Page 17 of The Thief
“Will, fetch the tarpaulin,” Colton asked, and I went over to help, pulling the roles of tarpaulin across the chapel, ready for what came next.
Between the four of us, we took each man by the arm, dragging them across the chapel as Adam watched. Then we forced them into the specially adapted wooden chairs we had set up here, fitted with metal cuffs to hold their arms and legs in place. We fixed them in, then stood back as Colton took over proceedings.
“We’ve got this,” he said, letting us know we could leave him to sort it out as he passed some pills to Will. “You can head back to the club. Me and Will are gonna make sure they get themessage loud and clear.”
We didn’t leave right away. Instead, we stayed to watch Colton force a handful of pills into one of the guy’s mouths, and then, holding his jaw shut, he took some duct tape and taped it over his mouth, winding it around his head so he couldn’t spit them out. White foam frothed from his nose as the drugs began to dissolve, the cuffs of the chair rattling as he jerked and yanked on his constraints, trying to free himself.
Will did the same to the other guy, force feeding him the drugs before binding his mouth shut. Then Colton took a box cutter knife and pressed the blade into the guy’s forehead. The guy snorted and choked on his muffled screams as Colton began to carve letters into his flesh.
H.
E.
L.
L.
“I’m just making sure he gets to the right destination after we’ve finished with him,” Colton mused.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Adam replied.
“You can never be too careful,” Colton responded jovially, sidestepping to carve the same letters into the second guy as Will looked on. “It always pays to be prepared.”
Colton moved back to the first guy, took his knife and sliced into his arm that was cuffed into place. Then, picking up a bag of powder, he sprinkled it into the wound and grinned. “I bet you’ve never seen a line of coke done this way.” He laughed.
“Come on,” Adam said, as the man convulsed violently in his chair. “Let’s leave them to it. Colton is in his element. But we’re needed back in the club.”
I agreed, but if I was honest, I could’ve watched Colton at work all day, every day. He was the most creative out of all of us. The master of mayhem. The clown prince of crazy. But Adam was right. The club wouldn’t run itself. Not for long, anyway. Our security was good, but we were better.
Before leaving, I grabbed the money from the table that they’d stolen from our guests for their shitty drugs.
“I’ll pay this into our account tomorrow,” I announced. “Let’s call it a tip.” And then, turning to face the tortured men, I reiterated, “And a reminder that you’ll never come into our home and fuck us over again. You fucked around and found out.” I slipped the cash into my pocket. “It was nice doing business with you.”
Chapter Six
TYLER
On Monday morning, I strolled into the bank with the takings from the weekend, along with the little bonus, courtesy of the druggies we’d taught a lesson to.
It was a typical Monday morning. Not too busy, but busier than I wanted it to be. There were three people ahead of me in the queue. An old guy at the front, dressed in a tweed suit, as if the trip to the bank was a special occasion for him, but I bet all he was here to do was draw out his pension for the week ahead.
Next was a young guy on his mobile phone, wearing a flashy, silver-grey suit and talking about his business way too loudly as he waited in line.
And then there was an old woman in a blue raincoat, who was clutching her handbag tightly against her side like it contained the crown jewels and glancing over her shoulderevery few seconds to glare at me.
Behind the counter were two bank clerks, a young guy about my age and a middle-aged woman. Both were busy, making the rest of us wait as they shuffled paperwork, like we didn’t have anything better to do with our day.
I heard the door open and turned to watch a young woman with a little girl walk in, the little girl skipping, twisting, and pulling on her mum’s arm as she hopped about. I didn’t pay them much attention, just turned my back again and huffed, waiting for the bloody bank workers to get a fucking move on.
The woman and girl joined the queue behind me, and I could hear the little girl singing some nursery rhyme as her mum ‘shushed’, telling her to be quiet. Paranoid bag lady in front of me turned around and tutted, and I wanted to tell her to fuck off, but a bump to the back of my legs distracted me.
“Ava!” the woman behind me scolded, and I glanced over my shoulder to see her pull the little girl back in line to stand beside her. I gave a weak smile to let her know I wasn’t bothered by it, and faced forward again.
I heard more sweet singing from behind, counting speckled frogs or some shit, and then felt another bump to the back of my legs.
I turned a little so I could peer down at the pretty princess, who kept mistiming her steps and colliding with me. Her mum scolded her again, but I really wasn’t mad. How could I be mad at a little girl in a pink dress and blonde ringlets bouncing over her shoulders as she twirled around oblivious to the rest of the world?
“You keep bumping into me,” I said in a kind voice, so I didn’t scare her. She stopped spinning and stared up at me withwide blue eyes, like she hadn’t realised I was there. “Are you trying to build up the courage to ask me to dance?” I joked.
