“Why was Dillon killed?”
“Daft bastard got cold feet. He became paranoid that the Maguires were going to find out and top him. I told him if you didn’t know who’d nicked the drugs then they certainly wouldn’t but he lost his bottle, threatened to tell you what had happened.”
“Amanda killed him to silence him.”
“Yeah, he was a liability.”
“You don’t sound very sympathetic. He was a friend of yours.”
“Serves him right for leaving me to get bitten by that dog and for dropping a washing machine on my foot.”
“That explains why Ben and his crew got so desperate they kidnapped you,” Vance told Faith. “They were afraid a bunch of Albanians were going to chop them up into little pieces.”
“Right, I’ve told you everything,” said Mickey. “You going to let me go now?”
“Are you serious?” spluttered Kevin. “After what you’ve done?”
“You’ve no choice,” he said smugly. “I’m out on bail. If I don’t report to the police station in two days then they’ll start looking very closely at what happened to me.”
“So?” said Caleb. “No one would think it was anything to do with us. But we’ll make sure everyone knows you pissed off a violent gang in Nottingham.”
“That won’t work.”
“Yes it will.”
“Oh I see, you’re going to feed the information to your pet police officer, aren’t you?” he told Faith. “You grassing bitch.”
“I’m done with all your insults,” snarled Vance, yanking down Mickey’s trousers and underwear.
Vance’s brothers collectively winced when he grasped Mickey’s testicles with the pliers and twisted, his shriek piercing their ears. When Vance eventually relinquished him, he flopped back into the chair, sweating and panting.
“You sick bastard,” rasped Mickey.
“You’re lucky I didn’t tear them off,” said Vance, straightening up. He took out a phone. “Now you’re going to call your friends and tell them you want to meet up because your Albanian contacts are getting out of hand and you need to discuss how you’re going to handle them.”
“Th…they’ll suspect a trap,” he murmured, still struggling with the pain pulsating in his crotch.
“Probably but they’ll come.”
“And if I refuse?” Mickey winced when he waved the pliers in front of his face.
“I’ll rip off your balls and make you eat them.”
Mickey stared into those burning blue eyes and knew he wasn’t bluffing. “I’ll make the call.”
“Wise choice,” said Vance.
CHAPTER 24
“I don’t like this,” said Amanda.
“None of us like it,” replied Ben, who was sat beside her in the front of his Audi, driving the four of them to the meeting with Mickey. “But we have no choice. If more trouble’s coming our way we need to be prepared.”
“More trouble,” said a miserable Rick from the back seat. “Like we haven’t got enough of that already.”
“We might have to go along with your plan of setting fire to one of the Chambers’ nightclubs,” said Eddie, who was sitting beside him.
Amanda turned in her seat to scowl at him. “You’ve changed your tune.”
“Because I don’t want to be hacked to pieces in my bed.”
“So you found your spine again Eddie. Well done. Let’s go for Eclectic, the Chambers’ shiny new jewel. Ben’s already done a reccy. Let’s burn the place down and empty the safe.”
“How do we empty the safe?”
“We’ll just smash our way into it,” said Ben. “We’ve got the tools.”
“And we’ll pay off the Albanians with the cash?” said Rick.
“Yeah.”
“It’s not right that we’ll be left with nothing for all our trouble,” spat Amanda. “This was supposed to change our lives for the better.”
“Mickey might have an idea.”
“I won’t hold my breath,” she muttered.
Ben pulled his car onto the car park and they all stared up at the laser tag arena through the windows.
“Bit of a weird place for a meeting, isn’t it?” said Eddie.
“Mickey’s paranoid that the police are spying on him,” said Ben. “He wanted somewhere we wouldn’t be overheard. This place is owned by a friend of his that he trusts.”
“It’s a bit cloak and dagger,” said Rick, reluctant to get out of the car.
“Fortunately we brought back up,” said Amanda, drawing a gun from inside her jacket. “Did you bring yours?”
“No.”
She looked to Eddie, who shook his head.
“Then it’s lucky me and Ben did,” she said.
“You think Mickey might turn on us?” said Rick.
“He’s panicking, so you never know if he’ll try and throw us under a bus.”
“Well, this just gets better and better,” he sighed.
They got out of the car and entered by the side door Mickey had directed them to, Ben and Amanda clutching their guns. They walked into the darkened reception area, which was lit only by the fire exit signs.
“Mickey?” said Ben cautiously.
There was no reply.
“I don’t like it,” whispered Eddie, starting to sweat. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Hello,” called back a voice.
“Mickey?” said Ben.
“Up here.”
The four of them walked in and looked up to see the man himself standing at the top of the stairs leading to the floor above.
“Thanks for coming,” Mickey said in a voice that sounded a little higher-pitched than usual. “Come on up.”
“No thanks,” replied Amanda. “We’re happy where we are. Why don’t you come down here?”
“I can’t. I’ve hurt my…leg.”
“How did you get up there with a bad leg?”
“I hurt it while I was up here.”
“How?”
“I…tripped up.” Mickey stood unnaturally rigid, like he’d turned to granite. The only part of him that moved was his jaw.
“Why is he being so weird?” said Eddie.
“That’s it,” said Rick. “I’m out of here.” He turned and shoved the door they’d just walked through but it
