‘So we have a deal?’ asked Shepherd.
‘Fuck, yeah,’ said Kettering. He held out his hand and Shepherd shook it.
‘Cash on delivery,’ said Sharpe.
‘Wouldn’t have it any other way,’ said Kettering. ‘Give me forty-eight hours’ notice.’
‘Fancy a drink to celebrate?’
‘You know a place?’
‘There’s a decent pub a few miles from here. Don’t know if they have bubbly but we can give it a go.’
Kettering slapped him on the back. ‘Garry, lead the way. And you’re buying.’
The pub did have champagne. It was only Moet but it was cold and cost about a third of the price they’d pay in a London bar. Shepherd paid the barmaid and carried it and six glasses over to a table by a shoulder-high brick fireplace. They were the only customers inside, though half a dozen farm workers in overalls and heavy coats were standing outside drinking pints and smoking.
Shepherd popped the cork and poured the champagne. The men clinked glasses and drank.
‘So what do you think?’ asked Kettering. ‘A week? Ten days?’
‘Thereabouts,’ said Shepherd.
‘Excellent.’
‘Can I ask you something?’ said Shepherd.
‘Anything but algebra,’ said Kettering. ‘I was always crap at algebra.’
‘Why do you need so many guns? And the grenades?’
‘Do you always ask your customers what they’re going to do with the stuff they buy?’ asked Kettering.
‘It’s not every day that I sell forty AK-47s.’ He shrugged. ‘If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine. I’m just interested, that’s all.’
‘Best you don’t know,’ said Thompson.
‘He’s right,’ said Sharpe. ‘Once we know, we’re accessories before the fact.’
‘You a lawyer, James?’ asked Kettering.
‘I’ve known a few in my time,’ said Sharpe.
‘You’re not planning a race war or something, are you?’ asked Shepherd.
Kettering stiffened and he stared at Shepherd with unblinking blue eyes. ‘What makes you say that, Garry?’ he said quietly.
‘Yeah, come on, that’s a bit personal, innit?’ said Sharpe.
Shepherd ignored his partner. He knew he was pushing it, but Button wanted to know what Kettering and Thompson were up to and the best way of getting that information was from the horse’s mouth. ‘We met you through Ian, and Ian’s as BNP as they come, isn’t he? Kill the blacks, gas the Jews and burn the Pakis. England for whites only and all that. So when he first said that you and Paul wanted a meet, we naturally assumed. .’
‘That we were going out to shoot niggers and Pakis?’
Shepherd shrugged again. ‘You can see why,’ he said. ‘But then we saw you with Conteh at the boxing and we didn’t know what to think.’
‘Leave me out of this,’ said Sharpe. ‘I couldn’t care less what you’re doing with the guns, so long as your money’s good.’ He flashed Shepherd a warning look but Shepherd pretended not to notice.
‘Let me get this straight,’ said Kettering. ‘You don’t think I should have said hello to John Conteh, one of the biggest characters in the world of boxing, because he’s black?’
‘No, I’m not saying that,’ said Shepherd. ‘But Ian said you were, you know, in the EDL and all that.’
‘Yeah, I’m a patriot, Garry. We all should be. Family, friends and country, that’s really all that matters in life. But being a patriot isn’t about colour. It’s about country. You heard Conteh speak that night; he’s as Liverpool as they come and as British as you and me. I’ve plenty of black friends, Garry. And I’ve been with my share of black birds.’
Thompson smirked. ‘I can vouch for that.’
Sean and Roger nodded. ‘He is a sucker for that old black magic,’ said Roger.
‘So none of that racist nonsense, okay?’ said Kettering. ‘I know Ian’s full of it and that’s why we don’t hang out with him too much. He’s a good guy and that and we have a laugh but he’s not one of us and never will be.’
‘Message received and understood,’ said Shepherd.
‘Now don’t get me wrong,’ said Kettering. ‘The ones that are flooding into this country, they’re the ones that should be sent packing. I get as annoyed as anyone at these families from the arse end of nowhere who are given mansions to stay in and benefits and LCD TVs and all the trimmings. Them I would put up against a wall and shoot. But it’s not them that’s the problem. It’s the bastards that are ruining our country that are the ones to blame.’ He drained his glass and Shepherd refilled it for him.
‘Who are you talking about?’ asked Shepherd. ‘The politicians?’
‘You know who I mean, Garry,’ continued Kettering. ‘They want to control us all, they want us to be passive consumers, obedient taxpayers, working our whole lives to pay for their bloated lifestyles.’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’ asked Sharpe. ‘You’ve lost me.’
‘You don’t see it, do you? You really don’t see what’s happening to this country? To the whole of Europe? Do you think this recession was an accident?’ Kettering shook his head. ‘It’s all part of the great plan,’ he said. ‘They want to take our savings, our pensions, our assets, because then we have no choice other than to work for them.’ Sean and Roger nodded in agreement.
‘Them?’
‘The faceless bureaucrats who run our lives. The unelected elite. The men and women who control the money and make us dance to their tune. It’s slavery, that’s what it is.’
‘An international conspiracy? Is that what you’re saying?’ asked Sharpe, leaning forward.
‘The biggest conspiracy that the world has ever known,’ said Kettering. ‘With the aim of producing a one-world government with a single currency ruled by a very small elite while everyone else spends their whole lives being controlled and told what to do.’ He waved his glass around. ‘It’s happening already. That’s what the EU is all about. The EU and the United Nations. They’re just steps on the way to a world government. And the bastards that are running this country, Labour and Conservative alike, are helping them, working towards the destruction of Western civilisation. By mass immigration. By destroying the trade unions. By weakening the state education system to produce a population with IQs lower than that in most Third World countries. By ruining the healthcare system. By destroying our faith in the Church.’
Kettering’s eyes were wide and flecks of saliva sprayed from his mouth as he spoke.
‘They want the population compliant, like cattle. And they’ve pretty much done it. They push us and prod us and control every second of our lives, from the cradle to the grave. Someone has to bring the people to their senses, to tell them that they have to stand up and fight before it’s too late.’
‘Is that what the guns are for?’ said Shepherd quietly.
Kettering didn’t appear to have heard him. ‘We have to show the world what’s really going on. We have to open people’s eyes. Look at Nine-Eleven. No one gave the Muslims a second thought before the Twin Towers were attacked. They were getting on with their lives, not making a fuss. Bin Laden could see how that would be the end of his religion. If people don’t fight for something they don’t value it and they don’t complain when it gets taken away from them. So he ignited a fire that has continued to burn. And when Bush and Blair invaded Afghanistan and Iraq they fanned the flames. Now look just how strong and united the Muslims are. The world is scared of them. Look at how our own government bends over backwards to accommodate them. Well, it’s time for the British people to stand up and inspire that same fear. It’s time that the world respected us again.’
‘But how does killing civilians achieve that?’
‘By making them think about their lives. By showing them how weak and defenceless they have become. That’s what Anders Breivik achieved in Norway. And that’s going to be repeated across Europe until the people rise up and defend th
eir countries.’
‘Steady, Simon,’ said Thompson.
Kettering looked at Thompson as if seeing him for the first time. ‘We’re among friends,’ he said.
‘We don’t know that,’ said Thompson. ‘Not for sure.’ He looked over at Shepherd and raised his glass. ‘No offence. I mean, we’ve known Sean and Roger for donkey’s, but you two are the new kids on the block.’
‘None taken,’ said Shepherd. He smiled across at Kettering. ‘The Norwegian’s the one that killed all those kids, right? Please don’t tell me you’re planning to kill kids.’
‘It was a socialist camp,’ said Kettering. ‘He knew what he was doing. He knew that by killing the way he did he’d get his whole country talking. The whole world.’ He drank more champagne. ‘Are you going to pull out of our deal? Is that what you’re thinking?’
‘Once the guns leave my hands it’s not my problem,’ said Shepherd. ‘They can’t be traced to me. I doubt that you’d tell the cops where you got them from and even if you did it’d be your word against mine.’ He shrugged. ‘Money’s money, that’s what I always say.’
Kettering nodded, then leaned over and clinked his glass against Shepherd’s.
‘Doesn’t it worry you, what’s happening to our country?’ asked Thompson.
‘I don’t give it much thought,’ said Shepherd. ‘I don’t pay tax, I come and go as I please and I do pretty much as I like. I leave my money offshore, so even if the cops were to get on to me I could move overseas and they’d never get me. I’m bulletproof, mate.’
‘At the moment. But what will you do when they get rid of money and everyone is chipped?’ said Thompson.
‘Chipped?’ repeated Sharpe.
‘They’ll do away with money and you’ll have a chip under your skin that you use to buy everything, and the moment you step out of line your chip is wiped,’ said Thompson. ‘It’ll be the ultimate controlling tool. If we get to that stage it’s all over. The rich will get richer and richer and the poor will stay poor.’
‘I’m not poor, mate.’
‘Compared to the Russian oligarchs? Compared to Tony Blair and the Bushes and the rest of them? Compared to the bankers? They’re the ones who are taking over, unless we do something.’
‘You’re a great one for conspiracies, aren’t you?’ said Shepherd.
Thompson’s eyes hardened. ‘You need to read more,’ he said. ‘You know what a false flag is?’
Shepherd did but he wanted Thompson to continue talking.
‘It’s when the government does something but blames it on someone else. Hitler did it when he burned down the Reichstag. The Yanks did it in the Tonkin accident when they claimed that the North Vietnamese attacked one of their destroyers. The biggest false flag of all time was Nine-Eleven.’
‘You think the Americans killed their own people?’ asked Shepherd.
‘It was Bin Laden who brought down the Twin Towers,’ said Thompson. ‘I’m not one of those morons who think they used explosives. Of course they used planes and of course it was Bin Laden behind it. But who was behind Bin Laden?’
Shepherd didn’t say anything. He sipped his champagne.
‘The Americans,’ said Thompson. ‘They trained him, they funded him and they told him what to do. And afterwards they killed him. Why? Because they wanted Iraq’s oil and they wanted the world in fear, because a population living in fear is easier to control. You’ve read 1984?’
Shepherd shook his head.
‘You should,’ said Thompson. ‘George Orwell was way ahead of his time. Read 1984 and Animal Farm and you’ll see exactly where the world is headed. It’s one huge conspiracy, Garry. They wreck our economy, they keep us in fear, they destroy our national identity, they take away our faith, and then one day we wake up and we’re all slaves. Unless we do something.’
‘I’m starting to wish I hadn’t asked,’ said Shepherd, trying to lighten the moment. Kettering and Thompson were both staring at him intently.
‘It’s not a joke, Garry,’ said Kettering. ‘This isn’t a race war; it’s a fight for the survival of our species. Because once the elite has total control there’ll be no going back. They’ll control the food, the water, the money supply, the land, everything.’
‘So what do you guys do, when you’ve got the guns? Do you attack Downing Street? Do you take hostages? What’s the plan?’
Kettering grinned and tapped the side of his nose. ‘That, Garry old lad, is on a need-to-know basis.’
‘And you don’t need to know,’ added Roger.
‘Amen to that,’ said Sean. He raised his glass and smiled thinly. ‘No offence.’
‘Well, that was just plain weird, wasn’t it?’ said Shepherd as he drove away from the pub and headed to Hereford. He beeped his horn at Kettering and Thompson, who were climbing into their Jaguar. They waved as he drove away. Sean and Roger were sitting in the back of the Jaguar, deep in conversation.
‘What was weird was the way that you brought Ray into the frame,’ said Sharpe. ‘That wasn’t right, you know that?’
‘I needed to find out what they were planning to do,’ said Shepherd.
‘Yeah, but mentioning Ray like that just makes them associate us with him even more. It made it sound like Ray had been talking to us about them and they won’t like that.’
‘It went okay,’ said Shepherd, accelerating past a mud-splattered tractor.
‘We should tip Ray off and give him the option of pulling out.’
‘You’re over-thinking it, Razor,’ said Shepherd. ‘It was a brief conversation and then we were straight on to the great conspiracy theory. They were so fired up about that they won’t remember where it started.’
Sharpe sighed and folded his arms. ‘Aye, maybe.’
‘The Roger guy, the bald one, is Roger McLean. Button reckons he met with that Norwegian who shot all the kids. He’s anti-Islamic, big time. Button’s going to be very interested to know that he turned up.’
‘And that Sean, what do you think? UDA?’
‘Military-trained, that’s for sure. He knew how to handle the Yugo. I’ll run him by Charlie, see what she says. So what’s your take on the Bin Laden thing?’
‘The conspiracy?’ Sharpe shrugged. ‘I can just about buy the Americans getting Bin Laden to attack the Twin Towers, but the whole global-conspiracy thing is a bit much. But it makes for a good story.’
‘What about the theory that the West demonised Bin Laden?’
‘That’s true enough,’ said Sharpe. ‘And they used him as an excuse to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. But that doesn’t make it a conspiracy. A conspiracy needs some very clever people and it was George W. Bush, for God’s sake. Didn’t he have an IQ of 91?’
‘I think that’s an urban myth,’ said Shepherd. ‘But what they seem to be saying is that it’s bigger than politicians. And it was the bankers that caused all the problems we have now, right? So I guess there are two options — either the bankers did it deliberately, in which case it is a conspiracy, or they were all just plain stupid. In which case why are they getting million-pound bonuses?’
‘Yeah, well, my vote’s for the latter,’ said Sharpe. He looked across at Shepherd. ‘What’s your interest?’
Shepherd shrugged carelessly. ‘The Five case I’m on at the moment is about fundamentalist terrorism and there’s an al-Qaeda angle. I just wonder how much of what al-Qaeda does is about Bin Laden and how much is just disaffected Muslims. I don’t get the feeling that there’s a master plan at work. But maybe there is. Maybe there’s someone pulling all the strings on this, keeping our population in fear so that they won’t notice that one by one their civil liberties are being taken away.’
‘I think it’s much simpler than that,’ said Sharpe. ‘I think that there are a lot of unhappy people in the world and terrorism is just an excuse for them to vent their frustrations. A big chunk of the population is unhappy, unhappy enough to kill and maim civilians. And that’s a pretty scary thing to admit.’
‘Them? They’re as mad as bloody hatters. But with guys like Sean and Roger with them they could be dangerous. If they know more guys like Sean they could do a hell of a lot of damage with those guns.’
‘And the grenades,’ said Shepherd. ‘Let’s not forget about the grenades.’
They drove in silence for a few minutes, then Sharpe sighed and stretched out his legs. ‘I sometimes wonder if we should even bother fighting this whole Muslim thing,’ he said.
‘What?’
Sharpe grimaced. ‘Well, first of all, they’re going to win in the end, aren’t they? They’re ten per cent of the population now, give or take. But they’re breeding way faster than us.’
‘Us?’
‘You know what I mean. I’ve got two kids, which just maintains the status quo. You’ve got only the one and there’s no sign of you having any more. But your average Muslim family breeds like rabbits. Six kids. Seven. Eight. And most of the guys have more than one wife. So they’re breeding faster than us. And it won’t be long before there are more of them than us and then they can vote in their own government and everything changes.’
‘You’re crazy,’ said Shepherd. ‘Even crazier than usual.’
‘You can’t argue with the maths,’ said Sharpe. ‘And if Turkey joins the EU then it’ll happen even faster. How many Muslims are there in Turkey? A hundred million? How many do you think will head over to the UK for benefits and the NHS? I tell you, Spider, we’ll be a Muslim country by the end of the century and probably a lot sooner.’
‘Yeah, well, neither of us will be around to see that.’
‘But that’s my point,’ said Sharpe. ‘Maybe we should be trying to speed things up.’
Shepherd shook his head. ‘Now you’ve lost me.’
‘Look, here’s the thing,’ said Sharpe. ‘Would it be so bad if we became a Muslim country? Because if you look into it, it’s not that bad for us guys. In fact, on balance, my life would be better.’
‘Now you’re being ridiculous.’
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