Heavy Duty Trouble (The Brethren Trilogy) (3 page)

The Irish biker gave a snort and then there was silence other than a
slurping noise as
B
ung
s
ipped
from
his mug and studied me over the rim
, sitting there like some
tattooed, silver skull-
ringed, Buddha
.
It was typical Bung, he was always a bit of the club joker. On a good day, he could be one of the funniest guys I think I’ve ever met. It was just that for some reason I wasn’t really in the mood
at the moment
.

It seemed as though it was going to be up to me to make the running I decided, to start with at least.

I was surprising myself by how calm I felt. I’d had
six
months
or so to think about this moment, to anticipate it happening I suppose
, and to prepare, if I ever could
. Ever since I’d got out, Bung, or one of his ilk
,
turning up to take care of business had always been a possibility, something that might happen
someday
, something that I’d have to be ready for
. I
t had been a constant shadow, sitting on my shoulder
.

The only surprise really, I thought, was that they had come themselves.

We were off grid here out in the rolling damp hills above the village, and quite cut off from the world. No mobile signal, no telephone line, no internet. It was the way I liked it, part of the attraction of the place. But back down the hill, stuck at the back of one of the shops cum bars that lined the straight main drag of the village, there were a couple of desks with PCs on them that constituted the local internet café, and which ever since we’d arrived had been a strict part of my routine on my weekly walks in.

The one-percenter bikers had gone online alongside everyone else, and so I kept a close watch on the biker websites, forums and newsgroups that shared those essential snippets of news about busts, bust ups, rats and undercover LEOs amongst the postings and announcements. So I kept tabs on the boards
,
reading between the lines, although sometimes I didn’t even have to do that, it had been clear for a while that a power struggle had been developing between Wibble and Charlie for control of the English part of the
c
lub, with Stu and the Scottish crew under his command sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how they played it out between them.

But one of the club turning up themselves
wasn’t what I’d been expecting. As well as keeping abreast as far as possible with what was happening on the club scene; the alliances, the
patching in
and members out in bad standing
announcements that made up
the outlaw versions of hatched, matched and dispatched
notices
, I’d also been looking for something else. Something that might sound innocent, even innocuous, but something that would actually have a deadly intent; it could be something as simple as a greeting, something like, ‘
Hey a big
Irish Blue
and
White
hello to all our Union Jack Bros and anytime you need anything just give us a call
.’

But from the time I’d spent with Damage and then watching Wibble at work, it was the way these things worked. Favours exchanged. No obvious link between victim and killer to give the cops something to pursue, and no actual involvement by anyone from the club in making it happen. Just a dead body and a series of dead ends.

With Bung
here now though
,
I had mixed emotions. Despite everything
that
had happened, on a personal level I actually still liked the guy
. Like I said,
he could be fun, friendly and funny
. But then I’d also seen what he, and what the rest of his club, could and would do without hesitation
when it came to taking care of business
. And of course, there was also what they had done to me, the reason I was stuck here, in hiding,
trying
to rebuild my life from
scratch
and
living
in long term fear for it.

So I tried to keep my anger in check. Anger about what I’d seen and knew, anger about what they had done to me, anger about what I’d had to do, and
anger
about how I was sitting here, now, having to deal with this shit again.

Besides which, we had a deal, I told myself. That was what I was clinging on to in some corner of my mind. Wibble and me, we had a deal, one that made sense for both sides.
A deal that
gave me some protection
from the club
in their
o
wn interests
. So why
would
they
want
to screw it up now?
What had changed?

‘So what is it then Bung?
’ I asked
,
‘
Let’s get on with it then. What the
hell
are you here to do?
’

‘How do you know I’m not just here to see you?
’

‘A social call? Is that it? You should have let me know,
’ I said, an edge of bitterness in my voice, ‘
I’d have baked a cake.’

Which led
on to
another question of course.

‘
Who else knows you’re here Bung? Christ, more importantly, who else knows I’m here?
’

‘
Oh everyone
,
’
he said casually.

‘
Everyone?
’ I asked, shocked, ‘
But I’ve been in hiding for
Christ
’s sake.
’

‘
Oh a
ll the key guys
know
you’re here and what you’re up to
, Charlie, Wibble
, Toad, the lot.
’

‘So a fat
lot of good being stuck out here has done me then
,’ I observed
.
Eamur had
been right all along. If they could spy on me in an empty café
back in London
, they had obviously been able to keep an eye on me
here across the water and over the border.

‘
Oh I wouldn’t say that
,’ replied Bung,
sipping his tea and smiling in what I guessed he intended to be a reassuring way at Eamur,
‘
the
plod ain’t got you for instance. And so long as the guys knew you were shacked up here
nice and cosy,
and keeping your head down
,
then they were happy enough.
’

The trouble was, however avuncular a grizzly bear was feeling, to someone who met them the first time they were still a big scary animal, so I didn’t think Eamur was quite getting the message.

*

‘
What about Robbie?
’
I asked
,
remembering the snout guided furry missile I had been relying on
.

‘
The dog
,’
I added
,
since it was obvious
from the
puzzled
looks this generated that
they didn’t know
.

Bung laughed.
‘
Oh don’t worry about
him;
he’s in the shed snoring off a steak full of tranqs. He’ll have a bit of a headache when he wakes up, but he’s
all right
.
’

‘
So what about her
?’
I said nodding at Eamur, ‘she’s got nothing to do with this.’

‘
What about her
?’
Bung shrugged.
She obviously hadn’t really entered into his calculations at all.
‘She’s n
othing to us. They said you’d got yourself a good looking ol’lady.’

‘So what about her?’
I repeated.

‘Oh don’t worry about her; we’ll take care of her.’

I didn’t much like the sound of that.

‘Thanks
a bunch,’ I said,
‘
That’s what I’m worried about.’

*

‘Oh come on,’
protested Bung
, ‘now you’re hurting my feelings.
’

There was a snort of derision from the direction of the Irish biker but Bung didn’t turn a hair.

‘Don’t be like that. Here we are just having a quiet chat. You know that if we’d wanted to cause trouble we’d have done it already.’

He had a point, but it wasn’t one I
felt like conceding just at that
moment.

‘More trouble than just turning up you mean?’

He chose to laugh at that.

‘You’re a bit bloody cool about it aren’t you?’

‘
So what do you want
Bun
g?
’ I asked.
‘
Y
ou’re not here to snuff me I guess
. A
s you say,
if you wanted to do that the
n
either you’d have got his mob to do it
,’
I said
,
nodding across the room to where the
Fir Bolg
patch
was
perched on the windowsill, cradling his
cup
in both hands and looking
dubiously
out
of
the window and up at the sky as if judging the chances of
more
rain
,
‘
or you’d be on with it by now. So if it
isn’t
that, what do you want?
’

‘
Oh that’s easy. They want you
.’

‘
They want me? Who’s they in this conversation
Bung
?
’

‘
Wibble
...

And Charlie
,
’
he added
,
almost as an afterthought.

So Bung was still working for Wibble I decided, not that I’d ever expected anything different.

‘I’m not sure I fancy that. Don’t forget I’ve had Wibble’s o
ffers before, and look where it
got me.’

He laughed at that
too
.

But meanwhile I was thinking furiously.
Wibble and Charlie? That surprised me. One or the other I could understand.
I wouldn’t much like it but I could understand it.
But both of them?
That didn’t make much sense.

But was Bung
really
suggesting that they had agreed they wanted to see me? Or was it just a coincidence?

‘
Jointly or separately
?’ I asked.

‘
Well they’re both inside
,’ he said,
‘
but they’re at different clinks
…’

‘
No
,’ I interrupted, ‘
I meant
,
do they each want to see me separately, or is this a joint request by both of them?
’

‘
Well,
that’s a bit of a
tricky
one,
’
he
rubbed
his beard thoughtfully as he
decided
and then said
.
‘
W
ell I
reckon
it’s sort of
jointly
,
if you see what I mean.
’

Which I didn’t
at all,
but I let that pass for the moment.

‘
So w
hy have they asked you to come Bung?
’

‘
Because they thought there’d be more chance of you coming if I popped along and asked nicely
.’

‘
What, rather than
have
Scroat
pitch up
for example
?’ I asked.

‘
Well yes, now you mention it. He’d be Charlie’s choice.
’

I bet he would
,
I though
t,
suppressing an inward shudder
at the prospect
.

‘
So why me Bung? Why do they want to see me? What can I do for them, what do they want me to do?
’