‘Piss off,’ spat Dan.
Wallace leered closer into the bars of the cage, flicking some ash down on the men inside. ‘Learn some bloody manners.’
‘Learn to stick to a bloody contract,’ snapped Dan.
Wallace backed away.
‘You hired us to do a job and we’ve risked our lives doing it well,’ snarled David. ‘And this is how you repay us.’
‘You boys took your chances - that’s the business you’re in,’ said Wallace. ‘There’s no use in complaining about it now. So sign.’
‘Or what?’ said Ollie. ‘You’ve already said we’ll swing.’
Mobani raised a hand. ‘Trust me, a confession would be better,’ he said with quiet determination. ‘There are better and worse ways of dying.’
Maksim suddenly lunged forward, grabbing hold of the bars. His face was red with anger, and he was spitting straight at the lawyer. The bars were vibrating as he put all his brute-like strength into rattling them, but they were buried deep into the foundations of the building and nothing short of a bulldozer was going to break them.
‘Just let me at him!’ he roared.
‘You getting the message?’ said Ollie, looking straight at Wallace.
‘You’ll sign soon enough,’ Wallace replied angrily. ‘Or you’ll suffer the consequences.’
Thirty-Four
STEVE COULD FEEL THE MUSCLES in his right index finger stiffening on the trigger of the Uzi. For a brief but vivid second, he realised he might have been about to squeeze it. He’d already pictured the bullet he was going to put through Archie’s head, savoured its smell in his imagination, and the same went for his sister as well. It had been a trap right from the start, and she was the honey at its centre. He could see that clearly now.
But then his fingers relaxed.
Maybe some men could shoot a woman they loved. He’d met guys who wouldn’t give it a second thought. But not me, he told himself. There might be a bullet with her name on it somewhere, but it’s not in the barrel of my gun.
She took two steps towards him, her face tired, and her eyes smudged with tears.
‘Put the gun down, Steve,’ she said.
Steve folded the Uzi back into his webbing.
She ran towards him, throwing herself against his chest. For a moment, Steve could feel a surge of anger, then repulsion, yet as her breasts heaved against his chest, the fury subsided and he realised how pleased he was to see her again.
‘What happened?’ he asked.
She looked into his eyes, then collapsed into tears. It was like one of the thunderstorms they’d just been marching through: a sudden violent wave, unstoppable in its force. Her whole body was shaking as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Steve held her tight. ‘It’s OK,’ he said.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, her voice still choking, even though she had finally managed to bring the sobbing under control. ‘I had no idea what Archie was planning, I really didn’t. He’s a bastard - he has been, ever since he was a kid. I thought he was trying to do something about what happened to Mum and Dad, but he was only out to make some money for himself. That’s all he’s ever been interested in - that’s why he got on so badly with Dad.’
‘Very convenient that you’ve only found that out now,’ Ian said malevolently. He was standing behind them in the garden, with Nick at his side.
Samantha looked up, her eyes bloodshot. ‘I knew nothing about it, that’s the honest truth,’ she said, her tone hurt. ‘I saw the news this morning about you guys being arrested and I guessed at once what must have happened. As soon as I heard about Archie’s fund having an investment in the platinum mine as well, I could see he must have planned it from the start. Behind the scenes, Archie’s being dabbling in African politics for years. That’s the only reason his fund has done so well.’
‘Then how did you find us so quickly?’ said Nick.
Nick wasn’t usually a man to press difficult questions; he took most things on trust. But it was a fair question.
‘I could see that six men had been arrested, plus Newton must have been a traitor from the start,’ Samantha told him. ‘That left three men. I figured you must have escaped to this side of the lake.’ She shrugged, wiping the tears out of the smudged mascara on her face. ‘Three white guys, paying for a room in cash? You weren’t so hard to find.’
‘If she can find us, so can Wallace,’ said Steve.
Ian nodded.
‘What are you going to do?’ asked Samantha.
‘We can’t stay here,’ said Steve. ‘Not if we’re that easy to find.’