Topspin

by Soliman, W.

  But seeing the tacky evidence of her recent activities first hand, Jack could no longer delude himself. She was a slut of the first order, just like all the rest of them. Just like Tania. Thoughts of his wife had sent his temper into the stratosphere and he’d simply cast Claire a contemptuous look, ignoring her pathetic efforts to explain, and left her alone. There was nothing he could do to help her anymore. She was beyond saving. He clenched his fists as he thought about how comprehensively her actions would destroy Joe when he found out about them, as he inevitably would.

  As he’d walked away from Claire’s room, his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number on the display but took the call anyway. It could be one of the operatives trailing Aston checking in direct. It happened sometimes.

  “Jack Regent.”

  “Ah, hello there, Jack, it’s been a long time. How are you, now?”

  Jack recognized the nasal twang immediately. The last time he’d heard it, its owner had been spitting expletives, making all sorts of wild threats and promising to get even for the humiliation he’d suffered at Jack’s hands.

  It was Kevin and, as always, his timing was lousy.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “Well now, I’d say it’s rather more a case of what I can do for you. It’s a nice little family you’ve got here, Jack, and I dare say you’d like them to remain in one piece.”

  Something happened then and the call was cut off. Oh yes…Joe came at him with fists flying. Jack took one hand off the steering wheel and grimaced as he rubbed his sore chin. For a surgeon, Joe packed quite a punch. But he had no more time to dwell upon his friend’s troubles right now. He’d square things with him when he’d sorted out this other business.

  Taken by surprise by Joe’s blow, he’d landed heavily but hadn’t been knocked out, and regained his senses almost immediately. He heard his phone ringing somewhere close by and, still on the ground, groped around until he found it.

  “Never hang up on me again,” Kevin said menacingly. “Not if you want to see your family alive.”

  “What family?”

  “That’s what she said you’d say. What a heartless bastard you are, Jack. Here, the lady would like to talk to you.”

  Jack felt he’d been knocked off his feet for a second time when a feminine voice came on the line. A voice which, in spite of his best efforts, he’d never forgotten.

  “Zac, Zac, is that you?”

  Tania! She’d never been able to pronounce his name properly and it always came out as Zac. He used to think it sounded charming. The lurching movement in the pit of his stomach suggested nothing had changed in that respect.

  Kevin’s voice came back on the line. “She’s fine, for the moment. A prime piece,” he said, smacking his lips suggestively, “but then you always did have good taste in women, Jack.” Jack clenched his fists but refused to give his tormentor the satisfaction of knowing he’d riled him. So he said nothing, allowing the silence to lengthen, guessing Kevin wouldn’t be able to resist breaking it first. “And the boy’s fine too, except that he looks just like you, the poor sod.”

  This was surreal. Tania might technically still be his wife, but no way did he have a son. As always Kevin had fucked up, but Jack didn’t bother to put him right. Let him think he had a hold over him. Lull him into a false sense of security and he’d make a mistake.

  “What do you want from me?”

  “What I want is for you to get in your car and drive to Croydon, as quickly as you can. We’ll expect you here by mid-morning tomorrow. I’ll call you, and we’ll make arrangements for you to exchange yourself for your family. Then Wilf, you, and me can catch up on old times. How does that sound?”

  “I can hardly wait.”

  “Oh, the feeling’s entirely mutual.”

  “I heard you were looking for me,” Jack said laconically, “but I thought you’d face me directly rather than hiding behind a woman and kid. Do I still scare you that much? Come on, Kevin, I’ve been out of the game for years now and I’m getting soft. But I gather you two have become quite the hard men over recent years. The pair of you ought to be able to take on an old man like me without any extra insurance. Two against one sounds like pretty good odds to me.”

  He paused, the only sound now being that of Kevin’s heavy breathing at the other end of the phone. Good, he was getting to him. “What, nothing to say, Kevin? You really didn’t need to go to all this trouble, you know. All you had to do was call me and I’d have met you anywhere you like.”

  “You fucking arrogant sod! You haven’t changed a bit.”

  “Why don’t you let the woman and child go and I’ll meet you in Croydon, or anywhere else you’d care to name, in the morning. You know I won’t go back on my word.”

  Something like a growl echoed down the line. “You’re fucking out of order, Regent, and we’re gonna get you good.”

  “I’m shaking in my boots.”

  “Just get up here.”

  “I’m on my way, but before I leave let’s get one thing straight,” he said as calmly as his growing anger permitted. “If you harm a hair on the heads of either of them, you’re dead men. On that you have my solemn word. You’ve been mixing with the Turks for too long if you think anyone will give you cover when word gets out that you’ve harmed a woman and child.”

  Jack cut the connection without giving Kevin the satisfaction of having the last word, pretty sure that his threat would make him think twice before touching Tania. Kevin and Wilf were basically cowards. They’d always feared Jack and obviously still didn’t have the bottle to take him on directly. But how the hell had they latched onto Tania?

  He staggered back to his room further along the corridor, literally punch-drunk, unable to make any sense of what he’d just heard. Tania had a child, and those idiots Wilf and Kevin thought it was his. Jack let out a mirthless chuckle. The thickos obviously imagined they could get at him through a son he didn’t have. Jealousy reared its head at the thought of someone else fathering Tania’s kid, but he didn’t give it the opportunity to take hold. He needed to think about how to tackle the situation with Kevin and Wilf, and for that he needed a clear brain.

  Croydon was foreign territory to Jack. Kevin hadn’t been stupid enough to confront him on his own patch. Even he must have realized he’d be isolated if he came to the Island. So all Jack needed to do was work out where they were holding Tania and her son. Presumably in the house where Jack’s contacts had traced them to. By why Croydon? Did Tania live there now? It didn’t seem likely. He’d check with his contacts to see what the goons were up to. But first he needed answers to a few different questions. Well, just one really.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, he called Cyril. “I’ve just heard from Kevin.”

  “Where is the little wanker, then?”

  “Croydon.”

  “Shit!”

  “They’ve got Tania.”

  A long pause. “I thought that’s what you were going to say next.”

  “Also,” said Jack in a minatory tone, “they say they’ve got my son, which obviously can’t be true because, to the best of my knowledge, I don’t have one. If I did, you’d have let me know, wouldn’t you, Cyril? You’ve obviously kept in touch with Tania, it not coming as any surprise to you that she’s in Croydon, and all that.”

  “They’re dead, the cowardly fucking bastards, hiding behind a woman and child! I’ll kill them with my owning fucking bare hands.”

  “Do I have a son, Cyril? I don’t recall the event, you see, and I hardly think it’s something I’d be likely to forget.”

  A sighed echoed down the line. “Yes, Jack, you have a six year old son. Dimitri.”

  Jack felt the air seep out of his body in an extravagant whoosh. “Bullshit! Tania might well have a child,” he said, images of her and Palmer testing out the quality of the rugs in his own house polluting his mind, “but I doubt that it’s mine.”

  “He’s yours, Jack, make no mistake about it.”


  “Don’t piss me about, Cyril.”

  “Have you got your laptop fired up?”

  “Sure.”

  “Hang on a mo.”

  Almost immediately an e-mail arrived from Cyril, with a photograph attached. Jack hesitated, his hand trembling as it hovered above the mouse, suddenly apprehensive. The tremble spread through the rest of his body as he steeled himself to hit the button and gazed at the picture which unfurled with frustrating slowness onto the screen. Tania, looking as lovely as he remembered in his frequent dreams of better days. A wide smile revealed perfect teeth, her light brown hair was lifting from her shoulders in the breeze, and her arms were around the shoulders of a child that was offering a toothy grin to the camera.

  Jack was speechless. Unable to catch his breath or believe the truth that was before his very eyes. Cyril was right. There could be no doubt this was his son. He was the image of Jack at the same age. A cowlick of hair that wouldn’t stay flat, intense blue eyes full of mischief and curiosity, the same square jaw, the same shaped nose dusted with freckles. The same instinctive way of angling his head for the camera.

  His son! He had a son. The child he’d always wanted.

  And no one had bothered to mention the fact.

  “Jack, are you there?”

  “I trust you have a good explanation,” he said tightly.

  “It was Tania’s call. She didn’t want you to know.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “She works for me in Croydon. I have a few interests in that part of the world. It’s the clubbing Mecca of South London, and she manages a restaurant attached to a club I own there. A proper, old-fashioned adult-persons club, not one of those dives for kids.”

  “I see.”

  Tania was passionate about food and he could easily imagine her making an excellent restaurant manager. Knowing the club was owned by Cyril, no one was likely to give her any grief, either. Jack was grateful to Cyril for looking out for her. It was something he should have done himself if he could’ve gotten over the shock of her betrayal. Instead he’d turned her away penniless, wallowing in self-righteous pity and shattered dreams. Since the separation he’d tried to put her out of his mind, not torturing himself by speculating about where she was or what she might be doing. But Cyril hadn’t been hampered by emotional attachment and had stepped into the breach.

  “Why didn’t she want me to know about my son?” he asked in a more moderate tone.

  “She said that you weren’t prepared to listen to her explanation about what happened, that you were blind to reason, and would never believe her when she said the baby was yours. I tried to convince her that you had a right to know, especially when the kid started to grow and looked so like you, but she wouldn’t have it.”

  “Well, excuse me for taking exception to the fact that my wife fucked another man, and finding it hard to believe there could be any reason to exonerate her.”

  “Everything’s so black and white with you, Jack, that’s your problem. You put Tania on a pedestal and couldn’t take it when you found out she had faults, just like the rest of us. I thought she was being unfair to you by not telling you about Dimitri, but I can see now that she was right all along.”

  Everything’s so black and white with you, Jack. Those were more or less the same words that Claire had thrown at him when he found out about her infidelity. Was he really so inflexible? Were his standards that rigid? He didn’t think that was fair. Look how hard he’d tried to cover up for Claire, even if he couldn’t stand the thought of what she’d done. Anyway, in the case of Tania, he wasn’t the one who’d crossed the line. Why was everyone so anxious to shift the blame onto him?

  “What are you going to do now?”

  “Drive to Croydon,” he said. “What else can I do? They’re going to ring me in the morning and supposedly exchange Tania and the boy for me.”

  “It’s a set-up, Jack. It’ll be suicide if you keep that appointment, you know that?”

  “Yeah, but what else can I do? But at least I’ve got a bit more time to think about it than they know. I might be able to surprise them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, they obviously think I’m on the Island and won’t be able to get off until the ferries start running in the morning.”

  “But you’re not?”

  “No, I’m at Bisham Abbey, and I can easily be in Croydon in a couple of hours.”

  “So can I, and I’m on my way. We need to sort this together. I’ll make a few calls on the way and see if I can find out where they might be holding them.”

  Jack wasn’t stupid enough to decline the offer of help, especially not now that he knew what was involved. “Thanks, Cyril, and so will I. My people traced them to Croydon and know where they went to when they arrived, so my guess is that’s where they’ll have them.” Jack chuckled. “Kevin and Wilf always did lack imagination.”

  “Yeah, it wouldn’t have occurred to them that they were being watched. I’ll call the club and see if they know anything, and meet you at the Holiday Inn in Croydon in a couple of hours.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  ED’S CAMPAIGN TO PERSUADE THE MEMBERS started off promisingly, until bloody Jack Regent stuck his oar in, causing quite a few of them to have second thoughts. Having discovered that it didn’t pay to keep Aston in the dark, Ed rang him straight away and explained what had happened. He admitted that it would be an uphill task to persuade two-thirds of the shareholders to side with him now that Jack, a popular and respected member, was recommending that they hold firm. Aston curtly told him to up his offer to fifteen thousand pounds per share and get the job done.

  “We should be able to swing things now,” he said to Stella as they got ready for dinner on Saturday night. “What I need is for you to use your charm on some of the men. People like Gordon. He’s always broke but still sticking with Jack’s camp, which makes no sense at all. Colin thought he could get to him through Sheila, but she’s gone all snotty on him for some reason. Anyway, chat up as many of the ditherers as you can and make them see it would be in their best interests financially to sell up.”

  “What about their tennis interests?”

  “What the fuck does that matter to us? This is business.”

  Stella didn’t seem impressed. “Well, I think Jack’s right,” she said. “If people sell, then they’ll lose the focal point of their social lives. Most of them won’t get into other clubs, either, and that includes us.”

  “Rubbish, we’re good enough to be accepted anywhere.”

  “That’s a matter of opinion.”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  Stella took her sweet time responding. “I just don’t feel comfortable coercing people into doing something they might live to regret, that’s all. Porchfield is the country club on the Island. You’ve said so yourself often enough. There’s a lot of prestige attached to membership, and that matters to them more than an injection of cash, much as some of them might need it.” She shook her head. “No, I think they ought to be told the facts and left to make up their own minds without being pressured by us.”

  “Look, you daft bitch, I don’t think you realize just how deep we’re into this thing.” Stella turned away from him and fiddled with her hair. “I’ve put everything we’ve got into this scheme. Every last fucking dime, and then some!” He flailed his arms, fighting the urge to knock a little loyalty into the ungrateful cow. “You can forget about the standing of your social life if this doesn’t go through. You’ll have more pressing matters on your mind, like how to keep a roof over our heads.”

  “Perhaps you were a little rash to invest so much in this one project, then.” His wife appeared remarkably serene in the face of imminent bankruptcy. “How many times have you told me that it’s dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket?”

  “That’s entirely different.” Ed was infuriated by her sudden desire to question everything he did and willingness to stand up for herself with no appa
rent fear of the consequences.

  “I don’t see how.”

  “I’m not asking you to see anything. Just do as I say. Now, come on, we’re meeting Millie and Mike in the bar to discuss our strategy. At least they’re right behind me and know the meaning of loyalty. Colin will be there too, and we’re gonna work that room like our lives depend upon the outcome.” He paused and fixed her with a menacing scowl. “And trust me, baby, they do! Get down there and charm the pants off them.”

  When she showed no sign that she intended to comply, Ed felt panic welling up inside him. If he couldn’t even convince his own wife, who had so much to personally gain from the scheme, what hope did he have of swaying the rest of the club? He tried another tack.

  “Stella love, just listen to me, this could be the making of us as a family. If we can pull it off, we’ll be financially secure for the rest of our lives. I’d be able to give you and Leah all the things you’ve ever wanted.”

  He gently stroked the line of her cheek and then kissed her, long and deep, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and his groin against her pelvis, stirred by her passivity.

  “Don’t!” She pushed him so hard that he almost toppled over.

  Seeing the disgust in her eyes only aroused him more. He hadn’t intended to take this any further, but her getting fancy ideas about denying him his rights wasn’t something he was prepared to tolerate. She’d never said no to him before, not ever, and she hadn’t chosen a good time to start.

  “Whadda you mean, don’t? You’re my wife.”

  “That doesn’t give you the right to rape me.”

  When he heard the contempt in her tone and clocked her disgusted expression, he was ready to kill her. “Rape? What’re you talking about? I’m not a bleeding rapist.”