Authors: Daniel Birch
‘
Hello and good evening, madam. Please may I take this opportunity on behalf of myself and all the staff to welcome you to Connelly’s.’
He was so charming. He held out a bottle of rosé wine and waited for my approval.
‘
If you would please accept our finest bottle of Pinot Noir Rosé, a rare table wine sold exclusively by Connelly’s, which was produced in the mountains of the Santa Clara Valley, compliments of the house.’
Both I and Tommy nodded as if we knew where that posh place was. Santa Clara? The only Santa me and Tommy knew wore a red suit and came down chimneys.
It seemed so much to take in. It was like I was royalty. I kept thinking what in God’s name had Tommy done to get all this and more the point what was he up to?’
Sitting down at our table we laughed together. It seemed like it was the only moment we had had together since we had got in, what with all the fuss over us and all.
Tommy asked if I was happy. I said ‘Of course I am, dummy, who wouldn’t be?’
After chatting and feeling a little more relaxed, we sat and ordered our food. The service was fantastic.
Being the bloody greediest bugger on the planet, Tommy just had to have the House Mixed Grill. ‘Babe, it’s the biggest thing you can get,’ was his reason. I always tried to get him to try different dishes when we went out to eat. He would say ‘Hmm, yeah, that sounds nice, honey’, and then, a minute later, guaranteed, he would say ‘You know what? That all sounds nice, but I reckon I’m gonna go for the mixed grill’.
Still, it was just one of the numbers of things I loved about him. After all, a girl doesn’t want a man who eats less than her.
We sat there at our table, full up and drinking our wine. It was so romantic.
Right then the host came onto the stage right in front of us and told us all to get ready for the night’s entertainment.
One of the reasons that Connelly’s was sold out that night was because of the act that was performing. Now I had no idea, but it was the Two Steps act from London. They did musical shows and tonight’s was a mix of Footloose, Grease and Dirty Dancing! I couldn’t believe it. I was in heaven. Wow!
It was a crazy night. The show was amazing and I felt dizzy from singing and trying to dance a little bit. I usually would have been dancing all night but the bump restricted my flow and I got tired quicker.
We stayed talking and laughing as if we had just met. We reminisced about the years gone by. After all, I had met Tommy in my late teens so we had been together for a good ten years.
It seemed we were in our own little world. Neither me nor Tommy realised that most of the guests had left. The stage was empty and the staff had begun to tidy up and get ready for closing. We both thanked Mr Swayby before we left. I was tired and asked Tommy if he would call a cab but he insisted we took a little walk first.
It was nice actually, walking down the street. There was no wind, which wasn’t bad for November, and it was quite mild outside. We walked and Tommy said we could get a taxi from the taxi place which was just around the corner.
Tommy stopped.
‘
You remember when I first saw you in here?’ Tommy said as he pointed with his head. We were outside of the LA’s nightclub. It was closed now but it was still the place where we had met, bless him.
After shuffling around in his pocket, Tommy brought out a little black box and got down on one knee. He opened the box which revealed a beautiful purple Tanzanite stone. He knew purple was my favourite colour. The ring was amazing, but what was more amazing was the night, it really had been the perfect night.
So this is what he was up to. I couldn’t believe it. Tommy had always been opposed to getting married.
Looking up with puppy dog eyes he just said it in his typical no nonsense way ‘Will you be daft and marry me, Emma?’
I got down on one knee and joined him, crouched, and we kissed.
‘
You never even had to ask, honey. Course I will. It’s always been you, always has, always will be.’
We sat there in the middle of the street and kissed, and kissed, and kissed, and I never wanted to stop.
Chapter Thirty Two
I still felt sorry for Malcolm and Pete. They kept saying ‘Sorry, Joey’, and poor Malcolm had begun to cry. Malcolm’s tears amused the man who had the gun on them and he laughed before telling them to shut up and be quiet.
First of all the two men who had hold of me tied my wrists together and stretched my arms out over my head. I have to admit I was terrified. I think the worst thing was because it didn’t look like they were going to beat me beat up, which would have scared me enough and been more than ample.
No, these masked men were planning something a little more sinister.
Having my arms stretched out above my head they laid me on the concrete. One of the men went to the car and brought out a nail gun.
My heart beat like mad in fear.
To my relief, the nail gun was only shot into the concrete above my head. The men then connected my tied hands to the nail which was dug into the floor, so I was suspended whilst being laid and stretched out. They did the same with my feet, tying them tight, and connected them to a nail in the floor.
So there I was, stretched out. I couldn’t move. I tried to wriggle left and right and kept asking them why they were doing this and also what I was supposed to have done. There was no answer.
The man with the gun moved Malcolm and Pete further away from me (about 20 foot away) and asked the two men ‘is this safe enough away?’, to which the men said it was.
Panic was truly getting a grip of me at that time. One of the men went into a white carrier bag and pulled out some pink rubber gloves and a penknife. My eyes followed his every move as my heart pounded in fear for what they were going to do.
The man at my feet was handed a ball of what I thought was chewing gum at first, but when I saw him cutting it and attaching a few bits here and there I soon realised it wasn’t bubble gum, it was semtex - plastic explosive - and I was well and truly in deep trouble. He spoke to me in a sort of cynical tone.
‘
I’m not going to kill you, Graziano, just take away your legs and, who knows, maybe your cock and balls too, but you being a lawyer ’n’ all won’t have any anyways, right?’
The man’s joke drew laughs from his men as I laid there numb, in acceptance of my fate. You see, I wasn’t a fighter, never have been. When the shit hits the fan, I freeze. I just haven’t got that edge, I didn’t know this way of life. I didn’t do violence.
After cutting away a few wires here and there, it must have only taken about five minutes to assemble the miniature sized bomb which was going to blow me in half.
The men then smiled at me and one of them spat in my face before walking off to the others. I was alone and scared stiff as I watched a red light which was embedded into the semtex at my feet flicker on and off rapidly.
It was surprising to me that after a few minutes the men got into their car, taking Malcolm and Pete with them. I had just been left there.
It seemed like hours and the semtex still hadn’t blown. I watched the red light still flicker. I wasn’t any expert in explosives but thought at least if the light kept flickering I was ok.
A car finally stopped, it had been raining so my eyes where wet and my vision was restricted. I heard footsteps and a language being spoke which sounded like Russian or something.
I felt someone kneel down close to me, and they wiped my eyes. I couldn’t believe it once my brain digested the picture in front of me. It was Valukana, along with a few other men I had never seen.
‘
Joey, Joey, Joey. We seem to have something in common after all.’
‘
Which is?’ I said as he smiled at me.
‘
We both have the same enemy.’
Valukana’s men spoke in their native tongues as Valukana told me not to worry and that these men at my feet were well trained in explosives.
The light stopped flickering and to my relief my legs didn’t go boom. They untied me and I got into the car with Valukana.
We drove to his club and on the way he told me everything.
The truth was Valukana was aiming at taking on the gang known as X Company. Because Valukana had not been in the country long, it was his plan to get established and then take it to the street with X Company. Valukana had more connections and wasn’t going to share the business of all things corrupt with X Company. All had been nice between Valukana and X. Valukana had been leading X into a false sense of security by supplying X with some drugs and other items.
But tonight X fucked up. They had put in an unusual request for a pound in weight’s worth of plastic explosive. Valukana assured them semtex came at a price. He just so happened to ask them what it was being used for and he was told it was going to blow a lawyer in half. He asked the name and was told.
As I had mentioned before, this Valukana always had a scary face, but he looked mad.
‘
Joey, I am en route to see a Major Roux. Do you wish to come along?’
Just being happy to be alive was enough for me, so I declined. I wasn’t a gangster. I didn’t want to see what Valukana was going to do.
‘
I’ll pass, but thank you anyway,’ I said. ‘Just please don’t kill anyone. It isn’t worth it.’
Valukana smiled.
‘
Kill anyone? Where is the fun in that? No, Joey, this was only another example of how sloppy X Company is. You see, if I had sanctioned a hit, you would be dead. Further to that we have already started the de-throwning of X Company. It started yesterday if truth be told, and it ends tonight.’
Chapter Thirty Three
‘
Beth, just tell her if she doesn’t do it then she can say goodbye to her friend’s party next week.’
Major Roux was growing all the more agitated at his daughter’s refusal to do her homework. Young Katie was the typical teenager, 14, misunderstood, and saw her parents as the enemy.
‘
Will do,’ shouted Beth, the Major’s better half, from up the stairs. Sitting in his study going through the books for the month, the Major needed quiet.
Then he heard the door.
‘
For fuck sake,’ he thought.
On his way to the door, Beth shouted down ‘You got it?’
‘
Yes, dear, probably next door again asking to borrow my tools,’ Roux replied.
‘
Irritating bastards,’ he added under his breath.
Opening the door, the Major saw a bunch of men stood there in balaclavas. One of the men hit the Major with the butt of a rifle and knocked him clean out.
Coming round a few minutes later, the Major woke to the sounds of screaming. ‘Beth! Katie!’ Roux cried out as he saw his wife and daughter with their hands tied.
Roux tried to swing out at the man in front of him but fell sideways onto the floor. He had been tied up too. ‘You’re dead men, dead men,’ Roux hissed as one of the masked men sat him back up in his chair.
The man in front of Roux removed his balaclava. ‘I am Valukana, the man one of your idiot soldier boys tried to buy semtex off earlier.’
‘
What are you talking about?’
‘
We are talking about Trigg. He has an obsession with a friend of mine named Joey Graziano, and Joey’s friend Tommy. This will stop, tonight.’
‘
Or?’ inquired Roux.
Valukana nodded to the man on his left who started to pour liquid over Roux’s wife Beth and their daughter Katie.
Roux began to rage as he recognised the smell of the liquid. It was petrol.
Valukana threw a plastic bag which looked like it had a large ball inside it onto Roux’s lap and told another man to take the bag off. The man peeled the bag away. Something sticky clung onto the inside of the plastic as the bag was removed.
‘
Ugh,’ Roux exclaimed as he shuffled the object from his lap onto the floor. The object was a human head. ‘Who is it?’ Roux asked.
Picking up the severed head, Valukana put it directly in front of Roux. Valukana was smiling. ‘What? You don’t remember your own men? Our dear friend 2nd Lieutenant Graves? If it’s any consolation, he did put a smile on my face. He was a fighter, had spirit. But by the time we took his head off, he had given you up, the way they always do.’
‘
Who else have you killed?’ asked Roux
‘
Well now, let’s see. We took four of your guys from the docks this morning. Erm, one was called Li’l Pete - he had a mouth on him – some fucking stuttering prick called Melvin, and the other two I can’t remember. Anyways we set them on fire and tossed their crispy bodies into the Humber, ha-ha. Was quite entertaining actually, watching them dancing around on fire. We had bets on who would stop dancing first. Yeah, it was a sight. Then we visited your tobacco warehouse on Ings and fucked that up too. We stole all your shit then put eight of your guys in cement. You see, we have some works going on at an old factory we are restoring. Anyways, seems your guys will be helping us with laying the foundations, so to speak, ha-ha. You don’t believe me? Look at these.’
Another masked man showed Roux some photos of the burnt bodies and then of the men who were thrown into the cement.