Riot Read online

  “What’s wrong?” Jules asked her husband when he sighed.

  Mikey shook his head. “Things have been quiet for a while now. I have a bad feeling.”

  “Oh God, don’t start all that again,” said Jez.

  “Well it’s true. Everything’s finally bloody perfect and that’s when the bad stuff happens, isn’t it? When everything’s harmonious and we’re all happy,” he said, gazing back at his wife.

  “Punch him will you Jules?” said Jez. “He’s going to jinx us with that talk.”

  “Jez is right babe,” she said, squeezing Mikey’s hand. “The Slatterys, the Claytons, the Brodys, they’re all gone.”

  “Katia isn’t,” replied Mikey. “She’s still out there, somewhere.”

  “She fled abroad and all she has with her are three small children. She’s no threat anymore.”

  “Underestimating our enemies has always got us into trouble in the past.”

  “You think Katia’s going to attack us with a pair of six year olds and a baby?” said Jez.

  “Well not right now but she will one day, when her sons are all grown up and she’s dripped poison into their ears about us for years.”

  “So you want to take them out?”

  “Katia yes, the boys no. They’re mine and Jules’s cousins after all and we don’t kill kids.” Mikey regarded his business partner curiously. Ever since the last war he’d noticed it was much easier for Jez to kill. He wasn’t sure why because it certainly hadn’t affected himself that way and he’d been the one most seriously injured.

  “Of course not the kids,” said Jez. “I meant when they’re grown men. And we could track down Katia. She headed into Portugal and vanished from there.”

  “What would we do with her kids?” said Jules. “After the boys saw us kill their stepdad no way would they live with us and don’t forget there’s the little girl, Hayden’s daughter. I think we’re best tracking them down and keeping an eye on them, for now.”

  “I agree,” said Jez.

  “Relax babe,” Jules told Mikey. “They can’t hurt us, they haven’t the strength.”

  “Maybe it won’t be them. I just have this bad feeling…” He trailed off and regarded her anxiously. The single worst moment of his entire life had been standing outside the rubble of their wedding reception and seeing that bullet hit her in the chest. Her face had turned a ghastly white and she’d swayed on her feet, attempting to say his name and in that horrific moment he’d thought she was dead. He hadn’t thought twice about shielding her with his own body. If she had been dead he hadn’t wanted to live either, he’d been almost grateful to feel those bullets slam into his back. He couldn’t bear to go through that again. Now he knew why Ryan lived in a constant state of anxiety after the number of times Rachel had been kidnapped and seriously injured. He was terrified of it happening again. Perhaps they were right and he was just being paranoid. There was no one in the entire country with the muscle or the balls to take them on. All their enemies were gone or neutralised.

  “You’re right,” he said, forcing a smile. “I’m being fucking daft, aren’t I?”

  “Course you are.”

  “Take him home Jules and cheer him up, for God’s sake,” said Jez.

  She smiled at the wicked grin that lit up her husband’s face.

  “On you go,” encouraged Jez. “There’s not much to do around here anyway. I’ve got it covered.”

  “Great. See you later,” said Jules as Mikey grabbed her hand and pulled her from the room.

  “Now we’re alone,” Jez told Shane. “There’s something I want to discuss with you.”

  “Oh yes?” said Shane.

  He watched Jez get to his feet and wander over to the window to peer out into the private high-walled garden. Jez’s face had gone so hard he looked to be made of stone and Shane started to worry he was in trouble.

  “Katia’s in Italy,” he opened. “Specifically Lombardy. Not surprising she headed there with its international schools. Plus it’s popular with ex-pats.”

  “So she didn’t just vanish after Portugal?”

  “She did, for a while but she popped up again on the radar thanks to an ex-pat I know living out there. She has the kids with her.”

  “Why didn’t you mention this to Jules and Mikey?”

  “Because they’ve been through so much since the wedding. I thought it might be better if Katia vanished permanently.”

  “And the children?”

  “There lies the problem. If it wasn’t for them she’d already be dead, we would have killed her at that house in Liverpool, when we had her trapped. But because of those kids Rachel let her go.”

  “What are you trying to say Boss?”

  “I’m saying I want you to stop me from doing something I’ll regret.”

  Shane took a deep breath and measured the situation carefully before replying. The attack at the wedding had changed them all, Jez included. On the surface he was still the same fair, affable man he had always been but underneath he was like granite and literally capable of anything. Ryan had always been the most feared of the two brothers, the most ruthless but Shane knew that Jez would now always go further than Ryan was willing to and that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

  “And what’s that?” said Shane.

  “I think you know,” said Jez, keeping his gaze on the window.

  Shane did but he didn’t want to contemplate the fact that his boss was considering executing three small children. “If you go down that road Bossman it will destroy not only you but your marriage and your family.”

  Jez remained silent before slowly nodding, his body relaxing. “You’re right Shane. Thank you.”

  Shane was relieved that Jez once again appeared to be his easy-going self. For a moment there he’d looked truly unnerving.

  “Get yourself back to Liverpool,” said Jez. “And I’ll trust you’ll keep this to yourself?”

  Shane got to his feet and nodded, buttoning up his suit jacket. “Of course.”

  “Good lad.”

  Shane quietly left and Jez turned his attention back to the window, relieved to have the room to himself and the space to think. Ever since he’d disposed of Amber it had been incredibly easy for him to take life. He hadn’t even killed Amber himself, he’d got a bank robber called Ray McGinnis hiding out from the UK police in the Costa Del Sol to do it for him, a man who could be relied on to keep his trap shut. Only himself and Ray knew about Amber’s death. As far as the rest of the world was concerned she’d run off to Spain after siding with their enemies in the last war. Amber had known she was lucky to get out of the UK alive. If she hadn’t been the biological mother to Mikey’s two sons then she wouldn’t have. They’d already let Katia go, he couldn’t let Amber escape too. A narcissistic sociopath would have had to retaliate against them in some way. Someone would have given her the opportunity and she wouldn’t have been able to resist. By removing her he’d protected his family. However, since having the ex-wife of his best friend and business partner murdered it was as though the floodgates had opened and he now found it very easy to do bad things. Not that he’d ever turn on his own family, on the contrary he was willing to do whatever it took to protect them. After tracking down Katia and the children he’d been torn - it would be ever so easy to have someone remove them too but Shane was right, it would destroy him and no way was he going to allow Katia to do that. It frightened him how close he’d come to giving that unspeakable order. Their family never had nor would they ever harm children, even if the children in question would one day come for them when they were grown up. His family had done very bad things over the years but that was one line they’d never crossed and he wasn’t going to be the one to lead them into the realm of monsters. If Ryan knew what was going through his head he would batter the shit out of him. Thank God Shane had been here to stop him, he was the only one he could discuss it with and he could be relied on to keep his mouth shut. If he didn’t he knew it would be easy f
or him to remove him too.

  CHAPTER 3

  “Rachel, take it easy,” said Ryan, grasping her by the wrists and holding her firmly.

  As he stared into her pitch black eyes the rage fled from her gaze and her muscles relaxed. “Sorry.”

  “Are you calm?”

  She nodded. “I am now.”

  He released her and slowly she lowered her arms, the tops of her hands cut and bruised from pummelling Harry Nelson’s face.

  Ryan regarded his wife with concern. Ever since Battler’s death at Mikey and Jules’s wedding reception she’d displayed a lot more aggression during their vigilante activities. They’d only meant to threaten Harry and now he was going to need hospital treatment.

  “Harry,” said Ryan, jabbing him in the arm. “You with us?”

  “Please don’t hurt me anymore,” he groaned, curling up into the foetal position.

  Guilt filled Rachel’s eyes and she looked down at the floor of the barn they’d cornered him in on his own farm.

  “We’re not going to,” said Ryan. “As long as you leave your ex-wife alone.”

  “I will, promise. I didn’t mean to frighten her, I just miss her so much.”

  “Good. Come on, let’s get you to hospital.” Harry flinched when Ryan’s grey gaze hardened. “And if you even think of telling the police who did this to you…”

  “I won’t. I just want to be left alone.”

  The fear emanating from Harry made Rachel feel ashamed. He hadn’t actually hurt his ex-wife, he’d just been caught lurking outside her house a few times and sent her endless bouquets of flowers. He hadn’t deserved what she’d done to him.

  Rachel waited in the car while Ryan escorted Harry into A&E and explained to the staff that he’d been attacked by a couple of muggers while walking through the park, a story they readily believed and one Harry didn’t dare contradict. He returned to the car to find Rachel slumped in the passenger seat, looking miserable.

  “You okay babe?” he said, taking her bruised hand.

  “No. I went too far today.”

  “Yes you did,” he said gently.

  “If you hadn’t stopped me…”

  “But I did and Harry will be fine.”

  “I’ve just got so much anger inside me after what happened to us all at Mikey and Jules’s wedding, after what was done to them…after Battler,” she rasped. Even now the pain of his loss was like a knife in her heart. “It’s been eight months. I should be getting over it by now.”

  “There’s no time limit on grief Rachel,” said Ryan, voice a gentle caress. “Don’t put pressure on yourself. Battler was a huge part of your life, he was like a second father to you.”

  “Sometimes I get so scared because I feel like I’m turning back into Rachel Maguire.”

  He pulled her to him and she buried her face in his chest. “Well you’re not, you’re Rachel Law and you always will be. Rachel Maguire is long gone.”

  “But she’s not. Jules told me she felt Venom close to the surface a lot. The same thing’s happening to me. Somehow the trauma we went through has brought back our old selves.”

  “She told me the same thing but, with the help of her therapist, Venom went away again.”

  “It’s alright for Jules, her therapist is in Mikey’s pay, so she won’t blab.”

  “Therapists aren’t allowed to blab to anyone.”

  “I wouldn’t trust one not to.”

  “Would you like to see Jules’s therapist?”

  “I don’t want to go all the way up to Manchester. I just want to get back to normal.”

  “Maybe you should leave the vigilante stuff to me for a while, just until you feel better?”

  “No,” she practically snarled.

  The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. “I must confess, I find your aggression highly arousing.”

  Rachel ground her mouth against his. “Take me somewhere quiet Ryan. I need to feel you inside me.”

  “Seatbelt on,” he said eagerly, starting the engine.

  As he drove he glanced sideways at his wife. Rachel’s eyes were still as black as pitch, revealing the turbulence beneath. Normally they would have returned to their usual hue by now. Battler’s death had certainly unleashed the darkness that dwelt inside her. He wondered how he could make it retreat again.

  Dwyer glared up at the photos of the Maguires and Laws plastered to his office wall. He was well aware he was obsessed with that family and that his colleagues thought the same but he’d made it his life’s mission to bring them down. The superintendent had approved his request to travel to Galicia to look into Amber Maguire’s disappearance. In fact Dwyer was suspicious by how easily he’d given in. From the amusement in his eyes the bastard thought there was nothing there to find, despite what Amber’s parents had said. Dwyer had never been sure whether he was in the Maguires’ pay or not. They had an executive officer in their pockets but he wasn’t sure who. He intended to find out and they would fall along with the dirty criminals they did the bidding of. His flight left in four hours, so the last thing he wanted was a knock at his office door.

  “What?” he snapped.

  A woman who he knew worked for organised crime in Sheffield walked in, they’d crossed paths a few times before. He didn’t much like this tall, thin, pointy-faced creature. She had even less of a sense of humour than he did.

  “DI Campbell,” he said. “Why are you gracing our humble city?”

  Campbell’s face only cracked into life when her lips moved to talk. “DCI Dwyer. Nice office,” she said, pale eyes skipping across the photos behind him.

  “Thanks. Maybe one day, if you work really hard, you can become a detective chief inspector too and move out of the wardrobe they’ve stuck you in.”

  “You might wish you’d been a little less patronising when you hear what I have to say. Sir,” she added sardonically.

  “And what is that?” he said as though he were addressing a child.

  “My team nicked a wanted armed robber by the name of Ray McGinnis. You heard of him?”

  “Course I have. He’s wanted for half a dozen armed robberies around Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Greater Manchester area. Word is he fled to Spain…” He went rigid as he recalled Joyce Sweeney’s words.

  “He was arrested in the Costa Del Sol and was brought back to Sheffield last night. He’s already singing like a canary and he wants immunity in exchange for information.”

  “What information?”

  “About who ordered him to kill Amber Maguire in Galicia. That’s in Spain.”

  The blood thundered through his head, so astonished his moment had finally come that he almost let her get away with patronising him. “I know where Galicia is,” he barked. His lip curled with disgust when she sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. It appeared the woman had a cold. “It was Mikey Maguire who gave the order, wasn’t it?”

  “No.”

  “Who then?” he snapped when she went silent, enjoying drawing it out. “Jules Maguire?”

  “It wasn’t a Maguire.”

  “Do you want to be up on a subordination charge DI Campbell?” he yelled when she once again went silent.

  “Jez Law.”

  “Really?” he frowned. “Are you sure he’s not having you on? Mikey or Jules I can understand but Jez, it doesn’t make sense.”

  “Ray claims he pushed the poor cow off a cliff. Apparently she was very fond of walking along cliff tops. Bit of a stupid thing to do when you have a family like that gunning for you.”

  “Did he give a reason?”

  “Jez didn’t go into details but Ray got the impression she’d sided with the family’s enemies.”

  “Interesting,” he said. “I want to interview McGinnis personally and as soon as possible.”

  “I thought you might. The gaffer ordered me to bring you back with me,” she said before wiping her nose on her hand again.

  Dwyer wasn’t delighted at the prospect of spending an
hour and a half in a car with the hideous, germ-riddled woman but it was worth it if it meant he nailed Jez Law. “Give me a minute,” he said, shooting to his feet.

  He flung open his office door and strode over to the female detective sergeant who, even he had to admit, he used as his personal secretary. “DS Miller. Change my flight to Spain until tomorrow. I’ve got another lead.” Inwardly he smiled at the way her blue eyes flashed.

  “Yes Sir,” she said in a hard voice.

  “Good girl,” he smirked before turning on his heel and striding back into his office.

  “Wanker,” Miller muttered under her breath, picking up her phone.

  “Feeling better?” said Ryan as he caught his breath. He was sprawled in the back of his Range Rover, Rachel curled up beside him, her head resting on his bare chest.

  “Mmmm, much,” she breathed.

  He was pleased to see that her eyes had returned to their usual hue. She’d been frantic and it had given him an insight into how he’d used to be when his vicious slag of a mother had wound him up so much he’d thought he might explode. Only Rachel had been able to make that pain go away. Now his mother was dead and gone, executed by a friend because they didn’t want her death on their hands. His own pain had died with her and he now helped Rachel ease her own turmoil. As soon as he’d brought the car to a halt in the Devonshire woodland, well hidden from view of the road, she’d clambered on top of him, tilting back his seat and tearing down his jeans. Not that he was in any way complaining, he adored her passion and aggression, watching her throw herself into the act. It had been like making love with a force of nature. Now her fury had died down she was being tender and vulnerable, enjoying being cradled in his arms.

  “I love your strength,” she murmured. “It makes me feel so safe.”

  “You are safe.”

  “I am, with you.”

  “Is part of all this because you don’t feel safe anymore?”

  She pushed herself up on an elbow to talk. “At the wedding we had security and some of the toughest people in the north of England and it meant nothing. They nearly killed us all.” Tears sprang in her eyes. “They killed Battler.”