Hot Seat

Lap Thirty-Nine

Barrington had inadvertently screwed me by taking my only backup. I tried not to let that thought scare me and bottled my panic. I clung to Claudia’s belief that tonight was just a first date. Nothing would happen.

Crichlow looked at me bemusedly as he walked up to me. I was sure he thought his grand entrance would be a big surprise to me. My only surprise was that Gates wasn’t there with him.

‘Who were you on the phone with?’ Crichlow asked.

‘Just my grandfather. He gets worried when I’m late.’

‘Let’s have the phone. I don’t want anything interrupting our business.’

My mobile was no longer a lifeline, so I handed it over. Crichlow pocketed it.

‘I bet you’re wondering what the hell is happening, Aidy,’ Crichlow said.

Rags looked from Crichlow to me. ‘Do you two know each other?’

‘Isn’t Andrew joining us?’ I said. ‘Or doesn’t he like to get his hands dirty now that he’s an upstanding businessman?’

‘Andrew? What’s he talking about?’ Rags said. ‘Is he talking about your boss?’

‘He isn’t my boss.’

Not in all things, I thought. Did that mean he was here without Gates’ permission? I remembered something Eddie Stores had said about Gates. It was all starting to fall into place and it was creating a dangerous picture. ‘You’re the one Andrew caught dealing drugs.’

‘How’d you find out about that?’ Crichlow barked. His angry words bounced off the metal walls.

‘You never stopped dealing though, did you?’

‘Watch your mouth.’

‘I heard that Andrew left his mark on you. Can I see?’

Crichlow lunged, grabbed me by my shirt and thrust me back. I struck the ground on my back. Rags caught his arm, snagging his sleeve. A crisscross of scars made a patchwork of his arm over the four-inch length of exposed skin. They weren’t just stripes like on Rag’s arm.

Gates wasn’t part of this. It was Crichlow. He was responsible for everything and he knew I knew. I bottled my panic. Knowing wasn’t enough. I still needed him to incriminate himself with this drug deal.

I raised my hands. ‘OK, message received. Can we talk business now?’

Crichlow shrugged off Rags, put out a hand to me and pulled me to my feet. He didn’t release his grip on my hand. ‘Let’s keep the chat to the business at hand. All right?’

I took that as code: Gates isn’t to know about this. ‘Yeah. Sure.’

‘Rags says you’ve got a proposal. Let’s hear it.’

‘Car collectors around the world bring my grandfather their classic cars to restore. It’s similar to the operation you have with Rags. Your customers send Steve their cars to work on. While they’re in his workshop, I put the drugs in the tyres or wherever else I can. With all the cars coming in and out of Archway, no one will think twice.’

‘What’s in it for you?’ Crichlow asked.

‘What else? A steady income. The same reason you’re in it — easy money.’

‘The money is never easy,’ Rags said. I felt the weight of personal experience behind his words.

‘What are your terms?’

Terms? I didn’t have a clue. How much did drug mules get? Was it a fixed fee or a percentage based on weight? I should have expected this question and been prepared to answer it.

‘I’m not greedy. I’ll take whatever you’re paying Rags.’

Crichlow jerked a thumb at Rags. ‘And him? What’s in it for him?’

Rags seemed to shrink from us once Crichlow mentioned him. He folded his hands tight across his chest and kept his gaze on the floor.

‘I realize I wouldn’t have this opportunity without him, so I’ll cut him in from whatever I get from you.’

‘You’ve thought this all out, haven’t you?’

‘I’ve tried my best.’ I got the feeling Crichlow didn’t have a lot of faith in me. He only knew me from my dealings with Gates. He needed to see a different side of me. ‘Look, the cops are on to this place when it comes to ferrying drugs around Europe. You can’t continue, but you still need to move the coke. I can help you do it. And all I want is a nest egg to keep me out of the poorhouse. It’s a win-win.’

‘Do you know the risks you’re taking?’ Crichlow asked.

‘I race cars. I take risks all the time.’

‘This is different.’

‘Yeah. It’s safer. The cars will be freighted or hand-delivered by me. No one is going to suspect anything. It’s no more dangerous than putting a letter in the post.’

‘Who on your end will know about this?’

‘No one.’

‘Not your grandfather?’

‘Like your boss, he wouldn’t approve, and like your boss, he doesn’t need to know. The fewer people who know, the less that can go wrong.’ I’d had enough of the questions. It was time to force a decision. ‘What do you think?’

Crichlow stepped back from Rags and me and paced a tight little circle. I could see him considering my offer, pulling at the fabric of it, looking for tears. I hoped the bait was tasty enough for him to go for it. If I got him on the hook, I was safe. Barrington might not like my off-the-books plan but he wouldn’t care if I served up Crichlow’s operation on a plate.

Crichlow stopped, jammed his hands in his trouser pockets and looked at us. ‘I should confer with my people, but I don’t feel I need to. Rags’ operation has proved successful for us. I think your plan would prove just as successful. But you know what? I’m not interested.’

Relief swept across Rags’ face. I felt panic spreading across mine. I was blowing it. I couldn’t let Crichlow slip through my fingers.

‘Hey, wait,’ I said. ‘You’re missing out on a golden opportunity.’

‘I don’t think so. Hiding the dope in the wheels has been a great deception, but Customs is wise to it now. A variation on a theme won’t cut it. I need something completely different.’

Barrington’s instincts to cut his losses had been right. There was no way they were going to use Rags again to reopen their drug pipeline to Europe.

‘Besides, there’s a bigger reason why I’m walking away from your offer.’

‘What’s that?’ I said.

‘You know too damn much about my business.’

His hand flew from his pocket so fast that I didn’t see the knife until it slashed across my stomach. The pain was so intense that it froze me in the moment. Thousands of severed nerve endings crackled with electricity and tried to jam my brain with the same message of pain at once. I clutched at the wound. Blood leaked between my fingers.

‘No!’ Rags yelled. He shoved me aside, sending me sprawling to the floor and lunged at Crichlow.

Crichlow sidestepped Rags’ lunge. As Rags lumbered by, he swept the knife through the air again in an efficient arc. The blade caught Rags across the side of the neck. His legs went out from under him and he collapsed on to all fours. Blood poured from a deep and ugly wound. He clambered to his feet, but only half managed the feat before pitching forward on to his face.

I saw my fate if I didn’t do something. I pushed myself upright, but I took too long. Crichlow charged at me. He caught me hard while my balance was off. I bounced off the side of my racecar, cracking my head on the door.

The moment I hit the floor, Crichlow jumped on top of me and pressed his knee into my stomach. It radiated pain, paralyzing the rest of me. Pouncing on my weakness, he grabbed the side of my head and smacked it on the concrete floor. The shockwave that went through my head stopped me from fighting back. The second blow put me in a stupor. The third left me clinging to consciousness.

Crichlow pushed himself off me and looked down at the mess he’d made of me. ‘You know it had to end this way.’

I watched him walk over to one of the oil drums in the supply area. He broke the seal open and rolled the barrel over on to its side. A pool of amber spread slowly across the floor. He did the same to a second barrel before picking up a jerry can of petrol. I lost consciousness knowing what was going to happen next.