Playing the Game by Simon Gould Read Free Book Online Page A

silence has a price. $50,000, 11pm, three days time. I will contact you with more details soon, you just get the money! Keep up the good work! The Bully.’

    Conrad re-read the letter a couple of times before slamming it down on the table, almost knocking over his coffee in the process. The Bully? The fucking Bully? Who the fuck was that? Well if he wanted to play, let’s play.
     Never averse to operating beneath the law when needed, Conway poured himself a second cup of coffee and sat motionless in his designer kitchen, which he didn’t much care for; his wife had insisted that they get one installed despite, in his opinion, there being nothing at all wrong with the one they already had. Still, it made his life more peaceful; his wife had been pre-occupied with colours, cabinets and tiles for weeks. As usual though, he had picked up the bill.
     His mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour as he silently began to plan how to catch this prick, and what he would do with him once he was caught.  After half an hour or so, the rest of the sports pages remaining unread, he headed back upstairs for a shower. He had the fragments of a plan now, one he was sure would work but he’d need to make a couple of calls later. Despite this, he knew that his first day off for over three weeks, and his last for another two, was already ruined. He just hoped his back nine didn’t suffer as a result.

13

                James Tetley knew one thing for sure; there was no way he was going to do any more time in prison again. He’d just served three years for armed robbery and what a hellacious three years they’d been. He knew how to look after himself, and had had to do so numerous times throughout his time there. His two hundred and fifty pound frame of solid muscle meant that although he was by no means the biggest or meanest cat in the yard, the majority of fellow inmates kept a suitable distance, and very rarely fucked with him.
                There had been one or two notable exceptions. A couple of members of the Aryan Brotherhood hadn’t taken too kindly to his refusal to join The Brand, and had spent the best part of six months taunting, beating on, and eventually, trying to shank him. He had been prepared for that though, and had formed a secret alliance with a couple of inmates who had taken care of business for him, on the understanding that when he was paroled, ten thousand dollars would be transferred to two accounts of their choosing. These guys were well connected, and well respected. Non-payment was not an option. Always one to think on his feet, Tetley had agreed to those conditions and would worry about the money at a later date. Now was that time.
                Having no particular place to go, he’d made the relatively short journey from Marin County to Los Angeles and had hooked up once again with his old buddy Jimmy Burke. They had taken several scores over the years and worked well together. Well, apart from the time he had been caught, resulting in his three year stretch, obviously. Burke had been with him on that one as well but had evaded capture and Tetley was never going to give his old friend up as an accomplice and had served his time in silence to the authorities, despite the numerous attempts to prize the information out of him.
                He had spent a couple of weeks now, here in LA, celebrating his newly-paroled freedom with Jimmy, as well as several buddies he hadn’t seen in, well three years or so. He’d gotten word a couple of days ago, that the two inmates he’d agreed to pay for that favour were eager to see deposits made, and Tetley knew he had less than a week to make good on his word.
                All of which, had led him here, not only with Jimmy Burke but also a driver, Phillip Moseley who he didn’t know but who came with Jimmy’s strong recommendation, and that was good enough for him. They were parked discretely outside the