Heavy Duty Trouble (The Brethren Trilogy) (28 page)

I
n this sort of
life and death
s
truggle
, c
rimes and
misdemeanours
, breaking the rules, just
ended up
as
being weapons
with which
to bash your
enemies
. In the end it wouldn’t be about who broke which rule, but about who won and who lost.

The l
osers
w
ould be held to account and made to pay
. The
winners could
and would
get away, literally, with murder.

Treason
doth
never prosper: what’
s the reason? Why, if it
 
prosper, none dare call it
 
treason.

‘OK, OK,’ I surrendered, ‘so back at Toad. In the absence of the money, you need to talk to him, I get that. But why do we need to actually go up there and see him? I mean can’t you just talk to him on the phone?’

Wibble shook his head. ‘That’s not the way it works, something like this, it needs to be face to face. If I tried to do it over the phone what message would it send? That I don’t trust him? That I’m too weak and scared to make the trip?’

I could see what he was getting at even if I still thought th
at going up there
was a crazy risk.

‘No, no way. We’ve got to go and that’s that,’ he concluded.

‘Even if that means putting your head in the lion’s mouth?’

‘
What’s the alternative
?’ he asked
.

‘
He’s right,
said Bung, ‘
there isn’t one.
’

I had one last go, ‘
But will he listen to us? He’s
Charlie’s uncl
e after all
.’

‘
But he’s a club member first
,’ Wibble re
p
lied, as sure of himself as ever.

Then he smiled
which wasn’t reassuring since it just reminded me of another of Bung’s
endless fund of
jokes,
I’m smilin
g
–
that alone should scare you
.

‘
He’ll listen.
I c
an’t tell you what he’ll do after that, but he will at least listen.
’

*

We took Bung’s Range Rover to the airport and flew up to Newcastle, using my fake ID and club funded card to hire
a
car up there. We’d booked into a golf club type hotel down
on the A1 just outside
Durham
. The traffic was backed up as usual
on the Newcastle bypass
and crawling past the Angel
so we had
plenty of time to talk as we dro
ve.

I quizzed Wibble and Bung about Charlie and Toad, partly so I could get a better fix on what we were getting ourselves into
,
and partly out of sheer curiosity.

‘Is
it
usual, a son like Charlie coming into the club I mean?’
I asked.

‘Why not?’
Wibble replied
, ‘There’s a few sets of brothers, like real relatives type brothers
,
in the club. I mean if you know someone who’s in and can see how great the club is, why wouldn’t you want to join?’

I suppose I could see that as a point of view.
For all the public image of the club, there was no denying the positives that attracted guys to join in the first place. The camaraderie, the fun, the feeling of being part of something special.

‘So would the rest of the guys really let Charlie make it as
Freemen
P? At his age apart from anything else, I mean he’s only just made it into the club
, what, less than a year ago now?
’

‘They could do
,’ he said
nonchalantly
, ‘
Hell
,
sometimes it’s the best way of getting a guy to shape up.’

‘
Oh come on, y
ou can’t be serious
!
’ I objected
, darting a glance at him
.

‘Of course I am,’ he retorted, ‘Being P’s about having to knuckle down and do a whole load of shit, take on real responsibility to the club, to your brothers, it’s a great lesson in
self-
discipline and how to lead, or be led. It can be the making of a guy.’

God
,
I thought
,
as I swung into the hotel’s drive and slowed for the
speed bumps
designed to reduce your chances of running over a
wrinkly
dressed in argyle
and towing a bag
.
What an
organization
.

*

As we sat in the
hotel
lounge that evening with pints in front of us
,
Wibble called Toad to arrange
the meet at the
clubhouse
.

Bung and I listened to Wibble’s side of the conversation. I saw his look darken at something Toad said a
t which
Wibble asked ‘When?’
There was some kind of an explanation given and Wibble said, ‘Well, OK then, I suppose it’s only to be expected.’

We heard him as he confirmed arrangements and the
n the call was over and he flic
ked the phone off and slipped it back into his pocket.

‘What’s
only to be expected
?’ I asked
, studying his expression
, ‘
It l
ooked as though there was something
there
you didn’t like the sound of?’

‘
Charlie
’s
on his way
here
as well
,’ he said simply, ‘he’s driving up today and planning to be in
to see Toad tomorrow just like us.’

‘
I see.
Well that’s no surprise really is it?’ I said.

‘No, o
f course
it
is
n’t
,
’ conceded Wibble,
‘
it’s the smart move
. I just hoped we might beat him to it that’s all.’

‘
What’s he doing here?
’ asked Bung.

‘
Same as us,
’ Wibble told him,
‘he’s come to pitch f
or Toad’s guys’ support.
’

‘
So what do we do?
’

Wibble just shrugged and took a swig out of his pint. ‘
What we came here to
do
, we
go and
make our case.
’

*

Wednesday
3r
d
March
2010

The steel door opened after what seemed like an age but in
reality was no more than forty-
five minutes or so, and Wibble stepped out of the clubhouse. To my intense relief, he looked fine. He turned and spoke to the massive figure of Toad
,
who
se
bull-
necked
bulk was blocking the doorway behind him. Then with an arm to arm clasp and biker
bear hug
, he was heading over to where we were parked as Toad disappeared back inside and the blank door clanged shut again behind him.

‘
Well,
’ I asked,
as Wibble got back into the car, ‘
how did it go
? W
hat d’you think?
’

Wibble looked back thoughtfully at the door of the clubhouse as I reversed the car to turn round on the
gravelled
parking area beyond the courtyard. It wasn’t until I nosed the car
on to
the track and
began to head
down across the field to the road that he spoke.

‘
I think we have to wait,
’ he said,
‘
Toad’s got to consult his guys, see what they want to do.
So it depends on which way they want to jump and how long it takes them.
’

‘Has
Charlie been in
yet
?
’

‘Not yet, Toad
says
he’s seeing him this evening. He thought it best if he met us separately. Less risk of trouble that way.’

Wibble did a good line in masterful understatement at times.

‘
Will they
go with you d’you think?’ I enquired as we rattled over the
cattle grid
,
down
across the
verge and
on to
the tarmac.

‘Difficult to say,’ he told me flatly, ‘
we want to change things a lot, take it back to what it used to be about
,
back in the day. That’s very different from what the
guy
s are
used to now,
and it
means
them
giv
ing
up a lot if they’re involved in the operation, so it’s a big ask.
’

And we both knew what Damage’s view on that sort of
situation
had been
.

‘But then Charlie’s going to change things as well, and in
a way Toad’s not going to like,
’ I suggested.

‘True, but at the moment that’s just our word against his isn’t it
,
as far as Toad’s concerned
?
And whatever Charlie’s planning, it sure as hell doesn’t involve asking some of Toad’s guys to give up a nice little earner.’

‘
Do we stick up here
,
or should we head back down south d’you reckon?
’
Bung asked
from the back seat
.

Wibble thought about it for a moment.

‘
I think we ought to stick around, at least for a day or two
,’
he eventually decided,
‘
Toad’s had a while to speak to his guys already, I don’t think they’ll take that long to make their minds up now.
’

In the
rear view
mirror I could see
Bung shrug
. ‘W
hatever you say mate.
’

Then his face brightened thinking about the
potential
compensating attractions that being up around Newcastle could offer. ‘
So in the meantime, what are we going to do for humour?
D’you fancy a night out on the Toon man?’

*

Despite Bung’s voluble and enthusiastic advocacy of the delights of Geordie Shore and the
Quayside
meat market
,
Wibble’s cooler head prevailed and so we restricted ourselves to another night in the hotel where Wibble and I drank and watched Bung’s attempts to chat up the barmaid.

‘You k
now what the funny thing i
s
about all this
?’
Wibble asked
.

‘No, what?’

‘
We keep talking about it as Damage’s
idea,
but
it was
n’t
actually Damage’s idea in the first place.’

‘You mean the route?’ I said assuming he was talking
guardedly
about Damage’s smuggling operation
,
I just nodded at that. I was the one who’d written the book on it after all.

‘
No, the whole Union Jack thing
,’ he said.

‘I hadn’t realized that was Damage’s,’ I said carefully, ‘I thought it was you and Stu
who
had dreamed that one up between you.’

‘What us? No way,’ he said
, sounding surprised as he
disclaim
ed the
credit, ‘It was always Damage’s
idea
, it was what he’d been working towards for a long time before he snuffed it.’

‘So you’re telling me Union Jack was
Damage’s plan even back then?’

I checked, quickly mentally
re-evaluating
all my theories about who’d killed Damage and why
,
and trying to figure out how this piece of information fitted into a scenario involving Bubba, the late and unlamented Evil
,
and persons known or unknown.