His eyes strained, gagging on the ventilator as though he were trying to say something.
“Just take it easy,” said Rachel, placing a hand on his forehead. “You’re recovering from serious surgery, you need to relax.”
“He wants to know if everyone’s okay, don’t you?” said Jules.
Mikey nodded.
“Grant and Battler are dead.”
Mikey released another groan, limbs twitching with agitation.
“Mikey, you’ve got to calm down,” said Rachel.
Jules dragged herself out of the chair and leaned right over him, fixing his gaze with her own and stroking his hair. “Ssshh, it’s okay,” she whispered. “You need to rest.”
He gave her another desperate look, clinging onto her hand before his eyes slid shut.
Ryan returned with a nurse who examined Mikey while Jules and Rachel gave her a round-up of what had happened.
“I’ll let his surgeon know,” she said. “And you should be in bed,” she added, looking at Jules.
“Not me…him,” she wheezed, trying to ignore the ache in her chest.
“His vital signs are stable. However yours won’t be if you don’t…”
Jules released a cry when Mikey’s spine arched off the bed and the alarms around his bed when into overdrive.
“Crash,” said the nurse, smacking the button over his bed.
“Mikey,” cried Jules, reaching out for him as Ryan placed her back in the chair.
“Let them work,” said Ryan as a team of doctors and nurses tore into the room, steering her out into the corridor, Rachel following, looking back over her shoulder at Mikey, stricken.
“Leave the door open,” snarled Jules, pushing against it with what little strength she possessed.
“You don’t want to see,” said Ryan.
“Yes I do,” she cried.
Ryan sighed and nodded. He’d learnt arguing with Jules was futile.
“Don’t you fucking dare leave me,” she screamed at Mikey’s figure on the bed as they applied the paddles to his chest, his body jumping as the electricity ran through him.
One of the nurses, seeing the door was open attempted to close it.
“Oh no you don’t,” said Rachel, jamming her foot against it.
The team around Mikey’s bed looked to the heart monitor, which continued to flatline.
While the chaos went on around them the men Dane had sent to guard the door remained at their post, staring straight ahead.
“Mikey,” wailed Jules, tears coursing down her face.
“Please, I must insist the door is closed,” said the nurse.
“Mrs Maguire,” called a voice.
They all turned to see a man in a rumpled suit standing behind them, holding a camera. “What’s happening to your husband?”
When he raised the camera to photograph Mikey on his bed Rachel slammed the door shut.
“You’d better not have taken any photos of him,” said Ryan, snatching the camera from him. As it was attached to a strap around his neck the man was pulled towards him too.
“Oy, you can’t do that,” he said as Ryan scrolled through the images.
“You low, dirty bastard,” said Ryan, deleting the images.
“You’ve no right.”
“And you’ve no right to photograph a man in his sickbed.”
The man’s anger at his photos being deleted - which would have made him a ton of cash - made him forget who he was talking to. “Doesn’t look like he’ll be in it for much longer.”
Jules leapt out of the chair and slammed her forehead into his face and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. “I hate scummy reporters,” she yelled, kicking him in the ribs.
Ryan looked up and down the corridor. Fortunately no one seemed to have noticed Jules attacking the man, neither could he see any cameras pointed their way. He caught his sister before she fell, gently replacing her in the chair, her face gritted with pain, hand clasped to her wound.
The door to Mikey’s room was yanked open by a red-faced nurse. “He’s stable.”
“Oh thank God,” said Jules. “I want to see him.”
The nurse didn’t object, feeling a little nervous for standing up to them earlier but procedure was procedure and she refused to break it for anyone, no matter how scary they were. It was a relief when Rachel Law flashed her an apologetic smile.
“What happened?” Jules asked the doctor standing over her husband, frowning down at him.
“I’m afraid his condition’s very fragile Mrs Maguire,” she replied. “He’s suffering from post-operative hypertension. Blood pressure and heart rate slowly increase as a patient recovers from the effects of the anaesthetic. It’s quite a common problem after surgery. We’re going to put him on some medication to relax the blood vessels and help his heart beat more slowly and easily.”
“He did seem agitated when he came round,” said Rachel.
“Everything must be done to keep him as calm as possible.”
Jules felt guilty for telling him Battler was dead. “Can I stay with him? If he wakes again he’ll feel better if I’m here.”
“I believe you’ve been ordered strict bed rest, a rule you seem determined to break,” said the redoubtable woman, eyes flashing.
“I’m fine,” she said with a wave of the hand.
“I wouldn’t say that. You’re bleeding Mrs Maguire.”
Jules looked down at her shoulder. “Oh hell.”
“If you return to your room I’ll redress your wound.”
“I don’t want to leave my husband.”
“I must insist on it,” said the doctor.
“You’re bleeding,” said Ryan. “No arguments lady. Do you want to get an infection? Do you?”
“No,” she sighed. “But I don’t want to leave him in case it happens again and you can’t save him,” she rasped, taking Mikey’s cold hand.
“We’ve stabilised him,” said the doctor. “And we’re starting the medication immediately.”
“It’s not enough assurance.”
“Is there any way they could be put in this room together?” said Ryan.
“I’m sorry, it’s just not possible. But the person in the room next door is being transferred to another ward this evening. We could put you in there, then you’ll only be next door.”
“It’s the best I’m going to get, isn’t it?” said Jules.
“I’m afraid so,” said the doctor not without sympathy.
“Okay,” she sighed. “Ryan, take me back to my room.”
Jules looked back at Mikey, her expression miserable as she was wheeled out of the room.
They exited to see the reporter just coming round, being tended to by two nurses. He was so dazed he didn’t even notice them. Dane’s men grinned down at the man, enjoying his pain.
CHAPTER 32
“What on earth was all that shouting about?” said Jez when they returned to Jules‘s room.
“Mikey had another heart attack,” said Ryan, closing the door behind them.
“Oh my God. Is he okay?”
“They’ve stabilised him.”
“Thank Christ for that. Jules, you’re bleeding.”
“Because she headbutted a reporter.”
“So the cockroaches have finally got in? Mark, Shane, keep an eye out. Make sure none of the vermin get that close again.”
They both nodded and left.
“Looks like you’re on the road to recovery sis,” said Jez. “Nutting journos already.”
“It felt fucking good,” she said, wincing as Ryan helped her out of the chair and into bed. “They wouldn’t let me stay with Mikey,” she said, eyes heavy with worry. “I can’t stand it that it might happen again and I won’t be there with him.”
“You heard them,” said Ryan, tucking the sheet around her waist. “They’re putting him on medication to control it.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“It will. Stop thinking like that.”
<
br /> “I want Hayden Brody to come for me,” she said darkly. “I want to make his death slow and painful. I’ve thought up tortures for that bastard that would make the Spanish Inquisition wet their pants.” She blanched, hand going to her wound. “I’m going to throw up.”
Ryan handed her a cardboard bowl just as she vomited, bringing up nothing but bile.
“Just leave it to us,” he said once she’d finished, flopping back into bed, sweating. “We’ll make sure he suffers. You need to concentrate on getting well.”
“I don’t want to,” she said, voice getting weaker. “I want to make them hurt like I’m hurting.”
“We’ll do that, I promise.”
She grabbed his hand. “If Mikey dies…I can’t…”
“He won’t and you’ll stop all that talk. Josh and Zach need you.”
“They have Amber.”
“I’m not sure how true that is.”
They were forced to drop the subject when the doctor turned up to redress Jules’s wound. A few minutes after she’d gone Jules fell asleep, the last reserves of her energy spent.
“Have you seen Bruiser?” Rachel asked Jez.
“No, sorry.”
She took out her phone to call him, feeling uneasy when he didn’t pick up. “He’s not answering. What if Katia’s got him?”
“That silly bint isn’t capable of capturing Bruiser,” said Jez.
“We thought she wasn’t capable of killing Battler but she did.”
Jez and Ryan didn’t reply. They had no idea what to say.
Katia strode into Mikey and Jules’s home. Amber had given her the address and Hayden had cut the power so the alarm wouldn’t go off when he picked the lock.
“You’d think they’d have better security,” said Mick.
“They are arrogant and stupid,” said Katia, surveying the large hallway, wooden floor gleaming. “Alright boys, begin the search and if you see anything you like, feel free to take it.”
“Great,” said Luke Clayton who tore through the house, followed by his two friends.
Hayden and Mick headed straight into the study to search for any papers that could give them some information about the Maguire-Law businesses as Amber had been unable to provide any.
Katia meanwhile toured the house, just taking everything in, enjoying rummaging through her enemy’s personal space. She was forced to admit the house was beautiful. With Jules living here she had assumed it would be a tip, everything painted black, fake bats and spiders everywhere but on the contrary it was extremely tasteful, light and airy with top of the range appliances. It was also absolutely spotless.
She headed into the master bedroom, frowning at the enormous bed where Jules and Mikey indulged in their disgusting incestuous sex. Opening one wardrobe she found a row of smart and very expensive suits and shirts, t-shirts, cashmere jumpers and designer jeans. A search of the bottom of the wardrobe revealed nothing, not even a hidden panel. The second wardrobe proved equally fruitless, nothing but black jeans and jumpers, only two evening dresses stuffed at the back, as though they were rarely used. Katia’s lip curled. It was such a shame that Jules’s good taste in home furnishings didn’t extend to her clothes. There was nothing in the bottom of her wardrobe either.
It was with disbelief that she searched the dressing table and found absolutely no jewellery. Surely a woman of Jules Maguire’s wealth would possess some diamonds, emeralds, rubies? The one thing she found was a tacky pendant depicting a Chinese dragon. Neither was there any make-up, apart from black eyeliner and some black eyeshadow. What sort of woman didn’t have jewellery or make-up? Despite how much she loathed Mikey Maguire she couldn’t deny he was a handsome man. What on earth did he see in this creature who didn’t put any effort into her appearance? Maybe the thrill was her being his cousin. God that family was sick.
She headed back downstairs, peering into the other bedrooms on the way but they were either guest bedrooms or the children’s rooms, nothing that held any interest for her.
Hayden and Mick were still doing a thorough search of the study while Luke and his men were wandering about clutching expensive watches, cash, cameras and small electrical items.
“Bloody gold mine around here,” grinned Luke slightly manically before rushing into the kitchen.
Katia rolled her eyes and wandered into the study. “Find anything?”
“Nothing,” said Hayden. “All these papers are about their legitimate businesses.”
“Not unexpected,” said Katia. “Amber said they moved headquarters when the compound exploded but she doesn’t know where. No one does. Only the inner circle know.”
“Shit,” said Hayden. “It was a long shot though. So, what now?”
“We’re done here. This house is no longer any use to us. Burn it.”
Jez had discharged himself and was sitting in Mikey’s room. He hadn’t regained consciousness since that one time. At least he hadn’t had another heart attack.
“Jesus, I wish you were awake,” he said. “We need your help. Bloody hell,” he gasped when Shane burst in. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.” He winced and glanced at Mikey. “Sorry.”
“Something’s happened, something big.”
“Oh what now?”
“Your house has been burnt to the ground. There’s nothing left. Mikey’s too. And the car lot and the scrapyard. Someone tried to fire bomb The Wherry Tavern when it was full but they were having a foam party so the bombs were extinguished when they hit the floor.” Shane gaped at his boss when he started to laugh, his chuckle turning into a full blown belly laugh.
“You okay boss?” said Shane.
“Yeah,” he said, taking a deep breath to calm down. “I just got a really funny image in my head of the fire bombs landing in the foam and spluttering out. Poof,” he said before starting to laugh again.
Shane opened the door and poked his head into the hallway. “Mark, get in here. Something’s wrong with Jez.”
“I’m fine,” said Jez when Mark ran into the room. “Just when you think it can’t get any worse, this happens.”
“At least it confirms Katia’s still in Manchester,” said Mark. “Or at least, her men are.”
“Have you told Jules yet?”
“No,” said Shane. “We came straight to you.”
“We’d better go and break the news,” he said, getting to his feet. Any chance there might have been that Cathy would change her mind about the divorce would be destroyed once she learned of the destruction of her beloved home. They’d planned to stay in that house for the rest of their lives.
Rachel and Ryan were in Jules’s room, just returned after grabbing some sleep at one of Beth’s hotels.
Ryan took one look at his brother and sighed. “What’s happened now?”
“My house burnt to the ground,” he said with much more chirpiness than the news deserved. He looked too Jules. “I’m sorry sis, yours too.”
“What?” she shrieked, sitting bolt upright then wincing.
“To the ground. There’s nothing left of either one,” he continued. “The car lot and scrapyard too.”
“Are they totally gone?” she said.
“I’m afraid so,” replied Shane, who had entered the room with Jez, Mark remaining with Mikey.
“They’re Beth’s businesses,” said Rachel. “The Maguire name isn’t even over the door anymore.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Rachel. “They’re synonymous with the Maguires. It was a statement.”
“They tried firebombing the Wherry Tavern too but they were having a foam party so…poof,” said Jez, unable to repress a chuckle.
They all looked at Jules when she started laughing too. “That’s fucking priceless.”
“How can you be so blasé?” said Ryan. “You’ve just lost your homes.”
“We could have lost so much more,” said Jules. Her smile faltered as her thoughts turned to Mikey. “We still might.” She shook herself out of it. “And it’s not like
we don’t have the cash to buy new homes. But we need to strike back and soon. It’ll be dangerous not to retaliate against this.”
“Any word on Raven?” said Jez.
“She’ll be here as soon as she can. She’s not the only one with a lot on her plate right now.”
“Shane, Mark,” said Jez. “The next McVay run is being done this afternoon. I want you both overseeing it as well as the men. We can’t afford for a single thing to go wrong.”
They nodded and left.
“I want to see Mikey,” said Jules.
“I’ll get the chair,” said Ryan, popping out of the room.
Joe the porter was in turmoil. He still had the cameras to plant. To encourage him five grand had been deposited into his bank account and Desiree had provided him with more sensual delights. But now the moment had come his bottle had gone. It had only just occurred to him that Desiree had chosen him not because of his scintillating personality but because part of his duties was delivering the patient’s meals to the wards. The hospital was so short staffed that he even took them to each individual patient as well. The problem was that Jules Maguire’s room was always full of her fearsome family and Mikey Maguire’s room wasn’t on the lunch list because, after chatting with the nurses, he’d ascertained he was still unconscious, so what did he want with a meal?
Desiree had also become more threatening lately, revealing a nasty side he hadn’t thought she possessed, dropping hints about the powerful and dangerous people who would be very pissed off if he didn’t carry out what he’d been paid to do. What had he been thinking? Someone had just tried to wipe out that entire family, he should have known something fishy was going on. He didn’t want to get involved but it was too late, he already was and if he didn’t do something he could end up as a patient here, at the best.
The camera was small, about the size of a ping pong ball but it would be noticed if left somewhere prominent. Where the hell did he hide it in such a small room?
As he walked down the corridor towards Jules Maguire’s room, feeling like he was making the death row march, he was delighted to see the door open, Jules wheeled out by her intimidating brother and sister-in-law. He pushed the trolley aside to allow them to pass, Ryan Law nodding him his thanks.
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