Kees pulls up just as everything kicks off.
He sees Jaap spiralling down, and, as he starts running, the guy who hit him – classic long biker beard and leathers – raises the baseball bat for a second hit.
The other man, Bernard Kooy, is standing slightly back. He hears something and turns just as Kees reaches him.
‘What—’
Even under normal circumstances Kees is not a great conversationalist, and right now he’s really not in the mood for wasted words. He launches forward, knocking Kooy down and lunging for the man with the bat, going in low, his shoulder ramming into the man’s waist. The man stumbles, lets go of the bat so his arms are free to break his fall. Kees is on it, has the bat in his hand. He swings hard, and gets the job done in one hit.
Bart would be proud, he thinks as he turns back to Kooy, who has managed to get up and is now grappling with Jaap, getting him into a headlock and forcing him to the tarmac, one knee bent like he’s proposing.
Kees steps up.
At the same moment Jaap gives way, dropping to the ground fast, surprising the man and managing to break from his arm. Jaap twists round, swings his hand up and onto the back of the man’s head, and slams it into the car’s bonnet. Kooy’s top teeth catch the edge.
All of them.
Inside the car a man’s head wobbles, and falls out of sight.
Kees catches a glimpse of his head as it goes down. He can’t be sure, but it looks like it’s cling-filmed.
What the fuck?
Jaap’s still got hold of Kooy, blood all over his face.
Kees moves in and they have him cuffed in seconds.
They’re both breathing hard, and it takes a few moments before either can speak. Jaap’s face is already swelling up – by tomorrow he’s going to be unrecognizable.
‘I don’t even know where to begin,’ Jaap says, looking at his old colleague.