The Choice

by KERRY BARNES

He didn’t have to ask. Willie lunged forward; with his hands around the man’s throat, he growled, ‘You ordered my boy to be burned in an incinerator.’

  Colin felt his bowels move. He had no control now of his bodily functions, as terror struck him like a thunderbolt. The eyes of an enraged man burned into him, and he knew that he was about to experience hell on earth.

  * * *

  Mike took Raff outside the room to talk to him alone in the kitchen. He’d noticed the look of disgust on the man’s face when Willie had mentioned that his son was to be burned in a furnace, and Mike was doubly sure that Raff was sickened by it. ‘I knew you, Raff, years ago, and you were always a straight-up geezer. Did you know about this business with Lucas and Liam?’

  Raff certainly wasn’t going to lie. ‘Yeah, but I swear I had no idea it was Willie’s boy or that …’ – he looked behind him – ‘that cunt would kill the kid. Now, I know you, Mike, and I ain’t gonna lie, but for old times’ sake, don’t torture me.’

  Mike looked him up and down. ‘Why d’ya work for him?’

  ‘He pays well – more than any other firm – but he’s a nasty bastard an’ all. If it weren’t for the money, I would’ve killed him meself by now. He got lucky years back from a bank job.’ He huffed. ‘The man didn’t even do the job himself. He had ol’ McMasters killed and robbed the money from him. I only know because he trusts me, but I have very little respect for the man.’

  ‘What do you know about Mack getting smashed up over a title deed to Nicolas’s house?’

  Raff inclined his head and appeared totally bewildered. ‘What? Ya mean Mack, my ol’ pal?’

  Mike shrugged his shoulders. ‘Were you mates, then?’

  ‘Yeah, we ’ave been for a long time. Who bashed him up?’

  Mike nodded his head towards the lounge. ‘Your fucking boss had Mack beaten near to death.’

  Raff let out a heavy sigh, in defeat. ‘Look, I never knew about that, not that you’ll probably believe me. I know why Colin didn’t get me to do it. It’s because he knew full well I wouldn’t. I made it clear from the get-go that I wouldn’t get involved in family matters. That ain’t my way.’

  A smirk crept across Mike’s face. ‘But ya helped him as far as his grandson was concerned, didn’t ya?’

  ‘And believe me, Mike, I wish I never had.’ He paused and looked Mike squarely in the eyes. ‘As I said, for old times’ sake, will you give me a clean shot?’

  Mike shook his head. ‘Nah, I ain’t gonna kill ya, mate. I want you to work for me. Starting today, I wanna know everything about his businesses before we clean the fucker out.’

  Raff suddenly looked up, and his angular face beamed. ‘Shit me, you really mean that, don’t ya?’

  Mike grinned. ‘Yeah, I want everything that fucker owns. He’s gonna pay for what he did. Now, do you know where this Dr Bourne lives?’

  Raff nodded. ‘Of course. He lives in Spain and over here. I can even get him on the blower … Listen, Mike, I’m really sorry, mate. It’s gonna be in the back of my mind that you may do away with me, and I can live with that, but, I swear, I’ll show you that you can trust me. In fact, I’ll get a lot of satisfaction from seeing Crawford’s business stripped from him.’

  Mike grinned. ‘It’s a shame he won’t, not when Willie’s finished with him.’

  ‘Where’s the boy?’

  Mike pointed upstairs. ‘He’s tied up for the minute.’

  ‘They should’ve thrown the baby away and kept the afterbirth with that one. He’s one ’orrible bastard, he is. Can I ask, is Liam okay?’

  Mike nodded. ‘Yeah, he is now. He’s a real diamond, that kid. Ugly as fuck but he has a heart o’ gold.’

  Raff chuckled. ‘Like his father, then?’

  A scream had Mike tearing back into the lounge. He knew Willie wouldn’t have the patience to hold off hurting Crawford for long.

  * * *

  As soon as Mike clapped eyes on Willie, he shook his head. The diver’s knife was out, and Willie was carving up the man’s face.

  ‘Hold up!’ he hollered and then looked at Zara questioningly.

  She shook her head and rolled her eyes. ‘I couldn’t stop him.’

  Shelley suddenly cried out, ‘Look, please don’t hurt me. I swear, I won’t say a word.’ She shot her father a filthy look. ‘I don’t care what you do to him. Just let me and Lucas go.’

  Zara stared at the woman’s terrified expression – her bruised face and pleading eyes – and had a thought. She leaned into Shelley’s ear and whispered, ‘He was a right bastard to you, wasn’t he?’

  Shelley nodded furiously as she bit her bottom lip.

  ‘So, what if we take a little chunk of his business and have it signed over to you, seeing that it should really go to you?’

  Shelley’s eyes widened and the thought of a Spanish dream home flashed through her mind. If her father wouldn’t give her what was rightfully hers – in her eyes at least – then she wouldn’t care how she got it. Looking over at her father for one last time, she saw the weasel for who he truly was.

  ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘Write a confession that you killed ya father and buried him in the back garden.’

  ‘What? No way! Why would I do that? I ain’t going to prison!’ She lowered her tone when she saw the angry expression on Zara’s face. ‘Oh, come on. My liberty means more than a fucking poxy villa in Spain.’

  ‘You have misunderstood me, Shelley. I want a confession, because if you ever double-cross me or my men, then I will have you behind bars. It’s just a guarantee, and a gesture of good faith, that’s all.’

  Shelley nodded. ‘Oh, right, so you ain’t gonna make me kill him, then?’

  Zara realized that she was dealing with a complete fuckwit. ‘No, I just want you to write a confession. You don’t need to worry about anything else. You are gonna stay with Nicolas until I have all the paperwork in place and a portion of his business in your name. Then, you are free to go off and sun yaself in Spain.’

  Shelley had a stupid urge to try and call the shots. ‘So, what if I say no?’

  Zara held her gun and poked Shelley under her nose. ‘Don’t be a silly woman. Any more talk like that and I won’t have any reason to trust you. I hope you understand exactly what I’m saying to you?’

  Shelley nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, okay, then.’

  ‘Good. Now, Staffie’s gonna take you to Nicolas’s place, and I’ll have that confession drawn up, just so we have a clear understanding. And you make sure your son keeps his mouth shut because I can sure as hell have him chopped up into quarters.’ She looked at Willie and raised her chin. ‘And we both know that wouldn’t be pretty, would it?’

  Shelley felt her stomach churn and quickly nodded. ‘You have my word.’

  Staffie began untying Shelley. ‘No nonsense, right? You get your boy in my car. I don’t wanna have to hurt him.’

  ‘You won’t have to. I’ll sort him out.’

  Zara looked down at Gerry, who had wet himself. She swiftly kicked him in the head, knocking him out cold. ‘This fucker, you might as well dispose of, ’cos he’s wasting oxygen as far as I’m concerned.’

  ‘Okay, Boss,’ replied Mike, as he winked.

  She wondered if he was being serious or sarcastic, but then her eyes caught the sparkle of her ring. Somehow, it didn’t matter anymore.

  Chapter 21

  Two weeks later

  Zara sat at her father’s desk and smirked at Michael Glover. The middle-aged man with thin, pointy features squirmed in his chair. When he had originally entered her house, he looked a confident, smug character with an air of superiority. That was until he realized that Zara was a very ingenious and dangerous woman. She had done her homework on him and Colin’s businesses and had put it to him very bluntly that if he didn’t work with her then he would be working against her and he really wouldn’t like the latter. No one with that amount of money and so many businesses gained through illicit means would
engage a straight lawyer. It really didn’t take long to discover that Glover was as bent as a nine-bob note and she could prove it. And she had two strings to her bow because the company Glover and Glover was a joint business. Michael was the legal head, and Roger Glover was Colin’s accountant.

  To Zara it was like taking candy from a baby.

  ‘I’ll have all the company’s assets assigned over to you by noon tomorrow,’ he said, as he swallowed hard.

  Zara grinned from ear-to-ear. ‘And you do know that if you have any ideas of running to the police, I’ll make sure your name is connected to every dodgy dealing, including the import of the drug that is out there killing kids, don’t ya?’ She gave him a sarcastic smile. ‘And we have a witness, Mack Marwood, who will testify that you were present when he was being tortured to sign over the house deeds.’

  Michael raised his brow but remained white-faced.

  ‘Oh yeah. I’ll make absolutely sure that your implication in all this will stick like shit to a blanket. Are we clear?’

  Without taking his eyes away from her, he nodded. ‘Crystal.’

  As he got up to leave, his legs still like jelly, he turned to face her. ‘Hmm … You will need a good solicitor to work the business, won’t you?’

  Zara laughed. ‘And, Michael Glover, do you know of any?’

  His attempt at securing work fell flat on its face, and he left with his head hanging low in utter defeat. But at least he could leave with his reputation intact. He still had his company and more importantly his life. He was no fool and had learned a lot from working with Colin. There really was only one lesson: never mess with these kinds of people.

  He passed Raff on the way out but didn’t dare say a word. Raff had obviously defected to the other side, and he wasn’t a man he would upset intentionally in any case.

  * * *

  As Raff joined Zara, he laughed. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen that man without his nose in the air. It’s made my day.’

  Zara smiled. ‘Well, you did all the work. Without your help, I may not have had enough on him to ensure he kept his mouth shut and cooperated. Anyway, you were saying on the phone that Colin’s secretary is asking questions.’

  Raff nodded. ‘Yeah, he had a bit of a thing going with her, and now she’s angry because, obviously, he ain’t answering her calls. I told her he’s out of the country and hinted that he has another bird, but I’m not sure how long we can stall her. The lads are getting nosey as well. Ya see, Zara, Colin would always have someone with him and it would normally be me, so with me in and out of the office, they’re getting suspicious.’

  Dressed in a thick cable-knit jumper and her hair tied back, she looked more like a country toff than a businesswoman, yet he knew looks could be deceiving. He watched as she drummed her fingers on the desk, seemingly staring off into nothing.

  ‘Do you think you could easily approach Colin’s secretary and feed her false information?’

  With a glint in his eye and a cheeky smile, Raff nodded.

  ‘Good. Raff, do you know what Colin calls his secretary? I mean, like a nickname?’

  Raff grinned. He guessed where she was going with this. ‘Yeah, funnily enough, I do. He calls her Flossie.’

  ‘Good. And I say that because I want her to believe that he’s fine and he’s selling on his business of his own accord. I need his computer, his hard drives, and everything else that contains information about his company.’

  ‘How’s the old bastard faring?’

  Zara smiled. ‘He gets three meals a day, clean clothes, and a gentle nudge from Willie every so often. You know, when his fingers won’t grip the pen to sign the papers.’

  ‘Knowing Willie, I’m surprised the fucker’s still alive.’ Raff laughed.

  ‘No, Mike keeps him under control. He won’t let him go too far. Although, one look from Willie down in the basement is enough to have anyone signing their soul to the Devil,’ replied Zara.

  ‘Are you gonna take everything?’ Raff asked, eagerly.

  ‘Don’t worry, Raff, you’ll get your fair share.’

  ‘No, I wasn’t asking for my own interest. I just think people will ask questions because Colin ain’t the type of man who would just give his business away. He’s obsessed with money. That’s all he cares about.’

  ‘Great. That means he has a lot of it, and, so far, I have bought fifty per cent of his companies with his own dirty money, but I want every last one … Call it compensation for what that bastard did to Liam.’

  Raff looked down in shame. ‘I feel like shit that he was gonna let that kid die. Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t no saint, but what Crawford did, it goes against the grain for me. Liam was an innocent in all this.’ He looked up. ‘Sorry, did you say you bought his business with his own money.’

  ‘Yeah, why?’

  He shook his head and laughed. ‘That’s clever. He didn’t deserve everything he had, ya know. He stole it in the first place … from our own kind.’

  ‘I know what he did was cowardly and fucking ’orrible. I’ve no time or respect for a cunt like that.’

  Raff smiled. He was amused by Zara’s choice of words. This classy woman using the c-word, it tickled him.

  The door opened and in walked Willie, wearing an uncomfortable smile. ‘Zara, I think I might ’ave gone a bit too far.’

  ‘Oh no, Willie, I fucking told you I need that man alive. Jesus, will you ever listen?’

  Willie turned his diver’s knife around in his hand. ‘Well, sorry about that, but he …’

  She held up her hand. ‘Stop! I know what he did, but I wanted to finish the job and take everything that man owned – for Liam!’

  ‘I said “sorry”,’ replied Willie, like a naughty schoolboy.

  Zara could only shake her head and sigh but there was a touch of humour about the situation which nevertheless made her smile.

  The somewhat light-hearted moment was short-lived, though, when Mike walked in. ‘You’re lucky, Willie, he ain’t dead. He’s just fainted but leave off for now. The man is fucked all right. He’s losing his mind now an’ all. So, Zara, whatever you plan on doing, it needs to be done soon or he won’t be coherent, especially if this great lummox keeps torturing him.’

  Willie leaned against the wall and grinned at the blood on his knife. ‘Okay, message received. I’ll leave off, but once you’ve done what ya have to do, I wanna finish him off.’

  Zara looked at Mike. ‘Is he capable of talking, because I want him on the phone?’

  ‘If someone plays a fucking nurse and bandages the cunt up before he bleeds to death, yeah, he should be okay. He needs a drink, though. A brandy should do the trick, I think.’

  Zara handed Mike a bottle of Courvoisier. ‘Liven him up. We need him to be able to talk … to his Flossie.’ She laughed.

  Mike and Willie returned to the basement cell.

  Zara remained with Raff. ‘Tell me about this Flossie? Is she a creature of habit, such as going to lunch at the same time every day?’

  Raff nodded. ‘She’s a late luncher. She leaves at 2 and returns bang on at 3. She works until about 6, unless Colin asks her to stay on, and I can only guess what that’s for. She’s a stickler for routine and she’s a terrific PA. Outside her job, she hasn’t really got any interests. I guess she’s a bit boring.’

  ‘Perfect. And is she easily fobbed off?’

  Shaking his head, Raff replied, ‘No, but she listens to Colin, and to her, his word is gospel.’

  Without another word, Zara got up from her seat. ‘Can you wait here? I just need to assess the cock-up downstairs before I tell you what to do next.’

  Watching Zara swan off, out of the room, Raff sat back, sipped his brandy, and smiled to himself. Colin had well and truly got his comeuppance. As for snooty Flossie, he was going to enjoy fucking her off. She’d always got up his nose, the way she’d looked down on him. Just because Colin was fucking the bitch, she seemed to think she was his boss as well.

  He lo
oked around the room and tried to match the décor with Zara; for some reason, he couldn’t see a connection, but it wasn’t his place to ask questions. As far as he was concerned, he was lucky to be alive, and the money she’d given him wasn’t to be sniffed at. Mike Regan’s and Zara’s firms were more like a family. They were so far removed from Colin’s idea of how an outfit should run, and he knew which he preferred. It certainly wasn’t Crawford’s, that was for sure.

  Zara returned fifteen minutes later. ‘Christ, Willie is a nutter. Anyway, back to the order of the day.’

  Raff sat up straight. ‘So, what’s to do?’

  ‘Colin is going to make a call to Flossie in her office at two-thirty. Hopefully, she’ll be out at lunch because if he fucks up and doesn’t do as I say, you can delete the recording on her answerphone.’

  He nodded, not taking her eyes off her; this was sounding like an interesting plan. He could see now why Mike and his firm held her in such high regard.

  ‘I want you to hang around, and when she hears the message, she’ll no doubt question you, but, whatever happens, you’re to leave with the hard drives. And, don’t forget, he’s terminally ill and wants to spend time with his family.’

  Raff smiled. ‘No worries.’

  Zara looked at the time. It was eleven o’clock. She hoped that Colin would respond to the medication and be able to talk or at least string a coherent sentence together. If he came across as fatigued then that would actually increase the likelihood of the game plan being successful.

  * * *

  Mike ordered Willie to go home and take a bath; he was turning into a nightmare. Willie moaned and mumbled under his breath but left without too much to say. As soon as he heard the door close at the top of the stairs, Mike sat on the bed and looked at Colin who was tied to the chair.

  Mike glared at the mess Willie had made. The man’s eyes were swollen, his face was black and blue, and he cringed at the mess Willie had made where he’d sliced up the man. In fact, Colin’s arms were dripping with blood, and his mouth was twisted at such an awkward angle, Mike wondered if the disfigured shape was because Willie had broken his jaw. He took a deep breath and a sip of brandy straight from the bottle. If Colin’s jaw was broken, then he wouldn’t sound right when he made that phone call.