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Gus McCreed sat beside his swimming pool, eating fried chicken and drinking fruit punch.
“I’m satisfied with the way you guys went about wiping out those two idiots, who beat up Pinchie and Evert and stole our weed. Although those two young guys survived, I don’t think they’ll fool around our weed again or tell the police who shot them,” he addressed the men. They were Grosset, Premba, Ardez, Rattigan and Pennant. Fred was there too.
“Those two youths managed to jump down a gully after they pumped those bullets into them. I don’t know how they survived. We didn’t find out where they hid the weed though. Premba said that none of the men knew where the truck went with it,” Ardez explained.
“You confronted at least two of the men who could have told us who was behind this whole set up. I believe the man you wiped out in St. Ann knew more than what he told you. Maybe the two youths you shot up, didn’t know anything, but the man you killed on Bay Farm Road must have returned to Kingston with it. He must have known where they took it, you should have beaten it out of him,” Mc Creed blasted out.
Grosset swallowed a huge piece of chicken and drank some cold beer.
His brows were knitted.
“Raiders said he returned to Kingston on his motor-cycle. He left St. Ann before the truck did,” Premba stated.
They had heard conflicting reports that the two youths were still in hospital in St. Ann. Other reports had it that they had been transferred to a hospital in Kingston.
“We can write off that weed, that’s a lot of money down the drain. It’s time we got rid of those skunks,” Fred stated.
“We have gone all over the island looking for those two men, but so far we haven’t had any luck in finding them,”Ardez declared.
“They are here,” Fred stated. “They haven’t run away like G.C and Ruddy. It looks as if they’re up to something.”
“We’re going to hit them hard. The way we wiped out those two idiots, should serve as a warning to them. If they try to leave the island my people with the airlines will know,” Mc Creed told them.
“We’ll have to intensify the search for them,” Rattigan put in.
“You’re right, I want those men dead. I’ve put a reward of two hundred and fifty dollars on each of them. You can spread the word and let some of those guys on the road know about it,” Mc Creed stated.
“Boss, those two men aren’t so smart to be hiding from us for so long, we must find them,” Ardez opined.
“They must know that their houses have been broken into and it doesn’t bother them. Both of them now have other people running their business for them. It seems as if they’re staying with their friends or relatives. Check all of the guesthouses and hotels. They must be somewhere. They must need money to spend so they’ll have to go to the banks. I’m going to talk to my contacts in the banks and put them on full alert,” Mc Creed declared.
Fred Billings took the cigarette from Grosset and lit it with a flash of his lighter.
“I hope that none of you are thinking of going for a swim, you drown easily on a full stomach, Grosset,” Mc Creed shouted at the giant who was stuffing his mouth full of chicken and chips.
The others looked at the huge figure of Grosset and laughed. Mc Creed belched loudly. He looked at the plate of chicken and chips at his feet.
“Well, I don’t think I want anymore,” he said.
Rattigan and Premba both chose marijuana cigarettes as their dessert. Pennant, who always travelled with a bottle of home-made wine, filled one of the cups and passed the rest around to be shared.
“I would like to start our operations next week Friday,” Gus stated.
“Some boats will be coming in from South America with lots of stuff for us to store before they go to the States. We’ll be shipping them out on Sunday nights. The people whom we contacted will store them for us.”
“What kind of stuff will they be bringing in, boss?” Pennant asked.
“Mostly cocaine, those guys in Columbia have their own labs and chemists too. We’re just going to be a transshipment point for them for now.”
“We’re going to get a good cut. It’s plenty of money anyway you look at it.”
“How are we going to move it inland?” Fred asked.
“Our fishermen friends, Tom and Eddie, will collect it for us. You guys will take it from them. I don’t want the Factory to touch it.”
He had hardly finished talking when there were several loud explosions above them.
“What the hell, those sounded like gunshots!” he shouted.
“They came from up the house!” Fred in turn shouted.
“They’re attacking the house,” Ardez said as they all drew their guns.
“Spread out around the lawn. We’re going to wait for them down here. Fred, go and turn off the lights.”
Fred rushed to the light switch that controlled the lawn and pool area and in a second the whole area was plunged into darkness.
Lex’s four men having ransacked McCreed’s house without finding him, made their way down to the pool area, guns drawn and at the ready.
Mc Creed’s fighters were moving in the darkness. As the Bigs Avenue men came onto the lawn they were challenged.
“Who are you?” Grosset shouted and moved his position. He was greeted with instant gunfire. Instantly Mc Creed’s fighters closed in on the Bigs Avenue gunmen.
One of the men was shot in the right leg in the first hail of fire. He fell in the grass. The other three men ran to seek cover, returning the fire as they ran. They were cornered. All around the lawn shots sounded.
One of the men was killed by a withering hail of fire from Mc Creed’s fighters. Another man made a huge leap and went over a fence. The men ran to the fence, but they couldn’t see him in the long grass. They let off a volley of shots after him. The man shot in his leg had managed to roll under a hole in the fence in the meantime and was trying to get away. The men ran up to where the hole in the fence was and fired a volley of shots in the long grass trying to flush him out. Then Grosset shouted.
“One of them is trying to get away, boss.”
The fourth man was trying to escape. He knew that if he jumped the fence, he could escape in the bushes, as they were quite thick and he might be able to hide from his pursuers in them.
All the men were running after him. He was shot in both legs just before he reached the fence. He lay on the ground only a few meters from it.
“Take him alive,” Mc Creed ordered.
Grosset reached the groaning figure on the ground first.
“Don’t move or else I’ll blow your head off,” he warned.
The others reached them a second later. They stood looking down at the youth who was groaning like a baby.
“Who sent you?” Mc Creed asked the wounded man.
Only a groan came from his lips.
“Pick him up, Grosset, let’s take him to where the other one is,” Mc Creed instructed. “The other two fuckers escaped, they won’t get far. I’m sure we shot them. We’ll find out what happened to them in the morning.”
Grosset picked up the wounded man and slung him across his shoulders. When they reached the body of the other man, he threw him down and let out a deep breath. He took out his rag and wiped his forehead. By this time, Ardez had gone and turned the lights back on.
“Any of you recognize any of them?” Fred asked.
“I’ve never seen any of them before,” Premba answered.
“This one will have to tell me who sent him,” Mc Creed said.
“It seems they did some damage up at the house. I’m going to have a look,” Fred told them.
“Ok, Fred. It looks like these men are serious. I have to get something out of this one even if I have to kill him.”
The youth was still groaning from the bullet wounds to his legs. His trousers were soaked in blood.
“Stop your noise and tell us who sent you.”
“He’s playing dumb boss, let me beat it out of him,” Grosset suggested.
“I’ll manage. One of you give me a knife.”
Pennant gave him his ratchet knife. He bent down and put the blade at the youth’s throat.
“Who sent you, boy? Tell me or else I’m going to cut your blasted throat.”
“Carve him up piece by piece,” Rattigan suggested.
The wounded youth was still groaning and shaking his legs.
Mc Creed began to squeeze his throat.
“Are you ready to talk, boy?”
When no answer came from the youth, he squeezed even harder.
“I’ll talk. It was Lex Malcolm, who sent us. He paid us to kill you.”
From inside his shirt pocket, he fished out a small passport size photograph of Mc Creed.
“Where’s Lex now?” Ardez asked him.
“I don’t know, he just came to Bigs Avenue to see Bigger and told him what he wanted us to do.”
“Did he pay you all of the money?” Ardez asked. “If you had killed Mister Mc Creed where were you supposed to meet Lex?”
The youth seemed perplexed.
“Bigger said he told him to phone him as soon as he finished the job.”
“Is Bigger one of those who escaped?” Mc Creed asked.
The wounded youth pointed at the dead man on the ground.
“Search Bigger’s pockets, see if you find the telephone number,” Mc Creed directed.
Grosset was at the dead man’s pockets immediately. He came up with a wallet, which he pocketed, a ratchet knife, a pack of contraceptives and a notebook, which he gave to Mc Creed.
McCreed began turning the pages.
“See it here.”
He waved a leaf of the book at them.
Just then Fred came running down to where they were.
“They killed the dogs.”
“It’s a good thing that it’s Caslyn’s weekend off and Buster has gone to the country. As for those two dogs they were the best I ever had.”
Mc Creed looked downcast.
“Gus, you were smart to have bought so much land, that you don’t have any neighbors living near you to hear those gunshots,” Fred stated.
“We have to get Lex now once and for all. Where’s the nearest telephone booth from here?”
“One is at Rock Hall,” Fred replied.
“You can go there later tonight, Fred. You can disguise your voice, tell him where to meet you and we can send two men to kill him.”
“Good idea,”Rattigan agreed. “But we’ll have to choose a place to which he’ll come readily.”
“Make it Bigs Avenue. We can move into Bigger’s shack because I’m sure that’s where he would have met them. Is that true, youthman?”
The wounded man nodded.
“Where’s the shack?” Ardez asked.
“First house on your left going into Goffe Lane.”
“All of you hear that, we can move in tomorrow about seven thirty. It’ll be dark by then, you can tell him to come at about eight o’clock Fred, and bring the rest of the money. He might want to hear it first so you can tell him that you dumped the body in some bushes.”
“What are we going to do with Bigger’s body?” Ardez asked.
Mc Creed considered for a while before replying. He took the dead man’s gun, looked down at the still groaning figure of the youth who had his eyes closed in an effort to fight the pain in his legs. He aimed the gun at the man’s chest and pulled the trigger twice.
He returned the gun to Ardez.
“There are some garbage bags up at the house. We can stuff the bodies in them. You know where to find Tom and Eddie. Let them handle them for us.”
“In the morning you can help me look for the spent shells, Fred. We’ll have to clean up the place to get rid of any blood stains.”
Pennant went for the garbage bags and they put the bodies in them.
***
On Sunday night Pennant and Duffus moved into Bigger’s shack.
The time was seven thirty and Lex was scheduled to deliver the rest of the money by eight o’clock.
“Hey, I’m suspicious about that guy, Bendoo. I haven’t said anything to anyone yet though, but I saw him talking to a man who looked like a policeman,” Duffus said.
“Who Bendoo, you must be joking. Are you saying that he’s a police informer?”
“This man was clean shaven, wore plain clothes and had a gun sticking out of one of his pockets.”
“What are you talking about, Duffus?” Pennant asked, still in shock at what he was hearing.
“We have to deal with him when we return.”
“If what you’re saying is true, I’m going to fill him full of lead. I’m going to empty out my gun in him.”
They took some more blows off the marijuana pipe.
“The boss wants this man dead, so you just make sure that you shoot to kill.”
“If he comes here, he’s dead.”
“It’s about time a man like that should be dead.”
He took another drag off the marijuana pipe. They were working themselves up into a killing mood.
“If we weren’t up at the boss’s house last night they would still be digging lead out of him.”
“It looks as if he wants to challenge the boss.”
“He’s looking for his death.”
***
Lex got Bigger’s call late Saturday night that his mission had been successful and that Mc Creed’s body had been dumped in some bushes. Bigger said that they had backed up Mc Creed’s car on the Forrest Hill’s main road. They had shot him in the car, taken out his body and thrown it over a retaining wall.
Already he was thinking of returning to his house as soon as Mc Creed’s death was officially confirmed. Gus Mc Creed, his greatest enemy, was dead! He drove through Kingston without having to feel himself in any danger. He would be taking over his arch-enemy’s empire. Once the men at Wareika heard that their boss was dead, they would have to leave their hideout or stay and become bandits, making frequent forays into the city. He would have to get through to them before the panic started. Control of the marijuana fields Mc Creed controlled, would be his. Danny King, Jack Marriot, G.C and Brad Elliot didn’t figure in his plans. If they tried to cut in they would be eliminated. They were all afraid of Gus Mc Creed and as such he had no use for them.
As for Fred Billings, he didn’t count. He had a feeling that Mc Creed’s daughter would not be interested in his syndicate. He would therefore force Fred to cooperate with him.
He would have to get in touch with Gaskell. The man was forming a syndicate to take over the small one, his brother formerly operated. He wasn’t sure how big or how strong they were planning to become. From all accounts, the man was broke, so it must be his partners, who were funding the syndicate. He would have to strike a deal with them. He had heard about Ken Stone and his contacts up in Miami and New York. Rumor had it that he and Ruddy Brown were enemies. There were also rumors that he knew more about the business than Brown, which might be an added incentive to teaming up with Burke.
He was nearing Bigs Avenue now, he looked at his watch, it was nearing eight o’clock and he was supposed to reach Bigger’s shack by that time. He had the balance of the money, four hundred dollars in all in a small brown envelope, having already advanced them a similar amount. He drew up beside the shack, switched off the engine and turned off the lights. He opened the car door and got out, taking the envelope with him.
***
Nearing Bigs Avenue, Delbert Wood heard a barrage of gunshots and wondered if they would be too late to save Lex Malcolm? He turned on to Bigs Avenue and saw a car speeding up the avenue and accelerated his car, he looked over on the other side of the road where some women had gathered. That must be the car with the killers he thought and that was the crime scene.
He slowed to a crawl when he heard a siren and a police car came screaming up the avenue. Wood stopped his car as the police car came up and went over to the crime scene and a Sergeant and two Constables jumped out.
Wood recognized the Sergeant. He was Donald Reid; they had served a year in Linstead along with Bendoo.
“Donald, take care of the crime scene for us, we’re going after them,” he shouted and sped off.
They caught up with Pennant and Duffus on Red Hills Road.
“They’re turning on Washington Boulevard,” one of the Element men in the back of the car said.
“We’re not putting on our siren, we’re just going to follow and try to capture them. I think there are two of them in the car, have your guns ready just in case,” Wood instructed the Element men.
They followed them from Washington Boulevard to Spanish Town Road. Nearing the Ferry Crossing, Pennent switched over
into the left lane.
“They’re turning, it looks as if it’s the Dyke Road they’re going on,” Wood stated.
Pennant and Duffus went across a bridge and turned on to the Dyke Road.
“That car is following us, I think it is a police car,” Duffus warned.
“We’re going to drive down to Independence City and come back this way. If they’re still following us, we’re going to open fire on them,” Pennant told him.
They had driven half-a-kilometer on the Dyke Road.
“They’re still following us, fire some shots at them, Duffus,” Pennant instructed.
Duffus pointed the gun out of the window and fired at the car tires but missed.
The policemen returned the fire. Pennant stopped the car and he and Duffus jumped out and ran into the bushes, each going in the opposite direction.
Duffus had jumped into a grove of trees and was firing his gun. He saw a policeman show his head and he fired but missed. Then he heard a voice behind him say.
“Drop the gun if you don’t want to die.”
Realizing that he stood no chance, he let the gun fall from his hand.
He was immediately handcuffed by one of the two policemen.
Pennant had run into some bushes and he and Wood traded bullets.
He got up and jumped into a gully with Wood and the other Element operative in hot pursuit. From a kneeling position in the gully Pennant fired at Wood, who returned the fire, hitting him in his left side. The other policeman opened up on him. He was hit in the head and left breast and collapsed in the gully. Both policemen waved to their colleagues as they approached the mortally wounded man. The four men were able to bring him up to the top of the road from where they radioed for an ambulance.