Ruddy took a sip of the whiskey and relaxed at his table, the incident with Ken earlier today completely forgotten. He knew, however, that the next time they met out here, they would be shooting it out, so he had better go armed from now on. For a Friday night the Outer Edge wasn’t as crowded as he had known it to be in former years. Nevertheless, he still rated it as the number one nightclub on Red Hills Road. Donnette was in the bathroom freshening up her make-up.
In the late afternoon he and Betsy King had lunch at the Blue Seasons restaurant on Melmac Avenue in Cross Roads. She told him that this was the first time she was dating another man besides her husband. She also told him that her secret in looking so young and sexy was lots of exercise plus she ate no red meat and slept a lot. She told him of her intention to leave King and join her daughter in Cayman. He told her that he was due to visit there in another six weeks or so. She had given him her daughter’s address and telephone number.
He looked at the door to see a stunningly beautiful girl on a man’s arm just floating through the doorway. He recognized the man as Fred Billings, the woman was Johanna McFarlane. She had won some beauty contest, but he wasn’t sure what it was or the year.
Rumor had it that it was another beauty queen Fred had gotten into that fight over. Then a big bald head man came through the door with a woman. Gus McCreed! What would he give to put a bullet into that fucker’s heart, he thought? McCreed and the woman came and sat down at the table with Fred and his girlfriend. Several persons whom he assumed to be foreigners, were also in the crowd that was now simply pouring into the Outer Edge. A girl was coming towards his table; it was Marie Deslandes.
She had on a pair of white shorts and matching white blouse. He couldn’t help but admire her beautiful legs, round hips and firm breasts.
“Ruddy, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. When did you come out?”
“Marie, what’s going on? I’ve wanted to call you, but it seems I lost your number,” he said, standing up and seating her.
“Are you alone? One of my friends is looking for a date.”
“I’m here with Donnette, but give me your number again and I’ll give you a call before I leave the island. Give me your friend’s number too.”
The voluptuous girl took out a piece of paper, wrote down the numbers and gave them to him.
“I have to go now, my boyfriend must be wondering what happened to me.”
She got up and walked away.
He took some more sips of the whisky, then he spied Donnette coming towards their table. He noticed several men turning to gawk at her and smiled at his luck.
She was dressed in a pair of blue shorts and had on a body hugging blue blouse.
“What took you so long, Donnette?”
“I met two of my girlfriends and we stopped to have a chat.”
“I ordered the drinks already.”
She pushed up her chair and picked up the Canei drink. She took a few sips and took the cigarette, her man offered her.
“Who was that girl I saw you talking to?”
“It’s a girl, I know from the country. She just stopped to say hello.”
“Oh,” she interjected as reggae music began to blast out. Both of them left their table to join other couples on the dance floor.
When they were finished and returned to their table, she looked at him in a concerned way.
“Ruddy, do you know that bald head man over there? He keeps looking over here.”
“That guy over there,” he replied and peered in the direction she mentioned. It was Gus McCreed.
“I don’t know him, maybe it’s you he’s looking at.”
She didn’t reply, but took another sip of her drink.
“Ruddy, you haven’t told me about your plans. We can’t go on like this. I’m twenty-six and you’re twenty-nine. It’s time we start thinking seriously about the future. I’ve met lots of men, who would gladly make me their wife, but I have to turn them down because of you.”
He took a sip of his drink.
“You know I want to make some good money so that we can live comfortably. We don’t have to rush things, baby.”
“I’m not rushing anything but I can’t bother with this long distance relationship. If I don’t call you, you won’t call me.”
“But I’ve already shown you how things are, most of the times I’m on the road. Don’t worry, baby, everything will soon be all right.”
“Every night I miss you, Ruddy. I have to think that you have so many women over there that’s why you don’t want to call me.”
“It seems as if I have to come out here more often.”
“One of these times you’re going to come and find that I’ve gotten married.”
“Sweetie pie, I know that you don’t mean that. I’m sure that you don’t want me to go crazy.”
“Don’t sweetie pie me up. I’m very serious, before you go back, you and I have to come to some understanding. As I told you already, the next time you come out you’re going to have to find a another girlfriend.”
“Anything you want, baby. You know that I’m willing to give you.”
Just then a calypso started playing and both of them joined other couples on the dance floor. They danced two more songs before returning to their table. They were there having drinks when Fred came over and sat down.
“Ruddy, what’s going on? I thought you were still in the States, I’m really glad to see you.”
“I just came out for a little holiday.”
“So what’s happening? Aren’t you going to introduce me to your fianceé’?”
“Sure, Donnette, meet Fred Billings.”
Both of them shook hands as Ruddy finished the introductions.
“You remember Gus McCreed? He’s over there. He wants to talk about what happened to you the last time. We don’t know who could have wanted to do that to you.”
Ruddy looked at him and then over at the big bald head giant and realized the mistake he had made. From the moment he saw McCreed enter the nightclub he should have left.
“What are you saying? You don’t know anything about it? You don’t know who shot me? I don’t have anything to say to Gus McCreed except to use my gun on him.”
“What? Are you threatening us? You want to bet that you don’t leave here tonight,” Fred in turn threatened. He got up and walked away.
She was staring at him.
“Who is he, Ruddy? Why was he threatening you? What do they want with you?”
“I don’t know, they have some artists they want me to promote but I told them that I’m not interested. They still want me to, but they can’t force me.”
“The bald head man is still looking over here.”
“Let’s leave, this could lead to bigger things and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He called the waiter and settled the bill. Then they got up and left the club.
***
Donnette lay in bed beside a snoring Ruddy. She wanted to know what was going on in his life. He was shot last year supposedly by gunmen or so he claimed.
Was he involved in drugs? She had better find out fast, those two men at the Outer Edge didn’t look like the type of men to mess around with. She would try to get Ken’s number and give him a call. If she called one of Ruddy’s friends he would just gloss it over; it would be better to hear from one of his enemies. She had been meaning to kick him out of her apartment for some time now and throw his things out after him. If she found out he was involved in drugs she wouldn’t let him spend a minute more under her roof.
***
Ruddy lay in Donnette’s bed in her upscale apartment. It was a Saturday morning and she had gone to classes. She told him she would be stopping by the supermarket to get some groceries for her mother and to bring home, so he didn’t expect her back until early evening. He noticed how withdrawn she was in bed last night. She hardly mentioned anything about what had taken place at the nightclub. They didn’t make love that night for the first time in many nights. Then just as she drove out, the telephone rang. It was Marie Deslandes. During their conversation she told him that she had to be helping out, running her boss’ business as he had to be hiding from gunmen. Although he had memories of their past liaisons he decided against asking her over. He thought of other women he could check, but would have to be careful as Donnette seemed to be watching him by her constant calls to the apartment. Right now he needed a bath so he doused his cigarette in the ashtray, stood up, went and took his bath and put on a sweat suit. He would take a taxi down to the Mall, look around and probably grab a bite. He heard the doorbell ring and wondered who it could be. He went and opened the door and saw two men.
“Are you Ruddy Brown?” one of the men asked. Before he could answer the man had pulled a gun on him!
Desperately, he tried to close the door. The other man kicked him in his knee and as he fell they pushed open the door.
“We never knew that you were here, Ruddy,” Premba told him, pushing himself inside. The other man followed and slammed the door behind him. He had never seen these men before.
“Who the hell are you?”
His own gun was hidden away in a drawer. Could they be McCreed’s gunmen or had King found out about his wife and was seeking revenge?
“Hey, guy, you’d better pack your bags and come with us,” Premba ordered.
“You’d better get out of here, I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Premba looked at Lance, who sprang into action at once. He held a long switch blade knife at the man’s throat.
“If you move I’ll cut your throat,” he warned.
Ruddy saw the futility of struggling. He would stand no chance against these heavily armed men.
“Who sent you?”
“Just pack your bags and don’t ask us any more questions,” Premba warned.
“Start packing,” Lance ordered, the knife still at the playboy’s throat.
Both men accompanied their captive into his bedroom where he began to pack his bags.
The two gunmen had obviously been watching his movements, he thought. He was glad that Donnette wouldn’t be home before five o’clock.
If he could only get his gun he would show these two amateurs something.
Lance and Premba were gazing out of the window when Ruddy’s hands closed around the butt of the gun. His fingers caressed the trigger. Slowly he drew it out of the drawer and without aiming, fired at Premba. The bullet tore through his shirt sleeves; startled he dropped his gun. Lance, who was out of the line of fire, reacted instantly by flinging the opened switch blade knife which embedded itself in the shoulder of Ruddy’s gun arm before he could fire again. The playboy cried out and dropped the gun. Premba dived for it, spun around and fired from the floor, hitting him in his right side and he fell to the floor.
“Idiot, trying to shoot us,” Premba swore, looking down at the wounded man.
“He’s not dead, you should let me stab him up some more,” Lance argued. He took two steps, bent over and jerked the knife out of the man’s shoulder.
“He got the bullet in his side,” Premba replied.
“Hey, guy, I should kill you. If you tell the police that it was us, who shoot you, you won’t live to come out of the hospital. I don’t know how you are so lucky,” he said, realizing that they had done a careless job on their victim.
“We have to move, Lance. People might have heard the gunshots and called the police.”
“We’re going after his friend, G.C next,” he told Lance.
***
Ken was at his woman’s house in Linstead that Saturday afternoon. Patsy had gone to the market in the rental car along with Roger, their four-year-old son. He was sitting on the porch smoking a cigarette and observing vehicles going up and down the busy streets when the telephone rang. He went inside to answer it. It was Donnette.
“How did you get my number?”
“A little bird gave me.”
“So what’s going on? It’s a long time since I’ve seen you or Ruddy. Is everything all right?”
She answered him in the affirmative.
“Ken, I want to ask you about some people. You know Fred Billings or Gus McCreed?”
“Those men are big time gangsters, they run drugs out here. If you want to live don’t mess with those people. Is Ruddy in trouble with them?”
“We were at a nightclub and they were threatening him.”
“You know that we aren’t friends. I’m warning him that if he wants to live, he’d better stop fooling around with those guys.”
“Did you know that they shot him in Ocho Rios last year?”
“I heard that it was some gunmen, who were trying to rob him. There’s a lot more things I have to tell you.”
There was a pause.
“Ken, hold on, don’t hang up yet, I’ll soon be back.”
He heard when she put down the phone.
There was a lot of talking in the background. He went to get a stout out of the refrigerator when she came back on the line. She was crying and sounded hysterical.
“They’ve shot Ruddy.”
“Is he dead?”
“I don’t know, I have to leave now to go to the hospital. I’ll call you later.”
What the hell, he thought. Well, at least they couldn’t say that it was he who had done it.
***
G.C was worried, it was nearly nine-thirty and Ruddy should have called him for them to go down to the Double-Six bar at the top of Hagley Park Road, for a few drinks.
He had gone down to the bar, but there was no sign of the man. He decided to go down to his apartment to check on him. He came down to his car, opened the door and got in and was turning on the ignition when something hard jammed him in the back.
“Make one sound and you are dead. See that car over there you just follow it,” Lance ordered.
“Who the hell are you and how the hell did you get into my car?”
The gun dug deeper into his back, he heard a click and his body tensed.
“I can drop you right here, you want it here? You’d better drive; somebody wants to talk to you.”
G.C knew the futility of attempting anything there and then, and he didn’t even have his gun on him. He started the car and drove off. Who the hell were these men working for? Had King double-crossed him or was McCreed on to him? At least that could account for Ruddy’s no-show. The weak heart fool had tripped himself up and had probably fingered the whole organization.
***
King, Jack and Brad were about to spend their first night at the warehouse and none of them was showing any liking for it. They had arrived there in a car that the latter man had rented for the week.
Brad had hastily carted off his wife and their three kids to stay with his mother.
“My wife must be wondering where I am and worrying over me.”
“You can say that again, my woman must be wondering if I am at some other woman’s home,” Jack stated.
King reflected that Betsy had left for the Cayman Islands yesterday. He wasn’t sure when she would return.
“You still have a choice guys, you can walk out of here now, but don’t expect any of these guys to follow you.”
“Go to hell, King. Lex was right about you, you don’t have what it takes to be a leader. I don’t know why I ever listened to you. You’re still afraid of McCreed. It’s because of you why G.C and Ruddy both got shot and are in hospital,” Jack said bitterly.
King saw red.
“What are you dealing with, Jack? Are you blaming me for what happen to those two men?”
“The syndicate is finished, King. Brad and I are bringing in Gaskell Burke and some other men. They say they don’t want to work with you.”
“What is he talking about, Brad? Wonder if I am hearing right? The two of you are turning against me?”
“You’re blasted right. If it wasn’t for me, all of us would be dead already. Marie Deslandes, who works for me, phoned to tell me that she had met Ruddy. I was sleeping with her, well, I pressed her and she told me that he was at the Outer Edge on Friday night,” Brad stated.
“I called to tell him to leave her alone. When I didn’t get any answer, I went down to his apartment, forced myself inside and found him on the floor. He was shot in his side and he had lost a lot of blood. I called the police and an ambulance, then I ran out and called both of you.”
“So what happened to G.C?”
“He was shot and pushed out of a car. A passing motorist took him to the hospital. I think it was after they shot Ruddy that they went after him,” Brad replied.
“Are you hiding anything from me?” King asked.
“We aren’t hiding anything from you. We want to make sure that you go and join Betsy and your daughter,” Brad told him.
Just then there was a knock on the door. Brad went and opened it to reveal Dickson Lunan!
Lunan’s arrival shocked King into action.
“So that’s how it goes, you damn traitors,” he shouted reaching for the gun in his pocket and shouting for his men to help him.
“What the hell is Dickson Lunan doing here? I swear to God that I’m going to kill him.”
King whipped out his gun and fired at Dickson. The bullet flew past the man’s right ear, but before he could fire again, Jack sprang on him and wrestled him to the floor. Before he could wrestle the gun from him,
he fired again kicking up dust at Dickson’s feet. Dickson threw himself on the floor and grabbed the gun away from King.
Brad had in the meantime drawn his gun, but didn’t fire for fear of hitting Jack and now Dickson.
The men came running onto the scene, but no one made any attempt to help their boss.
“You guys take care of these three idiots for me,” he shouted desperately.
Jack stood up, brushing off his clothes, he motioned to the men and two of them came forward to grab King. They then produced rope to tie his hands before setting him in a chair to face his captors.
“We’re dead serious, King. McCreed knows that you’re no match for him. Look how many of our friends have either gotten killed or seriously injured because of your failure to stand up to him. We just can’t let you run the syndicate any longer,” Jack stated.
“Wasn’t it all of us running it? So how come you’re blaming me alone? It’s a trap they set for Ruddy and G.C, it's not my fault. I told them to watch what they were doing. It’s they who are to blame, not me. Burke and Ken want to join us. Ken has a lot of contacts in the States and he’s better than Ruddy.”
But his words fell on deaf ears.
“Those men don’t want anything to do with you. We and them are going into partnership,” Jack replied.
King chuckled at this.
“The two of you are going into a partnership with Gaskell and you’ve brought in Dickson. It’s a death sentence both of you are looking. If it wasn’t for me, both of you would be dead a long time ago. So cut out the damn foolishness and take these ropes off me.”
Brad looked at him.
“Move from here, King, a car is around the back. We are going to give you your papers. They are made up already and your ticket is bought too. A flight is leaving here at ten o’clock tonight, so that should give you enough time to return home and pick up your things. When you reach the airport, just park the car and we will send one of our men for it. This is your last chance and you’d better take it or else we are going to hand you over to McCreed’s men.”
“You can’t do this to me, this is still my organization.”
“Cut the ropes men, he’s leaving here now because he isn’t worth living,” Jack stated.
The ropes binding him were pulled and he began to flex his muscles.
“Give him back his gun, Jack, and let me and him shoot it out. I’ve heard it in Miami, New York and several other places, how I betrayed him and let Mc Creed beat him.”
“Yes, you two fucking traitors, give me back my gun and let me face this other traitor.”
Both Brad and Jack shook their heads. They weren’t going to trust Danny King with a loaded gun.
“Give him a gun and he would turn it on us,” Jack opined.
He threw the car keys plus a stuffed envelope at him.
King bent and picked them up. He tore open the envelope and took out its contents, which included an airline ticket to the Cayman Islands.
“Just go home and pack your bags and leave. Down here will soon become too hot for you,” Brad told him.
“Go and join Betsy and your children,” Jack warned.
“How do I know that the car isn’t booby trapped or you don’t have men on the road waiting to kill me?”
“You can believe anything you want, King. But you’d better take this chance we are giving you, because Gaskell wants us to kill you,” Brad snapped.
King looked at his former colleagues, at the fighters he had recruited; their faces were expressionless. Slowly he got up and moved towards the door.
“You dirty traitors; you won’t live long without me. Gus McCreed will wipe out all of you.”
“And just remember that weed is mine. I’ll kill all three of you before I let you claim it.”
“It belongs to the three of us, King. I know that you got the money for the weed you sold. You’ll get your share when we sell what’s there and deduct our share of that first shipment,” Brad told him.
“I haven’t gotten the money from those guys yet. And in any case the bulk of the money was to pay the poachers, rent for the warehouse plus other costs.”
Jack aimed his gun at the man’s chest.
“Get out of here, before I get any angrier.”
Around the back of the yard King found the Dodge Avenger. He opened the door and got in. He switched on the engine and revved it up before reversing out of the driveway, one of the guards opening the gate for him. He was sure that Brad, Jack and Dickson would be inside watching him. He decided to drive down Warrenton Avenue and on to Retirement Crescent. He had to reach his home to pick up some things before he left, but if those three guys and Gus McCreed thought they were seeing the last of him, they were making the biggest mistake of their lives. He just wanted to get in touch with Gaskell.
Shower saw the Dodge Avenger pass and recognized Danny King in it.
He lowered his binoculars.
“That’s Mister King, who just passed in that Dodge Avenger,” he shouted to Niah and Gungoo who were on duty with him.
“Let’s go after him and capture him, the boss will be pleased,” Gungoo told them.
Shower went for the Ford Escort and Niah and Gungoo got in with their guns in shopping bags. He drove off in pursuit of King’s car.