by Katy Jordan
“No, I’m not, I swear. I went in when he was interrogating Burns. You know who Burns is?”
“Aye, Jack Burns, ah know ’um,” Watt screeched impatiently.
“Neon was doing a number on him, and I was sent in to deliver a message. Your cousin was hanging from the wall. As an example, according to Neon.”
Gecko and Rocket looked on as rage slowly built up in Watt.
This man was now a volcano ready to erupt.
“Am gony fuckin’ kill that bastur’!” Watt let rip. “He ’hinks he kin dae this ’cause he knows a couple’y ’hings? He can get ’imsel tae fuck!”
“Woah, woah, woah… wait,” Gecko pleaded with him after he pulled a gun out of a drawer in the side unit, “wait a second, okay? We can help you.”
“Aw, kin ye?” Watt mocked him. “How?”
“There’s a few of us at Prismatic that hate him just as much as you do. Making false and empty promises, emotionally or physically blackmailing us to keep us in line, executing people in front of us to put the fear in us. We’re done with it. We’re planning a way out. But… we need a leader,” Gecko enticed him like a pro. “You’d be a perfect fit.”
“Ye want me tae help ye’z aw get oot fae under ’uhm?” Watt repeated, making sure he was hearing him right. “Eh ye mad? Neon’ll go pure ape shit, man!”
“Yeah, and who’s he going to have to do his bidding after the biggest bulk of his ‘workers’ turn against him?” Gecko persuaded him.
Watt was clearly taken by his offer.
His arm that was irresponsibly waving the loaded gun around had went rather still, hanging safely down by his side.
“How m’ny folk eh weh talkin’ aboot?”
“I don’t have an exact head count, but I’d say about… seven eighths of Prismatic. If not more,” he offered. “How does that work for you?”
Watt tossed the gun back down on the unit, nodding his head, ready to join forces.
“Aye. That wurks fur me, man.”
“Good stuff. Come with us. We’ll take you to your new followers. They’ve been anticipating your arrival since I suggested we talk to you.”
“They really ’hink am the way tae go, aye?” asked Watt, a look of pride taking over him.
“Oh, aye. It’s the best idea they’ve heard in a long time.”
“Right, nae bo’er, son. Am wae ye, aw the way, man, a hunner pur cent.”
Gecko winked at Rocket as he followed Watt to the door and went outside. They waited on the step as he locked his front door, and walked down the driveway to the pavement, Rocket hanging back slightly.
“Where eh ye parked?” he asked, looking up and down the street. “Dae ye’s drive, aye?”
“Aye. That’s our car just over there.”
Gecko guided him down to Rocket’s car, who was still hanging back from them slightly. Pulling one hand out of his pocket, he pressed his finger into his ear.
“Red Rocket to The Spectrum, we have the package. Estimated time of delivery is three hours.”
“The Spectrum to Rocket, good job boys. This is the beginning of the next step. Get home safe.”
Rocket let a glimmer of a smile escape as he unlocked the car with his fingerprint at the door handle. The Spectrum nipped their ear once more, making their souls soar with pride.
“You’ve done Bullet proud.”
Chapter Thirty-One
It was just after eleven at night when they arrived back at Colour Coded headquarters with Kevin Watt in the back seat of Rocket’s car.
Gecko and Rocket were rather happy that Watt had done nothing but moan and groan about Neon all the way back, telling them all about the goings on that he knew of regarding the man they were all after.
“Whit the fuck is this?” Watt pestered them as they pulled on to the driveway of the grand structure that was their home. “This isn’y Neon’s pad!”
“Just trust us, Kev. You’re in the right place,” Gecko said.
“Is this ee’s new place or suh’n?”
“Sort of,” Gecko replied cryptically.
They slowed to a halt at the front of the building before Gecko got out of the car with Watt following his lead and doing the same.
The Spectrum stood at the entrance in his usual stance; hands tucked behind his back, peering at them over his small spectacles.
“Mr Watt,” he greeted him, “thank you for joining us. Please come in. We have a room ready for you.”
“Who’re you?” Watt probed.
“Someone who has a proposition for you,” The Spectrum replied, giving nothing away.
He nodded to Rocket, giving him the go-ahead to park the car in the garage. Rocket drove off, causing Watt to spin around, his face questioning everything.
“Where the fuck am ah?”
“You’re safe, Mr Watt.”
“Mah name’s Kev, mate.”
“That’s lovely, Mr Watt. Please, come inside out of the cold,” The Spectrum offered, holding the door open for him.
Watt walked past him cautiously with Gecko who led him up the glass stairs at the right-hand side of the foyer and through the conservatory. Gecko said nothing as he reached the spiral staircase and climbed up to the next floor where he, Tide and Flare resided and walked along past all of their rooms to the end of the corridor.
The interrogation room.
That small, bland room that Jack had once sat in not too long ago.
“Take a seat, Kev. We’ll be with you shortly,” Gecko said, holding the door open as Watt passed through.
“You’re no’ a fuckin’ Prismatic worker!” Watt cried. “Who eh ye? Dae ye wurk fur the government’re suh’n?”
“You’re right and you’re wrong, Kev,” Gecko informed him, “I don’t work for Prismatic, but I’m not a government worker either. You could call me a freelancer with an interest in Neon. Sit tight.”
Gecko slammed the heavy door closed and locked it as he witnessed an angry man clawing the other side of it, screaming at the top of his lungs. Rocket, Youth and The Spectrum appeared at his back as he pulled the key out of the door.
“Is there only cuffs in there? We might need a straitjacket, he’s a wee bit angry.”
“Where’s Bullet when you need her?” Youth said dolefully.
“Now, now, Youth. We can do this. Rocket, do you recall the self-defence manoeuvres that Bullet taught you last year?” The Spectrum asked calmly.
“I think I remember, sir.”
“Well, let’s hope you do. By the sounds of things, you’re going to need them,” The Spectrum said, referring to Watt’s continuous anger outburst that he was taking out on the door.
They walked into the room and looked through the window, observing Watt as he banged frantically on the door, occasionally kicking at it.
“It’s a good job Bullet suggested reinforcing that door. It used to be a flimsy wooden number,” Rocket determined. “So, I restrain him, we get him to the table and Gecko cuffs him up. What’re we doing after that?”
“We play a special quiz game. It’s special because only he answers questions, and we get to choose which questions we ask him,” The Spectrum said.
“We interrogate him,” Youth translated.
“We do indeed,” The Spectrum clarified, “did you find anything out about him on your journey home?”
“Well, it kind of came across as though he’s the hierarchy of the Lion’s Den, but he didn’t want to be,” Gecko explained. “Basically, his cousins died, and Neon just sort of told him it was now his duty to run the business.”
“So, he’s been forced to do something that he doesn’t want to… do we know how he’s being wrangled into doing it? Blackmail?”
“We think so,” Rocket continued, “he didn’t say it outright, but he said Neon told him about his cousins and sort of implied that he’d go down the same route if he didn’t step up.”
“Hang on…” Gecko interjected, “Rocket, he implied at the house that he didn’t know Andrew was
dead. He freaked out when we told him.”
“So, he lied? About which one; Neon threatening him about it or the fact that he didn’t already know?” Rocket probed, angrily.
“Well, that’s definitely something to bring up with him in there,” The Spectrum suggested. “Did he say anything about Neon’s drug scam? The cocaine getting swapped for salt?”
“We tried to tip-toe around it and get him to mention something but he never did,” Gecko said, “I don’t think he knows about it, sir.”
“Good. Run with that, and then merge into the lie he told you. But, be careful in there. Whether he lied or not, this man has been through an emotional hurricane because of Neon and we’re about to add an earthquake.”
Rocket and Gecko left the observation room and stood between the only barricade that separated them from Watt. Slowly and quietly, Gecko turned the key in the door, the click drowned out by Watt’s cries of anger.
“Ready?” Rocket checked.
“Not really.”
“One… Two… THREE.”
They burst into the room taking Watt by surprise. But, that didn’t affect him much.
He threw a punch towards Gecko, and Rocket grabbed his arm, pulling it back so his hand was stretched into the air above him. Watt leaned backwards with the pressure that Rocket was putting on him before he was grabbed by the scruff of his top and thrown on to the table.
Gecko lunged over and trapped his arms against the desk while Rocket put the cuffs on him.
One hand was secure in the handcuffs before Watt swung his entire body around and caught Rocket in the face with his elbow, hurling him to the floor. Gecko was clawing at Watt’s T-shirt when Youth ran in like lightning and forced the deranged man’s head down on the table while Gecko fumbled with the cuffs around his other wrist.
“You okay, man?” Youth shouted over to Rocket who was still on the floor.
“Yeah…” he groaned.
Rocket got up off the floor and rammed the seat into the back of Watt’s legs.
“Sit down!” he growled as Watt fell back into the chair.
“You fuckin’ tricked me, ya wee prick!”
“Actually, everything we told you was the truth. We want Neon. And we believe you can help us,” Gecko said, sitting down in one of the seats opposite him. “But, we need some information.”
“Well, if you dinny know any’hin’, whit makes ye ’hink ah know?” Watt’s voice boomed in Gecko’s face.
“Because you work for Neon. We don’t,” Youth chimed in.
“You said ye’z did… so ye did lie tae meh!”
“Yeah, one little white lie, but you’re used to worse than that from Neon, aren’t you?” Gecko pried.
Watt leaned forward to his enchained hands and ran his fingers through what hair he had left on his head.
“Fine. Whit dae ye’z wan’y know?”
“How long have the Lion’s Den been in collaboration with Neon?” Youth asked.
“Ehhh… aboot four, five years ah ‘hink. Mah maw hud jus’ been taken tae hospital an’ that wiz in 2012… so aye, five years.”
“And how long have they dressed up their cocaine as C4?” Youth pried further.
“That wiz jus’ recent. His Pristmatic ’hing had a front; apparently experts in dealing wae explosives fur eh government or suh’n,” Watt hung his head down and closed his eyes. “Ah dinny know how it aw worked though.”
He hated that he was ratting out the one man who had him wrapped around his little finger.
He also couldn’t figure out why it was so easy for him to do it.
“So, how long has he been committing the drug scam in their name?”
“Whit drug scam?” Watt asked perplexedly.
“Are you going to tell us that you didn’t know that Neon was replacing the cocaine with salt, redressing it to look like C4 again and then shipping it back out?” Gecko interjected.
“Naw! Whit’s he dain tha’ fur?!”
“Because he’s trying to make you a target,” Gecko said.
“While making us a target,” Youth added.
“And saving his own arse,” Rocket jumped on the bandwagon.
“Eh?! Tell meh how?”
Youth took a pile of photos that were folded up in his inside pocket and flattened them out in front of them.
“These boxes; they have initials on them, see? ‘BB’, ‘FF’, ‘RR’ and ‘SS’,” he said, laying them out side by side to face Watt. “Have you ever seen them before?”
“Well, aye, ah huv’. That’s how they git delivered tae us at the hoose,” Watt said, eyeing each photo carefully. “But, only the wans th’t we haun oot personally. The rest go straight tae whoever ordered thum.”
“And this signature?” Youth put down a fifth photo. “Is that the usual signature or has it changed recently?”
“Neon telt Andy thit he’d bro’t someb’dy else oan tae the business deal, and he hud ee’z trust tae sign off oan shit wae his signature.”
“Well, we can confirm that he was lying. He was forging that signature without anyone’s consent.”
“So, does this bastur’ even exist or did that wanker j’st make up a name?”
“No, he exists,” Gecko confirmed. “The gentleman you saw outside when we got here? That’s who he’s setting up.”
“An’ who’s he?” Watt probed back at them.
“Our boss,” Rocket said without hesitation, “Neon’s setting all of us up. The initials ‘RR’ are mine.” Rocket slammed the table and stuck his face in Watt’s. “He’s setting you up as well as us, Kev. Help us fix it.”
“Ah don’t even know where ’e is!” he yelled back at him.
“We’ve got people looking for him, you don’t need to worry about that. What you need to do is tell the rest of your buddies in the Lion’s Den what he’s been doing and to cut all ties with him.”
“So… yur no gawny haun me o’er tae eh polis?” Watt clarified.
“No,” Gecko replied simply, “you do what you want, when you want, however you want. You don’t bother us, we won’t bother you.”
“But, your gang need to know that we had nothing to do with this. You fix it at your end and we’ll fix it at ours,” Rocket hissed in his ear as he continued to tower over him in a very sinister fashion.
“Aye, fine, whatever!” Watt agreed, leaning away from him.
“You’ll help us?” Gecko checked.
“If ye promise no eh grass me up, then aye, ye’ve goat a deal.”
“Good,” Rocket said, standing up and pacing slowly behind him. “Now, there’s just one more thing to clear up.”
“Aw, whit noo, man?” Watt breathed, exasperated.
“You lied to us,” Gecko said outright.
“Eh? Aboot whit?”
“Your cousins.”
“Ah didn’t lie aboot thum! Yer aff yer heid, man. How did ah lie?”
“Let us make this very simple for you,” Rocket paced his way around and behind Gecko to face him, folding his arms, glaring at him for a few seconds. “Did you, or did you not, know that your cousins were both dead?”
“Whit?”
“You messed up, Kevin,” Gecko informed him, “you made out as though you were shocked at the news that Andrew was dead, but in the car, you told us that Neon had threatened you with ‘what happened to your cousins’. So, which one is it?”
“Both! Or… neither… ye dinny get it!” Watt growled, frustrated.
“Then explain it to us,” Youth piped up.
“Neon wis blackmailin’ ev’rybody!” Watt exploded. “Obviously, ah knew aboot Davie ‘coz he died five years ago after eh trial wis aw done an’ that. Andy, ah genuinely didn’y huv a clue, man, honestly!”
“How was he blackmailing them?”
Watt started lulling his head from side to side, arguing with himself in his own head. He leaned backwards and stared at the ceiling while he let out a very audible sigh.
“Come on, man,” Youth persuaded.
“They’re gone, mate. They’re not being blackmailed anymore, so, just tell us.”
Eyes closed, Watt slung his head forward, his chin resting on his chest.
He remained there, making sure to avoid eye contact at all cost.
“Davie raped that lassie.”
“Jenna Harvey?” Youth asked.
“If that wis ’er name then, aye.”
“What about Andrew? And you?” Gecko pried.
“We helped ’um tae cover it up,” Watt muttered. “That’s how ’e goat away wae it.”
“You gave him an alibi,” Youth whispered, although more to himself than to the room.
Shockingly, a look of shame filled Watt’s face, and he nodded to confirm Youth’s murmuring.
Rocket resumed his position; he leaned on the table and allowed his face to prowl menacingly closer to Watt’s.
“Why?” he snarled.
“Family, man. That’s whit ye dae fur family.”
“And what about innocent girls that would never ask for something as heinous as that to happen to them?”
Watt remained silent.
“As much as I respect you for being honest,” Gecko continued playing good cop, “that still doesn’t explain if you knew Andy was dead before we told you. So, what’s the answer?”
“Well, considerin’ aw the threats gettin’ chucked at meh, and the fact ah hudn’y heard fae ‘um in days, ah hud genuinely convinced masel’ that ’e wis deid. Tae the point ah believed it,” Watt opened up, looking them in the eye for the first time, “aw you’s did wis c’nfirm it fur meh.”
A knock on the window had them all bounce back a little.
Gecko, Youth and Rocket pulled away from Watt and left him alone in the interview room, letting the silence settle around him like mist on a cold winter morning.
In the small room with The Spectrum was Lab, looking serious as the pair of them whispered.
“Lab?” Gecko called out.
“What’s going on?” Youth asked.
Lab turned to face them, eyeing each one of them individually before going back along with them again.
“Jack’s awake. He’s doing well. Understandably, he aches a fair amount, and he’s rather stiff, but that’s to be expected considering the extent of his injuries.”