The Tale of the Wolf (The Kenino Wolf Series)

by Cyrus Chainey

  Colin smashed me in the jaw and I winced in pain.

  ‘I hate you, you verminous roach.’ He swung another fist. I blocked it and rolled out the way. Colin was strong and quick. I got back on my feet and launched a boot at his still rising frame. He caught my foot and flipped me back down. He leapt back on me and rained punches into my side. I flung a monster hook, which connected wickedly with his jaw, stunning him enough to let me get back up again. He staggered on to his feet.

  ‘I’m going to kill you.’ His mouth was bleeding. ‘I’m going to kill you.’ He had a proper hate on.

  ‘Come on.’ I beckoned.

  A pair of brawling brethren crashed into Colin sending him skidding on to the floor. I chased him down and, instead of trying a kick, I leapt into the air and landed on his chest. He squealed in pain, the wind blasted out of him. I could see Milkie brandishing his medallion like a gladiator. Heads were cracking under the might of his golden disc. We were winning.

  I should have paid more attention to my own battle. Colin flipped me over again and I went tumbling to the floor. He leapt at my throat, his hands firmly wedged around my neck.

  ‘Why won’t you die?’ he screamed, trying to smash my head in the floor. I grabbed his throat and started to throttle him back.

  ‘Because your mother will get lonely,’ I gurgled back. We were rolling across the floor trying to throttle each other.

  I heard the sound of gunfire, then I saw the granite head of Tom Jones come flying off towards us. We rolled out of the way in different directions, as the head smashed on to the floor.

  I rose up slowly. Everyone had stopped fighting. Frazer had escaped from Tabatha and Curtis and was wielding a machine gun. We only had fake medallions: we'd lost. I saw Colin stand up smiling, wiping the blood from his face.

  ‘Where are you, Milkie? Come out.’ Colin sneered.

  Kevin Milkie stepped forward.

  ‘Where is it? Where is the thumb drive?’

  ‘I don't have it ... I threw it away. It was of no use to me.’

  ‘I hope you’re lying, because otherwise there's going to be a lot of dead Tom Jones freaks.’

  The Jonesians looked at him perplexed.

  ‘What? You are freaks. I only took over so I could find this idiot.’

  I actually felt sorry for the Jonesians. Colin had played them like everybody else.

  ‘Now where is it?’ He directed his sneer back at Milkie.

  ‘I don't have it.’

  ‘Milkie ... you know me well enough to know I'm not joking. I'm going to start killing people, starting with him.’ He pointed at me. ‘Although, in all honesty, I was always going to kill him.’

  ‘Nice to know I'm on a special list.’ I replied, the fuck it mentality hadn't completely gone.

  ‘Oh you’re on a very special list … you’re on the verminous cockroach list; the list of people that need crushing under foot. You have been nothing but a thorn in my side. You escaped my little diamond trap and killed my friend The Beggar.’

  ‘In fairness, he killed my friend first.’ I returned.

  ‘And Laussant.’ It was Bosley.

  ‘Yes detective, I had Laussant killed. I thought he would be able to tell me this fools location.’ He gestured Milkie. ‘Alas he didn’t know the answers.’

  ‘You’ve been behind it all, haven’t you? The tax office, the drugs and money left in my house.’ Bosley queried staring daggers.

  ‘Yes detective, you should have heeded my warning and stayed out of this. Now alas I’m going to have to kill you too.’

  ‘Why did you take my car?’ If Colin was behind Bosley’s tax adventure, he was behind my DVLA one aswell. He was the one that took Betsy from me.

  ‘For amusement Mr Wolf. I disliked you from the moment I met you. With the detective I used the Tax office as a ruse so Mr Frazer could plant my little threat, but with you it was strictly for pleasure. I wanted to play with your life. It amused me to tamper with your world.’

  ‘But why did you use us for the diamonds?’ It was Tabatha, she still had a one track mind.

  ‘Ah, Miss Lane, the lovely Miss Lane. So pretty, yet so stupid … I wanted the location of your friend Nikos. When I first proposed my little scheme, my plan had been to have you all arrested and, in exchange for your freedom, you would have given me your friend’s location. He, in turn, was to give me the location of Milkie. But your friend Nikos appeared all by himself, and alas he did not know this buffoons whereabouts. But by then my little robbery scheme was already in place, and it did me no harm to have you continue with it, especially as I already had the majority of the diamonds which, as you know, was not a sum to be sniffed at.’

  ‘You bastard. You played us like fools.’ Tabatha was raging.

  ‘That's because you are. You are all nothing more than puppets, and I am the puppet master. Right, enough chat. Give me the gun, Frazer. I'm killing this one personally.’ He meant me. Frazer smiled and handed Colin the gun. Colin raised the gun ‘Any last words before you die, Mr Wolf?’

  ‘Just two,’ I smiled.

  ‘Really ... and they are?’

  ‘Hello, Cus.’

  ‘What?’ Colin hadn't noticed what I had. Walking up behind him accompanied by the four Russians, all of whom were carrying considerably more guns than Colin, was my cousin Jeremiah.

  ‘Put the gun down, Nikita. ’ Colin lowered his gun reluctantly.

  ‘Jeremiah Cain, why if it isn't Magenta's pet. What brings you here?’ Colin snarled.

  ‘I do.’ Upon hearing the words, Colin's face dropped so low it looked like it was going to hit the floor. As the person who had uttered them appeared from behind the granite Tom Jones statue, accompanied by two suited and heavily armed individuals, Colin looked like he was going to piss himself.

  ‘Magenta!’ He blurted out. She strode forward towards him. She was dressed in a black suit with black sunglasses and jet black hair. Colin took a couple of steps back nearer to me.

  ‘I've been trying to retrieve your list.’ He panicked.

  She just stared.

  ‘He stole your diamonds.’ He pointed at me.

  ‘Bollocks!’ I said and smashed a right uppercut into his chin, toppling him over. He slumped to the floor. ‘That's for calling Tabs stupid.’ I smiled down at him and then at Tabs. You have to defend the honour of your woman. He was just about to get back into it with me, when Magenta said:

  ‘Stop, Nikita. I know everything and if you lie any more you can talk to Mr Johnson.’ One of the burly guys smiled and cocked a semi-automatic. Colin lowered his eyes. I smiled at his plight.

  ‘Now, where is my list?’ I looked at Jeremiah. He signalled it was okay.

  ‘I’ve got it.’ I said pulling the drive from my pocket and handing it to her.

  ‘Such a small thing, and yet so troublesome.’ She looked at Jeremiah.

  ‘Indeed,’ he smiled back. ‘But now it’s back where it belongs.’ She grinned back at him. They were having a thing. I knew it instantly. My cousin Jeremiah was in the very good books of Magenta Devine.

  ‘Now you must be Kenino Wolf,’ she said, addressing me. She was late thirties and exuded power and elegance. The smile that had appeared when she was addressing Jeremiah disappeared the instant she looked at me. I got stony face. ‘You’re the one that stole my diamonds.’

  ‘But not all of them. He stole most of them and tried to blame it on us,’ I responded.

  ‘Yes, I am aware of that,’ she looked at Colin, who winced on the floor.

  ‘We only stole three million in stones,’ I said chancing my arm.

  Her head flicked back on to me.

  ‘You stole four million.’

  ‘Three and half.’

  She raised her sunglasses and looked me up and down, not a drop of emotion in her face.

  ‘Are you trying to negotiate?’ I couldn’t tell whether she was amused or offended.

  ‘A little bit,’ I replied, as meekly as possible.

  S
he started laughing. ‘You may keep three stones for your trouble, and if you don’t like it you can negotiate with Mr Johnson.’ Mr Johnson looked at me and turned the semi on to me.

  ‘Deal!’ I said.

  ‘I thought so. He’s undoubtedly related to you, Jeremiah.’ I’m not sure whether it was a compliment or not, but they both smiled and no one shot me, so I didn’t ask.

  ‘I think it’s time to leave. Mr Smith … assist Nikita and bring his slack jawed monkey,’ she indicated Frazer. The second brute picked up Colin, and beckoned a terrified Frazer. ‘Mr Johnson, accompany Mr Wolf to retrieve my property. Come, Jeremiah. Enough time's been wasted already.’ She took Jeremiah’s hand and Mr Smith dragged out Nikita and Frazer.

  ‘Kenino.’

  ‘Yes, Cus?’

  ‘Give them back. None of your nonsense!’ Jeremiah shouted over his shoulder.

  ‘Yes, Cus.’

  ‘I’ll be seeing you, Kenino.’ He walked out of there like the cat that had got the cream; which in essence he was.

  ‘You got a shovel?’ I said to Mr Johnson, once they'd left. He looked at me blankly. ‘That’ll be a no then.’

  Milkie walked over towards me.

  ‘I just want to thank you again,’ he said shaking my hand.

  ‘No probs. Cheers for not saying I had the drive.’

  ‘You’re the Deliverer, it was never going to happen.’

  ‘What are you going to do with them?’ I signalled the Jonesians.

  ‘I think they’re going to stay with us.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘Looks like you're the leader that's going to usher in a new dawn.’

  ‘Then that would mean you're the Prophet.’ He smiled.

  ‘Wolfy is the Prophet,’ Curtis proclaimed with enthusiasm.

  ‘Tom Jones is God.’ I responded with equal verve.

  I saw Bosley walking towards the door.

  ‘Where you going Bosley?’ I asked.

  ‘Back to work, this case is finished.’

  ‘But you said you resigned from the police.’

  ‘I lied. I only said I resigned so I could find out about the diamonds. I knew you wouldn’t say anything if I told you that I was undercover. Luckily for you Mr Wolf the owner doesn’t appear to want to press charges.’

  ‘Bosley after all we’ve been through you were still trying to arrest me?’

  ‘You’re a criminal, that’s what I do. See you in the City, Mr Wolf.’ And with that he walked out.

  Ah well, some thing’s never change.

  C’est la vie.