BODIES, Part Two of the Tattoo Series: Sample Chapters
Security in London's Heathrow Airport had never been tighter. Joshua Johnston was a tall man, 6 feet 5 inches in bare feet, but he was the small one. His younger brother Daniel was 6 foot 8 and the three inches had always made a difference. Still, however, Joshua was the boss. Therefore he had designated his little brother to carry the satchel with the satellite phone terminal. It was only a mildly suspicious piece of hand luggage. Airport security is familiar with these items due to their popularity with journalists in recent years. Daniel could be trusted to explain why he needed one in Ireland. He had also given the medical kit to his brother. Three syringes, one filled. Two vials of insulin clearly marked with professionally preprinted identifying pharmaceutical labels. Capped lancets with a glucose meter marked with the manufacturer's name. Glucagon kits in their original containers. The security official was of Nigerian ethnicity, like Joshua and Daniel themselves He recognized the facial scars that marked out their family and tribe across their cheeks. He didn't have any himself, being born in the UK to parents from Lagos, but he knew them. Facial scars would indicate that the men were probably not from the city.
"What's with the satellite terminal?" He asked.
"It is the reception in Nigeria. The phone system is very unreliable." Daniel answered.
"No worries," the guard said, "sounds like a good idea, should get one myself." He looked at the diabetic kit. "Be careful," he said, "my mum's a diabetic. Just ask the flight crew if you need any help." Daniel smiled and repacked his things.
Joshua was the next in the queue. He had kept the most interesting items for himself. They were not part of the delivery, but they were required nevertheless. Strapped under each arm he carried ornate forged steel blades, ceremonial daggers, razor sharp, designed for surgical accuracy. The metal detector sounded as he stepped through. A tall young security guard ran his hand-held detector over him and then reached asked Joshua to raise his arms when the device began to whine.
Joshua began to breathe deeply and rapidly.
"Are you alright sir?" The young guard asked. He looked up into Joshua's eyes and then took a step back. The big man was glaring at him and breathing loudly through his nose, forcing the air out in short bursts. The young man went a little blank and then motioned for him to go through. His colleague at the desk noticed something was wrong. "Sir." He said. "Step over here please." Joshua turned slowly. Daniel had already walked away. He was holding the delivery and was already through. Besides, he trusted his older brother. Joshua looked down into the eyes of the guard, still breathing in short bursts and mumbling something under his breath. The guard knew it was a northern dialect but it was one he didn't understand. He went cold as he looked into Joshua's face and his vision closed into a dark tunnel. His father didn't believe in Ju-ju, traditional magic and witchcraft, but his mother had always warned him to be careful; that it was for real. For a moment he felt extreme nausea and could see only the burning eyes of the tall stranger, surrounded by a swirl of moving facial scars. He gagged, then shook his head. "Go on sir. Have a nice trip." Joshua smiled. "Thank you little brother." He said, and walked on.
By comparison passport control in Dublin was non-existent. Although Joshua and Daniel Johnson were both Nigerian by birth they had long since acquired falsified EU passports. Joshua was Belgian and Daniel French. The Irish immigration officer studied both passports for a long time and then ran the usual checks. It wouldn't matter because both passports were authentic, stolen in blank batches from lax town halls where the embarrassment of losing them was greater than the need to report the incidents. Joshua gave the little pink Irishman a big smile as he received his passport back again. The little man smiled back. "Welcome to Ireland." He said.
When his brother had also been cleared they walked through to arrivals. They had only hand luggage and would be returning to London the following day once their package had been delivered. They were the couriers of choice for a number of high profile gang-lords Although affiliated by family and tribe to one particular ethnicity in the dark underworld of London's Nigerian Mafia, they had been skilful enough to branch out and now earned delivery money from crime gangs of diverse affiliation; Asian, South American, Polynesian. Their record for successful delivery was unequalled
Daniel held out his hand to Joshua once they had passed through customs. He handed his brother’s blade to him and he slid it under his coat where its scabbard waited. He yawned then asked "What time are we meeting her?"
"We have three hours to go. We will eat then find her and carry out the exchange."
Leaving the terminal building they found the taxi stand and walked to the top of the queue. A tall German business man was waiting with his bags.
"Excuse me." He said loudly. "The end begins there." He pointed back down to the end of the long snaking queue.
"I don't think so." Daniel snarled into his face. The tall man was taken aback, long enough for Joshua and Daniel to get into the car.
"Did youse two not see that there's a bleedin' queue back there?" The taxi driver was small but loud, in his 40's and worried that he might not get paid.
"Drive." Joshua shouted at him. He put his foot to the pedal. "Where to bud?" he said nervously.
"Somewhere to eat. The centre of Dublin. Something with good meat."
"No worries bud, I know just the place."
"Go quickly, my brother and I are hungry."
The driver's name was Stuart and he was gregarious by nature, but not today. He didn't like the look of his fare at all. He didn't love foreigners at the best of times and Nigerians may have been as low on his list as you could get. He decided to stay quiet and just drop the boys off at the most notorious den of racist thieves that he could think of; a small pub in the docklands mostly frequented by criminals and prostitutes. The pub itself was a front, and a very poor one, for a Dublin criminal gang and was legendary for punch ups, shootings, even kidnappings.
Thirty minutes later he pulled up outside and indicated the door to his customers.
"This is it boys. That's €30 for the ride and you can eat all you want in there. Very friendly staff and great food."
Daniel handed him a €50 and said; "Keep the change."
"Thank you very much sir." he said, feeling a little guilty now about dropping them off at Dublin's worst and most hazardous eatery. "Look, if you don't get what you want here, there's plenty of other... "
It was too late. They ignored him and walked into the pub.
"Jesus," Stuart hissed, "I hope youse'll be alright." He consoled himself with the thought that they were big lads and could probably look after themselves. And anyway, he had tried to offer them alternatives.
The pub was deserted except for the bartender and a group of men playing cards at a table.
"We're closed." The barman said.
Joshua looked at the opening hours printed clearly on the window and then at his watch. "Your schedule says that you are open. We are hungry." A small, wiry man with sleeve tattoos and a vest didn't turn around as he spoke.
"The man said he was closed, so he's closed. Now fuck off out of it."
Daniel exchanged a glance with Joshua and they smiled.
"Why don't you stand up, turn around, come over here and tell me that," he paused, "little white boy."
All five men at the table jumped up and the barman reached for a sawn-off shotgun under the counter. The little man in the vest was on his feet but still didn't turn around. "OK," he said, "now I'm standing up." He turned around and saw the two huge brothers before him. "My, my, aren't we two big bloody baloobas?" He added. He slowly walked over to Joshua. "Here I come." He said. He stopped in front of him, looked up into the deeply scarred face and prepared his expletive. Joshua began to breathe fast and deep again. A surge of terror filled the thug’s eyes and he began to back away.