The moment she stood up he whipped her round, unfastening her jeans with shaky hands, yanking them down her legs.
“Have you any idea how much I love you?” he breathed as he thrust into her.
She released a gasp followed by a moan, arching her spine. She looked back over her shoulder at him, grey eyes intense. “You’re giving me a good idea right now. Care to show me a little harder? Yes,” she cried out when he obliged.
They shuddered and shook together before collapsing forward over the sink.
“The best way to start the day,” grinned Jules. “I’m ready to go into work now.”
“How very generous of you,” he said, eyes twinkling.
They straightened up and adjusted their clothing.
Mikey took her face in his hands, gently stroking her cheeks with his thumbs as they gazed into each other’s eyes.
“What is it?” she smiled.
“I just like looking at you.”
“Soppy sod,” she grinned, kissing him.
“You’d better stop doing that or we’ll never get to work,” he said as she moved her attentions to his neck.
“I like to keep you wanting more,” she whispered, nibbling his ear.
“I always want more with you,” he whispered back.
Reluctantly they released each other, Jules snatching the car keys from his hand when he produced them from his pocket.
She smacked his backside. “I’m driving. That way we’ll get there quicker.”
Mikey followed her out the door, smiling. Jules had the habit of making him feel like he’d been hit by a tornado.
Jez couldn’t help but grin when Mikey and Jules finally arrived at the large detached house that was the new headquarters of the Maguire-Law empire. After the famous Maguire compound had been blown up after an attack by their enemies they’d moved to a non-descript bungalow. They’d had to vacate those premises after someone intent on revenge had tracked them to it. They’d all agreed the bungalow had been a bit too small for their purposes and their new headquarters provided them with all the space they needed without the ostentatiousness of the compound.
Jez had never seen his business partner and best friend so happy before. After the miserable sod he’d been when he was with Amber it was a relief that he came into work every day in a good mood. It was also wonderful to see his sister so happy after the misery she’d endured.
“I didn’t think you were going to bother coming in today?” said Jez with good humour.
“We’re only ten minutes late little brother,” said Jules.
“I suppose it’s better than yesterday when you were half an hour late.”
“Mornings are very hectic in our house,” said Mikey, grinning at Jules, who grinned back.
“Oh God, I’m going to throw up,” said Jez. “Let’s get this meeting started before the others think we’re not bothering.”
They followed Jez through to what had once been the dining room, the huge polished oak table still standing in the centre of the room perfect for their meetings. Already in attendance were Mark, the craggy-faced former hitman and head of security, Grant, who Mikey had raised through the ranks and Shane, the youngest of their inner circle. Only in his early twenties he’d already proved himself to be a huge asset to their firm. They had many other people on the payroll but only the six of them were permitted in this house and were privy to all the details of their business dealings. Everyone else in their employ was only aware of the immediate area they worked in. This precaution ensured that should any of their employees get arrested they couldn’t provide information about their entire operation.
“Managed to tear yourselves away from each other then?” grinned Shane when they walked in. The uncertain lad they’d found on the council estate in Nottingham had metamorphosed into a powerful-looking man, bulked up after the considerable time he spent at the gym, an expensive watch on his wrist, suit Versace. Fortunately the power he wielded had done nothing to erase his sense of humour and they were all very fond of him, Mikey and Jez grooming him to take over when they eventually retired, neither wanting their sons to follow them into the business.
“Just about,” said Jules. “But be warned, we might get back down to it on the table.” She smiled when Shane blushed, silenced.
Mikey chuckled. “Right, if there’s no more comments about anyone’s sex life, let’s get to it.”
Shane opened his mouth, another quip ready, caught Mikey’s look and closed it again.
Jules couldn’t help but smile as she listened to Mikey and Jez set down the rota for the following week’s drug runs. They were so understated they sounded like teachers setting out the school timetable. Security had been shored up even more since Mikey’s cousin Declan had stolen drugs from them. Their Glaswegian business partner, the infamous and psychotic Toni McVay had not been best pleased and if it hadn’t been for Mikey’s persuasive powers she would have come down to Manchester and started plucking out everyone’s eyeballs, her favourite hobby. Declan had also had an affair with Mikey’s ex-wife, Amber while they were still married. This hadn’t particularly bothered Mikey as it meant he’d got to be with Jules, his true love. Mikey had put Declan in intensive care for his treachery and when he’d recovered he’d scurried back to Ireland, never to return to Manchester, grateful he was still alive.
Once the week’s business had been set out, talk turned to darker things.
“What’s the word on Katia?” said Jez, the muscle at the base of his jaw twitching at her name. Alex Maguire’s ex-lover had been a thorn in their sides for far too long.
“All quiet since she took over down south,” replied Mark. “We’re keeping as close an eye on her as we can but we don’t have many contacts down there.”
“We need to cultivate some,” said Mikey.
“Few are willing,” said Jez. “The old north-south divide. We’re respected down there but they all want to set up their own businesses, however no one can because of Katia. I’ve said they should organise themselves into one big crew strong enough to take her out but they’re all too busy arguing among themselves to do it.”
“Forget that set of dizzy arseholes,” said Jules. “I’ll go down south and take the bitch out personally.”
“No,” said Mikey.
“Why not?” she retorted.
“Because it’s far too dangerous.”
Her eyes flashed. “You think I can’t handle that silly tart?”
“Course you can handle her. It’s the crew around her I’m concerned about.”
“Mikey’s right,” said Jez. “They’re not amateurs.”
“And I’m a fucking good assassin. Me and Mark could go down there together. Katia wouldn’t stand a chance. We’ll take out that treacherous bastard Hayden Brody too while we’re at it. The rest will lose their bottle without their exalted leaders.”
“And if it goes wrong they’ll charge up here wanting revenge and it’ll be another war,” countered Mikey.
“We’ll make sure it doesn’t go wrong,” said Jules.
“No one can promise that.”
“I agree with Mikey,” said Jez. “Things have been peaceful for two years. Why rock the boat?”
“If we don’t they’ll rock it first.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“Katia hates us, especially you Mikey for abducting her kids. There’s no way she’s going to let that go and the longer we leave it the stronger she gets.” Jules knew there was no way a woman like Katia would let go Mikey attempting to kill her and taking her sons, the twins Alex and Daniel. He’d intended to raise them alongside his own sons, after all they were his second cousins, the children of the deceased Alex Maguire. The prospect of Katia taking retribution on Mikey filled her with horror and she wanted the threat gone.
“If it was just us I’d say go for it,” said Jez. “But it’s not. Toni McVay likes things running nice and smoothly, which they have been for a while now, thank God. One more strike and we could we
ll be out with her, despite the titanic amount of money our deal makes. Plus our arrangement with Toni encourages our enemies down south to keep their distance.”
“Maybe we could run it past her?” said Mikey. “If she gives her blessing then she can’t moan if it starts another war.”
“Go for it,” said Jez. “Although I get the feeling she’ll say no. She likes the quiet life too much.”
“And if she says no you can’t do it off your own backs,” said Jules. “And Katia will always be a threat until she inevitably decides to attack us first.”
“What do the rest of you think?” said Jez, addressing the other three men.
“I think,” began Shane seriously. “That Toni McVay would make a much more dangerous enemy than Katia and her crew, which she might become if we push ahead with this without her say-so.”
Jez looked to Grant and Mark.
“What he said,” said Mark, pointing at Shane.
“I agree,” said Grant.
“There, no one can say we’re not a democracy,” said Jez. “We run it past Toni and if she gives the green light we send Jules and Mark down south to take out Katia and Hayden.”
“And if Toni says no Katia will always be out there,” said Jules. “And one day she will come for us.”
“You never know, she might get flattened by a bus then problem solved,” smiled Jez. “Alright, meeting over. Get to it.”
They all got to their feet, except Jules, who remained slumped in her chair staring miserably at the tabletop.
“Work your magic on her mate,” Jez told Mikey before following the others out.
When they’d gone Mikey took the chair beside her. “What’s up babe?”
She sighed. “What do you think’s wrong? The Slovakian slapper is our biggest threat.”
“I know. Hopefully Toni will say we can remove her.”
“It’s alright for her. Katia wouldn’t dare attack her, it’s us who are in danger.”
“And if she does come after us we’ll destroy her, just like we destroyed all the others.”
“Our luck has to run out one day.”
He pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head. “This isn’t like you babe. Nothing scares you.”
“Losing you scares me.”
“That won’t happen.”
“The Slatterys almost killed me. I can’t stand the thought of Katia trying to do the same to you, you’re the one she hates the most.”
“Not going to happen.”
She took his hands. “I could make it look like an accident. Toni will never know.”
“We tried making it look like a heart attack last time. It didn’t work.”
“I’ll come up with another mixture that will mimic something else. You have to let me try.”
“We’ll see what Toni says first.”
“She’ll say no and then your hands will be tied.”
“Look at it this way. If we kill Katia and start another war Toni will take offence and throw everything she’s got at us and she’s the one person we’re not strong enough to fight.”
“You’re right of course but I still don’t like it.”
“You never know, she might say yes.”
She forced a smile. “Yeah, maybe.”
He kissed her. “Come on, we’ve got work to do. Fancy beating the shit out of Richie Meadows? He’s not paid up the twenty grand he owes us.”
She smiled, leaping to her feet. “On it.”
“Thought that would cheer you up,” he smiled, following her out of the room.
CHAPTER 3
“Ashley,” smiled Rachel, opening the door to him. “Come on in.”
“Thanks,” he smiled back, stepping inside and closing the door.
He followed her into the lounge where Ryan reclined on the couch, reading a book on quantum physics, which was his next challenge with his sister Jules, whose IQ was even higher than his own. “Hello Ashley,” he said pleasantly, putting aside the book.
Ryan loathed police officers but ever since Ashley had assisted them in their vigilante activities his respect for him had grown. He’d even forgiven him for arresting him once for murder, a crime Ryan had been innocent of.
“Hi Ryan,” he replied, seating himself in the armchair by the window. “Are the kids here?”
“The boys are at school and Leah’s at college,” replied Rachel. “So we can talk freely.”
“Good. I heard about you evicting that pair of freeloading arseholes from Nigel’s house. Nice one. The wheels of justice had practically seized up when it came to that situation.”
Ever since his daughter had been rescued by people Ashley had once considered to be criminals, his opinion of the legal system had gone downhill. Now he thought it slow and cumbersome and at times, completely useless. He was beginning to become disillusioned by his job but he’d decided to stick with it, if only so he could give Ryan and Rachel inside information.
“Yes, that gave us great pleasure,” said Ryan.
“Excellent because I’ve got something along similar lines for you.”
“Do tell,” said Rachel eagerly, making Ryan smile.
“A family have settled in the area and already they’re causing bother - excessive noise, intimidating the locals, vandalism, that sort of thing.”
“And they need teaching a lesson?” said Ryan.
Ashley nodded. “Me and my colleagues have tried intervening but they’ve intimidated the locals so efficiently they’re too scared to make a complaint against them.”
“How many of them are there?” said Rachel.
“Ten.”
“Ten?” said Ryan, arching an eyebrow.
“Michelle and Dominic have a tribe of seven kids plus Michelle’s waster older brother Darren lives with them. They were living in Exeter but they’ve been given a larger house in Newton Abbot to accommodate them all. I bet Exeter breathed a sigh of relief when they finally left. Now they’re causing havoc here and it needs to stop. Darren has already attempted to rape a seventeen year old who lives on the same street.”
Rachel’s eyes turned black with rage. Her daughter was seventeen.
“The poor old sod who lives right next door to them has been admitted to hospital with a mild heart attack after several rows with them over the noise and the mess they leave in their garden,” continued Ashley. “He’ll be discharged in a few days and I fear his next heart attack will be his last and the Wrights aren’t going to change their ways any time soon. It’s a nice, respectable street and the Wrights are ruining it. Already the property prices are falling.”
“We don’t do what we do to protect property prices,” said Ryan.
“No, of course not. I just thought I’d throw that in.”
“How old are the children?” said Rachel.
“The eldest, Jacob, is nineteen. He’s practically feral. Not surprising since he was dragged up by that rough shower but he’s as bad as the grown-ups, if not worse. The next eldest is eighteen year old Danielle who has a worrying fondness for stabbing people. She’s served time in a young offenders institute for GBH. It’s only a matter of time before she’s back in there, she’s not what you’d call stable. The rest are aged sixteen, thirteen, eleven, eight and six. Despite their ages the younger ones are just as bad as their older siblings - fighting, swearing and vandalising whatever they can get their hands on.”
“They sound delightful,” said Ryan. “Rachel, we must invite them over for dinner.”
“I don’t like it when kids are thrown into the equation,” she said. “If we go after the parents and the uncle, even the eldest boy, the others will get involved too no doubt. It’s how groups like that are wired.”
“We’ll just have to make sure we tackle them when the others aren’t around,” said Ryan.
“That will be easier said than done,” she retorted.
Ryan looked to Ashley. “Do the adults work?”
“Michelle takes on cleaning jobs when she can get them. Domi
nic does some landscaping and a bit of building work. The uncle works part time in a local supermarket but by all accounts he’s a lazy sod, so I don’t know for how much longer he’ll have a job.”
“And the kids?”
“Jacob’s at college studying biology, history and mathematics. He’s clever, I’ll give him that. It’s a shame his personality is so erratic. He’s on thin ice with the college board, he’s been hauled in more than once for being overly-aggressive with the staff and fellow pupils. Danielle was released from the young offenders home two months ago and hasn’t bothered to do anything with herself since except hang around the local parks getting drunk and hassling passers-by. The younger children go to school but there’s only the two youngest that go consistently and don’t cause any bother, well, not that much anyway. The others are always in trouble for fighting, stealing or bullying.”
“It’s not their faults,” said Rachel. “It’s the parents.”
“And because they’re a bunch of arseholes,” said Ashley, making Ryan chuckle. Before his daughter had been kidnapped he wouldn’t have dreamed of speaking that way but a belligerence had settled over him since that particular nightmare, making him much less pompous. Ryan thought it only made him likeable.
“Which college does Jacob go to?” he asked Ashley.
“South Devon College.”
“That’s the one Leah goes to,” said Rachel, appalled that her lovely daughter was in the vicinity of the little thug. She looked to her husband, who nodded. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll look into it.”
“That’s all I can ask,” said Ashley, getting to his feet. “I’ll email you their photos and address.”
“Don’t you want to stay for a coffee?” she said.
“No thanks, I’m about to start my shift. Let me know how you get on and if you need anything.”
“We will,” she replied.
Ashley nodded at Ryan, who nodded back.
“So what do you think about the Wrights?” Rachel asked Ryan once Ashley had left.
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