The Tale of the Wolf (The Kenino Wolf Series) (15 page)

‘
You ready?’ Tabatha said as I got into the Volvo.

‘
It would appear so.’

‘
Chill, Wolfy. Stop being a pessimist. In two days we’re rich.’

I just smiled and nodded. A horse ain’t won the race till it crosses the line and this horse was still in the stalls.

‘
You look stunning.’

‘
I know,’ she smiled. And she really did, dressed in a low-cut black dress with a slit up the side. It looked like one of Leon’s, although he never looked that good. She was also wearing black strappy stiletto heels. To say I wanted her was an understatement.

‘
I know you know. I’m just making sure you know I know.’

‘
I know. Let’s go. You got everything?’

‘
Yeah, I’m ready.’ I said tapping my holdall, as well as double-checking the tranq gun and darts were in my inside pocket. If I was keen on carrying it before, after my little chat with Bosley I was doubly keen. We were now inseparable. ‘Drive properly Tabs, I don’t want any adventures.’

‘
I always drive properly. ‘

‘
No you don’t. You drive like a bank robber. You’re like a getaway driver.’

‘
Well, it’ll be handy for later.’

‘
Yes, Tabs, later. Not now.’

She mumbled something under her breath and we pulled off and headed to Muzzi’s big townhouse in Holland Park: three floors of debauchery and luxury inheritance.

The party was already banging when we reached it. Music was blaring and people were hanging around outside drinking and smoking. I slapped hands with the ones I knew. I wanted people to see me there, although I needn’t have worried. Tabatha was drawing enough attention for the both of us.

Curtis was already inside and looked like he’d been there a while. He was looking good in a long black suit with a jacket that came down to just above his knee. And, in a tribute to his former past, he was wearing a communist cap, one of those hats they all used to wear when they went off to work for a bag of spuds and a bottle of vodka.

He’d parked the Land Rover a few streets away and was just chilling with a beer, chatting up some blonde. I gave him a thumbs-up and left him to his endeavours. The party was really thundering. It was only nine but it already looked like it had been going on for hours. Some bloke was skinning up on the belly of some white girl, and they were already wasted.

I grabbed a beer and a barbecue chicken leg and generally schmoozed the party for the next few hours, chatting to this and that bod. Idle small talk mostly. I’d like to say my mind was focused on the job in hand, but it was mostly focused on Tabatha. I’d deliberately kept the beers under control and the one thing I knew, was that it wasn’t beer goggles when I looked at her.

She was the reason I was involved. It was all about her. The money was the money and I’d never knock it, but this was about her. I wanted to say something, wanted to talk to her, but timing was everything and this was so the wrong time. While I was staring lustfully, a brainwave hit me. It was about two in the morning and everyone was having a blast. Curtis seemed to be getting somewhere with his blonde, and Tabatha was out in the garden being chatted up by some slick-looking character.

Maybe my brainwave was jealousy inspired, I can’t deny the green-eyed monster was definitely in attendance, but there were other reasons too. I walked out into the garden towards Tabatha.

‘Let’s do it now,’ I said grabbing her.

‘
What?’ she replied confused. I didn’t trust Colin. We’d told him the plan. He knew it all: knew that we were going to stay at Muzzi’s party till Wednesday; knew what time we were going … knew everything. So it made sense to go a day early, as a little precautionary measure. It wouldn’t make a difference if it was all on the up and up.

‘
You want to do this or not?’ I replied.

‘
You know I do. But why now?’

‘
Cos there’s no time like the present,’ I replied smiling. I didn’t want to hear anymore accusations of paranoia.

I walked over to Curtis and whispered in his shell-like the change of time and real reason. He gave a little nod. He agreed with me. It was time to go. It was on. We schmoozed for another twenty minutes and then left one by one.

Tabatha took the Volvo and Curtis and I took the Land Rover. We were on, we were doing it. We didn’t speak on the way. There was nothing to say. We knew what had to be done. We knew what we wanted and how to do it.

Tabatha parked the Volvo about two miles away, near a lake that Curtis had marked on the map. We parked next to her, she jumped into the Land Rover and we drove to the gap in the hedge. We were all dressed the same; all in black with gloves and woolly hats. We couldn’t have looked anymore the part if we’d been carrying a bag marked ‘Swag’.

We skulked towards the secret gap. Leon had leant us the night-vision goggles, which for once were appropriate.

We slipped between the gap and were on the edge of the house’s grounds. It was pitch-dark and without the goggles we would have been lost. Slowly, we followed the hedge round until Curtis signalled a point to cross the open expanse of land, between hedge and house. He’d got us to sneak across in direct line with the corner of the house; limiting the view from the windows if anyone happened to be looking out.

We crept our way across in single file; gentle steps and paranoid glances for me, excited tippy toes for them. We reached the house and leant up against the wall, our backs pressed up against the cold external brick. Tabatha trembled with excitement. She grabbed my hand, smiling so hard it looked like she was going to break her teeth. I looked up and scanned the windows. All the lights were off, but the house was so big it gave little solace. They could have been at the back and we would have never known.

Edging our way round the house, Curtis leading, Tabatha second and me last, watching our arses, my hackles were up so high I could feel them on my forehead. I looked back so often I felt like I had whiplash. Curtis reached the window he’d chosen on the ground floor and signalled us to stop. We watched as he jemmied it open, raising it up slowly. He smiled as mad a grin as Tabatha’s and then climbed through. We followed carefully behind. We were inside.

So far so good.

We found ourselves
in what looked like a small drawing room. Curtis was already sneaking a glance into the hallway beyond, as we still had to go through the house and upstairs. More sneaking and creeping. The only plus point was that the house was deathly silent and pitch-dark. It felt empty, but that could have just been hope. He signalled for us to follow.

The hallway had polished wood floors and hard wooden wall panelling. It felt more like a museum than a house. There were all sorts of things on pedestals: a suit of armour, a couple of busts of god knows who, and paintings everywhere. I walked on the edges of my feet, trying desperately to stop the squeak from my trainers that had occurred the second they touched the polished floor.

Onward Curtis led, striding forward, behaving more like he owned the place than was robbing it. He led us out of the hallway into the main entrance foyer. A giant staircase led upstairs. We went slowly, cautiously. At the top, Curtis signalled us to wait while he scouted ahead.

More dark hard wood and squeaking shoes on polished floors. We reached the big heavy door that led into the study. Curtis turned the large brass handle. The click of the lock echoed round the hallway. Every sound ricocheted along the empty space. He pushed open the door and we walked in. The room was lined with books, every wall covered from floor to ceiling with hundreds of them. Curtis’s eyes lit up at the sight of all that paper; more excited by that untapped knowledge than by the job in hand. In the far corner by the window, just as Colin had said, was the safe. Everything was how Colin had described it; accurate to the letter. I felt almost guilty.

Curtis knelt down in front of the small metal box and started to pull out his tools. He gave a wry smile and then whispered,

‘
Piece of piss.’

‘
Then be quick,’ I whispered back, through gritted teeth.

‘
Stop fretting. Let him do his thing,’ Tabatha said, giving me a dig. Curtis smiled in response to my scolding. ‘And you be quick!’ she commanded Curtis, wiping away his smile.

As instructed, Curtis got to work. The safe had a combination lock, a single round dial and a large handle. It looked like one from a cowboy film; certainly not cutting-edge technology. Curtis started twiddling the dial. He knew what he was doing. This was his skill, this was what he did. We watched transfixed as he fiddled and jiggled. Three times he pulled the handle and three times the door remained closed.

I was starting to lose faith in my friend’s skills, until I saw a crafty smile appear at the corner of his mouth. Before he even turned the handle I knew he’d done it. He pulled down on the handle and the clunking noise as the lock was released reverberated around the room. He pulled open the door and there, in the safe, were the diamonds, sitting on two velvet trays, balanced on two shelves. It was true. It was all true. Colin the shifty bugger had been telling the truth. We were staring at millions in diamonds; looking directly at an end to all our misery.

‘
Pass me a bag,’ Curtis whispered.

‘
What bag?’ I whispered.

‘
Did nobody bring a fucking bag?’ Curtis stammered back.

‘
Here, use this.’ Tabatha pulled off her woolly hat and held it out for him.

Curtis poured the two trays into the hat and closed the safe.

‘
We’ve got them, babes.’ Tabatha whispered excitedly waving the woolly hat at me.

‘
We need to leave now,’ I said, moving towards the door.

We dashed back down the stairs and ran on tiptoes towards the room where we’d entered. Curtis was leading still. Tabatha was giddy with excitement, clutching the hat like her life depended on it. We climbed back out the window and Curtis closed it.

We edged back along the house towards the corner, then fled across the courtyard towards the gap in the hedge.

Back at the Land Rover, Curtis jumped in the driver’s seat and I got in the passenger side. Tabatha got in the back.

‘
Let me have a look at them,’ Curtis said, as excited as Tabatha.

‘
Drive first, look later!’ I suggested, anxious to be as far away as possible.

He turned the engine and reversed on to the main road.

‘
SHIIIIITTTTT!’ We all screamed together.

There in the rear window we could see blue lights approaching. Then a couple of seconds later we heard the familiar whine of the police’s siren.

‘
Fucking drive, Curt! What you waiting for?’ I screamed. He slammed his foot on the accelerator. The tyres screeched as we sped off blasting mud and debris into the air. They’re gaining,’ Tabatha shouted. ‘Drive faster!’

The siren was blaring. They were so close the blue lights flashed inside the Land Rover.

‘
I’m going as fast I can. It’s a Land Rover not a fucking Ferrari,’ he screamed back.

‘
It’s your fucking fault,’ Tabatha yelled at me. ‘We should have had a Porsche!’ She was clutching the woolly hat in both hands and shaking.

‘
Shut up!’ I said back. ‘Curtis … field!’

‘
What?’

‘
It’s a Land Rover. Go through the field.’

‘
Oh, yeah.’ His eyes lit up.

The cops were right behind us. Curtis wrenched the steering wheel to the right, the tyres screaming again as we tore off the main road, through a fence and into a field. The wooden poles went flying through the air blasted out of the ground. I heard the cop car screech as it followed behind.

‘
Floor it!’ I bellowed at Curtis. ‘Turn the lights off and drive with the goggles.’ It was still pitch-dark.