Hustle Page 2

  The reaction of the leader in the front seat was very different.

  ‘Ye-e-e-sss!!! Yes! Yes! Yes!’ He drummed on the dashboard with his fists and turned, grinning, to the three in the back. ‘Fucking hell, people! Coco, that was…’

  Coco beamed. ‘Amazing, just amazing.’

  Rafe took her face in his hands and kissed her. For half a minute they locked together. Nina watched until they pulled apart, eyes glazed, cheeks flushed.

  ‘Can’t you feel it, Julian? Unbelievable.’

  Julian’s reply was delivered through gritted teeth, like the warning hiss of a serpent, the intensity behind it unmistakable. ‘You and your crazy girlfriend are barking mad.’

  ‘Shut up, you’re spoiling it.’

  Julian’s face was tight with rage. ‘I told you she was bad news, you wouldn’t listen.’

  ‘And I’m telling you to put a sock in it.’

  Julian’s fingers dug into the seat. ‘Understand me, Rafe, you’re responsible for this fiasco.’

  Rafe dismissed the accusation. ‘You wanted excitement, didn’t you? Well, you can’t say you didn’t get it. Don’t be a poor sport.’

  ‘Excitement, yes, absolutely. Not murder.’

  ‘Oh, please, spare me the guilty conscience. This is the best high you’ve ever had in your dull little life. The blood rushing through your veins, the tingling in your hands – that’s adrenaline. What being alive feels like.’

  ‘I’m not going down because you’re off your head.’

  Rafe didn’t rise to it. ‘Nobody’s going down for anything. We’ve got away, haven’t we?’

  ‘Have we? Let’s hope so. If you want to stay out of prison, put a bullet in Glass’ sister and toss her out of the car.’

  ‘Are you volunteering?’

  Julian’s lips pressed in a line; he’d known from the beginning getting mixed up with Rafe Purefoy wasn’t one of his better ideas.

  Rafe said, ‘That’s what I thought. Now, be a good little chap and shut your stupid mouth.’

  They passed the Stag Belsize Park pub with snow coming down heavier than ever. Henry took a left and edged the car into Fleet Road, gripping the steering wheel in his hands, trying to blot out what was going on.

  Coco’s tone lacked malice – she might’ve been offering to make everybody a cup of tea. She said, ‘I’ll shoot her, if you like.’

  Nina heard the detachment in her voice and blanched.

  Julian grunted and shook his head. ‘Barking fucking psycho bonkers.’

  Rafe reached into the back and grabbed him by the lapels. ‘Don’t push it or you can have the bullet instead of her.’

  Coco didn’t understand what the fuss was about. ‘I’m only trying to be helpful.’

  Rafe tightened his grip and pulled Julian closer. ‘Are you listening? Coco’s only trying to be helpful. Show the girl some appreciation.’

  The disagreement flared and faded, heightening the already toxic atmosphere in the car, but the menacing exchange laid bare the unstable dynamic between them. Rafe went back to staring out of the window, distant and aloof. Henry drove, no longer curious, just scared; Julian restricted his objections to muttering under his breath. Coco’s statement had been chilling. Nina realised all it would need was Rafe to say yes and her life would be over. Rafe had won the power struggle. This time. So long as he was in charge, she was safe. But the female was still dangerous: in the room on the second floor in Poland Street, Coco had taken the lead and murdered the guard, eyes blazing from her balaclava’s sockets, on fire with the thrill of ending the helpless man’s existence before the others could stop her.

  They approached the junction of Pond Road and Elm Terrace at a crawl, wipers working overtime, visibility down to yards, no other vehicle in sight. Through the snowstorm, the lights of the Royal Free Hospital glinted like the amber eyes of wild beasts waiting to attack. Wedged between two of her captors, Nina knew the chances of getting hold of her mobile were nil. Even if she could, they’d take it from her before she could call Luke.

  From the moment they’d killed the guard, Nina had understood they couldn’t afford to let the old concentration-camp survivor, or her, live. Knowing Luke would hunt them down, drag them to the derelict factory and torture them like the vermin they were was no consolation. She’d only been to Fulton Street once and never wanted to go there again: sometimes, even now, she’d come awake with the sound of wings beating in the rafters of the collapsed ceiling in her ears, and images of the ground stained dark with the blood of those who’d dared cross Danny Glass in her head.

  Danny was gone – Nina didn’t miss him; he’d been insane. Although the mad bastard would’ve known how to deal with anybody foolish enough to kidnap his sister – tied to a pillar, screaming in anguish, for them, leaving the world would be agonisingly slow. Luke would do what had to be done without relishing it the way Danny would have, she had no doubt. The result would be the same: long before the end they’d beg to be put out of their misery.

  Sweet music Nina regretted she wouldn’t hear.

  Henry dropped to first gear and edged up South End Road, wheels spinning, losing traction and finding it again. Julian panicked. ‘For Christ’s sake, don’t let it stall. In this weather it might not start again.’

  Rafe said, ‘My brother knows more about motor cars than you and I put together. While you were cheating your way to a 2:1 at Cambridge, paying people to sit the exams for you, he was taking engines apart and putting them back together. He rebuilt a 1966 Triumph Spitfire all by himself when he was fifteen. Red, wasn’t it, Henry?’

  ‘Green.’

  ‘Green, of course. So, fuck off, Julian. Leave him alone.’

  ‘But if it dies on us, we’re goosed.’

  Rafe didn’t hide his irritation, the warning note in his voice clear. ‘Keep your nose out.’

  The car slewed and slipped back as the tyres polished the surface beneath them to ice. Henry lifted his foot off the accelerator to stop the wheels spinning and steered into the skid. Ten yards further down, the pavement ended the slide with a bump. He voiced what they already knew. ‘It can’t handle it. We’ll have to push.’

  ‘Push?’

  Julian’s reaction defined him. Rafe’s patience had worn thin. ‘Yes, push. Get those lily-white hands of yours dirty for the first time in your idle life. Unless you’d rather walk? Everybody out.’

  The twin beams of the headlights cut through the falling snow and were lost. Nina’s coat, stylish and expensive, was warmer than wool but still useless. She closed it round her and bent her head into the blizzard. Rafe pressed his back against the car’s rear end. On the other wing, Julian’s snarling complaint was ripped from his lips and tossed into the night by a wind that had arrived from nowhere.

  Henry rolled the window down. ‘When I say push give it everything you’ve got. Okay, push!’

  The engine roared, the wheels spun impotently, churning up grey slush without gaining an inch.

  He shouted. ‘Again!’

  Blue smoke poured from the exhaust. The car moved a foot, then lost ground.

  Running was a poor choice – but it was the only one open to her. Nina palmed her mobile, shrugged out of her coat and handed it to Rafe. ‘Put this under the wheel before we all get hypothermia.’

  He took it from her, a flicker of something that might’ve been admiration passing behind his eyes. ‘Clever girl. Except, one isn’t enough.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Coco, give me yours.’

  ‘But, Rafe, it’s a Bottega Veneta. Mummy gave—’

  ‘Don’t argue. If we don’t get out of here, your fucking coat will be the least of your worries. This weather won’t last. When it stops, we need to be gone.’

  Coco glared at him and did what she was told. Rafe threw the garments under the wheels.

  ‘One more time! Call it, Henry!’

  At first, nothing happened, then the tyres gripped the fabric – the car shot forward, Rafe and Julian fell to the ground and Nina ra
n. Rafe jumped to his feet and started after her.

  The options were limited; a hedge kept her to the road and stopped her escaping onto the heath. Snow dragged at her feet, sapping her energy; freezing air burned her throat and chest. Nina heard footsteps behind her, tried to go faster and didn’t see the tree stump sticking out of the ground. The heel of her shoe snapped and she sprawled full length, grazing her temple, losing her grip on the mobile. When she raised her head, Rafe was standing over her the way Coco had straddled the bodyguard, his breath clouding in front of him, holding the phone so she could see it.

  ‘Thank you for reminding me about this. We’re going to need it.’

  Nina brushed snow off her legs and sat up. ‘You’ve no idea what you’ve got yourself into. My brother’s going to take you apart.’

  Rafe said, ‘You’re a spunky lady, Nina Glass. I like your style. But it won’t save you.’

  2

  Beyond the frosted window, Hampstead Heath could’ve been a dead star a million light years from the sun. In the icy spider’s web etched on the pane, Coco saw her reflection splintered like shards of a broken mirror – the short dark hair with its red streaks, the full lips, the self-assured eyes still sparkling from the kill. Her kill. Christ, she’d never felt anything like it.

  Behind her, the argument that had been going since they’d left central London raged on, Julian angrily blaming her for what she’d done – a sleaze with an axe to grind.

  Rafe had introduced him as a colleague from Sangster-Devlin Global Securities – they both worked in a specialist department known as equity arbitrage – and boasted they were one of the most successful trading teams in the City. Julian had shaken her hand, smiled politely, and pretended they were strangers. They weren’t. Far from it: he’d tried to fuck her at a party in a flat in Flood Street. All over her, his hands everywhere. He’d been drunk and got bloody stroppy when she’d rejected his advances. Not something his fragile ego would allow him to forget.

  That night in Chelsea, Coco had made an enemy.

  With his dark hair and designer stubble, he wasn’t unattractive – a lot of women would fancy him. In fact, if he hadn’t been a such an insufferable prick he would’ve been in with a chance. But he was a prick. Worse, he didn’t know it.

  He lifted the brandy to his lips and stabbed an accusing finger in the air. ‘Girlfriend or no girlfriend, Rafe, you must’ve realised she’s a headcase! You bring her in, she goes over the top and the whole bloody show turns to shit!’

  Julian glared his frustration at the carpet and played with the empty cut-glass tumbler between his palms. ‘Killing the jeweller, killing anybody, wasn’t supposed to happen.’

  Rafe rolled a coin over the backs of his fingers, absently following its progress. He said, ‘But it has. You really need to learn to adapt. “Go with the flow” as they say. Poland Street was, on some levels… unfortunate… but the old man gave me no choice. On the other hand—’

  The dismissive explanation fired Julian to new heights. ‘Gave you no choice. For Christ’s sake, listen to yourself, Rafe!’ He paced the floor. ‘You’re starting to believe your own bullshit. We didn’t do this for money. Before Toby Lennox at Sangster-Devlin caught on to us messing with the share price—’

  ‘Caught you, Julian. Toby caught you. I had nothing to do with it.’

  The interruption took the heat out of the argument. ‘All right, before he caught me, the Jolly Boys were making a ton of the stuff. This was supposed to be a high, a fucking laugh. We’re not career criminals. We’re not murderers.’

  Rafe stopped short of reminding him that, after an eighteen-month-long investigation, both of them had been judged to lack the integrity to work in the Square Mile and been expelled from the register all City professionals were required to be on. Prosecution was still being considered. Jumping out of the bushes and scaring the little people was an exciting distraction and a way of keeping the coffers filled. But Julian was right – it wasn’t about money. It was the last hurrah of the disgraced Jolly Boys, the name they’d given themselves, pushing back against the judgement of their peers.

  Julian took a step towards Coco. She thought he was going to attack her. He said, ‘The jeweller’s dead because this bitch told you to shoot him after she’d finished the bodyguard. That wasn’t in the plan either. He was on our bloody side.’

  ‘Oh, grow up. He could identify you.’

  He shook his head. ‘I can’t believe what I’m hearing.’

  Rafe said, ‘Leave her alone.’

  Julian turned on him. ‘Or what? Or fucking what, Rafe? You two have some weird Bonnie and Clyde thing going on? Is that it? Well, count me out. I’ve seen that movie. I remember how it ends.’

  Rafe lit one of his Gauloises, leaned back in his chair and let him speak; it wouldn’t change anything. Julian was rattled and needed to get it out.

  ‘You’re overreacting. And you’re insulting Coco. She isn’t the problem here.’

  ‘You’re not serious? Of course, she’s the problem. You saw how she stood over him. Saw the look in her eyes. She enjoyed it. Have you any notion what that makes her? I’d put her down like the mad dog she is.’

  Rafe went on as if Julian hadn’t spoken. ‘I realised the plan might go off the rails. Assumed you would, too.’

  ‘Really? This is the first you’ve mentioned it.’

  Rafe sighed. ‘You know, you really aren’t as bright as you think you are, Julian. Tonight was inevitable.’

  Julian let the insult pass; the time would come. His reply fell like a heavy weight. ‘Was it?’

  ‘Yes, actually, it was. The moment you bagged us those guns, old chap.’

  ‘Then, why go through with it?’

  ‘You’ve forgotten why we started. At Sangster-Devlin we were pushing it. We understood that. Didn’t stop us, did it? Didn’t stop the Jolly Boys.’

  ‘And in case you’ve forgotten, Rafe, we got caught. Our reputations are in tatters. If we live to be a hundred, we won’t get another job in the City.’

  ‘Fuck reputations. As for another job, would you want one? I wouldn’t. The same as in Soho tonight, the money had sod all to do with it. Out on the ledge, afraid to look down. Scared shitless and going for it anyway. Admit it to yourself even if you won’t admit it to me. It’s the best feeling in the world.’ He held out his arms. ‘What’s done is done. The bodyguard was a weak link – look how easily he blabbed about the jeweller when you met him in the gym. For sure, he would’ve talked and we’d be on the run, instead of in your aunt’s house on East Heath Road, helping ourselves to her very nice brandy.’

  Julian’s opinion didn’t change. ‘I don’t intend to spend twenty years in prison just so you can impress some tart. You’re making excuses. I told you bringing her was a terrible idea. Thanks to you and your slapper, we’re well and truly in it.’ He added a final rebuke. ‘When you insisted on involving Henry, I wasn’t happy – he’s too young – but he was your brother, so, yeah, okay.’ He glared at Coco again. ‘Being somebody’s squeeze doesn’t merit a place on the team. The guard was a mistake. Her mistake.’ Julian nodded towards the room above. ‘Bringing the woman with us instead of finishing what she’d started was yours. What in hell difference would one more dead body have made?’

  Mention of his young brother reminded Rafe Henry wasn’t in the room; he hadn’t noticed him leave. He said, ‘It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.’

  ‘Fine, except as soon as we discovered who she was, we should’ve got rid of her.’

  Rafe had listened to as much as he was going to. ‘For fuck’s sake, grow a pair. You’re missing the upside.’

  Julian’s mouth twisted in a humourless grin. ‘Two people are dead and you see an upside? Perhaps I am thick after all, Rafe, because you’re right, I am missing it.’

  Rafe spoke as though he were explaining a universal truth to a backward child, outwardly calm, unaffected by the tirade. In reality, he wanted to smash his tumbler on the table and stick
it in Julian’s eye. ‘Taking Luke Glass’ sister is as exciting as your bloody empty existence is ever going to get.’

  The veins in Julian’s neck bulged like cords underneath the skin. ‘We’re stuffed and you can’t see it. And the phoney tough-guy act won’t wash when we come up against the real thing.’

  ‘No, we’re not. We’re about to have more fun than we’ve ever had in our boring entitled lives. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’

  Coco moved behind her lover, put her arms round his neck, kissed his ear and whispered something that made him smile. He let her lead him to the door. ‘The bodyguard was on borrowed time from the moment he opened his mouth in the gym and tried to impress you with how important he was. You recognised that opportunity quickly enough, but you’re missing this: the big one.’

  ‘Shove the flattery. Either she goes or I do. Make up your mind, Rafe.’

  ‘Go where, exactly? You were there. That puts you in it up to your neck, old sport.’ He lifted the brandy bottle and tucked it under his arm. ‘It’s December. Your aunt’s in South Africa until the end of March. Nobody knows we’re here. My advice would be to chill out and enjoy the trip.’

  Julian wasn’t done. ‘Keep her away from me. I’m serious. She’s bad news.’

  The smile died in Rafe’s eyes. ‘One more word against Coco and I’ll show you what bad news feels like.’

  Julian had seen Rafe Purefoy lose it – definitely not recommended; he backed down before it went too far. ‘This conversation isn’t over.’