by Stuart James
Jake ran out of the house and down through the fields. It was a struggle, but eventually, he
managed to replace the burst tyre. He drove back up and parked the car on the drive. The guy was sat in the kitchen, wriggling like mad. Jake untied the rope placing the guy
over his shoulder and threw him in the boot of his car. The driver’s phone beeped. A message from
boss man.
Good work. Someone’s on their way over now to clean up.
Shit, Jake thought. He didn’t know what to write back. Someone was coming. He didn’t
know who or how many, but they were on their way over now. A phone started ringing. Jake looked
and found a no caller ID on Kate’s phone. When he answered, he kept quiet. No one spoke, so he
hung up. Jake flicked through Kate’s pictures, looking at the shadow in the background. The
masked person watching them from across the lake. A sinister figure. A shiver went down his back.
He decided to check her other pictures to see if the stranger was in any more of them. As he slid the
images across, he saw what looked like a sack. A body bag? Underneath, a caption, this is what will
happen. Jake drew out his fingers to make the picture bigger and zoom in. The sack looked the
same as what he had seen at Punchy Man’s house the other morning when he went for a run. Why
would Kate have this picture sent to her phone? He flicked across again. More selfies. More pictures of Kate and Jake. He decided to look at her messages. One from June saying she wanted to
come over. Kate replying how lovey it would be. Sent a few days before she had arrived. A message
from Anton, the estate agent. House is ready; it’s yours. Jake clicked into the conversation. Her response: Great. Jake’s up for it. I think he likes it. He scanned further down. More messages between the two of them. Earlier ones. Anton: I think I’ve found the perfect place. You’ll need to move fast.
It’s the closest I can get. Kate: How close? Anton: Next door.
How close to what? Jake thought. He continued reading; Kate: Isn’t it too close? Anton: It’s
the only place. I can tell him you don’t want it if you like? Kate No, Anton. Please. Don’t do that. It’s
fine. We’ll take it.
Jake came back out of the messages with Anton. He felt a pain in his heart. A shooting
spasm up his left arm.
A message from Adam – the guy that set the alarm system up? Jake wondered, remembering
how he had turned up without Jake making an appointment. Kate: He’s out running. You need to be
quick before he goes elsewhere. Adam: No problem. I’m on my way. Won’t be long. Kate: Won’t it
look suspicious if the alarm is deactivated continually? Adam: Don’t be daft. How’s he going to
know?
Jake hammered the phone on the floor and stamped on it. What the hell was going on? He
recalled the night in the curry house. The waiter was adamant he had seen Kate before. She made
out it had been in Brick Lane in London. She visited there regularly when she was younger; he remembered her saying. Jake thought it was a little odd as Kate had never mentioned eating out in
Brick Lane to him before. He also recalled how she went away with work every other weekend before they moved here. He never asked her much about it as it was part of the job. Entertaining
clients. Working away. Surely, he was wrong? This can’t be happening. The more he thought, the
clearer it became.
The Prescotts were still missing. Jake moved here with the help of Anton, and now Kate and
Sean are gone. It was Kate who mostly dealt with the agent. Now Anton can’t be contacted. Adam
won’t return his calls. Punchy Man had made a quick exit. Someone was doing their best to run
Jake from the house. They needed it for something and wanted the family here. There was no doubt
they would kill him if he didn’t cooperate.
And Kate was part of it. These messages connected her. Whatever was going on, his beautiful wife, Kate, was part of it. Jake watched the gates open. A white van had pulled up outside. He
hadn’t pressed his fob, but the gates were slowly moving back. The van parked in the middle of the
drive. No hiding. Bold as you like. A tall woman, with long black hair, stepped out. Watching the
monitor, he recognised her immediately. Jake raced up the stairs and hid in the bedroom as the front
door opened.
‘Nico? Where are you? Nico!’ She sounded upset. The stern, confident voice breaking. She
was sniffing. Like she’d been crying. Nico, huh? First name terms. How nice. How very bloody
cosy. She was moving around. Kate shouted louder.
‘Nico. Where the hell are you? Let’s just get this over with.’
Jake shouted. ‘Here!’ Kate made her way up the stairs and down the landing. Jake heard her
footsteps as she walked across the wooden floor and entered the room. Jake stood by the window
facing her. ‘Hello, Kate.’
‘Ja … Jake …’
‘Yes, Jake. What a lovely surprise. How’ve ya been, hun? How’s Sean?’
Kate felt numb. She had so much explaining to do but didn’t know where to start. ‘Jake, I’m
so pleased to see you.’
‘I haven’t been anywhere.’
‘Please, let me explain.’
‘Oh, I think you should.’ He felt a flush rise from his chest. He was angry. Shocked. Disillusioned and so happy all at the same time. He waited. Staring. First, the awkward silence, like he
didn’t know her. Strangers. ‘I saw the texts, Kate. The pictures. Why did you bring us here?’ ‘A while back I was on a work trip. A weekend team building course. It was a long day. All
most of them wanted to do was shower and hit the sack, but a couple of us went to the hotel bar.
The drinks were flowing. A couple of the others headed off a while later, and I was left with one of
the managers from another office. He asked me if I was happy and enjoying my job. I told him I got
by, I enjoyed the work, but the money wasn’t great. We swapped numbers because he said he had
fingers in lots of pies. He was a high flyer – drove a top of the range Merc—’
Jake interrupted, ‘Did you sleep with him?’
He could already see the answer in her eyes.
Kate didn’t respond.
‘I asked you a question.’
‘Jake. I’m sorry.’
‘How many times, Kate?’
‘Jake, I swear, it was just the once. I didn’t mean it to happen. I’m not going to defend my
actions by saying we weren’t getting on; I fell out of love, you neglected me, it’s not true. None of
it. I love you more than anything. It was a stupid mistake that I would never do again.’ Jake felt ice cold. The woman he spent so much of his life with, the mother of his child,
standing in front of him now, he was unsure if he really knew her.
‘Why are they after us, Kate?’ She was shivering. Tears streaming down her face. When she
composed herself, she continued. ‘A few weeks later, we had to meet the bosses, give our feedback
on how the business as a whole was going, future plans, that sort of thing. That night there was an
award ceremony. He spotted me and came over. Joined our table. He was quite persistent. Saying I
could make a fortune.’
‘Doing what?’
‘Shipping goods in and out of the country. I went the next morning to meet his boss at this
rundown, old factory and discovered the goods being shipped in and out were women. Taken off the
streets.’ Jake took a huge breath.
‘I’m really not hearing this. Why were they shipped?’
‘Prostitution mainly.
People traffickers. Who knows? They make a fortune, Jake. I tried to
compose myself. They told me everything. Showed me pictures. I was already in over my head.
Once I’d seen what the operation was all about, they had me. The boss said if I ever breathed a
word of it to anyone, they’d kill Sean. They’d come after you and me. That’s why we moved. To be
closer. So they could keep an eye on us, on me.’
‘You were working for them?’
Kate shouted, ‘What choice did I have?’
This was too much to take in, Jake thought. How could he trust his wife now? ‘What about
the Prescotts?’
‘I don’t know, Jake. I imagine they were taken and dumped somewhere. They operate from
the house up the road. That’s why we had to move here. They needed me closer, so I wouldn’t shop
them. They were frightened I’d go to the police. Tell them everything. Moving us to Rectory Lane,
was their way of controlling the situation. They watched our every move. They have us trapped.’ ‘Is Anton part of it?’
Kate paused. ‘He’s a partner, yes.’
‘Where’s my son?’
Kate crumbled and fell to her knees and cried out, ‘I’m so sorry, Jake. I’m so, so sorry.’ Kate
had managed to compose herself and reveal Sean was still alive and being held at the factory. The
boss would kill him if Kate didn’t return on time. She insisted he never made light threats. Jake
went to the car and heard the boot being thumped from the inside. He opened it, and the light
flicked on, stinging his eyes. Jake grabbed the guy in the boot and threw him onto the drive. He’d
brought the gun with him which he left down by his side. While pointing it, he asked the guy to remove his boiler suit.
‘What? No. What’s wrong with you?’ Jake rammed the gun as hard as he could into the
guy’s mouth, making him gag.
‘Really, Nico, do not try me.’
Nico split the buttons down the front and quickly got out of the blue overalls. His pig mask
dropped to the floor. Jake eyed him.
‘This what you all wear?’
‘Yes. It’s how the boss wants us to operate. He doesn’t want any of us seeing each other too
much.’
‘You wear it when you go to meet him?’
‘Yeah. All the time.’
‘How often do you go to the factory?’
‘Most days. Why?’
Jake grabbed the mask and the boiler suit then threw the guy back into the boot in his pants
and vest. ‘No. Please. Let me out! You can’t keep me in here. Let me the fuck out you piece of shit!’
Jake listened to the muffles as he walked back inside the house. He thought about calling Reynolds.
How could he? She’d know straight away something was wrong
How could he explain the guy in the boot? The body in the house?
He had to do this alone.
Jake put on the suit, luckily it fit. He placed the mask deep in the inside pocket. Once he had
everything, he turned to Kate. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Go where, Jake?’
‘To the factory. I’m going to get my son back.’ Jake raced down the stairs, Kate following
close behind. He started the car, opened the gates and sped out onto the road with Kate in the passenger side and Nico in the boot.
He tossed her the driver’s phone.
‘Write a message.’
‘To who?’
‘Boss man.’
‘Saying what?’
‘Type out, the girl is sick, and tell them they’ll need to send over three people to clean up,
take the van back, and get rid of the body in my house.’
He turned to Kate.
‘I’m assuming they can get in easily enough.’
She didn’t answer. Kate took the phone and started typing the message. Jake had so many
questions. His head was confused. He needed to think straight. A migraine making its way to the
front of his head caused his pulse to race. Blurred vision. The stress now taking its toll. He turned to
Kate.
‘Why did they want us here?’ Kate was shaking. Jake whacked the heat up to full blast to
take the icy chill off.
‘The guy I,’ she paused. ‘He became obsessed. He was forever calling, texting, wouldn’t
take no for an answer.’
‘He was a partner you said?’
‘Yes. He could do anything he wanted at the drop of a hat. He told me if we didn’t move into
the house, they’d come to me. I couldn’t let that happen. I knew too much, and they needed me
close to them, so they could keep a watch.’
Jake thought about London. The old homeless guy on the street, the burglary before they
left. He wouldn’t put it past them that they’d set it up. Give Jake a little nudge to get Kate closer to
them. What did it matter now?
‘What do you do exactly? How are you involved?’
‘They get me to do their admin.’
‘Admin? It gets better,’ Jake said sarcastically.
Kate carried on. ‘They won’t leave me alone until they make enough money and stop. They
get me to transfer money to an offshore account. I syphon thousands of pounds. Their organisation
is a big deal. No one gets in their way. What choice do I have?’
‘And that’s it, Kate. That’s all they get you to do?’
‘Yes. That’s it. My punishment for meeting up with them in the first place.’ ‘And fucking the wrong guy. Now, he won’t let you go. That sound about right?’ Jake was
fuming. He couldn’t believe his wife would do this to him.
He pulled left at the bottom of the lane. The roads were quiet. They had a short drive to the
factory according to the satnav, and he needed more from her. They passed the ditch where the old
couple were killed and saw blue flashing lights in the distance. Lighting the night like a firework
display. There were at least four police cars and an ambulance. A couple of officers were scattered
around the couples Jeep shining torches. The nearest officer eyed Jake as he drove past keeping as
close to the speed limit as possible. How the hell would he explain what was going on? Evening Officer. Just starting off early for a day trip to Brighton. The officer swirling the torch about. Oh, this
is my wife. Sorry I didn’t tell you I found her. Silly me. The guy in the back, yeah, my son, he loves the boot. Tight spaces. Can’t get enough of em. Grown a bit hasn’t he? Once they were in the dis
tance, Jake sped up. ‘How do they get into the house?’
‘Adam is a genius. He might act stupid, but he’s a whizz with technology. He turned the
alarm system on and off when he wanted so they could get into the house. That, and all the cameras
he set up.’
‘Who was the guy, Kate? He was important enough to risk our marriage and get us in this
predicament.’
‘Jake. Please.’
‘Tell me Kate, or so help me I will throw you out of the car this second.’
She gripped the side of the seat feeling so uncomfortable. Nico continued to kick the roof of
the boot and shouted in the distance. He was muttering, but they couldn’t make anything out. She
turned to her husband.
‘Pete. It was Pete.’ Jake was in shock. He was glad now that he’d given Pete a slap. He had
to find out what would be waiting for him when he arrived at the factory.
‘How does Anton fair in this. Are you shagging him too?’
‘Please, Jake!’
‘I’m assuming he set us up. Rented the house to us. Moved us in. I have to admit; they have
<
br /> everything covered.’
‘He is also deeply involved in the operation. He has a few Internet businesses to influence
any situation they need to manipulate. You can’t just go in there, Jake. You’ll never get out alive.
Trust me. They’re too good.’
After another couple of minutes, he saw the factory in the distance. An old building off to
the left. ‘This the place?’
‘Yeah. Jake, I’m scared.’ He pulled off the main road and drove up a steep incline. The car
revved as it pulled up the road. Jake found a quiet parking area around the back. He noticed a black
Jeep and a couple of motorbikes parked on the grass.
‘Where am I going?’
‘Jake, please?’
‘Kate. Get it together. Where are they holding Sean?’
‘He’s down in the basement. They have him in a small room off to the back. When you go
in, there’s a stairwell to the left. It’s down there.’
‘Will anyone be with him?’
‘I don’t know.’ Kate was clearly in a state. Jake got out of the car and headed to the front.
The badge proclaiming that he was Nico bounced from the boiler suit as he walked. He checked
around as he slipped on the mask.
The factory was huge, a dark brown warehouse with slates of tin pinned to the edge of the
brickwork. To the left, there was a metal shutter, operated by a pulley. Two forklifts were stationary
beside a light brown container spilling over with cardboard boxes. There were also a couple of trailers secured with a chain.
As Jake approached the factory from the front, he saw a silhouette above him, shadows at
the front window from the next floor up. He paused, making sure he wasn’t spotted, when no one
came to the window, he moved forward.
Kate had mentioned to him that the factory was still in operation. She had said the employees who worked on the floor above didn’t know anything about what went on here. They shipped
out clothes, fashion accessories; it’s how they covered up their operation. To mar suspicion. The
gang had around eight to ten people who were part of the real earner. The business which brought
them in millions of pounds. Exploiting people, kidnap, trafficking, possible prostitution. Money
laundering, slavery. They weren’t frightened of taking anyone out who got in their way. What the
hell had she gotten herself into?