These were Billy’s main men, there was nothing that they wouldn’t do for each other, and he trusted them with his life. The Ellis brothers, Johnny and Lee, were a feisty pair. They were very clued up on business and had helped bring in a lot of money over the years. Ryan was the muscle, a big bastard and vicious with it. He had to be reined in a lot of the time as he easily lost it, but when he helped to inflict ‘persuasion’ he did the job as quickly and brutally as possible. If you heard that Ryan Clarke was looking for you, your best bet would be to fuck off on the next plane available, as there would be no time for reasoning with the man, Ryan was evil. If someone needed sorting, he didn’t bat an eyelid: torturing was like a hobby.

Billy was the main man, the brains behind most of their business; he had the ideas and the nonce to pull stuff off, and he had nice little deals going on all over town, most of it dodgy: import, export, that kind of thing. Billy always had everything well thought out with all angles covered, so no one would ever catch them out on anything, he made sure of that. He was doing well for himself, had invested wisely in lots of properties over the years, and he definitely wasn’t short of a bob or two. They were a good team, no-one with any sense fucked with them.

Although Billy needed to get wasted tonight, he would have avoided Goldie’s at all costs at the moment with everything that had been going on, but he’d heard it was Jay’s night off. He hadn’t wanted to bump into him just yet, knowing the more he drank the more he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist doing him some damage. If he saw him face-to-face he’d lose it and fuck his plan up completely.

              “How’s things?” Billy asked Paul, as he downed his shot, starting to feel a bit calmer as the liquid warmed the back of his throat and start to take effect.

              “Things are really good; business is booming so I have no complaints.”

Paul could see Billy was still on edge, but no harm had been done. Although he and his friends were generally okay guys, he made a mental note to make sure he kept an eye on this lot tonight. He hadn’t done much business with them but their reputation preceded them; if you needed a job done then these boys came up with the goods. There was very little that they couldn’t get hold of: motors, guns you name it. Not that Paul was into that sort of thing, but he liked to have contacts.

              “Good, that’s what I like to hear, let me get you a drink, Paul.” Billy lent over to the tray of shots.

              “No thanks, Billy. I don’t drink while I’m working; I like to keep a clear head.”

              Billy looked at him and smiled. “It’s a shame all your men here don’t think that way, Paul; some people can’t help but indulge themselves, even while they are on the job.”

              “What do you mean?” Paul could sense by Billy’s tone that he had a bee in his bonnet about something, the comment had been loaded. He was intrigued. Billy obviously thought that he knew something Paul didn’t, and like Billy, Paul liked to know everything where his business was concerned. He was a control freak when it came to his club, he could admit that. Knowledge is power, and therefore he had always made it his business to know everything that was going on around him.

              “You got something you want to tell me, Billy?” Paul was getting a bit pissed off with the way this conversation was now going.

              “Yeah, I have as it happens. Your man on the door, Jay:  some of my men have been keeping an eye on him for me, and it’s a good job too as it turns out.” He paused for effect, enjoying the look on Paul’s face, there was something going down right under his nose that he didn’t know about it.

              “Go on.” Paul had a feeling he should have taken that drink he had been offered.

              “He’s a dealer, and he dabbles himself, I’m told. He’s been using your little club here to build a nice little clientele for himself.” Billy watched for a reaction then seeing there was none, he continued, “China White? You heard of it? Real lethal shit it is.”

Paul felt as if he had been punched in the chest. He had heard of China White. It was a type of heroin that you could snort; a bit like coke, but twice the strength of normal heroin and much more addictive. There had been loads about it in the papers recently; only last week, a kid in this area had died whilst using it. If that fucker Jay had been selling it to his punters there would be murder. A bit of coke flying around his club was one thing, but heroin, and China White at that, was a whole different matter. He didn’t want that on his conscience, when the shit hit the fan and where drugs like that were concerned it would only be a matter of time.

              “Why are you telling me this? It’s not like you to be telling tales, Billy; what do you get out of it?”

              “Just think about it for a second, Paul, some young girl in your club snorts some of that shit he’s throwing about, ODs on it. Your name will be linked to it, and if you lose this place, where the fuck are we gonna go for a bit of entertainment?” Billy laughed now. “I’m letting you know Paul, because you’re a nice bloke, and he’s a fucking waster, simple as.”

Paul was trying to take in what he was hearing. He paid Jay to man the door, not to stand there and make a killing off the back of him. He knew that Jay must have been taking the piss out of him and his position at Goldie’s for the entire time he worked here, and he knew he would have to make an example of him. Paul wondered who else knew about it, but he was well aware that he could be also doing a bit of Billy’s dirty work for him. There was no way Billy was tipping him off out of the goodness of his heart.

              “I don’t know what your problem is with Jay, Billy, but I’ll tell you something, it’s got fuck all to do with me! I appreciate you letting me know about what he’s doing in my club and I will be sorting that out myself, make no odds about that.” Paul got up, nodded to the men around the table and walked off.

              “You’ve fucking set the cat among the pigeons there, Billy mate,” laughed Jonny, “what do you think he’s going to do with that snippet of information?”

              “Well, let’s just say that we have just taken Jay out of this little scene for starters, he’s going to have to find somewhere else to sell his gear now, and his going to have fuck all back up from any of these boys,” he looked over to where Paul was now standing deep in conversation with a couple of the security men.

It was a start, thought Billy, as he looked over to one of the escort girls heading towards him. She was wearing a skimpy red miniskirt and tiny bra that barely covered her breasts. Catching his eye, Candice wiggled over. She was five foot nothing, but stunning, like a tiny doll. What she lacked in height she made up for with her big personality.

Billy always paid her well, so she gave him all her attention. Candice always made him, like she did with all the others, feel like they were her one and only. That’s how she managed to rake in almost double what the other girls earned each night. If you made a man feel special, as if you had been hoping and praying that he would even glance in your direction, made it all about them, they were putty in your hands. She had figured that out early on, it wasn’t rocket science, and she couldn’t believe that some of the other girls hadn’t caught on. She was certainly not just a pretty face. Candice placed her arms over his shoulders and started kissing his neck, whispering into his ear. Billy smiled and then standing up grabbed her small pert arse.