Top Dog Read online

  “I’m only mentioning it now, because I’m going to tell them Freddie was responsible, and I don’t want it to be the first time you hear about it.”

  “Cheers for that.” Moray rolled his eyes. “Anything else I should know about, while we’re at it?”

  “No, that’s about it.” They would be here all day, if he started confessing to everything he’d done over the years.

  * * *

  “It was you … you killed Nico. You and Freddie Smith, together.” George was furious. He stabbed his finger forward, his dark eyes flashing dangerously. His instincts had been right all along. Hadn’t he said it to anyone who would listen, that these were the two men who’d been responsible?

  “I can swear to you, hand on my heart, I did not touch a hair on your nephew’s head, but I know who did, and I can take you to both him, and the man who killed your brother.” Despite the hostile reception he and Moray had received from the two Greeks, Danny remained in control of the situation.

  “You know where Lee Hart is?” George and Alexandros turned toward one another. To say they were stunned, was an understatement. They had spent the best part of a year, trying to hunt the slippery bastard down.

  “We have both Freddie and Lee Hart holed up together. But before we hand them over, we want to come to an arrangement about the doors.” He took a sip of brandy, savouring the burn, as he swallowed the liquid down. He wanted the two men to be able to digest what he’d just said, before continuing. “We need your assurance that you and your family will steer clear of our doors. In other words, you’ll stay away from our manor, and we’ll stay away from yours.”

  George sat back in his seat. He eyed the two men in front of him warily. He knew this was what his brother wanted, for them to sort out their affairs, yet, he couldn’t help but feel as though he was doing a deal with the devil himself. He tugged at his pin-striped tie, leaving it to sit askew against the white linen shirt, while he thought the proposition through.

  “So, do we have a deal?”

  George glanced toward Alexandros. He needed to process this. He was in half a mind to take the deal, and then double-cross them. When was business ever black and white anyway? The first rule he’d ever learned as a young man, was that you had to be ruthless and look out for number one. He could feel his brother’s eyes boring into his skull.

  The three men were waiting for his answer. As eager as he was to get his hands on Freddie Smith and Lee Hart, giving up the ambition and power he’d always strived for, was a different matter entirely. Finally, he nodded his head. As much as he disliked what he was agreeing to, Alexandros was right. They needed to put an end to the bloodshed.

  “You have your deal.” Alexandros spoke for his brother, as he leant across the table to shake both Danny’s and Moray’s hands. “You have our word that the doors will come under no threat from us.”

  Danny grinned, as he shook the proffered hand. He glanced across to Moray. This had been a lot easier than the both of them had expected. They had been expecting a backlash of sorts, maybe even a few punches to fly. At the very least, one or two idle threats.

  “Now that the deal is done, when do we get them?”

  “They’re yours, whenever you’re ready, but just a little warning for you, if you go back on this deal, then believe me, I will hunt you both down, and I can guarantee you won’t like the outcome.” Danny’s voice was suddenly menacing, leaving it clear to the two men that he meant every word.

  Alexandros nodded his head. It was exactly what he’d expected to hear, and if the roles were reversed, he knew for a fact that they would have said the exact same thing. He glanced across to George, hoping his brother also took heed to the warning they had been given. “You have our word.”

  “Good.” Danny rubbed his hands together. The business was concluded. “Whenever you’re ready, both men are yours for the taking.”

  * * *

  Freddie’s heart sank, as he watched the Greeks walk through the lock up doors. He felt panic begin to rise within him, and moved his body this way and that, as he tried to fight his way out of the thick plastic cable ties that restrained him.

  Pushing his body against the now semi-conscious Lee, Freddie toppled over onto his side. His body and mind battled against one another, as a survival instinct inside of him took over. The numbness in his hands made it impossible for him to do anything other than lay squirming where he’d fallen.

  The fury of the situation he found himself in began in his belly and pushed its way up through his chest. He roared in frustration. “You no good fucking cunt,” he screamed in Danny’s direction.

  He could hear the men discussing him, as though he were nothing more than a piece of meat on the floor. In their eyes, he’d ceased being a human being. He was a nothing, a no one. Instinctively, he knew his days were numbered, and without a shadow of a doubt, he knew they wouldn’t keep him alive for any longer than they needed to, yet, the pride inside him vowed he would fight on, until the bitter end.

  * * *

  “Right, they’re all yours.” Danny looked around him, then nodded his gratitude toward the Carter brothers. The business was concluded. Freddie’s and Lee’s fates were now in the hands of the Christos family.

  George Christos nodded his head in acknowledgement. He’d dreamt of this moment for so many years. He could feel the hatred burning inside of him, and knew each of his family members would be feeling the same emotion, as he himself was. He walked slowly around the two men, resisting the urge to kick out at them as he did so. “Twenty years, I’ve waited for this moment,” he spat, crouching down beside Lee. “Twenty years, I’ve waited to see you hanging from a hook, just like you left my brother, with his insides hanging out of him to rot.”

  Straightening up, George walked back toward Alexandros. He stood beside him, watching as his nephews brought in through the lock up doors, a heavy metal hook and a length of thick metal chain. “Assemble it here,” he ordered them.

  * * *

  Watching as the Greeks assembled the makeshift execution structure, Danny took one last look toward Freddie and Lee. He felt no emotion toward them, whatsoever.

  “Oh, by the way, your nephew was still alive when Freddie set him on fire.”

  He watched as a flurry of different emotions crossed George Christos’s face. The fact that he had just set in motion Freddie’s own method of death, meant nothing to him, and why should it? He had warned the man not to do what he had done.

  Nodding his head toward Moray, Danny indicated it was time for them to leave. They shook hands with George and Alexandros, ignoring the desperate pleas to spare his life, which came from Freddie.

  Without even a backwards glance, Danny walked out of the lock up for the final time, leaving the man he had worked for, for over twenty years, behind him. As far as he was concerned, Freddie was already dead to him. In fact, the man’s fate had been sealed, the day he had plotted his own death sentence with Big Tone, Terry Stevens and Lloydy.

  Chapter 20

  Tracey Underwood had the shock of her life, as the men burst through her front door. In terror, she had screamed and cowered behind the sofa.

  It was Danny, who dragged her out by the scruff of her neck. He pushed his face toward her. “Do you know who I am?” His grip was tight, his voice menacing and loud, as he spoke.

  Furiously, Tracey nodded her head. She was petrified. Of course she knew who he was. Everyone knew who Danny McKay was. In terror, she tried to wrack her brains, as to what she could have done to annoy the man in front of her. As far as she was aware, she’d never had any personal dealings with him.

  She felt a moment of shame, as he took in the squalor around them. Dirty dishes were piled up in the sink and strewn across worktops. In fact, every plate, cup and bowl she owned, had been used, and were covered in thick dried remnants of the previous meal. She usually just gave the plates a quick rinse under the tap, as and when they were needed, and that was only if she remembered to feed her kids
first.

  Dirty soiled clothes littered the kitchen floor, and the dog she had bought for protection, had started using the corner of the kitchen as his own personal toilet, all because she couldn’t be bothered to take him downstairs for a walk. She kept meaning to tidy up, really she did. There was just always something more important she needed to do first.

  “This place is like a fucking pigsty, and you call yourself a mother, you dirty slag?” Disgust was clearly evident across Danny’s face, and he wrinkled up his nose at the foul scent of dog’s piss, ground in dirt, and chip fat.

  He beckoned for Matty to enter the flat. “Find the boys, and pack a small bag of essentials for them.” He watched, as the lad did as he was bade, then turned his attention back to Tracey. She’d been the first on their list today.

  Throughout the course of the next few days, they would pay a visit to everyone on the sheet of paper that contained the list of names Matty had written down.

  “When the authorities ask you where the kids are, which they will, you are going to tell them that they’ve gone to live with a relative, because you’re too much of a useless, selfish cunt to take care of them. I don’t care where in the world you say they are, but if you breathe one mention of mine, or anyone else’s name in this room, then I will come back here for you, and bounce you all over this poxy shithole that you call home. Am I making myself understood, in that drug-fuelled brain of yours, or do I need to punch it in so you understand?”

  Tracey nodded her head. “I understand,” she stuttered. She watched, helplessly, as her two boys were ushered out of the flat. Typically, her first thoughts went to the money she would be missing out on, now that the boys were gone. She began to cry, as she realised she would not even receive her child benefit money, which she often used to go out and score. She relied on that money for a midweek pick-me-up to get her through, until her social security giro arrived on a Friday.

  Throwing Tracey away from him, Danny watched, as she fell in a heap at his feet. “If you were a bloke, I would have knocked your jaw clean off of your fucking face, so think of yourself as lucky.”

  Through her tears, Tracey nodded her head. She didn’t need telling twice. She already knew she’d had a lucky escape, if you could even call it that.

  Walking from the flat, Danny breathed in lungful’s of fresh air. How people could live like Tracey did, he had no idea. He wiped his hand down his jeans, not wanting the grime of Tracey’s skin to linger on his fingers. She repulsed him.

  As they waited for the lift to reach the ground floor, he turned his attention to the two terrified little boys, clinging onto Matty, and could feel the anger begin to bubble inside of him once again. How could any parent use and abuse their child like Sam’s and Jack’s so called mother had? He had to physically stop himself from taking the lift back up to Tracey’s flat and destroy the sorry excuse for a human being that she was. Instead, he ushered the terrified children toward a navy blue transit van.

  “They’ve got five minutes, then they need to leave.”

  Danny nodded his head. He watched, as Moray went to speak to the driver. Opening up the back doors, he helped the two little boys climb inside. He then turned to Matty.

  “These people are Moray’s kin, his family. You’re going to travel the country with them. Where they go, you go. Do you understand?” He waited for the lad to digest what he’d said, then continued. “Now, I’ve already given them money to sort you out someplace to live, and I want you to take this money to tide you over for a couple of weeks. After that, you’ll have to work alongside Moray’s cousins. It’s going to be your responsibility to provide for and look after these boys.”

  Matty looked down at the money Danny was holding out in his hand. He could already see it was a small fortune, and more than enough to tide them over. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Danny shook his head, dismissing Matty’s words. “You don’t need to say anything. You just need to look after those two,” he said, nodding his head toward Sam and Jack.

  “Danny, time’s up. They need to get going.”

  Glancing toward Moray, Danny smiled gently. “Go on, get in the van and take care of yourself.”

  Throwing himself into Danny’s arms, Matty smiled. “I will do. Thank you, and I promise I’ll look after the boys.”

  Danny nodded his head. He watched, as Matty climbed inside the van and then closed the doors behind him. Already, his heart felt lighter, knowing he had done the right thing in helping all three of them escape. He thumped his fist on the back door, signalling for Moray’s cousins to drive on.

  As they watched the van pull away, Danny turned toward Moray. “I owe you one, mate.”

  Moray nodded his head. He began to walk toward his car. “Yeah, you do,” he called over his shoulder. “I had to pull a lot of strings for them to take the boys.”

  “Well, I’m more than grateful.”

  “I know you are.” Moray cleared his throat. They were both becoming soft with age, that was half the problem. “Right, where to next?”

  Danny took out the sheet of paper from his pocket. This was going to be a long day. “Drive toward Upminster. We’re going to go and see our old adversary, Detective Chief Inspector Williams.”

  “Now this, I am looking forward to,” Moray grinned.

  * * *

  Martin and Geoff Scanlon took short puffs from the cigarette they were sharing. They kicked the leaves from underneath their feet, as they strolled through Epping Forest. The forest was one of their favourite haunts, especially when they were bunking off school for the day. Well-hidden and out of sight, they could spend the day at their leisure. They had their packed lunches to munch on when they became hungry, and would share the few cigarettes they had stolen out of their mum’s handbag. As long as it wasn’t too cold or raining, it had to be better than going to chemistry lessons with that pompous old git, Mr Philips.

  “Oi, come on, Geoff, it’s my turn.” Holding out his hand, Martin waited for his turn to take a drag on the cigarette. “You’re a greedy sod,” he chastised.

  Blowing out smoke rings, Geoff grinned sheepishly, before handing over the cigarette. He knew he should have given his brother more of the smoke, but seeing as he was older, he had first dibs. It was an unspoken rule.

  He sat down on a log and took out his packed lunch. “Tuna again,” he groaned. “Mum knows I hate bloody tuna. What have you got?” Snatching up Martin’s bag, he rifled through his brother’s packed lunchbox. “Cheese sandwiches. I’ll swap you.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Martin stated, as he watched his brother stand up with the cheese sandwich in his fist. “Oi, give it back,” he yelled, as he tried to snatch it back from him.

  “If you want it, you’ll have to take it.” Geoff laughed and ran from his brother. He took a bite, his teeth sinking into the soft, buttered bread and thick slices of cheese. “This is lovely,” he teased. He turned toward Martin, expecting a thorough backlash. Instead, he was met with his brother’s eyes, as wide as saucers, and his face, a deathly shade of white. “What?” he asked.

  Martin didn’t speak. Instead, he pointed his finger to behind where Geoff was standing.

  Geoff could feel his heart begin to beat wildly in his chest. Slowly, he turned around, before falling backwards, in his haste to get away from what they had stumbled across.

  Scrambling away, Geoff’s eyes were now as wide as Martin’s. “Is it real?”

  Martin nodded his head. “It’s definitely real. Look, you can see a face and everything.”

  The two boys stared down at the charred remains of Freddie Smith.

  “What should we do?”

  Geoff began collecting up their school bags. “We can’t tell anyone. Mum and dad will go mental at us for skipping school.”

  “Yeah, but we can’t just forget about it and not tell anyone what we’ve found,” Martin protested, as he pointed down at the body.

  “Listen, we say nothing. Now come on, get your bag. We
need to leave. You never know, whoever did this to that bloke, could still be here watching us, waiting to kill us next.”

  With his brother’s words spurring him into action, Martin hauled his rucksack up onto his back. “Come on,” he shuddered. “This place is giving me the creeps.”

  Without a backward glance, the two boys ran from the crime scene, leaving Freddie Smith’s charred remains, half hidden by branches and fallen leaves, to remain undiscovered.

  * * *

  Hayley Stevens was sulking. She was dreading Terry’s birthday meal the next day, and would do anything to get out of going. The only comfort she took from it, was that she was able to go wild with her husband’s credit card and buy herself a new outfit, not to mention a full day of pampering, at one of her favourite beauty salons. She had to look her best, she would tell Terry, when he came to question the credit card bill.

  She knew she would be able to get around him, though. She always had done so in the past. She sipped at a glass of bubbly, while she had a pedicure done. Today’s pampering was going to cost him a bomb. Still, Terry was good for it. She wouldn’t have married him if he wasn’t.

  * * *

  Detective Inspector Ronnie Dellow wasn’t happy. In fact, he felt defeated. He’d put all of his man power into locating Lee Hart, and the man had apparently vanished off the face of the earth.

  He stared up at the pin board in front of him, the mug shot of the wanted man mocking him. He had to be somewhere. It should have been just a simple case of locating Hart, arresting him, and case solved. Only, finding Lee’s whereabouts, was proving to actually not be as simple as he’d first thought it would be.