Carnage Page 3

  “I think they could cause us a lot of trouble if we go about this the wrong way,” he replied. “We look into it carefully before making any move, especially with Leah going to the same college as the eldest son.”

  “I agree.”

  “We could ask her about Jacob. If he really has caused so much trouble she’s bound to have heard of him.”

  “Do we really want to involve her in this?”

  “She knows what we do. We can’t shield her from it anymore and I thought we’d agreed to be completely honest with her from now on.”

  “True but there’s a big difference between her accidentally finding something out and us purposefully dragging her into it.”

  “We won’t drag her into it, we’re only going to ask her about him.”

  “You know Leah, she won’t be able to resist turning Poirot at college, it’s how she is and that will put her on Jacob’s map and possibly alert his family at the same time.”

  “Yes, perhaps you’re right. We won’t mention it to her then.”

  “I think it’s for the best. That girl loves adventure.”

  “I wonder where she gets that from?” he said, mischief in his eyes.

  “Are you saying I love adventure?” she purred, straddling his lap.

  He ran his hands up her thighs, pushing up her skirt. “Of course you do my Amazon. It’s one reason why I love you so much.”

  She leapt off his knee and shrugged down her skirt. “Come on then, let’s get to it.”

  “I thought that’s what we were about to do?”

  “That will have to wait. We’ve got work to do.”

  “The Wrights aren’t going anywhere.”

  “The sooner we get to it the sooner we can come home and pick up where we left off. Besides, after everything that’s gone on lately I need to know that Leah’s safe at college.”

  “Okay,” he said, getting to his feet. “We’ll see what we can find out about the Wrights then we’ll come home and take a shower together before the kids get back.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” she winked.

  Jules returned to headquarters, buoyed up after beating the crap out of Richie Meadows. It was funny how after some serious physical pain he’d suddenly managed to find twenty grand hidden away in the attic of his manky home. She tossed the bundle of cash onto Jez’s desk with a triumphant smile.

  “That’s Richie all square with the house,” she announced.

  “Nice one babe,” said Mikey from behind his desk.

  “I hope you gave him a good hiding so he won’t think of trying to rip us off again?” said Jez.

  “Course I bloody did. I’m not a sodding amateur.”

  He held up his hands. “Sorry.”

  Her eyes flicked between the two of them when they glanced at each other. “What’s up? Have you spoken to Toni?”

  “I have,” replied Mikey. “She doesn’t want us going after Katia. She wants things to remain nice and peaceful.”

  “The stupid eyeball plucking bint. And you know what? When Katia and Hayden do inevitably attack us she’ll be the first to fucking whinge.”

  “Probably,” said Jez. “But don’t worry sis, we’ve got a plan.”

  “You’re going to send me and Mark down south anyway to take her out? I’ve got a clever new potion that would make it look like a brain haemorrhage.”

  “As nice as that sounds,” said Mikey. “No. We’ve managed to establish contact with a serious man down in south London, one capable of uniting the smaller gangs.”

  “I thought you’d already tried that route and they were too busy bickering to bother.”

  “Derek’s got the gift of the gab and he’s managed to arrange them all into one crew.”

  “You’re putting your faith in someone called Derek?” she said with a raised eyebrow.

  “It’s the only way. Someone else takes out Katia and her crew and we can stay up here, all innocent in the eyes of Toni. We don’t even need to get our hands dirty.”

  “Hmmm. Let’s not go celebrating yet,” said Jules, not liking this at all.

  Ryan and Rachel casually walked arm-in-arm along the street the Wrights lived on, as though they were just out for an innocent stroll. They didn’t need to be told which house it was. All of the council houses were neat and well-maintained, apart from one. But it wasn’t the junk in the garden or the fast-paced techno music blaring from one of the upstairs windows that told them this was the Wright residence. It was the two large males squaring up to each other at the gate that gave them all the indication they needed. From the photos Ashley had emailed them they knew one was Dominic Wright and the other was Darren Ashby, his brother-in-law. Judging by the way they were slurring and staggering about they were both drunk.

  “Come on then you fat fucking leech,” snarled Dominic. “Give it your best shot.”

  “Leech?” exclaimed Darren, tripping over his own feet. “I have a job. You work when you can be fucking arsed.”

  “I bring in more money than you, you fucking…shelf stacker.”

  Darren burped. “Is that meant to be an insult?”

  “Yeah it is because I’m sick of you hanging around eating my food and getting under my feet. Why don’t you fuck off? You’re not wanted.”

  “Oy you, I pay my way and my wage buys most of the food, so I’m bloody well entitled to eat it.”

  Ryan smiled at Rachel. “Do you get the impression they’ve had the same argument many times before?”

  “I do,” she replied. “I also get the feeling it’s all posturing and they’ve never actually hit each other.”

  “Bully boys who intimidate everyone with swearing and noise.”

  “They are a pair of big buggers.”

  “But flabby and unfit. They won’t pose much resistance.”

  Rachel’s eyebrows went up when the front door of the Wright residence was wrenched open and a woman strode out, looking furious. “Bloody hell, but she might.”

  The woman was almost as tall as the men, her jaw-length blond hair shaved up the left side. As she wore a t-shirt her arms were bared, revealing meaty forearms and huge biceps, composed not of fat but solid muscle. She looked like she worked out incessantly, shoulders popping out of the vest she wore.

  “Doesn’t mean she can fight,” said Ryan.

  They watched as the woman marched up to the two men, grabbed each by the scruff of the neck and slammed them into each other, literally banging their heads together. Dominic and Darren released a cry and slumped to the ground, dazed.

  “I’m sick of you two and your shit,” snarled Michelle Wright in a deep, husky voice. “We’ve just moved here and already you’ve alienated all the neighbours with your crap. Well no more. You carry on and I’ll cut off your bollocks and nail them to the door. Visitors can use them as really small doorknockers. Now get inside,” she added, kicking them both up the backside.

  The two men scrambled to their feet and staggered towards the front door, Darren pausing to throw up in the hedge on the way, making Michelle roll her eyes. Finally she noticed Ryan and Rachel watching. “What the fuck are you pair looking at?”

  “I was wondering if you could teach me how to do that to my husband and brother-in-law?” retorted Rachel, eyes dancing, ignoring Ryan’s outraged look.

  Michelle’s lips twitched with amusement. “Come back when you’ve built up some muscle sweetheart,” she replied before trundling back into the house and slamming the door shut. “And turn that bloody racket down,” they heard her yell. Instantly the techno music went silent.

  “Well, it seems there’s more to the Wrights than we initially thought,” said Ryan as they continued on their way, leaving the house behind.

  “You’re right. Michelle’s probably got sick of being shifted from pillar to post because of their bad behaviour. With that pair and seven kids to keep an eye on, no wonder she had to become a bodybuilder to cope.”

  “We need to see what else we can find out about them before ma
king a move,” said Ryan. “But first, let’s go home. You promised me a hot shower.”

  She grinned and took his arm, glancing back over her shoulder when she sensed someone watching them. Michelle Wright’s hatchet face peered down at them from an upstairs window.

  CHAPTER 4

  Jules gathered Josh and Zach to her and held onto them tight. “We’ll see you tomorrow. You be good boys for Aunty Cathy and Uncle Jez, won’t you?”

  They nodded, grinning up at her before running off to play with their cousins, Jack and Ruby.

  “They’ll be fine,” said Cathy as Jules anxiously watched them go.

  “Call if you need us,” she replied.

  “That won’t be necessary,” said Cathy. “Now go and enjoy your night away.”

  “We will,” smiled Mikey, slinging an arm around Jules’s shoulders. “Come on babe.”

  “Bye boys,” she called as they left.

  “Good luck mate,” Jez whispered to Mikey on their way to the door.

  Apart from Rachel, he was the only one Mikey had told about the real reason for this trip.

  Mikey nodded back, flashing him a nervous smile as they left.

  Jules kept looking back wistfully at the house, the boys happily waving them off from one of the windows.

  “They’ll be fine,” Mikey told her.

  “I feel so bad about leaving them behind.”

  “They’re not going to bother, they love spending time with their cousins.” Although Zach and Josh weren’t related to Jez’s family by blood, they still called them cousins because of the close relationship the two families shared.

  “I know, I’m being daft,” she said, dragging her gaze from the house and onto Mikey. She grinned and took his hand. “Let’s get to the cabin so we can strip off and have sex in every room.”

  “Great, now I’m going to break the speed limit to get there,” he said, starting the engine.

  “Penny for them?”

  Katia looked up from her desk and smiled at her husband, Hayden Brody, who sat on the other side of the desk gazing at her with a gentle smile. They’d been married almost three years and their relationship was still going strong, as was their business. The tax man thought they owned a chain of jewellery shops, restaurants and boutiques but in reality their business was drugs, violence and people trafficking. Ever since the Slatterys had been eradicated they’d taken over the south, strong-arming their way through Kent, Brighton and now south London. They were the strongest crew in that part of the country and the money was rolling in. Their marriage was totally solid too and their first child together was seven months old, little Krystina.

  Only one thing marred Katia’s sense of bliss and that was the fact that the Maguires and Laws were still breathing. She loathed that family after Ryan had killed her lover Alex, father of her twin boys and Mikey had tried to kill her and had stolen her babies. Thanks to Hayden she’d got her boys back, who were now thriving five year olds. But she wanted that entire family dead. She also wanted the very lucrative drug deal they had with Toni McVay in Glasgow.

  “I’m just thinking about how we can get rid of the Laws and Maguires once and for all,” she said.

  “You know we can’t, not without incurring Toni McVay’s wrath. She’d take an attack on them as an attack on herself.”

  “I know but we could get someone else to do it for us.”

  “There’s no one willing to go up against them, they’re far too strong, even stronger than us. The only family capable of wiping them out is the McVays and they make Toni far too much money for her to ever do that.”

  “It doesn’t always require strength. Sometimes just stealth is needed.”

  “You’ve already had an idea, haven’t you?” he smiled.

  “I have but I need some help to execute it, someone with access to the Laws and Maguires.”

  “No one’s stupid enough to betray them.”

  “There is one person. Amber Maguire.”

  “She’s no longer a Maguire. Mikey divorced her.”

  “She’s kept the name because it provides her with protection and prestige. Plus she’s the mother of Mikey’s children.”

  “From what I’ve heard she’s not much of a mother.”

  “That cow promised to get me inside information,” hissed Katia. “I even gave her some jewellery from the shop as a gesture of good faith because she kept eyeing it up like a stupid ginger magpie, then she does nothing.”

  “She’s a silly, spoilt brat. I reckon she wanted some payback after Mikey dumped her and took up with Jules.”

  “They are cousins, it is sick.”

  “So she charged down here hoping to make a deal with you then she got scared. Now she’s probably hoping we’ve forgotten all about her.”

  “Which we haven’t. I’ve got a surprise coming for that tart.”

  “Really?” he said, eyes twinkling with good humour. “What?”

  “She’s been spending a lot of time in Liverpool. She goes to the nightclubs there so she can get drunk and pick up men. She doesn’t do it in Manchester because all the men stay away from her because they don’t want to anger Mikey, the cowards. I don’t think he’d care anyway, he likes having sex with his cousin too much. Well I’ve got in contact with the family running everything in Liverpool.”

  “The Claytons?”

  “Yes, them. I spoke to their leader, Andrew. He is very keen to hurt the Laws and Maguires because he is greedy and wants what they have plus they wiped out the Jordans, who the Claytons were related to. All except for Robbie but Andrew doesn’t know I killed that treacherous little worm.” Robbie Jordan had once been Katia’s greatest protector, he’d helped her flee from Manchester after her lover Alex had been murdered. But he’d been overcome with jealously when she’d married Hayden and had betrayed her and grassed to the police, leading to Hayden being arrested. The memory of dragging a knife across his throat still gave her a thrill.

  “So you propose using the Claytons as attack dogs to take out the Laws and Maguires,” said Hayden. “Meaning Toni won’t want retribution against us for it and will do business with us when they’re gone.”

  “Almost correct my love. I propose we do the eradicating and set the Claytons up to take the fall.”

  “That’s a very risky game. We lose and we’ll have Manchester, Glasgow and Liverpool coming down on us. Together they’d wipe us out.”

  “But we are smarter than all of them and we can’t lose. It just requires some subtlety. Amber Maguire is central to our plan.”

  “How?”

  “She can get us the inside information we need, so we know the perfect time to strike.”

  “This is a very dangerous game Katia.”

  “But think of the rewards. Without Glasgow we can’t expand any further and we can’t do business with Glasgow as long as Mikey and Jez keep their deal with Toni. We don’t need the whole family gone, just them two and Jules.”

  “What about Ryan and Rachel?”

  “What about them?”

  “They won’t take that lying down.”

  She shrugged. “What can they do? They are nothing now.”

  “Don’t underestimate them. Plenty have and it’s always got them killed.”

  “They wouldn’t dare do anything to us, especially if we get our deal with Toni, not if they want their brats to stay safe and if they cause any problems we’ll kill them too.” She frowned at her husband. He’d once been good friends with Ryan Law and she knew he wasn’t comfortable with the prospect of hurting him. “What do you think about that?”

  “You know I’ll always stand by you, no matter what. You and our children come first with me, above everyone else.”

  She got up and sashayed around the desk, straddling him and wrapping her arms around his neck. “I know.”

  “And I hope you realise how dangerous your plan is. If it goes wrong we’ll be the ones who suffer.”

  “And if we don’t do anything Mikey and Jez will come
for us one day. I’m surprised they haven’t already and with Toni’s backing we wouldn’t stand a chance. This is about survival.”

  “You’re right of course.”

  “Aren’t I always?” she said, unfastening his trousers.

  “But we must ensure nothing can come back on us. If Toni suspects we’re responsible she’ll attack us,” he said pushing her skirt up to her waist.

  “But if we join with Liverpool we’ll be as strong as her, stronger even.”

  “True. Liverpool are powerful in their own right.”

  “See, we cannot fail.”

  “You get me so hot when you talk like this,” he groaned as she took him inside her.

  “So you agree with my plan?” she said, starting to move faster.

  “Absolutely,” he panted, unfastening her blouse.

  “Soon we and the McVays will run the entire country until the day we get strong enough to take out Toni too, then everything will belong to us,” she gasped. “That feels so good,” she moaned, tossing back her head as pleasure filled her up.

  “God you’re amazing. I never had such ambitions until I met you.” He gazed up at her adoringly as she writhed on top of him. “You made me realise the entire world is ours for the taking.”

  “And soon the Maguires and Laws will be dead. Every single last one of them. Oh yes,” she cried, the mere thought causing her to come hard.

  Riley returned home from another tough day at work. He’d been bodyguarding a famous singer who’d been the first celebrity who hadn’t annoyed the crap out of him. The lad was only twenty one and had wealth and fame that others could only dream of but he hadn’t let it change him. He was shy and polite and seemed a bit bewildered by it all. He’d even confessed that he just wanted to make his music in peace, that he hated the fame.

  Unfortunately he’d become the focus of an obsessed stalker who had decided to make their move today. Fortunately Riley had been there to block the knife she’d attempted to plant in the poor boy’s belly and she’d been carted off kicking and screaming by the police. The boy had actually wet himself, to his shame and had been escorted back to his apartment declaring he was throwing in the towel and going somewhere no one knew him to escape the hell his life had become. Riley wondered where that would be, he was known everywhere and he feared a little for his future.