“It’s good to get away,” he said. Alana offered him a cheerful grin in return. She was just as happy as he was to be getting away from it all.
“You think the kids will like the cabin?” she asked, turning her head and looking at the two sleeping children in the backseat of the car. Her son was leaning against the window, in a deep sleep. Alana’s daughter slouched next to him, her eyes flickering a little as she dreamed about whatever ten-year-old girls dream about. She noticed that her son was still holding his phone and knowing what he did all day, she knew for certain what he was dreaming about.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that fifteen-year-old boys dream about two things—breasts and the girls attached to them.
“The kids will love it. You’ll see. Even though I’m sure Dom will hit the roof when he finds out that there’s no Wi-Fi in the cabin,” Leo said as he steadied the car as it made its way down the motorway.
“But what if they don’t? What if this was all for nothing and when we get there they’ll continue fighting, and we’ll continue….” Leo interrupted her. “It will be fun. Don’t get worked up about it. There’s no use. It’s done now. We’re committed. Two weeks in the Lake District. Trees, hills and green grass. What more could a 2015 family want?”
“An Xbox One,” a voice from the backseat said suddenly, startling the both of them.
“Ah, you’re awake,” Alana said as she smiled at her son. He was a typical boy. A little inwardly shy. His body language pretty much cemented the fact that he wasn’t at all interested in the little excursion they were taking. In the weeks that led up to the trip to the Lake District, Dom had done nothing but voice his displeasure regarding the family holiday. He’d told his mum and dad that he’d rather have a tea party with his ten-year-old sister than waste two weeks of his summer holidays on a boring two-week holiday in some dingy cabin.
“Sorry mate, no Xbox Ones in the Lake District wilderness I’m afraid. Just peacefulness, along with every shade of beauty you could imagine,” his father said.
“Will there be other families there?” Dom asked.
“Maybe. Why?” Alana wondered. She could feel her stomach tightening up. She was never very good at long car journeys. In fact, she was always the one that needed to go to the toilet every ten minutes. But she was being an adult and holding it in. Suffering in silence, unlike Dom.
“Just can’t really imagine spending two weeks alone with you lot,” Dom said, swiping the unlock button on his iPhone. He plugged his headphones into the jack and pressed play on his media library. He spent the rest of the journey listening to Metallica and Iron Maiden. Dom was a bit of a retro hipster, unlike the kids at his school. He didn’t have the energy to give his doting parents the time of day, so he sat back, closed his eyes and submerged himself in the heavy thrashing of guitars, drums and screeching vocals.
“Charming,” Leo said as he changed gear on an incline. They were about ten minutes away from their cabin. The picturesque Lake District blossomed past them as they drove up a dirt track. The wheels gripped the dirt as mud sprayed up the now-muddy paintwork of the Ford Focus. But no amount of dirt was going to ruin Leo’s mood. He was set for two weeks of bliss. No more arguing. No more worrying. Just a family holiday in one of the most beautiful places in England. But where there’s beauty, there’s ugliness. And the Thomas family had no idea how ugly things were about to get.
Chapter Two
Tony sat down at the large round oak table in the dingy meeting room. Six faces stared back at him. They belonged to hard men. Men you didn’t want to mess with. Men that held a grudge. And ironically enough, the reason behind this meeting was because of a grudge. A grudge that all six men had carried for ten years. Ten very long and very frustrating years. But as luck would have it, time was now on their side. A side that nobody wanted to get on the wrong side of.
“What do we have here?” one of the men asked, directing the question at Tony.
“Excuse me?” Tony replied.
“You don’t call, you don’t write, rumor has it you’ve gone clean. So what are you doing here?” the man asked. He had a sour face, sandpaper skin, short hair that was thinning, and an attitude that only a powerful man could have.
“I’ve been keeping myself busy. This and that,” Tony replied.
“This and that? I hope you hold up a little better when I get my boys on you.”
Tony smiled.
“Ah, ten years is a long time, but it’s nice to see that you still have the balls to threaten me, even though you’re barely five foot one.”
The man stood up, the sound of his chair scraping against the stone floor. He pointed his finger at Tony. It was a fat finger. A finger adorned with a thick gold ring. The sort of ring that would set you back a few quid.
“Listen here you cheeky sod. I’ll have you in a heartbeat. You mark my words. But this isn’t the time or the place to play silly buggers. You either pipe down or I’ll be forced to put you in your place!” the man said, letting his finger point a little longer at Tony. He squinted and then relaxed his arm, letting it rest beside him. He pulled the chair closer to him and sat back down. Tony smiled at the man and shook his head.
“Well, we’re all here. So please enlighten me as to why we’re having this little reunion. I mean, it’s nice seeing old friends and all, but forgive me for being blunt, I don’t have the patience or the time to put up with all this malarkey.”
The men around the table agreed with stern nods and fake smiles. They were all dressed alike. Suits, ties and trim haircuts. A few of the men sported beards, while the others were clean shaven. All of the men were exactly the same. The same in the sense that they once were all very powerful. Men who owned a majority in their niche. Their niche being naughty. Naughty men. Men that took what they wanted, when they wanted. Stole from banks. Held up protection rackets. Beat the competition into submission. But those were the glory days. Those days were long gone. The Metropolitan police weren’t having any of it anymore. A lot of their friends were in prison. Never to be released. The streets are a different animal now. An animal that needs to be tamed. But time hasn’t been kind to them. They aren’t as spry as they used to be. They are relics. Relics of the old guard. And now the streets did things differently. They respected the old lot, but wouldn’t be seen working with them.
Times had changed and so had the six men; seven, including Tony. They were background noise. Never seen, but sometimes heard if you listened close enough. They weren’t interested in taking back the street corners or flooding the estates with their product. They were business-savvy men. They knew that times had changed and drugs weren’t where it was at anymore. There was much more to being naughty than moving a little bit of dirt. It was a whole new world out there. A world that they’d adapted to. But they weren’t meeting for the first time in ten years to talk new business. They were meeting to talk old business.
“We finally got a bead on Leo Thomas. A bunch of the old boys are tailing him as we speak,” the man with the sandpaper skin said while staring a hole into Tony.
“Tailing him? And then what?” Tony asked.
“We haven’t quite decided yet. The thing is, he’s with his family. His wife and his two kids. Young’uns. Innocent. He did wrong. He did very wrong. But we need to make him pay. He can’t get away with what he’s done,” a man next to Tony said.
“Oh, I disagree. I know exactly what will happen once he stops,” the sour-faced man said.
“And what’s that? You’re going to kill him in front of his family? Leave a load of witnesses?” Tony asked.
The man with the sandpaper skin stood up and straightened himself out. He then leaned against the table and stared directly at Tony.
“We’re going to make him pay for what he did, what he did to all of us. So wipe that stupid look of concern off your face. We’ve waited long enough to track him down. It’s his fault if his family gets hurt. Maybe he shouldn’t have grassed on us? Maybe if he’d ke
pt his damn mouth shut and served his time, then maybe he wouldn’t be hours away from finding out what it means to do proper hard time. Because believe me when I say this Tony, he’s going to do the hardest time known to man. The boys tailing him are experts in delivering the sort of pain and suffering only imaginable by the sickest. They bring to life the demonic. Once they’re done with his wife and his kids, they’ll finally do him. But not until he begs them to.”
Tony swallowed hard. He knew that the men in his company were serious. He also knew that they held Leo Thomas responsible for the fall of their once-glorious drugs empire. And when there’s that much money and that much pride involved, somebody is going to have to pay dearly for their sins.
Tony just wasn’t sure whether they had the right man.
Chapter Three
Leo and his family pulled up on the dirt driveway outside their rented cabin in the woods. A birdbath sat in the middle of the driveway, giving the place an elegant feel. A few Robins sat in the birdbath fluttering water about as they bathed. The kids got out of the car first, looking around in quiet wonder. The oldest, Dom, was secretly admiring the beauty of the cabin and its surroundings, but he wouldn’t ever admit such a thing out loud in fear that he’d be conforming to his family’s wishes and enjoying himself.
Leo and his wife Alana got out of the car and joined their kids as they stared at the cabin.
“Take it all in kids, this will be your new home for a few weeks,” Alana said as she ruffled her son’s hair. Dom stared at his mother and shook his head in annoyance. He made his way up the wooden steps and waited on the porch that surrounded the perimeter of the wood cabin.
“It’s wonderful mum. I bet there’s loads of animals around here. I can’t wait to take pictures of them,” her daughter Bridget said as she hugged her mum’s leg. She was holding her Nintendo DS, which had a camera on it. Bridget held the DS up to her mum and snapped a picture. She turned the screen around and laughed, showing her mother the image on the screen.
“It’s beautiful honey. Well done. It’s going to get dark soon so I doubt we’ll be able to take any pictures of animals today, but first thing in the morning you and I can do a little exploring for wildlife,” Alana said, bending down and kissing Bridget on the forehead.
“Thanks mum!” Bridget smiled at Alana.
“Come on gang, let’s get inside before it starts to rain,” Leo said, gently guiding his wife and daughter up the rickety steps onto the decking. Dom stood near the door looking impatient as he waited for his dad to fish out the keys. A few seconds later, they were all inside the cabin. The lights were being turned on and beds were being chosen. Rooms were being fought over and supplies were being taken out of the boot. The family were in high spirits. A few weeks of adventure awaited them. Bird watching. Picnics. Treks. Hiking. Mountain biking. All the classics of a great British holiday.
But as is often the case, the holiday didn’t quite turn out the way they imagined it. It’s safe to say that the Thomas family were blissfully unaware that they were about to embark on the holiday from hell.
Chapter Four
The white van stopped on the embankment. The driver turned the engine off and reached for his mobile on the dashboard. He punched in the eleven-digit number and waited for it to ring. As a rule of thumb, he never saves numbers into his phone.
“The Thomas clan have arrived at the cabin. What do you want us to do?” the man asked, wiping the dust off the dashboard as he spoke on the mobile.
“Sit and wait. There’s no use rushing this. It could end up costing us in the long run if we go in all guns blazing. So stay on site, and wait for my call,” the voice on the other end of the phone said.
“What about the boys? I don’t see them enjoying the idea of sleeping in the back of a van,” the man asked, still wiping dust off the dash with his free hand.
“I don’t care what they like or what they want. You work for me, remember that. If I think it’s necessary to sit and wait on a job instead of rushing in, then that’s what we’re going to do. I’d appreciate it if you did as you’re told. We don’t want me to have to make any rash decisions here, now do we?”
The man stopped dusting the dash and looked up at his reflection in the rearview mirror. He caught a glimpse of his hard eyes. Somehow, they were darker that day. As if the pressure of the situation was expanding the matter in his head and dilating his pupils.
“Roger that. We’ll wait. Guess a little trip down the shops is out of the question? Could do with a pack of Polos.”
The mobile went dead and he smiled.
“Wanker,” he said, putting his phone back on the now dust-free dash. He turned around, twisting his body and knocked on the partition behind the driver’s seat. The sound of a bolt being unlocked followed the partition coming down, revealing a small square gap. It was big enough to see into the back of the van, but too small to fit through. A pair of wide eyes stared back at the driver.
“Boss says to sit tight. Looks like we’ll be waiting till tomorrow night.”
The man staring back at the driver blinked a few times, the only thing visible was the whites of his eyes in the dim light. He stared long and hard at the driver and smiled back at him.
“Plenty of time to prepare for payback,” the man said.
“Every cloud,” the driver replied.
The man in the back of the van stuck his head closer to the partition gap and started to whisper.
“But bear this in mind; I’m in the company of six very agitated and violent lads. We’re sharing a confined space. So you better find us some entertainment or the boys might blow their loads early, if you know what I mean?”
The driver nodded.
“I understand, but it’s out of my hands. The boss says so. We go in there now, and we’ll wish we hadn’t. I’m telling you, the guy is an absolute nutter. No use in making him angry now, is there?”
The guy staring through the gap nodded his head and turned to his crew.
“Looks like we’ll have to wait till tomorrow night to hit this Leo fella where it hurts. I suggest you lot relax, get some kip and wait this out. I know it’s a pain in the arse, but at the end of the day good things come to those who wait,” the man in the back of the van said to a murmur of disappointment.
The driver closed the partition and relaxed into the driver’s seat. The embankment they were parked on was partially covered by trees and bushes. The driver could see the cabin lights in the distance. The van was around eight hundred yards away from the cabin. Plenty of breathing room. Space was the key to this operation. And so was patience. But the driver didn’t know if the job was going to run smoothly. He had a very bad feeling about it. A feeling that things were not quite as they seemed. It didn’t sit right with him. The idea of executing a man in front of his own family for past discretions that the driver himself wasn’t sure whether he would have been able to resist just didn’t seem right.
The world is a cold place and sometimes it’s best not to dwell on things. But the driver couldn’t help but wonder if he was doing the right thing.
Chapter Five
“Think of a number between one and ten,” Leo said as he held the cards close to his chest. He was standing in the middle of the living room, his family staring up at him with confused looks on their faces. The crackle of the fireplace behind was casting shadows on him, the black shadows rising against the walls and meeting in the middle of the room. The heat from the fireplace was gently searing his neck. It was a pleasant feeling, especially on a night like this. Cold and dark. The orange tinge from the flames playfully scattered across the wooden floorboards as Leo tried to interest his family in his game.
“Eleven?” Dom asked, smirking a little as he rolled his eyes.
“I said a number between one and ten. Last time I checked, eleven goes after ten, not between it.”
Dom stood up and shrugged his shoulders.
“Looks like I lose. Guess I’m going upstairs. With any luck, ch
annel five will be showing a dirty movie.”
Alana shook her head.
“It’s eight o’clock in the evening Dom, channel five won’t be showing any dirty films. Besides, times have changed. They haven’t shown a dirty movie in ten years. You were six the last time they showed any skin on television!” she said as she attempted to embarrass her son who was trying all too hard to be grown up. What he didn’t realize was that being his age was about as good as it got for most, so Alana wanted to make sure that he didn’t waste it wanting to be older.
“Who says I didn’t catch a movie when I was six?” Dom asked.
Both Leo and Alana let out a collective groan.
“Ewww!” his mother heckled, holding her hands up to her face, trying not to laugh.
“Just go to bed. I give up on the card tricks,” Leo said, sitting down on the couch with his two most favorite girls in the world. He watched as his son turned around and made his way up the winding wooden stairs. He reached the top and could be heard walking on the creaky floorboards. A door slammed shut. Leo shook his head.
“I was never grumpy on holiday,” he said to his wife, a look of innocence on his face.
“I’m sure as a teenager you were all smiles and cartwheels,” Alana said.
“Cartwheels were never my strong point but I know smiling was!”
The two of them laughed quietly as Bridget snuggled between them. She was blinking every few seconds. Her eyes were red and both parents could tell that she was ready for bed. The hay fever from the great outdoors must have been getting to the little mite.
“Come on missy. Time to go to bed,” Leo said, getting up off the sofa and picking his daughter up. He held her against his chest, supporting her lower body on his forearm. Bridget tried to put up a fight but it only lasted half a second. She was too tired to scream the house down like she usually did before going to sleep. As her father carried her up to bed, she moaned and muttered sleepy thoughts under her breath. Two minutes later she was in bed, tucked in and getting kissed on the forehead.
Stasis (Alpha Ship One Book 1) Page 21
