Unstolen by Tony Batton

Author:Tony Batton [Batton, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Thrillers
Published: 2018-05-13T22:00:00+00:00

Forty

We all walked two streets over to a basement cafe that bore no signage and, perhaps unsurprisingly, had no-one in it. The lady behind the counter filled a large cafetiere, placed it on the table in front of us along with six mugs, then vanished out back. Calum locked the front door then stood next to it, his arms folded.

"So," Meeks said, "here we all are. My new best friends."

"You wish," Meg muttered. "Because you can go shove—"

"It might be smart to hear me out before you start with the threats."

I placed my hands flat on the table. "Say what you have to say."

"Perhaps I should start with a little context. Calum here approached me after I initially contacted you. He said you were a capable guy with some talented people. But that you weren’t exploiting your combined talents fully. And that, in my eyes, was an opportunity. So I asked Calum for more information, did my own research, and it became clear he was right."

"You met with Calum before us?" I asked. "So when we met – that was all a set-up?"

"It was a test of sorts. I wanted to see if you properly valued what you do. Since you didn’t, that gave me an opportunity to insert myself into the process to add value. And margin."

"You don’t understand. Our business is about putting things right."

"You can kid yourself, Jake. You can call yourself a vigilante, a modern-day Robin Hood, or whatever. But the truth is that you have a particular set of skills and you should be charging appropriately for them."

Meg scowled. "Even if we were to do things differently, we wouldn’t work with you."

"If a client wants to know where the item was recovered, what do we care?" Calum said. "If a client can afford a huge payment, who are we to argue? And yet you wouldn’t accept when Meeks doubled the offer for his wife’s painting."

"What?" Sid cried. "You didn’t even discuss it with us."

"If," I said with a scowl, "we do that, we will attract the attention of organised crime. Both because of the money we’re charging, and because they could use us to provide intelligence on high-value targets."

"That’s a problem for the future, if it ever happens."

"It will."

"Not if you’re careful," Meeks said. "Of course you’d have to be much more careful than you have been. Calum and I rather took your operation apart."

"Because Calum had access to everything," I said.

"Life isn’t fair. What’s your point?"

"Did you even want the painting back?"

"Only to stop Bickerstaff having it."

Meg slapped her hand on the desk. "Johnson checked out."

I shook my head. "But he's not Johnson, so our intel didn’t uncover the right data."

"Also my experience in banking means I'm good at faking financial records and payments. You're an amateur moving into the big leagues, and you need help."

"I’d never work with you." I looked at the others. "None of us would."

"I’m not giving you a choice."

"Where is our money for the necklace job?" Sid asked.

"Really?" Meeks asked.

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