Stuart MacBride - Shatter the Bones

Logan killed the engine and climbed out. Rain hammered against his face and ears, soaking straight through his hair. He plipped the locks on the pool car, stuck the keys in his pocket and flexed his aching left hand. Fist. Open. Fist. Open. Bloody thing was getting worse.

He clambered over the grassy hump, crunched across the lane, then waded through soggy, knee-high grass towards-

FUCK.

A huge black dog launched itself at him, gaping mouth snapping and snarling. It crashed against the chain-link; the fence buckled outwards…

Logan backed away a couple of paces.

Jesus that was a big dog. ‘Uzi, fuckin’ cool it.’ The guy holding its lead gave a yank, and the massive Rottweiler stood for a second glaring at Logan, then settled onto its haunches. ‘Sorry ’bout that. He’s only a puppy. Gets excited.’ The man sniffed, wiped a bandaged hand across his squint nose, two fingers and a thumb poking out from the filthy fabric. His eyes were hidden in the shadow of a NYY baseball cap worn under a grey hoodie. A leather jacket on over the top, glistening in the rain.

‘Shuggie?’ Logan took a step forward, and Uzi growled. Might be a better idea to just stay exactly where he was. He dug his aching hand into his pocket. ‘Shuggie Webster?’

‘You gonna give us them drugs back, or what?’

‘Pin back your ears and listen: I’m — not — giving — you — any — drugs. OK? No drugs.’

The big man hung his head, chewed on the ragged tip of a finger. A pair of handcuffs dangled from his wrist, the metal shiny against the grubby bandage. ‘Fuck.’

‘What do you expect; I’m a police officer.’

‘You’ve got to. They’re gonna hurt Trisha again. They beat the shite out her mum, trashed the house… And what if they go after her kid?’

‘Come on, Shuggie: it’s over. You’re still under arrest from Thursday. Come down the station, make a statement, and we’ll get whoever’s threatening you off the streets.’

He raised his chin, and Logan finally got a look at his face: a black eye, a crust of blood around both nostrils, a beige sticking plaster across the bridge of his squint nose. ‘I’m no’ fuckin’ daft, OK? What’s gonna happen when you bang me up, eh? Fuckin’ eight-inch chib in the guts. No thank you.’ Shuggie Webster straightened up. ‘How’d you like it: some cunt comes round your crib, threatens your missus? Would you hand yourself in?’

‘Well, I’d-’

‘Would you fuck.’ He turned away from the fence. ‘Come on, Uzi.’

‘You’re still under arrest, Shuggie!’

He stuck up a pair of fingers. There was blood seeping through the bandage.

‘Shuggie!’ Logan pulled out his pepper-spray and yanked the lid off. There was a hole in the fence, less than a dozen feet away. All he had to do was nip through and make the arrest.

Pepper-spray worked on dogs … didn’t it?

He watched the muscles bunch and roll beneath the Rottweiler’s shiny black hide.

Swallowed.

OK, it was all about appearing confident and in control of the situation.

Logan marched through the soggy grass to the hole in the fence, ducked through, and hurried after Shuggie. ‘I’m not telling you again: you’re under arrest.’

Confident and in control.

Shuggie stopped where he was. Turned. ‘Get fucked. Told you: I’m no’ goin’ nowhere.’

‘I’m serious, Shuggie. You’re coming with me.’

‘Oh aye?’ He smiled, showing a gap where a tooth used to be. Then he let go of the lead. ‘Uzi — BACON!’

The dog looked up at him, then followed the line of the pointing finger to Logan. Bared his teeth.

‘Oh … bugger…’ Pepper-spray. He had the pepper-spray! Perfectly safe. Confident and in control. Confident and-

The dog lurched forward.

Sod ‘confident and in control’, Logan turned and ran. Barking behind him, snarling, the sound of huge paws splashing through puddles.

Closer.

Make for the fence, get back through the hole and… No way in hell he could outrun a Rottweiler. He glanced over his shoulder.

Right behind him, mouth open, red and slavering, like the jaws of hell…

FUCK!

Logan jinked right, and Uzi flashed past, tried to turn — powerful back legs skidding across the waterlogged grass, sending up a wall of spray.

Jesus, the bloody thing was the size of a bear.

Tree! Logan jumped for the nearest one, wrapped his arms around a branch, hauled himself up. Or tried to. A sudden jerk back, knives slashing across his ankle, then a ripping sound as his trouser leg gave way. ‘AAAAAghhh…’

The ground slammed into his back, ripping the breath from his lungs; and then the huge dog was on top of him, teeth flashing inches from Logan’s face.

Fuck — he’d dropped the pepper-spray.

Shuggie’s voice cut through the snarls. ‘UZI — hold!’

A low growl.

The dog’s weight pushed Logan into the sodden grass, soaking through his jacket and shirt, cold and wet and oh God he was going to die…

Thunder boomed out across the slate-grey sky, but the Rottweiler didn’t even flinch, just stood there with his front paws on Logan’s chest, snarling, teeth bared. Its breath stank of rotting meat and bitter onion, drool spattering against Logan’s cheeks and forehead, slimy and warm compared to the rain.

A shape loomed in his peripheral vision. Shuggie, standing over the snarling dog, cradling the bandaged hand against his chest. ‘Hold real fuckin’ still, or he’ll rip your throat out.’

Logan flicked his eyes to the side and back again. The dog barked, teeth glinting, speckling his face with drool. ‘Gah… Call him off!’

‘Gonnae give us my drugs back now? Before them Yardie bastards hack my hands off with a machete?’

‘I’m… I can’t . I’m a police officer… I can’t. Now call the dog off!’

Sniff. ‘Nah, he can have you.’

Uzi barked again.

A drop of spittle landed in Logan’s eye. He flinched, blinked. ‘Fuck’s sake, Shuggie — I can’t !’ Voice high pitched and trembling.

The only sound was the rain, drumming down all around them.

‘Give us your car keys.’

‘I’m not-’

‘Uzi…’

Another roar of thunder, closer, almost overhead. The massive Rottweiler roared back. Teeth flashing in the thickening rain.

Oh Christing fuck…

Logan squealed. ‘Now give us your keys.’

He dug his fingers into his pocket and pulled the Vauxhall’s keys out. ‘Take them!’

Shuggie snatched them out of his hand. ‘Now call the bloody dog off!’

Shuggie turned and limped back towards the fence.

Logan tore his eyes away from the dog’s teeth, and watched him squeeze through the hole in the chainlink. He crossed the rutted track, climbed the grass verge, and onto Fairview Street.

The dog tilted its head to the side, nose all creased and wrinkled, black rubbery lips pulled back from those butcher-knife teeth.

Logan blinked the rain out of his eyes. ‘Please…’

The Vauxhall’s headlights snapped through the gloom, the roar of the engine audible for a second, before another peal of thunder drowned it out.

Another bark, front paws digging into Logan’s chest. Hailstones battered down, stinging his hands and face, knocking blossom from the tree above, showering them with slow-motion pink.

Then the sound of a car door creaking open. ‘UZI! UZI!’

The huge dog froze, head swinging around to face the car, both ears pricked.

‘UZI! GET OVER HERE YOU DAFT BASTARD!’

It had one last snarl at Logan, then scraped its back paws through the muddy grass, before loping off.

Oh thank God…

Logan lay flat on his back, arms covering his head as he heard the Vauxhall’s door clunk shut again, then the engine faded away into the downpour as Shuggie drove off in Logan’s pool car.