‘I’m not sulky. Get off my case, yeah?’ They had made it back to the BMW. It was parked in the centre of Ashford, the bowling alley still in sight behind. Danny stopped short of the car, he was looking around. He addressed Rosh. ‘Listen man, there’s a bus route, yeah? Passes right by here. I’ll get Rhiannon home. You two go sort yourselves out, yeah? Don’t worry about us.’
‘Get in the car.’ Rosh’s tone was still a growl. He lowered himself into the driver’s seat, the car started and his door was pulled shut. Danny’s face contorted a little — anger, Rhiannon thought. Danny pulled the passenger door open and stooped.
‘Nah, man, we’re going to take the bus. So whatever this is, you can sort it out. It’s nothing to do with us. You just need to sort it.’ He pushed the door back shut and stood beside Rhiannon. The driver’s door swung open and Rosh stepped out. He was plainly furious.
‘You need to get back in the car, bruv. We need to be somewhere and we need to be there now. And the reason we need to do that is because you think this is all a game. One that you can play when you want to. This ain’t a game, bruv. Get in the fucking car.’
‘What are you talking about, Rosh? Where are we going?’
‘Get in the fucking car! Last time I ask nice. He’s already pissed off. The last thing you want to do is turn up late. He’s expecting us. He’s expecting us all.’
Everyone looked at Rosh. Rhiannon looked away and over at Danny and Sam. She could see in their faces that they knew who Rosh was talking about. Neither of them looked happy about it. Danny had been angry. Now he looked uncertain.
‘Get in the car,’ Danny said. It was directed at her.
‘I’ll get the bus on my own,’ Rhiannon said. The driver’s door shut. Sam got in the passenger side. Danny stepped away, towards Rhiannon and he lowered his voice.
‘Please,’ he said. ‘There’s obviously some issue with Rosh. I just want to make sure Sam gets home okay. Can you help me with that? Rosh has his moods, you know? I just want to make sure she’s okay.’
‘Who are we going to see?’
‘It’ll be a stop-off on the way home. It won’t involve you. I’ll deal with that and then I’ll make sure you both get home. Please come with me — I need your help.’
Rhiannon sighed. She didn’t think that was a good idea at all, but this was the first time Danny had asked for her help and she felt obliged, as if she couldn’t say no.
‘Okay,’ she said.
They both climbed into the back of the car. Rosh pulled away immediately.
Chapter 12
It was a bungalow. It looked small and the front garden was unkempt compared to all the neighbours’. Access was through a low gate that was jammed open and round a conifer that was growing wild and covering much of the path. Rhiannon didn’t like the look of the place.
Rosh and Danny had gone in on their own to start with. Danny had assured her that it would be a quick stop, but after a few minutes Rosh came back out to the car alone. The two girls were told that they were staying for a drink and Rosh shepherded them across the garden. An old mobility scooter was parked against the house and a puddle of brown-tinged water had collected on the seat. The dirty white plastic front door was open. The letterbox was missing and there were scuff marks on the bottom. Rosh pushed it open and let Sam and Rhiannon step past so that they could go in before him.
‘Who have you brought me?’ the solidly built black man grunted. He looked older than both Rosh and Danny and he had the air of being in charge. Rhiannon felt a shove in her back. Rosh was standing behind her. She had to take a step forward to keep her balance. It took her over the threshold of the bungalow.
Rhiannon faced the seated man. He was sat on a grubby sofa. His head was bent; he was rolling a cigarette. He didn’t look up. Rhiannon got an instant bad feeling: about the place, about the man sat in front of her and about how he had implied that she might have been brought for him. As Rosh prodded her towards him, she looked at Danny. He was a couple of paces in front of her and facing away — towards the seated male. He didn’t turn to greet her either.
‘What is this?’ Rhiannon said. No one answered and no one looked at her. Everyone looked at the seated man as he finished rolling his cigarette. He stacked it neatly against two others and immediately started on another. Rhiannon cast a nervous look around the bungalow. Rosh, Sam and Danny were packed into the small living room. A boy a few years younger than her sat at a table in the middle the room. Her overriding impression was that it was a filthy place to live. All the soft materials — the curtains, the sofas, the carpet — looked grimy. The carpet in particular was a mass of stains and patches where the floorboards were pushing through. It had fresh-looking drag marks on it and patches of darker tones as if someone had recently pulled heavy items of furniture out of the property. The table was cluttered with a set of scales, some empty clip bags, a few packs of foil, a large pack of condoms and discarded containers from various takeaway food outlets.
‘Listen, Aaron,’ Danny said, ‘you wanted to speak to me. This has got nothing to do with her.’ He turned to Rhiannon very briefly. He looked unsure, scared even. The seated man, Aaron, looked up and fixed his eyes on Danny. He made him wait for his reaction.
‘Are you questioning my decisions?’
‘No. I’m not questioning anything. She just don’t need to be here.’
‘Sounds like a question to me.’ All eyes were now on Danny. He squirmed in the spotlight. ‘What happened?’ Aaron continued.
‘I dunno, man. It was a stitch up, nothing like normal. Them cunts need—’
‘What happened?’ Aaron spoke over him.
Danny shook his head. ‘I got there, I used the code. I go into the place and the gear wasn’t there waiting like it usually is. I look around and suddenly there’s, like, four of them . . .’ Danny stopped talking as if struggling for words.
‘What happened then?’ Aaron raised his arms so that they ran along the back of the sofa. He looked comfortable.
‘They said they wanted money. They said, like, ten grand. I told them I didn’t have no money. I said this wasn’t how it goes down. I been doing this a while now and this ain’t ever how it goes down—’
‘What did I tell you? In your training? What did I say?’
‘I got trained, yeah. I got a lot. I don’t know what you want me to say? When?’
‘Your training. When we talked about meets. When we talked about going to see these people, to do business. What did I tell you?’
‘I don’t know, man. There was nothing I could do, there was four of them and they weren’t in the mood to just hand it over. They were never going to hand it over.’
‘They would have done. They would have handed it over. This was a big opportunity for us. I told you, I told you all. I said that we would be tested. This isn’t a fucking game, Danny. This ain’t something we play at until a bigger bully comes along and tells us we can’t play anymore! I told you we were going to get tested and I told you it would happen more than once. I told you what we need to do when this happens. What did I say?’
‘You said we stand them up.’
Aaron suddenly sprung to his feet. ‘So you were there! I told you we would have to stand them up. Face them up. Were you carrying?’
‘Yeah, of course I was. I always do.’
‘Right, so show me how you would stand me up? Come on!’
‘Aaron, don’t do this, man. I didn’t have no choice — no chance. There was, like, four of them.’
‘Stand me the fuck up, Danny. Pull the blade.’ Aaron stepped towards Danny. He stomped his foot on the ground and Danny reacted: he snatched his hand to his waistband and then back towards Aaron. He clutched a black-handled, hunting-style knife in his hand.
‘Jesus, Danny!’ Rhiannon recoiled. She stepped back into Rosh, who once again shoved her forward. He was blocking the doorway.
‘Shut your bitch up, Danny. Shut her up or I’ll talk to her instead of you. Your choice
.’
Danny turned to Rhiannon. His eyes were wide with terror, his voice a little more than a stammer. ‘Stay quiet, Rhiannon . . . you’ll be just fine . . . just stay quiet a minute.’
Rhiannon stepped to the right, she could feel Rosh; he was so close her hair was moving with his breathing. She felt him grab hold of her right bicep. The grip was firm enough to hurt. She stayed quiet, tried to take in the environment again, tried to identify exits. Straight ahead was a kitchen area that was open to the lounge. A door hung open on the left side, she could see it was the bathroom, and a door to the right was closed. She guessed it would be a bedroom. There was a back door in the kitchen. The floor around it was thick with a layer of dirt that didn’t look like it had been disturbed for quite some time. An overflowing bin blocked it and in any case she could see thick, green branches from the rear garden pushing up against the glass of the top half of the door. There were just two screw holes where the handle should have been. She didn’t think an exit that way would be viable.
‘So now what?’ Aaron stared at the knife that was levelled at his forehead.
Danny shrugged. ‘Fuck, Aaron, there’s no need to—’
‘Don’t drop it! Keep it on me. You need to point it right between my fucking eyes.’ Aaron stepped forward again. He pushed his forehead into the blade. Rhiannon could see that Danny was straining to keep it held out. ‘This is how you stand a man up. They tell you there ain’t no gear, they tell you they want your money and you pull your blade and you rest it right on their fucking face. And you stare into their eyes, Danny. You can tell everything you need to know about a man when you have a blade to his head.’ Aaron pushed forward more firmly; he was leaning with his head, his weight supported by the point of the knife.
‘What are you learning about me, Danny? What do you think about me now? Now you’ve got me at the end of your fucking blade? It goes both ways, you see. This is how I get to learn about you. I can see you ain’t got what it takes to use it, you couldn’t do it if you had to!’
Aaron’s hand suddenly reached out and slapped the fist that held the knife. It caught Danny out. Aaron slapped it again. ‘You’re never going to use that are you, Danny? You never fucking would. No wonder they chose you to test . . . No wonder they fancied their fucking chances. Maybe you should have sent your bitch in, rather than making her sit in the car. You could have waited outside while she got the job done.’
Aaron slapped the knife again. This time he followed it up with a lunge at Danny. He caught him with a closed fist on the side of his face. Two more quick punches were enough to knock Danny to his knees. Aaron hit him again, now he was stood over him and they were ground punches. They hit the top of Danny’s head and were enough to knock him all the way to the floor. Rhiannon could hear the blows; they were sickening against his skull. Danny didn’t make any noise, he didn’t protest, he didn’t seem to try and protect himself. On the floor he wrapped his head up in his arms. Aaron took to kicking him. He swung his foot hard three times. Finally, Danny yelped in pain. Rhiannon tried to pull away from Rosh’s hold. He tightened his grip, her muscle shot with pain and she yelped herself.
Aaron now turned to look at her. ‘And who is this then? So this is who you took along? Is she part of the gang now then, Danny? Are you making these decisions without me?’ He stepped closer to Rhiannon and looked her up and down. ‘Some white trash you picked up off the street. Is she more important than us? We’re supposed to be brothers, Danny. You took an oath to serve, to be a part of something you said you would die for. Are you choosing this bitch over all that? Is that what this is all about?’
Danny rose to an unsteady sit. He was bleeding from a gash above his right eye. He shook his head as if regaining his senses. ‘She’s nothing to do with this. She wasn’t even there. I didn’t take her in.’
‘You took her to the meet though, right? She was waiting for you outside like a good little bitch? I lost ten grand’s worth of gear in that meet, Danny. I lost twelve hours of trading. We are here trying to build something. Do you have any idea how damaging it is for me, at this stage, to shut the door for twelve hours? It might just have fucked everything. You owe me that ten grand now, Danny. That’s how this works. But don’t worry, your half of the debt is five grand. I want the other five grand from your bitch here.’
‘She’s got nothing to do with this. She came out for the drive.’
Aaron swung his boot into Danny’s side again. He fell into a foetal position. ‘Out for a drive? In my car. To a meeting. That you both fucked up. Listen to me Danny and listen to me proper . . . You owe me five grand each. Your half I can get from your takings. Unless you want to impress me and go get it off the real men who mugged you off. Your bitch though, she’s gonna have to stay here and earn her half.’ Aaron turned to Rhiannon again, lingering on her body. ‘Lot of fellas like them young round here, I bet. She’s a pretty thing — got that innocent look about her. She can do tricks for fifty quid a go. Easy, right? But I need a hundred a day from her, minimum. If she gets any more than that then she can keep it or she can pay off her debt quicker. Depends if she’s secretly enjoying herself!’ He leered right at Rhiannon. ‘You ever fuck a man for money, white trash?’
‘Aaron, she’s got nothing—’
‘Shut the fuck up, Danny! Don’t think you can stand up to me now when you couldn’t stand up to them cunts last night. I don’t respect you enough to listen to you right now. This is how it’s gonna happen.’ Aaron turned his attention back to Rhiannon.
‘What are you talking about?’ she stammered.
‘Oh come on, you’re not so naïve now, are you? You owe me a debt. The debt’s got to be paid. I’m not like your pussy boyfriend here. I always collect.’
‘I don’t owe you anything.’
Rhiannon saw the movement towards her but Rosh still had her in a tight grip. She could do nothing to stop Aaron taking a handful of her hair. He pulled her off her feet. She squealed in pain. He let go immediately, his hand now grabbing for her neck. He used his weight and had her in a powerful ground pin, her neck crushed in his one hand.
‘You white girls. You think because you’re young and pretty that people will give a shit. Let me tell you, I’ve seen it all before . . . people forget very quickly. You owe me five grand. You will get it by fucking the local scum. Because that’s all you’re good for. You understand me?’
Rhiannon couldn’t breathe. Her hands scrabbled against his grip, but he was so strong it was nothing more than desperation. He was fixed on her, his eyes locked into hers. She managed a gargling sound.
‘I’ll take that as a yes. You be sure to come see me if you want to change your mind though, yeah?’ Aaron pushed off her neck to get back up. He went back to his seat. The same posture, his arms pushed out either side onto the back of the sofa. Danny was still on the floor, his wide eyes locked with Rhiannon’s. He looked relieved, as if he was relieved that Aaron had let her go while she could still breathe.
‘Who’s this?’ Aaron suddenly gestured at Sam. She was stood over the other side of the room. She had her hand raised covering her mouth as if she was in the middle of a silent scream.
‘No one,’ Rosh said. ‘She’s her mate. I had to bring them both or they wouldn’t have come.’
‘She with you?’ Aaron flicked to Rosh.
He shrugged. ‘For a fuck maybe.’
Aaron grinned wildly. The grin turned into laughter. He slapped his knee and nudged Danny with his foot. ‘You see, Danny, your brother, here . . . he knows a bitch and he knows their place in this world. You need to start learning and you need to start learning quick. Now get the fuck out of here and I don’t want to see you again until you’ve been back and reloaded. This will happen again — you will be tested. They will have marked you out as the weak link now, Danny, and when they do test you I want them to be impressed. I want you to make a fucking statement. We are not here playing at this — you understand me?’
Danny struggled to hi
s feet. ‘Yeah, I understand.’
‘And get this one out of my sight.’ Aaron pointed at Sam. She still had the same stance. Danny took hold of her lightly and she pushed him away. He came back a lot rougher, he grabbed her hard by the arm and dragged her through the front door. He had time to exchange a furious look with Rosh before it slammed shut. He hadn’t even looked over to Rhiannon. She was back on her feet, massaging her neck. Rosh moved back behind her; she could feel he was close again.
‘We got a contact at a whorehouse two roads over. Czech girls, Czech madam. They ain’t gonna like you!’ He chuckled. You can make good money, though. You could pay me back in a week if you wanted to. Hundred a day, though, that’s your minimum. It might not even be a lot of fucking — men will pay for your innocence. I’ll get the word out. I want you started tonight. I’ll walk you over myself.’
Rhiannon stood still. She wanted to run, to fight for the door, but she couldn’t move. The panic in the pit of her stomach was like a weight that rooted her to the ground.
‘I’ll go first.’ The male voice came from the rear of the house.
Rhiannon looked up. A man had appeared at the door to the bedroom. He was older, white and dishevelled. His face was dark with stubble and dirt and he had a white shirt that hung open and was ringed with sweat marks. He licked his lips as he peered over. Rhiannon broke into tears.
‘Rummy!’ Aaron sounded delighted. ‘I never knew you had it in you! You like ’em young, do you? Who the fuck would have known, right?’
‘I like what I like. That’s my business. Is she available or what.’
‘Straight to business! Fifty quid a fuck, rummy.’
Rhiannon watched through her silent tears as the man stepped more into the room. He had a limp and grimaced with every step. He dropped money on the table.
‘A hundred. You said you wanted a hundred a day, minimum. That’s today’s. She stays with me tonight. No one else.’
‘Rummy! I don’t think you understand the rules of this game. She’s a tom. That means she gets paid by the fuck, not by the night.’
Ruthless a Gripping and Gritty Crime Thriller Page 8
