David Peace - GB84

Monday 23 — Sunday 29 April 1984

The skull. The candle. The clock and the mirror. Neil Fontaine moves across the floor. The carpet. The towels and the sheets. The light across the wallpaper. The curtains. The fixtures and the fittings. The shadow across the bone. The face. The hands and the hair. The boots across the room. The building. The town and the country –

Jennifer moves across the bed. The pillow. His name in her dreams.

She wakes in the light –

We bury the ones we treasure –

The door is locked. Neil gone again.

His head falls forward. Schaub is unconscious. Tied up.

The Mechanic goes over to the sink. He rinses his right hand under the cold tap. He puts the plug in the hole. He fills the basin. He soaks his knuckle in the sink.

His head moves. Schaub groans.

The Mechanic pulls out the plug. He dries his hands on a small towel. He walks over to the telephones. He picks up one of the receivers. He dials the number.

Julius Schaub moans.

Neil Fontaine sits in the Mercedes and reads the papers –

Their President claiming CEGB coal stocks will last only nine more weeks. The TGWU threatening to call a national docks strike if dockers are sacked for supporting striking miners. Their President refusing to meet the Board to discuss the rescheduling of pit closures. The Board launching their back-to-work campaign today.

Neil Fontaine tears out two small stories from the inside pages –

He puts them in his pocket. He saves them for later.

The War Cabinet dissolves. The Jew comes out of Downing Street.

Neil Fontaine holds open the door.

The Jew gets in the back. He says, ‘The Club please, Neil.’

‘Certainly, sir.’

Neil Fontaine drives to the Carlton Club. He opens the back door for the Jew.

The Jew looks at his watch. He says, ‘Three o’clock please, Neil.’

‘Certainly, sir.’

Neil Fontaine leaves the car close to the Club and walks along to Charing Cross. Neil spots Roger Vaughan. Roger spots Neil Fontaine. Neil follows Roger Vaughan down the Strand. Roger turns left down a small alley Neil Fontaine is right behind him. Roger Vaughan goes into the pub. Neil sits down at a table in the corner. Roger orders the drinks. Neil Fontaine lights a cigarette. Roger Vaughan brings over two drinks –

Fresh orange for Neil, double Scotch for Roger.

Roger Vaughan sits down –

Roger runs Jupiter Securities for Jerry. Jerry is worried about Neil. Neil must meet Roger –

Roger smiles. Roger says, ‘Well?’

‘It’s in hand,’ says Neil Fontaine.

Roger stops smiling. Roger says, ‘Been quite a flap upstairs. You know that?’

‘These are difficult times for all of us,’ says Neil. ‘Bad times.’

Roger shakes his head. Roger says, ‘Not a good time to screw up. For any of us.’

‘They didn’t find anything,’ says Neil. ‘Johnson would have said.’

Roger sips his drink. Roger says, ‘Just a question of their silence then, isn’t it?’

Neil takes out the envelope. He puts it down between the two drinks. He says, ‘He asked me to give you this.’

Roger picks it up. He opens it. He looks inside. He puts it down. Roger laughs. ‘How very trusting. Really believes he can just walk away, doesn’t he?’

‘Hand in hand,’ says Neil. ‘Into the sunset.’

Roger finishes his drink. Roger says, ‘Love will always let you down.’

Neil pushes his drink away. Neil waits.

Roger stands up. Roger asks, ‘How is dear Jennifer these days?’

‘Hungry,’ says Neil.

Roger puts a hand on Neil’s shoulder. Roger says, ‘Always lets you down, Neil.’

*

The President stood up behind his desk. Stood up in front of the huge portrait of himself. He walked round to where Terry was sitting. Handed Terry a tissue, hand on his shoulder. The President said, ‘People make mistakes, Comrade. It’s what makes them human.’

Terry blew his nose. Terry dried his eyes.

‘I believe you had the best interests of the movement in your heart, Comrade.’

Terry sniffed. Terry nodded.

‘This time you are forgiven, Comrade.’

Terry stood up. Terry said, ‘Thank you, President. Thank you. Thank you —’

The President walked back behind his desk. Back in front of the portrait.

Len held open the door for Terry –

‘Thank you,’ said Terry again. Terry went downstairs for his coat –

Terry Winters knew he was on a short leash.

Terry got his coat. Terry took the lift down to the foyer –

They were waiting for him.

Terry sat in the back of the car between the President and Paul –

Joan up front with Len.

They drove to Mansfield. They parked near the Area HQ. They parted the crowd –

No one said a word.

They went inside. They walked through the room. They sat at the top table –

Ray spoke. Ray said, ‘Get off your knees —’

Henry spoke. Henry said, ‘You are mice, not men —’

Paul spoke. Paul said, ‘You are on strike officially —’

Then the President spoke to them. The President scolded them. The President shouted, ‘YOU DO NOT CROSS PICKET LINES!’

They got up from the table. They walked through the room –

There was no standing ovation. No applause. No songs. No autographs. Not here.

A man got up from his seat. A man rushed forward –

He pushed past Terry. He pushed past Len. He poked the President in the chest. He said, ‘You impose this strike on these members and I’ll take you to court.’

‘Sit down, Fred,’ said Henry. ‘Making a bloody fool of yourself.’

The President looked at the finger on his chest. He looked up into the man’s face. The President smiled. He said, ‘See you in court then, Comrade.’

*

The helicopter is in the shop. The Jew needs Neil to drive him down to his Suffolk pile; Colditz, as it’s known to everyone who has ever been there. Everyone but the Jew –

Neil Fontaine knocks once on the door of the Jew’s fourth-floor suite at Claridge’s. Neil steps inside. The Jew is on the phone in the middle of a dark sea of maps and plans. He is saying, ‘She fears a cave-in on Nottingham’s part. Fears he has the initiative …’

Neil Fontaine gathers up the maps and the plans. He puts them in the briefcase.

The Jew hangs up. He looks at Neil. He shakes his head.

Neil Fontaine hands the Jew a file. He says, ‘Spot of reading for the journey, sir.’

The Jew opens the file. He scans the cuttings. He arches an eyebrow. He smiles. He says, ‘Why, thank you, Neil.’

Neil Fontaine takes the briefcase and a small overnight bag down to the Mercedes.

They set off for Colditz.

The Jew reads the cuttings aloud. The Jew strokes his moustache. The Jew smiles. He lowers the partition ten miles out of London. He is excited. He can see possibilities. He says, ‘Interesting, Neil. Perhaps you should pay a personal visit to these people. These places. Assess the potential. The possibilities —’

Neil Fontaine nods. He says, ‘Certainly, sir.’

The cunt sits down. The cunt hands him a folded copy of today’s Times.

The Mechanic opens it. There is an envelope inside. He opens it –

There is a Polaroid inside; Jen sat on a chair holding the same paper.

The Mechanic stares at the photo.

Cunt lights a cigarette. Cunt inhales.

The Mechanic puts the photo in his pocket. He says, ‘Where is she?’

Cunt exhales. Cunt shakes his head.

‘Did you tell them what I said?’

Cunt nods.

‘What did they say?’