“Yeah,” replied a reluctant Michael. “Loads.”
“There’s a sand sculptor who can create a sculpture in the shape of a dolphin. I love dolphins.”
“So does Jason,” sniggered Kevin.
“I’ll catch up with you in a bit about it,” Faith told her sister. “We’ve some business to discuss.”
“No worries,” she beamed, looking radiantly happy.
Michael gave Faith a pleading look as he was dragged into the kitchen and the door was closed.
“Poor sod,” commented Jason as Faith returned to the living room to join the rest of her siblings. “He really has no idea what he’s letting himself in for marrying her.”
“That’s his problem,” said Vance. “We’ve come up with a way to trap the firefighters and we need to do it tonight.”
He related the plan to Kevin and Jason, whose eyes grew wider with eagerness the more he spoke.
“Great plan,” said Jason. “And I know that place. A mate of mine had his stag do there.”
“His stag do?” frowned Vance. “How old was the groom, sixteen?”
“No, he was twenty three and it’s for grown-ups too, not just little kids. We were all a bit pissed actually when we played. Two of my mates ran into each other in the dark and nearly knocked each other out. It can get a bit disorientating in there with all the lasers going off and the darkness.”
“Something else we can use to our advantage,” said Faith.
“We’re going to shoot them with laser guns?” grinned Kevin. “Let’s get the bastards right in the eyes.”
“We want to warn them off, not blind them.”
Vance spread out the map of the facility on the coffee table. “What’s most important is that we split them up and confuse them without doing the same to ourselves, so one of us will need to be in the control booth, or whatever it’s called, controlling the lights as well as watching the others on the security monitors to guide them.”
“You mean we’re going to wear those cool earpieces like in the movies so we can communicate?” smiled Kevin.
“Yes.”
“Brilliant.”
“You’re the most tech-savvy of us Jason. You’re best doing that.”
He nodded. “No worries. Are we bringing Abi in on this?”
“No,” said Faith. “This is going to get very heavy duty. At the furniture warehouse she was kept out of danger. This plan means going inside and she’s not experienced enough to deal with it.”
“You’re sure we’re experienced enough?” said Jason.
“We have to be,” she said determinedly.
“All right, I’m bloody coming,” yelled Mickey when there was a knock at the door for the second time, jogging downstairs while pulling on his jumper. “I was just about to get in the shower.”
He reached the door and hesitated, reluctant to open it, fearing it was the police returned to drag him back to the station, or someone even worse.
“Who is it?” he called through the door.
“Delivery,” called back the voice. “I’ve got a package for you.”
“Just leave it on the doorstep.”
“Okay, if you want.”
Mickey pressed his ear to the door but could hear nothing. Cautiously he opened it a crack and peered out just in time to see a white transit van speed off. On his doorstep was a package about the size of a shoe box wrapped in brown paper with his address neatly printed on the front. He couldn’t remember ordering anything but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d gone online shopping while drunk or high and ended up with an unexpected delivery. The last one had been a wig for a dog. He’d no idea what he’d been thinking when he’d ordered that.
He took the package into the living room and sat down on the couch to open it. In a way it was exciting, not knowing what piece of useless crap he’d saddled himself with this time.
Mickey was pleased when he tore off the paper to reveal a box adorned with the image of an expensive pair of trainers.
“Nice one,” he smiled, lifting the lid.
There was a quiet bang, a puff of smoke and his head spun.
“What the fu…,” he began before collapsing unconscious back into the couch, the box slipping from his lap and falling onto the floor.
Vance, Faith and Caleb entered the house through the back door and found Mickey out for the count on the couch.
“Worked like a dream,” smiled Vance. “Where the hell did you get the idea for a weaponised sedative?” he asked Faith.
“I didn’t,” she replied. “Raven’s dad came up with it.”
“The same one who made those flash devices? I’d love to meet him one day, the man’s obviously a genius.”
“Mickey should be knocked out for a good hour,” she replied, holding her breath as she picked up the box and hastily replaced the lid. She also collected up the parcel paper it had been wrapped in. “Plenty of time for us to get him to the laser tag arena.”
Caleb and Vance hog-tied Mickey and carried him to the back door and through the yard to the waiting transit van driven by Kevin, who still wore his delivery uniform of dark blue trousers, polo shirt and baseball cap. Faith got in the front with him, shoving the box and paper into the footwell while Vance and Caleb got in the back with Mickey.
“I didn’t need this get-up,” said Kevin. “The sod wouldn’t even open the door to me.”
“Sounds like Mickey’s afraid.”
“So he bloody well should be.”
“I don’t think all is harmonious between him and the firefighters.”
They drove to the laser tag arena, which was closed for business for the night. Jason was waiting for them and let them in through a side door. Caleb and Vance carried Mickey inside and upstairs to one of the main rooms, Faith, Kevin and Jason following.
“Have you familiarised yourself with all the controls?” Faith asked Jason.
“Yep,” he replied. “It’s a simple system, no worries.”
“Good,” she smiled.
“I’m looking forward to knocking those bastards dizzy.”
“First we have to lure them here,” she said, watching as Vance and Caleb tied the still unconscious Mickey to a chair, who sagged forward, only his bonds keeping him upright.
“How do we wake him up?” said Kevin.
“We can’t,” replied Faith. “We need to wait for him to wake up in his own time.” She glanced at her watch. “Which should be in about forty minutes. While we wait, Jason can keep an eye on him. The rest of us need to familiarise ourselves with the building. Ben and his crew will probably come armed.”
They wandered about in the gloom, learning every passage and turn, which would have to be made in perpetual darkness if their plan was to work.
They were drawn back to Mickey when they heard him shouting and yelling.
“Well someone woke up on the wrong side of bed,” grinned Kevin.
“Don’t smile at me you fucking ferret,” Mickey spat at him, furiously struggling against his bonds. “Let me go.”
Kevin’s grin dropped. “What the fuck did you call me you twat?” he yelled back.
Faith stood before Mickey, the sight of her sending him into overdrive.
“This is your doing, isn’t it?” he bellowed. “You stupid bitch.”
“No Vance,” she said when he drew back his fist to punch him. “Mickey was rendered unconscious and then kidnapped. He has the right to be angry.”
“Fucking right I do,” retorted Mickey. “I’m raging and when I’m free I’ll rip off your fucking tits.”
“That’s it,” said Vance, driving his fist into his stomach.
Mickey released an oof and sagged in his chair, gasping for breath and groaning.
“We know what you’ve been up to with Ben and his crew,” said Faith now he was finally silent. “You plotted with them to steal our product, didn’t you?”
“Ben who?” he breathed, straightening up in his seat.
“You know
exactly who I’m referring to – Ben Cooper, the big bastard of a firefighter and his friends, Amanda, Rick and Eddie.”
“Never heard of them.”
“That’s strange because we saw Amanda come out of your house just this morning. She looked pretty pissed off.”
Finally it dawned on Mickey that he was on very shaky ground. “Look, it was nothing to do with me. They approached me asking if I could shift some drugs they’d somehow got hold of and I told them no. That was it.”
“Nice try Mickey but sorry, it’s not going to wash. While you were unconscious we had a look at your phone. A password is much smarter to use than a fingerprint. We just swiped your finger across it while you were out for the count. We’ve seen all your messages. Unfortunately they were only the most recent messages. The police seized all your electronics when you were arrested for the burglary. You’ve used a code that to anyone not in the know would just look like messages to a friend but the last few Amanda was so furious she didn’t bother to use the code. She said she’s going to cut off your cock with a pair of garden shears. She sent that just a few minutes after she stormed out of your house. What we want to know is how you and the firefighters met?”
“I’m saying nothing. So, unless you want to die a painful death, you’ll let me fucking go.”
“You’re going to tell us Mickey, unless you want to spend the rest of the night in unbearable pain.”
“Stick it up your fanny.”
Faith’s lip curled. “You really are a horrible little man. I take it you heard what happened to your accomplice, Patrick Prentiss?”
“Who?”
Faith sighed. “This is taking too long and we’re on a time limit. All right boys, you can go to work on him.”
Mickey started to panic when Faith stepped aside and her brothers moved in on him clutching hammers, baseball bats and pliers.
“No, wait,” he cried when Vance tore off his shoes and socks.
“Jesus, your feet are manky Mickey,” exclaimed Jason.
Kevin laughed. “Manky Mickey. That’s a good name for him.”
Vance grasped his big toenail with the pliers, making Mickey shriek.
“No, wait, please.”
“Stop Vance,” said Faith.
“Thank you,” breathed Mickey shakily.
The corner of her mouth lifted into a smile when Vance looked at her questioningly. “You should use them on his bollocks instead.”
“No, no,” yelled Mickey when they started to unfasten his jeans. “I’ll tell.”
“Go on then,” said Faith.
“I met Ben at the casino,” he sighed. “We both had a bad night, lost quite a bit of cash, so we had a few drinks at the bar to commiserate. We said how we never had enough money, that all we needed was one big payday to get back on our feet. I mentioned I knew someone who was ripe for turning over.”
“Us?”
“I never mentioned your family specifically but yeah, you. I said it should be an easy job, you were all a bit green around the gills, that you didn’t have the experience to stop a blag, which you didn’t.”
“Just get on with it,” snapped Faith.
“He said he was interested and that he might know others who were, so we swapped numbers. I didn’t seriously expect to hear from him but he called the next day, said he and his friends were in. It shocked me but when I heard his friends were firefighters too I knew we could pull it off. It went from something that seemed pure fantasy to a job that could actually be done.”
“So that’s how they got into the vault?” said Faith. “With your experience of robberies it wouldn’t have been hard.”
“I was the brains behind it,” he said proudly.
“When did Dillon get involved?”
“Pretty much from the start. He was well keen.”
“You let him in on it even after he left you behind at the robbery to get savaged by a dog?”
“I was pissed off about that but if I’d been the faster runner I wouldn’t have had a problem leaving him behind. Plus he worked for you, he was our way in. He had access to your security system, he knew the routines and he’d spotted that tosser Patrick Prentiss was the weak link.”
“You needed his inside knowledge?”
“Yeah. It’s lucky for Ben and his crew that Dillon didn’t go with them. If he had he probably would have accidentally injured them in some way. He was the one who approached Patrick.”
“Patrick told us Ben approached him.”
“Oh dear, did someone else pull the wool over your eyes? You really are out of your depth.”
“Patrick probably didn’t want to admit that he’d been in contact with someone who was murdered shortly after,” said Vance. “But for that lie he’s going to end up with more snapped fingers.”
“When were they supposed to give you the drugs?” Faith asked Mickey.
“The day you stole them back.”
“Why not give them to you straightaway?”
“Because I knew you lot would tear the town apart looking for them. I didn’t want you to catch me with them.”
“And what were you going to do with them?”
“I had buyers waiting in Liverpool and Nottingham. They started getting pissed off when I didn’t deliver and these are not people you want to annoy.”
“You stole the Maguire’s drugs to sell on the Maguire’s territory? Have you got a death wish or don’t you know that they own Liverpool?”
“Course I know but I was going to divvy it up into small amounts and pass it onto the lower level dealers. I was doing business with a nasty Albanian gang in Nottingham and when I didn’t deliver the goods they threatened to chop off my head with a machete. Getting arrested and charged did me a favour because they weren’t keen on murdering someone the police were looking at closely.”
“Why was Dillon killed?”
“Daft bastard got cold feet. He became paranoid that the Maguires were going to find out and top him. I told him if you didn’t know who’d nicked the drugs then they certainly wouldn’t but he lost his bottle, threatened to tell you what had happened.”
“Amanda killed him to silence him.”
“Yeah, he was a liability.”
“You don’t sound very sympathetic. He was a friend of yours.”
“Serves him right for leaving me to get bitten by that dog and for dropping a washing machine on my foot.”
“That explains why Ben and his crew got so desperate they kidnapped you,” Vance told Faith. “They were afraid a bunch of Albanians were going to chop them up into little pieces.”
“Right, I’ve told you everything,” said Mickey. “You going to let me go now?”
“Are you serious?” spluttered Kevin. “After what you’ve done?”
“You’ve no choice,” he said smugly. “I’m out on bail. If I don’t report to the police station in two days then they’ll start looking very closely at what happened to me.”
“So?” said Caleb. “No one would think it was anything to do with us. But we’ll make sure everyone knows you pissed off a violent gang in Nottingham.”
“That won’t work.”
“Yes it will.”
“Oh I see, you’re going to feed the information to your pet police officer, aren’t you?” he told Faith. “You grassing bitch.”
“I’m done with all your insults,” snarled Vance, yanking down Mickey’s trousers and underwear.
Vance’s brothers collectively winced when he grasped Mickey’s testicles with the pliers and twisted, his shriek piercing their ears. When Vance eventually relinquished him, he flopped back into the chair, sweating and panting.
“You sick bastard,” rasped Mickey.
“You’re lucky I didn’t tear them off,” said Vance, straightening up. He took out a phone. “Now you’re going to call your friends and tell them you want to meet up because your Albanian contacts are getting out of hand and you need to discuss how you’re going to handle them.”
“Th…they’ll suspect a trap,” he murmured, still struggling with the pain pulsating in his crotch.
“Probably but they’ll come.”
“And if I refuse?” Mickey winced when he waved the pliers in front of his face.
“I’ll rip off your balls and make you eat them.”
Mickey stared into those burning blue eyes and knew he wasn’t bluffing. “I’ll make the call.”
“Wise choice,” said Vance.
CHAPTER 24
“I don’t like this,” said Amanda.
“None of us like it,” replied Ben, who was sat beside her in the front of his Audi, driving the four of them to the meeting with Mickey. “But we have no choice. If more trouble’s coming our way we need to be prepared.”
“More trouble,” said a miserable Rick from the back seat. “Like we haven’t got enough of that already.”
“We might have to go along with your plan of setting fire to one of the Chambers’ nightclubs,” said Eddie, who was sitting beside him.
Amanda turned in her seat to scowl at him. “You’ve changed your tune.”
“Because I don’t want to be hacked to pieces in my bed.”
“So you found your spine again Eddie. Well done. Let’s go for Eclectic, the Chambers’ shiny new jewel. Ben’s already done a reccy. Let’s burn the place down and empty the safe.”
“How do we empty the safe?”
“We’ll just smash our way into it,” said Ben. “We’ve got the tools.”
“And we’ll pay off the Albanians with the cash?” said Rick.
“Yeah.”
“It’s not right that we’ll be left with nothing for all our trouble,” spat Amanda. “This was supposed to change our lives for the better.”
“Mickey might have an idea.”
“I won’t hold my breath,” she muttered.
Ben pulled his car onto the car park and they all stared up at the laser tag arena through the windows.
“Bit of a weird place for a meeting, isn’t it?” said Eddie.
“Mickey’s paranoid that the police are spying on him,” said Ben. “He wanted somewhere we wouldn’t be overheard. This place is owned by a friend of his that he trusts.”
“It’s a bit cloak and dagger,” said Rick, reluctant to get out of the car.
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