Brutal Retribution

by Clive Barry

  I think I’m fallin’ in love with yeh.’

  ‘Oh fuck Dave! Now what do I do?’

  ‘Go with the flow I guess.’

  ‘Aye, okay then Dave, cos I think I’m fallin’ in love with you too. Night, night.’

  With that Sally hung up quickly. No one had ever told her they loved her except Mam and Dad and she most certainly had never said that to anyone herself, other than her two bairns that is.

  This was a whole new ball game and Sally was feeling a bit out of her depth, but that didn’t stop the huge smile from creeping across her face and as she snuggled down sleepily into the nice comfy bed. She dreamt of a tall handsome police officer coming to her rescue.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  The silver grey Toyota pulled up quietly along the road, a bit closer to the house he’d been watching for the past few hours.

  The street lights and surveillance cameras in this area hadn’t worked for years. To be honest, no one really gave a rat’s ass about crime around here and the actual statistics were quite low anyway. Whether that was a product of there being no crime at all, or the result of the local inhabitants of the area dealing with criminals in their own special way. Whatever it was, there was very little need to report anything to the authorities.

  The lights of the house had been off for quite some time now, so he could only assume everyone had been asleep for a good while. Quickly and quietly he donned his woollen ski mask, picking up his shoulder bag, he ran around the back of the house. He then took the glass cutter with the suction cup fitted out of the bag and made a large circle in the back window, pulling and removing a large round of glass. As he had expected, the window was double glazed, so he cut a smaller circle in the second inner glazing, removing the centre.

  Taking the large plastic bottle of ethanol from his bag, he squeezed several forceful sprays all over the inside of the house, saturating furniture and carpets throughout the whole of the living room area.

  His next job was to light a cheap book of matches and throw that through the hole in the window. The living room erupted in a blue flame. Now all being well he would have enough time to go around the front, which he did. Spraying the remainder of the bottle through the letter box onto the staircase and as before lighting a book of matches and throwing it in. Watching as the blue flames rose higher and higher. Job done, the quiet assassin then went back to the Toyota he’d stolen earlier and watched.

  Within minutes, the whole of the downstairs was engulfed in a furnace of heat, smoke and fire. There was absolutely no chance of anyone escaping, he’d done this too many times before and was an expert. He also knew from past experience, there was positively no chance of survival.

  Within minutes there was a massive explosion from the downstairs living room, the upstairs was now engulfed and in his expert opinion the survival rate was well below nil. Time to leave, this assignment was complete.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Sally’s beautiful dreams were disturbed by flashing lights and sirens passing the end of her road. She tried to pull the bedclothes over her head, but in the end both little Charlie and Georgia had climbed into her bed awakened by the noise and outside commotion.

  Next, there was the banging on her front door. Both the kids were terrified and begged her not to go down, but the banging continued with excited shouting as well. Sally grabbed her bathrobe and slipped into her denim flats and descended the stairs cautiously. She unlocked the front door, opening it carefully and as she did, it was helped by Dave with Jenny standing behind him.

  Dave grabbed Sally in a hug and buried his face in her neck.

  ‘Oh Sally sweetheart, I’m so sorry my love.’

  ‘Why? what’s ‘appened? What’s the matter?’

  Jenny walked past and took hold of her friend.

  ‘Sally love, something terrible has ‘appened and I need you to be brave pet.’

  ‘Ya but what is it? Has there been an accident or summit? Is it the lads? Are they okay?’

  ‘It’s not the lads Sally, it’s yer mam and dad, they’ve gone my love.’

  ‘Gone? Gone where? It’s late, they wouldn’t be out at this time of night, where ‘ave they gone to?’

  ‘Sally love, there’s been a terrible accident, a fire at yer mam and dads house.’

  Behind Jenny stood Dave in full uniform, he was as white as a sheet and behind Dave stood two female uniformed officers. They pushed past and took Sally into the living room. Quietly they explained what had been found at her mam and dads house and that the tenders were still putting the remaining flames out. Two bodies, that of a man and a woman had been recovered from the upstairs bedroom.

  Sally screamed and a low animal moan escaped from deep within her as she fell to her knees. Dave followed her down and knelt with her, his big strong arms around her and his tears of sorrow mixing with Sally’s tears of anguish and pain.

  ‘I’m so sorry my love, so very, very, sorry.’

  ‘But how? Why? What happened?’

  ‘Nobody knows anything yet sweetheart, it’s far too soon. They’ll need to investigate first. Nobody will make any assumptions at this stage.’

  Sally’s grief stricken face was looking up at officer Dave Riley’s for answers he didn’t have. The tears were flowing out of her beautiful hazel eyes and Dave’s heart was breaking because he was unable to do a thing to protect her from the hurt.

  ‘Has anyone told me brothers yet?’

  ‘Not yet sweetheart. We’ve sent a car around to their place,’

  ‘Shouldn’t I phone them? Let them know?’

  ‘No Sal, let the officers deal with it, they know how, it’s their job.’

  CHAPTER FORTY

  ‘Who the fucks that knockin’ on the door at this time of the fuckin’ night, man?’

  Paul grabbed his jeans off the bedroom floor and slipped them on. The heavy knocking on the front door continued as bleary eyed, he descended the narrow stairs and cautiously opened the front door.

  Stood at the door were both a young male and an older female uniformed Police officers. It was the male that spoke.

  ‘Mr Vickers?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Sorry sir, may we come inside please?’

  ‘Aye of course, away in, what’s up mate is it our Sally? what’s happened?’

  By this time, Mike had also come downstairs woken by the noise, wearing his big blue terry towel bath robe.

  ‘Im sorry to have to tell you this sir, but there’s been a fire. The whole house has been gutted at 26 Gallowgate Avenue on the Westernside council estate.’

  ‘But that’s our mam and dads house, what’s happened?’

  ‘Yes sir, Mr George Vickers and Mrs Doris Vickers we understand. Two bodies were brought out from the upstairs bedroom and have been certified, deceased at the scene. We have no further details at this time however, there will obviously be a full enquiry to follow.’

  ‘Has me sister been told, she lives just round the corner?’

  ‘To the best of our knowledge, yes sir. We understand a friend of hers, Constable David Riley went ‘round with a neighbour and two female officers to advise her of the tragedy.’

  ‘Okay, thanks mate, we best get around to her house then. She’s gonna need us.’

  ‘We’re so sorry for having to bring such sad news, but is there anyone else you’d like us to notify?’

  ‘No, cheers mate, we’ll sort it out from here. Thanks very much though.’

  The officers let themselves out the front door as Paul looked at Mike and quietly spoke.

  ‘So, this was the payback, was it? Those stupid fuckin’ Albanian bastards have no fuckin’ idea what they’ve just brought down on themselves and their fuckin’ organization. I promise you this our Mike, the person responsible for this will be severely fuckin’ punished.’

  Paul had gone very quiet as both he and Mike climbed back up the stairs to get dressed and go to comfort their baby sister. Mike couldn’t say anything he was to
o heart broken. Had he been the cause of all this? Was this all his stupid fault?

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Sally was sat in the kitchen with Dave and Jenny. The police women had left, and Dave had told them to take his patrol car with them, he’d get a lift back to the station later. He wouldn’t be finishing his shift, he was staying at Sally’s.

  Jenny went over and put the kettle on and made coffee for everyone. As she was handing the mugs out, Paul and Mike walked in through the front door. Sally jumped up and ran crying into their arms and the three stood in the little passage way, arms around each other, locked together in their grief.

  After a few minutes, they all came back into the tiny kitchen. It was cramped even under normal circumstances, now it had become almost claustrophobic and Jenny whispered to Sally that she was going to go home. There was no reason for her to stay any longer, not now Sally’s brothers had arrived.

  Sally hugged and thanked her friend and all the lads in turn showed their appreciation for her looking after Sally. Jenny left shutting the front door silently behind her.

  Dave was the next to get up.

  ‘Listen sweetheart, I’m gonna walk around to your parent’s house and report to my boss. Then I’ll get a lift back to the station and sign off. You guys are gonna need to talk in private, so I’ll leave you for now and call back a bit later, if that’s okay?’

  Sally got up and hugged her new man, then she held his face in her two hands and kissed him on the lips. The two brothers thanked him and stood to shake his hand, a bond had now been made between them and he’d been accepted into their family.

  Dave left as quietly as Jenny had, closing the front door softly behind him.

  ‘We drove past on our way round here Sal, the house or what remains of it is a fuckin’ mess. They wouldn’t let us anywhere near, but one of the firemen said he didn’t think it was an accident. Dad’s oxy canister hadn’t helped mind, apparently that had blown up as well.’

  Paul was talking and trying his hardest to hold it all together in front of his kid brother and little sister. His hands were shaking with anger, grief and frustration. Sally reached over and took hold of them in her own and through the sobs and tears she said.

  ‘We don’t know for sure if this was an accident or not just yet, so we’re all gonna wait and not do anything stupid until we have confirmation one way or the other, okay? There’s nobody in this room to blame for what’s happened, so if either of you’s two are thinkin’ it’s your fault in any way, now’s the time to stop it. Mam and Dad are gone and that’s tragic. It’s just us three now and we stick together like we always did as a family. Whatever happens next, we all have to agree to do it together, okay?’

  The lads nodded their heads in acknowledgement as Sally got up and put the kettle on. It was going to be a very long day, with lots of decisions to be made. They were going to be needing lots of tea.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Bashkim Hamiti woke early as was his norm. So many years in the military, rising early was a habit not easily broken. He was just about to step into the shower when his phone began to ring.

  ‘Hello, yes, okay, it is completed? Yes, yes, okay I will call you later about the balance of payment. Thank you, yes, goodbye.’

  There seemed to be an apprehension with Hamiti this morning. In the cold dawn of day, there was a side of him that had begun to think he may have over reacted and allowed his anger and pride to displace common sense. But no, they had to be taught a lesson. Mr Demaci would have done the same, or maybe not. He’d been told not to go too far and have any police involvement and that’s exactly what he’d gone and done. It wouldn’t take the brain of Britain to realise who was responsible and even if they couldn’t pin it on him lawfully, the brothers would know who to go looking for. They were not fools, English maybe, but not total idiots.

  Hamiti was sat at his kitchen table drinking his second cup of coffee when his phone rang again, this time he recognised immediately who was calling.

  ‘Good morning Mr Demaci, how are you today sir?’

  ‘Yes, good morning Bashkim, I’m fine thank you, or should I say I was fine. That was until I received a phone call a few minutes ago. Apparently there’s been a fire during the night, a substantial house fire in the local council estate and two elderly people have died as a result. Now that in itself doesn’t concern me, but when I was told who those people were, I became extremely perplexed and thought of the conversation you and I had yesterday afternoon. Now I know you’re not a fool Bashkim, so please, just confirm to me that you had absolutely nothing to do with those people dying.’

  ‘I’m sorry Mr Demaci, but I felt they had disrespected us and believed the punishment justified.’

  ‘You felt justified in having an elderly couple killed in their sleep, to punish a young man that you had already beaten the day before for no reason at all and who you found by your own admission, probably had nothing whatsoever to do with the missing goods. Is that what you’re saying?’

  ‘It wasn’t exactly like that sir, he was very disrespectful.’

  ‘Bashkim, I don’t give a flying fuck if he’d tied your sweet old grandmother to the back of a running camel and watched as the whole Albanian army fucked her in the arse. What you did was beyond stupidity, you have brought more pairs of eyes from the outside world into our world, can’t you understand that? Please just get over here, we need to get this fucking mess resolved before it bites us.’

  ‘Yes, Mr Demaci, I’m on my way.’

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Dave Riley had gone back to the station where his desk sergeant had told him to file his report. Then he was told to take off home and look after his girlfriend. He was also told to take forty eight hours leave of absence and if he needed longer, he only had to ask. Dave thanked the desk Sergeant, went out into the car park, retrieved his yellow Golf and drove around to Sally’s house.

  When he got there, the blue Mondeo was still parked out front. Dave walked up the path and knocked. It was Mike who answered the door.

  ‘Away in mate, Sal’s just upstairs for a shower and getting’ dressed, she won’t be long, away in the kitchen.’

  ‘Cheers Mike, how you guys coping? How’s Sally?’

  ‘She’s sad, confused, angry and all the other things that go with losing your parents in a fuckin’ fire I guess.’

  ‘That was a stupid question, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Ya, but that’s okay mate. You’re a cop and cops always ask lots of stupid fuckin’ question’s, don’t they?’

  Dave realised the lads were taking the piss, he shook his head in disbelief and smiled.

  Sally came down a few minutes later. She had on an oversized sweatshirt, with high cut denim shorts showing off her very long legs with pink sponge flip flops on her feet. Her hair was still damp from the shower but she’d bothered to put on some make up and looked and smelled great. Dave felt a real pang of guilt for even contemplating what he was thinking about her at a time such as this.

  She came over, kissed him and promptly sat on his lap with her arms around his neck.

  ‘Hya sweetheart, how yeh feelin’?’ she said to her new man.

  ‘Shouldn’t I be askin’ you that?’

  ‘Ya, well yeh can if yeh like, but yeh know I already feel real shitty, so I wouldn’t even bother askin’.’

  At least they had all retained that dark sense of humour associated with the area. It all went hand in hand with the people of the estate, no matter how bad it was, you just had to laugh it off.

  It was Dave who started the conversation.

  ‘Where’s the kids? Are they still up in bed?’

  ‘No love, Jenny came round for them and took them to her place. She’s gonna let her bairns stay off school with them so they’ve got someone to play with.’

  ‘Okay, so there’s only us four in the house then?’

  ‘Well ya, why?’

  ‘Cos I managed to get some info, but you all have to understa
nd it’s off the record. Yeh can’t go quoting me on anything I’m about to say, okay?’

  They all agreed and the two brothers sat forward to listen while Sally got up and put the kettle on.

  ‘Right, first off, I’m sorry to have to say this, but it seems as though it wasn’t an accident. The back downstairs window had been blown clean out with what they believe was your dads oxygen tank exploding. Anyway, they found most of the window still intact in the back garden. It had two circular pieces neatly cut out of the double glazed unit. They believe that’s how the arsonist sprayed some kind of alcohol into the living room, then lit it.’

  ‘Why are they saying alcohol and not petrol or kero or summit?’ Mike asked.

  ‘Petroleum based products leave a distinct after smell when they’ve burned. Apparently, there was none of that aroma, but there was an odour of sweet burnt alcohol. Yeh know like on a Christmas pudding. It was very faint but a couple of the brigade lads noticed it when they first went into the house.

  Secondly, this has the same M.O. as some other arson attacks that’ve been carried out as assassination’s around Europe. Whoever did this, has been setting fires in the homes of the rich and famously wanted by the criminal fraternity. This arson attack didn’t come cheap, the guy who did this is a professional and is wanted in several European countries, so we have to ask ourselves, who would want to place a hit on your mam and dad and why?’

  The three siblings looked at each other. Dave had confirmed what they already believed to be true, but it was Paul who took it upon himself to enquire.

  ‘Dave, I got a question to ask you mate and I need a straight answer. First off, whatever gets said in this room now, fuckin’ stays in this room okay? It’s real important to all of us as a family and obviously, that now affects you and our Sal as a couple as well, so here goes. How much can we trust you? Not Dave the policeman, but Dave the lad?’

  ‘That sounds ominous. Truthfully that would depend. I’m still an officer of the law and as such I have a certain duty, but I’m also human being and for that I have a separate set of loyalties. Same as everyone else I guess, why?’