Dan smiled and said, ‘Okay, maybe you’re right, so who’s beneath him; in every organisation there is a hierarchy, if he’s top dog who comes next?’
‘There are three men; Jonas Williams in Australia, Devon McCall in Santa Fe, New Mexico and a man named Nakatomi, he in Japan.’
‘Tell me what you know about them?’
‘Why? I am dead anyway.’
‘There are a lot worse things than death, you will not leave here, that is true, but if you help me I’ll make it quick, I promise you that.’
Krieger sighed, ‘Have you scotch?’
Terry laughed but poured a glass and held it to the man’s lips while Krieger drank it all.
‘Okay, these men.’ Krieger told them all he knew, it wasn’t a lot but it was enough to be going on with. When he was finished Dan said, ‘One last question; did you ever see the hand of God in what you’ve done?’
‘No; there is no God.’
Dan nodded and Terry shot Krieger between the yes with a silenced pistol that he had removed from his jacket. A spray of blood exited from the back of the big man’s head and splattered across the wall.
Terry shot the dead man twice more in the chest, ‘Motherfucker I’ve just decorated this room!’
‘That make you feel better?’ Dan asked.
Terry shrugged his shoulders, ‘A little.’
Terry told Carl to get rid of the body, he handed the pistol to Carl. ‘This too.’
‘I’m on it,’ Carl said.
Dan stood in front of the window and rested his forehead against the cold glass.
‘I thought killing was long behind me.’
Terry touched his brother’s shoulder.
‘Theoretically speaking, I did the killing.’
‘Nah, we both know that’s a lie.’
‘If you go through with this, there’ll be a lot more to come.’
‘I know, I know.’
Terry could hear the anguish in his brother’s voice. Dan was no longer like the crazy twenty year old that everyone feared.
‘Is it worth it Dan?’
‘For a life not spent living in fear?’ Dan said, ‘And for the life that I could have with Chloe; yes it’s worth it.’
‘Then it’s worth the sacrifice.’
‘I know, but I thought I buried that Dan a long time ago.’
‘And now the beast is almost free and it’s hard to let it loose again?’
Dan laughed, it sounded at once harsh and sad, ‘No brother, that’s the problem; it’s all too easy and that’s what scares me the most.’
‘Well if it helps to make you feel better, I’ve heard of this Nakatomi; word is he’s a paedophile and all round scumbag.’
‘Then he’ll be the first.’
‘What can I do?’
‘Organise flights to Tokyo.’
‘I can do that, when do you want to go?’
‘Tomorrow if possible, I have plans tonight.’
Dan started to walk away but Terry grabbed him by the elbow stopping him.
‘Go to Chloe, this evening relax and have some fun, there’s nothing you can do until you get to Japan so don’t worry about tomorrow until tomorrow is here, get what I mean?’
Dan nodded.
‘Then you need to prioritise,’ Terry added. ‘You know what I mean?’
Again Dan only nodded.
Dan found Chloe relaxing in the huge bath on the third floor. Only her head was visible above the mounds of bubble bath. Chloe smiled as he came in to the room.
‘Have you ever seen a bath so big, you could fit eight in here and still have room for a swim?’
Dan put the toilet seat down and sat on the lid and smiled at her. It was a melancholic smile and Chloe sat up in the bath, soap suds slid down over her breasts and she got to her feet.
‘What’s the matter honey?’ Chloe asked as she stepped over the rim of the bath and crossed the room to Dan, she left a trail of soap suds behind her. Her body glimmered in the overhead lighting and Dan watched as soap bubbles slid down her naked form. Her pubic area had been freshly shaven again and he could see the outline of her puckered lips but for the first time he felt no sexual stirring, recent events had killed his libido.
Chloe sat on his lap, putting one wet arm around his shoulders, she kissed his forehead.
‘You poor thing, tell me what’s eating at you.’
‘There are things you should know, that we need to talk about.’ Dan said; his voice quivering with pent up emotion.
‘Okay, talk to me.’
‘Get dressed.’
‘No, tell me now.’ Chloe put the palm of her left hand to his cheek and rubbed the eyebrow above his right eye with her thumb, ‘Dan, talk to me.’ She sounded so calm.
Dan nodded, ‘I just killed a man downstairs; I didn’t pull the trigger but I did it.’
‘Okay.’ Again she sounded so calm and assured that Dan felt compelled to tell her more.
‘I did things to Rufus, fuck, I tortured him, and then arranged for two men to sodomise him,’ Dan laughed bitterly, ‘Chloe, back in the day people were terrified of me. I worked with Terry; we were the Kray twins of our own little kingdom. I’m not a good person Chloe, I have blood on my hands from all the things I have done, and if there’s a God I very much doubt he’ll forgive me for those things.’ Dan fell silent and Chloe figured he was done for now. She knew there was still more that he wanted to tell her but for now she thought he had said all he could.
Chloe held his face in her hands, their eyes inches apart and she said, ‘Dan, the person you were is what made you the person I now love, what you’ve done over the last few days is what you had to do to ensure that all of this ends.’
‘Chloe, the Brotherhood is one thing, but there are thousands of bad people out there in the world; paedophiles, rapists, baby killers, and...’
Chloe interrupted him, ‘You’re right baby, this world is a bad world, but we can do something about it, even if only in a small way, the Brotherhood deserves to go down.’
‘I know it, but what if by destroying these evil people, we ourselves become evil?’
Chloe shook her head from side to side, ‘Dan, what we have to do doesn’t make us evil, we want a chance at a life, we want to stop bad people from doing very bad things, and if God is up there, he’ll understand, of that I truly believe.’
‘Really?’
‘Uh-huh, for evil to exist it only takes for good men to do nothing, someone said something like that once, I can’t remember who, but what we’re going to do is a good thing.’
‘It’s going to get bloody Chloe, I can’t help thinking you’d be better off away from me.’
Chloe smiled, ‘Not this again, we’re in this together, I won’t keep saying that, but if you bring this up again I shall have to withdraw my promise of anytime, anywhere.’
Dan laughed despite everything, ‘Okay.’
Chloe kissed the end of Dan’s nose. ‘So what’s next?’
‘Tomorrow we fly to Japan.’
‘And tonight, are we staying here?’
Dan shook his head, ‘No, we’ll stay at a hotel, Terry’s organising flights for us, we have tonight off.’
Chloe stood up and Dan kissed her flat stomach.
‘I better go get dressed if we’re going to a hotel.’
Dan prevented her from leaving the bathroom.
‘Wear something special Chloe, something...’ He couldn’t think of the right words.
Chloe smiled down at him, ‘Fuckable?’
He laughed, ‘Yes.’
‘Okay baby, fuckable I can do, give me an hour okay?’
‘Sure.’
Chloe kissed the top of his head and skipped from the bathroom.
Dan got up and crossed to the bath, he stuck his arm in to the water and found the plug with his fingers, he pulled it free and the water began to drain from the huge tub.
Dan felt something give inside him and he managed to get to the toilet and slam th
e lid up and then his guts came up in violent racking bouts, he was sick until his stomach was empty, his throat burned raw and he continued to dry heave for several minutes until tears ran down his face.
Dan found Terry in the kitchen pouring a cup of coffee. It smelled rich and strong and Terry offered him one. Dan took the cup and sipped from the steaming cup.
‘Good coffee.’
‘I know,’ said Terry, ‘I have it shipped direct from Columbia.’
‘Covers up other things too.’
Terry grinned, ‘Yes but customs are getting harder to play ball with, those fucks cost me three million in back-handers last year alone.’
‘My heart bleeds.’
‘You tell Chloe what happened?’
‘Yes, I had to.’
‘Figured you would, have you told her about mum?’
Dan shook his head, ‘I’m not ready for that yet.’
Terry nodded, ‘I think about her from time to time, you?’
‘Not if I can help it.’ Dan finished his coffee and poured another from the machine. ‘Chloe and I will be leaving soon for the hotel.’
‘Does she suspect anything?’
Dan smiled, ‘Totally clueless.’
‘I’ve got you both on a flight tomorrow, standard class, it was the best I could do.’
‘Thank you.’ Dan said, he took a small white envelope from his jeans back pocket and handed it to Terry. ‘That’s if we don’t make it back.’
Terry slipped the envelope unopened in to the inside left pocket of his jacket.
‘You’ll be back.’
‘It’ll be both of us or neither of us, I know that much.’
Terry fell silent, not sure what to say.
‘I love you Terry, despite everything, you’re my brother and I love you.’
‘Love you too man, just don’t tell anyone, if word got out I had a heart, they’d be all over me like a pack of hyenas.’
Terry picked up a pen and a notepad and scribbled something down; he folded the sheet and handed it to Dan.
‘Take this, it’s a name and number of an associate of mine in Tokyo; his name is Katsumoto.’
‘Thanks,’ Dan said and pocketed the note.
‘He’ll be expecting you, he has no love for Nakatomi, and he’ll help you if he can.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Do you fancy a game of pool?’
‘Now?’
‘Sure, why not?’
‘Why not, Chloe’ll be a while.’
‘Great.’
‘Of course you’re gonna lose.’
‘Bullshit, I’m going to kick your ass.’
‘As if.’
Dan’s prediction came true, in the thirty minutes that they had been playing Terry had lost all three games.
Terry re-racked the balls. ‘When was the last time you played?’
Dan leaning against the pool table shrugged, ‘Five, maybe six years.’
‘I guess you never lose it.’
Dan laughed. ‘Brother; you never had it to begin with.’
Terry took the triangle away and broke the balls.
‘You rush your shots, you can pot balls but you never plan your next shot, you’re too reckless.’
Terry quickly potted four balls and then missed a corner pocket. Dan cued his first shot and in a series of well executed shots cleared the table.
‘Fuck it,’ said Terry.
‘Fancy playing for money?’
‘Screw that; I’d be broke before the night was out.’
There was a knock at the door and Terry said, ‘Come on in Chloe; stop your man from embarrassing the hell out of me.’
‘You do that to yourself,’ Dan said.
The door opened and Chloe entered the room. The silence that followed her in was all consuming. Both brothers stood with their mouths open.
Chloe laughed. ‘Cat got your tongue boys?’
Terry cleared his throat. ‘Fucking hell!’
‘Jesus, you look...’ Dan said but he was unable to complete the sentence; he’d never seen her look so stunning.
‘Fuckable?’ She asked with a cocky grin.
Dan nodded his head.
Terry secured his cue in the wall rack and shook his head. ‘Damn girl, I’m out of here, I’ve got to go call a couple of girlfriends.’ As he passed her in the doorway he said, ‘You’re too much.’
Chloe walked slowly towards Dan, her high heels clicking on the oak flooring. ‘Well don’t just gawp, say something.’
Dan put his cue on the green baize of the pool table and said, ‘Perfect.’
Chloe smiled, ‘I’ll accept that, perfect was what I was going for.’
Chloe was wearing a scarlet red satin dress; the hem cut diagonally downwards, the highest point high on her left thigh, its lowest ending just above her right knee. The front was cut deep; in a V-shape, wide at the top, the point ending at her navel. The curves and slopes of her breasts were clear to see and she wore no bra. Chloe turned around and the V was repeated at the back, the point ending just above her ass. She wore six inch red high heels and as she turned Dan could see the patterned top of her hold-ups on her left thigh. She wore matching red lipstick and her hair was swirled atop her head and held in place away from her throat and face with pins. Her eye lashes; curled under mascara accentuated the aqua blue of her eyes; she looked like a movie star stepped from the pages of GQ magazine.
‘And I’m even wearing knickers if you can believe it.’
Chloe bent seductively over the pool table, she arched her back pushing her ass upwards, and she smiled over her shoulder. ‘Have a look.’
Dan slid the satin dress up her thighs, his fingers slid across her stocking tops and as he pushed the dress over her ass he saw she was wearing a pair of transparent flesh coloured knickers with ruffles across her backside.
‘I made everything I’m wearing.’
‘Uh-huh,’ he managed and stroked her ass.
Chloe stood up and pushed Dan playfully away, ‘No way Jose, later.’
‘But...’
Chloe laughed his plea away. ‘If I have to wait for the ring, you have to wait for me.’
‘Damn!’
‘Go get showered, I’ve put clean clothes out for you, I’ll just be waiting here practising my game.’
She picked up his abandoned cue and stroked it teasingly.
Chloe was sat on the pool table swinging her feet waiting for Dan. She’d seen the look in his eyes when he had told her to wear something special. She was young but she was far from stupid, she knew that Dan was fearful that things would go wrong and that death might be waiting up ahead for them, she knew he wanted one last memory. If she had her way they’d have a future to make thousands of memories but there was a tiny knot of dread inside her and whenever she thought too much about the dangers lurking in front of them she would grow nauseous. She was also concerned about Dan’s past, she didn’t care what he had done, only that there seemed to be stuff in his history that he struggled to talk about. Chloe had seen him do things, scary violent things so she was petrified about what he might be afraid to talk to her about.
Her thoughts were broke when Terry came in to the games room. Chloe started to get up but he waved her away.
‘It’s only a table, stay where you are, we need to talk.’
‘Okay.’ Terry was making her feel apprehensive but she tried not to show it in front of him.
‘There’s no easy way to say this so I’ll just be blunt with you, Dan was always the one who could talk to people, not me.’
‘Okay.’ Chloe said her mouth suddenly dry.
‘There was a time that Dan was like me, we moved in certain circles, I don’t know how much he’s told you, and it’s not my place to talk about his past.’ Terry circled the table and she figured it was best to just let him talk.
‘We haven’t had anything to do with one another for many years, I did something that I shouldn’t have and Dan left, he went legit and built a n
ew life, a good life, and the man that he once was became buried. Now that person is coming back but I can see that he struggles with it. He’s gotten a little slow, he’s too thoughtful, like when we play pool, he thinks things through, he plans, which is good, but not always.’
Terry stopped at the far end of the table and rolled a red ball down the length of the table where it cushioned off the far corner and slowed neared the middle of the table.
‘That’s good, the way he is but there are times when thinking can get you killed, where a moment’s hesitation fucks everything up. If you ever find yourself in that position, don’t think, just act, deal with the consequences later, do you get my meaning?’
Chloe nodded her head. ‘I think so.’
‘Good, and remember this; innocent people die every day, that’s just the way things are, make sure than you and Dan aren’t among them.’
Terry walked to the door, his hand poised over the door handle; he looked back at Chloe and smiled. It might have been the first genuine smile she’d seen him crack.
‘Give him a life time of memories tonight; despite everything I do love him.’
Before she could answer Terry quickly left the room leaving Chloe alone once more. His last statement gave her even more to think about. Despite everything I do love him.
Terry had arranged for one of his drivers to take them to the hotel and Carl had put their cases in the boot of the Mercedes that was idling at the kerb.
Terry stood by the front door and shook his brother’s hand.
‘Good luck; I’ll have the plane tickets couriered to the hotel first thing.’
‘Thank you.’
Terry gave Chloe’s hand a brief shake and said, ‘Remember what I told you.’
Chloe nodded, Dan looked at them both and terry said, ‘Private conversation, now go on, get out of here, I have some company arriving soon.’
Dan followed Chloe to the Mercedes and held the door open for her. Chloe slid in to the back seat and smiled as Dan caught sight of her nipples. Dan got in beside her and closed the door. He looked back to his brother. Terry waved them off and closed the door on the street when the car turned the corner at the end of the road.
Terry picked up the hall phone and dialled a number from memory.
Rage Against The Machine: Special Edition (Dan & Chloe Book 1) Page 25