Crow Bait (24 page)

Luca hushed him with one hand and then gestured for him to come around the counter. Danny smiled and followed Luca into the small kitchen. Luca told Enrico to step outside for a cigarette then leaned against the sink and said, ‘So where’d you hide out?’

‘Oh, here and there, hither and yon,’ Danny said, casting his eyes around the cramped room. ‘Joe wasn’t the only one with friends, but then you know that, eh Luca? You used some of them to set up your supply routes. Joe didn’t know that, did he? What you were up to?’

Luca ignored the question. He did not wish to discuss Joe with this man. ‘What do you want, Danny?’

‘I want in, Luca. What is it you guys say? I want a piece of the action. I want to wet my beak.’

‘I’m just a café owner…’

Irritation warmed up those cold blue eyes then. ‘Don’t play games, Luca.’

‘I don’t play games, Danny. That’s your thing.’

McCall leaned forward. ‘I know all about the drugs, about the wee cartel you set up back in 1980. I know Joe wanted nothing to do with it. And I know you killed him.’

Luca was about to deny the charge but thought better of it. He sighed. ‘What do you bring to the table, Danny? Apart from being a wanted man who could bring unnecessary heat, of course.’

Danny smiled again, the ice melting the earlier fire. ‘You’re going to need me, Luca, old buddy.’

‘Danny, I need you like I need a kidney stone.’

‘You’re afraid of what my boy might do when he works out who actually did for the old man. He’s having a wee chat to the police right now, did you know that?’

Luca felt the air around him cool and he swallowed hard. ‘I don’t believe you. Davie’s no fink.’

‘Maybe not. But you’ll never be certain, will you? You’ll never know what he’ll do when it comes to getting Joe’s killer. And you know that, sooner or later, he’s coming for you. Even if he’s not singing his wee heart out now, he’ll put all the pieces together sometime and then he’ll come looking for you. I can stop that.’

‘How?’

‘That’s my business. Just believe that I can do it. I’ve changed since I’ve been away, Luca. Cleaned up my act, so to speak. Haven’t had a drink in eleven years. If I went to any of those meetings I’d be getting a fucking medal. Used to be I was a head-on kinda guy, remember? Joe would point me like a gun and I’d fire away. Different now. Nobody points me. Now I do it all for myself. And they don’t see it coming.’

Luca shook his head. ‘You’re still the same guy, Danny. Deep down, you’re still the same. Why should I trust you?’

Danny smiled. ‘Because after tonight I’ll be all you’ve got…’

*  *  *

Rab and Bobby waited while the four wheel drive came to a halt a few feet away from them and Liam climbed out, followed by a squat man with a circle of dark hair on his head and two others who wouldn’t look out of place on a wanted poster. The four of them strung out in a line, staring straight at him and Rab. Bobby began to feel even more uneasy about this meeting and wished he had been able to convince Rab to bring some boys along. If Davie had been here he’d’ve felt a bit better. He didn’t like this one bit.

Rab said quietly, ‘I don’t see any kind of bag. You see any kind of bag?’ Bobby shook his head, he didn’t see any kind of bag. Rab’s anger was beginning to rise. ‘Then where the fuck’s my money?’

‘Maybe he’s gonnae pay you by cheque,’ Bobby said and received a quick glare from Rab in return.

Rab didn’t bother with any pleasantries as Liam and his crew drew close. He seldom did. ‘Hope you’ve got my fuckin wedge, Mulvey. If you’ve brought me all the way down here to sheep shaggin country for nothing I’ll be hyper unchuffed.’

Mulvey simply sneered then waved a hand at the balding guy on his left and said, ‘Show him, Stringer.’

Stringer nodded and reached behind him to produce an automatic pistol from his waistband. The two other guys to the right of Mulvey brandished similar weapons. And they were all pointed at Rab and Bobby. Bobby felt his mouth run dry and his brain told him to run, to run fast and to run far, but his frozen legs weren’t listening. All he could see were those three big black holes pointed straight at him.

‘See, here’s my notion,’ said Mulvey, as if he was talking about what he was planning to have for supper. ‘You’ve got the market pretty much tied up, between you and that wee Tally. No much room for a bright young entrepreneur like me to make my way. Now, old Luca, he’s still got control of the sources and the routes and all that, but you? You’re only the muscle. So, the way I see it, if we get rid of you, Luca’ll need knew muscle, know what I’m saying?’

Rab said, ‘Luca won’t go for it. He’ll never trust you, son.’ Bobby was amazed at how calm Rab was. How the fuck could he be so calm in the face of three bloody great cannons?

‘Got a guy talking to him right now,’ said Mulvey, then he treated himself to a small smile. ‘Making him an offer he can’t refuse.’

Rab nodded. ‘And who would that be?’

Mulvey’s smile became sly. ‘You’ll never guess.’

Bobby glanced at Rab and saw he was smiling. Smiling now? Fuck’s sake…

‘Okay, so the plan is you do us in, right?’

‘Right.’

‘And then Luca takes you on instead of me? And you use these guys?’

‘Something like that.’

‘And you can trust these boys?’

Mulvey’s smile broadened. ‘They’re my boys.’

Rab’s own grin widened. ‘You sure about that, son?’

Something in Rab’s voice made Mulvey’s smile falter and he glanced first to his right, to the two men he did not really know, and saw they had lowered their weapons. He then turned to his left to find Stringer was now facing him, the gun aimed straight at his head.

‘Stringer, what the fuck?!’ He said.

Rab said, ‘See, Liam old son, I’ve been one step ahead of you all the time. I mean, I didn’t get to where I am by being a stupid fuckwit of a prick, did I?’

Bobby felt his stomach muscles loosen. Rab had told him this bloke Stringer was on side but when he saw those shooters he still felt as if he’d crap it solid in his pants.

‘Stringer?’ Mulvey said. He sounded hurt. He sounded betrayed. Bobby understood how he felt, but didn’t give a damn.

‘You’ve got ambition, so does he,’ said Rab. ‘I got word about your plans for this meeting. I just rearranged some of the pieces.’ He looked at the two men to Mulvey’s left. ‘Take this bastard away and put one in his eye.’

Mulvey looked scared then, and with good reason. As the man closest to him grabbed his arm and began to pull him away, he shouted, ‘You can’t do this, Rab!’

‘Fuck I can’t. You were gonnae do it to us.’

‘You don’t know who it is you’re dealing with here. It’s no just me…’

‘I don’t care who this mystery man is, I’ll put one in his eye, too, when I get round to it.’ Rab grew impatient. ‘Get him out of my sight, make sure he’s no found. Must be places up here that people don’t go.’

The man nodded and pushed Mulvey away. Liam appeared to stumble and in the gathering darkness no-one saw his hand sneak under his jacket. The first Bobby knew that he was armed was when he heard the report of the gun and the man nearest Mulvey pitched to the side, blood erupting from his shoulder.

‘Fuck!’ Rab yelled as he threw himself behind the Range Rover. ‘Did no-one check he wasn’t tooled up?’

Bobby had thrown himself to the ground as Mulvey rounded on Stringer, loosing off a shot, but Stringer had already jerked to the side and was rolling across the grass towards the trees. The third guy was so stunned by the sudden violence that he couldn’t move and Mulvey put two rounds into him before he knew it.

Bobby knew he was a sitting duck out here in the open so he began to rise, planning to make a break for the comparative safety of the Range Rover. He heard Mulvey scream – ‘Fuck you, McClymont!’ – and heard another shot. At first he thought someone had punched him from behind, that’s what it felt like, but then something seared its way though his body. He wanted to keep moving but his legs wouldn’t respond, they just wouldn’t play ball tonight, and he tumbled forward, his face hitting the dirt.

Rab saw Bobby go down and he wanted to get to him but another shot banged into the Range Rover near his head and he was forced to duck back down again. Then he heard another two shots, a different gun, and he peered out again to see Stringer up on one knee, his automatic held in both hands, blasting away at Mulvey as he legged it into the woods. Rab looked again at his old friend, knowing he should stop and tend to him, but was determined that Mulvey would not get away. He moved quickly across the clearing to one of the guns dropped by Stringer’s mate.

‘Look after Bobby,’ Rab shouted to Stringer as he scooped up the gun without stopping.

27

RAB FOLLOWED
A
fire break into the depths of the pine plantation, stepping carefully on the lumpy ground. The conifers crowded on either side, their intertwined branches preventing any kind of access, even for a short-arse like Mulvey, so Rab knew he must have gone down this way. The earth was springy and wet and his boots squelched as he walked. He stopped and listened for the sound of his quarry thrashing about, but all he heard was the breeze singing softly through the pine needles. He tightened his grip on the butt of the automatic and moved slowly forward again, ignoring the damp sensation seeping though his shoe leather, his senses on the alert for any break in the natural rhythm of the woods. Not that he knew much about the woods. Who was he, Davy Crockett? He was a Glasgow boy and he hated being out of his comfort zone. But that bastard Mulvey was somewhere up ahead and he’d planned to put Rab down. He’d actually managed to put one in Bobby and for that alone he’d pay.

Rab stopped again, feeling at a disadvantage. The chances were Mulvey knew these bloody woods intimately – Bobby had said he was a shooter – so he was probably up here every chance he got, blasting away at whatever moved. Rab began to regret taking off alone after him, but seeing Bobby lying there with the blood gushing from his back had pissed him off. He paused again and listened but heard nothing. Fuck it, he thought, best go back, get the bastard later. What the fuck was he doing out here like Hawkeye, tracking a man down? He didn’t know how to spot a broken blade of grass or tell if a fuckin stone had been turned over. He sighed, not liking the idea of letting Mulvey away, but turned back.

The crack of the gun to his left was like a thunderclap and Rab swore he heard the bullet rustle through the branches above his head. He threw himself face down and rolled, his gun hand coming up and blasting off three shots in quick succession in the direction of the sound and the blink of muzzle flashes. It was more instinctive than calculated but he got lucky, for he heard a grunt and the rustle of a body crashing through pine needles. He waited for a few seconds, gun still levelled, but he heard nothing more. Cautiously he rose to his feet and edged forward.

Liam Mulvey was on his side, reaching with a trembling hand towards his gun, which lay a few feet away. Rab kicked at the hand and retrieved the weapon himself, the automatic in his hand aimed right at Mulvey’s face. Mulvey groaned as he rolled over on his back and Rab saw a hole seeping red on his shoulder. ‘You are one stupid bastard, you know that, Mulvey?’

Mulvey was obviously in agony, but he managed to give Rab a sneer. ‘Never mind the talk, Rab – just get on with it.’

Rab was impressed and nodded in agreement as he raised the gun to draw a bead on Mulvey’s face.

‘But see if you do, you’ll never know what I know,’ said Mulvey, his teeth gritted against the pain. ‘You’re gonnae want to know who’s really behind all this.’

Rab lowered the gun. ‘Okay, who?’

Mulvey shook his head, the movement making him wince. ‘Need your word you’ll no do me.’

‘What makes you think I’ll keep my word?’

‘You always do what you say, Rab. It’s one of your strengths, isn’t it? And one of your weaknesses. I mean, you didnae need to come down here tonight, did you? Obviously I was set up – fuck knows how you got to Stringer – but still, coulda gone pear-shaped dead easy. But you came…’ Mulvey broke off as a paroxysm of pain punched through him. When it passed he visibly relaxed, but there was still a tension around his eyes as he looked again at Rab. ‘So promise me you’ll no put a bullet in me and I’ll tell you everything you need to know. You’re gonnae want to hear this, believe me. You and your mate Davie.’

Rab’s curiosity was piqued with the mention of Davie. ‘Out with it, then.’

‘Have I got your word?’

‘Aye!’ Rab snapped. ‘Now spit it out before I change my mind.’

And so, Mulvey began to talk.

*  *  *

Danny McCall was sitting with Luca in the café when the phone call came. Luca was still uncomfortable, but he sensed no personal threat from the man and so they chatted amiably enough. What the hell, they’d been friends once. The Saturday night rush had cleared considerably and there was only one young couple in another booth, sharing a plate of chips between them, so Luca had told Enrico to go home early.

Luca excused himself when the phone behind the counter rang. He was relieved when he heard Rab’s voice and his eyes darted towards Danny McCall, who was watching him carefully. Luca kept a smile on his face and his voice low. ‘Rab, Jesus! I’ve been shittin bricks here! You know who’s sittin right here in the café?’