Retribution

by Heather Atkinson

  “What?” they both exclaimed.

  “I think that’s a great idea,” said Cass.

  Brodie looked to her. “Why are you smiling so evilly?”

  “Spending some quality time together might help you two get along,” she replied.

  “I agree,” said Rachel.

  “Well I don’t,” said Ryan. “We’ll probably end up killing each other.”

  Brodie’s whisky-coloured eyes narrowed. “You can try pal.”

  “Anytime,” he retorted.

  “Oh don’t start again,” sighed Rachel. “It’s too late for more arguing. Right, I’m off to bed. Cass, is it okay with you if we leave at eight?”

  “Fine by me,” she smiled.

  “Do you want to spend the night here?”

  “We’ve already checked into a hotel,” replied Cass. “But thanks for the offer.”

  Rachel thought that a wise move. She didn’t want a fight in her house.

  “We’d better make tracks,” said Cass. “It’s late.”

  “I’ll see you both out,” said Rachel.

  As Brodie followed Rachel and Cass out of the room, he glared over his shoulder at Ryan, who glared right back.

  Jared’s hideout was once again out in the country. Jules thought he’d obviously not learnt from The Homestead fiasco. But then again, he’d once told her that he wasn’t comfortable in the city.

  She wasn’t happy about doing this blind, ideally she would have liked to stake the place out for a while, gauge how many men were inside but there wasn’t time. Jez and the others were bound to turn up soon and she didn’t want them getting caught up in this. However, what she could tell was that there was only one road leading in and out, which was good for keeping an eye out on who was approaching. It would also help her steer Jared in the direction she wanted him to go.

  She left her bike beyond the farmhouse on the edge of a field, took the backpack out of the panniers and jogged back to the house. It was pitch black, her way lit by a single lamppost. She crouched down behind the wall marking the edge of the property and pulled on the gas mask. She then removed the two gas canisters and slung the bag onto her back. After ensuring her gun was loaded and her knives were strapped to her wrists she ran at the wall, lithely landing on the top and dropping down into the bushes on the other side. She remained crouched where she was, waiting to see if anyone had heard but she could hear nothing.

  Jules peeked out from behind the bushes. It appeared there were no guards in the garden but then again, Jared was lying low, he wasn’t at war. She skirted the house, checking which windows had lights burning in them, which appeared to be most of them, the rumble of male voices within audible. Frustratingly the curtains were closed so she couldn’t see inside. This wasn’t the smartest thing she’d ever done but she had no choice. Jez, Mark and Shane could handle themselves in situations like this but Jackson couldn’t, so there was no way she was going to put him in the middle of this. She didn’t know what Jez had been thinking bringing him along.

  She headed back to the front of the house, crouched before the front door, took out her little tool kit and began to pick the lock. When the door popped open she paused again to listen, waiting for someone to come charging towards it but no one did.

  Keeping low, she cautiously pushed it open to reveal a long corridor with doors leading off it. Still no one was in sight. There came the sound of voices from further down the hall but it was impossible to tell which room they were coming from.

  Jules crept along the corridor, gun at the ready, peeking round the door of the first room, which appeared to be a large lounge. Judging by the mess she guessed there were only men here. She checked the room opposite this one, which was a small toilet, the smell making her eyes water.

  As she was about to check the third room there was the sound of footsteps down the hall and a man appeared. From the way his hands were already unfastening his fly it appeared he was desperate to use the loo. He froze in the hallway, stunned to see an intruder dressed in black wearing a gas mask. In that second of shock Jules rolled one of the gas canisters along the floor, which came to a rest at his feet, the smoke engulfing him and he dropped, unconscious.

  The clatter of the canister and the thud of the man falling drew the attention of the other occupants of the house and two more men charged down the hall from the door at the end of the corridor, guns in their hands. Jules threw the second canister and they staggered a few steps before falling.

  Jules was glad the gas was as efficient as Howie had promised it would be, she didn’t want to hurt these men, she had no problem with them. All she wanted was Slattery.

  A man came charging down the staircase off to her right. Fortunately for him he wasn’t armed, otherwise she would have shot him. Instead she let him chase her, knowing the gas would knock him out, which it did. He stumbled the last couple of steps before toppling forwards, hitting the wooden floor hard.

  Realising Jared had been well and truly warned an intruder was here, she charged at the door through which the other men had emerged, raising the gun and firing when another man charged out at her, similarly armed. She was careful not to go for a kill shot and caught him in the right shoulder, forcing him to drop the weapon, his cries of pain already fading as the gas took effect. She snatched up the dropped gun with her gloved hands and slid it into the back of her jeans before cautiously nudging the door open to reveal a large kitchen, bottles of lager and playing cards spread out across the large table.

  Jared stood alone in the middle of the room, unarmed.

  “Finally,” he said, voice gentle. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Jules stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, careful to keep the gun trained on Jared as she took a chair from the table and jammed it under the handle. She lifted the mask off her face, so it sat on the top of her head.

  “You won’t believe how much I’ve missed you,” said Jared, reaching out to touch her.

  She raised the gun. “Stay back.”

  “You going to shoot me Jules?”

  “Duh,” she said. “Why do you think I’m here?”

  “You won’t. You couldn’t hurt me before so why should you now?”

  The gun made a dull thud, the noise muffled by the silencer and Jared staggered and clung onto the kitchen unit with one hand, the other pressed to the bleeding wound in the side of his left leg.

  “Why are you smiling?” she said.

  “Not a kill shot. I knew it, you can’t do it.”

  “That’s because I’ve a few things to say to you first. Don’t worry, we won’t be disturbed by your men. They’ll be out for the count for quite a while.” She shoved a chair towards him. “Sit.”

  He plonked himself down in the seat, gazing up at her.

  “Stop looking at me with that fucking stupid expression on your face,” she snarled.

  “Sorry, I can’t help it. I’ve dreamed of this for so long.”

  “You’ve dreamed of me barging in here, gassing your men and shooting you in the leg?”

  “Of seeing you again. The separation has driven me crazy. Finally you’ve come back to me.”

  “I’m not here to start a relationship with you, you cretin. I’m here to kill you once and for all. Why the fuck do you think I’d want a relationship with the man who ruined my life?”

  “Ruined your life? I gave you our beautiful daughter.”

  “You mean the same daughter who won’t come near me because she’s terrified of me after seeing me stuck in a coma?”

  “What?” he said, eyes widening.

  “She won’t come near me, she just screams when I try and that is your fault,” she yelled. “Me and Jackson have split up too…”

  “You’re single again,” he said with delight.

  “Yes I am and do you know why? Because thanks to you and your fucking mummy I can’t have any more kids. Jackson wanted a child more than anything in the world and I can never give him that now. You killed
the one we made,” she said, annoyed when tears filled her eyes. “And I bled so bad they took out my womb.”

  “I’m so sorry for that, I didn’t want that to happen.”

  “But you did nothing to stop it. If I’d got to a hospital sooner the bleeding would have been stopped. I would have still lost my baby but at least I might have kept my insides. You ran out on me. You left me to die.”

  “I didn’t want to, really. I love you.”

  “You know nothing of love,” she spat. “Your mummy told you to leave me so you did. I’m glad she’s fucking dead, I hope you’ve been torn up with grief, just like I’ve been at the loss of both my children and my husband. Jackson got another woman pregnant you know, while I was in the coma.”

  “The fucking bastard,” he snarled.

  “You have no right to call that good, decent man anything. He didn’t mean to get her pregnant, it was an accident when he was pissed because he couldn’t deal with what had happened to our family. If it had been the other way around I wouldn’t have hesitated to do the same.”

  “Decent? He cheated on you when you needed him the most. He doesn’t deserve you, he never did.”

  She shot him in the other leg, careful to graze the flesh. She didn’t want him bleeding out too soon. “What the fuck do you know about decent?” she yelled, eyes bulging, feeling herself descend into the mania that used to claim her when she was Venom, before Mikey had killed her abusive adopted father, Leighton. She hadn’t felt it for quite a while and the force of it scared her. When she was like this she was capable of anything and right now she couldn’t afford to lose control.

  Jared pressed a hand to each wound, grimacing with pain, chest heaving. “Please…could you pass me a bandage or something to stop the bleeding?”

  She jammed the gun against his right temple. “Are you fucking serious? After you left me to die you actually want me to help you?”

  “If you were going to kill me you would have done it by now.”

  “I’m building up to it.”

  He turned to face her, the gun pointing right in his face but he didn’t appear to be in the slightest bit worried, even though she’d already shot him twice. “Go on then, what are you waiting for?”

  As her finger began to squeeze the trigger he kept his eyes on her face, gaze soft. “I want you to know,” he began. “I never wanted things to turn out like this. If I’d had my way we’d be together, raising Cara and you’d never have been put in the coma.”

  “But it did turn out that way,” she said, a tear rolling down her cheek. “And it’s your fault. You know, I really liked you, even though you’d kidnapped me but you were so tied to Mummy’s apron strings it was pathetic.”

  “And you still do like me.”

  When he tried to take her free hand she backhanded him across the face, splitting his lip. “Don’t touch me,” she hissed.

  “I still want you Jules. Stay here, with me and we can take over the south. Together we could easily get rid of Katia.”

  “I don’t give a shit about her or you. When I’m done here I’m going abroad and I’m never coming back.”

  He looked appalled. “You don’t mean that. You can’t leave me.”

  “It won’t matter to you because you’ll be dead. I’ve lost everything and you took it from me, you and your mum. She’s dead but I can still take my anger out on you,” she said, pressing the gun against his forehead.

  “Go on Jules, do it. If I can’t have you I don’t want to live anyway. My life’s been so empty, I’m sick of it. Sitting here with holes in my legs and a gun at my head is preferable because at least you’re here with me.”

  A lump formed in her throat and her hand holding the gun trembled. What the fuck was this?

  “You still feel the same,” he said. “I knew it. That’s why you couldn’t hurt me before and why you can’t hurt me now.”

  “The only thing I feel for you is hate. I want you dead,” she yelled, as though that would give her the impetus to commit the act.

  “Do it then if you want me gone so bad.” He grimaced as she dug the barrel of the gun harder against his head, steeling herself to pull the trigger, tears sliding down her face.

  “You love me,” he said.

  “No I don’t. Stop saying that.” There was the sound of approaching footsteps and she lowered the gun. “I never intended to kill you Jared. I was just stalling for time. Your real executioner is here.”

  “No, Jules come back,” he cried as she ran for the back door.

  She took one last look at him. “Now you know how I felt when you walked out and left me bleeding on the floor. Now you know how it feels knowing you’re going to die.”

  She disappeared into the night as someone started to batter the other side of the door. There was a huge bang and the door exploded inwards under the force of the shot. Hayden Brodie strode in clutching a huge shotgun, followed by the click clack of high heels on the tiles that turned Jared’s blood to ice. “Katia.”

  She tossed back her blond hair, blue eyes filled with pleasure, followed by Hayden, Robbie and Mick, one of their lieutenants.

  “I look everywhere for you, you stupid pigman,” she said. She produced a gun from her handbag. “Finally I get rid of everyone against me. Now the south is mine.”

  “Go fuck yourself you Slovakian slag,” bellowed Jared, hauling himself to his feet, despite his wounds.

  “This is for Irina.”

  “Who?”

  Her eyes bulged with rage. “The beautiful Slovakian girl who loved you, who you murdered and stuffed into a suitcase like she was rubbish.”

  “Oh her,” he sneered. “The useless bitch let Jules go.”

  “She was my friend,” she screamed before opening fire.

  CHAPTER 41

  Jules raced outside. Just before she reached the wall there was a volley of gunshots and she hesitated, the sound making her shudder. Jared was gone.

  Shaking herself out of it she leapt over the back wall, yanking out her phone to make a call while running for her motorbike.

  “Jez,” she said when he answered. “Just shut up for a minute and let me speak. I know you’re tailing me but do not come to Slattery’s farmhouse. Katia’s here and I’ve arranged a little surprise for her. Stay away because believe me, you don’t want to get caught up in that.”

  ‘Alright, we’ll stay away but at least tell me where we can meet you then we can go home.’

  She hesitated, tears filling her eyes. “I’m not going home.”

  ‘What?’

  “I’m leaving the country.”

  ‘You bloody well are not,’ he exclaimed. ‘You’re coming back with us. You have a family who love you and need you. I love you and need you.’

  Jules took a deep breath to try and retain her control. “I’m doing this because I love you all. Don’t you see I bring nothing but trouble and pain to everyone I meet. Look at what I’ve done to Jackson, that good, kind man and to my own daughter. She hates me.”

  ‘No she doesn’t Jules. This isn’t your fault.’

  “I’m sorry,” she rasped. “I’ve got to go. Don’t come here or it’ll be very bad for you.”

  ‘Jules,’ he yelled.

  She hung up, wiping the tears from her eyes and swallowing down the ball of pain. This wasn’t over yet and if she didn’t pull herself together it was going to go bad for her too.

  She reached her bike, put it into neutral and steered it down a farm track, away from the road just as the sound of sirens filled the air.

  Katia smiled at Jared’s dead body with satisfaction. He lolled back in the chair, a neat hole in the centre of his forehead, chest riddled with bullets, surprised eyes staring up at the ceiling. Although he looked dead she asked Hayden to check his pulse, just to be on the safe side because that bastard had more lives than a cat.

  “He’s dead,” he said.

  “Thank fuck for that,” she replied. She pointed a painted nail back at the door they’d w
alked through. “Go out there and kill his men. I want to leave no threat alive.”

  Hayden nodded and cocked the shotgun, hesitating when the sound of sirens filled the air.

  “Is that…police?” said Katia.

  “More than likely,” said Hayden. “Jules must have set us up.”

  “The bitch,” she screamed. “I will kill her and her pathetic family too.”

  “That’ll have to wait. Right now we need to get out of here,” said Hayden, ushering her to the back door.

  As she ran through it, followed by Mick, Hayden hung back, grabbed Robbie by the scruff of the neck and slammed his foot into his kneecap, breaking it.

  Robbie turned ghost white and slumped to the floor, shaking.

  “Finally I get you out of the way, you little pervert. We found your cameras,” Hayden told him before he followed the others outside.

  “No,” groaned Robbie, attempting to crawl to the door. “Katia,” he cried.

  They’d left their car parked on the side of the road and they raced over to it, Hayden and Mick jumping in the front while Katia leapt into the back. Mick started the engine and they were off, driving away from the farmhouse, leaving behind the sirens.

  “Thank fuck we’re away from that place,” said Mick. “It’s cursed.”

  “Wait,” said Katia. “Robbie’s not here. Where is he?” When her gaze locked with Hayden’s her heart sank. “What did you do?”

  “I got rid of the albatross around our neck.” His eyes bored into her. “We were in agreement, remember?”

  “Of course I remember. I just didn’t know you were going to do it today, we were going to confront him tomorrow about it. What did you do?”

  “Left him behind like the lame duck he is,” he glowered through the windscreen. “He would have ended up dragging us down and you know it.”

  “Yes,” she said. “It is just a shock. You should have warned me.”

  “I didn’t know I was going to do it myself, I just took advantage of the opportunity. We should have seen that Jules was going to betray us.” He felt stupid for thinking his previous connection to Manchester would have protected him from any blowback. But he never dreamed she would call the police.