by Anna Smith
‘Sharon,’ he said. ‘Aren’t these some bastard days we’re in.’
‘They sure are, Phil.’ She glanced around the others who all kind of grimaced back, then sat down.
‘So,’ Sharon said. ‘Any more bad news on top of the bad news? What about the files from the estate agent? I’m worried about that and so is Kerry. Have we any intelligence at all that we can use to track them down?’
‘We have.’ Alex Murray, a dark-haired suntanned squat guy in his forties nodded. ‘We’re on it. I’ve got info on who the actual fuckers were who carried out the robbery. So it’s a start. I’ve got someone picking them up today, so we’ll get something out of them. Let’s hope it’s not too late.’
‘I was talking to Pete at the estate agent,’ Sharon said, ‘and he’s already emailing everyone on their client list and letting them know there’s been a robbery and to respond to nothing unless it is directly from a member of staff. The office will be up and running again in the next twenty-four hours.’
‘Good,’ Phil said. He turned to a tall, lean man with a scar down his left cheek and a shaved head. ‘What about the pubs, Matt. Any intel?’
Matt was the go-to guy who had friends all over the Costa, and if someone needed finding, he could track them down. He was a handsome, blue-eyed charmer, who moved in all sorts of social circles, but anyone who double-crossed him never lived to brag about it.
‘We pulled in a guy this morning – wee scally from Liverpool who’s on the run down here. Somebody from across the street said they saw him hanging around late last night at one of the bars, so I think he must be up to something. He’s being questioned as we speak.’ Matt drew his lips back a little in a sarcastic smile.
Just at that moment, Sharon’s mobile rang and she was about to let it ring out when she looked and saw Vic’s number.
‘Excuse me a second, guys, I have to take this.’ She pushed the phone to her ear and waited for a voice.
‘Sharon. Get out of there now! Hurry! There’s a crew on its way to blast everyone. I’ve only just heard. They’ll be there any minute. Hurry!’
Sharon felt her legs go weak. She turned to look at everyone and they obviously saw the colour drain from her face.
‘We need to go. Quick. A fucking Rodriguez hit squad is on its way.’
Nobody said a word. Everyone got up, pulled guns out. Suddenly there came the sound of a car screeching to a halt, and they all looked at each other, then around for an exit.
‘Fuck!’ Phil said. ‘Sharon. Come with me.’ He pushed her down to a crouching position as the sound of gunfire cracked outside.
When Sharon looked up, none of the others was there, the place was in silence, and she assumed they must be hiding. Then two masked gunmen burst inside with machine guns and peppered the whole place, one of them jumping behind the bar and firing. There were groans and shouts. Others were shooting back and one of the masked men went down. Phil shot another in the leg. He was hit on the shoulder. But he pulled Sharon over to the back door where they slithered out and into the car park. There was the sound of police sirens. Then Tom came staggering out, bloodstained.
‘The fuckers got Billy. He’s in a bad way. Losing a lot of blood.’
‘Cops will be here any minute, Tom. Go back in and see what you can find on those two cunts on the ground. See who they are.’
Tom ran in without questioning. Sharon looked up as one of her bodyguards came skulking round the corner, gun in hand. Then Tom reappeared.
‘They got Donny, Sharon. He’s dead. You all right? We best get out of here.’
‘Christ!’ Sharon said.
Donny was in his early thirties, had been in Spain five years and was married to a Spanish girl, who was now pregnant. He was brought along as an extra hand as well as Billy, who’d only arrived from the UK three weeks ago after a three-year stretch for armed robbery, and was working for the Caseys.
Sharon didn’t have time to think. Phil helped her to her feet and Tom rushed her to the car, as Phil jumped into his Merc and sped off.
‘I need to talk to Dave,’ Sharon said as she got into the passenger seat of the car. She looked at her watch. ‘He should be picking up Tony around this time. Let’s go there too. Just to make sure he’s all right.’
Sharon pressed the speed dial for Dave, the big bodyguard who picked up Tony from school every day and brought him back to the house. But the phone was going straight to messages.
‘He’s not answering.’ She glanced nervously at her watch again. ‘That worries me, after what just happened.’ She pushed out a sigh. ‘Christ! What just happened in there, Tom? How the hell did these bastards know where we were when we only made the arrangement this morning?’
Tom shook his head. He’d been Sharon’s main bodyguard since she arrived in Spain. The big, serious Glaswegian was a convicted armed robber, used for his brains and brawn. He was now forty, and moved over to the Costa to work with the Caseys eighteen months ago. He ran their illegal gambling shops from bars along the coast and was close to Donny.
‘I don’t know, Sharon. But we need to find out. They were on top of us in no time. As soon as we saw the car coming screeching down the street, we had our guns out. But they came out guns blazing and Donny got it straight away. Christ! His brains were on the fucking pavement. How am I going to tell his wife? Poor kid.’
‘I know,’ Sharon replied, her eyes scanning the landscape now that they were approaching the back road towards the school. She could see streams of cars coming towards her and passing.
‘School must be out. Those will be parents’ cars. Dave should have picked up by now. Why the hell isn’t he answering his mobile?’
She rang it again, but nothing. She rang Tony’s mobile, but it went straight to voicemail. She could feel her heart begin to beat faster.
By the time they got to the school there was only a handful of cars parked and most of the kids had filtered out. Sharon was opening the door even before the car pulled to a stop. She jumped out.
‘Wait here. I’ll check to see if he’s out yet.’
But she knew even before she rushed up the steps to the school entrance that Tony was already gone. A middle-aged woman who she knew was the guidance teacher approached her with a slightly bewildered look.
‘Sorry, Mrs . . .’ Sharon was flustered and couldn’t remember her name.
The woman gave her an understanding smile.
‘Temple,’ she said. ‘Margaret Temple. How are you, Sharon? Is something the matter? You look a little harassed.’
Sharon swallowed and tried to compose herself.
‘Sorry, Margaret. I’m looking for my Tony. The driver picks him up, but I can’t get an answer from his mobile, or Tony’s. I was passing and got a bit worried.’ She paused, afraid to ask. ‘Is he . . . I mean, are all the kids gone?’
The teacher cocked her head to the side.
‘Yes. Only the ones with games – you know rugby – are down in the fields, but the rest of them are gone. Tony doesn’t play, so he must have been picked up.’
Sharon felt physically sick. She put her hand to her mouth.
‘Are you sure?’
The teacher glanced around her and spread her hands.
‘They’re all out here like lightning at the end of the day. But wait and I’ll just check with the office. One of the girls might have seen him go.’
She disappeared into the glass office and returned a few seconds later, looking as though she was trying hard not to frown.
‘Yes, Tony’s gone,’ she said. ‘He left in a car, as he usually does. One of the girls was out in the yard at the time, and he got into a car and was driven away.’
‘Did she see who was in the car?’
‘I don’t think she would know who it is that picks him up. I don’t think she paid particular attention, to be honest. Quite a few of the parents send their drivers for their kids.’
‘Please,’ Sharon said. ‘I’m sorry. But can you please ask again, was th
ere anyone else in the car?’
The teacher grimaced a little then turned back into the office. She returned again a second later.
‘Two people in the car. The man who met him at the gate and another man in the back seat.’
Sharon steadied herself against the wall.
‘Are you all right, Sharon? Can I get you a glass of water?’
‘No,’ Sharon managed to croak. ‘Thanks. I’ll try his number again.’
Sharon turned and ran out to the car and jumped inside.
‘Jesus, Tom! Something’s happened. Tony was picked up all right – but there were two people in the car.’
He looked confused.
‘Two? It’s always Dave. Only Dave. He loves the kid and they have banter all the way home.’
Sharon bit back her tears and tried to breathe, but she could see Tom from the corner of her eye.
‘They’ve taken him, Tom. I know it. Oh please God, don’t let anything happen to him.’
‘Come on, Sharon! It’s probably all right,’ Tom said, unconvincingly. ‘Maybe he’ll be at the house by the time we get there.’ He put his foot down and they roared through the country roads and back onto the motorway.
Sharon sniffed as she looked out of the windscreen, trying her best not to break down. Everything she had ever done was for Tony. He was her heart and soul. If anything happened to him and she was to lose him, her life would be over, finished. She clutched her mobile tight, then composed herself as she phoned Kerry.
‘Kerry. All hell broke out here earlier. Someone got wind of our meeting, and a mob from Rodriguez came in and shot the place up. We lost two men.’
‘Jesus Christ!’ Kerry said. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah. Big Phil took care of me, but they got him in the shoulder, and we lost one of our bodyguards outside. Our boys got two of theirs too.’
‘Shit. How in the name of Christ did they know where the meet was? It was only this morning we arranged it after last night.’
‘I don’t know. But we’re finding out. But, Kerry. Our Tony’s gone.’ She could hear her voice quiver and she swallowed a sob.
‘What? How?’
‘He gets picked up from school every day by Dave, one of the guards. Today there was no answer from either of their phones, and so I went to the school straight from the shit earlier, because I was worried. But he’s not there. Someone at the school said he got picked up. But there were two people in the car. Two people, Kerry.’
‘Jesus,’ Kerry murmured. ‘Look. Try not to panic. It might be all right. Where are you now?’
‘On my way back to the house.’
‘Okay, phone me when you get there. But just stay calm. We’ll sort this.’
‘Kerry,’ Sharon tried to speak. ‘If anything happens to Tony . . . Oh, Kerry!’
‘Sharon!’ Kerry said. ‘Don’t worry. Just go to the house. Call me when you get there.’
When they got to the house and the steel gates opened automatically, a quick glance showed that Dave’s car wasn’t there and the place was eerily quiet. It was always that way in the afternoon, but now it looked threatening. She glanced across the yard to the main door of the house. The guard in the security cabin at the front gave her a wave. Sharon opened the door and got out of the car, and had to steady herself as her legs felt weak. She rushed across to the security.
‘Has Dave been back yet with Tony?’
He shook his head. ‘No. Not since he left to pick him up an hour ago.’
Sharon turned to Tom, who strode towards her and ushered her into the house.
Tom went into the kitchen and as Sharon slumped onto the sofa she clutched her mobile, willing it to ring. But it didn’t. She sat, sipping the cold sugary drink Tom had made for her to help her shock, and staring at the fireplace, suddenly feeling that her entire life was falling apart. Then her mobile rang. But it wasn’t Tony, or Dave. It was Phil.
‘Sharon. It’s me. We just got a call. These cunts picked up Tony and Dave.’
‘Who? Who’s the call from?’
‘I don’t know. Some faceless, nameless cunt, saying he’s phoning on behalf of Rodriguez.’
‘Christ, Phil. What are they saying? Where’s Tony?’
‘They said they’re dropping both of them off at a café on the boulevard of shops near Marbella.’
‘What the fuck? Are they okay?’
‘I think so. I’ve got people heading there now. All they said was they just wanted you to know that they can do anything they want to anybody they want and, the fucking words were, “You have no power.” ’ He paused. ‘If I get my hands on the cunt that made that call, I’ll wring his neck myself.’
Sharon didn’t know what to think, what to say. Her mind was a blur of what might happen if Phil’s boys turned up at the restaurant. Were they being lured into a trap that would be another bloodbath, with her Tony caught in the crossfire?
‘Christ, Phil. I want to go there too.’
‘No. Sharon. Please. You shouldn’t. Just sit tight. We’ll get your Tony back. Stay where you are. Honestly. It’s the only thing to do.’
Sharon thought about it, and said nothing, then eventually, ‘Okay. But please, call me straight away, as soon as anything happens.’
‘Don’t worry. We will.’
She hung up, looked up at Tom, then stood, but staggered. He held her tight and patted her hair. She loosened her grasp. This was no time for her to go to pieces. She made a vow to herself that when Tony came back here and she was sure he was safe, she would make it her mission to find each and every one involved in snatching him. This was no longer business, as these bastards were fond of saying. It wasn’t business when Knuckles Boyle arranged for her to be executed by his associates. It was personal. And taking Tony was as personal as it could get. They would pay for this. Rodriguez would pay personally, and she would make sure of it herself.
She called Kerry to relay the news, then went to her bedroom, lay on the bed and wept.
It was only an hour later that Sharon heard a car on the gravel and she jumped off the bed and went to the window. The car pulled in and she stood, her heart thumping in her chest, as the back door opened. Then Tony got out, looking a little pale but carrying his school rucksack. She took one glimpse then bolted out of the room and downstairs, flung open the front door and raced into the yard.
‘Tony! Christ, darling! Are you all right?’
She ran towards him and threw her arms around him, holding him tight. Tony glanced around at the men who’d got out of the car, and for a second he looked a little embarrassed, then he buried his head in his mother’s shoulder.
‘Oh, Mum! I was scared. But I’m all right. Honest. I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me.’
She eased him away, and looked at his face, pushed back the fringe flopping over his eyes.
‘Oh, Tony! I was so worried about you.’
‘I didn’t know what happened. I just went into the car and the guy was there in the back seat. Dave said they’d stopped the car on the way here and told him to come in and get me as normal, and if I moved a muscle, then they’d come out and shoot both of us,’ he said, breathless. ‘Who are they, Mum? I heard you talking about Colombians or something. Is that who they were? How come they let me live?’
Sharon looked around as Dave stood on the sidelines, giving her a sheepish look.
‘I’m sorry, Sharon. There was nothing I could do. I felt so helpless. I’m sorry.’
‘Sssh,’ Sharon said. ‘We’ll talk later, Dave. Don’t worry. You’re all safe now. Go into the house and have a drink and relax a bit.’
‘I’m starving,’ Tony said.
‘Of course you are. Always,’ Sharon said smiling, delighted to hear the words she feared she would never hear again.
*
Sharon was on the flight from Málaga to Glasgow with Tony on the seat next to her before she even had time to think things through. Still reeling from the shock of her son being snatched, she’d talked to K
erry the night before as she was bundling Tony’s clothes into a case, determined to get him out of the country pronto. Glasgow may be under siege, but on the Costa del Sol she’d felt suddenly exposed. If she was alone she could cope with hoodlums taking pot shots at her, but worrying twenty-four seven over Tony was killing her. They’d taken him once, they could take him again. Kerry had been understanding and told her they would look after him at the house for a couple of weeks till this heat died down. She’d said she’d even make enquiries about getting some private tutor for him so that he wouldn’t miss lessons. And the Casey house was like a fortress, so no matter what was going on outside, Tony would be safe.
Sharon ruffled Tony’s hair as the flight took off, but he was eyes down into his book. He hadn’t seemed annoyed about leaving his school friends, because the fact was, in recent weeks, he’d hardly seen them due to the tight security. He loved Spain though, and she had to promise him it was only for a few weeks, then he could come back to swimming in the pool and everything else the sunshine had to offer. As the plane took off, a wave of exhaustion swept over Sharon, and she rested her head back and tried to catch some shut-eye on the early afternoon flight.
