“You have twenty-four hours to get the money together, Billy boy, if you fuck this up or try anything stupid, I can’t make any promises. Kate will be returned in one piece if you do what I say: do I make myself clear?”
Billy was silenced at the thought of his sister being in danger and the loaded threat reminded him that he was dealing with a sick, twisted bastard. He reluctantly agreed to Jay’s ultimatum of paying a ransom for Kate’s safe return. Billy was told to sit by the phone at nine the following morning to wait for further instructions.
The room was silent; so far, Jonny hadn’t said a word, although he and Lee had exchanged numerous looks between themselves. They were all just sitting there, waiting for Billy to say something: anything. They could see that he was not up to dealing with this; he was finding it hard to keep it together. Breaking the silence, Lee said,
“When he calls you, we need to tell him that we agree to whatever he asks.”
Ryan laughed out loud in complete disbelief; if it was up to him he would be out hunting this fucker down and when he found him, he would treat him to the slowest and most painful death possible, he wouldn’t be complying with his brainless demands.
“Let me finish.” Lee held one hand up, to stop Ryan from interrupting, and continued: “We need to play the game. Go along with what he says, and make him think that he has us by the short and curlies. If he thinks that he is the one giving out the orders and making all the demands, then we can catch him off guard. We will be ready when he picks up the money, we will be three steps ahead of the cunt.”
As always with the Ellis brothers, Jonny finished off his brother’s sentence:
“We cannot risk Kate’s life in the smarmy fucker’s hands Billy; this is not a time for games. Pay Jay whatever he asks, we will get Kate back, and we will personally serve Jay up on a plate for you, he’ll be like a lamb to the fucking slaughter.”
Billy nodded at the men, his friends, whom he trusted with his life. This was exactly what he needed to hear, he was so emotionally fucked up about the situation that he couldn’t think straight, and he needed their support; only with their help could he possibly get through this, it was Kate’s only real chance. Jonny and Lee were the brains of the group, and he hoped that between them they would sort out a plan that would leave no room for fuck ups, and by the time they had executed it, Ryan, the muscle of the group, would have great pleasure in carrying out Jay’s reprisal. Billy, however, was going to make sure that he was there at the end, he would be the one to finally turn the lights out in Jay’s little fucked-up world.
44
Paul had spoken to his security team; every single one of his guys had been called in to work. It was being treated like a military operation; these were his best men, they knew what was expected of them, and Paul was confident that they would do as they were asked. He had briefed them about what was going on, and everybody was on red alert. They were expected to watch everything that happened in the club tonight, not even so much as a bag of speed was to pass through the doors. No fights; no scumbags; no trouble. Paul needed them to focus their attention on Jay Shaw.
Every man who came in this place tonight was to be searched, and Jay Shaw was no exception, if he thought that he could just walk in tooled up, demands or no demands, he had another think coming. Paul knew that they had the upper hand, really, as everybody who worked at the club knew what Jay looked like: the door men, the security, even most of the bar workers. He was a good looking fucker, one of the only things he actually had going for him, and a bloke like him stood out from the average crowd. Most of his security team had worked alongside him at some stage, so Paul had been surprised that this was how Jay wanted to play it. It seemed strange that he would want to make the exchange somewhere as public and personal as the club.
Paul was aware that there may be more than met the eye going on, particularly as Jay had been outed by him and by Goldie’s in general: he wasn’t taking any chances that Jay might be using this as a chance to get a piece of revenge.
Yesterday had been the longest twenty-four hours in Paul’s life, there were moments when it had felt like time had actually stopped ticking. He and Billy had sat for most of the afternoon together, talking about Kate and how they thought she would be coping and what they would both like to do to Jay when they got their hands on him, as well as going over the plan for this evening. They had talked it all through so many times that there was nothing left to say and then they had mostly just sat there in silence, both worrying at the worst-case scenario that this all could possibly bring them. Neither of the two men wanted to voice their fears about what this could be.
Paul had been gobsmacked when Billy had called and told him that Jay’s second call had come this morning demanding that the money be left by the DJ booth at midnight that night. Jay had said once he had picked the money up and got out of the club safely without anyone interfering or trying to do him any harm, then and only then would he text Billy to tell him Kate’s whereabouts: he said that he was the only one who knew this. He had stating categorically that if anything happened to him while he was picking the money up, Kate would be left where she was, in a remote location where she wouldn’t be found for weeks, by which time it would be too late for her.
Billy had asked what if he was being set up, what if he paid up and Jay didn’t stick to his end of the deal? Jay had just replied that he had no other choice but to trust him.
“Pay up, don’t fuck it up and you’ll get your sister back. Any trouble and I promise you this, Billy, you will never see her again.”
Jay must have fucking lost the plot, picking Goldie’s was the stupidest location anyone could have thought of. The door was being manned, there were cameras everywhere, and Jay must have known that. He must have known that both Paul and Billy would be watching for him like hawks, not to mention Billy’s guys, who would be all over the place. Jay must be mental if he thought that he would be walking out of there with his legs intact, let alone a bag full of cash, was safe. Maybe he thought that there was safety in numbers or something and that he would be able to just sneak in undetected, but there was no way that was going to happen.
Billy was getting the cash, a cool half a million; it would be there any minute. Paul knew that Billy had no intention of letting Jay get away with it, though. He had been sorting out the plan of action with Jonny and Lee all day, and they had decided that they would have two cars ready, one at the front entrance and one at the back; they would let Jay walk in and out without any interference from anyone and when Jay tried to get away they would tail him from a distance; once they knew where he was hiding out, they would wait it out for a bit, hopefully getting Kate back. They would give it a bit of time, just enough to lull Jay into a false sense of security, let him believe that maybe he had actually got away with it, then they would make their move with Billy and Ryan’s help: they would ransack the place and, more importantly, ransack Jay Shaw.
It was only nine o’clock now; the clubbers normally didn’t start arriving until after ten, the night was still young. Hoping that he had enough men in place and praying that the night wouldn’t throw any nasty surprises, Paul wandered up to the gentlemen’s club; he had decided he would stay up there and man the security cameras with Joe, his security manager. He had a great team on, and even though everyone was on strict orders not to approach Jay or get in his way whilst he collected the cash, Paul wanted all eyes on him. They needed to keep him in their sights long enough to establish where he was going to, otherwise the money would be long gone and Kate’s fate would be left in his slimy and untrustworthy hands.