The Jump (39 page)

The men looked at the screws then at each other.

Timmy’s burning, for fuck’s sake, you’ve got to get the medics.’

‘The sooner you get back in your cells, the sooner we’ll fetch the medics. Now MOVE!’ The last word was practically screamed at them

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and the men obeyed without thinking.

The last Georgio saw before he returned to his cell was Timmy’s hands and feet, burning. Sadie was bundled into the cell behind him.

Benjamin Dawes was calling out: ‘Oi, turn off Sadie’s rhubarb pie, won’t you, Mr Jackson? Don’t let that get burnt and all.’

Georgio slumped down on the bottom bunk and put his head in his hands. He had to get out of this place.

He had to get out.

Jo Jo O’Neil was someone Donna knew she wouldn’t like the moment she clapped eyes on him.

He was dressed in a blue silk Armani suit, with a white poloneck and Timberland boots. His hair was greased and slicked back, his teeth were bad and his skin sallow. His eyes looked as if they had seen too much and too soon for the rest of his body. He was loud-voiced with a thick Liverpool accent and he looked at Donna as if she was a piece of meat.

‘So, Alan, you arrived then - and this is Georgio’s old woman, is it?’ He poured himself a drink and stood before the fireplace as if the house was his and not Jack’s.

Donna saw Alan look at the man with loathing, and she felt a prickle of fear.

‘Still nattily dressed, I see, Jojo. Where do you shop these days the Oxfam shop or the Sally Army?’

Jo Jo laughed mirthlessly and shook his head.

‘You’ve got a fucking nerve, Cox, coming here and asking the earth. When Jack told me what you wanted I nearly wet meself with laughter. You and Brunos are a pair of fucking scallys and the sooner you realise that the better.’

Alan got up and Donna felt the tension thicken in the room. Jack went to rise from his seat and Alan pushed him back down as if he was nothing, no weight at all.

‘Don’s, even think about it, Jack. I always carry insurance and you know that. Anything happens to me and about fifty blokes will be baring up the M1 like raving lunatics. Remember the north-south divide, son, and keep yourself out of this.’

He walked towards Jo Jo who was about the same height and build, but softer bodied, not hard-looking or trim—

‘I don’t like you, you’re a cunt, O’Neil, but you owe me and you owe Georgio. Now I’ve come to collect for the both of us.’ He looked at Jack. ‘I’m surprised you got into this business with him, mate, you being a family man and all. I’d have thought even you’d have balked at it. Now, as you both know, I killed a man for less than this ponce is

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them doing at this very moment, and I swear an oath I’ll rip you limb from fucking limb if I get any more of your cheek, OK?’

Jo Jo stood straight, his face a mask. Donna couldn’t even begin to guess what he was thinking. Then, without warning, the man smiled, a wide, cheerful, good-natured smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

‘I looked after you when you got banged up, Alan. I don’t owe you fucking fuck all, mate. I made sure you was all right in nick, I saw to everything for you, but you had to do it in public, didn’t you? You couldn’t have waited for the Chinky ponce in a dark alley, oh no, not Alan Big Man Cox. You had to do it in front of everyone, even fucking tourists! I don’t owe you - you owe me mate. I kept my end of the bargain. I never tucked you up. We all lost a lot of sobs over you, mate, we lost a fortune.’

Donna had no idea what they were talking about and her face showed her bewilderment.

‘You never sent me a fucking brass raoo in stir, boy, it was Georgio who watched out for me and my family. Georgio. He came up trumps for me while you done a fucking runner. You legged it so fast it’s a wonder they never asked you to run in the Commonwealth Games!’ Alan’s voice was now a fierce roar.

‘You owe me, you little turd. You’ll always owe me, because I killed a man you wanted out of the way. I was a convenient fall guy for you, and then I find out off of Georgio that you was hand in glove with the Chinese ponce. So don’t wind me up today, boy. I ain’t in the fucking mood! I never liked pimps or ponces, you should know that better than anyone!’

Donna watched Jo Jo’s face’as he visibly gritted his teeth, then spoke. ‘What do you want us to do though? If you’ve got the Jocks sorting it all out—’

Alan interrupted him impatiently. ‘Don’t talk like a prat. You know I can’t be running up here morning, noon and night. I want you two to watch over everything from here. I also want you to sort out another safe house that doesn’t have my name or Georgio’s involved in its creation. You know what I need, O’Neil, you’ve done it enough times for others. Now you can use your expertise for me and Georgio - and let me give you one more warning. Brunos is into heavy stuff, heavier than you’d ever guess mate, so be careful. He has friends in strange places, old Georgio, and so do I. Be careful who you talk to, boys, because I’m like a fucking grasses’ heaven - they tell me everything. That’s why I’m here demanding and you’ve got to do what I ask.’

Jojo tried to salvage some dignity.

‘OK, we’re in,’ he said. As if he had a choice in the matter.

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Alan shook his head. Looking at Jack he said, ‘How do you stand this prat, eh? Come on, Donna, we’ve done our bit. Let’s make a move.’

She hastily picked up her bag and followed him to the door. Outside in the hallway Bethany stood clenching her fists. Donna could see the same fear mirrored in Bethany’s face as was on her own.

Georgio lay on the floor of his cell listening to the soft snores of Sadie who had been given an injection by the medic. Chopper sat on the edge of his top bunk, a roll-up in his mouth.

‘I know what that smell was, Chopper,’ Georgio said suddenly. ‘It was tetrachloride! I remember it from when I was first in the building game. It was the only thing we could use to thin out rubber paint. Jesus, how the fuck did they get it in here?’

Chopper shrugged. ‘In a flask - a soup Thermos or a hip-flask, of course. It’s a similar burning to one I witnessed in Durham. That was a child molester though. No one gave a fuck.’

Georgio’s head was reeling with the sights he had witnessed. ‘How was he paralysed though? He was still alive -1 saw him moving.’

Chopper smiled slightly. ‘Nah, man, he wasn’t paralysed in that way. He had something pushed down his throat, probably a ping pong ball or an old sock. Then he was trussed up with chicken wire you just couldn’t see it because of the burning, the smoke and that. Then the rubber mask was pulled over his face and the tolly was poured all over him. After a while they dropped a match on him and that’s when the smoke started. It’s a well-known trick in northern nicks.’

Georgio felt the vomit rising in his stomach and took a deep breath. Chopper laughed louder this time.

‘You make me laugh, Brunos. Anyone can see you’ve never been in a nick before. You think this is bad, you should try some of the others, mate. You have to harden yourself up, get used to it all if you want to i survive. That wasn’t as bad as some of the things I’ve witnessed. I’ve seen men have their wedding tackle removed and Shoved in their mouth, then their lips sewn together with the thick needles and twine used in the workroom. You have to sort yourself out. I thought you was a hard man?’

Georgio shook his head. ‘I am hard when I need to be, don’t you worry. But only an animal would countenance this. No human could order it.’

‘Well, at least we’re agreed on that one,’ Chopper sniggered. ‘Lewis is behind it as we both know and he is an animal, a subhuman arsehole, and he’ll be back before we know it. That little display

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them today was for the benefit of you, me, everyone. Another way for Lewis to let us know he has a long arm.’

‘I could kill him myself.’

‘Now that’s the most sensible thing I’ve heard all night! Between us, me and you, we could kick that arsewipe off the face of the earth. Think about that, Brunos, instead of your Kentucky Fried friend. I’m going to sleep. There’ll be hell to pay in the morning while the guards question us and pretend they knew nothing at all about the events of today.’

He lay back in his bunk and Georgio settled himself on the floor of the cell on the thin blanket.

The smell of burning was still acrid and the faint stench of the tetrachloride pricked his nostrils. The thought of Timmy’s pain as the tolly burnt into him, and the rubber melted into his face, into his eyes and mouth, made Georgio feel sick to his stomach. Timmy didn’t deserve that. “

He hadn’t done anything worth that.

As Chopper said, it was Lewis showing his strength once more, and the thought made Georgio see a dull red behind his lids.

That bastard Lewis needed taking down a peg, and after Timmy’s maiming and Chopper’s words, Georgio thought he just might be the person to do it.

He finally slept… and he dreamt about Timmy, Timmy’s wife, Timmy’s kids … and Sadie.

He felt no better for the sleep, his dreams so vivid and disturbing. He finally vomited into the toilet bowl at four-thirty in the morning.

He wasn’t sure but he could have sworn he heard a dull chuckle come from Chopper’s bunk.

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Chapter Twenty-Eight

At four-fifteen in the morning, Alan pulled up outside his flat in Soho. He turned off the car engine and stared at Donna who was sleeping gently beside him. He watched her for a few moments in the muted light of a street lamp, her face sweet in repose, dark eyelashes casting long shadows across her cheeks. He put out a hand tentatively and placed it on her shoulder. Donna opened her eyes and smiled trustingly at him, then, memory returning, she sat up abruptly.

‘Where are we?’ Her voice was still full of sleep and Alan grinned in the half-light.

‘Outside my drum. We’re back in the Smoke. Come on, I’ll make you a coffee, then you can freshen up and drive yourself home.’

Donna grabbed her bag and followed him into the tall building. Inside the flat, she was surprised to see it was almost too tidy. Even the telephone pad on the hall table was neatly placed alongside the phone with a pen and a pencil either side of it like a dinner setting. In the comfortable lounge she sank gratefully on to a well-upholstered blue silk sofa and closed her eyes. Sleep was still threatening to envelop her. She was both physically and emotionally exhausted. Alan looked at her with pity and put on the electric kettle for some coffee.

‘Why don’t you go and have a shower?’ he suggested. ‘Freshen up. I’ll bring in your case and you can get changed, eh?’

Donna jiodded gratefully. The journey from Liverpool had left her feeling a wreck.

‘ Five minutes later she was standing under a hot shower, letting the water cleanse her inside and out. As she picked up the bar of Lux and began to soap herself all over, it occurred to her that Alan had probably used it to do the same thing. The actions became almost lazy then. She breathed in deeply. The scent of him was everywhere, even the tang of his cigars was all around her. She closed her eyes and let the water run over her face, allowing it to wake her up, to give her back some of her energy.

Finally, she soaped herself between her legs, luxuriating in the

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them feeling. It had been too long since a man had touched her there … Drawing her fingers back as if they were burnt she hurriedly finished her shower and wrapped herself in a large white towel. Then, picking up a hand towel, she folded it like a turban around her head.

Donna stared at her reflection in the mirror over the hand basin. She looked good, she knew that. Her skin was glowing from the hot water and her eyes were glittering like black diamonds. It was at times like this she missed Georgio more than ever. She had always been a healthy woman, and craved sex at times like other people craved chocolate. It was the only time she was truly connected to her husband. Breathing deeply, she turned from the mirror, pushing both Georgio’s face and Alan Cox’s out of her mind.

Spotting a large black bathrobe hanging on the back of the door, she slipped it on, folding up the bath towel and replacing it over the heated towel rail. Her eyes scanned the bathroom to make sure everything was neat again and then she slipped out of the door. As she saw Alan standing in his bedroom she felt a flush creep up her neck and face, the heat making her feel faint with embarrassment.

‘I brought you in a cup of coffee; your case is on the bed.’

They stared at each other for a long moment, Donna realising that there was something in Alan Cox that called out to her. Suddenly she knew why they argued so much, why they couldn’t get along.

The insight was a revelation to her. No longer meeting his gaze, she smiled tightly.

Thanks. I won’t be long now then I’ll get myself off home.’

Alan took his cue and walked from the room.

Donna dried herself off and dressed hastily, chiding herself the whole while. She had to get out of Alan’s flat and back on to her own territory as soon as possible. She’d been too long on her own, that’s what was wrong.

Once Georgio was home everything would go back to normal.

She was so busy with these thoughts, she didn’t notice Big Paddy parked outside.

Alan was listening to the early-morning news on Radio 4 when his buzzer sounded. Frowning, he pressed the intercom switch. ‘Who is it?’

He was relieved to hear Big Paddy’s voice.

‘It’s me, Alan, open he door.’

Two minutes later, Paddy was standing in Alan’s hallway, an anxious smile on his face. He took in the dressing gown and recently washed hair.

‘I was hoping to hear from you, Paddy,’ Alan said. ‘I just assumed it would be at a normal time of the day or night.’

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Paddy followed Alan through to the kitchen.

‘Coffee or tea?’

Paddy shrugged. ‘Whatever you’re having.’ He sat at the kitchen table and glanced over the newspaper headlines.

Alan placed a cup of coffee in front of him and said tersely, ‘So? What do you want?’

Paddy eyed him for a moment. ‘I just saw Donna leaving, I was under the impression that Donna’s only to be the messenger, nothing else. Wonder what Georgio will have to say about her leaving with wet hair? I know he wasn’t that impressed with her going off for the weekend with you in the first place.’

Taking his time, Alan lit himself a large cigar. Blowing the smoke across the table into Paddy’s face, he said viciously, ‘You tell fucking Georgio that his wife is in this up to her neck. She took him at face value and now she wants to organise everything with me. If he don’t like it, then that’s tough shit. I am doing him a right favour and he’d do well to remember that. And before you open your trap, Paddy, remember just who you’re talking to.’

Alan sipped his coffee, a vision of Donna still before his eyes, and then he said in a low voice: ‘I don’t believe what I’m hearing. You have the fucking gall to sit there and tell me that Georgio is still calling the shots from Parkhurst? He involved her in all this himself I never wanted it from the off. I even sent a message in telling him I wanted another number two. But no, I got sex on legs, whether I wanted her or not.

‘Well, Paddy me old mate, she knows too much now, and believe me when I say she’s quick on the uptake. She has been an asset on this trip, a bona ride asset. Tell Georgio we left school over thirty years ago. If he wants to go into his dotage, that’s his lookout — but he can get off my fucking back. You can also tell him that if he has any sense he’ll gets off hers as well. I’m doing him the favour, remember?’

Paddy sighed gently. ‘What’s the score with Jockland?’

Alan grinned. ‘How much do you know, Paddy, and how much are you guessing, eh? I know for a fact you ain’t had a visit in a month. Only Donna’s been up and she nearly frightened the life out of Georgio by turning up on the same day as one of his other friends. So where’s your information coming from, eh? Is it from Dolly, or is that you’re putting two and two together from his messages?

‘Whatever it is, you can get this straight: Donna’s attractive enough, I will concede that but me and her have nothing in common but Georgio Brunos - who, as I said earlier, I am doing a right favour for. Now if you don’t mind, Paddy, until Georgio instructs me otherwise, I can’t tell you fuck all else. And one last thing, if you ever

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them insinuate anything about me and Donna again, you’ll regret it. Believe me you’ll regret it.’

Paddy dropped his eyes and then sipped at the hot coffee. ‘Did you know Lewis was cut up, lost a kidney?’ He had the satisfaction of seeing Alan’s eyes widen.

‘Not by Georgio, surely?’

Paddy shook his head. ‘Nah, he was cut up by a smalltime blagger. No one we would be interested in. Lewis is all right, though, more’s the pity. Seems he poached the bloke’s bird, a little queen called Sadie.’

‘But Georgio is all right?’

Paddy nodded again. ‘Oh yeah, he’s champion. It got Lewis off his back for a while. He’s due back in the poke in ten days.’

‘This Sadie is on the same wing as Georgio?’

‘So is this Timmy, the boyfriend - though he was roasted alive on Saturday night. You know the cam, chicken wire and tolly. Always a northern scam that. But Lewis’s arm is long. He’s dying, I heard, this Timmy.’

Alan frowned. ‘I hope he is, poor bastard. I remember a bloke having that done to him when I was in Durham. He survived it, and I think he was sorry he did. He topped himself the day they put him back on the wing. He looked fucking rough, Paddy. No eyelids, nothing. The tolly burns through everything - skin, bone, the lot. He’ll be lucky to keep his sight.’

Paddy shrugged. ‘That’s his problem. At the moment I think Georgio just wants you to get things moving as quickly as possible.’

‘I’ll do that. Lewis is a game old fucker though, isn’t he? I was there when he got shot in 1974.1 thought he was a gonner, we all did, and yet the old sod walked out of hospital six weeks later, harder than ever. You have to admire him, even if you can’t stand him.’

‘That’s a fact. You’ll be in touch with Georgio, then?’

Alan nodded. ‘You give him a message. Tell him I’ll swallow this morning because I know what it’s like to be banged up, but if he ever casts aspersions on me or Donna again, I’ll leave him high and fucking dry, all right? I don’t need this shit.’ Paddy got up and nodded again, his great red beard hiding his real thoughts on the matter.

After Paddy lad left, Alan sat smoking, waiting for the anger to seep from his bones.

So Georgio thought he might make a play for his wife? Well, as Alan now admitted to himself, that’s exactly what he would like to do. And knowing all he knew about Georgio Brunos, he could probably get her.

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Sadie was terrified and Georgio knew it. There were three new prisoners on the Wing. One was a black man called Eros, a heavyset geezer, typical pimp turned gangster. The Yardies were everywhere now. He was a schizophrenic as well. The other two were a different kettle of fish. Both were in their fifties, fairly big and obviously friends. They didn’t talk to anyone and any overtures were rebuffed, albeit in a friendly fashion. The shorter of the two spoke a lot but said nothing.

Georgio watched the men and smiled to himself. He knew exactly who they were and so would Lewis. He also knew what they were in for and he toyed with the idea of blowing their world wide open. He decided against it for the time being; they would keep until they came in handy. He ignored them and they ignored him, though they knew who he was as he knew who they were. One hard look from Georgio was enough to make them keep their traps shut and he made a point of pushing them both aside roughly as they went out on exercise.

Sadie also knew the men, which is why she was frightened. She had first encountered them years earlier as a fifteen year old in Soho. Sticking to Georgio’s side, she watched the two men warily. Out in the exercise yard she said to him, ‘I know them two. They’re bad news, Georgio. Jesus, they’re the biggest nonces this side of the water, and sadistic with it. They were pulled in for that paedophile ring murder last year. How they’re still walking around here, I don’t know. If anyone knew who they were …’ She rolled her eyes.

Georgio looked at the two men.

‘I know who they are all right, and I’m sitting on the information until such time as I can do something about it - so keep stumm, all right? I think they’ll take Lewis’s mind off everything else when he gets back, don’t you?’

Sadie saw the logic in this and nodded.

Georgio walked casually over to a guard and asked for a light. As the man struck the match Georgio whispered, ‘Keep a lid on them two until Lewis gets here. He asked me to be his eyes and ears while he’s away, OK? Let him deal with them when he comes back. He’s got a score to settle with the bald one.’

The screw nodded almost imperceptibly and said, ‘Timmy died an hour ago.’

Georgio walked back to Sadie. Despite her strange appearance and ways, Georgio liked her and was sorry for the news he had to impart.

Sadie cried like a baby, as everyone knew she would.

Anthony Calder was talking to Jonnie H. on the phone while

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them watching his baby daughter crawl around the floor.

‘I can see what you’re getting at, Jonnie, me old mate. But are you sure it’s for the best? This way we only have one stab at the jump. Tell you what, you let me talk to Alan and I’ll get back to you, OK?’

He put the phone down and picked up his daughter, kissing her soft downy head.

‘Hello, beautiful girl.’ The child crowed with delight. Settling her on his lap, he punched out Alan’s number. Alan was there within the hour.

Anthony Calder was changing his daughter’s nappy and still talking on the phone when Alan arrived. He rolled his eyes at the ceiling as Alan smiled to himself.

‘Just get yourself home, will you?. I have work to do. No, I don’t mind if you buy the blue suit - buy the whole fucking shop, Sharon, if you like, but get home, will you? The baby is driving me up the wall.’

He put the phone down and laughed ruefully at his visitor. ‘So much for the New fucking Man, enVl get left holding the baby while she swans round Oxford Street, her mobile phone in one hand and a bunch o’ credit cards in the other. They’ll both need the kiss of life about four o’clock!’

Alan roared with laughter. ‘You love it, mate, and you know you do.’

Anthony finished putting on the baby’s Pampers and grinned. ‘She’s a little doll. Ain’t you, my darlin’?’

He placed his huge face on the baby’s belly and blew out his lips. Then, picking up the child, he settled her once more on his lap and said seriously, ‘Jonnie H. rang. He thinks we’d be much better getting Georgio out on a laydown. Seems Parkhurst is too extreme a nick to actually walk out of, know what I mean?’

Alan nodded. ‘But how will we know if there’s a laydown? No one knows that, not even the guards. Only the Governor knows and that’s the day it’s happening. I imagined us getting out with a helicopter and a few blokes riding shotgun. Like they did in Durham.’

That’s just it. From what I’ve heard, there’s no blind spots on the Island any more. They’ve got the wires everywhere. No chopper is landing anywhere near that nick. I think the laydown is a good idea myself, except we’ll only get one shot at it, see. The laydown from Parkhurst is always Wandsworth, ain’t it? So we can sort the route from there. It’ll be a case of backing and fronting the sweatbox, and getting the driver out. We have to get him out because without him we can’t get to Georgio in the back.’