The door they’d just emerged through opened and Raven appeared.
“What did you do to them?” said Mark.
“Nothing. I pulled the helpless female act, told them I was lost and they fell for it. They didn’t see you.”
“Nice one,” he smiled, thinking how hot she was.
Raven, Mark, Bruiser and Shane jumped into the back of the van, Ryan and Jez closing the doors behind them and hopping into the cab. Damon emerged from around the side of the building, his hair all over the place and tie askew. He yanked open the passenger door.
“Come on, budge up,” he told Jez.
“What happened to you?” said Jez as he shifted up the bench seat, making room for his bulk.
“That Janine’s a proper little raver,” he grinned. “I was giving her my best spiel and she leapt across the desk and kissed me. I guess women like being told how amazing they are in bed.”
“No, really?” he said sarcastically.
“Really. Everything go okay?”
“Like clockwork,” replied Ryan as they joined the main road, slipping into the stream of traffic.
“Nice one. Now comes the good bit,” he said with an eager grin.
CHAPTER 44
Mark, Shane and Raven sat in uncomfortable silence in the back of the van. Bruiser was having to restrain himself from slaughtering the unconscious Clayton on the floor of the vehicle. The atmosphere in that confined space was becoming claustrophobic as hatred filled it, smothering them all and they were all prepared to spring should Bruiser try to finish their prisoner off before they were done with him.
“Easy Bruiser,” said Mark when he pulled a knife.
Bruiser glared at him, gaze hellish and for the first time in his life Mark thought here might be a fight he could well lose. Fortunately that theory wasn’t put to the test because Bruiser replaced the knife in his belt, clasping his huge hands together to keep the rage contained.
It was a relief when the van rolled to a halt and the back doors opened. Rachel was there to greet them at the deserted outbuilding they’d discovered in a quiet, run-down part of the city. They wouldn’t need it for long.
“Well?” she anxiously asked her husband as he climbed out of the cab.
“We’ve got him. No problems.”
She sagged with relief, the tension returning to her body as Shane and Mark hauled Clayton out of the van, dumping him on the hard concrete floor. The movement jolted him awake. He tried to speak but he was still gagged. At a nod from Jez, Mark ripped the tape from his mouth.
“What the fuck’s going on?” groaned Clayton , his eyes black and nose swollen from Raven’s headbutt. He peered up at the faces gazing down at him but they were blurred, distorted. “Who are you?”
“The family you tried to slaughter,” said Ryan.
His vision snapped into focus. “Oh shit,” he said, trying to leap to his feet.
Bruiser planted his foot on his chest, keeping him pinned to the floor.
“It’s time to answer for your crimes Clayton,” said Jez. They’d all agreed that he would do the talking, making it clear who was in charge here.
“It wasn’t me, it was that bitch Katia and her husband. They want you dead.”
“And you were nothing to do with it I suppose?”
“No, nothing. She came here trying to get me in on her harebrained scheme but I said no. I don’t want any trouble.”
Jez’s chuckle was humourless and Clayton found it rather chilling.
“If that’s true then why were the men who planted the bombs at the barn scousers?”
“I don’t know, I can’t vouch for everyone in the city.”
“And why were you seen meeting with Katia and Hayden yesterday?”
Clayton went silent, eyes tick-tocking from side to side as he frantically tried to think his way out of this one. He could talk anyone into believing anything, he’d been blessed with the gift of the gab from the moment he could talk and he prayed it didn’t let him down now. “They came back to tell me how wrong their plan had gone and asked me for help but I told them to get stuffed.”
“That really is pathetic Clayton,” said Jez. “At least be a man and own up to what you’ve done.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“It doesn’t matter what you say, judgement’s already been passed. You’re going to die right here, right now. How slowly and painfully depends on what you tell us.”
“Like what?”
“Where Katia and Hayden are hiding out.” He paused to glance at Ryan. “And where Estelle is.”
“Estelle?” he said innocently.
Jez nodded at Bruiser, who whacked Clayton across the face with the back of his hand, knocking him off his feet.
He lay on the floor, stunned, wondering how he could have been felled so easily by a slap. Clayton wasn’t a stranger to a fight but he’d never experienced a blow like that. He dreaded to think what it would be like to be hit by those fists.
“Estelle,” said Jez. “You know, our fucking mum. What rock is the dirty, evil slag hiding under?”
“Fine,” sighed Clayton once he’d recovered the power of speech. “No way am I suffering for that set of bastards. I’ll tell you on one condition.”
“You’re in no position to make conditions.”
“Then you don’t get the address. I don’t give a shit what you do to me.”
Jez knew Clayton was a man with a reputation for toughness so he nodded. “Alright, what is it?”
“You leave my brother alone. Without me he’s nothing anyway, he’s no threat to you.”
“Okay Clayton, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
“Estelle is hiding in a flat I own.” He rhymed off the address, followed by the address of the house Katia and Hayden were using.
“There, wasn’t so hard, was it?” Jez looked to Rachel. “You’re up Rach.”
As Rachel stepped forward Clayton dragged himself to his feet and laughed. “Her? You seriously think she can kill me?”
“I’m not going to kill you,” said Rachel. “That will be Bruiser’s pleasure but Battler was like a dad to me and I want some payback.”
Rachel Law’s reputation was solid throughout the country but even this didn’t convince him she was capable of taking him on. If he was going to die here and now he was taking one of the bastards with him and she would be just the ticket. “Go on then sweetheart,” he said with a macabre grin. “Do your worst.”
“Make no mistake, I will,” she said.
Clayton gaped at the darkness gathering in her eyes, retaining his wits long enough to dodge the punch to his face. He moved to block and met nothing but air, this move having been a feint to put him off guard and the blow to the kidneys sent him to the floor.
“Okay, lucky punch,” he grimaced, getting back to his feet but no sooner was he upright than he was crashing backwards from his second headbutt of the day.
Damon’s deep chuckle ran around the room.
Raven regarded him with a raised eyebrow at the rustle of a plastic bag. “Did you actually bring popcorn?”
“I like a bit of popcorn with a show,” he said before turning back to the entertainment.
Unable to restrain himself any longer Bruiser leapt into the fray, smashing his fist into Clayton’s face, knocking him sideways. He was only kept on his feet by the punch Rachel delivered to the opposite side of his face.
Everyone looked on in stony silence, all except for Damon, who was thoroughly enjoying himself as Rachel and Bruiser between them hammered Clayton into a bloody pulp, his body thrown from side to side like a rag doll’s. Despite his earlier boast he hadn’t managed to land a single punch, not even on Rachel.
Shane hopped into the fray and drove his fist into his gut. “That’s for Grant too you fucking wanker,” he yelled before spitting on him.
Spent, Clayton slumped to the floor, breath rattling in his chest, unable to see properly as both eyes had practically swollen shut, blood tric
kling into them from the numerous lacerations to his scalp. His submissive posture indicated he just wanted them to finish it once and for all.
Rachel didn’t want to stop, she was still brimming over with grief and rage but the look in Ryan’s eye stayed her. Despite the physical damage she’d caused many people over the years she’d never actually killed anyone and Ryan didn’t want her to. He understood what taking someone’s life did to a person, understood how the guilt would eat away at her. So she lowered her fists and stepped back.
“By the way Clayton,” said Jez, kneeling before him. “What I said about leaving your brother alone, I lied.”
He managed to raise his head and release an agonised groan.
Jez straightened up and took a step back as Bruiser wrapped his hands around Clayton’s neck and squeezed, his eyes wide and ablaze with rage. Clayton’s body twitched, a gurgle sounding in the back of his throat but he didn’t fight. He was just relieved it was over.
When he was dead Bruiser threw his body aside as though it were a doll, shoulders shuddering with the rage that Clayton’s death had failed to exorcise. They all regarded him warily, except for Rachel, who flung her arms around him.
The danger fled from his eyes as he clung onto her. She gazed up at him adoringly, his smile gentle as he gazed back at her and patted her face.
“One down, two to go,” she said.
He nodded, giving her another hug before releasing her, once again calm.
“Mark, Shane, get that pile of shit out of here,” said Jez, indicating Clayton’s body. “We need to pay the Slovakian slapper a visit.”
“Something’s wrong, I feel it,” said Katia, pacing the floor of the living room of the huge farmhouse they were staying in on the edge of the city. Contrary to what Clayton had told Jez the building was a vast compound and was heavily guarded by his own men as well as Katia’s.
“I’ll try my brother again,” said Luke, taking out his phone and dialling. “No answer,” he said before hanging up.
“What if the Laws and Maguires have him?” she said, feeling real fear for the first time since she’d got into this business.
“How? He’s got his bodyguards with him and no way could they snatch him from the office block, there’s too many people.”
“You don’t know that family, they are so sneaky. They lured Alex into a trap.” She stopped and shuddered. “At a farmhouse.” She glanced Mick’s way, whose hand clasped the charms hanging from his neck, murmuring softly to himself. “What are you saying?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” he replied, releasing the charms.
“Your were praying, weren’t you? You coward.” She felt her fight returning. She was so close to finally having everything she’d ever dreamed of and she refused to back down now. “We don’t need God to help us now, we help ourselves. I hope they try attacking us here because they will die.”
“They can’t sneak up on us,” said Hayden, indicating the flat landscape, the fields rolling out around them. “We’ll see them coming a mile off and shoot them down before they get anywhere near.”
“Yes, there is that,” she said. “We are safe.”
Katia glanced at Daniel playing in the corner and little Krystina asleep in her cot. Only Alex seemed alert to the danger they were in, his dark eyes calmly watching her.
For them she would win. She had to.
“Can you see anything?” Ryan asked Raven. Rachel, Jez, Damon and Mark were beside him. They’d left the van in some woodland and trudged through a field so they could view the farmhouse from the front. The land surrounding the house might have been flat but the grass was long, concealing them. Plus they were enough of a distance away that they’d only be spotted through binoculars.
“Yes, lots of movement,” she said, peering through the binoculars. “Clayton lied, it’s a huge building and it’s heavily defended. Four armed guards out front. If they’ve any sense they’ll have long range rifles to fend off an attack, which they’ll easily see coming.”
Ryan called Bruiser, who had gone around the back of the house with Shane to scope it out. They reported the same thing.
“Do you have anything in your bag of tricks that could help us?” Rachel asked her. “Something that could cause a distraction out front so we can sneak in the back?”
“Good idea,” said Ryan. “Draw the majority of the fire away from us.”
“I do. I could probably take a few of them out too, I’ve got my sniper rifle with me.”
“Perfect. Damon, are you a sharp shooter too?”
“Not really,” he replied. “I’m more up front, in-your-face violence. I prefer a hatchet or a knife to a gun.”
“Good. We could use some of that. Mark however is an excellent sniper. I’d like you to work with him Raven.”
“Fine by me,” she replied.
Mark tried not to smile, pleased to be working so closely with the hot bounty hunter.
“Have you got something loud we could use?” Rachel asked her. “Something that will put the wind right up them?”
“How about this?” said Raven, calmly producing a gas canister. “It will knock out anyone who inhales it for a good ten minutes. Plus I find gas always causes panic.”
“But we have to be close enough to throw it,” said Ryan.
“That is the downside.”
“Okay,” said Jez. “Full frontal assault at the front of the house. Raven and Mark, take out as many as you can with the rifles so me, Damon and Shane can charge in there. Ryan, Rachel and Bruiser will sneak in through the back while they’re all distracted.”
“They could anticipate a move like that,” said Raven.
“Hayden probably will but it’s all we’ve got,” said Ryan.
Jez relayed their idea to the others, who agreed. Ten minutes later Ryan, Rachel and Bruiser were crouched in the field behind the farmhouse while the others gathered at the front. The grass was rather overgrown, providing some cover.
“How will we know when they’re ready?” said Rachel.
“We’ll know,” replied Ryan, gazed fixed on the house.
Raven and Mark lay side by side together in the field, gazing down the sniper scopes attached to their rifles. If the situation hadn’t been so dire Mark would have enjoyed lying in the grass with her. She’d impressed him and he was considering asking her out on a date when this was done.
“Ready?” he said.
“Ready.”
He smiled at the steel in her voice. He knew he could trust her not to miss.
“On three,” he said before counting down.
They fired in unison, both their targets falling with a spray of blood. The other two men on guard duty made the mistake of freezing, staring down at their fallen comrades before joining them on the ground seconds later, neat holes in their heads.
The four primary targets eliminated, Mark and Raven fired randomly at the house, sending bullets flying through the windows, the screams drifting towards them on the still air.
CHAPTER 45
Hayden saw two of the guards outside the house go down and he threw himself at Katia, knocking her to the floor as a hail of bullets streamed into the room.
“Get the children and take them down to the basement,” he told her, taking her hands. “It will take you into the garage. You can escape from there.”
“I’m not going without you.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” he said, drawing his own gun and cocking it. “Promise.”
“You’d better.”
He kissed her. “Go and keep down.”
She nodded and belly-crawled out of the room towards her children.
Hayden looked to Mick and Luke and nodded. “You two with me to the back of the house.”
“But…,” began Mick, gesturing to the front.
“They’re trying to divide our forces. While we’re running around out there they sneak up behind us.”
He nodded and drew his weapon.
“You don’t giv
e me orders,” said Luke. “I don’t work for you.”
“Fine,” said Hayden. “Stay here and get shot.”
They all ducked when another hail of bullets slammed into the room.
“Coming,” called Luke, hurrying after them.
“Let’s move,” said Ryan.
Both he and Bruiser positioned themselves so Rachel was behind them, making her roll her eyes but she knew arguing with them would fruitless as well as a waste of time. So she didn’t comment on their overprotective behaviour and followed them towards the wall that ran around the rear of the house.
Hayden and Luke peered through the kitchen window into the back garden but they could see no one.
Mick fingered the charms around his neck, feeling doomed. He’d known this was going to happen but he’d failed to make his move and now he would be slaughtered with the rest of them. Unless he could do something to aid their enemies, then they might spare his life. If they were going to attack from this side of the house they would be sitting ducks coming over that wall. They hadn’t survived so long by making stupid moves like that but the only other way in was through the gate and they would be shot down before they’d got through it. What could he do to assist them?
“Mick?” said Hayden.
“What?” he replied, releasing the charms.
“You were lost in your own world then. I need you sharp.”
He nodded. “I am.”
“Good. One lapse could be fatal.”
Inspiration struck. “I saw movement.”
“Where?” said Hayden.
“There,” he replied, pointing to the far end of the wall furthest from the kitchen window.
“You sure?” said Hayden, peering outside.
“Yeah, sure. They must be trying to scale the wall.”
“They wouldn’t be so stupid, surely?” said Luke.
“How else are they going to get in?” said Hayden. “They walk through that gate and they’re dead.”
“How did they find us anyway?” said Mick.
“Someone obviously told them,” replied Luke.
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