by Ian Jones
‘All I did was get Abby. As far as I know Pablo realised the game was up, ran for it and fell down these highly dangerous steps after colliding with a wall or two inside,’ John replied.
George smiled even wider and led John away from the red-haired man who was looking at them curiously.
‘New York are happy enough, although that probably ain’t the right word. There’s still a big pot of money missing, but that ain’t got shit to do with me and you. They are sending some guys over to get the Acropolis back on its feet, until then I may as well get my five cents worth. That’s Shaun Farley there with the red hair, he’s got his work cut out now. The other guy is Stefan, who was Pablo’s right hand. But he’s a good man, worked for Francesco a long time, sometimes in this business you got to deal with people that normally you’d cross the street to avoid, and Stefan is good at that. Francesco asked him to take care of Pablo, and I’d say he’s been doing it and doing it well considering. He’s kept him alive, which is a near miracle. And he’s been able to keep him from drowning in all the shit he’s got himself into. Technically, he’s out of work, but I know a lot of people who will give him a job, no question. He was my man on the inside John, playing both sides at the same time I guess but for the right reasons. I got a million other questions for you John, but I got a feeling you don’t wanna listen to them or answer any.’
He held out his hand and John shook it.
‘I kind of feel like it got out of control if I’m honest George, I didn’t expect any of this. I suppose I thought that I could maybe have a problem with Pablo persuading Abby to at least call her dad but this is something else altogether. Still, in the end, I did what I came here for.’
George nodded and looked at John’s head.
‘Nasty, who did that?’
‘I walked into a door.’
‘Yeah, you got to watch those things. Listen, tonight dinner is on me. It’s about time you enjoyed being in Las Vegas in my opinion.’
‘George, I came out here to find Abby. I found her, but I don’t know if I was in time. She’s in intensive care at the hospital. It’s not looking good, so I’m not feeling like celebrating.’
‘I get that. But thank you anyway, and let me know. The invitation is wide open.’
John nodded.
‘Thanks George. FBI still around?’
‘Not really. They been searching but mostly around Pablo’s office and in the finance offices, I think they’ve got a couple of guys still up in the penthouse. But they don’t seem interested in anything else; they haven’t asked any awkward questions as far I know.’
John’s phone rang; he excused himself and answered. It was Patrick, anxious to meet up. More and more evidence had been uncovered; he was a very happy man. They arranged to get together at the South Precinct later.
John looked at his watch, and made another call. Then promising George he would be back later he headed to the Mandalay Bay. He walked around toward the golf course and retrieved the bag, and took out his ID’s and the wig and threw in the Glock. He wandered around the rear of the hotel and threw the bag with the guns and the gloves into a big waste bin, then went back up to his room and packed. Half an hour later he was in a taxi on the way to airport, and three hours after that on a plane back to London.
Four weeks later he returned to Richard Cromwell’s house. This time he parked right outside. He picked up a box from the boot and walked up and rang the doorbell, which was answered by the smart Chinese lady again. If she recognised him she didn’t show it, and politely asked him to wait in the hallway.
John stood at the bottom of the stairs, but the door to the office opened almost immediately and Richard appeared. He walked quickly over and embraced John, who stood stiffly unsure what to do.
‘Thank you. I don’t have the words. Thank you for what you have done.’
‘Is Abby OK?’ John asked surprised. He had been delaying coming to see Richard, putting it off as long as possible.
‘She is home now; and the good news is she’s getting better every day. I’ve been trying to call you but your phone doesn’t work.’
There was a good reason for that. John had destroyed the SIM card before he flew home, something he always did at the end of every job. He shrugged apologetically. Richard asked the Chinese lady for some coffee.
‘That is great news. I’m really glad she’s well. I’ve got something for you,’ John told him.
‘I have something for you, too. Let’s go into the office.’
Once they were inside and Richard was seated at his desk John placed the box on the table.
‘What’s this?’ Richard asked him, looking at it with interest.
‘One point five million dollars. Roughly a million pounds, give or take.’
Richard stared up at him perplexed, and then opened the box which was stuffed with hundred-dollar bills.
He picked a bundle up and looked at it wonderingly.
‘You are an amazing man John Smith. I never expected this. You should keep it, you earned every penny. Or cent as it were.’
‘No, it’s yours. It was stolen from you after all. It turned out the rightful owners didn’t want it.’
Richard shook his head with a smile and then passed a thick envelope over to John.
‘This is your balance payment, with a bonus.’
John nodded his thanks and took the envelope and put it in his jacket pocket. He didn’t need to count it. The Chinese lady appeared with the coffee and poured it into two cups. John took a sip, and steeled himself to ask the question he was dreading.
‘So, what’s the story with Abby? Will she ever be, you know, this sounds terrible I know, but back to normal?’
Richard ran both hands over his face and paused before replying.
‘I appreciate you asking, and it’s actually not bad news. Not all bad, anyway. I’ve got the best doctors on it, but it’s a long road. HIV tests, detox, rehab, you name it. Months of not knowing. But she’s talking and she is brighter. She spends half her time here, and half in the clinic, but she is definitely improving and she seems a lot happier now. She can walk and talk, I’m quietly optimistic.’
‘Has she said anything?’
‘Not really, other than she blames herself.’
‘Has she told you what happened?’
‘Well, bits and pieces. She says she got out of depth very quickly. At first it was fun, Pablo basically was showing her off. But then there were some arguments, mostly about money. Pablo was insisting that she got more out of me, but Abby refused, that wasn’t why she was there. She realised too late that he was bad news and was going to stay in Caesars, but Pablo found out all about it and came up with this idea of basically locking her away, he started giving her some drugs to keep her quiet when she protested. It seems like he got her hooked, but I don’t really know. I have no idea about that world. But it was very close. You saved her life John, no question about that at all. The doctors have all confirmed it.’
John shook his head.
‘It was my mistake Richard. I should have just barged into the penthouse in the first place, but because it was always in darkness I ruled it out. Nobody ever seemed to be there.’
‘I don’t think you can blame yourself. You knew nothing about any of this a week ago, and from what the police have told me there was a whole lot of trouble totally unconnected with Abby.’
John nodded and the two men stood in silence for a while. John looked at his watch.
‘By the way I heard Francesco was released last week,’ Richard told him. ‘I’m hoping he’ll contact me. I understand that he has you to thank. It seems you did the best for everyone, well done.’
‘Nothing I did I promise you. It turns out Pablo was not a popular man, all I did was push a few buttons and let the rest take its natural course.’
‘Well, I owe you a huge debt, Please, stay for lunch, I would love to hear more about it.’
John smiled, but shook his head.
‘R
ichard I’m sorry but I have to go. By the way, is Charles around?’
‘Charles? I think so, let me get him.’
‘Thanks. Don’t tell him it’s me OK?’
Richard looked surprised but got up and went from the room. John followed him and then walked out the front door, leaving it open behind him. After Vegas, London seemed colder than ever and despite the short stay and then all the weeks he had been back it felt like he was still getting used to it. He walked out onto the steps and waited.
He heard footsteps behind him and turned.
Charles was walking down nonchalantly and realised too late it was John. Startled, he turned to run but John was quicker and tripped him. Charles fell down the remaining steps, hit the ground hard and cried out, then sat looking up at John.
Richard appeared on top of the steps closely followed by Bruno, who looked concerned, and started to make his way down.
John held his hand up.
‘Hang on there Richard will you please. This will only take a second.’
He walked down the steps then squatted next to Charles and spoke quietly.
‘Why did you tip off Pablo Charles? I can’t work it out at all. It can’t have been for money. He hasn’t got any and you’ve got more than you’ll ever need.’
Charles stared at him fearfully.
‘I didn’t! I swear! It must have been James …’
John put his finger on Charles’ lips.
‘Ssssh. Don’t lie to me. The problem you’ve got now is you really didn’t need me as an enemy. I mean you really didn’t.’
‘But …’
‘Charles you’re gonna be spending the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. Every single day.’
Charles stared at him, beginning to comprehend.
John’s mobile phone rung suddenly shattering the silence, He glanced at the screen and answered.
‘Hello?’
‘Is that Simon? I have a message for you.’
‘Great. I’ll call you back.’
John hung up and then stood, and pulled Charles to his feet. Then, with a wave to Richard he walked calmly down the drive, got into his car and drove away, without looking back.
Copyright
Published by Clink Street Publishing 2019
Copyright © 2019
First edition.
The author asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior consent of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that with which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ISBN:
978–1–912850–08–2 – paperback
978–1–912850–09–9 – ebook