was another second away from finding John Telfer. Catching and spending time with Ol’ Johnny Boy was what he truly coveted.
Freeing the knife, he wiped it clean on Jeff’s trousers. He looked down at the trussed man and shook his head.
‘I wish I could say it was a pleasure meeting you,’ Cain said as the man settled in death. ‘But it wasn’t. That doesn’t mean I won’t recall our time together fondly. In fact, I intend taking something with me so that I never forget you.’
Readying his knife, Cain reached for Jeff’s nearest hand.
Chapter 16
I was in for a rough time.
The back of the van became not only a container but also an entertainment centre for those who were my jailers, particularly for the man I’d headbutted. He relished getting a little payback for the lump I’d put on his forehead. He punched me twice, once in each kidney, while the other three guards held me prone. I had steeled myself for a beating, but it doesn’t matter how ready you are, a dig in the kidneys always hurts like hell.
They were all swearing, at me, at each other, their professionalism slipping now that we were out from under the disapproving gaze of the public. One of them grabbed my hair and forced my face hard against the ribbed floor of the van. Someone punched me between my shoulders, causing a flash of pain that went all the way to the tip of my coccyx and back again. Then my arms were twisted round and another of them cinched my wrists with plastic ties. When that was done, I was hauled over so that I could see them as they threw punches down at my guts. Their faces were twisted with glee and hatred.
Considering that a minute or two before they believed I was a nut job intent on killing them and their mark, I could understand why they would want to hurt me. I was pleased in a way that they were using their fists, because if one of them thought to use a gun I might never see daylight again. Another thing that pleased me: while they were punching the shit out of me, they’d forgotten about continuing a more thorough search than the one that had already turned up my weapons. To motivate them to further fury, I spat a gob of saliva at them. My spit hit one of the men flush in his face, and he paused only to wipe it away before slamming his saliva-smeared palm down into my forehead. I suffered a double whammy. His palm rammed my head down on one of the ribbed spars of the floor. I almost blacked out. It didn’t stop them hitting me again.
Finally the beating subsided, though it wasn’t because my captors were any less furious or tired of hitting me. The driver was shouting at them through an open hatch. My blood was pounding in my ears, and there was too much bumping and banging as they shifted about to hear clearly, but I got the gist. The man in the front was shouting that the boss wanted me unharmed. Thank God for small mercies.
‘Think this is your lucky day, asshole? Well, guess again. We aren’t going to kill you. Not yet, but I don’t fancy your chances once the boss is finished with you.’
I squinted up at the voice to find the man I’d headbutted leaning over me. He was a guy in his mid-thirties, fit and strong-looking. Nothing distinctive about him apart from the raised welt I’d put on his forehead.
‘You can’t kill me,’ I said, trying to sound confident. ‘There were witnesses. They saw you snatch me off the street. The cops will be looking for me. What do you think will happen to you if I turn up dead?’
The men all laughed at my naivety. My tormentor pressed a knuckle into my breastbone, digging at a nerve bundle. ‘The cops will turn a blind eye. Mr Petoskey owns the cops here… didn’t you know that?’
One of them lifted a gun and I recognised it as the one I’d come armed with. He pointed it at my face. My tormentor said, ‘See, this is the way things will happen. Once the boss is finished with you, you’ll be gut shot and left lying in the road. We’ve plenty witnesses here who’ll swear we were delivering you to the police when you made a break for it, snatched one of our guns, and we had to shoot you in self-defence. We can do anything we want to you.’
‘No one would believe that…’
‘They would if they were told to.’ The man held out his hand and his friend slapped the SIG into his palm. The man carefully slipped the safety on. Then off again. It was all for show. He checked there was a round in the chamber. Then he jammed the gun under my chin. ‘In fact, there are enough of us here now, that if we told the boss that you got your hands on a gun and we had to kill you, well, he’d believe us too.’
I screwed my eyes shut, made a whimpering sound.
The man laughed and the others joined in like the pack of hyenas they resembled.
‘I thought you were supposed to be some sort of tough guy?’
‘You don’t know me,’ I said.
‘Oh, but I do.’ He tapped the gun on my forehead. ‘We heard that you might make a try on the boss. How’d you think we were ready for you coming? Did you think we just happened to have a van sitting around on the slightest off-chance that some random lunatic had a go at the boss? My problem is this… I don’t know what anyone was fucking worrying about. You’re a goddamn pussy who can’t even shoot straight.’
Again a round of laughter.
‘Joe Hunter. We’ve heard all about you. Fuckin’ Brit coming over here, thinking he’s the hardest fuck in town. Well, I got news for you
… you ain’t fuckin’ nothin’. You just made the biggest mistake of your life, buddy. You just came up against someone who isn’t afraid of your type.’
‘Jesus,’ I sighed.
‘You a praying man, Hunter? Well, get praying, ’cause you’re gonna need all the help you can get.’ The man lifted the SIG. Like I’ve already said, the stock is heavier than on most other handguns, so when he brought it down hard against my skull it put me right out of the picture.
How long I was unconscious I couldn’t say, because when next I gathered my senses the van had stopped moving. The side door was open and only two of my captors remained inside. The others were standing outside the van, their figures indistinct against a gloomy backdrop. They were talking hurriedly, but I couldn’t make out was being said. I lay there, gathering my wits as I started to assess my injuries. My entire body felt like one large bruise, but I couldn’t detect any breakages. It took me a moment to realise that my hands were now in front of me. The plastic ties had been removed and rigid-cuffs snapped on instead. My feet were free, and in kicking range of the two men keeping guard. They had guns out, so I didn’t fancy my chances. Anyway, I’d come to see Sigmund Petoskey, so I wasn’t about to spoil my prospects by attempting an audacious escape.
One of the guards outside moved towards the van. When he leaned inside I could make out the welt on his forehead. ‘Bring him. And if he tries anything shoot him in the knees.’
The two men grabbed me and pulled me to a sitting position. I recognised the one on my right as the recipient of my saliva earlier. He said, ‘You heard the man, try anything and I’ll kneecap you. We have to keep you alive for now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t put you through hell.’
There was nothing gentle about the way I was hauled from the van and dumped on my feet. Blood rushed to my head and I was a second or so away from blacking out again. Only the flash of agony from where the SIG had torn my scalp kept me galvanised. The two men hooked an elbow around my arms and then propelled me forward, following the other two. To make things more difficult I could have dragged my feet, but we were heading in the right direction. Stumbling along, I just kept my mouth shut.
We were inside an empty warehouse, a large open space bordered on either side by huge stacks of pallets laden with sacks and boxes of all shapes and sizes. The floor was smooth concrete, swept clean, with yellow markers indicating pathways for forklift trucks. Other yellow chevrons alongside the paths marked out danger zones, possibly where it was unsafe to turn the trucks due to the proximity of the stacked goods. It was dimly lit, only the occasional overhead strip light penetrating the gloom. We passed through pools of contrasting shade and light as we moved towards the back of the building. As we neared the far end, I could detect a sour tang and guessed that the warehouse was one of many next to the banks of the Arkansas River. With a building this large and well stocked, I was surprised that there weren’t more people around. Maybe they’d all been given the rest of the day off while their boss conducted his more nefarious brand of business.
There was an office at the left corner of the building, next to a roller door that was currently closed. Just
