Chapter 14

Robin stood in the cold air, the knife against his throat. He stared evil right in the eye. Quite aside from the fear of the situation, the act of staring at one force of evil inside the body of another was quite unnerving. Both Keats and Layton were twisted, but in very different ways. The crumbling, drug-riddled body had little in common with the silver-tongued devil who now dwelled within.

"So," Robin swallowed and tried to speak but couldn't seem to raise his voice high enough. He cleared his throat and tried again, "now you've got me here, now what? What are you doing? Trying to build a collection? Going to start a museum? Holding an exhibition of People Who Have Done You Wrong? Though I don't know what you've got against Molly."

"Stupid little brat," Keats sneered, "just like a Mini-Mum. Hopefully I shall have time to fit in some blackmail before I have to leave. It would be nice to finally see the bearded one cough up a little cash."

"Leave?" Robin asked. He tried not to flinch as he felt the blade against his skin, "planning on going somewhere nice?"

"Somewhere looking in a mirror doesn't give me nausea," Keats told him, "this body isn't going to do me for long. I'm just having my fun and then I'll be leaving."

"Like a joyrider dumping the car," Robin commented.

"Yes, except I will be taking some passengers with me," Keats told him.

Robin froze. He stared at Keats, watching his eyes morphing back and forth. He shuddered deep inside.

"What do you mean?" he whispered.

"Oh yes, that's right," Keats began, "just as a little insurance policy there's the small matter of life with a burning backside to consider."

"Got piles?" Ro0bin asked. As soon as he said it a part of him regretted it. With a sharp blade against the neck it was one of the more foolish things he could have asked, but there was a part of him that wanted to laugh like crazy at the look on Keats's face. He felt as though he'd absolutely caught him off guard.

"Piles of burning coals, maybe," Keats said eventually, almost shaking with anger, "I want you to pay attention because what I'm about to tell you is exactly the same thing I told your buddy-buddy chum. If you put one step out of line I will sink this knife into your flesh and take your soul as soon as anything. And if I take you, your soul will be mine. You will be down for an eternity of hell. You will suffer every single day. And I can promise you, you will never see Simon again. I'll hide you so far into the bowels of Fenchurch West that you'll think they forgot to build an exit." He peered at Robin as though talking to a naughty child. "Now, just to make this clear, in case you are tempted to try any kind of martyr-like heroics, if you try anything – anything at all – then after I've sent you on your way I'll be taking Kim to the very same place."

Robin stared at him defiantly.

"Well at least I'll have a friend," he said.

"She'll be too busy keeping my bed warm," Keats sneered.

OK, that was a step too far. Keats's threat triggered a fury Robin didn't know he was capable of. It seemed Keats's mission in life was to hurt everyone Robin cared about – Simon, Kim, Alex –

Even Robin couldn't understand the primal urge to lash out and strike Keats that rose inside of him. He couldn't even think about what he was doing, his body reacted first and his brain followed a few seconds behind. The action was foolish considering the knife pressed to his skin but his reactions were so fast that they took Keats by surprise and in Layton's ailing form his response wasn't fast enough to stop the hand that grasped his and pushed the knife away.

In surprise, Keats let go of the knife. It flew over his shoulder and landed somewhere behind him. He didn't know quite what to do for a second and hesitated too long to avoid the hard punch that Robin threw his way. A sudden pain shot through his jaw and he felt himself falling backwards. Robin's strength had surprised him. He was not quite the weedy little pretty-boy he'd thought. Before he knew it, Robin was on top of him, hands to his neck. This wasn't part of the plan! None of this was in the fucking plan! OK, so he'd been winging it for most of the time, the plan was vague – the general outline was to cause as much misery as possible in the shortest space of time. But if there was an anti-plan, a list of things that were definitely not in the plan, then this would surely have been on it.

"Fucking bastard!" Robin spat, pressing his thumbs to Keats's throat, "how many times does someone have to kill you, hmm? How many times do you have to fucking die? Got more lives than a bloody cat!"

Keats coughed and spluttered as the hands around his neck made breathing hard. How the hell had he let this happen? This wasn't the end, it couldn't be, after all he'd already achieved some trumped-up dog trainer wasn't going to get the better of him. He pushed and he struggled and desperately tried to force Robin away. When that didn't work he did the only thing he could think of. The only thing certain to succeed. He brought his knee swiftly upwards and struck Robin directly in his unmentionables.

It wasn't enough to shake Robin's frenzied attack away from him but it was enough to cause his grasp on Keats's neck to lessen as the pain caught him and took his breath away. He couldn't practice mind over matter well enough to overcome the pain and Keats ripped his hands away. Before he could gather his thoughts, Robin found himself being thrown to the ground as Keats swung him sideways and pinned him there.

"Fancy your chances do you?" Keats spat at his face as Robin turned away to avoid his hot breath. "Think you stand a chance against me? You seem to forget this isn't a cartoon, Robin. You say I've got more lives than a cat – well, don't mistake this for a tom and jerry cartoon. The mouse isn't going to win this time."

His tone left Robin in no doubt who the 'mouse' was meant to be.

"You be careful what you call me," he hissed, pushing Keats roughly away and scrambling to his feet, "I've changed."

"So I can see," Keats began to pant a little. Layton's body wasn't cut out for this. "what happened to the quiet little boy, clinging to Simon's shirt tails?"

"He grew up," Robin hissed through clenched teeth, staring Keats right in the eye.

"Have you and Kimberley prepared this speech?" Keats cried, "I'm getting the same shit speech from both of y0u!"

"Then maybe you should stop asking stupid questions," Robin's eyes flashed with fury.

How the hell was he supposed to get out of this situation? How was he going to resolve this? He started to look around for the knife but Keats spotted him and luck was on his side as the knife was already by his feet. He swiped it up before Robin had a chance to stop him and allowed the light to glint against the blade. Robin froze where he stood. Did he risk a second attempt at grabbing it? Maybe run to the barge and hope he was faster than the clapped-out body Keats was possessing? Could he dive in the car and run the bastard over? He had a sinking feeling any one of those things would end up with the blade plunging into his stomach. He knew that a slightly-kidnapped-but-alive Robin would have more chance of rescuing Kim than a dead-and-whisked-off-to-Fenchurch-West Robin. He stared at Keats. His eyes seemed to morph again. It made Robin shudder terribly.

"So, do you want to tell me what kind of stupid little act that was supposed to be?" Keats demanded, "didn't you listen to a thing I said?" He could see Robin weighing up his options and wasn't going to let him have another shot at winning this one so he grasped him by the arm and brought the blade close to his neck again, "I'll give you one more chance. Try anything again and you will be finding your throat cut."

"Ooh, another chance, special treatment from the devil dressed in mold," Robin spat sarcastically.

Keats stared at the squirming man in his grip, the fury in his eyes. He couldn't equate this Robin with the man he'd accosted on the bridge on a cold night in 1995. It unnerved him. He didn't feel completely certain about his plan any longer. Robin wasn't quite the easy captive he had been expecting him to be. He was a bit of a loose cannon. This was something Keats had not been anticipating.

"Get on the fucking boat."

Keats was out of sarcasm and witty comments. He'd used all of those up during the run-around. Now he just wanted to get Robin onto the boat and to deal with an urgent feeling that had started to creep over him. Damn that bloody Layton and his crawling veins.

He half-pushed and half-pulled Robin down to the barge and slammed him through the doorway where he tripped and stumbled, a surprised gasp coming from across the dingy vessel.

"Robin?"

The sound of Kim's voice gave Robin an instance of sheer relief as he caught sight of her. His immediate response was to cry,

"Oh, thank God!"

It was only a second later though that he saw the state of her, her hair lopped off and left across the floor. As anger began to rise inside him again Keats grasped his arm and yanked him firmly across to the side of the barge where another rope was waiting.

"I had one of these left," he said, "saved it for you."

"I've had better presents," Robin hissed crossly.

Keats made an attempt at pulling Robin's hands behind his back to tie them together but Robin's left hand evaded his grasp. Like a child annoying their friend by holding an object just out of reach and constantly avoiding their attempts to grab it back he moved his hand wildly around, dodging Keats's attempts to grasp it. Keats chased the hand back and forth, round and round as Kim watched on in childish amusement. Robin knew it was a highly immature thing to do but it seemed to get the result he required and finally Keats gave an angry yell.

"Fine!" he cried, "since you seem to have no control over your hand I can easily make do."

He pushed Robin to the ground and pulled his right arm back severely until he cried out in pain, then tied the rope securely to his wrist with several knots and ran the other end of the rope down to his legs.

"What the fuck?" cried Robin as Keats pulled his legs up behind him to tie them firmly to the other end of the rope. "Are you trying to turn me inside out or something?" His whole body was arching backward at a highly uncomfortable angle, his arm and legs were now bound together. It seemed a completely ungainly way to tie someone up but it did the trick.

With a shove, Keats pushed Robin closer to Kim and completed the task by tying the end of both of their ropes together.

"There," he hissed, "since you two are apparently inseparable now you might as well be tied together like a couple of conjoined gay twins."

Robin found himself face to face with Kim. Despite the horrible situation both of them were in just being there with her made him feel stronger.

"What is his problem with us being friends?" he asked, completely baffled by Keats's fixation on that factor.

"I don't know," Kim sighed, "I think he thinks we're shagging or something."

"Sha- eugh!" cried Robin.

"I know!" Kim agreed.

Keats watched them in anger and frustration as they started to chat amongst themselves. What the hell was going on? Why weren't they cowering at his words? These were the worst kidnap victims ever.

"Not to interrupt a private conversation or anything…" he began angrily but Robin and Kim hadn't quite finished.

"He's off his rocker!" Robin declared.

"He keeps going on about that anti-beard thing we got invited to," Kim told him, "he's obsessed. Maybe he has a thing about Evan?"

"Shut the fuck up!" cried Keats, "close your flapping traps, and rest assured the next person to accuse me of having a beard fetish will get a knife right through the stomach!"

Robin and Kim finally stopped talking between themselves and looked at Keats. His anger had reached such epic proportions he was now an interesting shade of beetroot as the blood rushed to his face in fury.

"Can we help you?" Robin challenged. He knew he was skating on thinner and thinner ice but he just wanted to make sure Keats wasn't allowed to get the better of them, one way or another. It seemed that pissing him off was easier – and more enjoyable – than Robin had realised.

"I think you both need a time out," Keats scowled.

"Ooh, ten minutes on the naughty step?" Robin's presence had set Kim into the same frame of mind as she joined in the goading.

"I have something important to do," Keats spat, scratching at his arms with a maniacal motion that made Kim and Robin feel somewhat disturbed, "but when I get back you'll both think again about challenging me." He began to walk away hurriedly, his scratching becoming wilder with every step, leaving Robin and Kim to look at each other in confusion.

"Wow," Robin breathed, "I was expecting a bit more than that."

"So was I," Kim told him honestly, "Rob, I've no idea what's going on."

"How did this even happen?" Robin's eyes were developing an urgent nervousness now as he stared at Kim, "how did he… I mean… it is Keats. Isn't it?"

Kim nodded slowly, her eyes cast downward.

"It is," she whispered, "and I'm bloody terrified."

Robin saw her expression changing before him. The momentary bravado she'd experienced after his arrival was giving way to a dark fear; a fear born of memories from many years before, made in a whole different world. His heart sank to see it. With his free arm he reached out and slowly laid a hand against her arm. He saw a touch of a smile flicker onto her face but it didn't last for long as the worry overcame her again.

"Kim, it's going to be OK," he said, hoping he sounded more certain than he felt, "there's got to be a way out of these ropes. He's left my hand free, there's got to be one I can untie."

Before he had a chance to try, Keats's footsteps caused them both to freeze in fear. He re-entered the barge, looked around, spotted an object and walked it across to them.

"And here's some entertainment for you while I'm away," he said, setting the old radio he'd found beside them and switching it on.

"He-e-e-e-e-ey…" the voice of a DJ came from the radio, "and welcome back to another hour of cheesy music madness where we guarantee at least one Wham! hit an hour!"

Two pairs of eyes opened wider than either owner had thought possible and stared at each other in terror.

"No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!" Kim and Robin screamed at the top of their lungs.

They heard Keats laughing as he left the barge just as the opening bars of I'm Your Man began to play. Their terrified screams rang out, scaring wildlife for miles around. Never before had two people felt so much fear, so suddenly. Being tied up on a deserted barge by a madman was one thing. Being tied up with Wham! playing in the background was something else entirely.

A whole new level of hell had just opened up its gates and welcomed Robin and Kim with open arms.