by Drew Black
"Yeah, I know." Jack agreed touching his swollen face. "but that aside, it's still made a massive hole in the budget."
"Fuck the budget. You made a promise, and you'll have to pay up." Peter Craft, the most vociferous member of the tag said prodding his finger in Jack's direction.
"Shut it Pete." Jimbo said turning around again and shoving Pete's head against the transit’s interior panelling.
"Ouch!" Pete said rubbing the side of his head and making the hair there stick out at right angles. Pete took care to move well out of Jimbo's reach before continuing. "That fuckin hurt, you big numb fucker!"
Everyone laughed at this tableau apart from Jack who just eyeballed Peter Craft in silence. "No, Pete's right." he said eventually, "We made a promise to you, not just to the Bear, but to all the tags, and we've already decided to honour it. We'll just have to take the heat from Jessop, that's all, but that's our job. What we must insist on though, is that the scheme ends in another month, maybe even less, but we'll try to keep it going for the full month if we can."
"What, as well as fully paying out for everything we've earned so far, you're going to extend it for another month?" Jimbo asked with a huge grin on his face.
Jack raised a hand, "I said we would keep it going for as long as we could, up to a maximum of another month."
"Well, how will you know?" Peter Craft asked suspiciously.
Jack turned to Craft and paused, "We'll give Jimbo twenty-four hours’ notice, if that's okay with you Pete?"
The men all voiced their approval.
"Anyway, who have the Clarets got tomorrow?" Jack asked changing the subject. Suddenly, the transit rocked wildly, shaking everyone in their seats. "What the fuck was that Sam, a dead body?" Jack asked.
Sam just smiled at Jack in the rear-view mirror and kept on moving the wheel calmly from side to side.
"Arsenal away." Jimbo said.
"Oh shit." Jack said looking upwards.
"No, I reckon we've got a fair chance." Jimbo argued.
"Okay, what odds will you give me then?"
"Arsenal away, and you want fuckin' odds." Jimbo said with a blustering laugh.
"So, you're not prepared to put your money where your mouth is then?"
"I'll have you a straight bet, I can't say fairer than that."
"A fiver then." Jack said holding out his hand.
Jimbo's hand engulfed Jack's "A fiver it is, come to daddy, we'll kick those southern softies’ asses, even if we are playing them in their own back yard."
"Drop me at the corner Sam, I fancy a bit of fresh air." Jack said.
"Right you are boss."
“Thanks for looking out for me during the last few weeks lads." Jack said as the transit came to a halt.
Sam jumped out to open the back door.
"I'm off to see the missus, I haven't seen her in almost two months." Jack said with a smile. This brought a few whistles and catcalls from the men.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you Jack." Peter Craft shouted as Jack got out of the van. "Jane sends her regards."
"Oh, right Pete, did you see her at ‘Help the Aged’ because that's where she works."
"Yeah, I did young'un, and tell her from me that she gives one amazing fucking bed bath."
This brought more cheering,
"Get out of here." Jack said banging the side of the van.
6
Back at the bedsit Tom was already home. "Ay-ah buddy how are you doing?" he asked slapping Jack on the back.
"Oh, please Tom don't, I ache from head to toe."
"What, have you lot had another battle?" Tom asked with a mixture of caution and excitement.
"Nah, a few scuffles, but nothing heavy. It's sitting in the back of those transits, all day, that does me in."
"Yeah, they're a bit basic." Tom agreed.
"Basic doesn't cover it." Jack said removing his shirt, "I'm going to soak in the bath, please tell me you've put the hot water on."
"I'll stick it on straight away." Tom said hurriedly getting to his feet.
"Aw fuckin' hell Tom, not again, I want to get home tonight, if that's okay with you. You know sometimes you really get on my tits."
"Keep your ginger hair on big man, it's been on over an hour, I'm just winding you up, that's all." Tom smiled.
"You bastard, I'll get you back for that." Jack sighed entering the bathroom. As he opened the door a toilet roll fell on his head. In spite of his tiredness, he couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Tom had caught him out for the umpteenth time with that stupid trick of his. He ran himself a bath.
"How do you reckon we've done then hotshot?" Tom asked as Jack towelled his hair in front of the fire."
"It's hard to say for sure until I get chance to sit down and go through it all, but my gut feeling is that we're there or thereabouts. There'll be some losses, and then there's those where we backed down."
"We didn't back down." Tom said sounding annoyed.
Jack stopped drying his hair and looked up at him Tom "You know what I mean. Let's phrase it like this then; the ones where we struggled to get the full increase, and don't forget most of those were the bigger players. That's why it's imperative we get some kind of extension from Jessop. Maybe another month's being too optimistic, I don't think he's got that kind of time, but all the marks are scared shitless at the moment, plus all the tags are up for it. It'll be like picking cherries off a tree over the next few weeks. The last thing we need is the Seedmore Park crew coming in and cleaning up."
Jack walked into the kitchen and took two of the four remaining four beers from the fridge. Then on second thoughts he went back and got the other two as well.
"Cheers mate." Tom said relieving Jack of a couple of the cans, "Do you think Jessop will sell it?" Tom asked snapping open a can.
"What the rat run?"
Tom nodded before reaching for his pack of cigarettes.
"If I was him, I would." Jack said before taking a gulp of his beer.
"I didn't ask that. I know you'd sell it; you'd sell the whole shebang if it was up to you."
"Now, now Tom. You can't say that I haven't put my nuts on the line over this last two months."
Tom's expression conceded that Jack had in fact done just that, and probably a bit more besides if the truth was told.
"Throw us a cigarette." Jack said.
"I thought you weren't going to smoke anymore once the job was finished?" Tom asked sounding more than a little concerned. "The last thing I need when we get back is Helen and Jane on my case for getting you hooked on tobacco."
"well, for one the job isn't finished."
"You know damn well what I mean."
"Besides, after what we've been through over the last couple of months, you can honestly say that you're bothered about Helen and Jane finding out that I've started smoking?"
Tom just gave Jack a sheepish look and threw him the pack of cigarettes.
Jack took one out and lit it. He took a deep drag on it inhaling the smoke deep into his lungs before exhaling it slowly. "I was telling Peter Craft how I hadn't seen Jane for nearly two months, and he made some crack about seeing her, and she sent her regards."
"I don't trust that fucker." Tom said taking a slug of beer, "Anyway, what do you think about Jessop?"
Jack looked at Tom blankly.
"Do you think he'll sell it or not?"
"No, not a chance, he'd rather cut off his own dick, given the choice."
"I'm not so sure." Tom said crushing his empty can and belching loudly.
Jack took another slug of his beer.
7
Tom closed the door and embraced his wife. He grew hard immediately, she smelled lovely and clean. He felt her breasts push against his chest, but he also felt something else as well, slight resistance. He pulled her away from him. "Helen, what's wrong?" he asked her, holding her by the shoulders.
Her eyes began to moisten.
"Helen, please tell me what's wrong?" he repeated, now startin
g to feel alarmed.
"Please tell me that it's not true." Helen said as the tears began to flow. “You and Jack are not involved with those Burnley Boys." Helen was beginning to shake, and Tom held her to him. He had a split second to decide. All the times he'd rehearsed this moment, the excuses he'd invented, how he'd just shrug it off as hearsay, but now that the time had actually arrived, he simply said; "Yes, it's true Helen." She cried into his shoulder.
Jack experienced a similar conversation that evening, and he too admitted it openly, but although Jane was a little shocked at first, she had to admit she found the whole thing quite exhilarating, which only served to make it all the more frustrating when Jack refused to answer any of her questions about it.
"Listen Jane, I won't tell you again, you could be killed for what you know already. I can't stress to you enough the importance of keeping absolutely silent about all of this." Jack rubbed his eyes and reached for his cigarettes. "I don't mean to be harsh with you Jane, but it's for your own good. The less you know about the syndicate the better."
Jane decided to leave it for the time being, but who would have thought that her sweet Jack was involved with gangsters? She would never have guessed it in a million years. Moreover, she'd swallowed the Europe trip thing hook, line and sinker. What had Jack and Tom really been doing over the last couple of months she wondered. And John Jessop had to be involved in it, it was just too much of a coincidence that they both worked for him.
Jane couldn't remember the last time she'd enjoyed their lovemaking as much as she did that night, she had multiple orgasms, but as she lay awake next to her comatose partner, her mind refused to rest.
Tom glanced over at Helen as he lay in bed. Finally, she had gone to sleep. God, what a night it had been, part of him wished he was still back at the flat with Jack. He wondered how he'd got on with Jane. He smiled although none of this was the least bit funny, but he could just imagine his sister reading Jack the riot act. He wasn't sure how Jack would react to that, but if he was honest, he wasn't sure of anything anymore. He let out a sigh and looked over at Helen again. She was undoubtedly a good-looking woman. He could see the curve of one breast through her nightshirt. God he was horny. What a fuckin' night.
His thoughts turned to the blonde waitress at Ray's, she was a cute little thing. He wouldn't mind fucking her, that was for sure. He reached beneath the covers and started to touch himself. When he was fully erect, He began masturbating; first slowly, but then with increasing speed. In no time at all his whole body was shuddering as he ejaculated intensely. He let out a deep and audible sigh. He breathed deeply and looked over at his wife, to check he hadn't woken her, but he needn't've worried because she was snoring softly. He got up. Yuk, his pyjama bottoms were a right mess, but the stress he'd been feeling had subsided somewhat. He went to the bathroom and cleaned himself up.
8
Tom and Jack sat in Jessop's office. Jack idly tapped a fingernail on Jessop's desktop. Tom just gazed out of the office's black leaded windows.
"Right gentlemen, what's so urgent that it couldn't wait until Monday morning then? You'll have to make it quick mind, I'm due at a luncheon in just over an hour." Jessop said glancing at his grandfather clock as he passed them and took his seat.
"It's Chris Benson." Tom said.
"What about him." Jessop said a little impatiently.
"He's been telling people that Jack and I are part of The Burnley Boys."
"What people?" Jessop asked shaking his head.
"Jack's brother for starters. Both our girls knew when we returned from our road trip."
"How do you know for sure that it was Chris?"
"We've been to his house this morning, and he's admitted it. He said he'd had too much to drink one night whilst we were away and just let it slip. He swears he hasn't told anyone else, and in fairness he seems really gutted." Tom felt a bit like a schoolboy snitching on a classmate.
Jessop looked at Tom and said nothing, but Tom resisted the urge to continue talking. This was a serious matter, and the last thing he wanted to do was get himself and Jack, not to mention the girls implicated in it.
"Do you think he’s telling the truth and it is an is isolated incident?" Jessop asked Tom drumming his fingers slowly.
"I'm probably not the best person to comment John, me and Chris have never really seen eye to eye.”
Jessop banged his hand down on his desk with such force that both Tom and Jack visibly flinched. "I didn't ask you whether you were fuckin' bosom buddies or not, I asked you whether you thought his actions were a one off."
Tom shook his head.
"What about you Jack?"
"I'm not sure, I don't know him as well as you and Tom do, but I just think if you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar the first time you try to steal a biscuit, your either stupid or damned unlucky."
Jessop nodded, "Shit, this is just about the last thing we need right now, what with Briggs and everything."
"How are we doing with Briggs?" Jack asked.
"I can string him out another two weeks tops, and then it's bonfire night come early. What were you saying when you arrived Jack about the tags needing more time? I'm absolutely delighted with the early results by the way. As you know, Gerald's been running the figures for us and you've done a fantastic job, both of you. There'll be a five-grand bonus for each of you in this month's pay packet.
Tom and Jack looked at one another. Five-grand just like that, Tom thought. No shit, that was more than two year's salary to most people. Surely to God, Helen wouldn't turn her nose up at that.
"What are you thinking?" Jack asked his boss on noticing he seemed deep in thought.
"I can't afford to lose Benson. I know, strictly speaking, he should go, but now is just about the worst possible time."
"Get Gerald to run the factory." Jack said.
Jessop pinched his top lip with his forefinger and thumb. "Gerald's helping here though, and besides which he's doing that as a favour, I don't want to take advantage of him."
Jack shrugged his shoulders; "Well, I can manage here again, especially now that we've got Matt on board."
Jessop didn't reply, the clock ticked away in the corner. "No," he said finally, "I've known Chris a long time, he's been a loyal servant, we have to find out what it is that's eating him. In the meantime, organise a beating Tom, and make sure he's under no illusions that if he fucks up again, it's game over."
Tom nodded; "Yes boss."
Jack hesitated and then said, "I think you're making a mistake John."
"Tom stiffened in his chair, What the fuck was Jack playing at, he thought. No one questioned Jessop's opinion, not over anything as serious as this, anyway."
Jessop raised his eyebrows; "Maybe, maybe not Jack, only time will tell. But whilst we're talking candidly if that toss-pot of a brother of yours wasn't your brother he'd be in deep shit right now, but I'm sure I can trust you to sort him out. The next time he hears something about us, he tells you, not your fuckin' sister. Is that understood?"
Jack nodded.
Right gentlemen enjoy the rest of your weekend, and well done again, I really mean it. Cheesman's been running around like a headless chicken, but I think it could've gone a lot worse. As I've said before, if we're all honest with one another, we've been playing at this protection, sorry security racket for far too long, and Briggs knows it, it's about time we got serious and started making some real money out of it.
"As you're aware, I've arranged for every syndicate member, yourselves included, to undergo basic military training here on the estate. You should've seen old Clive Starter the other day bless him. How he didn't rupture something getting around that assault course, I'll never know. But joking aside boys, Briggs can come up here with the light fuckin' infantry, as far as I'm concerned, but I think The Boys are more than a match for Seedmore Park. I think he's in for the shock of his life when we kick his lads' lily-white asses all the way back to Salford."
"Yes bo
ss." Jack and Tom agreed. Jack just hoped that Jessop was right.
9
Tom threw his jacket onto the back seat of his car in order to cover Sally's old rounders bat. This was the moment he'd dreamt of. His chance to get even with that smarmy bastard Benson. However, now that his chance had arrived, he felt far from ecstatic. In fact, he felt downright nervous about the whole situation. He'd have to get him away from the house. He'd tell him ... Oh fuck it, he'd tell him anything.
Tom got out of his car and closed the door. A little old lady passed by, walking a Yorkshire terrier, she gave him a warm smile and Tom returned it, a little falsely he thought. His heart rate quickened, he took a deep breath, the sun beat down on him as he rounded the corner and approached Chris Benson's driveway doing his utmost not to be spotted from the lounge window.
Benson's car wasn't there. Oh shit, he thought, Jessop wouldn't be happy if they'd scared him off by calling by earlier. Rather than knocking on the door Tom went around the back - nothing. Maybe they'd just gone out he thought hopefully but knew that was just wishful thinking. A fact that was confirmed to him when a neighbour caught him spying through the back window. "They're not in young man." a voice said from behind him. Tom removed his hands from the side of his face and moved away from the glass. The neighbour was eyeing him suspiciously.
"You wouldn't happen to know when Chris is due back would you, I need to speak to him quite urgently."
At the mention of Benson's name, the neighbour relaxed a little. "I'm not sure," the old man shrugged, "he said they'd be gone for a couple of weeks, but by the amount of stuff he crammed in that car of his, it looked more like he'd be gone for a few months."
Tom nodded, "Thanks." he said as he headed back up the side of the house.
"Oh, young man, sir?"
If he calls me young man one more time, Tom thought, I swear, I'll swing for him, old-timer or not. "Yes," Tom said stopping and turning around trying hard to conceal the annoyance in his voice.
"When I next see him, who should I say was looking for him?"
"Franklin, Bill Franklin."