“The entrance is down here,” said Faith.
The three of them headed down the steps to the cellar and into a large, spacious room with a concrete floor. It appeared to be empty, apart from a set of shelves with a few tools lying on them. Vance pulled aside the shelves to reveal nothing but a blank wall. After pushing on it a few times, he finally found the right spot and it popped open to reveal another room, which was in darkness. He hit the lights, which blinked into life.
“Bloody hell,” breathed Jules, looking around. “This is my idea of heaven.”
The room was bursting with handguns, rifles, shotguns, grenades, body armour, knives and even a couple of bazookas.
“It is impressive,” said Faith.
“This will keep us in weaponry for the rest of our lives. There’s even a type thirty one mortar. Christ,” she added, pointing at an object lying on a shelf. “That’s a blunderbuss. Who the hell were these people’s contacts?”
“Flo had been at this game a long time,” replied Faith. “She had contacts all over the world, mainly in eastern Europe.”
“And it shows. A lot of these weapons are from there.”
“So, I take it you want it all?”
“Too right I do gorgeous. My people will come back tonight to clear the lot out. It’s a good job no houses overlook the back street.”
“I think Flo chose this house for that reason because they always brought their stock in through the back.”
“Perfect. Is there anything you want?”
“We’ll take a few Glocks and a couple of Berettas.”
“No worries. My people will make sure they get to you. Where are the Fairweathers now?”
“Decomposing in the deepest part of the Irish sea,” said Vance.
Jules smiled at Vance and Faith. “You’ve done sodding well. Not only did you clear up all that mess with the firefighters but you’ve taken out the local arms dealers and nothing’s come back on you. I couldn’t have done better myself.”
“Thanks Jules,” smiled Faith. “For a while it didn’t feel like it would ever end.”
“Believe me I’ve been there but now it’s over. The sale of the pub has gone through. If we carry on like this we’ll own most of Blackpool. Have you decided who’s going to run the pub?”
“I thought Abi could take it on. Michael’s doing a good job running the restaurant, so she could use her own place and she’s tough enough to deal with the dodgy customers.”
“So she can handle herself?”
“If they give her any bother she’ll stab her nails into their eyes and balls.”
“Sounds like my kind of woman,” she grinned. “And the porn shop’s ready for its grand opening, is it?” she said, grin widening.
“Greased up and ready to go,” smiled Vance.
“I’ll bet. Who’s running it?”
“Kevin. He’ll enjoy it the most.”
Jules chuckled. “I really do like your family and I’m glad the shop’s ready because the next shipment will be arriving in three days. Let’s hope the local paramedics and the coastguard don’t decide to go bad, or are you hoping to get the full house of the local emergency services?” Jules’s demeanour was playful. Neither of them took offence, it was just her way.
“I think we can do without that,” said Faith.
“I don’t blame you. And the decoy vault?”
“That’s been set up in a small industrial unit near the football ground.”
“Nice one. That’s everything checked off your to-do list,” she beamed at them. “Right, let’s get back upstairs. We’ve spent enough time in this tomb.”
Faith shivered at her words.
“There you go sweet girl,” said Faith, putting down Blossom’s bowl of food, waving it before her nose as she’d been shown at the shelter so she could find it.
Faith smiled as she watched her tuck in. Despite all her medical problems, she had a good appetite. Blossom had been living with Faith for a week now and she’d settled in beautifully. She was a very affectionate cat who loved to sit on her knee and be stroked or curl up before the fire. However, she never slept on Faith’s bed at night, although she could sometimes be found there during the day, as though sensing she and Vance needed their space. Blossom had taken to Vance too and loved to sit her bulk on his chest and purr loudly.
As there had been no flats available in this block for Vance, he’d opted to keep on his flat in the old block but he spent the nights with Faith. When he wasn’t around she had Blossom for company. She was so glad she’d found this old girl.
Faith had been enjoying some down time since the latest chaos. Kevin was doing an excellent job running the porn shop, in fact he seemed to be in his element and Abi had taken to being a landlady like a duck to water. There was hardly any trouble at The Red Lion anymore. She could restore order in seconds with one flick of her nails. Caleb was loving managing Eclectic and Vance and Jason together were running Pulse. The new delivery had been safely stowed in the vault underneath the porn shop and Tariq and his crew were once again in line and throwing themselves into their work. Matthew had been lauded for putting away the vicious mugger and Mickey’s disappearance had been put down to him doing a runner as he was looking at a long prison stretch for robbery.
They’d had another stroke of luck with the Fairweather’s disappearance. Everyone seemed to think Gordon had killed his mother and fled. The sad, middle-aged man who’d lived his whole life with his mum had finally snapped after putting up with her insults for so many years. No one thought an outside agency had been involved.
Adam had spent a couple of weeks in
