The Damage (David Blake 2) by Howard Linskey Read Free Book Online Page B

told him about and bought the clothes they had asked him to buy; trousers, jacket, some shirts. And he got the haircut. If Kinane told you to do something you weren’t stupid enough to wait until he asked you twice. He felt a bit foolish wearing those clothes as he left the estate but he had to admit that, once he was in town, he felt a lot happier. Doyle caught his reflection in a shop window as he passed by and he looked sharp.
    Palmer and Kinane must have thought so too because they didn’t say anything about the way he looked, not at first. Instead they listened, hearing him out without interruption as he told them the latest take from the Sunnydale estate, which was down on the usual amount by a fair sum.
    ‘Who gave you that amount, Doyle?’ asked Palmer.
    ‘Braddock,’ answered Doyle, ‘it’s always Braddock that gives me the amount.’
    ‘And did he give you a reason?’
    ‘No, he never said anything about it.’
    Kinane and Palmer showed no emotion at this news. They asked him a couple more questions, the usual day-to-day stuff, then they let him go. As Doyle reached the end of the bar, Palmer called out to him, ‘Oi Doyley,’ and he turned back to be told, ‘you look almost employable.’
    Doyle beamed at Palmer then immediately felt self-conscious, turned and left the bar.
    Doyle crossed the hotel foyer, silently cursing himself for looking so uncool in front of the big men. He’d smiled like a simpleton as soon as he received a bit of back-handed praise from a street legend. He left the hotel wondering if they would ever take him seriously.
    Doyle was about to cross the road to follow the riverside path back towards the Quayside. No one, least of all Doyle, saw the gunman as he emerged from the shadows behind him, raised his hand, pointed his Makarov pistol and shot Jaiden Doyle twice in the back.

5
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    ‘T hey want me to set up a job for them, using a local man,’ explained Peter Dean.
    ‘Who does?’ asked Billy.
    They were sitting at a table in Billy’s flat, a chaotic place that made Dean’s tiny flat seem ordered by comparison.
    ‘Never you mind Billy,’ said Peter, ‘ they want to remain anonymous. That’s why they are paying me. You can think of me as the client, if you like.’
    ‘Yeah, well, I don’t care, do I? All I care about is the money and what the job is…’ Billy seemed suddenly to recall that nobody had actually told him what was required yet, ‘What kind of work is it?’
    Peter Dean took a deep breath and said, ‘A hit.’
    ‘A hit,’ Billy laughed, but then he noticed that Dean wasn’t laughing, ‘you’re fucking joking, aren’t you?’
    ‘I’m deadly serious,’ said Peter.
    Billy’s mouth opened like he was about to form the words of a reply but he didn’t say anything. Instead he thought for a moment and finally said, ‘that’s not what I do. I just deal.’
    ‘You don’t have to pull the trigger yourself, that’s the beauty of this. I just want you to find a local man who can do it for us, tell him all about the fella these guys want to remove, give him some inside information to help him complete the job, then pay him and see him on his way.’
    ‘Why don’t these people just do it themselves then? Why pay us?’
    ‘They’re not from round here and, like I said, they want to remain anonymous.’
    ‘Right, I see,’ said Billy, ‘well it’s their money I suppose,’ he took a drag on his cigarette, tapped it against the ashtray, then added, ‘talking of which, what are they offering?’
    Peter told him and Billy whistled like he couldn’t believe it. ‘Who is the bloke then? The one they want removing?’
    For the second time, Peter Dean took a deep breath. This was the moment where he risked everything, up to and including his life, on a single roll of the dice. If he had misread the situation, if Billy didn’t really despise David Blake, or was too scared of him, if he simply wanted to get back into