Almost unbelievably, as he was having these thoughts, three words in large white writing started to appear on the screen of his mobile phone which was lying on his desk beside the laptop, each letter appearing individually one after another. Tommy stared at them in fascination as each one materialised, until they spelt out the three words.
"SAY YOU'RE SORRY!"
The timing of the words appearing, following on from Caroline hanging up on him just now, seemed far too coincidental.
Could Caroline be responsible for sending all these messages? Could it have been her?
But why would she be doing it? What had he done to her to upset her before now?
No, surely it was Petrovsky.
Whoever had put the words on his screen though, had to be behind everything else that was happening to him now. It was almost definitely part of the same campaign against him, and when he found out who it was, shit, Tommy was going to rip him apart, bone by bone, sinew by sinew.
Two orange boxes appeared underneath the large white text.
Inside the orange box on the left were the words: 'Fuck you! No apology!'
Inside the one of the right, were the words: 'I'm sorry. Please forgive me.'
Maybe it was Caroline after all?
Perhaps he should click on the box on the right. Then call her and say he was really sorry. Admit he was a twat. An idiot. A fool. Perhaps he should tell her about all the stupid things that were happening to him, citing all the weirdness as a reason for being so stressed and stupid.
Lifting his fingers towards the screen on the phone, his finger hovered above the orange button on the right.
He knew that clicking on it was the right thing to do. Caroline was special...he had made a stupid mistake.
A vision filled his mind, a mental picture of Caroline lying naked on his bed and reaching out to him.
He swallowed hard.
He stared at the large white words on the screen.
"Say you're sorry... say you're sorry..."
Then without a moment's further thought, he clicked on the button.
The one on the left.
"Fuck you! No apology!"
Tommy McNunn was NEVER sorry. And never apologised for anything!
-------------------------
The Dockside Casino
Edinburgh
Wednesday
10.40 p.m. G.M.T.
A loud knocking on his door ripped Tommy back from his thoughts.
"Boss! Boss! Open up!" a voice implored.
Tommy shook his head and pressed a button under his desk. The door opened and three of his men poured into the room.
Tommy immediately tightened his grip on his gun and flicked the safety catch off.
"What? What's happened?"
"Danny, Gordon and Tam have just been killed. They were standing on the corner outside the Casino waiting for us and two cars drove past, spraying automatic gun fire at them. Tam was literally cut in half, and Danny and Gordon are a right mess. I've never seen anything like it."
"SHIT!" Tommy swore, kicking his chair back and jumping to his feet. "Who did it?"
"I dinnae ken, Boss, but surely it's obvious. It must have been Petrovsky's men. A pre-emptive strike before we came for them."
"You're right. Are you sure they're all dead?"
"Boss... believe me. They're bloody dead all right."
"And when did it happen?"
"About five minutes ago?"
"Have you called the police?"
"Not yet. I wanted to speak to you first..."
"You did the right thing. Call the others and tell them to meet us at the cars. We're going after them now, before the Police get here. Make sure you're all heavily tooled up, but listen to me carefully. We're not going after revenge. Yet. We're going to stick to my plan. We're going looking for information, not a large body count. I want to find someone that will tell us who is the IT and computer mastermind of Petrovsky's crew. And if they won't tell us, Smithie will make them. We're going to grab a couple of their men and take them to the bunker outside of town. We'll let Smithie work on them there for a while. They can scream as much as they want, and no one will hear them. Once we get a name, we're going after him too. One way or another, all this shite that's been happening to me is going to end tonight."
Just then Tommy's phone rang. It was Caroline. Tommy's heart skipped a beat, and he answered it.
"Tommy? I just wanted to let you know something. It's over Tommy. No man ever treats me like you just did. It's over. I'm never going to see you again."
Then she hung up.
"FUCKKKKKK!" Tommy erupted, storming out of his office, anger and emotion surging through his veins.
What the hell was happening to him?
Tommy's life was crumbling all around him.
Suddenly the confines of the Casino were all too much. He had to escape.
Pushing his way through the crowds of losers, drunks, prostitutes and gambling addicts on the first and second floor, he burst out through the fire-exit at the back of the club, looked up at the stars above and screamed.
In India, Anand Mhasalkar smiled. He'd heard it all by listening through the microphone on Tommy McNunn's mobile phone.
From now on, wherever McNunn went, whoever he called, whatever he said, or texted, Anand would know.
Although he did not realise yet, Tommy McNunn had just lost control of his life.
Chapter 36
Danielle Wessex's House
Edinburgh
10: 35 a.m. G.M.T.
Danielle lay on her bed, wiping her tears away for the tenth time.
The trouble was, no sooner did she stop crying than she just started again.
She was heartbroken.
Danielle was not a fool - far from it - and all her adult life she had been careful not to fall in love with Mr Tommy McNunn. She had known, always, exactly what he was, and she had long ago given up trying to explain to herself what her relationship with him was, other than 'complicated'.
Very complicated.
She knew Tommy McNunn was one of the biggest crime lords in Scotland, and that he used her. She knew that she had been his puppet, 'brainwashed', guided and mentored throughout her life so that she would succeed in a career in the police force which was strategically useful to him. She accepted that if it hadn't been for McNunn, some of the success she had enjoyed would not have come her way: McNunn had often tipped her off with information about crimes committed by his rivals which she had exploited to best effect. Almost mysteriously, she had been able to solve crimes which others couldn’t!
However, increasingly in recent years she had also come to stand on her own two feet.
She had proved herself to be a talented officer, clever, insightful, independent and methodical. It was Danielle who had solved the Costorphine Strangler case two years ago, and it was her initiative, and practically her initiative alone that had ended the reign of terror brought by the Durham Danger Boys, a gang of highly organised drug smugglers who had almost destroyed the lives of a whole community of residents in South Edinburgh.
She accepted her limitations stoically, but constantly worked on improving herself. She knew that she wasn't the best liked police officer in the division, to put it bluntly, but she also knew she had her supporters and several firm friends. People talked behind her back, mostly about what had happened to her earlier on in her career, but to some such things didn't matter. McKenzie being one of them.
Increasingly McKenzie was becoming a problem. He was beginning to affect her more and more. And confusingly, it was in a nice way. A very nice way.
Danielle had never been lucky in love. Ever.
Always drawn to the wrong sort of people, always hurt, and always cast aside by those she began to care for, it was time that she started to think more of her needs and what she truly wanted in life.
McNunn was an evil bastard - most of the time - but the truth was that in spite of that, she personally, had mostly
only ever experienced the good side of him.
She was vulnerable when she had first met him, after having been raped by a business partner of her father's when she was only sixteen, something which she had never been able to discuss with either her father or her mother. She had remained vulnerable ever since, seeking sanctuary in those who knew nothing of her past, but saw only the potential she had locked inside herself for her future.
Which was why she was drawn to men like McNunn and McKenzie, because they both saw the spark within her and believed in her not only for who she was now but also for who she could become.
To this day, she still didn't exactly understand what McNunn's intentions had originally been, when they had first met. Had he fancied her? Had he been deliberately grooming her? For what? For sex? For friendship? Or had he simply extended a hand of friendship to her when she had most needed it.
Whatever it was, she had let herself be taken in under his wing, and for many years she had found shelter there. Warm. Comforted. Nurtured.
Their relationship had slowly changed, understandably. She had grown into a woman. A vulnerable woman, but McNunn had protected her.
That they had eventually become lovers was probably inevitable, however there had never been any rush, or pressure.
When it had happened, he had taught her about sex and men. About what they wanted. About the power she could have over them, if she wanted to.
Her problem though was one of trust. After having been raped she found it very difficult to trust anyone. Her sex life had mostly consisted of short, brief affairs where she hid herself and her past from her partners and never revealed who she truly was in case... in case they judged her. And rejected her.
McNunn never did.
He was a strong, handsome, charismatic man. Powerful, respected. But gentle, kind, loving and attentive. And very, very clever.
She had learned so much from him, and because of him. For a long time, she had believed that almost all of whom she was, was because of him. However, more recently she had discovered that this was not true.
Some of her, increasingly more of her, was because of who she was herself.
Increasingly she had sought respect. Acceptance from others for being who she was now, and not whom she used to be. She had begun to blossom, to see the world in new, more positive ways. The future was becoming brighter...but always, along its edges, her reality was darkened by the duplicity of her life. The dark shadow of McNunn was everywhere.
Danielle was a paradox, and she knew it.
Wiping her eyes for the eleventh time, she thought of McKenzie. Another married man. Another strong man. Kind, charming, sincere. The polar opposite of McNunn.
How could she ever have allowed herself to be drawn to two men so opposite, but so similar?
For a moment, she thought of the kiss they had once shared, a fleeting moment of madness in which the confines and rules of real, everyday life had broken down, and a spark had ignited between them both.
They had never discussed it since, and never repeated it, but she was sure that it was not only in her head. He had felt it too.
The problem was, McKenzie was a good man.
There was something there between them. Something potentially good, very good... but she sensed McKenzie always fought it because...because he was a good man.
And McNunn...? He was a bad man.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Turning over on to her back and closing her eyes, she realised what was happening.
She was falling out of love with McNunn, and in love with McKenzie.
It was so simple, and yet so true.
Contrary to everything she had done to control her emotions, she had loved McNunn, with 'loved' now being the operative word.
Her needs had changed though. McNunn no longer provided what she needed: respect.
Which had become abundantly clear this evening when the truth had been so clearly revealed.
For a while she may have hoped to become his 'Queen', but now she knew that to McNunn she was nothing more than a prostitute, a sex pawn that he moved around the board of his life in order to gain strategic advantage over others.
More tissues. More tears. More self-revelations.
More truths.
When the tears did eventually stop, she got up from her bed and went to the shower where she washed away her past, McNunn, and all the filth which had dragged her back and shackled her to the darkness.
As the water ran cold, she stepped out of the shower, put on some nice clothes, applied some make up, and left the house.
With the past now behind her, it was time to face the future.
She knew where McKenzie would be at this time of the night.
-------------------------
Joppa
Edinburgh
Wednesday
11.05 p.m. G.M.T.
Tommy and his men were sitting in their cars outside a large house in Joppa on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
From the outside it looked like a residential house, but everyone who needed or wanted to know, knew what it really was.
One of Petrovsky's Casinos, and like Tommy's Casino in Leith, the centre of Petrovsky's crime world.
Tommy's phone went. It was Fraser, the man whom Tommy had sent to keep an eye on Caroline and follow her wherever she went.
"She's just leaving her house." He said. "She's all dolled up, Boss. What do you want me to do?"
"Stick with her. Let me know where the hell she's going at this time of night. Take photos of anyone she meets. Don't let her out of your sight, do you understand?"
"Yes Boss."
As he hung up his phone, the man in the passenger seat in front of Tommy gestured with his hand and pointed to the front door of the Casino. A large black Mercedes was just pulling up in front of it, the door was opening, and four men were coming down the steps to the car. One man went in front, followed by another man, and two men in the rear. McNunn immediately recognised the second man: Loudon Blair, Petrovsky's right-hand man and second-in-command.
There wasn't a moment to waste. Whilst on the steps the men were still exposed and separated on different heights, ideal for what was going to happen next.
McNunn spoke into his radio, "No one touch the second man from the bottom of the steps - the one with the red scarf. Do it now!"
Six suppressed shots immediately found their targets in the foreheads of the men on the steps. One by one they dropped to the ground in quick succession, each man receiving a double tap from the men armed with rifles and night sights, who McNunn had strategically placed on the roofs of the garages opposite the Casino entrance.
Several shots also took out the driver of the Mercedes, fired by one of McNunn's men who jumped out of their other car and ran straight towards the Mercedes.
The man on the steps who was still alive saw what had happened to everyone around him and dropped towards the ground, moving quickly towards the door of the Mercedes for cover.
But before he made it, he was quickly grabbed and lifted off his feet by three more of McNunn's men who had jumped out of a black van, run towards the Casino, and scooped him up by his armpits.
The black van drove forward and stopped in front of the Mercedes, and the back doors were flung open just in time for Petrovsky's man to be bundled into the back of the van, followed quickly by his captors.
The van then accelerated away, with the other men covering its departure before jumping into their own waiting cars and chasing after it.
They were all gone before the first men emerged from the Casino and ran down the steps to see what had happened.
Thirty-one seconds from start to finish.
-------------------------
Hillside Farm
Threipmuir Reservoir
The Pentland Hills
Edinburgh
Wednesday
0.48 a.m. G.M.T.
Tommy and his men were driving slowly down the dirt-track road to the bunker on the fa
rm which McNunn owned beside the Threipmuir Reservoir, in the hills just outside Edinburgh.
The bunker was a mile from the nearest road and several hundred metres from the nearest house, which not surprisingly, McNunn owned too.
No one ever came out this way. Few people in Edinburgh even knew there was a beautiful loch hidden away in the Pentland Hills not far from the city, and at night time there were no other human beings anywhere nearby.
Even if it was possible to hear the screams outside the walls of the bunker, there would be no one there to hear them.
Which made the place ideal because there was often a lot of screaming going on in the bunker.
Tommy had bought the farm and its land over ten years before. The bunker was real. It was something he had built in the hills to ensure that should the world go tits up, and a nuclear war started, McNunn would be able to get to it very quickly, go underground and hold out with more than a year's supply of food.
It wasn't anything like the government bunkers you saw in the films, but it was good enough.
There were six very large rooms, toilets, showers, a generator, and everything else you would need to stay alive and sane while you waited for the world outside to settle down and reassert some sort of order. Fresh water came from the local reservoir, stored in massive underwater tanks and isolated from the outside world once the radioactive fallout began.
It wasn't that Tommy was paranoid. As a little boy, he had been a boy cub and later a scout. It was rather that Tommy always liked to be prepared. Prepared for any eventuality, whatever that may be, and with the money he had, why not build a bunker if it offered him security he might need?
Until the war did come, meanwhile, Tommy soon realised he had built the perfect hide-out, and the perfect torture chamber. Unless you knew where the hidden entrance was, you would never be able to find your way in, and once you were in, guests would never be able to find their way out, alive. A track record which so far, had not been broken.
Say You're Sorry: A Gripping Crime Thriller (A DCI Campbell McKenzie Detective Conspiracy Thriller No 1) Page 29