Betrayed (18 page)

‘Not the biggest. He’s one of these UVF arseholes. That’s what the word has always been, but you can never pin these bastards down to that. But he’s definitely a player, and a reasonably big one. Drives a big car and got a bit of money in property these days, like a lot of them.’

Rosie changed the subject. ‘Oh. Talking of UVF. That reminds me, Don. How are things going with the hit at the quarry? Those two dealers who got shot. Any news?’

‘Not a fucking sausage. Totally watertight – if you’ll pardon the pun.’ He chuckled at his wit. ‘I told you though. It’s some kind of Loyalist hit. That was the word at the time,
which means we’ll probably never find out who the fuck did it. But it’s got all the hallmarks of a paramilitary-style execution, especially with nobody saying a word.’

Rosie got up as Don finished his drink. They walked to the door and outside into the warm night.

‘Who needs Spain in this weather?’ he joked.

‘What the hell,’ Rosie smiled. ‘A few days away and some tapas.’

‘Yeah.’ Don gave her a long look. ‘Hooligan watch.’ He smiled sarcastically. ‘Hooligan watch, my arse.’ He made a gun gesture with his hand. ‘But hey, Rosie. Good luck with whatever you’re after. I hope you find it.’ He grinned. ‘But for fuck’s sake give us an early heads up if it’s anything decent that I should know about.’

Rosie blew him a kiss as she walked away.

Donna put steaming plates of roast beef and gravy on the table as Eddie yanked the cork out of the bottle and poured red wine into both their glasses.

‘I’m starving,’ he said, placing the bottle in the middle of the table as he sat down.

‘Long journey for you tomorrow.’ Donna didn’t look at him as she spooned potatoes and vegetables onto his plate, then hers. ‘Best to get some decent food. You might be eating all sorts of crap on the journey.’

She hoped she was playing the doting housewife well, having spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen cooking
Eddie’s favourite meal. But she couldn’t wait to see the back of him. Four whole days on her own, to relax around the house without waiting for him to come in and having to tiptoe around him in case he was in a foul mood. Four days when she could spend quality time with Andy. Just get through the night, she told herself, and blow a kiss as his arse is striding down the path. She smiled to herself as she watched him wolf down the food. Christ! He didn’t half eat like a pig.

‘So, any plans, darlin’, while I’m away?’ Eddie didn’t look up from his plate. ‘Just pampering yourself at the beautician’s?’

Donna flashed a smile.

‘You mean I’m not lovely enough?’ She swallowed a mouthful of wine. ‘No plans at all. Probably just relax around here. Bit of gardening. Boring really.’ A fleeting image of her and Andy rolling around the Campsie Hills flashed across her mind and she felt herself blush.

Eddie sliced a piece of beef and stabbed a potato, mopping up the gravy before stuffing it into his mouth. Then he put his knife and fork down and went into his back pocket. He took out an envelope and held it up, then slid it across the table towards her.

‘Wee surprise for you,’ he said, looking pleased with himself.

Donna picked up the envelope, a little bemused. Once or twice in the past he’d given her a voucher for one of the
big fashion stores before he went on a football trip with the Rangers fans. But that was years ago. She slit the envelope open and pulled the piece of white paper out, then turned it around. Her stomach dropped to the floor. It was a ticket for the match. Holy fucking Christ!

‘Are you kidding me?’ She tried to put on a face that was a mixture of shock and delight. ‘The Rangers match?’

‘Yep,’ Eddie beamed back at her, licking the gravy off his knife. ‘You’re coming with us.’

‘B-but … Eddie …’ Donna stammered, trying to stop her brain from going into total panic. She put the card down as she felt her hands tremble. ‘But I don’t go to football matches. I don’t even watch Rangers on the telly.’

‘You used to.’ He looked a little crestfallen.

‘Oh, I know. But that was twenty years ago, when we were taking the kids to Ibrox.’ She gulped down a mouthful of wine. She had to salvage this or she would end up with a sore face. ‘I mean. Of course, it’s fantastic. I’m so excited,’ she gushed. ‘But I haven’t even got a thing done. How am I going to be ready for the morning? It’s half eight already.’ She picked up her knife and fork and put it down again, her appetite suddenly gone.

‘Don’t be daft, woman. You’ve got more clothes up there than the House of Fraser. Just chuck a few things into a bag.’ He grinned. ‘You can hit the shops when you get there. It’ll be great. I’ve booked a fantastic room in the hotel for us, and I’ve got a wee bit of business to do, so you can relax and
get some sun by the pool. It’ll be magic. You’ll love it.’ He swigged his wine and raised a finger to her. ‘And if you’re really nice to me, I might even let you come with us the next time.’

Donna’s head swam, but she hoped her face was smiling. She was utterly steamrolled, her mind a blur of terrifying scenarios, wondering if he’d found out about her and Andy. He was such a scheming bastard, this was just the kind of elaborate gesture he would do to screw her up. She knew she couldn’t make an excuse not to go. She wasn’t due back to work until Thursday and he knew that. The ticket sat on the table staring up at her. Sevilla v Rangers. Row E. Seat number twenty fucking two.

Eddie cleared his plate and pushed it away from him.

‘So?’ He looked at her, grinning and rubbing his hands. ‘Am I not just the guy who’s full of surprises then? That’s what keeps our marriage together. The element of surprise. I’m your man for that, all right.’

Donna’s lip twitched and she covered it with her finger.

‘I love a surprise,’ she said through gritted teeth, ‘but I wish you’d told me yesterday.’ She stood up and took her plate to the sink, collecting his on the way. ‘Jesus! I’ll need to get moving and get my bag packed.’

Eddie stood up and drained his glass. He smiled triumphantly and gave her a playful slap on the backside as he walked out of the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, ‘Yes, piss off and get packed. And make sure you bring that lacy
underwear I bought you for your birthday. Drives me crazy, that.’

Donna scraped the remains of her food into the bin and stacked the plates in the dishwasher, biting back tears of shock and resentment. Snared like a rat in a trap.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Jimmy was already irritated at the job and it hadn’t even started. The last thing he needed the night before the trip to Spain was for Eddie to send him on a job. As he stuffed his balaclava into his pocket, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the hall mirror and reminded himself that this was who he was now. He was UVF. Eddie was his commanding officer. When Eddie says jump, you ask how high.

‘Where you going at this time of night?’ his father muttered, coming out of the kitchen carrying a mug of tea.

‘I won’t be long, Da. Just have to sort something out.’

Jimmy avoided his father’s eyes, knowing they’d see right through him. When he was packing his bag for the trip in the afternoon he’d told him he was staying in tonight as it was an early start in the morning. His father would know that if he was going out then it was UVF business, but he also knew not to ask. Jimmy’s phone buzzed with a text message and he pulled it out of his pocket as he opened
the front door. It was Mitch. He was already at the meeting place with Johnny ‘Psycho’ Bentley. Jimmy’s stomach did a little flip. Eddie hadn’t told him Psycho was on the job, but if he was involved, somebody was getting hurt big time.

‘Awright, Johnny man?’

Jimmy stooped to look inside the rolled down window of Mitch’s car and acknowledge Psycho in the passenger seat. It was some face. Like two faces had been moulded into one to create a huge moon topped off with a shaven head that had various battle-scar clefts gouged out. Probably from those who had tried and failed to knock the big beast unconscious.

Johnny raised his chin slightly but stared blankly out of the windscreen.

Mitch shot a ‘fuck me’ glance at Jimmy and said nothing. Johnny Bentley wasn’t called Psycho for nothing. He was also known as ‘the chiropractor’ on account of how expertly he could snap a neck – like a twig – killing his victim in an instant. He was as mad a bastard as you got, too much of a nutter for most ordinary punishment beatings because he didn’t know when to stop. And he was too unbalanced for a routine hit. Torture was Psycho’s stock in trade, and he relished every agonising moment of it. His capacity to inflict pain and find new ways to do it was legendary, and there were stories of him cutting ears off and ripping out eyes. One famous tale was where the interrogation victim was
found with his castrated scrotum stuffed into his mouth. Psycho was only used when someone had grassed and had to be made to own up, or in other cases where the subject would learn a particularly harsh lesson that he’d be able to see in his nightmares and his disfigurement for the rest of his life.

‘What’s the plan then, lads?’ Jimmy slid into the back seat.

Mitch looked at Psycho, then at Jimmy, then at his watch, and stroked his chin, seeming to enjoy being the senior man here.

‘When the guy comes out of the bakery, you jump him and get him into the boot of your car. We’re just here for back-up, in case he can handle himself. Then we take him to Johnny’s garage for a wee chat.’

‘Who is he?’ Jimmy asked.

‘You’ll find out soon enough, Jimmy. He’ll be coming off the back shift in the bakery in about five minutes. I was told that he usually comes out with a guy who’ll get on a bike, then our man will walk to the car park. He lives near here. I’ve got a snap of him.’

He took a photocopied picture out of the side pocket of his door and handed it over his shoulder. Jimmy looked at it in the semi-darkness. A slim thirty-something guy with fair curly hair. He looked like a church minister or a school teacher, Jimmy thought. He’d be easy to handle. He sat back in his seat and waited.

‘There’s some movement now,’ Mitch said after a few minutes. ‘A few guys coming out of the side door. Shift must be finished.’

They watched as the men went to their cars and drove off. Jimmy got out and walked beyond the door where the men had come out, so he could see when they left and where they were headed. He stood in the shadows, feeling the tension pick up in his guts. He looked back down to the car where Mitch and Psycho sat with their headlights off. Then the side door opened again and out came two men. He could only see them from behind as they walked away from the building, so he waited for the signal from Mitch who could see them face-on. Mitch’s window opened and Jimmy saw his hand stick out for a split second with the thumb up. He watched as one of the men went to the end of the building and fiddled with the lock on a bicycle before mounting it and riding off, waving to his friend, who started to walk towards the car park close to the leafy lane that led to a quiet street. Jimmy moved swiftly and silently behind him, pulling down his balaclava. He had to jump him before he got to his car. As he was approaching the lane Jimmy was right behind him, and suddenly, as though sensing his presence, the man turned around. His mouth opened slightly as though he was going to speak, but before he had the chance, Jimmy lashed out a lightning punch and he staggered backwards. The man looked surprised as he put his hand to his face and touched blood coming from his nose.
Jimmy was quick as a flash and rained in two more blows to the head and body, bringing him to his knees.

‘I’ve no money, pal,’ the man whimpered as Jimmy dragged him to his feet, his face now a bloody mess. ‘Take my wallet. Take anything I’ve got.’

‘Shut the fuck up. Just keep your mouth shut.’

The man was barely conscious and wobbling on his feet as Jimmy roughly dragged him towards his car. He pinged the boot open with his key and pulled him towards it.

‘Wh-what’s this all about? What do you want?’

‘Shut up and get in there.’ Jimmy pushed him so he was half in the boot.

‘But why? Wh-why? I haven’t done anything. What’s going on?’ the man croaked as Jimmy slapped his face, pushed him inside and slammed the boot shut.

He got into his car and saw Mitch come up alongside him and his window come down.

‘Well done, Jimmy boy. Fucker didn’t know what hit him. Just follow us.’

Jimmy could hear the muffled cries from the boot as he sped out of the car park behind Mitch’s car.

The steel shutter door of the garage slowly rose like a stage curtain. Jimmy followed Mitch’s car inside and watched as Psycho quickly jumped out and pushed the remote to bring the shutter back down. It rattled as it dropped and for a few seconds they stood in the pitch black until it closed
completely. Psycho switched on a dim light, and Jimmy glanced at Mitch as Psycho went across to a bench and carried over a car battery. He placed it on a workbench and plugged it into the wall, connecting wires to the points. They watched as he worked around like a well-organised surgeon, ready to perform an operation. He rolled up his sleeves. Then he lifted a heavy jemmy from a cupboard and stood looking at them before laying it on the bench. Something resembling a smile spread over his face, and it gave Jimmy the creeps. He exchanged a fleeting glance with Mitch.

‘Right. I’m ready. Get him out of the car.’ He jerked his head towards the boot.

Jimmy and Mitch moved towards the car as Psycho worked, laying out various tools and utensils and filling a bucket with water.

‘He’s a fucking nutjob,’ Jimmy whispered to Mitch as their backs were turned.

‘I know. I’ve never worked with him before, either. But I heard the stories. He’s fucking well named.’

‘So what’s this all about? Any idea? I only got a call from Eddie tonight. Do you know what this geezer is getting done over for?’

Mitch ushered Jimmy towards the boot and whispered, ‘Eddie didn’t tell me either. He just gave me the name of the guy and where I’d find him, and said Psycho would meet me. All he said was that this is personal. He told me
two days ago about the job. Didn’t say why, but I think I know what it is.’