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855 lines
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<h1>9</h1>
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<p>They stowed Tam Bowie in a big oak barrel. It was the only way to get him inside Aitkenbar Distillery, and he was not
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at all happy..</p>
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<p>Things had happened so fast it all seemed to go in a blur of urgency and motion. Kate had stopped Jack on his way
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home with the mail from Tim Farmer's house just after Ed peeled away, and his heart was still thudding hard from the
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adrenaline hit of near miss. </p>
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<p>"You should come in with us," she said. "If we stop Sproat, then it can maybe save the dairy, and you'll have a job
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again."</p>
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<p>"I quit," he said. "For good. No more running around for somebody else, working before anybody's awake. It's time for
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me to move on and up."</p>
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<p>"In the hold of a lugger?"</p>
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<p>"It's a supply ship. There's big business out on the north sea. It's the last frontier."</p>
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<p>"It's the last place you want to boldly go." Her expression couldn't hide the disappointment. "So what about Charter
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group? Are you not interested in helping the town?"</p>
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<p>He laughed out loud and she looked up at him, a little hurt, more annoyed. </p>
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<p>"What's so funny?"</p>
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<p>"This town just puts its head under its wing and goes to sleep. You said it yourself. That Millennium Wall just shows
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that this town hasn't got the bottle or the stamina and it just doesn't care. People like Sproat have the council in
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their pockets and they do what they want. To hell with the rest of us."</p>
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<p>"That's why it's important to stop them now!"</p>
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<p>"You think you have a chance?" She didn't know about the conversations he'd had with his Uncle Sandy.</p>
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<p>"Yes, I do, really I do. And only because some people are getting off their backsides to do something, rather than
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just accept what's been done to them."</p>
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<p>He stopped and leant against a lamp post. She folded her arms and looked up at him, hair glinting like hot metal in
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the helium glow. </p>
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<p>"I'm not doing nothing," he said.</p>
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<p>"Sure. You've got a <em>plan</em>."</p>
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<p>"I'm working from the other end." He had to tell her something. "These boys from Dunvegan, they're bringing down a
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bunch of pickets from Skye. They've called the press and I said I'd help them out, them and Donny and Ed Kane."</p>
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<p>"I don't know why you spend so much time with that wild bunch," she said, changing tack. "They'll hold you back."</p>
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<p>"Elitist," he said, but he kept it light.</p>
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<p>"Great phrase for a milkman." She was angering a little, exasperated. "You've got a chance to improve your lot, show
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them what you're really made of, and you plan to throw it away."</p>
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<p>"What's it to you?" He was riling her and she knew it.</p>
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<p>"I'd rather see you fly than see you sink. Of all the people I know, you could do it Jack. You really could. You were
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wasted in that dairy and you'll be ruined on a lugger."</p>
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<p>She reached up and knuckled his forehead. "There's a good brain in there. Don't waste it Jack. Honestly, you could be
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whatever you want."</p>
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<p>"And I still will. Anyway, I know all about the Bruce Decree. My uncle and his pals in the boat club did some
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research at the library. If anybody can stop Sproat, these old boys can."</p>
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<p>She pulled back, surprised. "You never told me that."</p>
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<p>"You never asked. Anyway, I need a favour. I want to hire your talent."</p>
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<p>"What makes you think it's for hire?"</p>
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<p>"Art for arts sake, you said. Money for god's sake."</p>
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<p>This time she laughed and he knew he had diverted her. He wasn't in the mood for an argument, even though he admired
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the way she was so quick to burn hot. </p>
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<p>"What makes you think you can afford the likes of me, Mr Lorne?"</p>
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<p>"I'll make you an offer you can't refuse. I need some artwork."</p>
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<p>"What's it for?"</p>
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<p>"To have a go at Sproat."</p>
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<p>"Well, if you'd said. I'm very reasonable."</p>
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<p>"Who ever told you that?" He pushed away from the lamp post. "Come on. I'll walk you home and show you what I
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need."</p>
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<p>He turned around and she slinked a hand round his arm and it made him feel good, even though he hadn't exactly told
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the truth. </p>
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<hr />
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<p>Donny Watson had fixed the hogshead. He might have been half daft, according to Kate Delaney, but he could work wood
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and he worked it good. It was solid oak and built up from spare staves from old Amontillado sherry casks that had
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been dismantled and re-cut, bound with new iron hoops and end-panel flats. </p>
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<p>The cooperage was the weak link in Aitkenbar Distillery's security. Jack had sat up on the knoll on the day after
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Andy Kerr had drawn his short straw, watching the proceedings through the old field binoculars, taking zoom shots
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with the little Minolta camera Neil's brother had sold him. Here, close by the river, busy flocks of goldfinch
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fluttered and argued in the hazels and a lone wren, tiny and perfect, whirred back and forth on blurred wings to a
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moss nest woven into the upturned roots of an alder. It had been difficult to concentrate on the job in hand, but he
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forced himself to it.</p>
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<p>The barrel store was closer to the harbour basin than the rest of the distillery, on the flat low ground bordering
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the inlet that filled up to the slate flagstones at high tide, even through it was almost a mile up from the river
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mouth. The bottling plant was to the west and Jack could identify the various sections from the shape of the roofs.
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His notebook lay open on his knee, with the little sketch plan of the bottling hall and the stillroom and the big
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decant tank, roughed out in pencil, with prison-garb arrows to indicate what was where. </p>
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<p>The tank filling hall was furthest from the river, built on higher ground where the land rose close to the railway
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line that once delivered the grain directly along the spur, crossing the dip in the road that swooped under the iron
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bridge. From there the whole plant was cut off from the rest of the world, not like the cooperage which was bounded
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on two sides by a chain link fence, but by a solid iron affair with triple top-spikes to discourage the reckless.
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The geese marched up and down the grass behind the fence, honking at anything that moved within vision, or pausing
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to feed on the scattered grain. Jack took a picture of the fence around the cooperage where the dark barrels were
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stacked in rows five high. A couple of men shunted around on fork-lifts. At lunch-time, a group came out for a
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kick-about and two men ambled over to the fence where it was shaded by the trees, surreptitiously drew dark bottles
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from their overalls and pushed them through a hole into the undergrowth beyond. </p>
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<p>They got Tam in at the lunch break, through the same hole a week later. Jed widened it with a big pair of bolt
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cutters, snipping the links right down at the bramble level, just enough for Tam and his toolbox to slither through.
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It was overcast now, threatening a summer downpour and Tam's face was as grey as the sky. </p>
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<p>"I'm losing a day's wages," he complained, but that wasn't what bothered him. This was the first big risk. This was
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the start.</p>
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<p>"You have to speculate to accumulate," Jack told him. "Check the phone."</p>
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<p>Paddy Cleary had come up with the goods just the night before and they had to move fast because they had to get in
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and get things sorted before the decant. If they missed that, they missed everything. Jack heard it first from
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Margery Burns and he hoped nobody else found out about that or he'd be dead in the water in so many ways. </p>
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<p>She'd been at the bar in the Castle Bowling Club and the beer had gone down a treat. The boatmen had stagged the
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function room and then once the drink had started flowing, they'd opened it up to women members, using Sandy's cream
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liqueur as an enticement and some of the old duffers were three sheets to the wind by half past nine. Jack had
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helped load Willie McIver's van with the crates of Irish stout and lager in bottles of every shape and size and when
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they were uncorked, the place really did smell like a brewery. Sandy insisted he had a beer and he took a stout that
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had sat in Willie's cooler in the garage for the weekend and Jack couldn't believe how much it had improved with
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age. </p>
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<p>He had promised to go down and see Neil and the girls in the Starlight show where they were trying an ambitious
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version of Shop of Horrors, but it was only Wednesday and he'd some things to work out and needed the time to
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himself. If he turned up there, Kate would nab him and take him backstage where she had designed and painted all the
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flats and then she'd give him more earache about going to sea with big Lars Hanssen. </p>
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<p>As it turned out, Margery Burns was worth her weight in gold and he didn't even have to push it. She had short,
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shiny-blonde hair that looked as if it had only minor assistance from a bottle and very good legs that she took no
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precautions to hide. She must have been going on forty five, but could have traded at a good handful less than that.
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Jack had pulled away from the boat club gang when the speakers had started belting out the fifties rock and jive and
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the old biddies started to believe they could still throw themselves about the way they used to. </p>
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<p>He moved up to the bar and Harry Conroy who had the license for the place gave him the nod. </p>
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<p>"Bad news at the dairy." </p>
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<p>"Bad news all round," Jack said. "This'll be like the saloon in Deadwood."</p>
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<p>Harry laughed. The club didn't take passing trade, so business would go on.</p>
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<p>"Better that than competing against your Uncle," Harry said. "That devil's brew could wipe us all out."</p>
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<p>The woman at the end of the bar spoke up. </p>
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<p>"You work in the dairy?"</p>
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<p>"Until Friday," Jack said. He hadn't seen her, but as soon as he looked up he recognised her. She'd been married to
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councillor Ronnie Burns, still was, despite the fact that he'd moved in with one of the council secretaries. Jack
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wondered how Jed Cooper had managed to pull her. </p>
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<p>"So you'll be another victim of the great A.J. Sproat master plan."</p>
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<p>"One of many," Jack said. Harry turned away and began pouring for somebody else and Jack moved along a little. </p>
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<p>"And you work in the distillery, right?"</p>
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<p>"For the next six weeks," she said. "Then we're all expendable, even his PA."</p>
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<p>"I thought you office staff had a chance of new work."</p>
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<p>"So you'd have thought. That's not part of the plan."</p>
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<p>She was about to go on when a mobile phone rang inside her bag and she fished it out. Jack pretended not to listen.
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She spoke quickly, short sentences and then disappointment registered clearly on her face. </p>
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<p>"Damn," she said. "I've just been stood up. And by a woman." Jack had guessed that already. </p>
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<p>"It's happened to me millions of times," he said, making light, and gave Harry a signal to give him another beer and
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a gin and tonic for the lady. They segued into a conversation about what a bastard Sproat was and how he had let
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down the whole town and how it would be nice to get a come-uppance. He offered her another drink and she told him
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she was driving and was about to lift her handbag when she paused. </p>
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<p>"Listen. I was having dinner with my sister and she'd had to cancel. I've still got a table booked. You want to have
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a bite and have a moan about the bastards of this world?"</p>
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<p>It was as easy as that. He paused just enough then shrugged and then they were gone before his uncle came out. It was
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just a small restaurant at Barloan Harbour where the old canal tipped itself through the lock and into the Clyde,
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nothing fancy and not expensive. They had pasta. </p>
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<p>"You're Sandy Bruce's nephew," she said. "You're like him."</p>
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<p>"But younger."</p>
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<p>"That's a plus. He had a thing for my mother, so I'm told, or vice versa."</p>
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<p>"She wouldn't have been the only one, so I'm told. Does that make us related?"</p>
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<p>"God, I hope not," she said and she laughed out loud and it took another five years off her in a split second. </p>
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<p>Jack had steered the conversation round to the Charter group and the plan to stymie Sproat's pull-out and she said
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she'd contribute to the cause any time. </p>
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<p>"Men. They think they own the world." It came out in a bitter snap. </p>
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<p>"Some of them do," he said. "Glad I'm just a boy."</p>
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<p>She raised her eyebrows and gave him a look. </p>
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<p>"I'm just waiting for the third thing to happen. Life can be shit when you get dumped twice in the one year."</p>
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<p>"Twice?" he tried to look innocent. She saw through it. </p>
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<p>"You know what I mean. But I need that job and that little chinless shit couldn't give a damn. Once the big
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bottling's done on the sixth, the place will be closed in eight weeks."</p>
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<p>"The sixth?" Jack's brain did a very fast calculation. His forkful of pasta was poised half-way and stayed
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there. </p>
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<p>"You look surprised."</p>
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<p>"I thought it was earlier."</p>
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<p>"They have to get the last shipment from Dunvegan and they're gone. <em>We're</em> gone. After fifteen years that's a
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real slap in the face."</p>
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<p>"I know a few guys who want to have a go at Sproat."</p>
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<p>She raised her eyes. "How are they going to do that?"</p>
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<p>"They're working on something. To do with the old charter. They're well pissed off at what he's doing."</p>
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<p>"They're not the only ones. Fifteen years I worked for him. Where am I going to get a job?"</p>
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<p>"There could be a job in it at the end of the day. . . " Jack just let that dangle.</p>
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<p>"What would I have to do?"</p>
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<p>"Nothing much. Just keep an eye on a couple of things. It would be very worth while."</p>
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<p>She looked at him straight in the eye and then slowly reached a hand across the table and placed it gently on
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his. </p>
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<p>"And you think you could make it worth my while?"</p>
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<p>She squeezed his fingers, still holding his eyes level with hers. Her touch was smooth and warm. Jack gulped. His
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throat was suddenly dry.</p>
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<p>"I can be very helpful," she said, letting a lazy smile spread. It spelled mischief. "When I want to be. Why don't
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you get us another gin and see if we can work something out?" </p>
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<hr />
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<p>The phone chirruped a high warbling note. A starling in a high elm mimicked a passable repetition before Jack
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answered. </p>
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<p>"Hello?" He was only ten feet from Tam but despite the closeness the phone crackled in his ear. Neil had only managed
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to get the mobiles that morning and swore blind he'd had them on charge since breakfast. </p>
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<p>"These things better work," Jack said. "Hello?"</p>
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<p>"I can hear you," Tam said. He was wearing a set of green overalls that made him look just like any of the other
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warehousemen at Aitkenbar. All of his tools were wrapped in an old blanket - to deaden the sound - and stuffed into
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a huge hold-all. </p>
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<p>"Okay, smartarse. Speak through the damn phone." Jack squeezed down on the tension. This was the only chance they
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would get at this and if they blew it today, they might as well all troop down and sign on the dole. </p>
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<p>Tam laughed, high and girlish, and they all knew he was nervous as hell. Ed gave them a quick hand-signal from the
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far side of the fence, way over at the corner of the bottling block. Donny was out of sight, but well primed. </p>
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<p>"Hello, hello, who's your lady friend?" He sang it. </p>
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<p>"<em>Jesus</em>, keep it down!" Jack could hear him in the earpiece, but the static was like sand shifting on a flat
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shore. "Okay, it's not great, but you're on. You got the number?"</p>
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<p>"I pasted it on the back," Neil said. </p>
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<p>"Okay." He clasped his hands together, cupping them into a hollow and blew into the space between his thumbs. It made
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a summer sound of woodpigeons in the trees. Right away a woodpigeon above them called back and Tam laughed again,
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tight with apprehension. Ed lifted a hand and came away from the corner, tapping a plastic football with his toe. A
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hundred yards away, a group of workers were kicking another ball about, interested only in running themselves ragged
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for the scant hour. Jed got the bolt cutters and worked them fast, scissoring through the wire links, unzipping them
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from the ground up. Neil bent to it and forced the edges apart. </p>
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<p>"Right. Showtime." Jack clapped Tam on the back. "You up for this?"</p>
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<p>"Can I back down?"</p>
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<p>"Can you hell. Stay cool and this will go like clockwork."</p>
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<p>Ed kicked the ball. He was halfway from the corner, dribbling it as he walked, and when he got to the grass verge, he
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swung hard and lofted it into the air. They all watched it sail up. Ed's face was a picture. He was supposed to tap
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the ball in at the corner of the fence, where the elm hung over the triple barbed line, but the miss-kick sent it
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right over the fence and into the trees. </p>
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<p>"Shit!" They all heard it from the shadows of the undergrowth. Above them two woodpigeons exploded into flight and
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went clattering away. </p>
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<p>"Where it is?" They were all craning their necks. </p>
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<p>"What a duffer," Tam said. Jack groaned a string of curses. The ball was wedged in a fork ten feet above their
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heads. </p>
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<p>"What do I do now?" Tam looked as if he'd won a reprieve. The plan was for him to come out from the shadow, kicking
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the ball, looking nonchalant. Jed didn't wait. He dropped the cutters, started shinning up the tree and managed to
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get along to the fork. The ball looked like a big white egg. Jed knuckled it out of its wedge and it came tumbling
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through the thin branches. Tam grabbed it. His hands were shaking. </p>
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<p>"Stay cool," Jack told him, clapped a hand to his shoulder, turned him round, and shoved him towards the gap. As soon
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as he was through, Neil and Jed started stitching the hole up with thin wire so that the cut ends wouldn't show, and
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then pushed some thick bramble runners around it to discourage closer inspection. </p>
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<p>Tam crawled through, got to his feet, slung the green bag over his shoulder on the opposite side from the playing
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men, then tapped the ball out. </p>
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<p>"Sorry about that," Ed said. </p>
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<p>"You'll never get off the subs bench." He kicked the ball to Ed and they went across to the corner, just as Donny
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came rolling the hogshead round from the cooperage. That part worked just like clockwork. Jack breathed out a long
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slow breath. It had all started now and the clockwork was ticking. There was nothing for it but to wait and
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watch. </p>
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<hr />
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<p>Jed Cooper got in through the back toilet window at the dairy. It was filled with echoes and shadows and very
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different from the bustle of the early morning when the vans were loaded, or the afternoon when the bottling
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operation made the place shake, rattle and roll. It was still and hollow and somehow haunted. He shivered. He
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thought he could walk this place blindfold, but in the dark of night it was all different. </p>
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<p>He closed the window behind him, just in case, and wished Jack had come with him instead of sitting in the little
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tent on the far side of the knoll. It was all in Jack's head, the whole plan, or most of it anyway, so everybody had
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things to do. Jed was the only one skinny enough to get through the little vent window and that was fair enough. He
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still wished Jack or one of the others had come with him, instead of just handing him a copy of the key that he'd
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picked up from christ knew where. Jack was playing it pretty close to his chest. Jed knew he'd been wasted on the
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milk round, but Jack always did it his way. Now they were <em>all</em> doing it Jack's way, and Jack <em>still</em>
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played it close to his chest. </p>
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<p>The washroom door squealed in protest when he eased it open and the high sudden sound made his heart kick like a
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scared rabbit. </p>
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<p>"Fuck this," he muttered aloud and his echo hissed back at him. It was creepy, somehow damp and the smell of chlorine
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from the floor wash hung in the air. Strange that out on the stock track Jed was scared of nothing at all, doing
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eighty in a souped-up Skoda shell, ramping around the dirt with tons of old rolling stock trying to mow him down,
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while here, on his own in the dark, the unfamiliarity of the daytime familiar made him nervous as a cat. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Andy Kerr's office was at the other side of the bottling hall and Jed made his way past the gantry that shuttled the
|
|
bottles down to the filler. In the night it was like the inside of the <em>Nostromo</em> in Alien, all angles and
|
|
points of faint brightness where the metal edges picked up moonbeams through the skylight. Jed cut across, going
|
|
more by memory than sight, alert for any sound. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The office door was locked and when he tried it, the key protested and stuck and it took him a deal of manoeuvring
|
|
and jiggling to get it to turn. Inside it smelt of Andy's thick plug tobacco. A coat hung from a hook behind the
|
|
desk and for a moment it looked like a floating entity. Jed pulled back before his eyes adjusted to this dark and
|
|
realised what it was. He cursed again and made his way to the big filing cabinet, using Jack's tiny maglight to
|
|
search for what he wanted. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Ten minutes later he was on his way out again, creeping past the lines towards the far door. He was halfway through
|
|
the loading bay when a faint noise stopped him in mid stride and he turned, holding his breath, eyes wide for any
|
|
movement, wondering if he'd been seen climbing in the half-light. He held still until a pulse started pounding in
|
|
his temples and he realised his breath was still backed up and he had to let it all out. He turned quickly in the
|
|
dark, too quickly and crashed straight into a pile of crates stacked at the doorway. Little stars swirled and a
|
|
balloon of pain swelled where his nose had hit the corner of the crate. For a second the column swayed back and
|
|
forth and his breath backed up again. He stumbled forward, eyes watering, and his shoulder hit the stack just on the
|
|
out-sway. Jed stumbled to the left and the column of crates continued to the right. He grabbed for it and snatched
|
|
only air and the top crate flipped off, throwing the empty bottles outwards. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>They hit the floor in a crash of exploding glass that rose to a sudden crescendo in the hollow of the loading bay.
|
|
. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Fuck!" The expletive was drowned out by a deafening crash that reverberated from wall to wall. Glass shattered and
|
|
scattered all across the floor. A thick shard flipped through the air and caught his ankle and he felt a strange
|
|
cold trickle into his shoe. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The wave of sudden sound flared and then faded into a musical tinkling. By this time Jed's hands were shaking so
|
|
badly he wasn't sure he'd be able to climb out of the window. He got to the washroom and hauled himself up onto the
|
|
line of washbasins and forced the half-light open again, listening out for any hint that the crashing of broken
|
|
glass had been heard, fully expecting the wail of a siren approaching from across town. He was half-way out when he
|
|
remembered what he'd forgotten and cursed non stop for a minute with hardly a repetition, before easing himself down
|
|
again and back through the whole route to Andy's office. He unshipped two keys from the dozen on the hook board,
|
|
replaced them with a pair he had in the pocket of his jeans and then had to make his way back through one more time.
|
|
They needed those keys just in case.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>By the time he got out into the fresh air again, a faint summer rain had begun to fall and dawn was slicking the low
|
|
east sky. </p>
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<p>Tam Bowie never even got to see the dawn. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He kicked the ball to Ed and tried to look casual as they walked across the grass towards the corner of the decant
|
|
hall. Jack watched them go, knowing it all depended on Tam now. And Donny and Ed. Damn, it depended on every one of
|
|
them and if Jed found out he'd come sneaking out of Margery Burns' house at the time he'd normally be getting up to
|
|
deliver milk, it could get down to some serious hooking and dodging, even if nothing had happened. And if Kate found
|
|
out, then that would be the and of any ambition in that direction, and he really needed Kate Delaney as much as he
|
|
needed Margery Burns in the big plan. He shucked those thoughts away, knowing Jed had to get in and get what he
|
|
needed from the creamery because since Saturday and his final pay-packet, the doors and the high sliding gates were
|
|
closed to himself. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>They sat still while the men played football and Tam and Ed reached the corner and the timing came together
|
|
perfectly. It just couldn't have been better. Donny came up from the cooperage, rolling the big hogshead on its
|
|
convex curve, one-handed with ease of practise, and flipped it through a gap between the stacks of barrels, close to
|
|
where one of the red fork-lifts stood idle. Jack watched through the binoculars, thinking of all the things that
|
|
could have gone wrong, like Ed kicking the ball out of sight, or one of the other men lofting their ball into the
|
|
same patch of scrub and them all having to scramble for cover. That hadn't happened and Tam and his tools were
|
|
across there and now they were out of sight. He breathed out and opened his little notebook. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Okay, so far so good. I just hope he's half the plumber he cracks himself up to be."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He jammed the mobile into his pocket and they all pulled back from the fence once the edges had been zipped together
|
|
and waited under the trees, not far from the inlet on the river that would soon be filled up and sold, if Alistair
|
|
Sproat had his way. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Donny left the big hogshead on its side until the pair of them came round to the lee of the wall, and into the little
|
|
hollow passage between stacks. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Is this it?" Tam looked at the barrel with a measuring eye. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"No, it's one I just found a minute ago."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Don't get sarcastic."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Don't get stupid. It's taken me three days to get this right."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Right guys," Ed said. "We can stand here and argue or we can get on with this before the whistle blows."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> Donny pulled out a small monkey wrench and stuck the shaft end into a shallow depression in the end panel. Ed kept
|
|
watch, but at this time of the day, there was nobody around, and all the security cameras were up at the front of
|
|
the building. Donny pushed anti-clockwise and the whole panel turned quite easily before it gave a little pop and
|
|
sprung upwards. He pulled it clear and they all looked inside."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Neat," Ed said. Donny had worked a screw thread right round the edge of the barrel. The inside plate had a
|
|
two-handed bar that could be used to twist the plate open or closed. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"There's two holes for air, and that's plenty," Donny said. "They look just like knots in the wood. And look, I built
|
|
you a bench seat. All home comforts. "</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"There's not much room in there," Tam said. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Think yourself lucky they're using hogsheads. Barrels would be a real tight fit. Come on, we've not got much time.
|
|
Get in."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> Tam got a leg over the rim while Ed put his hands together to form a stirrup to help him up and in two seconds Tam
|
|
was standing inside. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Still not much room," he complained. Ed handed him the bag of tools and pushed down on his shoulders, making him sit
|
|
on the little shelf bench. It left very little room to manoeuvre.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Check the time," Ed said and Tam did, making sure the face lit up when he pressed the button. "It's okay." Donny
|
|
lifted the lid and Ed forced Tam's head down and then the end panel was screwing down. In another two minutes, it
|
|
just looked like a normal sixty-gallon keg.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Check the handle," Donny said. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Jesus. I can't move." Tam's voice was muffled and indistinct, but too still far too loud. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Shoosh man. What's the problem?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"It's too tight. I can't breathe."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What's wrong with him?" Ed asked. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I'm claustrophobic!" The word came clear enough through the little breathing hole. They could hear Tam sucking hard
|
|
for air. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Why the hell didn't you tell us?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I never bloody knew. Jees man. I got a cramp in my leg. I'm going to suffocate in here."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"No you won't. Just take deep breaths."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Deep breaths of what?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What a panic merchant!" Donny looked around. Tam was still sucking air through the hole. Donny grinned, turned to Ed
|
|
and then learned back against the barrel and let out a watery fart right on the level with the airhole. Ed doubled
|
|
up in silent laughter. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You ginger prick." Tam's claustrophobia seemed to vanish. "When I get out of this I'm going to wring your neck."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The pair of them erupted while Tam banged on the inside and Donny kept the monkey wrench in the slot to make sure he
|
|
didn't try an early exit. Finally the noise subsided. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Are you going to behave, or do you want more of the same?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Okay, okay. Just keep that arse's arse away."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Ed went for the fork-lift and Donny tipped the keg up. The tines went underneath and Ed backed out of the bay. He
|
|
swivelled, winked at Donny and then hustled for the big blue shutter door. Donny followed round, keeping the truck
|
|
between him and the footballers and Ed paused it just beside the three little hatches on the wall. Donny took the
|
|
spare cutters and snipped the padlocks one by one and replaced them with new matching brass ones, before peeling
|
|
away and back round to the cooperage. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>It was now up to Tam and Ed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> The whine of the engine in the forklift truck sent a sympathetic vibration through the keg, enough to rattle Tam's
|
|
teeth together and the shiver made the tight wad of tools jangle, despite the deadening insulation. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>It was pitch black and only seconds after the lid screwed down, the air got hot and thick. Tam jammed his face up
|
|
against the little hole and sucked. It was so tight in here that he couldn't move his hands, and the big bag of
|
|
tools clamped into his lap prevented any movement at all. It gave him the trapped sensation he always felt when he
|
|
woke up after a good drink, lacquered with sweat and knotted in damp clinging sheets. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"<em>What am I doing here</em>?" The question popped into the front of his mind and stayed there. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Just what the hell <em>was</em> he doing here?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>It was okay for Donny Watson and Ed. They worked in the place. But if he was caught inside Aitkenbar, that was
|
|
breaking and entering. Conspiracy. Worse even. And he <em>had</em> a job to lose. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The air thickened and got clammier and Tam braced himself against the sides of the barrel while he slipped a hand
|
|
inside the toolkit and rummaged for a piece of plastic piping. He drew out a two foot length and felt in the dark
|
|
for the air-hole and forced the end into it. Cool air flowed in. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The fork-lift trundled round the corner, straightened and rolled on over the old cobbles, vibrating hard enough to
|
|
make his molars clash. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Slow it up, Ed," he called out, but the trundling rumble drowned him out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Finally the motion stopped. Tam took two breaths, listening for the motor to start up again. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Where are you going with that?" It came faintly, but he heard it clear enough through the other air-hole. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"They sent it round from the cooperage," Ed explained to the unseen voice. "They said they needed another
|
|
hoggie."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Get it later Ed. Take the truck round and pick up half a dozen pallets for the bottling hall. "</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Tam held his breath and listened intently. Suddenly the was a fierce bump and the whole barrel rocked violently. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Shit!"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Keep quiet," Ed grated from close in. "I'll be back in a minute."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What's happening?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Shut up and stay still."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The barrel rocked again and the lower lip cracked against the ground, but it was still upright. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What's going on? Ed?. . . . ED?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>There was no reply. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>From over by the scrub behind the fence, they could see the carefully prepared plan was all going catastrophically
|
|
wrong. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Who's that?" Jed craned to see through the brambles. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Billy Butler," Jack said, almost a whisper. "The plant manager. What the hell does he want?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>They watched as Ed clambered off and tilted the barrel on the tines of the lifter and then eased it, still upright,
|
|
onto the ground. Jack clenched his teeth and discovered his nails were pressing into the palms of his hands. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p><em>Stay cool. </em>That's what he'd told Tam. He had to do the same himself. <em>Stay cool and hope for the best and
|
|
pray that it's not all over before it's even begun. </em></p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Ed reversed the lifter and then trundled away towards the corner leaving the barrel on its end just at the big blue
|
|
shutter door. Billy Butler made a pantomime of checking his watch and then gave a whistle to the men on the sloping
|
|
grass. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You men want to play football for the rest of the day?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>One of them shrugged and even at this distance you could read plenty in the body language. They had six weeks left to
|
|
work and they were all on protective redundancy notice. A couple of minutes here and there would make no difference
|
|
at all. You could even see in Billy's posture that he was going through the motions. He wasn't bad as gaffers
|
|
went. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Come on men, we might as well just get on with it. Shift that hoggie for me. Put it in the stack with the rest of
|
|
them."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Two of the men in green overalls got their hands to the keg just as Ed came round the corner with a stack of wooden
|
|
pallets balanced on the forks. He came round doing thirty, just about the top speed the little truck could make, and
|
|
a whole lot faster than anybody ever travelled here at Aitkenbar. The pile of pallets swayed alarmingly as Ed tried
|
|
to get back to Tam before the rest of them started to pull and haul. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He tried his best, but in his haste to reach the hogshead first, the speed was just a little too much and as he
|
|
turned in at the shutter, the angle was so tight that Billy Butler had to jump back or lose his toes. Over at the
|
|
fence they heard him bawl. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Slow that thing down. You think you're Michael bloody Schumacher?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Ed jammed on the brake right on the turn and if the pallets had been secured, everything would have been fine, but
|
|
they weren't and when he stopped, they kept on travelling. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Fuck sake Ed!" Billy bawled, and then the rest of them were scattering as the pile slipped forward in a slow
|
|
avalanche and clattered to the cobbles. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The phone rang just as Jack clapped a hand to his brow, unable to believe the farce that was unravelling his plan
|
|
only forty yards away. For a couple of seconds, the mobile chirruped its little bird-like call and it took that time
|
|
for them to realise it was actually ringing. Jack finally connected and snatched the thing out of his pocket. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Who the hell. . . . hello?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What's going on? Is that you Jack?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Who is this?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"It's Tam, you bam. What in the name of Christ is happening, man?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Jesus Tam, would you just sit still? I said we had to have radio silence." </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"He's gone and dumped me."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Well they're coming back right now. Over and out."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jack switched off. Jed looked at him, chuckling. "Over and out? What is this, Memphis Belle? Roger wilco Ginger!
|
|
What's your vector Victor?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Piss off." Jack was back up at the fence, peering through. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Tam heard the clatter of pallets and some shouting and then the silence as the phone went dead. He took another
|
|
breath through the tube and then the whole world just flipped over and his head hit hard against the hard oak staves
|
|
and a sharp pain flared in the dark. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What was that?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What was what?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>He was on his back and the big bag of tools thudded right down onto his stomach, knocking all the wind out. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Just get that inside and a stack it. Ed, what are you playing at?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Sorry Billy. Something was in my eye. Here, I'll get that."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Never mind. It's just an empty. Get them stacked up and over to the loading bay."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Tam listened, gasping for breath. His head was jammed up against the end panel, twisting his neck to the right. A
|
|
cramp pain was starting in the muscle at his shoulder. For a moment everything was dead still and then without
|
|
warning he was spinning and rattling as the big keg rolled over the uneven cobbles. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Jack watched in dismay as the two workers put their backs into it and wheeled the hogshead out of sight. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"He'll be sick as a parrot," Jed observed. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The nightmare seemed to last forever, even if it was only for fifty yards and Jed almost had it right. The barrel was
|
|
rolling and Tam was rolling with it, face down and then face up and every motion cracked the back of his head
|
|
against hard oak or thudded the heavy bag down onto his belly and for a second or two it was touch and go. He gulped
|
|
against the reflex and kept his breakfast inside, screwing his face against the hot acid heartburn. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Where do you want it?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"With the rest. Just dump it and get back to the bottling hall."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Tam was rolling again and the nausea came rolling with it, looping up in his throat and then the world flipped
|
|
violently and he was heels over head and crumpled in the bottom of the barrel. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What the fu. . . . ?" His neck was stretched as his whole weight pressed down on his cheek and a grind of pain
|
|
knuckled in on his temple. He shifted, succeeded only in jarring his ear against something grainy and hard and then
|
|
the phone rang, right in his ear. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What was that?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What was what?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I heard something again."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The phone bleeped insistently and Tam couldn't get his hand to it. He tried to twist and found himself jammed under
|
|
the weight of the tools. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You hear that?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"It's a phone. Have you got a phone?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What would I be doing with a phone?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Tam twisted again and his neck squealed a protest. The mobile was loud in the tight confines and he knew it would
|
|
give everything away and there was not a chance that he'd come anywhere near to thinking up a plausible excuse for
|
|
being inside an empty hogshead in Aitkenbar distillery. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"It's over there."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Footsteps came closer. Somebody bumped into the barrel. Tam grunted. The phone cheeped a cheery tune. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"It's somewhere here."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"No that's just an echo." The voice faded then came back stronger. "Hey Billy, did you leave a mobile somewhere?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Tam found it jammed inside his shirt and he forced his thumb down on the face, hitting as many buttons as he could to
|
|
silence the thing. It took five hits before the ringing stopped and he shoved it up against his ear. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Jake, for Christ's sake," his voice was suddenly hoarse. "I'm upside fucking down."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Can I have a taxi for Castlebank?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Twenty Four Bruce Street, Castlebank. The name's McMenamin."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Jake, what the hell are you playing at?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"What?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>A sizzle of static fuzzed out the word and then another woman's voice came on. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Taxi for Castlebank." She sounded unbelievably bored. "Taxi for Castlebank. Any takers?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Hello?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Jake, quit screwing about!"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Where are you going dear?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Just down to the town centre."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Taxi for Castlebank. Red six, come in Jimmy. Town centre drop."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Outside the barrel the voices came again. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Did you hear that?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Hear what?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"There's people over there."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Don't be daft."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I'm telling you. I can hear people talking."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You better lay off the sauce, man. You're hearing things."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Tam hissed into the phone, frantically trying to find the off button. "Get off this line."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"I want a taxi to the town centre."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"We don't have any bloody taxis."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"There's no call for that language, you. I'm a paying customer."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Outside, a man's voice came from close in. </p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"There. I heard it again. There's people in here. I can hear them talking."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You've definitely loony-tunes, you are."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Shhhhh. . . . can't you hear it? In amongst the barrels. There's people in there."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"You better go see a doctor. You've scooped too many free samples. Maybe you should go and lie down for a
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minute."</p>
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<p>Billy Butler called from much further away. "What's the matter with him?"</p>
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<p>"Nothing much. He just thinks this place is haunted. Isn't that right Wullie? He says he can hear voices."</p>
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<p>"He'll hear my voice in a minute if he doesn't get moving. Come on you lot, we haven't got all day to hang
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around."</p>
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<p>"I'm telling you," the first man insisted, audible through the breathing holes. "There was people talking right over
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there. Swear to God."</p>
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<p>The voice faded away, leaving Tam still upside down, with a dreadful crick in his neck and an even worse sensation
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that the walls were closing in on him. His hand finally found the off button and the angry voice in his ear
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died. </p>
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<p>Jack called Margery Burns because there was nothing else for it and the whole radio silence routine went straight out
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the window. </p>
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<p>Ed managed to get to the payphone on the far side of the bottling hall. </p>
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<p>"He's stuck in the loading bay."</p>
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<p>"Can he get out?"</p>
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<p>"God knows. I don't even know where they put him."</p>
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<p>Jack scratched his head. </p>
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<p>"You'll have to go in and find out."</p>
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<p>Ed came back round the corner, this time on foot, and he looked right and left before ducking into the bay and out of
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sight. They waited in silence until he came back out again five minutes later, did the right and left again and his
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eyes found the old ball at the corner. He reached for it and booted it hard in their direction. This time his aim
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was much improved. He came across to the shadows under the overhanging tree. </p>
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<p>"Jake, all this plan's gone to pot."</p>
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<p>"What's up?"</p>
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<p>"He's stuck in a pile of barrels. I can't get near them just now."</p>
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<p>"You'll have to try later."</p>
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<p>"Aye, but there's a problem. He'll never get out of there on his own. They've turned him upside down. He's
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stuck."</p>
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<p>"Holy mother." Jack slapped his own forehead. "This should have gone like the cat-sat-on-the- mat, no bother at all."
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He paused and chewed on his knuckle. The whole plan in his head was complex enough without it turning into the
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keystone cops. "Right. There's nothing for it, but you'll have to stick with him."</p>
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<p>"Until when?"</p>
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<p>"Until you can get him out. There's none of us can get in there and do it."</p>
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<p>"I could be there all night."</p>
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<p>"If that's what it takes, <em>Eduardo</em>. Donny and Jed have a job to do themselves tonight."</p>
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<p>"And what are you going to do?"</p>
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<p>"I got plans. You stick with him."</p>
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<p>"Okay, but I'll need clocked out at five. Otherwise the customs will come looking for me."</p>
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<p>Jack leaned back against a tree, thinking fast. He looked at Jed, already feeling guilty. </p>
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<p>"Okay. Leave it with me. I'll get that fixed. You stay with Tam and make sure he gets out. We have to get this sorted
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|
by tonight."</p>
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<p>Ed looked dubious about the whole thing, but they were all in, for good or bad, and Jack had told them they might
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lose their shirts. He'd do what he could to save his, even if it meant taking more of a risk. Finally he
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nodded. </p>
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<p>"If they catch me in there, it's all blown to hell."</p>
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<p>"We're sunk if we don't," Jack said. "Just tell them you fell and cracked your head." Ed walked back towards the big
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blue door and Jack turned away. </p>
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<p>"Give me a minute, Jed. I have to make a private phone call."</p>
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<p>He wandered to the edge of the scrub and it took three attempts before he got through to Margery Burns. </p>
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<p>"Hello stranger," she said. "I never expected you back so soon."</p>
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<p>"I need a favour," he said. "Can you clock somebody out?"</p>
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<p>"What for?"</p>
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<p>"It's a 'need to know' kind of thing," he said. "But it's important."</p>
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<p>"Oh, we're Mr Mysterious today. All I need to know is, what's it worth? I do you a favour, you do me one."</p>
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<p>"Right."</p>
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<p>Jack thumbed the off button. Yet another fix he'd have to get out of.</p>
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