Ryan Kaine_On the Defensive by Kerry J Donovan

Author:Kerry J Donovan [Donovan, Kerry J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Human Vertex Publications (France)
Published: 2017-12-11T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Saturday 24th October—Barney Mortensen

Camden, London

Barney belched loudly and lined the empty beer bottle next to all the others on the coffee table. Frankie stared at him through bloodshot, half-closed eyes. Jo-Jo snored heavily beside him, cramping Frankie for space, but Frankie didn’t seem to mind.

“Tell me again, man,” Frankie pleaded.

He slurred so much Barney had trouble understanding what the dozy fucker said. Still, he didn’t mind repeating his story. It weren’t every day he made a mark with the big boys. If he were being honest with himself, Barney loved the attention. When he’d waved the five hundred quid in crisp, clean tenners under their noses, he nearly wet himself with their reaction.

Hero worship. Barney loved it.

Fucking aces!

“Go on, man. I want all the details.”

Barney raised the bottle to his lips and tilted.

Fuck.

Being pissed screwed with his timing, and he dribbled most of it down the front of his T-shirt. Shit, it were his last clean one, too. Best make a trip to the laundrette. Couldn’t turn up for his next job looking like a fucking dosser. Wouldn’t be professional.

“Wish I’d been there, man,” Frankie said. “I’d have filmed it for prosperity.”

Barney snorted. “Posterity, Frankie-boy. You mean posterity, not prosperity.”

Frankie winked and pointed at the notes spread out on the table.

“Nah, man. I mean prosperity. We’s loaded,” he said and started giggling.

The giggle turned into a hysterical cackle and then became a hacking, choking rasp until Frankie doubled up, arms wrapped around his chest, struggling to breathe.

“Jesus, mate. You ought to see the quack about that cough. Sounds like you puked up half a lung. Fucking horrible. Ain’t right.”

Frankie came up, gasping for air and stared at him, white-faced and sweaty. “Nah. I’m alright. Doctor’s only gonna tell me to jack in the booze and the fags. What else do I got to live for?”

He wiped phlegm and lager from his chin and took another swig.

“So, go on, Barney. Blow-by-blow, full colour description. You was on the bike and pulled up outside the restaurant, and then you …”

He made a rolling forward movement with the hand holding the bottle. More lager spilled onto the stained and threadbare carpet.

Barney scratched his chin. As well as the trip to the laundrette, he’d shave before meeting Alfie on Sunday. Wash his hair, too. Had to smarten up if he wanted people to take him seriously.

“Yeah. There I were, nose-to-tail traffic outside the place. It were all lit up like on display, you know? Calling in the diners for their grub, only there weren’t nobody eating but the owner and his brats. Frizzy-haired little mongrels. They was at the table right by one of the windows.”

Frankie leaned forward, forearms resting on knees, both hands gripping the bottle, roll-up sticking out the corner of his mouth. He blinked away the smoke drifting into his eyes.

“Go on. Describe the place.”

Barney’s heart started racing. Just talking about it gave him a hard-on.

“You got these two fuck-off big windows either side of the door, right? I could

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.