Barking Boy Page 14

  “What do you take me for? As long as they cooperate, no one will get hurt.”

  Jimmy swallowed deeply. That was exactly what he was afraid of. Tommy had a short temper at the best of times.

  Stacey grimaced as a pain shot through her back. She shifted her weight as she sat on the sofa beside her mum. She was scared. It was too early for her to go into labour. She had at least another five weeks to go before the baby was due. She bit down on her lip to stop herself from crying out loud. She wanted the contractions to stop, but instead, they were becoming faster and stronger.

  “Stace.” There was alarm in Mary Williams’ voice. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s the baby,” Stacey gasped, as another contraction ripped through her body. “I think it’s coming.”

  “But it’s too early.” Mary jumped up from the sofa. “Where the bloody hell is your dad when I need him?” She already knew the answer. Jack was down at the pub, propping up the bar, same as he did every night.

  “It’s getting worse, Mum,” Stacey cried.

  Mary pursed her lips. “I’m gonna have to go and fetch Janet and Tommy.” She held up her hand to cut off Stacey’s protests. “I know you don’t want him here, but as the father, it’s his right.” She slipped her feet into her slippers and pulled her woollen cardigan around her shoulders. She’d already discussed it with Janet. When the time came, whether Stacey liked it or not, Tommy would be there.

  Crying out, Stacey gripped hold of the cushion. “Just hurry up, Mum.”

  Putting her front door on the latch, Mary ran down the road toward the Carters’ house. She was out of breath by the time she banged her fist on the wooden door.

  “The baby’s coming,” she quickly explained to a wide eyed Janet, as the door was flung open.

  “Bleeding hell, it’s too soon. Tommy, come on,” Janet yelled. “The baby’s on its way.”

  Tommy felt as though he were on cloud nine as he and his brothers went out to wet the baby’s head. Despite being born early, the baby, a boy whom they had decided to name Liam, was doing well.

  “To the next generation of Carters!” Tommy raised his glass in the air.

  “He’s half Williams, don’t you forget that.” Jack Williams staggered into the pub. His cheeks ruddy and stinking of booze. He was spoiling for a fight.

  Tommy nodded his head. “So he is.” He raised his pint glass into the air for a second time. “To the next generation of Carters and Williamses.” He watched as Jack sauntered off toward the far end of the bar with his cronies, then raised his eyebrows toward Jimmy.

  “Why’d you back down like that? He’ll always be a Carter, through and through.”

  “Because, Jimmy, his daughter happens to be my wife, and I want her back, and if that means backing down to that old bastard, then I’m more than prepared to do just that.”

  Jimmy nodded his head in agreement. He could see Tommy’s point. “Here, what’s up with him?” He jerked his head in the direction of Gary. “He’s had a face like a smacked arse all day.”

  “He’s probably still sulking because I gave him a dig. You all right, gal?”

  Gary nodded his head. He had something on his mind. The truth of the matter was, he was in a lot of bother, and couldn’t for the life of him think of a way out of it.

  “Well, fucking smile then. We’re meant to be celebrating the birth of my son, and by the way, it’s your round.” Tommy gave a cheeky grin, as he pushed Gary toward the bar.

  Despite only having just turned seventeen, the fact that Gary was a Carter, ensured he would get served alcohol in the local boozer. That was if the landlord intended for it to stay in one piece anyway. He ordered the round of drinks, all the while ignoring the mobile phone vibrating in his jacket pocket. Without even looking at his phone, he knew who it would be: Bethany. Just that morning, his girlfriend had dropped a bombshell on him. She was pregnant. He wiped his hand across his clammy forehead. Just thinking about the terrifying situation he now found himself to be in, was enough to bring him out in a cold sweat.

  Tommy raised his freshly filled pint glass in the air. “To us Carters!” He took a sip from his pint of larger. “This time next month, we’ll be raking it in.” He pointed his finger toward his brothers. “And I don’t want any distractions right, from either of you. This job needs our full attention.”

  Gary lowered his eyes. How was he meant to keep his attention on the job now? Bethany was doing his head in, and he had a feeling it was going to get a lot worse.

  Chapter Sixteen

  With balaclavas resting on top of their heads, Tommy, Jimmy, and Gary were waiting with baited breath for the last remaining customer to make their way out of the Building Society.

  “Fucking move yourself,” Tommy muttered from inside the car. His hand was firmly clutched around the car door handle, as he waited on tenterhooks to fling it open and jump out. “Get ready,” he warned his two brothers. “And remember, as soon as we get near to the door, pull the balaclavas down.”

  Jimmy swallowed deeply. To say he was nervous was an understatement. “What’s taking them so long? If they don’t hurry up, they’re gonna end up locking the doors behind them as they leave, and then we’re fucked.”

  “He’s got a point, Tommy.” Mad Dog glanced down at his watch. “Four minutes to go before they’re locked.”

  “Fuck it, we go now.” Flinging open the car door, Tommy jumped out, with his two brothers hot on his tail. “Remember what I said. Cover your faces as soon as we reach the door.”

  They moved quickly. To all intent and purposes, they looked like any other business men, even down to the fact that they were carrying briefcases. The only difference being they had balaclavas perched on top of their heads and guns hidden inside their jackets.

  Pushing through the door, Tommy took the lead. Pulling out the gun, he pointed it toward the young open-mouthed clerk’s head as he stood quivering beside the glass door, ready and waiting to slide the heavy bolt across. “You,” he shouted toward Harold. “Throw me over the keys now. And the rest of you, I want you around this side of the counter. If any of you even think about doing something stupid, then sunshine here gets a bullet through his head.”

  As his two brothers stood brandishing the guns, Jimmy slid the bolt across the door and then snapped off the overhead lights, ensuring they couldn’t be seen from outside.

  Stunned, Harold stared at the three men who’d burst into the Building Society. “This is absurd,” he began, before snapping shut his mouth and throwing across the keys. “You won’t get away with this. I can assure you of that.”

  In deathly silence, Tommy threw the keys across to Jimmy, indicating for him to open up the staff area. He’d fully expected the staff to scream, shout, or at least do something to try and stop them. Instead, all he saw was their panic-stricken faces staring back at him, as he ushered them out toward the back of the building.

  Unlocking the door to the staff room, Jimmy stepped aside, as his brothers pushed the staff and last remaining customer forwards into the windowless room.

  “Right then. This is how it’s gonna be. As long as you all cooperate, no one will get hurt,” Tommy stated once they were all inside the room. He opened up the briefcase he’d been carrying and took out a roll of duct tape and a handful of cable ties. “Tie them up,” he instructed his brothers.

  Silently, Jimmy and Gary used the cable ties and duct tape to bound together the hands and feet of the terrified hostages, all the while underneath the watchful eye of Tommy. Once satisfied they would not be able to escape and raise the alarm, he pushed Harold out of the room. “Now, you are gonna show me exactly where the money is kept. And remember, if you even think about doing something stupid, then people are gonna get hurt.”

  Clearly terrified, Harold nodded his head. He stumbled forwards and clutched at his chest, as Tommy roughly shoved him in the back. “Fucking move. We ain’t got all day.” Glancing down at his watch, Tommy’s heart beat wildly in his chest. The
y had just fifteen minutes left to get the cash from the safe and then get out of the building.

  With the safe open, Tommy frogmarched Harold back to the staff room. “Tie him up with the others, and be quick about it,” he ordered, tapping his watching, indicating they were running out of time.

  Swiftly, Jimmy bound the bank manager’s hands and feet together. Satisfied he would be unable to escape, he then backed up toward the door, and after ushering Gary out of the room, he locked the staff room door firmly shut behind them.

  “We’ve got eight minutes to go.” Tommy’s voice was low.

  Quickly and efficiently, they began filling the briefcases with the cash. “Two minutes to go.” Tommy glanced at his watch. “That’s it times up. We leave now.”

  “What about the rest of the cash?” Gary’s eyes were wide as he looked across to Tommy, then to the remaining notes in the safe.

  “Leave it. We stick to the plan and time’s up. We go now.”

  Shrugging his shoulders, Gary snapped the briefcase he’d been carrying closed.

  Quickly, they walked across the Building Society floor, pausing briefly to cut through the phone cables and remove the video cassettes from the cameras. As if on cue, in the time it had taken them to walk toward the glass door, Mad Dog had reversed the silver Cosworth up to the entrance. In a casual manner, the brothers walked out. With the set of keys in his gloved hand, Tommy locked the glass door behind them, then stood back slightly to release the metal shutter.

  Just as Tommy, and Davey before him, had stated it would be, the robbery was a piece of cake.

  “We fucking did it! What did I tell you?” Pulling off the balaclava covering his face, Tommy’s cheeks were flushed, as he turned in his seat and grinned at his brothers. “Didn’t I tell you it was ours for the taking?”

  “Were there any problems, lad?”

  Tommy glanced sideways at Mad Dog. “It was like taking candy from a fucking baby.”

  “I thought that old geezer was gonna have a heart attack at one point,” Jimmy said.

  “Fuck him. The silly old bastard … it ain’t even his money.”

  “Yeah, I know, but still.”

  Tommy threw his younger brother a look. “You’re too fucking soft, Jimmy, that’s your trouble. Anyways, forget about him now, and just think about all of that lovely dough we’ve got.”

  “How much do you think you got away with, lad?”

  Tommy blew out his cheeks. He glanced toward his brothers before speaking. “What do you reckon, seventy grand?”

  “If not more,” Gary chirped in. “And we even left some behind because we ran out of time.”

  “Not bad for thirty minutes’ graft, eh?” Tommy grinned.

  Mad Dog began to laugh. “Aye a good day’s work then, lads.”

  Stacey glanced up at the clock on the kitchen wall. She knew Tommy usually came home around this time, and she smiled across at Janet as she made a fuss of Karen. Normally, she would have begun to usher her daughter into her coat by now, eager to get out of the house, so she wouldn’t have to see her husband, but today she ignored the ticking clock. The truth was, she wanted to see Tommy. She could feel the familiar sensation of butterflies in her tummy, just like she used to when they’d first began dating, and her cheeks blushed as she looked down at Liam as he lay content in the crook of her arm. Their son was the spit of his daddy, and each time she looked down at him, all she saw was Tommy’s face.

  Janet herself had also noticed the time, and she’d had to hide the smile that threatened to spread across her face. Ever since Liam’s birth, it had felt as though they’d turned a corner. No longer did Stacey scowl every time Tommy’s name was mentioned. “Would you like a biscuit?” she asked Karen. Placing the toddler onto the floor, she took her by the hand and walked her over to the biscuit tin. “You can choose whichever one you want, my darling.”

  “You spoil her too much,” Stacey grinned.

  “That’s what grandchildren are for,” Janet winked back. She quickly glanced up at the clock on the wall. Where the bleeding hell was Tommy? He should have been home by now. “How would you and Karen like to stop here for your tea today? It’s nothing fancy, just sausage, mash and a bit of gravy, or I could send our Jonny down to the chippy. What d’ya reckon?”

  Stacey paused before answering. She looked down at Karen as she happily munched on a custard cream. “Go on then. Sausage, mash and gravy would be lovely.”

  Janet grinned. That would put a smile on Tommy’s face, to find Stacey and the kids here when he came home from work.

  Pulling into the scrap yard, Mad Dog switched off the ignition.

  “Right, let’s get these hidden away,” Tommy said, nodding toward the briefcases. “Mad Dog, you’ll get rid of the car, and then we carry on as we normally do, okay? We don’t touch this money for at least two months, maybe even three.”

  They all nodded their heads in agreement. As they climbed out of the Cosworth, Tommy pulled Mad Dog back toward him. “What are you going to do with the car?”

  “I’ll take it down to silver town, lad, burn the bugger out. Nothing will come back to us.”

  “You’re certain of that?”

  Mad Dog raised his eyebrows. “I was working for Davey long before you were even a twinkle in your old man’s eye. It’s not the first car I’ve had to get rid of, Tommy.”

  Tommy chuckled. “I know, it’s just …” He glanced over toward his brothers. “You know what I mean.”

  “I do, lad. You want to protect those two, and trust me there will be nothing left of the car. There’ll be no comebacks. Your main concern should be making sure those two over there,” he jerked his head toward Jimmy and Gary, “can keep quiet about it.”

  Tommy chewed on the inside of his cheek. He was thoughtful. Jimmy, he knew he could trust with his own life. It was Gary who concerned him the most. “They’ll keep quiet.”

  “Let’s hope they do, lad, for all of our sakes.”

  Janet was just about to dish up the sausages when her sons burst through the front door. “You’re just in time,” she shouted out, “and look who’s here having their tea with us.”

  Scooping Karen into his arms, Tommy grinned. “How are they?” he asked, bending down to kiss the top of his son’s head as he lay in Stacey’s arms.

  “They’re both fine.”

  Tommy nodded his head, before gently squeezing his wife’s shoulder. “Are you having your dinner with Daddy?” he asked, turning his attention to Karen, and walking across the kitchen toward the cooker.

  “Tommy get out of the bleeding way. How am I supposed to dish up with the two of yous in front of me?”

  Tommy chuckled. “Come on, we better get out of nanny’s way.” He took a seat next to Stacey. “When are you coming home?” he asked, his voice low.

  Stunned, Stacey turned in her seat to face her husband, not sure if she’d heard him right.

  “Well?” Tommy raised his eyebrows. “I want you home, all three of you.”

  “I …” Before she could answer, Janet had placed a steaming plate in front of her, and the rest of the family had scrambled to the table. “We’ll talk about it later,” she whispered.

  As usual, meal times were loud in the Carter household, each of them trying to out talk the other. Tommy tapped his knife against the side of the plate to get everyone’s attention. “Seeing as we have all of the Carters here tonight,” he glanced across to Stacey, “then I think we should have a little toast, to us.”

  Raising their glasses in the air, they shouted out. “To us Carters!”

  With so much chaos around them, no one noticed how quiet Gary was, or had been for the last few weeks.

  “Come on, Stace, just come home.”

  “It’s not as easy as that, is it?”

  “I ain’t gonna give up. Come home, please.” There was a twinkle in Tommy’s eyes, as he watched his wife hesitate. She hadn’t said no. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it? “Look, we’ve been gettin
g on really well lately, and I want you back. I want all three of you to come home. I’ll even sort out a place of our own for us to live. Anywhere you want, just let me know and I’ll buy it.”

  “I know you won’t bloody give up,” Stacey giggled.

  “Well, then what do you say?”

  Stacey glanced toward the house. She could see Janet through the kitchen window, as she did the washing up, and knew her mother-in-law, despite being up to her elbows in soapy suds, would be listening in on the conversation. “Do you really mean it? That we can get our own place, anywhere I want?”

  Tommy’s heart leapt. “Anywhere, Stace. You just name it, and it’s yours.”

  “Okay, I’ll come home and I know exactly which house I want.” Stacey hugged Tommy to her, as he spun her around.

  “You won’t regret it. Come on, let’s tell everyone the good news.”

  Janet jumped up and down with joy. She’d already guessed that Stacey was coming home before they’d even had the chance to break the news. “You and our Tommy were made for each other,” she told her daughter-in-law later that evening.

  “I know,” was all Stacey needed to say. The huge grin spread across her face said it all.

  “I’ve done things, Stace. Bad things.”

  They were lying in bed. Puzzled, Stacey turned onto her side to look at her husband. “What do you mean?”

  Tommy sighed. “I don’t want any more secrets between us, Stace, I don’t ever want to lose you again.”

  Swallowing deeply, Stacey’s voice was small as she answered. “You won’t lose me again.”

  “I’ve hurt people, Stace. Scared people, robbed people.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” There was alarm in Stacey’s voice and Tommy pulled her closer.