Page 7 of Jazz
But as I waited, and strained my ears, listening for where he was, I heard nothing. Not the tiniest thud of a boot. The scent that had hijacked my senses thinned, dissipating in the air around me, until it was only the whisper of a memory. Gone and fading. As had he. I breathed, my heart drumming hard in my chest of stretched ribs and pulled muscles. I was alone again. And now I was so tired, my eyelids felt like lead. I let them drop. Just for a minute. I’d hear them the minute anyone stepped into this place, whatever it was.
Chapter Six
“Tommo!” Dougal growled at a hoodie-wearing brother, watching on from inside the glass-fronted office. “You and Doug get Skinny to hospital. That’s gonna need looking at.”
“I’m going to fucking kill the bitch,” Skinny groaned as I handed over one side of the man the president and I carried, Doug the Smug stepping under the injured man’s arm to take over. “When we start having fun, I want first dibs, brother.”
Dougal patted him on the shoulder, saying nothing, and then tipped his head to the two Rats’ riders who carried the injured man out.
“Don’t come back here tonight,” I called after them, watching as they turned to look at me quizzically. “When Dougal sends that video, the Kings and what’s left of the coalition will be all over looking for her. I don’t want anyone followed back here. Stay away and only come when we tell you. They’ll never find this place if we’re careful.”
The men nodded and then carried off our groaning Vice President with them.
“How long do you reckon we have till they find her?” Dougal asked when the door clicked shut behind them.
“Good week or two. And then they’ll be closing in. As long as our lot aren’t a bunch of numpties and lead them to the door, we have time. We keeping her around that long?”
Dougal fiddled with his phone, cropping the video to take out the part that the woman turned feral again and booted Skinny. Although I could have watched that part all day.
“For as long as we need to make the point.”
“And what point is that?”
“That they’re finished. The Kings are over, Chase.”
“So, this isn’t about Mikey?”
“Well, aye. We’re avenging him too. But The Bloody Hand are going to finish them this time, and there’s not a fucking thing they can do about it.”
“The Hand couldn’t finish them the last time, so I heard.” I shrugged, watching darkness dance on my President’s face.
“They will this time. The coalition came together to defend the North against the Bloody Hand. Strength in numbers and all that shite. The alliance doesn’t have the numbers anymore.It’s already falling apart. It’s time for change, Chase. And bit by bit we are destroying the Kings. Her first,” he turned his head, gazing through the glass at the leather-clad woman hanging on the hook. “We destroy the ones they love. And little by little we tear the Kings apart. They’ll scatter, trying to protect the women. They’ve always been pussies like that. Even Ste. And we’ll come for her too. His ex-wife. Even if he’s snuffed it, we’ll destroy her in his memory. We’re just starting with this one.”
“What about the rest of the coalition, Dougal? They’ll not sit around and let us go after the families. There’s rules about that sort of thing, anyway.”
“There’s no rules in war, lad. Once we deal with the Kings, the coalition will fold, anyway. It can’t survive without them. The Northern Kingsarethe coalition. We all just came along for the ride, and some of those clubs just wanted the protection. Without the Kings, they’ll either fuck off or join the Hand.”
Dougal looked at his phone again, a smile starting across his face. The phone beeped. The message sent.
“Wish I was a fly on the wall of their church when they get this message.”
“They’re gonna come looking for us, Dougal.”
“Not yet. Only sent it to Grim.”
“What? Why not send it to the Kings?”
“Because I want them to be missing her. To be searching and looking. Not knowing. We left her bike at the side of the road. They’ll have found that by now. But no trace of her. They’ll expect something. They’ll know someone has taken her. They just won’t know who. And then they will. And then they’ll know we’ll rip her apart. We’ll start inside her first and send themvideos as everyone uses her. And then we’ll torture her. They’ll get every one of those videos. One by one. Every day. I might even let them find her. Let them think they can save her. But they won’t. I’ll make sure she dies right in front of them.”
I stood watching my president. His face was animated. Excited. Like the thought alone was turning him on. He watched through the windows, out into the bare warehouse, the only thing in there the woman hanging from the giant hook under the bright lights.
She’d quietened for now. Her head lolling slightly like she might be asleep, her weight slumped onto her shoulders, the slightest sag in her knees. Dougal watched too, steel-grey eyes alive.
“She’s pretty impressive though, don’t you think?” Dougal said eventually, his voice little louder than a hoarse whisper.
“What?”
“Impressive. A fighter.”