Dead Watch: a fast-paced thriller you don't want to miss

by Steve Liszka

  ‘You should have stayed retired, pal,’ Mac answered without bothering to look at him.

  Dylan put out his hands and stepped forward. ‘Despite what you think, we’re not your enemy. We were just trying to stay out of trouble, that’s all.’

  Mac laughed. ‘You were out of trouble, you streak of piss. I was through with you, I told you that. Why the fuck did you have to stick your noses in where they weren’t wanted? Because of you, I had to leave my family and run off to Spain. They don’t even know if I’m still alive. Do you know what that feels like? Abandoning the people you love, knowing there was fuck all I could do to protect them from that bastard. Why the fuck didn’t you just let it go?’

  ‘Because we didn’t believe you, that’s why,’ Jimmy said, ‘How long would it have been before you came back and wanted more from us? We did what we had to do to protect our families.’

  ‘You had it coming to you after what you put us through,’ Bodhi said, ‘or have you forgotten what your goons did?’

  Mac shook his head. ‘That’s nothing compared to what they’re gonna do. After I’ve killed you lot, I’m going to wait for that dumb-fuck driver to come and look for you, then I’m going to kill him too. After that I’m going to go to each and every one of your homes and kill your families, and that includes that pregnant bitch you’ve shacked up with. I’m going to make sure she suffers worst of all. It’s you who’s got it coming, son, and believe me when I say it ain’t going to be pretty.’

  Bodhi dropped his bucket and stepped forward. ‘You touch her, and I’ll fucking kill you.’

  ‘Go on, Blondie,’ Mac said, pointing the gun at Bodhi’s face. ‘Just fucking try it!’

  Jimmy’s radio crackled into life with the gruff tones of Lenny’s voice. ‘Everything okay, Jim? You boys need anything?’

  Before Mac could protest, Jimmy lifted the radio and spoke into it. ‘All good, Len. We’ve got a number of potential Code Ones down here. Hopefully we’ll have it sorted soon.’

  ‘You, what? Yeah okay, got it,’ the voice came back.

  When he lowered the radio, Mac looked ready to use the pistol on him. ‘What did you say that for, and what the fuck is a Code One?’

  ‘A Code One is a suspicious fire, and the reason I said it was because if I didn’t answer, he would have come down here looking for us. If you’re gonna do us in, I’d rather you didn’t kill him too.’

  Mac shrugged. ‘No big deal. I’ll get him later. Just after I’ve gutted your wife and made your kids watch.’

  Jimmy snorted. ‘You’re full of shit. You’re not going to kill my family, or anyone else’s for that matter. You may be a cunt, but you’re not that much of a cunt.’

  Mac walked up to him and hit him on the side of the head with the butt of his pistol. Jimmy dropped to his knees before quickly stumbling back to his feet. He didn’t want to give Mac the satisfaction of seeing him stay down.

  ‘I owed you that. But, yeah, you’re right, I’m not going to kill them, but I am going to kill you. Then, when I’m finished, I’m going to go to Bogarde’s office and kill him. After that, if I’m still in one piece, I’m going to get my family out of this shitty country and back to the sunshine. That’s the advantage of being a smuggler; passports are not essential to international travel.’

  Mac stopped talking and studied the faces of the men in front of him. ‘So, come on, let’s get on with it… Who wants it first?’

  The crew stared at each other, sharing a look that spoke of fear and desperation, but there was also something in it that said that none of them were going to give up their friends.

  Mac studied the pistol’s muzzle. ‘Come on, boys. I haven’t got all day.’

  ‘Me,’ Jimmy said as he put his hand to his head to stem the flow of blood. ‘Do me.’

  ‘You’d better put me down first,’ Bodhi said. ‘Otherwise, I’m coming for you.’

  Harrison looked at his friends and shrugged. ‘Fuck it, it might as well be me.’

  Like a schoolboy requesting the attention of his teacher, Dylan put his hand up in the air. ‘I’ll go first.’

  Mac laughed. ‘Isn’t that just the sweetest thing. I’m Spartacus. No, I’m Spartacus. You boys crack me up.’

  Jimmy stepped forward and walked to within three feet of Mac. He lifted his head in the air like he was waiting to receive a punch in the face. ‘Come on, you wanker. Just get on with it.’

  Mac raised the pistol, bringing it to within inches of Jimmy’s skull. ‘Good choice,’ he said. ‘I’m glad it’s you.’

  He was about to pull the trigger when he heard the sound of cracking twigs behind him. Mac turned just in time to see something rushing towards his face. The impact lifted him off his feet and back to the floor with a thump. He was unconscious before his head hit the ground.

  Lenny smiled and kissed the head of the shovel he was brandishing. ‘Gotcha, motherfucker!’

  He looked around at the others. ‘So, is everyone all right or what?’

  Jimmy placed his hands on the bigger man’s shoulder. ‘We are, now that you’re here.’

  Lenny checked that Mac was definitely sleeping, then put the shovel down. ‘Was he really going to do you?’

  ‘I reckon so. It’s a good thing you caught on.’

  Lenny gave him a look. ‘You said a number of potential fatalities. I may not be the brightest spark, but you don’t have to be Stephen fucking Hawking to know that something wasn’t right.’

  ‘Good job,’ Harrison said. ‘Usually, I don’t condone violence, but in this, I’m willing to make an exception.’

  ‘Me too,’ Dylan chipped in.

  ‘I’ve always found violence to be a pretty effective means to an end,’ a voice said.

  The small, wiry man they all recognised stepped out of the forest. It was Al, the assassin they had escorted to the Albanian’s house to carry out his work.

  Bodhi peered into the woods in the direction the man had just come from. ‘Anyone else hiding out there, bud?’

  Al smiled. ‘Nope, just me.’

  A light bulb went off in Lenny’s head, and he pointed his finger at the new guy. ‘You’re the prick who stabbed me.’

  Before he could go for the shovel again, Al nodded at the gun in his belt. ‘I wouldn’t go down that road, if I were you. I’m not here for you boys. It’s our mutual friend I’m interested in.’

  ‘Mac?’ Dylan said unnecessarily.

  ‘Clever boy. I’ve been keeping an eye on him for the past couple of days.’

  ‘You’ve done what?’ Jimmy said.

  The man stepped into the clearing and inspected Mac’s prone form before nodding his approval. ‘I’ve been following your man since he got back in the country. As I’m sure you can imagine, Mr Bogarde is rather keen to see him again.’

  ‘You mean, you’ve been standing there the whole time?’ Jimmy said. ‘Were you going to let him shoot us?’

  Al shrugged. ‘I just wanted to see how things panned out. You fellas have been pretty resourceful lately, and so you’ve proved again. If you ever fancy a change of vocation, you should consider a life of crime… Now, do yourselves a favour and get back to your fire engine. I’ll deal with things here.’

  Bodhi nodded at Mac. ‘What are you going to do with him?’

  Al followed Bodhi’s gaze. ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘Then, fuck off. You boys are done here.’

  Without saying another word, the five men turned had headed back down the track. Dylan attempted to look and see what fate would befall Mac, but Bodhi grabbed his arm and pushed him forward.

  When they were back on the appliance, Jimmy turned and inspected his crew. ‘Is everyone okay?’

  ‘Yeah, Jim,’ Harrison said. ‘We’re all good.’

  Acknowledgments

  The first people I have to thank when it comes to the writing of this book are all the firefighters I have worked with over the past seventeen years. I love my job and the peo
ple I work with. People often take the piss out of us for playing pool and drinking tea, but my colleagues are some of the most professional and caring people you could wish to find. I have worked on some great watches with some genuinely great people, many of whom could tell a great story about their experiences in the job.

  I felt like I had a wealth of tales to draw from when I started writing the book, and although the main theme is purely fictional (I swear I, nor anyone I have ever worked with, have stolen anything at an incident), many of those stories have been reworked to fit into my tale. There were also many true stories I have also left out, for fear that you would never believe them! Many of the characters in the book are based on a mixture of the very interesting people I have worked with, and I’m sure if they read it, they will recognise parts of themselves. Other people like Dave ‘Trigger’ Sommer, and Leanne Emery Garner (by far the nicer of the firefighting Garners), I have pretty much cut and pasted into the novel.

  So thank you Red Watch, High Wycombe, my first watch where I learnt so much. Keith Carmichael, I remembered one your jokes and worked it into the plot. Thank you Green Watch, Hove for welcoming me to East Sussex. Mark Moss I hope you don’t mind me stealing your unique style of texting. Thank you, Blue Watch, Preston Circus for turning me into the belligerent prick that I am today and ruining my chances of future promotion (I mean that in a good way), and finally thanks to Green Watch, Preston Circus, for somehow managing to put up with my shit for the last ten years. You are literally awesome. I also want to praise the work of the FBU, who despite brutal government cuts to fire services nationwide, have continued to watch our backs and fight the good fight.

  Thanks to David Gaylor for reading the book and offering me some incredibly helpful feedback. Thanks to Mark Taylor, for helping with things from the point of view of the police, and explaining how I could smuggle drugs more efficiently. Dave Statham, my gaffer, cheers for your advice on managing operational incidents. Morgen Bailey, thank you for editing the book and teaching me a great deal about the English language. Sorry for not removing all the rude words, but firefighters swear a lot!

  Thank you so much to Betsy and Fred at Bloodhound Books for taking a chance on me and publishing the novel. After dozens of rejections from agents and publishers, I was ready to give up on the book, but then I was contacted by Betsy. That was definitely the best moment of my writing career to date. Thanks also to the rest of the team at Bloodhound; Sarah Hardy, Sumaira Wilson, Alexina Golding and anyone else who was involved in getting the book out into the world. Thank you all, Bloodhound rock!

  Buddy and Sylvie, thanks for being you, and Ange, thanks everything x

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