Authors: Jacqui Rose
Disobey (27 page)
‘Just stay back, ’cos make no mistake, pal, I’ll fire right in your fucking head.’ Alfie Jennings stood facing Mr Lee. Face to face. Gun to gun.
‘Likewise, Mr Jennings, but the question is who’ll go down first. I’ve always liked a gamble; my odds are on you … or Chloe here.’
Alfie began to back away, his gun aimed firmly on Mr Lee and another one of his men. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a turn in the passageway. If Chloe could make it, then she might have a chance.
Mr Lee laughed. ‘Where you going?… I told you there’s nowhere to go.’
Alfie didn’t say anything as he continued to back away. As they approached the corner, he shouted to Chloe. ‘Run Chloe, run!’
Chloe hesitated.
‘Run … I said run!’
Still Chloe didn’t move. Alfie boomed out his instructions again but this time he did something he thought he’d never do. He turned the gun on her.
With the magnum pointed at her he screamed at her. ‘Get out of here!… NOW!’
Chloe ran. Ran harder than she’d ever run in her life. Her chest began to hurt as her fear clutched her, and shortness of breath attacked her senses. She was running blind, unsure of where to go and then she heard it … the gunshot. ‘Uncle Alfie!… Uncle Alfie!’
Chloe whipped around towards the sound of the shot but as she did so she immediately banged into something solid.
Someone
solid.
‘Hello Chloe-Jane, we haven’t been introduced properly, but I’m Lin. Good to finally catch up with you.’ And with a swift expert blow, Lin knocked Chloe-Jane out cold.
Chloe-Jane lay in a room so dark she didn’t think it was possible. She couldn’t see anything, all she could feel was a throbbing pain in her face and terror in her heart.
She had no idea where she was. Or what had happened to Alfie. All she knew was she was tied up. Tied up, cold and terrified, and there was no one to help her and no one to hear her scream.
Although he didn’t know it, Alfie Jennings was in the room next to his niece. He was bound and gagged, unable to move or see. When he’d been in the passageway he hadn’t heard Lin sneak up behind him, he’d been too focused on Mr Lee. A big mistake and something he’d never normally have done if he’d been on the mark. He’d missed his chance, Chloe’s chance, though he hoped she’d been able to get away. He had to believe she had. Anything else would’ve been too unbearable to contemplate.
Lin had brought down a piece of wood or something equally solid on his back, knocking him off balance and sending him crashing into the wall. Alfie had dropped the gun, and it’d gone off as it’d hit the floor; using up his last bullet and using up his last chance. And now all there was left for him to do was wait. Wait for his fate.
Mr Lee stared at Lin, who held Franny’s gun in his hand. He threw it down to the side before picking up a can of Coke. ‘What are we going to do with them?’
Mr Lee shrugged. ‘We need to get rid of them as soon as possible. Without a trace.’
‘Of course.’
‘Don’t of course me. I thought that’s what you were going to do in the first place.’
‘It was,
it is.
I just wanted to take my time.’
Mr Lee slammed down his hand. ‘Last time, you taking your time nearly cost us, Lin.’
‘This time I’ll do it as it should be.’
Mr Lee nodded his head in approval. ‘It’s gone on too long, I don’t want you playing games. Like I told you before, I want you to get rid of Mr Jennings; permanently.’
‘And the girl?’
‘Especially the girl.’
Mr Lee turned and stared at Jodie who was crouched in the corner, shivering. Her face was swollen and bruised; her lip bloody. He crouched down to her. ‘Next time you bring trouble in here, I’ll finish you off in the same way your friend’s going to end up. Do you understand me?’
Jodie nodded, causing Mr Lee to squeeze her face harder.
‘I said, do you understand?’
‘Yes … Yes Mr Lee. I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know anything about it.’
Mr Lee let go of Jodie’s head, slamming it on the wall behind her. She yelped, though she didn’t cry. He sneered at her, sighing at the trouble caused. Although Jodie was stupid, he believed her. There was no way she could have kept up the lie. The lashes to her back would’ve sorted out the truth from the tale. And after thirty-odd painful strikes to her back, Jodie still insisted she hadn’t known there’d been a connection between Alfie and Chloe.
‘Lucky for you, Jodie that I’m willing to take your word for it, otherwise Lin here would’ve taught you one of
his
lessons.’
Jodie flashed a glance at Lin, who stared at her with hatred. ‘What’s … What’s going to happen to her?’
Mr Lee answered in a nasty voice. ‘To your friend, Jodie?’
‘Yes. What’s going to happen to Chloe?’
He grinned, slamming his foot into her. ‘Wait and see, Jodie, wait and see.’
The moment the doors opened, Franny ran in, barging past Lola who was being lined up and security checked. There wasn’t a moment to waste. Every second felt like an eternity and until she found Chloe, Franny was sure it would feel like that forever.
Sitting there, Franny held Lola’s hand, who thought it wise not to say anything. Franny was in a state. Neither one of them had slept, and had stayed up wondering and worrying about Chloe.
‘Lola, do you think he’ll know anything more?’
Lola bit her lip. She didn’t want to give any false hope, and Franny was clearly looking for anything to hang her hat on. ‘I dunno love, let’s see what he says and take it from there.’
Hysteria rocketed into Franny’s voice. ‘Take it from there? What’s that supposed to mean, Lo? How can we take it from there if he doesn’t know anything?’
Lola could see how much Franny was hurting and she could also see how powerless she felt. ‘Come on, love. If anyone knows what to do it’s Vaughnie. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?’
Franny breathed deeply. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’
Lola spoke carefully as she asked Franny the next question. ‘And what about Alfie? You ain’t mentioned Alfie at all. You must care what’s happened to him.’
Franny fell silent, she didn’t know what to think. She’d been pushing the thought of Alfie away. Pushing the idea that he was hurt and needing her help to the back of her mind, and when she did think of it, she’d boxed it under the heading of
, it’s the world he lives in
, but as she sat there now, in the light of everything that had happened she realised she did care.
Franny put her hands over her face. ‘Oh God, Lola. It’s a mess. Everything’s such a mess. What was I thinking?’
Lola pulled Franny towards her, she whispered in her ear. ‘I know pet, but we’ll sort it. Christ knows how, but we’ve managed to ride out hard times before ain’t we?’
‘And maybe our luck’s run out.’
‘And maybe it hasn’t. We’ll do all we can to find them and bring them back safely.’
Franny sat up. She stared at Lola, her heart heavy. ‘And how am I supposed to forgive Alfie? All this chaos is down to him and I feel partly responsible for it.’
‘I know love, but forgiving Alfie doesn’t mean you condone what he’s done, it doesn’t mean you have to fall back into his arms. It means you can free yourself. To forgive someone is the biggest gift you can give to yourself. Believe me, I know. Do you remember me ex-husband, Oscar Harding?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well then you’ll remember what a mean bastard he was, and that’s only the start of it. I hated him for so long but eventually I realised I was hurting meself. It was eating away at me but the moment I decided to forgive him, it freed me. Let me get on with my life.’
‘But I feel like I’d be giving in.’
Lola smiled. ‘No, love. Forgiveness is a strength, not a weakness.’
‘But don’t you think he deserves everything that’s happening to him?’
‘Oh come on love, neither of us think that; not really. You don’t really want anything bad to happen to him. Plus, it ain’t your place to decide what punishment is fitting.’
Franny looked puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, you’ve turned your back on Alfie and said you want nothing more to do with him. Okay, we get that, we understand that, but to leave him to the lions? To leave him for them triad lot to do what they like with him? No, no, Fran that’s wrong, and you know it is.’
Franny continued to cry. ‘I know it is, Lola. Oh Christ, what have I done?’
‘You’ve been human, like the rest of us.’
‘And now what?’
‘And now … And now, we’re going to ask Vaughnie here to help us … Hello love, how’s tricks?’ Lola stood up and gave Vaughn a huge hug. He nodded his head to Franny.
‘Hello ladies, good to see you. I seem to be more popular inside than out.’
Lola’s eyes lit up, delighted she could bring Vaughn some good news before they got down to business. ‘She’s awake. Casey’s woken up.’
Vaughn slumped in his chair from the sheer relief and, like Franny had done earlier, put his head in his hands. He could only just get out his words. ‘And … and is she going to be alright, Lo?’
‘Yes Vaughnie, she is. How about I shed a tear for both of us, ’cos I know this certainly ain’t the place to be welling up like a Milly Molly Mandy.’
Vaughn roared with laughter. That was exactly right. And exactly what he’d been thinking. The desire to cry at the news of Casey was overwhelming, but he’d had to fight against the urge to do it. Belmarsh prison was no place to be shedding tears, not unless you were looking for trouble, and that was certainly something he wasn’t seeking to do.
‘She’s good, she asked about you. Oh and that copper Spencer’s been asking questions. I told Casey to keep it shut for now, which she will.’
‘I don’t blame her if she won’t, I can’t see her forgiving me.’
Lola shook her head, taking a sip of the prison tea she’d purchased earlier and which had now gone cold. ‘What is it with you lot and forgiveness? One person thinks they can’t, another thinks they shouldn’t, another thinks they won’t. Bleedin’ roll on. Everyone needs their heads banging together. We forgive each other because we love each other, we care for each other and above all, because we’re family.’ Lola stopped and looked from Vaughn then to Franny, and grinned, adding, ‘Here endeth the lesson … Go on, carry on, I’ve said me piece.’
Franny turned to Vaughn. ‘Did Chloe say anything more?’
‘I already told you everything she said. You trying to find Alfie?’
‘No … Well, yeah, both of them.’
Vaughn looked surprised; concern in his voice as he said, ‘What do you mean, both of them?’
‘Chloe took it on herself to go and get Alfie.’
‘Fuck, why did she go and do that?’
‘Why do you think, Vaughn? She came to all of us and no one would help her; she loves Alfie.’
Vaughn’s puzzlement showed. ‘She don’t know him.’
‘Look, Alfie’s her family. He’s her uncle and that means something to her.’
‘Even after the way he treated her?’
Lola interjected. ‘Yes Vaughn, even after everything, and that’s the tragedy of it all. There’s all of us who are older, should be wiser and certainly should know better than to hold grudges against our own, and there’s Chloe-Jo, who’s had the roughest of starts and no one to give jack shit about her, still caring for others. Puts us to shame.’
The three of them sat silently for a moment, reflecting on their own behaviour and the enormity of the task ahead to find both Chloe and Alfie.
Vaughn looked at Lola; his words firm and resolute. ‘What can I do to help?’
‘You’ve got to be joking?’ Del Williams sat on the well-kept lawn of his villa, sipping sangria whilst listening to the person on the other end of the phone. The Marbella sun beat down on him but he felt a cold shiver run over him.
‘There’s no way I’m coming back … I already said I …’ The phone cut off and Del stared at the mobile; bemused, annoyed and torn. And being torn pissed him off no end.
‘What’s up, Dad?’ His daughter, Star, stared at him, finishing off her collage of shells.
‘Nothing.’
She looked at him, cocking her head to one side. ‘Well that ain’t true, is it? You always get that frown in the middle of your forehead when something’s up.’
He laughed. Star had always been straight. It was something he loved about her. She and his partner, Bunny, were his life. He was lucky, and he wanted it to stay that way, but the call … the call had made him think. He spoke affectionately.
‘Well that was Lola, remember her?’
‘The one who made them rotten scotch eggs?’
‘Yeah that’s the one. Well she wants me to go back to Soho and help her find someone who’s missing.’
Star’s eyes widened. ‘Who?’
‘A kid; well she’s seventeen, eighteen.’
‘And why has she asked you?’
Del shrugged. ‘I guess ’cos there’s nobody else.’
Star looked back down at her shelled masterpiece, distracted once more by her artwork but speaking with a tone of inevitability. ‘Well there ain’t nothing else for it then, is there?’
Del didn’t say anything as he watched Star. He smiled to himself. What was the saying?
Out of the mouths of bairns.
Star was right. There ain’t nothing else for it.
Frankie Taylor stared at his wife, Gypsy, who was meticulously folding his clothes in his Louis Vuitton suitcases. ‘Oh come on Gypsy, let me stay, how can you want me to run off back to Soho?’
Gypsy Taylor put her well-manicured hands on her hips. She sighed at her husband, loving and being exasperated by him all at the same time. ‘It ain’t a question of wanting you to go back, of course I’m going to miss me teddy bear. Who’s going to keep me warm in bed, hey?’
‘No one I bleedin’ hope, not unless he wants a bit of gangland punishment.’ They both laughed, before Frankie became serious once more. ‘Look Gypsy, it’s a big ask to want me to go over there and risk everything. I’ve got us to think about.’
Gypsy shook her head. ‘I spoke to Lola.’
Frankie’s voice was full of sarcasm. ‘Oh great.’
‘This Chloe-Jane, she ain’t got anybody else.’
‘Well that ain’t my problem.’