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<h1>6</h1>
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<p>They all gaped at Jack Lorne and if he’d had the camera with him he’d have taken a picture, every one of them caught
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with their mouths slack open.</p>
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<p>"You have to be totally fucking kidding," was all Tam Bowie could finally say. </p>
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<p>A long silence stretched out as what he had told them began to sink in.</p>
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<p>Mac's Bar had been fairly quiet when they got there, still pumped from the nearness of the action with Ferguson's
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gorillas. Jack thumbed a few coins into the box and Tam and Jed groaned when the music started and the heavy Hendrix
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base came thumping out. It was good music for a slow come-down.</p>
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<p>"Where do you get your taste retro-man?" </p>
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<p>"What, you prefer the spice bimbos? Lady Gaga? These old guys could play."</p>
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<p>Old dead Jimi came out with it. ...<em>everything just don't seem the same.</em> Jack let an ice cold sip trickle
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down his throat. Nothing was the same, nor would it be from here on in, win or lose.</p>
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<p><em>Acting funny but I don't know why.</em></p>
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<p>Neil leant in, faking a tight guitar, put a smacker right on Jed's cheek.</p>
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<p>" 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy."</p>
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<p>"Bugger off you. I told you a million times, it's <em>kiss the sky.</em>"</p>
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<p>Everybody laughed, and it eased the tension. Jack asked Frank behind the bar if they could use the upstairs room, but
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it turned out the domino team had it for the night.</p>
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<p> "Jimmy Gillespie's boat's up on the stacks," Tam said. "He's away on holiday and he wants us to keep an eye on
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it."</p>
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<p>They trooped out into the mellow evening sunlight and followed the river towpath downstream. Franky Hennigan and Tig
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Graham sat on their usual bench and when they passed by, Franky got up and did a drunken little shuffle-dance,
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snapping his fingers.</p>
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<p>"Well boys, you wouldn't have any loose change, would you?" Franky and Tig had both worked in Aitkenbar and gone the
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way of so many who'd got a big taste for what they had rolled in barrels.</p>
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<p> Tam dug into his pocket. Jack and Ed managed a handful of coins between them and gave it to Tam.</p>
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<p> "But you have to promise me, you're not going to waste this on anything stupid like food."</p>
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<p> "No problemo senors," Franky drawled a fake Mexican accent. He threw a pantomime salute. "You have the word of an
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officer and a gentleman."</p>
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<p> Gillespie's boat had seen plenty of better summers, and it would take another year to get it back into the water,
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but it was big and spacious, up on the blocks right at the end of the sandy point opposite the towering castle rock
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where the river fed into the Clyde. It was better inside than out, and the six of them were round the table. Neil
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fanned out the cards for shoot pontoon and they'd rattled the money down, watching it change from hand to hand, as
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the sun sank lower to turn the slow waters of the incoming tide deep red on the estuary.</p>
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<p>Jack had known Cullen and Foley would come at them again and if they didn't, Ferguson would send somebody else and
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despite himself he muttered a curse at Donny letting his mouth do the thinking, even though he knew it had always
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been the same since the pair of them had started school. Donny's mouth spoke for somebody two foot taller and a
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whole lot tougher. It was like a half-developed tourette syndrome, shooting off when they needed it holstered.
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Ferguson might have forgotten the slight, even though that was unlikely, but he couldn't let a couple of boys from
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Drymains give his minders a doing. That was definitely something he didn't want spread around in the gossip, and if
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it had gained currency, then he'd have to convert it back, with commission.</p>
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<p>Jack was ahead on the five he'd slapped on the table, but he kept the fifty still in his hip pocket, knowing it had
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been money earned by stealth, no luck or insider knowledge required A part of his mind was on Cullen and Foley and
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Ferguson, wondering where they would turn up next, knowing they would, and if it had been any other time, he'd have
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watched his back, waited for the hit and taken it with a fight, but the time was all wrong and the last thing he
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needed was a mess of bruises on his face. The walk along the towpath from Mac's bar had been full of talk of
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might-have-been and could-have-done, though Tam said little and Ed Kane even less. Tam had got his black belt in Tae
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Kwon Do and could have given them a run if he'd really wanted to, but it was better to scare them off than get down
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to it. Two could become six too easily and you could start a street war that would bring all the nutters from
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Corriehill down on River Street and have a real rammy that would do nobody any good. </p>
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<p>Donny was all pumped up, his face matching his ginger hair, talking big and they all slapped him down for it. Ed Kane
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had heard about the first set-to and Jack was glad he'd been right solid with them. Since the first night in Mac's
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bar he'd realised just how handy Ed could be. He had that calm sort of understated toughness that doesn't need a lot
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of talk.</p>
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<p>Jack tapped and got a three and ran it all through to a five card trick, took two notes from Tam and on the next hand
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turned up an ace and a face. Tam handed over the pack. Jack began dealing and taking the bets, getting a run of high
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cards as the notes piled up at his corner, but he was working on automatic. Pontoon takes no brain. Working the odds
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was just maths. His mind was elsewhere. </p>
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<p>Ed Kane said nothing about seeing him in the distillery and that was a plus point too. He'd been a class behind them
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in primary and his girlfriend Donna worked in the hairdressers down on Castle Street. She sometimes cut about with
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Linda, and the pair of them sang in the Starlights chorus. </p>
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<p>"So what's the next move?" Jed Coogan asked. "I hear you're jumping a ship."</p>
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<p>"I'm still thinking about it." Big Lars had welcomed him aboard and shown him round, while a crane had lifted the big
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propeller from the water. The shipwrights at Scotts yard would straighten out a big crumple on the vane. He'd half
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expected to see Ilse and Ingrid and had quickly looked over his shoulder to make sure Kate had driven off. The
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prospect of being out in the dirty little supply ship in a howling and heaving North Sea did nothing at all for him.
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It was no prospect. </p>
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<p>But they'd sat down and got talking and big Lars had finally got the <em>Absolut</em> from his cabinet and they'd
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chewed the fat for a couple of hours and then arranged another meeting to get things really sorted. He had a couple
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of days to get things going, but he had to broach it here and now. This dry dock was the first port.</p>
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<p>"I've been to the Australia office," Neil said. "The chance of finding something around here's less than damn
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all."</p>
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<p>"Somebody should shoot that prick Sproat," Jed said, and they all nodded. "He's selling every one of us down the
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river. It's all the same with those rich bastards. They come up on daddy's money and never get their hands dirty and
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think they can just buy and sell folk."</p>
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<p>"I'd like to see him signing on the dole. Trying to get money out of those snooty bitches."</p>
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<p>"Hey, my cousin works in the Jobcentre," Donny protested. </p>
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<p>"Yeah, and she's the snootiest of them all, spawney-eyed bitch."</p>
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<p>Donny shrugged. "You've got a point, right enough."</p>
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<p>"You're right Jed," Jack stepped in to the little silence. "Sproat needs a come-uppance. I heard what he told you all
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at the meeting. It was thanks for all your hard graft and now get lost and let me make more money."</p>
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<p>"That was about the size of it." </p>
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<p>"He's a fucking charmer, that Sproat," Donny observed. "A regular Don Coyote."</p>
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<p>Jack turned for a second look, decided it wasn't worth the correction. </p>
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<p>Tam got out a little nut of hash and rolled one long doobie. The air thickened into a sweet mist. Jack took a couple
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of deep draws, because he could still think clearly on hash, while his mouth and his brain got completely out of
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step on beer. </p>
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<p>"So what are you going to do about it?" he asked nobody in particular.</p>
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<p>"What can we do?"</p>
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<p>"You could help yourselves and really screw Sproat, that's what you could do."</p>
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<p> He let that float with the smoke. </p>
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<p>"Aye, brilliant. What do we do? Let the tyres down on his Beamer?"</p>
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<p>"Everybody's got a weakness. You just have to find out what it is. It's not that hard to find out what Sproat's
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weakness is."</p>
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<p>"Listen to mister open-bloody-university here. Is that the kind of stuff they teach you in business management?"</p>
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<p>"Business is just like anything else. You find out what people need. You find a way of giving it to them, or keeping
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it from them. It's all about knowing what to do and when."</p>
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<p>He looked round the table. "I'll tell you what business really is. It's a way of stealing money from people without
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having to beat them up. It's just legalised robbery."</p>
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<p> "Thanks for the lesson, Jake. But is there a point in there somewhere?" Tam drew on the joint and held it in. </p>
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<p>"First of all you have to realise what the score is," Jack said. He deliberately slowed the dealing down to a stop.
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"And the score is, we've all been screwed arsewards, all except Tam, and he'd enjoy that anyway. Look at the unions,
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talking about setting up pickets and begging the MP for some help. He's in Sproat's pocket anyway. So what will they
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achieve?"</p>
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<p>"Nothing," Ed said flatly. </p>
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<p>"Exactly. Sproat called you in and kicked your stupid and everybody said <em>yes boss,</em> Same as ever. It's in the
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blood. People here all work for somebody else and they take what's going. It's about time we did something for
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ourselves."</p>
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<p>"Like what, set up in business?"</p>
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<p>"Something like that. No. <em>Exactly</em> that."</p>
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<p>"With what?" Donny asked. "I've got damn all.<em> </em>I'm between a rock and the deep blue sea." </p>
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<p>"Look," Jack said, putting the cards down on the table, face up. He had a king and an ace and nobody could beat him.
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Good symbolism. He let them all see them and then quickly scooped up the dead hands. </p>
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<p>"Two hundred years. That's how long the distillery's been going and in all that time folk have been busting their
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balls for Sproat's people. They do all the work, and he gets all the cash and he's the only one living up Kirkhill
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and driving a big shiny car. He's got a boat you could sail the world on. Holidays in Hawaii. What's he done for it?
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He was <em>born</em>, that's what. But that's the old way. Now he's selling up to make more money, because there's
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just not enough in a wee malt and grain business that's too labour intensive, not when you pay eighty percent in
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excise. I got on the internet and had a look. It's easy. Aitkenbar's been run down for the past three years. Sproat
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hasn't been out searching the markets because he's a total airhead. But he's smart enough to sell when the builders
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are killing each other for empty land. They're paying twenty three pounds a square foot, and he'll make enough to
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clear himself and put up a kitty and with the last big blend he's free and clear and we're all in the shit. He's
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crippling Andy Kerr because he needs that land, and that puts another forty on the dole and the whole town goes down
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the stank. And don't forget those poor boys up at Dunvegan. They're all back to cutting peats and eating porridge
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and shagging mountain sheep."</p>
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<p>Jack stopped for breath. Tam was curious.</p>
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<p>"You can find that all out on your computer?"</p>
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<p>Jack nodded. "If you know where to look, except for the sheep thing. Anyway, that's business, they're all at it. It's
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business, and it's the way it works."</p>
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<p>"They're all a bunch of crooks."</p>
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<p>"Sure they are, but it's all <em>legal</em>. You see that wall Kate Delaney and the kids are painting? All those
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firms that just pulled out of the town and set up in Taiwan or Korea. <em>That's</em> business. Money talks, and
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everybody else gets their marching orders. "</p>
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<p>"So what are you saying?" Ed Kane eyed Jack through the smoke. </p>
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<p>"It's time to take a stand. Make something of ourselves."</p>
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<p> "Yeah," Neil went into grizzly old cowboy mode<em>. </em>"I was born here, an I was raised here, and <em>dad gum
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it</em>, I am gonna die here, an' no sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker is gonna ruin me bison
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cutter."</p>
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<p> "Fat man," Jed said, "You're purely talking out of your ass."</p>
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<p> "No," Jack contradicted. "He's got a point. We were all born and raised here, and some prick is ruining it for
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everybody. So it's about time we took back our bison cutter."</p>
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<p> "How? Go on strike?" Donny asked a stupid question. </p>
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<p>"Get real. That's what the Dunvegan boys want, and it'll do no good. You can't strike at a moving target, and Sproat
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is moving. You can only hit him if he sits still. So what you have to do is stop him dead in his tracks"</p>
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<p>"How?" Ed leaned forward. He knew a moment was coming. Jack recognised that in him.</p>
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<p>"I've been doing some checking. This big last batch is something special. Sproat wants to market it all over the
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world, and it's worth a fortune. My Uncle Sandy says God helps those who helps themselves, and it's time we helped
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ourselves."</p>
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<p>"Helped ourselves to what?" Ed was staying with it. Donny scratched his head, waiting for Jack to get right to the
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point. </p>
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<p>"See that last batch of whisky? It's a quarter of a century old. Just think about that. Our grandfathers made it. Our
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fathers and uncles stacked the barrels, turned the barley, did all the sweating. There's near enough thirty thousand
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gallons of it, all sitting there in the bond and in a couple of weeks time, they're going to roll it out, mix it up
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and bottle it and after that it'll be gone."</p>
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<p>"Yeah, we know that," Neil said. His broad cheeks turned concave as he sucked in on the joint. "What's that got to do
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with us?"</p>
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<p>"Our families made the stuff. I reckon we've as good a claim to it as anybody."</p>
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<p>"You won't buy much with what you get in redundo," Jed said. </p>
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<p>"I told you. God helps those who help themselves, and we should help ourselves."</p>
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<p>"To what?"</p>
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<p>"I reckon we can take those thirty thousand gallons right from under Sproat's nose. I got a plan."</p>
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<p>He reached into his cotton jacket and drew out a sheaf of blue paper. </p>
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<p>"I got all the plans."</p>
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<hr />
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<p>The silence stretched as if time had expanded. For a long time, nobody spoke, and Jack just waited until what he had
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said percolated through. </p>
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<p>"You have to be totally fucking kidding." Tam finally said.</p>
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<p>"Fuck me gently," Jed agreed. </p>
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<p>Jack shuffled the cards and dealt another round. Neil, who had held his breath for more than thirty seconds let it
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all out slowly. Ed Kane said nothing at all. He just waited. </p>
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<p>"Are you serious?" Tam Bowie ran his fingers through his hair. </p>
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<p>"Sure I'm serious."</p>
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<p>"That's why you were done up like Clark Kent?"</p>
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<p>Jack nodded. Ed got it in one. Nobody picked up the cards now. They just lay unturned.. </p>
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<p>"I need another joint," Jed said. </p>
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<p>"I need a drink," Donny said. </p>
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<p>"I'm agog."</p>
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<p>"I'm even agogger than you," Jed told Neil.</p>
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<p>"See you? You always have to be the agoggest," Neil came back.</p>
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<p>Jack paused, mouth open, did a sharp double take at Neil and then just exploded with laughter. It broke the
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moment.</p>
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<p>"So you're serious then?" Tam said.</p>
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<p>"You think you can really heist a whole decant?" Ed steered them right back to it, needing to hear it again. Jack
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could almost hear his brain working. </p>
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<p>"It's possible."</p>
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<p>"How are you going to do that?</p>
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<p>"With some serious planning, a bit of hard graft, and split second timing. But I think it <em>can</em> be done.
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Supply and demand. This time they've got the supply and we've got the demand."</p>
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<p>"Then what?" Tam finished rolling the third and passed it to Jed who sucked it like a condemned man facing
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rifles. </p>
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<p>"You work it out. You get thirty thousand gallons. Multiply by six and you get bottles."</p>
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<p>"How many is that?" Donny asked. </p>
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<p>"More than a hundred thou," Ed Kane broke in. Jack nodded approval. </p>
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<p>"Hundred and eighty. But then it's double strength, so when you dilute it, water it down, you get three sixty." He
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paused for effect. "<em>Thousand</em> bottles. Nearly half a mil." </p>
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<p>"Jeez."</p>
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<p>"Supply and demand. You get the right market and you can flog them at a five-spot apiece."</p>
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<p>"That's more than a million." Ed was faster than any of them.</p>
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<p>"One point eight."</p>
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<p>"<em>Jeez</em>!"</p>
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<p>"Million?" Donny's face was a picture of incredulity. </p>
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<p> "Million. One million, eight hundred thousand. Minimum. Sterling. All profit. No tax."</p>
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<p>"You're going to walk in there and lift thirty thousand gallons of hooch?"</p>
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<p>"That's the plan."</p>
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<p>"And then what?"</p>
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<p>"Then we get rich."</p>
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<p>"Jesus holy fucking <em>Christ</em>. You're serious, right?" Tam gave a little disbelieving laugh. </p>
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<p>"Sure I'm serious." Jack held up the translucent blueprint. "I can't say where I got these. But this is the plan we
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need. All it needs is some nerve and organisation and we can pull it off."</p>
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<p>"Don't be daft man," Donny came in. "The customs would be all over you like a rash. And the cops along with them.
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Thirty thousand gallons? Where would you put it?"</p>
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<p>"You came out with the stuff in a tube, didn't you? When we went golfing?"</p>
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<p>"Sure, stuck down my leg."</p>
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<p>Jed came in: "You get thirty K gallons and you'll need the biggest colostomy bag in the history of the universe."</p>
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<p>Everybody laughed. </p>
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<p>"Or the biggest pair of incontinence pants."</p>
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<p>"Ye of little faith," Jack said. He knew he had their attention now. Everybody was thinking, despite the hash. "If
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you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it."</p>
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<p>"Big words for a milkman. They teach you that in business?"</p>
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<p> He nodded. "Plenty more where that came from. I've read all the greats. Graham Bell, Ford. Hammer. Edison. One thing
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they tell you is that if you don't do it for yourself, nobody's going to do it for you.<em> </em>We can look for
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four leaf clovers trying to get lucky and miss a big chance""</p>
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<p>"<em>Carpy Dime</em>," Tam said. Jack patted him on the shoulder.</p>
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<p>"Dead right, Thomas. Seize the moment. And the harder you work at it, the luckier you get." </p>
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<p>"That would be a real sickener for Sproat," Jed put in. </p>
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<p>"Believe it. I've spent a while working it out. He needs the big batch for cash flow, and he'll be wrapping it in
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cling film and ribbon and selling bottles at a bullseye a throw. You take off excise and the overhead he's still
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talking about three mil, all skimmed. But he has to dump the distillery in the harbour to reclaim the land or pay
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another three mil in landfill tax, so there might be a way to screw that plan."</p>
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<p> "Anything to put it to that bastard."</p>
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<p>Everybody agreed with that sentiment. </p>
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<p>Ed leant forward, wiping the cards away with his bare arms. The lowering sun beamed in the little porthole, making
|
||
the dust sparkle across the cabin in a translucent tube. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Thirty thou is a whole lot of hooch. So how are you going to do it?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"What's this <em>you,</em> white man? I told you I got a plan. What I need to know first is, are we all in? It has to
|
||
be all of us or none of us, and you have to think of what you can lose. Especially you Tam, seeing as you're in
|
||
work."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Screw that. The site's going to be worked out by September and then it's back on the scratch again. Anyway, I'm a
|
||
plumber and that's like a doctor. Everybody shits and gets sick. I'll pick up bits and pieces. But that's all."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You do house calls Tam? I think I'm going to fart."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Jesus, Donny, not another one." Neil slipped the catch on the port and swung it inward, bringing with it a warm
|
||
smell of cut grass and drying seaweed from the estuary. Gulls mewed in the distant still air.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> "It's six or none," Jack said, pressing it. "That's the way it has to be, and we have to keep it really tight. First
|
||
rule of good business: A closed mouth gathers no feet. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I can't see how you'd get away with it." Jed was shaking his head. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"How <em>we'd</em> get away with it, man. You remember what Donny said down at the golf course before he gave
|
||
Ferguson the verbals? When he was washing the crap off in the ditch? How much was it went into the stream Don?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Three barrels, so Billy Butler said."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Ed agreed. "Three hogsheads broke open, about two hundred gallons. A drop in a bucket compared to what you're
|
||
thinking about. . . "</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack held his hand up. Ed went silent. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Six bottles to the gallon, double strength, Say twelve bottles at forty percent. Times two hundred," Jack was
|
||
motoring now.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"At least a thousand," Donny said, screwing his eyes in concentration.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> "There's three kinds of people," Tam said. "Those who can count, and those who can't."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> Donny sat for a moment, working that one out. Everybody laughed again and Jack waded on.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> "It's nearly two and a half, and we're talking quality stuff, not your average blend. Say twenty a bottle, with tax.
|
||
Fifty grand down the Swanee and what did they do about it?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Damn all."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"That's right. It was an accident, so nobody got fired. Sproat was worried he'd have the environment people down his
|
||
throat and crawling all over the place because it went into the burn and probably right into the river. Christ knows
|
||
how many salmon parr died of drink. And what did they do?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Fuck all," Ed said. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Dead right. And there must be a reason for that. Okay, customs have to wear it, because it's still in bond, and they
|
||
lose eighty percent, but Sproat's still down what, fifteen grand? And still not a dicky bird. They just let it go.
|
||
Sproat hushed it up. Why?" He looked at Donny. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"How should I know?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Either he doesn't want people poking around the place, or he doesn't want anything to queer the big deal."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"No way he'd going to sit still for thirty thousand gallons taking a walk," Ed said. "A couple of barrels, okay. But
|
||
not a whole bottling decant getting nicked."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"What makes you think it'll be nicked?" Jack smiled for the first time that night. He'd been concentrating the whole
|
||
while, happy enough to see them getting brave on hash just for the moment, needing to win them across. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Anyway, I have to know if you're in, simple as that." </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I'm game," said Tam. "A million notes? Jeez, I can quit doing the lottery."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"It's no game. We do this, we do it right, and we stick to the plan. It's going to take a lot of work and a bit of
|
||
risk, but I reckon if we do it right, we'll get away with it. Like I said, our people have worked for it all down
|
||
the years and Sproat's selling the town out and taking the dairy with it. Nobody's got that sort of right."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He was pressing triggers now and he knew it. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Too true," Donny said. "You got a plan Jack, I'm up for it."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Me too," said Jed. "I got bugger all else to lose."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Investments can go down as well as up," Jack said, now serious. "You can lose your shirt on this if we screw it.
|
||
More than your shirt. "</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Neil scratched his head. "Christ knows how you're going to do it."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"One point eight million," Ed said. "You're talking big numbers. How can you work that?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I can't say until we're all in, and then it's hands to the pumps. It's six or nothing, and if we don't have
|
||
everybody, then I'll go do my own thing, go my own way. I just think it's time we did something for ourselves and to
|
||
hell with the rest of them. Where are we going to get jobs with four hundred guys chasing every opening? You want to
|
||
stack shelves at whatever they build on Aitkenbar once it's cleared?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He was thinking of his Uncle talking after he cuffed the old guy at chess. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p><em>You're a Lorne on your father's side, a Bruce on your mother's. Don't let these creeps rule you. You get
|
||
out and take what's yours.</em></p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Fuckit," Ed Kane said. "I can't be rolling barrels all my life. You really think it can be done?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"No. I'm just pissing into the wind. Listen, why do you think I bust my arse trying to get these plans? They guy who
|
||
had them's dead and nobody knows I've got a copy. That's our key to a million eight."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Okay." Ed stretched out his hand. Jack gave it a grip. "I'll come along for the ride."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Some ride," Tam said. "So what do we do now?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"First of all, nothing gets beyond here," Jack gestured to the walls. "Not one word. This stays between us all. I
|
||
reckon I can make it work, but one word outside and we're all screwed, and I'm talking banged up in the Bar-L. They
|
||
don't like rip offs and especially they don't take ripping off her majesty's customs and excise too well. They've
|
||
got more power than the cops and nobody asks questions about what they do."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Dead right. The cops can't shove a finger up your bum."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Ain't that a shame," Neil half sang.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Customs can do what they want, so we have to make them look the other way. I don't want to get into it all, but I've
|
||
thought it all out. That's why we need six. And I need some money, so you all have to chip in."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I knew there would be a catch," Donny said, all sarcastic. "How much?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"A ton apiece, for starters."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"A hundred? You kidding?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"It's a drop in the ocean. Look on it as an investment."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Donny was still mulish. "That's a whack."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Come on, you took sixty from Dangerous Dan on the first race. And all it cost was a tin of Chum for Fannyboz. Look,
|
||
if we do this we do it right and we do it prepared. You can't just walk in and take it and then wonder what you're
|
||
going to do with it. We need cover and that's why I need to buy some stuff."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Like what?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Paper. Cards. I need a whole set of mobiles. Your brother can fix us up Neil, right"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Neil shrugged agreement. "Depends how soon." </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Five days, no more. I need a printer for the computer, full colour - they're cheap and we might as well buy new. I
|
||
might need a good suit, and a coat, for a touch of class. A briefcase. We have to get a van, nothing big. Borrow if
|
||
we can, buy if we must. And Tam, we need your bike."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You can borrow it, but not for keeps."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I don't want to borrow it. I want you <em>on</em> it."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Tam furrowed his brows. It was all going pretty fast and he didn't quite understand it all yet. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I need to get into somebody's house."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Come on," Jed said. "I'm not stealing from <em>people</em>."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack grinned, remembering his grandfather again. Stealing might be acceptable if it was from the big boys, but not
|
||
from the common man. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I'm not stealing. I just have to get in. Don't worry, there's nobody home. It's just for a drop."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I'll get you in," Ed said quietly. "Once I've seen the locks."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Good man. What else? Jed. I might need to speak to your bird. We'll tell her it's union stuff."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Jees. We can't bring her into it."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"She won't know. Anyway, she's out of a job as well in six weeks. We'll pay her if we have to. She works in Sproat's
|
||
office, am I right?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jed agreed, but he still looked uncomfortable about it. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"That's about it for now. Donny and Jed, I need you to whip up the union men, get them to start a protest, bring the
|
||
Dunvegan men into it. Me, I have to get some art-work done, but I think I can get that for nothing."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"What's that for?" Donny looked as puzzled as the rest. They were itching to know the details, but Jack knew he had
|
||
to play it tight. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Two rules of good business. Don't tell everything you know."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"What's the second?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack tapped his nose. Ed Kane got it right away and laughed. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"But what's the second rule," Donny wanted to know and this time everybody laughed. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"When do you need the cash?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Yesterday would be good."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Can I pay it up?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Piss off, Neil. Friday at the latest."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Christ, you sound just like Ferguson."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Yeah, that's another thing. Keep an eye out for him and his muscle. You especially Donny. That loony could screw the
|
||
whole thing up. We don't want any broken bones and I don't want anybody in jail for breach. They'll come back for
|
||
another go, so don't wander down any dark alleys, right?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He sat back, knowing he had their full and undivided attention. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You know all that stuff that's been lying in barrels since we were kids? It loses two percent year on year. That's
|
||
it half gone in twenty five, and they don't even miss it. So we're just taking the other half."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He couldn't keep the smile off his face. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"The angels have had their share. It's high time we had ours."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>That was how it all started.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</body>
|
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</html>
|