Rotten to the Core

by Casey Kelleher

  Upstairs, Jay was struggling to get his head around what Tanya was saying.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Tan: what’s the point? He’s going to know it’s us, he’s not fucking stupid.”

  “Of course he’s going to know it’s us, Jay, from the minute he hears our voices on the phone he’ll know it’s us; that’s exactly why we need to do this, it’s the only way he’s going to take us seriously. Jay, he thinks you’re a fucking mug, trust me on this one. I’ve heard just about every opinion that bloke has on you a hundred fucking times; he has no respect for you whatsoever. We need to show him that we mean fucking business, or he’s going to think you’re just fucking with him.” Tanya lit up her first joint of the day: six o’clock in the morning was too early for a glass of wine, even by her standards.

  Pacing the floor, Jay didn’t know what to do; in a way, Tanya was right, Billy had no respect for him, and Billy hated him with a passion and had treated him like a cunt. Billy had publicly made it known to everyone and anyone that no-one was to do any kind of business with him, and that was what pissed Jay off the most. He had worked hard to gain clout, and now he was going to have to go back to square one, dealing pathetic wraps to school kids. He needed this money as much as Tanya; and he needed to show Billy that he wouldn’t be mugged off by him… but this? This, he wasn’t sure he could do.

  “I’ve done a lot worse, Tan, you and I both know that, but I don’t think I can do it. I guess I’ve been too close to her. Isn’t there some other way we can make him see we’re serious?”

  “No, Jay, there isn’t. I want Billy to be sitting in his kitchen, my fucking kitchen, eating his poxy cornflakes, with that little slag, and I want him to get the shock of his life when he opens his mail and gets a couple of his sister’s fingers staring up at him. I hope he fucking chokes on his own vomit.”

  “There must be some other way, surely—?”

  Cutting him off, Tanya shouted, “There is no other way, Jay, this is it. Grow some fucking balls, or I’ll go down there and chop her bloody fingers off myself.”

  Jay felt sick. Kate irritated the life out of him, but she was a good person at heart, a bit prim and proper but decent all the same. He knew he had treated her like a piece of crap on his shoe, she had been nothing more than a toy of which that he had quickly become bored and had then tossed aside. He had put her through more than one person deserved in a lifetime, yet she had not retaliated. She had simply picked up her bags and left, with not a word to him, and every ounce of dignity she had in her. He respected that.

  Jay couldn’t even look Kate in the eyes when he had gone downstairs to give her food and water. Every time he had gone down to the basement he could feel her glaring at him, he could feel the hate radiating from her; he couldn’t bear it, he wanted to be a heartless bastard to her and take his anger out on her, but he felt none, in fact all he felt was guilt. There was no way he could do what Tanya wanted, and he knew he had to find a way of delaying her impulsiveness.

  “Tan, babe, you’ve been watching too many gangster movies, we do mean business and we don’t need to start cutting people’s body parts off and sending them via Royal Mail to prove it love, trust me. We need to make the call: today. We tell him what we want, and we tell him that unless we get it then, and only then, Tan, will we take more extreme measures to show him we’re serious.”

  Tanya finished her joint; she stubbed it out in a little floral ashtray and sank down onto the sofa. She knew it made sense; she just really wanted to wipe that fucking grin off Billy’s smug bloody face. Tanya was starting to get pissed off with Jay, though; she could see that over the last few days he seemed to have a real problem doing anything that involved sorting out that sad cow, Kate. He didn’t even want to take food down to her, they had almost had a barney over it, and he had backed down. Tanya couldn’t stand the bitch, and the less she did for her the better.

  Tanya couldn’t understand what Jay’s problem was; he swore he didn’t have feelings for Kate, so why couldn’t he do what they had talked about? Why was he leaving it all to her, it was like he had no balls all of a sudden.

  “Fine, we’ll do it your way, we’ll call him soon, but you tell him if he wants to see his perfect little sister again, we want two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. I’m not going through all this shit for loose change, Jay, I think a quarter of a mill should see us right for a bit; get us started, you know.”

  Relieved that he had managed to delay her, if only for a little while, Jay knelt over her and started kissing her softly, smelling the sweet scent of her perfume, pound signs swimming around in his head.

  43

  The warehouse’s office, normally buzzing with noise and banter, was eerily quiet. The four men seated around the table were not only deep in thought but also silent from the shock of what they had been told. Nobody could believe what they had heard.

  “So, let’s get this straight then.” Ryan rubbed his forehead fiercely, as if the information he had received had gone inside his head and caused it to throb like it might explode at any second. “Jay Shaw has rung you and demanded you give him a quarter of a million pounds. Is he having a fucking giggle? Does he seriously think that you’re going to hand it over so that he can skip off into the sunset and live happily ever fucking after? What is he, a fucking comedian? I can tell you this now, if he thinks he’s getting a penny from you he’s a real fucking joker.”

  Ryan looked at each of the men around the table; the tension had created an atmosphere that was intense, to say the least. Billy had just turned up with a face like thunder: they knew it was bad from the look in his eyes. He had called them into the office with an urgency that made them all worry.

  The call that Billy had been waiting for had come in at nine o’clock that morning, it had confirmed what he had known all along, Jay was behind Kate’s disappearance, and so Billy hadn’t been shocked when he heard the familiar, malicious voice. What he had been surprised at was Jay’s demands.

  Jay had spoken quietly and calmly, informing Billy that his sister was alive and well and would be returned safe and sound once he had paid the cash that Jay asked for. Billy had started to lose it: what a fucking cheek, how fucking dared he, who did he think he was messing with? He would not get away with this. Taking his sister was crossing the line big time. Billy would break every bone in that imbecile’s body once he got his hands on him. Jay interrupted the name-calling and threats with a warning of his own.

  “You have twenty-four hours to get the money together, Billy boy, if you fuck this up or try anything stupid, I can’t make any promises. Kate will be returned in one piece if you do what I say: do I make myself clear?”

  Billy was silenced at the thought of his sister being in danger and the loaded threat reminded him that he was dealing with a sick, twisted bastard. He reluctantly agreed to Jay’s ultimatum of paying a ransom for Kate’s safe return. Billy was told to sit by the phone at nine the following morning to wait for further instructions.

  The room was silent; so far, Jonny hadn’t said a word, although he and Lee had exchanged numerous looks between themselves. They were all just sitting there, waiting for Billy to say something: anything. They could see that he was not up to dealing with this; he was finding it hard to keep it together. Breaking the silence, Lee said,

  “When he calls you, we need to tell him that we agree to whatever he asks.”

  Ryan laughed out loud in complete disbelief; if it was up to him he would be out hunting this fucker down and when he found him, he would treat him to the slowest and most painful death possible, he wouldn’t be complying with his brainless demands.

  “Let me finish.” Lee held one hand up, to stop Ryan from interrupting, and continued: “We need to play the game. Go along with what he says, and make him think that he has us by the short and curlies. If he thinks that he is the one giving out the orders and making all the demands, then we can catch him off guard. We will be ready when he picks up the money, we will
be three steps ahead of the cunt.”

  As always with the Ellis brothers, Jonny finished off his brother’s sentence:

  “We cannot risk Kate’s life in the smarmy fucker’s hands Billy; this is not a time for games. Pay Jay whatever he asks, we will get Kate back, and we will personally serve Jay up on a plate for you, he’ll be like a lamb to the fucking slaughter.”

  Billy nodded at the men, his friends, whom he trusted with his life. This was exactly what he needed to hear, he was so emotionally fucked up about the situation that he couldn’t think straight, and he needed their support; only with their help could he possibly get through this, it was Kate’s only real chance. Jonny and Lee were the brains of the group, and he hoped that between them they would sort out a plan that would leave no room for fuck ups, and by the time they had executed it, Ryan, the muscle of the group, would have great pleasure in carrying out Jay’s reprisal. Billy, however, was going to make sure that he was there at the end, he would be the one to finally turn the lights out in Jay’s little fucked-up world.

  44

  Paul had spoken to his security team; every single one of his guys had been called in to work. It was being treated like a military operation; these were his best men, they knew what was expected of them, and Paul was confident that they would do as they were asked. He had briefed them about what was going on, and everybody was on red alert. They were expected to watch everything that happened in the club tonight, not even so much as a bag of speed was to pass through the doors. No fights; no scumbags; no trouble. Paul needed them to focus their attention on Jay Shaw.

  Every man who came in this place tonight was to be searched, and Jay Shaw was no exception, if he thought that he could just walk in tooled up, demands or no demands, he had another think coming. Paul knew that they had the upper hand, really, as everybody who worked at the club knew what Jay looked like: the door men, the security, even most of the bar workers. He was a good looking fucker, one of the only things he actually had going for him, and a bloke like him stood out from the average crowd. Most of his security team had worked alongside him at some stage, so Paul had been surprised that this was how Jay wanted to play it. It seemed strange that he would want to make the exchange somewhere as public and personal as the club.

  Paul was aware that there may be more than met the eye going on, particularly as Jay had been outed by him and by Goldie’s in general: he wasn’t taking any chances that Jay might be using this as a chance to get a piece of revenge.

  Yesterday had been the longest twenty-four hours in Paul’s life, there were moments when it had felt like time had actually stopped ticking. He and Billy had sat for most of the afternoon together, talking about Kate and how they thought she would be coping and what they would both like to do to Jay when they got their hands on him, as well as going over the plan for this evening. They had talked it all through so many times that there was nothing left to say and then they had mostly just sat there in silence, both worrying at the worst-case scenario that this all could possibly bring them. Neither of the two men wanted to voice their fears about what this could be.

  Paul had been gobsmacked when Billy had called and told him that Jay’s second call had come this morning demanding that the money be left by the DJ booth at midnight that night. Jay had said once he had picked the money up and got out of the club safely without anyone interfering or trying to do him any harm, then and only then would he text Billy to tell him Kate’s whereabouts: he said that he was the only one who knew this. He had stating categorically that if anything happened to him while he was picking the money up, Kate would be left where she was, in a remote location where she wouldn’t be found for weeks, by which time it would be too late for her.

  Billy had asked what if he was being set up, what if he paid up and Jay didn’t stick to his end of the deal? Jay had just replied that he had no other choice but to trust him.

  “Pay up, don’t fuck it up and you’ll get your sister back. Any trouble and I promise you this, Billy, you will never see her again.”

  Jay must have fucking lost the plot, picking Goldie’s was the stupidest location anyone could have thought of. The door was being manned, there were cameras everywhere, and Jay must have known that. He must have known that both Paul and Billy would be watching for him like hawks, not to mention Billy’s guys, who would be all over the place. Jay must be mental if he thought that he would be walking out of there with his legs intact, let alone a bag full of cash, was safe. Maybe he thought that there was safety in numbers or something and that he would be able to just sneak in undetected, but there was no way that was going to happen.

  Billy was getting the cash, a cool half a million; it would be there any minute. Paul knew that Billy had no intention of letting Jay get away with it, though. He had been sorting out the plan of action with Jonny and Lee all day, and they had decided that they would have two cars ready, one at the front entrance and one at the back; they would let Jay walk in and out without any interference from anyone and when Jay tried to get away they would tail him from a distance; once they knew where he was hiding out, they would wait it out for a bit, hopefully getting Kate back. They would give it a bit of time, just enough to lull Jay into a false sense of security, let him believe that maybe he had actually got away with it, then they would make their move with Billy and Ryan’s help: they would ransack the place and, more importantly, ransack Jay Shaw.

  It was only nine o’clock now; the clubbers normally didn’t start arriving until after ten, the night was still young. Hoping that he had enough men in place and praying that the night wouldn’t throw any nasty surprises, Paul wandered up to the gentlemen’s club; he had decided he would stay up there and man the security cameras with Joe, his security manager. He had a great team on, and even though everyone was on strict orders not to approach Jay or get in his way whilst he collected the cash, Paul wanted all eyes on him. They needed to keep him in their sights long enough to establish where he was going to, otherwise the money would be long gone and Kate’s fate would be left in his slimy and untrustworthy hands.

  45

  Emma had almost bitten her nails down to nothing; her nerves had got the better of her. She had smoked more cigarettes in the last few days than she probably had in her entire life, so many that she felt like throwing up; she thought it was the fags making her nauseous but she was worried for her friend too. Every time she thought of poor Kate and what she might be going through, she felt as if she would throw up. Emma knew that the chances of what had happened to her repeating themselves and happening to Kate were slim, but that didn’t stop her mind going into overdrive and making her fear the worst. After all, she knew Jay better than all of them; she had been the one to witness first-hand what an evil bastard he could be. She knew Jay would want the cash badly, but even he wouldn’t be stupid enough not to go through with the deal: surely?

  Emma was behind the main bar, just like any other Friday night, except this wasn’t like any other Friday night. The time had passed so slowly, and every time Emma had had a chance to glance at the clock between serving people, it seemed like the clock’s hands had barely moved. The atmosphere was so charged it was like electricity thrashing through the club, everyone was on tenterhooks, just waiting.

  Billy had looked a state when he had turned up, he hadn’t shaved and his clothes looked like they had been slept in; judging by his grey, shadowed eyes he had had very little sleep, Emma thought. She had been having trouble sleeping, too, and had been grateful that Billy had stayed in the flat with her; she didn’t think her nerves would have been up to staying there on her own, not with this crap going on. Her nerves were already shot to pieces, and knowing that Billy had been lying on the sofa downstairs had been a huge relief to her.

  Billy was upstairs with Paul at the moment, in the gentlemen’s lounge and as she looked around at the amount of shaven-headed beefcakes dotted around the place she hoped with everything she had, that one of them came through tonight for Kate�
�s sake. He couldn’t get away with this. So many things could go wrong tonight. Emma hadn’t wanted to work, but Paul had insisted that everyone carry on as normal: they should keep their heads down and get on with their jobs no matter what the night brought. It was finally a quarter to twelve; there had been no sign of Jay. Emma’s mind was whirling and she had been mucking up orders all night. To make up for it, she had been dishing out free shots to keep people happy and was now surrounded by a pissed crowd who was laughing and dancing without a care in the world. She was trying hard to concentrate but she kept looking around, scanning the club to see if she could spot his face like everyone else working tonight seemed to be doing: just looking and waiting.

  Paul was doing his best to keep Billy cool upstairs, they had been glued to the monitors for over an hour and so far no one had seen Jay enter the club. Paul was worried that if Billy saw Jay, he would lose all sense of reason and want to annihilate the fucker, and Paul didn’t want to risk anything fucking up getting Kate back in one piece. He had told Billy that the best place for them to be was upstairs, and it was true. The cameras were on every entrance, including every fire door, all the stairs were covered and, most importantly, so was the DJ booth. It was ten minutes to midnight now, and as they had discussed Paul was going to take the bag of cash and place it next to the DJ booth. In ten minutes, they would finally have a lead as to where Kate was: they all needed to stay on the ball.