by Jacqui Rose
‘Tia, hey sweetheart, it’s me … Listen I need to ask you something. You know that coke that Harry has, well I need to do something with it, so I was wondering if I could … What? I don’t understand … Are you sure? No … no, no it’s fine, don’t worry … Okay, listen I have to go, I’ll talk to you later.’ Vaughn clicked off the phone and stared at the other two. His face was pale and worry was etched in his eyes.
‘You were right, Alf. Tia’s just told me that the cocaine wasn’t cocaine at all. She swapped the bags so if Harry did look in the trunk at least there was something there. What we took was essentially just white powder. It might as well have been self-raising flour after all … which means we need to stop Carter, now!’
Franny looked at Vaughn and then at Alfie. ‘But that’s the point, Vaughn, we’ve got no way of contacting him at all.’
57
‘You fool, you fucking fool. Didn’t it occur to you to check what gear you were planting? Didn’t it occur to you to talk to Tia?’ Franny screamed at Vaughn. ‘And as we couldn’t stop Carter raiding the club, you’ve now alerted Wan that he was being set up. You might as well have killed those girls yourself – he knows we’re on to him.’
‘He doesn’t know for sure,’ Vaughn shot back.
‘Well how the fuck long do you think it will take for him to know? You have fucked everything up, not to mention fucking Carter about too.’
‘Just shut up! Just shut the fuck up!’
Franny, distraught at the implications of the massive blunder over the raid, glared. ‘Who do you think you’re talking to?’
‘You, now fuck off out of my way,’ Vaughn said as he tried to storm out of the house even though she blocked his way.
‘You ain’t going anywhere, Vaughn, until we sort this out, sort out what we’re going to do. It ain’t any good you splitting. Milly is out there, don’t forget. We need to come up with a plan.’
He leant right into her face and growled. ‘I said get the fuck out of my way.’ As he said it, he grabbed her, smashing her against the wall, where she elbowed him in the face, busting his nose open as he shoved her harder.
‘What the fuck!’ Alfie roared and charged at Vaughn, diving at him and getting him into a headlock before pummelling him with a fist in his face, but Vaughn twisted his body, managing to get out of Alfie’s grip.
He turned around to hit Alfie but Franny got there first, throwing an uppercut punch to Vaughn’s chin, making him stumble to the side and giving Alfie the opportunity to kick him hard, buckling his legs, causing Vaughn to fall to the ground.
As he fell, Alfie stumbled and fell on top of him, giving Vaughn a chance to slam his fist into Alfie’s face and throat, making him cough and splutter. Not to be stopped, Alfie managed to knee Vaughn, splitting his lip open and bringing his fists down as Vaughn struggled underneath him. But then Franny’s voice cut through the air. ‘Stop! Stop! Enough, that’s enough! Alfie, no more!’
Spitting out the blood from his mouth, Alfie, exhausted, stopped. He looked at Franny and then down at Vaughn and panting his words he said, ‘She’s right – we can’t do this. This ain’t going to help anyone. We need to work together. So this stops, now.’
With Vaughn and Alfie having gone out to get some food, Franny stood in the shower letting the water pound against her skin, letting the heat sting it. She couldn’t believe what had happened. She was angry with Vaughn. No she was more than that, she was fit to bursting but Alfie was right – it was no good them tearing each other apart, not now anyway. The girls were more important than their fight and certainly bringing Wan down was what they need to focus on.
‘I’ll think I’ll have that cup of tea now.’
Franny spun around and there, standing with a grin on his face, was Harry. He whistled at her as he regarded her naked body. ‘I can see why Alfie still sniffs around you. With a body like that you’d give a dead man a boner. I might try a bit myself before I do what I’ve come here to do.’ He stopped talking and placed his hand on his groin. ‘What do you say, Franny, fancy a bit of action before you meet your maker?’
‘Go to hell.’
He laughed. ‘No, I think that’s you, not me.’ He grabbed her suddenly, pulling her out of the shower so quickly that she slipped on the soapy floor, tumbling onto the marble tiles. Immediately, Harry got on top of her, his heavy, muscular body pinning her down.
He pulled at his trousers with one hand as his other hand roamed over Franny’s body. She struggled, fighting to get away, but the way he had her pinned down made it almost impossible for her to move.
She hit at his face and pulled at his hair but he just laughed. ‘You won’t get any complaints from me. I like it rough. Keep on pulling, darlin’. It always turns me on when—’
‘You fucking bastard. I’m going to kill you!’ Alfie stood behind Harry with his gun pressed against the back of Harry’s head.
‘No, Alfie! Don’t kill him, not yet, because we need him first.’
Harry sat tied to a chair in one of the spare rooms in Franny’s house with Vaughn and Alfie standing opposite him as Franny held Harry’s phone in her hand, having taken it out of his pocket.
She stared at him. ‘Now I want you to call Wan. I want you to say exactly what I told you to.’
Harry looked at her, laughed, then spat, only just missing her. She slapped him around the face but he chuckled and winked. ‘Like I told you, I like it rough … I don’t suppose there’s a chance of a quick blow job before I meet me maker – you know, give me my last rites …’
‘You want it rough? How about this for rough?’ Alfie said as he slammed his fist in Harry’s face, splitting his nose and lips open. ‘Now do as she says. Call Wan. Now.’
With his front tooth having been knocked back from the force of the punch, Harry rolled his tongue over his mouth, tasting the pouring blood. ‘No, jog on, cos you’re going to kill me anyway.’
Alfie bent down to him and grinned. ‘You’re right we are, but as you know, there are different ways of killing people. Quick and painless or long and painful, and if you don’t call Wan, I am going to make this the longest motherfucking killing on record. You’ll be seeing in Christmas before I’m done with you. How about I start with your toes. One after the other. Chop, chop, chop.’
Harry twisted his face up in anger looking at them all. ‘Fine, fine, I’ll do it.’
Alfie winked. ‘I thought you’d say that.’ He nodded to Franny who pressed Wan’s number and held the phone up against Harry’s ear.
‘Now make it sound natural, understand?’ Franny snarled as she switched the phone onto speaker.
Harry just stared but almost immediately the call was answered. ‘Wan, it’s Harry … Listen, er …’ He stopped to look at Franny who nodded at him, pushing him on to say what she’d told him to.
‘Yeah, er … I heard about the raid. It’s fucked up, but I need to see you. It’s about … Ellie and Sasha.’
‘What about them?’
‘I saw Ellie and she’s spouting a lot of shit about Sasha. She was all over the place … I think we need to talk about what we’re going to do with her. You know, she seems to be mouthing off a lot and I really don’t want her to start mouthing off about me … but I don’t want to talk on the phone, so I think it’s best we meet up at the farmhouse cos I reckon the Old Bill will be watching your club now.’
‘Yeah okay. What time?’
‘Say about eleven tonight?’
‘Sounds good, I’ll see you there.’
The call finished and Vaughn winked at Harry. ‘Impressive – you made that sound real, but then you’ve always been a lying cunt, ain’t you.’ He turned to Alfie and Franny. ‘Ready?’
‘Ready,’ Alfie said and with that they screwed silencers on their guns.
Franny smiled and nodded. ‘Ready … One for all and all for one.’
At which point all three of them pulled their triggers, blowing Harry into bits.
58
It wa
s late and Vaughn, Franny and Alfie watched as Wan’s car headlights appeared up the main driveway of the farmhouse. ‘You still all prepared to do this? You know they’ll be after us after this,’ Vaughn said.
Franny glanced at Alfie and smiled. ‘I’m okay with this. If it gets Wan off the streets, it’ll be worth it. We’ll have to hide, maybe go to Spain.’
Vaughn nodded. ‘They’ll still come looking for us but that ain’t a problem, once Milly … well, once we find Milly, I’m sure Tia would be more than happy to get out of the country with the kids. There’s nothing keeping her here now. And you’re all right with it, ain’t you, Alf?’
‘Yeah, if it means the girls are safe and I’m with Fran, I’m happy to go wherever … And I never said this before but, I’m fucking choked up that we’re back together … This is how it always should’ve been, hey Fran?’
‘Yeah, sure,’ Franny said but her eyes didn’t hold the sentiment.
Nothing more was said as they watched Wan’s car getting nearer. But as it approached, Vaughn narrowed his eyes as he made out the outline of another person in the car. ‘Shit, he’s got someone else with him … two other people … Fran, why don’t you quickly go to the top of the courtyard and, Alfie, why don’t you go over to the trees? I’ll stay here, then at least that way we’ve got him at all angles.’
Alfie nodded. ‘Good idea,’ he said as he dashed over to where Vaughn had suggested, disappearing into the darkness as Franny did the same.
Holding his gun close, Vaughn stared as the car pulled up only feet away. He watched as Wan got out and saw his two men getting out on the other side of the car. Readying himself he suddenly stood up and shouted. ‘Wan!’
Wan turned to look at Vaughn as Franny and Alfie blasted holes into the two other men, but as Vaughn went to pull the trigger his gun jammed, which gave Wan the vital split seconds he needed to dash behind his car and into the bushes, running into the night.
‘Fuck!’ Vaughn yelled as he gave chase, hearing Franny and Alfie rushing up behind him.
‘What happened?’ Alfie said breathlessly.
‘I dunno, the gun didn’t go off – maybe I’ve got a dud load. Fuck,’ he said as he discarded the round of bullets in his gun on the floor, changing them for a new round that he pulled out of his pocket.
‘Look, we need to make sure he doesn’t get off the property, cos if he does then we’ll never get him,’ Vaughn said as he double-checked his gun again.
‘Do you want to split up?’ Franny asked as her eyes darted around.
‘No, let’s stay together for now. Come on let’s go …’
The trio dashed through the grounds, looking and stopping at every noise and sound, running behind trees and bushes looking for Wan as they came to the barn. Suddenly, Franny put her arm up, gesturing for them to stop. ‘Listen, can you hear that?’
Alfie nodded. ‘That scraping noise, yeah, it’s coming from the barn.’
‘Come on, let’s go … but let’s be careful,’ Franny said as she moved forward along the side of the barn, stepping over bits of old farm machinery and rusting lengths of discarded barbed wire, but as they crept along further Alfie suddenly let out a yelp. ‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!’
Franny turned around to where Alfie had dropped to the ground. ‘What’s happened? What’s the matter?’
‘My leg! My fucking leg.’
She stared closer at it and saw a bent piece of sharp rusting steel had cut into his leg, severing through his flesh.
Quickly she took off her jacket, wrapping it around his leg, trying to stem the bleeding.
‘You stay here; me and Vaughn will go and see what it is. We won’t be long. Will you be all right?’
Through his pain he smiled at her as she got up and edged forward with Vaughn towards the entrance of the barn.
At the doors of the barn, she paused as she held her gun in her hands. She nodded at Vaughn. ‘You all right?’
He nodded back. ‘I’m good … How about we go in after the count of three?’ Without waiting for a reply he began to count down. ‘Three … two … one …’
They rushed inside holding their guns in front of them but Franny suddenly froze. ‘Oh my God!’ There in front of her tied to a chair with a gag over her mouth was Milly.
She ran over to her calling her name. ‘Milly! Milly! Milly, it’s me, sweetheart.’ Ripping her gag off and untying her hands, Franny could see how bruised and bloody she was, her face and lips swollen. ‘Did Wan do this to you?’
Crying hysterically Milly threw her arms around Franny, shaking. ‘No, it was my dad! He brought me here. He said that I needed to be taught a lesson but I thought he’d come back, I thought he’d come back.’
Franny held on to her, rocking her gently, knowing that Harry taking her, forcing her here before Wan had found her, had ironically saved her life. ‘What about the baby? Can you still feel it moving?’
‘Yeah, it’s been kicking.’
‘That’s good, that’s good.’ Franny smiled. ‘We’ll get you out of here soon but for now, you need to stay here … Oh, this is Vaughn by the way. Vaughn meet Milly.’
Vaughn – overwhelmed by not only what Harry had done to her, but also by the fact that he was meeting his daughter for the first time – fought back the tears as he spoke. ‘Nice to meet you, Milly; your mum’s going to be delighted we found you,’ was all he managed to say.
‘Vaughn, listen, why don’t I go and get Alfie to stay with her? His leg is bad, but that don’t mean he won’t be able to pull the trigger if he needs to.’
Vaughn thought for a moment. ‘Yeah, okay and I’ll go and look for Wan.’
‘Okay and once I’ve got Alfie, I’ll come and find you.’
Vaughn crept along, staying well hidden and crouching behind the old oak tree. He held his gun up, listening as he continued forward.
Slinking quietly towards the pond, a sound coming from the left had him whirling around but not before a bullet was suddenly fired at him. He ran, rushing through the trees, ducking down as he saw the figure of Wan approaching in the darkness of the night.
Vaughn aimed his gun, firing back as Wan dashed out of sight. More shots were fired out from the darkness as Wan hid behind the trees, though with no light Vaughn wasn’t certain where they were coming from.
He sprinted along the gravel path and diving for cover he pressed his body against the wall. Breathing hard he listened again but this time he couldn’t hear any sound. As he crept forward again, a shadow suddenly loomed near him. He heard the crack of the gun and he dashed forward but he felt a pain in his leg, burning into his calf. He yelled out as he threw himself down the ditch, readying himself for Wan to appear at any moment.
Groaning in pain, Vaughn gritted his teeth as he pressed his hand down on his leg trying to stop the flow of blood. He pulled himself up, dragging his body into the darkness, and as he did he saw Wan going into the main house. Although the pain was rushing through him, as if his whole body was on fire, he knew there was no way he was going to let Wan get away. Staggering up on his feet, Vaughn made his way across to the house.
Inside the farmhouse, Vaughn slowly crept along the hallway, peering carefully into each room, his finger hovering over the trigger of his gun.
Getting to the lounge, he looked about, his eyes darting from one side of the room to another. But suddenly he stopped. He could hear footsteps coming from above him. Wan was there, just a few feet away …
Slowly, Vaughn made his way up the stairs, pushing himself once more against the wall. He could feel his heart racing and the sweat pouring down his back along with the blood that oozed from his leg.
Coming to the landing, Vaughn stood and looked through the crack of the door. Seeing Wan, he stepped forward, aiming his gun but at the last moment, Wan, hearing a noise himself, spun around and began to raise his gun. Without hesitation, Vaughn squeezed the trigger, emptying all the bullets from his gun one after another.
‘Oh my God, you got him.’ Franny’
s voice came from behind Vaughn.
Staring down at the body Vaughn let out a sigh. ‘Yeah, at least that’s one problem out of the way. We’ll have to stick together now, Fran. The Triads will be after us.’
Franny smiled as she walked forward and looked down at where Wan was lying in a pool of his own blood. She was pleased he was dead – more than pleased. He was scum and at least now the girls would be free of him.
She blinked then slowly raised her gaze to look at Vaughn. ‘You mean the Triads will be after you. First you kill Wan’s brother and now you kill him … They won’t like that.’
‘Well that’s what I’m saying – we need to be tighter than ever now.’
Franny chuckled. ‘You know it’s true what they say: a common danger does unite even the bitterest enemies, but now that the common enemy is dead, that only leaves the bitterest of enemies. And I once told you that when you’re least expecting it, you’d be a dead man. I haven’t forgotten that you tried to kill me, Vaughn, and all this mess is because you set me up in the first place … The best thing about this is no one will ever know. I’ll just tell them that you shot Wan. I can make you a hero, if you like?’
‘What the fuck are you on about?’
‘Don’t worry, I’ve got it all worked out. You shot him but not before he shot you. Then you died of your wounds … Don’t look like that, Vaughn, I’ll bring your favourite flowers to the funeral. Lilies, ain’t it? I’ll get Milly to do a reading as well and I’ll make sure you can have one of those wreaths that says “Dad” in the funeral car. I would get a couple of horses to carry your coffin, but I know you ain’t too keen, I know you’re allergic … Anyway, hark at me talking.’ Franny raised her gun and smiled again though the smile certainly didn’t hit her eyes. She pointed the gun, jamming it against Vaughn’s head and drawing back the trigger she whispered her words. ‘Now get ready to say die …’
‘No! Franny, no! Don’t do it!’ Carter shouted from behind her.
She turned her head and glared at him. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’