Chapter 68
The incomers were all white men, three in their late thirties, the other two younger.
One lad with ginger hair and bad skin looked barely out of his teens.
Two of the older men were heavily built and tattooed, the third thin as a reed.
None were smiling and a reek of trouble hovered over them like a dark cloud.
Whatever this was, it was bad. Sabri had been in too many violent situations in her paramedic career not to recognise danger when it was staring her in the face.
‘Help you guys?’ Tug had stepped away from the table and was facing the newcomers head on.
The thin man, who seemed to be the boss, had moved furthest into the tent, the others flanking him like geese flying out for the winter. His eyes slid past Tug to fix on Robin.
‘Need a word with Mr Knight here,’ he said. ‘He made a little mistake last night.’
‘Who are these people?’ Cheryl whispered. ‘Do they work for Mr Quick too?’
As Robin got to his feet, Sabri realised one of the men was looking directly at her. As though he knew her.
‘Anything you want to mention, Robin?’ Tug spoke without turning his head.
‘These guys came to my house last night.’ Robin’s voice was shaky but he, too, faced the gang head on. ‘Threatened to hurt a friend of mine. They wanted the token. I gave them a leprechaun coin. Fool’s gold.’
The man who’d been eyeing Sabri sidestepped and whispered in his boss’s ear; Thin Man gave a long, slow smile. Sabri was suddenly very conscious of the token, still sewn inside her bra.
‘Mrs Carter,’ Thin Man said, as Sabri’s insides clenched.
She’d been recognised, hardly surprising given the number of unwilling TV appearances she’d made recently.
‘Nice to meet you,’ he went on, before looking steadily round the group, pointing to each with his forefinger and mouthing a count.
One, two … ‘Seven,’ he finished. ‘Isn’t this a bit of luck? ’
Moving slowly, Tara got to her feet. A second later, Holly followed her. Sabri did the same and felt stupidly exposed.
‘OK.’ Tug seemed to tighten his grip on the cane. ‘I’m going to cut this short. Yes, we were all sent tokens. And no, none of us brought them with us. We’re not fucking stupid.’
Well, Sabri was fucking stupid, clearly. Hers was here. And she wouldn’t be at all surprised if others had brought them too.
Thin Man stepped forward, until he and Tug were only a pace apart. Tug was easily the bigger man, but he was older and would be facing five of them.
‘Thing is,’ Thin Man said. ‘Mr Knight has proved himself very untrustworthy. So how can we trust the rest of you?’
‘Not sure you need to.’ Tug widened his stance and gripped the cane tighter before raising his voice. ‘Is anyone on the phone to the police?’
Movement rippled around the table. Why the hell had no one thought of that? Sabri bent quickly to pull her phone from her bag. When she straightened up again, both Tara and Holly were staring at their own phones. Sabri opened hers before remembering. No signal.
‘Very poor reception here,’ Thin Man said. ‘We checked.’
Sabri glanced a question over at Tara, who replied with a quick shake of her head.
‘OK.’ Thin Man was moving things along. ‘I sense you’re planning some heroics, big guy, so you try anything, my lads have instructions to hurt the ladies first.’ He nodded back towards the table. ‘I recommend you take a seat. All of you.’
Sabri dropped into her chair, followed by Robin and then Holly and Tara. Craig and Cheryl hadn’t moved.
‘Tug, sit down,’ Tara said.
‘We’re going to search you one by one,’ Thin Man said. ‘Bags on the table, please. And jackets off.’
‘No one’s searching me,’ Tug said.
‘Tug, for heaven’s sake!’ Tara hissed.
‘Guys, just something to consider.’
The new voice was Craig’s. His hand was on top of Cheryl’s on the table, as though offering comfort to the terrified woman.
‘Logan Quick can change his will any number of times in the few months he has left,’ Craig went on.
‘Now, for some reason, he seems to want the seven of us to get his money.’ He took a moment to gesture around the group.
‘So, if we all lose our tokens, what’s to stop him making a new will and sending out seven new ones?
Without letting the world know. So, when you guys try to claim, with obviously stolen goods, you could find yourselves in a whole lot of trouble for nothing. ’
Craig’s words had struck home; more than one of the heavies looked doubtful. After a few seconds, though, Thin Man recovered.
‘I’ll take my chances,’ he said. ‘Besides, Mr Knight here has really pissed me off.’
He gave a quick nod at the man on his left, who strode across to Tara and wrapped his right hand around her hair, pulling her head back.
Tara yelped, more in anger than pain, and Tug swung his cane, connecting with the side of Thin Man’s head.
As his victim staggered, Tug swung the cane again, this time into the back of the man’s knees.
He went down. Then, before the rest of the gang could move, Tug was on him. It had been the work of seconds.
‘Hold it, fellas.’ Tug was kneeling on Thin Man’s chest, a knife in his hand. His own, or one he’d spotted and grabbed from the other guy? Either way, he had it poised above Thin Man’s throat. ‘Step away from that lady, now.’
The man holding Tara’s hair took a step back, his hands in the air.
Tug was breathing heavily. ‘Right, my lot, I want you out of here. Back over the bridge, into your vehicles and get the hell out of Dodge. Tara, I’d appreciate you holding on, but if anyone comes at you but me, drive like you did on the way over.’
No one moved. Tug took a deep breath. He’d hurt himself. Sabri recognised that look of suppressed pain. ‘Robin, get them out of here.’
It was Craig, not Robin, who moved first, pulling Cheryl to her feet. ‘Go, Robin,’ he said. ‘I’ll bring up the rear.’
‘We can’t leave Tug,’ Tara argued.
‘I think your boyfriend can look after himself,’ Craig snapped back. ‘Robin, will you get a move on?’
Finally, Robin pulled himself together. He reached back for Sabri’s hand; she gave it and let him hurry her towards the tent entrance. Holly followed behind with Cheryl. Tara still hadn’t moved.
‘Tara, I’ve got this.’ Tug was sweating now. ‘Go.’
At the doorway, Sabri glanced back to see Craig pushing Tara ahead of him. Then they were outside and running towards the bridge as though their lives depended on it. Which, she realised, might actually be the case.