Sudden Death by Phil Kurthausen Read Free Book Online Page B

hyperventilating began to calm and he realised that he was surrounded by at least ten people, most of whom were laughing hysterically. Erasmus slowly got to his feet.
    Wayne Jennings, the reason he was here, had a hand over his mouth and was shaking his head. Erasmus recognised three of the group as other players – Gary Jones, the captain, De Marco and Kristos – and they had been joined by the two bouncers who were also laughing. The rest of the group were all young girls, tanned and scantily clad even though it was the middle of January. They were holding bottles of champagne and all of them were laughing, apart from Wayne who looked concerned.
    ‘I’m so sorry, Raz, it was a joke. We wanted to see how far you would go to protect me. I can’t believe you were going to jump!’
    Wayne, rosy cheeked and despite the thousand pound suit and shoes, looking like a naughty schoolboy who had just been caught having an extra biscuit, stuck out his hand and helped Erasmus to his feet.
    ‘A trick? Why?’
    Gary Jones slapped his thick forearm around Erasmus’s shoulder. He stank of stale booze and tobacco mixed with his expensive cologne: a stomach churning scent.
    ‘A bet. I bet Wayne that his new
scorta
wasn’t the real deal, that if Wayne was ever kidnapped by ragheads or scallies, he would be a goner. We thought we’d see. We were hiding over there,’ Gary pointed over to a dark corner of the roof. Erasmus could just make out a small service hut. In his rush onto the roof he had run right past it without seeing it. ‘I tell you, we were pissing ourselves. I couldn’t believe you took out the bouncers as well. Don’t worry, we squared it with them.’
    ‘Charley did the voices. Charley, show yourself!’ shouted Kristos.
    On the opposite roof the club’s goalkeeper stood up from where he had been hiding in the shadows.
    ‘Erasmus, Dave’s dead!’ he shouted over at them.
    Cue more hysterical laughter.
    Erasmus breathed in and let the urge to break Jones’s fingers disappear with the exhalation.
    ‘And you thought you’d do that by pretending Wayne had been kidnapped and risking my life?’
    Erasmus pulled Jones’s arm away from his shoulder. Wayne looked down at the floor and his face flushed.
    Gary raised his hands, palms facing Erasmus.
    ‘Whoa there, buddy. I thought you were meant to be his
scorta
, hard as nails, willing to take a bullet. It’s only a six foot gap, you pussy! Charley jumped it no problem.’
    ‘I could have died.’
    Jones relocated his arm around the waist of a pretty young blonde girl. Erasmus noticed she shivered and wondered whether it was the cold or Jones’s touch that brought it on.
    ‘Look again,
scorta
.’
    Erasmus turned and looked down. Now he looked closely he could see that about ten feet down there was a net, stretched between the buildings, covering the whole of the alley.
    ‘They put it up there when they built the roof terrace. They didn’t want any drunks falling off. Come on, have a drink, we can toast your cowardice!’
    Jones snatched a bottle of champagne from the girl he was holding and offered it to Erasmus. The girl made a pawing motion, like a child reaching for a sticky sweet, but Gary shoved her aside.
    Erasmus tried to breathe in and relax but before this thought had time to be put into practice he had already moved forward, grabbed Gary by the back of his neck and was propelling him forward towards the edge of the building.
    ‘What the fuck!’
    Gary’s cries were cut off and replaced by a scream as Erasmus stopped Gary right on the building’s edge and, keeping a tight grip of his collar, pushed him forward so he was suspended above the drop.
    ‘What do you think of the drop now?’
    Gary tried to speak but no words came out, his tongue lopped about in his mouth, waiting for air.
    ‘Silly games get people killed.’
    ‘Please – ’
    Erasmus extended his arm further. Gary’s toes were now over the edge.
    Erasmus felt the anger swirl and