Every Night I Dream of Hell
Read Every Night I Dream of Hell Online
Authors: Malcolm Mackay
Tags: #Fiction, #Crime, #Mystery & Detective, #General, #Scotland
Every Night I Dream of Hell
Malcolm Mackay
Scotland
Nate Colgan: a violent man; 'smart muscle' for the Jamieson
organisation. Someone to be afraid of. But now, with its most powerful
individuals either dead or behind bars, things within the Jamieson
organisation are beginning to shift. When Nate, long working on the
fringes of the business, is reluctantly appointed its new 'security
consultant' - he can little imagine how things are about to unravel
...It begins with an execution, a message; and soon the various factions
within the organisation are sent into chaos. But out of the confusion
comes one clear fact: a new group has arrived in Glasgow, and in their
quest for power they are prepared to ignite a war. But who is behind the
group? And why has the calculating Zara Cope - the mother of Nate's
child - suddenly appeared back in town? Meanwhile DI Fisher, buoyed by
his recent successes in finally jailing some of the city's most
notorious criminals, is prowling on the edges of these latest battles,
looking for his chance to strike - and before all hell breaks loose ...
I DREAM OF HELL
MALCOLM MACKAY
CONTENTS
CHARACTERS
Gary Aldridge
– A tough piece of work, willing to throw his considerable muscle around, providing Adrian Barrett keeps on paying him for it.Adrian Barrett
– The little drug ring he tried to build in Birmingham tanked, sent him into a spiral. He was pulled out of it by a beautiful woman with a lucrative plan.Taylor ‘Original’ Carlisle
– Oh, he thinks he’s right on the cutting edge of criminality, running boiler-room scams. Fake tan and fake accent, only a small percentage of him real.Ben Carmichael
– Works as Kevin Currie’s second in command. The quiet and reliable type, just looking to get through the industry with money in his pocket and a functioning pulse.Lee Christie
– A mid-level drug dealer, podgy and in love with the party life. He may be married, but if pretty girls think he’s a rich and well-connected man, you can bet he’ll take advantage of that.Nate Colgan
– A relentlessly tough man, maybe the strongest reputation in all of Glasgow, and there’s nothing that can bring him down. Everyone believes that, because nobody really knows him.Rebecca Colgan
– Perhaps the only person who knows him that doesn’t have a shred of fear for Nate Colgan, her harmless, goofy father who cares about her so much.Russell Conrad
– Steadily built a reputation as a freelance gunman, and with so many organization men falling by the wayside, it was inevitable someone would make him an offer.Zara Cope
– When she and Nate were together, when they had their daughter, she thought that might be her life. The thought of domesticity appalled her, so she ran.Stuart Crockley
– Used to be that John Young would handle the process of ensuring all dirty money was cleansed of its sins, a role now filled by Stuart.Kevin Currie
– With his boss Jamieson in jail, Kevin’s taken on a lot more responsibility. Smart enough to handle it, but there’s a lot to get a grip of.DC Ian Davies
– Still clinging on to his career, praying for that pension to hurry up and arrive. If he could spend the rest of his working life in the office, he cheerfully would.Jake ‘Lonny’ Donezak
– One of Lafferty’s right-hand men. Young and smart, trusted despite his lack of experience because if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.DI Michael Fisher
– Occasional big victories and constant small defeats. He got Jamieson sent away, but his organization continues to function. And that nagging little obsession, Zara Cope.Jess Flowers
– All she had wanted was a bit of glamour, a bit of fun while she tried to find her way in the world. She never realized people could be so evil.Neil Fraser
– A big, dumb lump of muscle, slowly working his way down towards the gutter. Someone stabbed him once; many regretted that he got back up.Mark Garvey
– One of the higher-profile gun dealers in the city, of whom there are few to choose from. Garvey is well connected, always looking for a good deal.Melanie Garvey
– Marriage to the older man had seemed convenient. Money and stability in her life, but, my God, it became boring fast.Paul Greig
– He used to be a cop; now an information gatherer for anyone who can pay. Couldn’t be any more bent now than he was when he wore the uniform.Conn Griffiths
– Been a long time since the ability to punch someone really hard was enough to make you good muscle. Conn epitomizes the new breed of smart hard men.Keith Henson
– A hard man, he thinks, who’s come up from England with Barrett and his crew. He’s there for the money, not the camaraderie.Peter Jamieson
– He ran the fastest-growing organization in the city, and one talkative gunman took it all away from him. He might be in jail, but that’s temporary, and he’s only ever a phone call away.Adam Jones
– Twin brother of the increasingly influential Marty and still bathed in his shadow, a fact he’s increasingly coming to resent.Marty Jones
– If you knew Marty a few years ago you’d be amazed by the transformation, from a rotten little pimp to a key leader of the organization in Jamieson’s enforced absence.Angus Lafferty
– Jamieson’s biggest drug importer, and possibly the biggest in Scotland. Has enough legit business to live off, but can’t seem to pull himself away from the criminal life.Aaron MacLennan
– Experienced, but that counts for nothing when you remain incompetent. Working with Adam Jones, which doesn’t say much for Adam.Ronnie Malone
– He was working at the St John Hotel when he met Nate Colgan. Nate spotted talent and pulled him in under his wing, a place nobody had been before.Esther Mayberry
– Lives with Ronnie, and will build a future with him, but she can’t pretend she likes the way his life is going. The new work, it just seems wrong.Jawad ‘Nasty’ Nasif
– He’s been tight with Barrett for years, been through it all with him. Nasty does the dirtiest work, even if he’s no fan of their new surroundings.Kelly Newbury
– She knows the business, and she’s seen its bleak consequences at close range, but that doesn’t stop her seeing something in Nate that she wants to have near.Billy Patterson
– Always ruthless. Always. Saw the need to refocus that ruthlessness when Alan was killed, the need to form the smartest alliances.Don Park
– More than just a senior man in Alex MacArthur’s organization, he’s the ambitious shark with big teeth circling his ageing boss.Elliott Parker
– Barrett’s right-hand man and the one who considers himself the brains of the operation, with a heartbeat that neither rises nor falls, no matter the circumstance.Charles Simpson
– Every smart criminal has an even smarter lawyer, and Simpson is Jamieson’s. Kept the sentence down, and is now helping to make sure Jamieson’s messages get to the right people.Mikey Summers
– Hired by Billy Patterson to work alongside Conn Griffiths as a second pair of brutal hands. Now that Billy’s joined up with Marty, Mikey’s taking orders from various sources.Brendan Thorne
– Controls the Jamieson housing stock, useful properties that any criminal organization needs. An old man who’s seen it all before and is impressed by none of it.Owen Turner
– Been a good mate to Ronnie since schooldays, and they still look to help each other out. Sometimes the best help a friend can give is to do nothing.Trisha ‘Tish’ Turner
– The driving force behind the gadget shop she and her husband Owen run, trying to prop it up with the financial help that Ronnie organized for them.Kirk Webster
– He changed phone records for Jamieson at the call centre he works at, and he admitted it to the police. Helped put Jamieson away. Been living in fear ever since.Lewis Winter
– Zara had almost persuaded herself she could build a life with Lewis, and then ambition pushed Lewis to make an enemy of Jamieson. He didn’t live long after that.John Young
– Jamieson’s right-hand man, his trusted lieutenant. Stood beside him on the rise and was beside him on the fall. Now in a different wing of the same prison.
‘People are terrified of you. You’ve given them good reason. We know how valuable that is.’
I sat listening and didn’t say anything. This was the preamble to the subject that mattered: business. I already knew what was coming next. We were sitting in Kevin Currie’s office, and I was listening to him speaking someone else’s words.
‘I don’t need to tell you that there’s a lot of stuff going on, a lot of stuff that needs to be sorted out,’ Kevin went on.
I liked Kevin, but he was wasting my time. I knew there was a lot that needed sorting. He knew it. If he’d stuck his head out the window to alert a passer-by, there was a good chance they would already have known. Peter Jamieson ran the criminal organization Currie was a major part of, but Peter Jamieson was in jail. That meant people were trying to pick scraps from the organization, profit from temporary vulnerability while it still existed.
‘There’s a lot of little stuff,’ Kevin went on, ‘but even that’s become more complicated. A man with your reputation, you can simplify all that. That’ll be the first thing we want from you.’
There were shelves on the wall behind Kevin, and most of them were filled with what looked like folders. Supposed to make him look like the legitimate businessman nobody was dumb enough to believe he was. Maybe once he could fool people, but not since Jamieson went away. That change had made Kevin a bigger player than ever, one of the group of men running the organization day to day. So the neat little office of a legit businessman probably wasn’t cutting it any more.
But it wasn’t the folders I was watching. There was a little gold trophy at the end of one of the shelves, tucked in behind a leaning folder. Looked like the sort of thing you would give a mediocre amateur sportsman. I couldn’t stop myself wondering what that was for. Kevin wasn’t a sportsman; he was a guy in his late forties getting slowly fat and jowly.
‘None of that sounds like a problem,’ I said. I wasn’t looking to sound nonchalant, but he was reading from a not particularly interesting script.
It was obvious what had happened, I probably don’t even have to tell you. Peter Jamieson knew that I, Nate Colgan, was already doing work for the organization, and doing it well. He knew that he needed someone with a reputation to start throwing some weight around on his behalf, scare away the vultures. The serious attacks needed more defending than I could provide alone, but getting rid of the opportunists would remove the sense of weakness. So he made a call to Kevin, told him to hire me permanently and told him what to say.