Now he was staring out the window and whatever he saw made the warm, tender expression he was wearing moments ago fade to one of complete fury.
Then he turned without a word and, with long, quick, ground-eating strides, headed for the door.
She whirled to see what had made him react in such a way and saw Annie trying to alight into the bus.
Annie, blind and reaching, was not having a good time of it and all the while the minibus driver stood not two feet away, smoking a roll up and not assisting her, even though it was clear Annie was having trouble.
Sibyl, still carrying Marianne’s bag, ran after Colin. She exited the door in time to see Annie catch her foot on the step of the bus and stumble. Her heart tripping in alarm, Sibyl sucked in her breath just as Annie righted herself at the last minute.
Kyle was at the back loading a folded wheelchair so he couldn’t see what was happening.
The minibus driver flicked his butt into the grass.
“What in bloody hell is going on here?” Colin demanded while Sibyl raced up behind him. At his deep, angry voice, most jumped and everyone turned to stare. “Everyone, get off the bus,” Colin ordered and Sibyl’s mouth dropped open in shock but before she could say anything, Colin turned to the driver. “What’s your name?” he demanded in his smooth, even tone that said, in about two seconds, the driver was about to have Colin’s fist in his face.
“Who’re you?” The driver, clearly not that bright, didn’t read Colin’s tone.
“I said, what’s your goddamned name?” Colin roared.
Sibyl (and pretty much every one else) jumped again. She quickly put down Marianne’s bag and ran to help Annie away from the minibus.
“Why’d you wanna know?” the driver asked on a mini-sneer.
“I want to know,” Colin enunciated every word with perfect clarity, “because I’ll need to be certain I get the right man sacked.”
The minibus driver stared at Colin goggle-eyed and everyone gasped (including Sibyl).
“You can’t get me sacked!” the driver snapped.
“Would you like to bet?” Colin’s voice was still smooth, dangerous and had a very sharp edge. “Did you not see that woman struggling to get into the bus?” he demanded.
The minibus driver shrugged, thinking it was a good idea to throw fuel on the fire. “Not my job.”
“You’re not only incompetent, you’re negligent. You drive a bus for elderly people,” Colin informed him. “That makes it your job.”
“Have you read my job description?” this time the driver outright sneered. “I don’t think so.”
“Your job description will be changed by five o’clock tomorrow night. Unfortunately, you won’t be in the job to see it.” That said, Colin turned his back on the driver and said to Sibyl, “Get everyone out of the bus.”
Regardless of the fact that his eyes were blazing, carefully, Sibyl said, “Colin, this is their only way home. It would take Kyle and I –”
While she was talking, he pulled his mobile out of his jacket, flipped it open and punched two numbers.
Once he’d done this, he spoke into it. “Mandy, get me…” He surveyed the crowd that was now exiting the minibus, gathering around and staring at Colin with avid fascination. “Fifteen taxis to the Community Centre at Cadbury Council Estate in Weston. Right now. Have them do a docket and bill it to us.” He paused. “Yes. Right now.”
At his deadly tone, Sibyl felt a chill go down her spine just as she felt a soft flutter in her heart.
He flipped the phone shut.
“Don’t bother me, mate. Makes my afternoon easier,” the minibus driver remarked.
Colin looked over his shoulder at him. “Get used to it; you’re going to have a great deal of free time on your hands.”
Something about the way he said it made pretty much everyone believe it except those who didn’t couldn’t hear what was going on but when they were told, they believed it too.
“Think you’re the big man, get me sacked. She couldn’t get me sacked,” the minibus driver taunted, making it known he most definitely did not have a very high IQ or enough instinct to last an hour in the wild.
Colin slowly turned back to the man, so slowly it was crystal clear he was doing so to keep himself in rigid control.