‘Suppose not, but how do you know they are going to pay up? They aren’t going to hand over money when they can put a bullet in your head and take them for free.’
‘Watch and learn Luke. And stop asking questions. Come on, it’s here.’ Alex turned into a side road. Just as Mark had said, the car was parked in the driveway of the address given. Telling Luke to stay in the van, Alex knocked on the door, while pulling the hood of his coat way over his eyes and making sure his balaclava covered his face.
A woman answered the door. ‘Mark, thanks for coming to pick up the car,’ she babbled and reached up to a key holder at the side of the door and handed him the car keys. ‘Okay, got to go,’ Alex mumbled. The woman looked quite shocked at his abrupt manner.
The woman hovered at the front door, wrapping her cardigan around her and watching Alex attach the car to his van, waving as he drove off with it.
‘Blimey, that was easy. What a way to steal cars, eh?’ Luke laughed.
Alex heart was pounding in his chest. Looking at his watch, he knew he was stretched for time – towing the car had slowed him down, which he hadn’t thought about in his planning. Once at the supermarket car park, he pulled over and turned to Luke. ‘Start unloading. We need to put the plants in the car.’ Jumping out of the van, Luke asked no questions but did as instructed.
Next Alex opened his jacket and pulled out the homemade bomb he had made earlier. Looking to make sure Luke was busy with the plants, Alex lifted up the bonnet of the car and attached the bomb to the battery and put a timer on the steering wheel of the car, with a red light flashing, so whoever entered would see that the car was wired up to something.
‘You all done there Luke?’ Seeing Luke mop his brow and nod, he told him to go and sit in the van and wait until he saw him leave. Then Alex swiftly walked away and into the doorway of the supermarket, which was surprisingly busy, considering the time. Mingling in with everyone else, Alex made his way to the toilets. He was sweating, and wet from the rain. He knew people would be on the alert looking for whoever had dropped off the car. In fact, they were probably already there; maybe his cover was already blown.
Seeing the disabled toilets, he noticed a notice on the door explaining that to use the toilet you had to get a key from customer service. Shit! He hadn’t counted on that. He had expected it to be open.
Deciding to buy something, Alex purchased two large bags and some cigarettes and ignoring the cashier’s odd look, he also asked about the key to the disabled toilets, explaining his disabled mother needed to use it. Thankfully she was too busy to see if he had a disabled mother with him and handed it over. He went back to the toilets, all the while checking his watch. This was taking more time than he had estimated. There he took off his coat and balaclava and stuffed them in the large bag for life and walked back out of the supermarket. If anyone was watching and had seen him go in, they definitely hadn’t seen him come out. Mark had been the one to walk in and Alex had walked out. After the heavy weight of the coat, he welcomed the coolness of the rain. Now standing in the shadows, he could only wait.
Looking up, Alex saw the familiar BMW enter the car park and circle around twice, and instantly he knew they had got his second note detailing the time and the car’s location and registration number. He had instructed that the bag of money be left in the disabled toilets, before anyone opened the car. The bomb gave them only fifteen minutes once the car door was opened before it went off. If the money hadn’t been left before they emptied the car, then Alex would use his remote control to blow the car up. Crossing his fingers, Alex hoped he had covered everything. His stomach was doing somersaults.
He watched a man walk into the supermarket carrying with him a leather holdall and from what he could see it looked heavy. Then he saw the others open the car door and start transporting the plants into their own car. To the outside world, it looked like they had just bought plants from the supermarket and no one paid any attention to what they were doing. Waiting for what seemed a lifetime, he saw the man who had taken the holdall come out of the supermarket empty handed. This was now the trickiest part of his plan because Alex needed to go to the toilet to see what was in the bag without causing any suspicion. The bag could be full of nothing and he would have failed. Only time would tell.
Nonchalantly, Alex walked back into the supermarket and to the disabled toilet. It was still unlocked and he opened the door cautiously. The holdall was tucked away under the sink and he snatched it up quickly. It was promisingly heavy. Looking at his watch, he saw twelve minutes had passed already and he needed to look in the bag and get outside. Undoing the zip slightly, he saw there was some money inside but he didn’t have time to look any further. He swiftly put the holdall into the other large shopping bag he had purchased earlier, left the toilet and made his way outside. From what he could see, the men had already emptied the car and left. As he started walking towards the car, an almighty explosion erupted, and the car burst into flames. Turning around, he hastily made his way back to Luke who was waiting for him in the van. He could hear screams and shouting from shoppers and jumping into the van, he quickly started the engine.
Luke’s eyes were wide. ‘Where the bloody hell have you been? I presume that explosion had something to do with you?’ Luke peered through the windscreen. The light from the fire lit up the sky and Alex knew the fire brigade would soon be on its way. He hoped no one had been hurt. The parking bay had been empty when he had last seen it, so hopefully not.
‘Open the bag Luke,’ Alex commanded as he drove away. ‘Just look in the fucking bag!’
Nervously, Luke did as he was told. ‘Fuck Alex, it’s full of money!’ Luke swirled his hand around the bag and took out a fistful of notes. ‘Shit, they have paid up. I can’t believe it!’
‘Let’s see how much they have paid when we get back to yours. First, I have another car to pick up and drop off.’
‘What the bloody hell are you going to tell the owner of that one?’ Giving a nervous laugh, Luke looked at Alex.
‘I’m only supposed to pick up and drop off at a garage, leaving the keys in the glove box. Cars get stolen all the time. Shit happens!’ Alex laughed.
‘Let’s go and pick up your other car first, before we go back to mine. Where did you get the bomb from?’ Luke asked suspiciously. ‘That was a bomb wasn’t it, not some petrol leak? Is that what you were doing while I was loading up?’
‘What do you care? More to the point, why do you care? But if you must know, I made it Luke. Does that satisfy you?’
Luke cast a glance towards Alex in the darkness of the van and said nothing. What was there to say? They had left mayhem behind them, and had blown up some poor woman’s car for a bagful of money. Some things were best left for another day, Luke thought to himself and looked at the road ahead.
Once they had picked up the other car and dropped it off on the forecourt of the closed garage, they drove on to Luke’s house. Once inside, Luke steered Alex towards the kitchen and checked on his mum who had fallen asleep in her chair.
‘Let’s take a proper look Luke.’ Alex picked up the bag and emptied the contents onto the kitchen table, some notes aimlessly falling onto the floor. Luke couldn’t contain his excitement and he burst out laughing. ‘Oh my God, you’ve done it. There must be thousands there.’
Alex grinned from ear to ear. ‘A hundred thousand pounds is what I asked for; let’s count it partner, then we’ll split it fifty-fifty.’
‘You mean half of this is mine?’ Luke asked, surprised. ‘Seriously Alex, you’re giving me half of this?’
‘You said it yourself, we’re partners.’ Without thinking, they hugged each other.
‘For fuck’s sake, we’re rich!’ exclaimed Luke. Adrenalin ran through their bodies as they sat and counted the cash, discovering to their joy that it was all there as Alex had requested. ‘It’s like monopoly Alex; I’ve never seen so much cash at once. Christ, I can’t believe it. You’ve got balls, I grant you that.’ Luke laughed almost manically.
Alex looked at his watch. ‘I have to get back.’ He stood up to leave. ‘Put my half in the bag.’ Luke scooped up Alex’s half and was about to put it back into the leather holdall when Alex stopped him.
‘Not in there; that’s their bag and will be easily recognised. You destroy the bag here and I’ll take the shopping bag with the cat on it,’ Alex laughed. ‘Next, we need to get some mobile phones, just for you and me. You buy them and I’ll drop by in a day or two to collect mine from you.’
‘I’ll sort it. See you later Alex.’ Without thinking, Luke gave him another hug.
As Alex turned into his street, he drove slowly as he approached Mark’s drive and parked the van. Once out of sight, he took off the coat along with Mark’s heavy boots and walked back to the pub.
‘Where have you been? You’ve been hours,’ asked Maggie, who looked rushed off her feet.
‘I picked up those cars then thought I’d watch the football at Mark’s. A bit of peace and quiet. I could see you were busy. Didn’t you hear me shout to you?’
‘What? Above all this noise,’ Maggie laughed. ‘Watching the football indeed. I bet you fell asleep.’ She winked.
Alex had purposely left his bag of money in Mark’s van. He had nowhere to stash it yet without Maggie seeing him so he’d decided to hide it in the early hours, when everyone was asleep. It had been one hell of a night, and he needed a stiff drink to calm him down. Pouring himself a brandy, he handed Maggie a glass too and he put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Cheers!’ he shouted to the people stood at the bar. He felt happy and smug with a job well done. Now his family had financial back-up, if they ever needed it.
16 A NEW DISCOVERY
‘Is he right? Did you see him?’ Standing in the empty corridor of the prison, Paul fired question after question at the man on the other end of the phone. His brow broke out in a sweat as he eagerly waited for the answers. He had dreamt of this moment, but didn’t dare believe it, until his trusted friend could confirm Alex Silva’s whereabouts.
Furtively, Paul glanced around to make sure no one else was in line waiting to use the phone, although he knew they would be going about their daily work routines. With the back of his sleeve, he wiped away the sweat forming on his top lip.
‘Yes boss. It’s that low life Silva and his family. Him and his missus are playing publicans in the posh part of Kent. Real suburbia, with hanging baskets and everything.’
Stunned, Paul felt rooted to the spot. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His number one man, now his arch enemy, had been right under his nose all this time. ‘Are you sure it’s that bastard?’ All of the pent-up anger he had felt from his betrayal and incarceration came spewing out in venom down the phone.
‘Boss, I’ve drunk with you and Alex. I’ve eaten at his table. I am telling you, whoever your informant is, they were right. It’s definitely him. Do you want me to send a hitman and get rid of the lot of them?’
Paul’s eyes darted around the corridor. Now he had his wish come true, he couldn’t think straight. As much as he wanted Alex dead at this very moment, he knew he had to think and leave no trail leading to himself. First on his list would be that guard Barrow. He needed to be able to walk out of prison as clean as a whistle. He knew he was guilty and so did the police, but if they couldn’t prove it, any of it, they would have to let him go.
‘No, just keep a tail on him. The police will be watching and protecting him… We need to know his every move, who he sees and where he goes. When we make our move, it has to be clean and quick without any hiccups. I have some business to attend to here first.’ Paul laughed loudly, leaving an echo running down the corridor. He couldn’t stop laughing, even when the guards walked by and gave each other odd looks.
‘It’s okay, sirs.’ Paul smiled at the guards and brushed away the tears brimming in his eyes. ‘It’s just a funny joke my friend is telling me about his wife.’ Winking, he grinned widely at them. He could afford to be gracious today. Today was a good day.
Once back in his cell, he shut the door and lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He had imagined all kinds of deaths for Alex. He wanted him humiliated, tortured and to suffer a long slow death. Or a quick one with lots of bullet holes, making him scarcely recognisable. His blood boiled knowing that Alex was in reaching distance. He would have liked the chance to kill him himself and watch him die, but he knew that wasn’t possible. Alex had to be dead before Paul could be released. Either way, he mused to himself, he would piss on Alex Silva’s ashes.
Alex Silva had been only a young man when they had first met. He had always been mixed up with the wrong crowd as a kid, thieving and scamming with his friends. Paul remembered when his youngest brother had introduced Alex to him. Alex had been a young tearaway wanting to make quick money to get him out of the slums where he lived with his family. Alex’s father had never worked but made damn sure that Alex’s mother had three jobs. She scrubbed floors, waited tables and took in washing from the hotels, but Alex’s father drank all the money away. Paul winced inside when he remembered the day that Alex had said, ‘Paulie, you’re more than a boss to me, you’re like a father to me. The best dad in the world.’ He had smiled and hugged him. Paul had put him on collecting the drug money or doing drops with his brother. They were just young kids, and Paul knew the police wouldn’t do much if they were caught. Sometimes they collected money from the brothels, and Paul knew that Alex and Matteo sampled the goods too. Alex was a ladies’ man and they all loved him. The very thought of it made him smile when he recalled how many times he had caught Alex with his trousers down and turned a blind eye, calling it a perk of the job. In those days it had made him laugh and he had warmed to Alex instantly. He was a very likeable, charming man who had always showed respect.
Even as a kid Alex had been quick to learn and had kept his mouth shut. From the money he was earning, he was able to make his mother’s life easier, even though she still left the house every day so her husband wasn’t suspicious. And Alex was loyal too. Even when he had been caught making a drug drop-off and had served eight months in a young offender’s prison, he had never broken his vow of loyalty to Paul. He had pleaded guilty and kept his mouth shut and once he came out, Paul and the other families had made sure he had a job for life. He had gone a step up the ladder and the others, Paul included, felt that collecting wasn’t good enough for Alex. He was a foot soldier and his time in the young offender’s prison had hardened him and made him grow up faster than his years. He was sharp as a razor and hungry to learn.
As Paul surveyed the cracks in the ceiling, his heart sank. He realised now that his fatal mistake had been favouring Alex more than his own brother. Alex had been funny, charming and what was more, he was fearless. Whereas Paul’s own brother was sloppy and loud-mouthed. He liked to drink and pretend he was some fearless gangster with the backing of the families. He demanded respect in the family name and acted like a spoilt child when no one showed him any. As loath as Paul was to admit it, his brother annoyed him, but blood was blood and so he had stood by him.
When Alex’s father had taken his belt to Alex’s mother again, Alex had made sure it was the last time. He had begged Paul for a gun and after a while Paul had given in thinking he would never use it. But Alex had been true to his word and had shot his father at point-blank range in the head. Paul and the others had all been surprised when they realised that Alex hadn’t done it in the heat of the moment, but had created an alibi for himself and his mother, which had cleared them both of any suspicion. Alex had shown no remorse, which had given Paul the idea that he would make a perfectly good hitman. He was calm, calculating and as cool as a cucumber when interviewed by the police.
