Everything to Lose (18 page)

29

Southsea
,
Hampshire

The next day late in the afternoon when he'd returned from his court appearance Jim McVickin called Gavin Shawlens to say that Oliver had turned up at the Club full of apologies. Gavin asked to speak to Oliver and Jim said his sister Lisa was in the process of giving Oliver an almighty telling off for his disappearing act.

He
told Gavin he was not going to interrupt her and Gavin agreed that was probably for the best. Gavin asked if he could make his way over to the Old Bards Club to meet Oliver. Jim agreed and they set a time.

Zoe
had left the flat early to attend the funeral of her comrade who committed suicide so Gavin didn't call her to say where he was going. In fact he wanted a surprise development for her return.

Jim
McVickin led Gavin Shawlens across the restaurant through the kitchens and out into a closed yard past large grey bins on wheels full of wine and beer bottles, numerous empty beer barrels a large mesh cage containing gas cylinders for the bar.

During
the walk they passed a number of restaurant staff and bar staff in smart uniforms getting prepared for the evening meals. Everyone seemed friendly and smiled at Gavin even though they were busy. They walked across the yard to the adjacent building and Gavin realised they were entering the rear of the large factory that backed onto the Club.

Inside
the factory building Gavin and Jim were stopped in a reception room by a doorman called Big Eric. He was a tall, heavy-set, mean-looking bald-headed bouncer. He searched Gavin Shawlens and ran a portable magnetometer over him. It beeped at his car keys and his phone so Gavin showed his mobile phone.

Big
Eric took the phone placed it in a metal box on a nearby table on the right hand side of the room and said Gavin could pick it up on the way out. Gavin Shawlens had visited many secure establishments and always had to surrender his phone at the door. He was not bothered but did wonder what kind of commercial work they were doing that needed protection from mobile phone cameras.

The
reception area was twenty foot square with walls of half wood to waist height and half obscured glass to the ceiling. Continuing forward Gavin followed Jim through a sealed door leading to the inside of the building. The reception room had one other door on the left wall leading to a side room. Jim carried forward and into the building heading north. Gavin saw a few men in grey overalls carrying crates and talking in whispers.

Jim
walked diagonally to the left heading northwest and as Gavin followed, he scanned the people and the place for clues. When Gavin looked at a wall of old fashioned white tiles, Jim said the building had once been an abattoir. Gavin saw the building had been converted to make five walled-off bays on the west side and three larger walled-off bays on the east side of the building.

It
looked like the far end north wall was a storage and machinery area. On the west wall to his left the first two bays looked like dormitories with partitions, privacy curtains around single beds and bunk beds. He saw several women, oriental looking, sitting on the edge of their beds, some talking, some reading and some staring at the ceiling.

Naively
his first thought was that it was sleeping facilities for Club staff working long or late shifts. Later he would realise that the first room, connected to the reception area had seven partitioned working beds for prostitutes.

The
middle bay on the west wall left contained six resting beds in makeshift cubicles. It also had a pole running from the floor to a metal cross-support. Based on what he's seen the previous night he thought it was where the pole dancers learned their routines. The fourth bay looked like a storage area and a makeshift kitchen. The fifth bay, where they were heading, was a large office.

As
Gavin looked over his right shoulder to the east wall he saw the three large bays against east wall were where the people in grey overalls were working. The entrance to each of these bays was covered with heavy duty, opaque plastic, overlapping sheets.

In
the first bay in the southeast corner the lighting inside was weak so he couldn't see through the overlapping plastic sheets. When he looked at the middle bay Gavin saw the outline of what looked like processing equipment.

The
third bay was brightly lit with extensive overhead circular ducting for an air exhaust system. When a young girl came through the overlapping sheets Gavin glimpsed rows and rows of cannabis plants on tables under bright overhead lighting with air conditioning units under the tables. He heard a steady drone of extractor fan noise in the factory and now he knew what it was for.

Jim
led Gavin to the fifth bay on the west wall. It was in the northwest corner of the factory. They walked through a large sliding door. Inside was an enormous plush office that looked more like the living room of a grand house. It was fitted out with antique tables, chairs and two ornate four-seater settees. On the wall, facing the settees was a bespoke antique design TV unit with an embedded sixty-inch plasma screen.

One
corner was more in keeping with an office with filing cabinets, business desks, computers, printers and other office equipment. A bank of four CCTV monitors displayed live video streams of various views inside and outside the Club and the factory.

On
one settee a young Asian girl, possibly Vietnamese, maybe fourteen years of age fingered with her electronic game as if it was about to explode in her hand. Beside her sat a smartly dressed middle-aged man. He had a big smile on his face as he watched Gavin walk by.

Lisa
McVickin sat behind a large antique desk and remained seated as Gavin walked towards her desk. Her Banksia stick rested on a low wooden stand on top of the table. His eyes admired the intricate detail on the front of the desk. She smiled when she saw he recognised it.

She
confirmed it was a replica of The Resolute Desk. The large, nineteenth-century partners' desk, built from the timbers of the British Arctic Exploration ship Resolute and gifted to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 by Queen Victoria.

She
asked if he knew the background and he said he knew a little so she delighted in re-telling the history of the Resolute Desk. She loved her replica desk and took every opportunity to tell the story to anyone who could appreciate it. She explained its features as they walked around it and she allowed him to run his fingers over the exquisite wood.

Lisa
told Gavin to sit on a settee and offered him a drink. Jamie McVickin stood at a well-stocked glass and antique mahogany mini-bar and raised an empty glass for Gavin to give his order. Gavin declined and sat down on the other settee facing the girl and the smiling man. Lisa introduced her older brother Sidney G McVickin and the young girl Lexy.

Lisa
walked around her desk. She half-sat on the table resting her right thigh on the top and kept her left foot firmly on the floor. Her fingers danced along the hazel shaft of the Banksia stick as if they were playing a flute.

"Oliver
Mansole was my chemist. Now some thieving toe-rag has taken him. Either that or he's set himself up in competition. I think it's the former because I know he wouldn't be so abundantly stupid to try the latter. For a tacky moment I thought it was you. Either way he's left me in a bit of a pickle. I have urgent orders and the little shit kept all his chemical recipes in his skull," Lisa explained.

"Production
of what?" Gavin said turning his head in the direction of the cannabis plants.

"Not
skunk doctor, any monkey can produce skunk. I make steroids."

"Steroids."

"Yes doctor I'm sure you've heard of them," she said sarcastically.

"You
manufacture steroids here?" Gavin said with disbelief.

He
was thinking large factory scale, clean room facilities, huge production halls, conveyer belts, fume cupboards and all the sophisticated equipment needed to produce steroids.

"Catches
on quick," Jim said to Lisa.

"Apparently
you are an expert on steroids," Lisa said.

Gavin
ground his teeth and cursed Tyler Wattsin under his breath. His mind filled with the idea that he would ask Zoe to take the little shit up a blind alley and beat him senseless.

"Sorry
I can't help you. I could lose my job if I got involved in illegal steroids."

"Oh
my God doctor. Is that right? Well we can't have that can we," she raised her voice and her brothers laughed.

She
eased off the desk and walked towards Gavin then stood looking down at him. Gavin felt intimidated by her presence. Her voice boomed and commanded with a solid confidence that stemmed from the fact she believed she was smarter and more determined than him.

"I'll
make it worth your while," she said temptingly.

"Money
doesn't control me."

"I'm
not talking about money," Lisa said as she turned and opened her arm to point at Lexy.

"I'm
sorry …, erm. I should leave now," Gavin said as he stood up from the settee.

Jim
and Jamie moved to stand on either side of Gavin Shawlens. Gavin looked at their faces and knew he wasn't going anywhere.

"What's
your hurry doctor?" Lisa asked.

"I
don't want to get involved in illegal drugs."

The
two brothers grabbed an arm each. Their grip was so powerful it was impossible to struggle against them. She walked back to her desk and the two brothers forced Gavin to follow her.

Her
faced became severe. She snatched the Banksia from its rest and stood menacingly in front of Gavin. She pushed the Banksia up under his chin. He felt the hard nut pushing into his throat.

"I
don't bloody care what YOU want. You'll make my steroids and you'll train my monkey how to make them," Lisa bellowed into Gavin's face.

She
moved the Banksia from his throat and tapped his shoulder bone hard enough to let him know what the Banksia was used for since grandfather's day.

"You
can't make me do anything."

"Son!"
she said condescendingly.

"My
family were making people do what they're told long before your granny wet her first nappy," she said.

"If
you beat me up I'll become so confused I'll make enough air-borne poison to kill off everybody within a half-mile radius. I do know how to do that."

Lisa
pushed the Banksia into his chest.

"How
DARE you threaten me. I do the threats in here. You stupid little shit."

She
walked around Gavin and allowed the Banksia to slip through her hand until she held the opposite end. Then she swung the stick so the nut hit Gavin's back between the shoulder blades. The whack made his step forward.

Lisa
took her time walking back to her desk then placed the Banksia on its rest. She opened a drawer and lifted out an exquisite looking Walther PPK .38 calibre, semi-automatic pistol. It was gold plated and engraved with fine oak leaf scrolls. The handgrips were brilliant white ivory. She rotated it in her hand like it was a thing of beauty. She took the clip out to let him see the bullets in case he was dumb enough to think it wasn't a real gun.

"This
little beauty is Esther my personal eraser. When I have an intractable problem, Esther, bless her, will erase it for me. Gone forever."

She
held the gun in her right hand. She stroked and caressed the gun lovingly with her left hand.

"Let
me go and I'll say no more about this to anyone."

"You're
not walking out of here alive. You've seen too much of my private business. If you won't work for me, fine. Esther will erase you," Lisa said.

"I
will die today, tomorrow, next week. It's only a matter of when."

"Esther
has seen many weak men collapse into snivelling, shivering piles of shit, pleading for their pitiful life to be spared. Know what, she just doesn't listen. She shouts her big loud word to drown them out and spits out her hot tongue to make sure they never speak again."

Lisa
pressed the muzzle of the gun into the centre of Gavin's forehead and pulled back the hammer.

"Give
me a few seconds please."

"Why
should I?"

"I
have someone waiting for me. I just need a moment to let her know I'm coming. We'll both be very grateful."

"So
be it," Lisa said with a ring of finality.

Gavin
Shawlens relaxed his body until it was almost limp and closed his eyes. He brought a picture of Emma Patersun into his mind and in his thoughts he called loudly to tell her he was coming home to her.