by Dan Latus
Josh sat next to me.
‘Do you want to check the room?’ I asked Logan.
He shook his head. ‘Done it.’
That confirmed my theory that he had arrived early, if not last night. He was an astute man. I hoped he was also capable of seeing reason.
‘Let’s get started,’ Josh said, parroting my suggestion.
‘OK by me,’ Logan said amiably enough. ‘What have you got in mind?’
Blue, I had met. Strong and tough, he was comfortable in jeans and a checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Cold and snow didn’t bother him. Nor did working in unfamiliar territory. I guessed he would be equally comfortable wherever he found himself.
Logan was different, and different to what I had expected too. Dressed in a smart business suit, and without the Essex tones I had anticipated, he gave the impression more of a white-collar crime boss than an East End gangster. Without making it too obvious, I tried to take my measure of him while the preliminaries were being conducted.
Josh weighed in at full throttle. ‘I want this vendetta to end. The damage to my properties and the threats to my son – I want it all to end now. What do you want from me to make that happen?’
Logan laughed in his face. ‘What makes you think you can bring this to an end just like that? It’s the murder of my son, Bryce, I’m concerned with.’
‘Oh, it is, is it?’ Josh said testily. ‘And what about my son, who you’ve been trying to kill?’
‘What’s your price?’ I asked, butting in before Josh lost his temper altogether and Logan walked out.
Logan looked at me as if I was something unpleasant he’d noticed on the sole of his shoe. ‘Who the hell are you?’ he demanded.
‘Doy. He’s the PI I told you about,’ Blue intervened.
‘Oh, this is him, is it?’ He stared hard at me and added, ‘Keep out of it, Doy. This is nothing to do with you.’
‘You must have a price in mind,’ I insisted quietly, ignoring the attitude. ‘All this can’t be pure nihilism.’
‘Oh? Fancy words? A learned man!’
‘We’re here to negotiate,’ I said calmly. ‘If you don’t want to talk to us, why did you bother coming? I assume there’s something you want. What is it? Let’s see if we can make a deal.’
Logan shook his head and chuckled, but not with amusement. ‘Just listen to him,’ he said conversationally to Blue. ‘Lecturing me. Who does he think he is?’
Blue’s face was expressionless as he, too, continued to stare at me.
‘No threats,’ I said, ‘but if we can’t reach a deal, we’re going to be coming for you. Make no mistake about that.’
I felt Josh stiffen beside me but I didn’t look. I just hoped his nerve held.
‘Oh yes?’ Logan said with a mocking smile. ‘You and who else – the Steele private army?’
‘Working together with Cleveland police, we’ll bring you down, if that’s what we have to do. The Steele family have had enough. They’re prepared to take the consequences of involving the police, if needs be. They are not prepared to live like this any longer.’
Logan looked angrily at Josh now. ‘Do you hear what he’s saying?’
‘I hear him,’ Josh said quietly, keeping it tight.
Good man! I thought.
‘As I understand it,’ I said cheerfully, ‘you’ve got a few million pounds’ worth of merchandise on the ship. You’ll lose that if we can’t negotiate an end to this situation we find ourselves in. Make no mistake. We’ll hand the ship over to the authorities.’
‘And lose your own stuff, as well?’ Logan said.
‘We’re prepared to do that.’
‘I’d like to hear it from Josh himself,’ Logan said, seemingly unimpressed, but quieter now. He was thinking.
‘So you don’t believe we’d do it?’ I took out my phone. ‘Do you want to see me speed-dial the cops?’
‘Go right ahead!’
Blue leaned forward and spoke for the first time. ‘That won’t be necessary,’ he said quietly.
He eyeballed Logan, who visibly calmed down. That made me think. So Blue had a say here? I wondered what gave him that. Perhaps he wasn’t working for Logan, after all.
‘We accept that you have certain objectives in mind,’ I continued, addressing Logan. ‘The most important of them obviously concerns your late son.’
‘Your son—’ Josh began, as if he was about to say what he thought of the late Bryce.
I overrode him.
‘We understand all too well how you feel about the sad loss of your son in that tragic accident, but killing Josh’s son in revenge is not going to bring Bryce back again. That said, we would like to explore the common ground between us, to see if there’s some way Josh can make amends by offering some form of compensation.’
‘Wow!’ Logan said. He looked at Blue and at Josh, and then he laughed. ‘Is this guy for real?’
‘He speaks for me,’ Josh said wearily.
‘You should have said you were bringing a lawyer, Josh. I’d have brought one myself.’
‘So what do you want?’ I asked bluntly.
‘What’s on offer?’ Blue fired back.
Without looking at Josh, I said, ‘You get to keep your own cargo on this next shipment plus twenty-five per cent of the Steele consignment.’
Logan chuckled and glanced at Blue.
‘We estimate the Steele share is worth £20 million,’ I continued. ‘So that’s another five mil for you, on top of whatever your own cargo is worth.’
Blue shook his head. ‘Five million? You must be joking. That’s nowhere near enough.’
‘What are you looking for?’
Suddenly we were debating figures, which was a lot better than trading insults and absolutes, and talking about killing Tom. I was the one doing the negotiating for our side. Josh was still there, but I didn’t look round to check or to draw him in. I wanted him to stay silent.
‘The whole thing,’ Logan said eventually. ‘Everything.’
I didn’t know if he had the shipment in mind or Josh’s entire business empire, but I didn’t ask in case we got an answer we didn’t like.
‘The whole twenty mil?’ I said with incredulity.
‘No!’ Josh said suddenly. ‘No fucking way!’
‘Take it or leave it,’ Logan said amicably, seeing Josh rattled now and believing he held a winning hand.
Blue and I stared at one another. I knew from the meeting at Risky Point that he was a consummate performer. I knew from the meeting on the doorstep in the snow, his life possibly in danger, that he was a cool negotiator. I also knew it was no good just caving in. That would only embolden them to demand even more.
On the other hand, I didn’t want them walking out on us either.
‘Forty per cent,’ I said quietly.
Blue shook his head.
I glanced at Josh. He stared at me without much interest. He looked as if he had given up.
‘Fifty per cent, then,’ I said. ‘And that’s a damned good offer!’
‘Not for blood money, it isn’t,’ Logan said in a fierce whisper. ‘You’re paying for the murder of my son, remember.’
So that’s what he thought it was? Blood money. Well, perhaps he was right. In any case, however much it was, it was better than having to hold a funeral for Tom.
‘Josh has to get something out of it,’ I urged. ‘See reason!’
Logan and Blue both just stared at me. They knew they had us now. They could sense they had won.
‘OK. The whole damned lot,’ I said with a sigh.
I turned to Josh and said wearily, ‘You OK with that?’
He just shrugged.
‘Josh?’
Reluctantly, he nodded.
‘Right. It looks like we’re done here,’ I said, standing up. Josh remained seated.
‘Not quite,’ Blue said.
‘Oh?’
‘There’s an extra load to be taken on board the ship.’
&nb
sp; ‘What is it?’ Josh asked then, looking up.
‘Nothing to do with you,’ Blue said.
‘The ship is pretty near full.’
‘If necessary, we’ll take something off to make way for it. One other thing. Instruct your skipper that the first port of call will be Marseilles, as I believe Mr Logan has already indicated.’
Josh shrugged. It didn’t make any difference to him now. He had lost ownership of his own cargo.
‘OK,’ I said. ‘Marseilles it is.’
Blue nodded at me. Then the pair of them got up and left. We stayed where we were.
We gave them a few minutes to get clear. Then I said, ‘Come on! Let’s get the hell out of here.’
Josh was pretty subdued. On the way back to the car, he said, ‘How did I do?’
‘Great. But keep looking miserable, in case anyone’s watching.’
‘Some negotiator!’ he said out of the corner of his mouth. ‘You realize what you’ve done? My whole bloody shipment down the tubes!’
‘Just remember this,’ I told him patiently. ‘We’ve won.’
Chapter Thirty-Seven
‘So we’ve won, have we?’
‘Just get in the car, Josh.’
We buckled up and set off.
‘Tell me how we’ve won, Frank. Seriously, tell me.’
‘We’ve got Tom off the hook.’
‘There is that, I suppose.’
‘Come on, Josh!’
He sighed and nodded. ‘That’s the important thing,’ he admitted reluctantly.
We drove on silently, each of us with his own thoughts. Josh was coming to terms with losing twenty million quid’s worth of gear. I could understand that that was difficult for him, even though in the end Tom’s life was all that really mattered.
For my part, I needed to keep Josh on board while I sorted out how to keep Tom alive and yet stop the shipment reaching Marseilles, without putting the Steele family in prison. All we had done so far was win a little time. First, though, Josh’s ego needed massaging.
‘You played your part beautifully, Josh. You should be on the stage.’
‘You think so? I prefer cinema, actually.’
‘Movies, then. You should be in the movies.’
‘I’ll have to think about it,’ he said with a grin.
I began to relax. He was coming round.
‘Fancy something to eat?’
‘Why not?’ Josh yawned. ‘Might as well eat before I go bankrupt.’
‘Is it as bad as that?’
He squinted as he did some mental arithmetic.
‘Just for the record, Frank, Logan’s stuff on the ship is all stolen, and won’t have cost him a thing. Mine is legal and honest – and paid for. So I’ll be down a lot of money.
‘At least Tom will be OK now, though, won’t he?’ he added, seeking reassurance.
‘He should be. Logan’s been offered more than he could ever have dreamt of getting.’
‘Yeah,’ Josh said, nodding. ‘Tom will be OK now. So I suppose we did win.’
‘Now you’re talking!’
He reflected a bit more and then said, ‘But the loss I’m taking on the shipment will clean me out. I’ll have to start all over again.’
‘Can you do that?’
‘I suppose so,’ he said with a shrug. ‘I’ve done it once. I can do it again. I’ll have to put most of my businesses into receivership, though. There’s no way I can accommodate a loss like that and keep them all afloat. Still, we’ve got Tom out of it. That’s the main thing.’
Actually, I didn’t really know about that. I wasn’t so optimistic. We did have an agreement, but would it stand? I wasn’t so sure. What happened the next time Logan wanted to make an illegal shipment? It could be the same thing all over again.
But I was determined Logan was not going to benefit from even this shipment. I wasn’t going to allow him – or Blue, for that matter – to get away with it. I’d never be able to go fishing with Bill Peart again. I had to find a way of stopping them.
‘What are you thinking?’ Josh asked over lunch at the pub where we’d stopped. ‘I can see you’re turning something over in your mind.’
‘Do you really want to know?’
‘I do. I’m sure it concerns me, and mine.’
‘What I’m thinking is there’s no way I’m going to allow Logan and Blue to get away with it. You know that, Josh, don’t you? Tom’s the priority, but I’m not prepared to let criminals export a shipload of stolen goods.
‘Besides, if they bring it off once, they’ll be back for more. We’ve got to find a way of stopping them for good.’
‘And renege on the agreement?’
I nodded. ‘Just as they will, if and when it suits them. They’re career criminals, remember – not legitimate businessmen or upright citizens.’
‘Peace-in-our-time all over again?’ Josh said wearily.
‘Well, it’s not a legitimate business contract, enforceable by law, Josh. You’ve got to get that into your head.’
‘So how have we won?’ he said, pushing away his half-eaten meal.
Just as we got back into the car, Josh received a phone call. It went on the speaker. So I heard every word.
‘We’ve got your boy,’ Logan said. ‘Make sure you honour your side of the bargain, and then we might keep ours.’
That was it. The call ended. Josh swung round to stare at me, wild-eyed and distraught.
‘It makes no real difference,’ I said with a grimace. ‘It’s what I expected.’
‘We’ll deliver the shipment,’ Josh said grimly. ‘You can forget about not going through with it. We’ll do exactly what we agreed.’
That was not how I saw it, but I nodded anyway. Then we set off for home.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I told Josh to turn around and drop me off a little way down the road from the hotel.
‘What for?’
‘I’m going back there. I want to know where they’re based. So I’m going to track them when they leave.’
‘They’ll have gone by now.’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t think so. Marty would have told you if they had.’
‘How are you going to track them on foot?’
‘Have a car dropped off at the hotel car park for me – the sooner the better. Tell them to leave it unlocked, with the keys under the floor mat.’
‘It’ll take time. They’ll have left …’
I nodded. ‘Just do it, Josh. Phone Gerald now.’
He pulled into a lay-by and made the call. I got out.
‘Where will you be?’ he called.
‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll find the car.’
There was a cycle track beside the road. I set off to jog the last half-mile or so back to the hotel. It was hard going in the slush and the snow. Long before I got there I was feeling ill-used, and thinking the next job I took would be somewhere warm.
Thankfully, the light was poor by the time I arrived. Heavy cloud suggested there was even more snow to come, and soon. It was a poor day to be hiding in bushes and waiting, which was what I was going to have to do.
I settled down beside an electricity substation, with dense shrubbery in front of me. From there, I could see the whole of the car park and also the main entrance to the hotel. There was another entrance, for service personnel and deliveries, on the far side of the building, but the access road came round to the front anyway. That meant I could see whoever left the building, whichever door they used, unless they took off across country.
I was soon cold. It – the day – was cold. Winter was setting in. I turned my collar up, tucked my hands inside my coat and settled down to the stakeout. Hopefully, Logan would not keep me waiting too long. If he intended making a night of it, I would have to think again.
Twenty minutes later two cars nosed into the car park, one after the other, and then separated. One, a Ford Mondeo, parked. The driver got out and walked across to the other car, a BMW. He s
lid inside and it took off.
I nodded with satisfaction. I had a car.
Just after five, by which time it was completely dark and I was shaking with the cold, Logan and Blue came out. They were on their own. As soon as they hit the pavement outside the main entrance to the hotel, a Mercedes pulled up for them. Perfect timing.
The Merc got under way, and I ran for the Mondeo. The keys were where I’d wanted them to be. The engine started first turn. I was heading out of the car park little more than a minute after Logan.
I had seen them turn right. I did too, and sped up to close the gap and find them in the column of traffic that was building up now we were in the rush hour. I couldn’t see the Merc. I was worried that their lead was too big. I jammed my foot down and swung into the fast lane.
A couple of miles down the road, I caught up just as the Merc was slowing down to take a slip road. I crossed back into the inside lane and followed them up to a junction. They turned right. I let them go while a couple of cars crossed. Then I pulled out and headed in the direction they had taken.
They didn’t go far. Ten minutes later we trundled through quite a large village – Greatham. Out the other side, they turned onto a single-lane track that led to a farmhouse set back a couple of hundred yards from the road.
Feeling greatly relieved, I made a mental note of the approaches to the turn-off and kept going without slowing down. I was satisfied. Finding their base was a big positive to take out of the afternoon.
On the drive home to Risky Point I had plenty of time to reflect on the day’s events. Gradually I came to a new and brutal conclusion. For all this to stop, it seemed to me now that Logan had to be made to disappear for good. Blue, too. There was no other way of guaranteeing peace of mind for the Steele family. Temporary setbacks were not going to do it. Arrest and imprisonment wouldn’t either. One way or another, a permanent solution had to be found.
I didn’t want to upset Bill Peart, which meant I couldn’t just shoot them. I had to come up with something cleverer than that. What, though?
Then there was Tom, both short term and long. Josh was right about one thing: Tom was the priority. I couldn’t risk anything that might make his situation worse.
I didn’t spend much time wondering how Tom had managed to get himself abducted again. The lad had a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and doing the wrong thing. I knew that full well, and to my cost.
