Chapter Twenty Five
“We’ve found Beanz,” Magnet’s voice crackled down the phone.
“Where did you find that elusive cunt?”
“The hospital.”
“What?”
“Looks like the Hand found him before we did,” Magnet continued.
“Fuck. How bad?”
“He’s pretty roughed up. Gave him more than we would have done had we found him.”
“Teaches the daft cunt a lesson. Still. Some other fucking club has put their hands on one of ours.”
“Aye mate. And so, it starts.”
Magnet and I both knew what this meant. No matter who had touched Beanz, there was no doubt in my mind this was the Hand, or someone connected to them. Their threat to Demon wasn’t just a threat. It was the communication of intentions. A promise of what was to come. And they’d started with Beanz. I pushed back through the bathroom door, back into Heidi’s suite of luxury.
She lay on the bed, propped up by the pillows, a sheet pulled across her body, hiding it from my view. I hadn’t had the chance to admire that body properly, always too eager to get inside her for that sweet stuff. But I would. I would strip her down, tie her up if I needed to, and just look.
“Doll,” I called, scooping my clothes off the floor and stepping into my leather trousers. “I need to go.”
“Uh-huh,” was all she answered, the look on her face now cold, watching me get dressed.
“Club business.”
“Is that what you call it?”
“That’s what it is, babe. Club business. I’ll call round tomorrow or something.”
“Don’t break your neck.”
“I don’t intend to, doll. But I’ll see you soon,” I said, stepping next to the bed, my groin just a few inches from where her head lay. I would see her soon. We weren’t finished here. No way at all, whatever this charade was now.
I bent down and kissed her forehead, half expecting her to turn away from me. But instead, I felt her eyes close, heard the little hitch of breath that she so desperately tried to hide, and I smiled.
“I want to know if you get anymore messages. I’ll get someone onto that number. Doesn’t look like anyone was here.”
“Just you,” her face had relaxed a little.
“Just me, doll.”
I wandered to the door of the bedroom. The door which opened out onto the rest of this lavish hotel suite. How the other half lived. Beat my little place above the takeaway. Bet it all costed Daddy a bomb. But probably a drop in the ocean to him.
“Fury,” she called out urgently, just as I reached out for the door handle. “That CCTV. In the churchyard. Please get rid of it. Whichever way you have to. I can’t have anyone seeing that.”
“Don’t worry, doll. No one gets to see us fuck. I’ll sort it.”
“Thank you,” she exhaled.
*****
It didn’t take me long to find the crop of motorbikes in the hospital carpark. The streetlight they’d parked under shone off the metal and picked up the detail of the embroidered roses on the leather seat of Magnet’s bike. Dumb fuck was so head over heels in love with his girl he’d let her redesign his ride. At least he sat on most of it. The boys were nowhere to be seen; the bikes left unattended. I parked the big truck next to them, sheltering from one side.
I’d barely stepped out of the vehicle when I heard footsteps coming up on me quick. Urgent steps, heavier as they got closer. I straightened, a fist balled, ready to defend, the hi-vis fabric waistcoat now catching my eye.
“Ya can’t park there, mate.”
I looked at him quizzically. It was a fucking parking space.
“I’m looking after those bikes.” he pointed to the four Harleys leaning to one side on their kickstands. “I don’t want anyone getting too close. Can’t have them scratched.”
“Mate, I’ll not even breathe near them the wrong way.”
The security guard looked me up and down, a hint of fear in his eyes. The lads had tasked him to look after those bikes, and that was what he was doing. And now the fella was working out whether to be more scared of them than me. On another night, I would have pushed him to see what decision he made. Tonight, I was tired. I was ready to crawl into my bed and not resurface until after lunch, when the takeaway below me started serving food again and the smells would wake my hungry belly.
I turned my back, flashing my colours.
“Oh,” he said, relief filling his voice. “Go on in, mate. I’ll look out for the truck, too.”
“Thanks, fella. Appreciate it.”
“Your brother is in A and E. Just through there,” he pointed eagerly to the double doors where the ‘Accident and Emergency’ sign hung over the top.
“Thanks mate.” I patted him on the shoulder and was about to stride off, but then stopped turning round. “Hey, fella,” I called out to the retreating security guard.
“Yes, boss?”
“You ride?” I gestured to the bikes.
“Aye mate. Got my own Harley. A Road King. Wanna see?” He reached into his jacket.
I shook my head, and disappointment filled his face, hitting me in the stomach.
“Not tonight. Need to go see this brother of ours. But we’re looking for new prospects. Get ya self down to the Dog on the Tyne sometime. Show me that bike of yours.”
The man’s face lit up, his lips twitching as he tried desperately to keep the smile from me. I walked off. Must have been feeling generous tonight. Heidi’s fucking pussy was screwing with my brain.
Accident and emergency was quiet. A few people sat in the waiting room, their heads bowed over the top of phones or asleep altogether. I walked to the reception desk, the young lass on her own behind the glass, looking up and staring at me.
“Where can I find Rob Taylor?” I asked, hesitating a little when I had to remember Beanz’s actual name.
“He’s in a treatment room at the moment.”
“Which one?”
“I can’t give you that information.”
“Ok.”
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and dialled Magnet.
“I’m here mate. Come let me through.”
If the receptionist heard, she didn’t stop me as I moved towards a set of double doors that Magnet’s head now popped out of.
I followed down the corridor, my boots sticking on the hospital issue lino until we came to a room right at the far corner, away from nearly everyone else. Beanz lay on the bed, his face purple and swollen, his baked bean shaped head now more like an engorged watermelon.
“Shit, Beanz, you look rough.” I greeted him, glancing at the faces of the twins and Reap, who were leaning against the wall on the far side of the room. “We’ve been looking for you. Bet you wish we’d found you before they did, huh?”
Beanz didn’t answer, the eye that wasn’t totally swollen shut staring straight ahead.
“Where d’you find him?” I asked Magnet.
“One of the nurses rang the Twins,” he cocked his head in their direction. “Obviously one of Chaos and Carnage’s shares. Apparently, he was dumped out the back of a van at the doors.”
I turned back to the pulp of a man in the hospital bed. “You wanna start talking Beanz, lad? Or I’ll dump you somewhere else, but there’ll be no nice little nurses to look after you.”
The man swallowed hard, knowing he had no choice.
“I…I went away for a bit.”
“Aye, we know that. Why?”
“The cut. I lost another cut.”
“We know. How?”
“I dunno. It just vanished.”
“So, you went into hiding over a cut?” I shook my head. “Nah. It’s something else. Sure, we would have given you another kicking. But it wouldn’t have been the first you’d got off the club and it sure won’t be the last. You’re a dumb fuck. You’ll always be getting into shit. Why d’you run?”
The eye that was just a slit dropped to the bed.
“Tori.”
I laughed. Loud and hard. The rest of the room glanced at each other.
“You’ve been fucking your President’s ol’ lady behind his dying back, huh?”
Beanz said nothing. The room was deathly quiet. This was some serious shit. And not something we could deal with here. That was for church.
“Who beat you up, Beanz? And how’d they find you?”
“I went to my cousin’s place.”
“What? Your cousin in the Vandals?”
Beanz nodded, and then winced. Another thing to deal with at church. But he continued, keeping his stare down to his lap where the arm that wasn’t broken lay on his thigh.
“I’d been hiding out in his summer house. Using his car. They followed me. The Aces. Five on bikes and a couple in a van. I’d just popped out for some cans. They rode me off the road and into a layby. They thought I was one of the Vandals. But I told them I was a King. And that’s when they just started kicking and hitting me with a crowbar. Said something about they’ll take my life in payment for a life of one of theirs.”
I glanced around again at the questions on the faces of the men in the room.
“They’ll have been talking about Emmie’s ex. He’s dead.”
The Twins, Reap and Magnet all nodded, knowing what I was telling them.
“But they must have originally been after the Valhalla’s Vikings though, Fury. Just got one of us out of luck,” Magnet said.
“Luck?” Beanz croaked, coughing and groaning as the movement over broken ribs hurt.
“Aye. And we all know the Aces are aligned with the Hand. They’re their errand boys now,” I answered Magnet, ignoring Beanz.
“Reckon we’ll need to tip off Tomahawk?” Reap asked.
“Aye, we do. And ask why they were hiding one of our brothers when we were looking for him.”
The room went quiet, and if Beanz’ face could have turned pale under all that bruising, I was sure it would have done. The door opened, a nurse and a porter stepping in. The woman looked around the room sheepishly, her eyes settling on the two identical men at the back.
“We’ve come to take Mr Taylor to the ward now,” she spoke to Chaos and Carnage.
“Aye. Come on, lads,” I answered for all of us. “Beanz really needs some beauty sleep. Chaos. Carnage. You can help me with a job.”
*****
“It’s fucking 4 o’clock in the morning. Why are we creeping round a fucking church yard?” One of the blond-haired, blue eyed identical twins asked.
“We’re not creeping. You’re going to bang on the side door and beg to confess.”
“I’ve got no sins to confess,” he complained. “Chaos has loads to confess. He can do it.”
I looked across to the carbon copy brother.
“I don’t fucking care which one of you confesses. Just fucking confess.”
Chaos crossed his arms over his chest, sulking. “And what are you two doing if I’m spending quality time with the fucking priest?”
“Me and Caleb are going to break into the office and wipe all of today’s CCTV.”
“And why are we going to wipe the CCTV?” Carnage asked, crossing his hands and mimicking his twin brother’s stance.
“Because I fucking said so.”
I scowled at the pair of them and then nudged Cade towards the side door of the church.
“Bang on the fucker,” I hissed when he just stood looking at it.
We darted round the other side, out of sight, straining our ears for the hint of voices. Chaos banged again, the thump of his fist echoing in the early morning silence, and then we heard the mumble of voices.
“You sure Father Leverett will let him in?” the blond man next to me asked.
“Course he will. Chance to be alone with one of you. You can’t tell me you’ve never noticed the way he looks at the pair of you?” I added when Caleb looked at me in surprise. I chuckled. “I bet he just wishes you both wanted to confess tonight, but he’ll not hesitate to let Cade in.”
We waited a minute or two longer and then started on the back door with the crowbar I’d taken from the truck.
“Why couldn’t we just break in like normal people?”
“Because we need Leverett distracted. He’s the lightest sleeper I know. There’s no way we could get in without waking him. Unless he’s already awake and focussing on something else. Hope Chaos spews all your secrets. That’ll buy us enough time to get into the office and pull off the CCTV.
The back of the church was dark, and we trod carefully, moving down the hallway, making sure not to knock over any of the countless fucking bookcases and statues that created something just short of booby-traps. I counted the doors, hoping my memory served me well, as I hadn’t paid as much attention when I’d installed these cameras some years ago, not thinking I’d need to revisit the place just to steal the video footage. But the third doorway was the right one, and we pushed through, closing it gently behind us and switching on the light.
The office was full of screens, every camera on the property projecting an image. I scanned the matrix of grainy grey images.
“Look,” Carnage pointed to a square in the top corner. “The fucker even has them on the confession boxes. You know, I reckon he has got a thing for Chaos. Can you see where his hands are?”
“Not interested, Caleb.”
Camera four. That was the one that looked out onto the carpark. I wound the footage back to the funeral procession leaving, watching Heidi teeter over the uneven boards that were laid down over the mud and the sodden grass. A pickup truck pulled into the carpark, and I moved closer to the screen, staring at the men in the front. Three of them, staring at Heidi. She stopped, her head snapping up, and I could see her falter. And then the truck moved, and my bike came into view.
“Who were they?” Carnage asked, peering over my shoulder.
“Dunno. Heidi said they arrived as soon as everyone left. But then they left again when I came back. I thought they were looking for her. But now I’m not so sure.”
Carnage moved the mouse, fast forwarding the video, and now suddenly we were there. Heidi bent over the bike, me fucking her from behind. For a moment I watched, heat flooding my veins.
“So, now I know why you want the CCTV. For the wank bank, huh?”
Caleb whistled as I scrabbled to rewind the footage, plugging in the USB stick and downloading the full day’s recordings. Then I moved the cursor over the screen, deleting the entire day’s footage.
“Time to go.” I instructed, tucking the memory stick into my inside pocket.