

“Have a look at your ambulance, love. Keep head down for now; nearly done here”

As soon as he was satisfied, I looked up again, and our wagon was canted slightly, the front nearside tyre deflated and passenger door window gone, a number of holes in the wing and door panels.

Barry was in front of me now, as Gary rose to dress his hands.

“He got that away just in time. Lucky man, Tom”

I got the story piecemeal, interrupted by Barry’s handover to local units, who confirmed that the missing passenger had ended up in a proper marathon of a chase with Bryn in pursuit, until the lad met a Malinois land shark, as Barry called them, and discovered that the dog wasn’t just faster but had rather more teeth.

In the end, our wagon was recovered on a low-loader, while three of us went for more relaxed treatment at St Dai’s. Barry and I had burns, thankfully minor, and Tom had little bits of glass in his face. I got the story from the two of them in turn as we went through triage.

“Bryn and me got the ANPR hit, flagged for fuel theft and ‘no longer keeper’. He clocked us and went for it, so we lit him up. There’s one moment, I hope it’s on our video, where the driver decided to give us the finger, and that’s when he lost it, with those curves on that road. Clipped the kerb, rolled that car into that tree. Passenger kicked the windscreen out and was off. The bangs you heard were barrels of stolen fuel cooking off, except for that last bastard. You were bloody lucky, Tom”

“Doesn’t feel like that now, mate. Nearly shat myself!”

“What happened, butt?”

“I was backing the wagon away from the fire when it was like someone shot out the passenger window, and what it was then hit the rear-view mirror mount, rebounded and went straight through the radio handset. Glass is from the mirror, not the window”

“What the fuck was it?”

“Fuel filler cap, from when the tank went up. Loads of other shit hit the wagon, burst the tyre. I got out, saw you, got the extinguisher. Your bag’s fucked, but your hair was alight. Splash of burning fuel caught both, but Barry got the bag off you and used his jacket to put your hair out”

“Aye, and new issue it was, as well. Been waiting ages for it, fuck knows when I’ll get another. And my bodycam was on it as well, and that’s melted to shit now”

They kept Tom in a little longer than Barry and myself, as they worked to find all the little bits of glass that had, so, so fortunately, missed his eyes. Connie appeared just before they finished, and once he was free, she wrapped herself round her husband, wordless, for over a minute. When she released him, she looked to her left, where Amina was waiting, and then it was my turn to be held, and comforted, and loved.