Kate looked around for ways to get out should the opportunity arise, hoping that there might be a way for her to escape but from what she could see, other than the tiny window constantly covered by the dark curtain, there was only a door at the top of the stairs that led to the main house.
Tugging once again at her taped wrists, she knew there was little point even trying to think of an escape plan; there was no way she was getting out of the bloody tape, let alone the grimy basement. Wanting to cry with despair, she rocked herself to sleep; she was like a caged animal: hungry, cold and scared. All she could do was pray: surely, it would not much longer now… but where was her brother, and where was Paul? Thinking of Paul she realised that she did have feelings for him. Emma had been right. She had done nothing but think of him since she had been here. She missed him so much and would have done anything to feel his arms around her right now. She had not made it to the meeting with him, she had been on her way there when she had been lured into the car by Jay, and she was still wondering what that was all about. Sometimes she let herself believe that he felt the same as her, and that he had been about to tell her. She knew she was being stupid and it was probably just something to do with the club but the warm, comforting thoughts kept her going as she closed her tear-stricken eyes and gave in to sleep.
Upstairs, Jay was struggling to get his head around what Tanya was saying.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Tan: what’s the point? He’s going to know it’s us, he’s not fucking stupid.”
“Of course he’s going to know it’s us, Jay, from the minute he hears our voices on the phone he’ll know it’s us; that’s exactly why we need to do this, it’s the only way he’s going to take us seriously. Jay, he thinks you’re a fucking mug, trust me on this one. I’ve heard just about every opinion that bloke has on you a hundred fucking times; he has no respect for you whatsoever. We need to show him that we mean fucking business, or he’s going to think you’re just fucking with him.” Tanya lit up her first joint of the day: six o’clock in the morning was too early for a glass of wine, even by her standards.
Pacing the floor, Jay didn’t know what to do; in a way, Tanya was right, Billy had no respect for him, and Billy hated him with a passion and had treated him like a cunt. Billy had publicly made it known to everyone and anyone that no-one was to do any kind of business with him, and that was what pissed Jay off the most. He had worked hard to gain clout, and now he was going to have to go back to square one, dealing pathetic wraps to school kids. He needed this money as much as Tanya; and he needed to show Billy that he wouldn’t be mugged off by him… but this? This, he wasn’t sure he could do.
“I’ve done a lot worse, Tan, you and I both know that, but I don’t think I can do it. I guess I’ve been too close to her. Isn’t there some other way we can make him see we’re serious?”
“No, Jay, there isn’t. I want Billy to be sitting in his kitchen, my fucking kitchen, eating his poxy cornflakes, with that little slag, and I want him to get the shock of his life when he opens his mail and gets a couple of his sister’s fingers staring up at him. I hope he fucking chokes on his own vomit.”
“There must be some other way, surely—?”
Cutting him off, Tanya shouted, “There is no other way, Jay, this is it. Grow some fucking balls, or I’ll go down there and chop her bloody fingers off myself.”
Jay felt sick. Kate irritated the life out of him, but she was a good person at heart, a bit prim and proper but decent all the same. He knew he had treated her like a piece of crap on his shoe, she had been nothing more than a toy of which that he had quickly become bored and had then tossed aside. He had put her through more than one person deserved in a lifetime, yet she had not retaliated. She had simply picked up her bags and left, with not a word to him, and every ounce of dignity she had in her. He respected that.
Jay couldn’t even look Kate in the eyes when he had gone downstairs to give her food and water. Every time he had gone down to the basement he could feel her glaring at him, he could feel the hate radiating from her; he couldn’t bear it, he wanted to be a heartless bastard to her and take his anger out on her, but he felt none, in fact all he felt was guilt. There was no way he could do what Tanya wanted, and he knew he had to find a way of delaying her impulsiveness.
“Tan, babe, you’ve been watching too many gangster movies, we do mean business and we don’t need to start cutting people’s body parts off and sending them via Royal Mail to prove it love, trust me. We need to make the call: today. We tell him what we want, and we tell him that unless we get it then, and only then, Tan, will we take more extreme measures to show him we’re serious.”
Tanya finished her joint; she stubbed it out in a little floral ashtray and sank down onto the sofa. She knew it made sense; she just really wanted to wipe that fucking grin off Billy’s smug bloody face. Tanya was starting to get pissed off with Jay, though; she could see that over the last few days he seemed to have a real problem doing anything that involved sorting out that sad cow, Kate. He didn’t even want to take food down to her, they had almost had a barney over it, and he had backed down. Tanya couldn’t stand the bitch, and the less she did for her the better.
Tanya couldn’t understand what Jay’s problem was; he swore he didn’t have feelings for Kate, so why couldn’t he do what they had talked about? Why was he leaving it all to her, it was like he had no balls all of a sudden.
“Fine, we’ll do it your way, we’ll call him soon, but you tell him if he wants to see his perfect little sister again, we want two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. I’m not going through all this shit for loose change, Jay, I think a quarter of a mill should see us right for a bit; get us started, you know.”
Relieved that he had managed to delay her, if only for a little while, Jay knelt over her and started kissing her softly, smelling the sweet scent of her perfume, pound signs swimming around in his head.
43
The warehouse’s office, normally buzzing with noise and banter, was eerily quiet. The four men seated around the table were not only deep in thought but also silent from the shock of what they had been told. Nobody could believe what they had heard.
“So, let’s get this straight then.” Ryan rubbed his forehead fiercely, as if the information he had received had gone inside his head and caused it to throb like it might explode at any second. “Jay Shaw has rung you and demanded you give him a quarter of a million pounds. Is he having a fucking giggle? Does he seriously think that you’re going to hand it over so that he can skip off into the sunset and live happily ever fucking after? What is he, a fucking comedian? I can tell you this now, if he thinks he’s getting a penny from you he’s a real fucking joker.”
Ryan looked at each of the men around the table; the tension had created an atmosphere that was intense, to say the least. Billy had just turned up with a face like thunder: they knew it was bad from the look in his eyes. He had called them into the office with an urgency that made them all worry.
The call that Billy had been waiting for had come in at nine o’clock that morning, it had confirmed what he had known all along, Jay was behind Kate’s disappearance, and so Billy hadn’t been shocked when he heard the familiar, malicious voice. What he had been surprised at was Jay’s demands.
Jay had spoken quietly and calmly, informing Billy that his sister was alive and well and would be returned safe and sound once he had paid the cash that Jay asked for. Billy had started to lose it: what a fucking cheek, how fucking dared he, who did he think he was messing with? He would not get away with this. Taking his sister was crossing the line big time. Billy would break every bone in that imbecile’s body once he got his hands on him. Jay interrupted the name-calling and threats with a warning of his own.