Everything to Lose Page 16

  "Do you like my stick?" Lisa asked when she noticed Gavin shifting his eyes from her to look at it.

  "I'm trying to remember the name of it."

  "It's a Banksia," Lisa said.

  "Joseph Banks. It's a beautiful nut," Gavin said.

  The handle on Lisa's stick was a large Banksia nut named after Joseph Banks one of the botanists on Captain James Cook's ship Endeavour that arrived in Australia in 1770. The handle was four inches long and two inches thick and set on a solid hazel stick with a tapered gold tip. Banksia nuts are very hard, solid and easily worked to produce a deep shine on a dark brown surface. She told Gavin the stick had passed from her grandfather to her father to her.

  Jim McVickin took over and told Gavin that Oliver was close to their family. Oliver had taught the brothers judo and helped train all of Jamie's security men in self-defence. Jim said Oliver used their dance hall as a venue for juniors and seniors judo clubs. The clubs were popular and well supported by many of the Club members and their children. He pointed to some trophies displayed on the wall. They agreed among themselves it was not like Oliver to leave these clubs without a coach.

  Then Lisa McVickin, looking impatient, cut in and aggressively demanded to know what business Gavin had with Oliver. Her tone was accusing as if Gavin had something to do with Oliver's disappearance. Gavin felt threatened and realised the story Tyler had told him about Oliver's aunt wasn't true.

  Gavin explained he was a biochemist recently arrived at the University. He told them Oliver had been designated to assist him in his laboratory. Although employed as a Sports Biology technician Oliver originally trained as a chemistry technician. They were supposed to work together.

  Lisa seemed to calm down and asked Gavin if Oliver had done something wrong at work or was in trouble with the University. Gavin reassured her that there were no problems. Staff at the University were concerned Oliver was not at work. Gavin sensed they didn't know where Oliver was and they desperately wanted him back.

  Gavin and Lisa realised they had been duped. Tyler had told each of them that the other probably knew where Oliver was hiding. Lowlife like Tyler will say anything for a handout Lisa said. Lisa stood up and walked away. Gavin was not sure if she was away to fetch something and would be back so he continued speaking to the brothers about the judo clubs.

  When Lisa didn't return he exchanged telephone numbers with Jim McVickin and they agreed to call each other if there was any news about Oliver Mansole. Jim walked Gavin to the front entrance and apologised for his sister's sharpness.

  Jim joined Jamie and Lisa in the Club security office. On one wall there were ten CCTV monitors. The three of them gathered around the car park CCTV to watch Gavin Shawlens get into his car.

  "A biochemist indeed. I'll have him thank you very much," Lisa said.

  She turned to Jim and said.

  "Make it happen tomorrow."

  "Tomorrow I'm in court all day. I've got to ...," Jim reacted.

  "There's a golden opportunity here and I'm not going to let it pass me by. He's a proper scientist. I want him. Do it!"

  Lisa tapped his upper arm with the Banksia and gave him a look that said don't you dare let me down.

  29

  Southsea, Hampshire

  The next day late in the afternoon when he'd returned from his court appearance Jim McVickin called Gavin Shawlens to say that Oliver had turned up at the Club full of apologies. Gavin asked to speak to Oliver and Jim said his sister Lisa was in the process of giving Oliver an almighty telling off for his disappearing act.

  He told Gavin he was not going to interrupt her and Gavin agreed that was probably for the best. Gavin asked if he could make his way over to the Old Bards Club to meet Oliver. Jim agreed and they set a time.

  Zoe had left the flat early to attend the funeral of her comrade who committed suicide so Gavin didn't call her to say where he was going. In fact he wanted a surprise development for her return.

  Jim McVickin led Gavin Shawlens across the restaurant through the kitchens and out into a closed yard past large grey bins on wheels full of wine and beer bottles, numerous empty beer barrels a large mesh cage containing gas cylinders for the bar.

  During the walk they passed a number of restaurant staff and bar staff in smart uniforms getting prepared for the evening meals. Everyone seemed friendly and smiled at Gavin even though they were busy. They walked across the yard to the adjacent building and Gavin realised they were entering the rear of the large factory that backed onto the Club.

  Inside the factory building Gavin and Jim were stopped in a reception room by a doorman called Big Eric. He was a tall, heavy-set, mean-looking bald-headed bouncer. He searched Gavin Shawlens and ran a portable magnetometer over him. It beeped at his car keys and his phone so Gavin showed his mobile phone.

  Big Eric took the phone placed it in a metal box on a nearby table on the right hand side of the room and said Gavin could pick it up on the way out. Gavin Shawlens had visited many secure establishments and always had to surrender his phone at the door. He was not bothered but did wonder what kind of commercial work they were doing that needed protection from mobile phone cameras.

  The reception area was twenty foot square with walls of half wood to waist height and half obscured glass to the ceiling. Continuing forward Gavin followed Jim through a sealed door leading to the inside of the building. The reception room had one other door on the left wall leading to a side room. Jim carried forward and into the building heading north. Gavin saw a few men in grey overalls carrying crates and talking in whispers.

  Jim walked diagonally to the left heading northwest and as Gavin followed, he scanned the people and the place for clues. When Gavin looked at a wall of old fashioned white tiles, Jim said the building had once been an abattoir. Gavin saw the building had been converted to make five walled-off bays on the west side and three larger walled-off bays on the east side of the building.

  It looked like the far end north wall was a storage and machinery area. On the west wall to his left the first two bays looked like dormitories with partitions, privacy curtains around single beds and bunk beds. He saw several women, oriental looking, sitting on the edge of their beds, some talking, some reading and some staring at the ceiling.

  Naively his first thought was that it was sleeping facilities for Club staff working long or late shifts. Later he would realise that the first room, connected to the reception area had seven partitioned working beds for prostitutes.

  The middle bay on the west wall left contained six resting beds in makeshift cubicles. It also had a pole running from the floor to a metal cross-support. Based on what he's seen the previous night he thought it was where the pole dancers learned their routines. The fourth bay looked like a storage area and a makeshift kitchen. The fifth bay, where they were heading, was a large office.

  As Gavin looked over his right shoulder to the east wall he saw the three large bays against east wall were where the people in grey overalls were working. The entrance to each of these bays was covered with heavy duty, opaque plastic, overlapping sheets.

  In the first bay in the southeast corner the lighting inside was weak so he couldn't see through the overlapping plastic sheets. When he looked at the middle bay Gavin saw the outline of what looked like processing equipment.

  The third bay was brightly lit with extensive overhead circular ducting for an air exhaust system. When a young girl came through the overlapping sheets Gavin glimpsed rows and rows of cannabis plants on tables under bright overhead lighting with air conditioning units under the tables. He heard a steady drone of extractor fan noise in the factory and now he knew what it was for.

  Jim led Gavin to the fifth bay on the west wall. It was in the northwest corner of the factory. They walked through a large sliding door. Inside was an enormous plush office that looked more like the living room of a grand house. It was fitted out with antique tables, chairs and two ornate four-seater settees. On the wall, facing the settees was a bespok
e antique design TV unit with an embedded sixty-inch plasma screen.

  One corner was more in keeping with an office with filing cabinets, business desks, computers, printers and other office equipment. A bank of four CCTV monitors displayed live video streams of various views inside and outside the Club and the factory.

  On one settee a young Asian girl, possibly Vietnamese, maybe fourteen years of age fingered with her electronic game as if it was about to explode in her hand. Beside her sat a smartly dressed middle-aged man. He had a big smile on his face as he watched Gavin walk by.

  Lisa McVickin sat behind a large antique desk and remained seated as Gavin walked towards her desk. Her Banksia stick rested on a low wooden stand on top of the table. His eyes admired the intricate detail on the front of the desk. She smiled when she saw he recognised it.

  She confirmed it was a replica of The Resolute Desk. The large, nineteenth-century partners' desk, built from the timbers of the British Arctic Exploration ship Resolute and gifted to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 by Queen Victoria.

  She asked if he knew the background and he said he knew a little so she delighted in re-telling the history of the Resolute Desk. She loved her replica desk and took every opportunity to tell the story to anyone who could appreciate it. She explained its features as they walked around it and she allowed him to run his fingers over the exquisite wood.

  Lisa told Gavin to sit on a settee and offered him a drink. Jamie McVickin stood at a well-stocked glass and antique mahogany mini-bar and raised an empty glass for Gavin to give his order. Gavin declined and sat down on the other settee facing the girl and the smiling man. Lisa introduced her older brother Sidney G McVickin and the young girl Lexy.

  Lisa walked around her desk. She half-sat on the table resting her right thigh on the top and kept her left foot firmly on the floor. Her fingers danced along the hazel shaft of the Banksia stick as if they were playing a flute.

  "Oliver Mansole was my chemist. Now some thieving toe-rag has taken him. Either that or he's set himself up in competition. I think it's the former because I know he wouldn't be so abundantly stupid to try the latter. For a tacky moment I thought it was you. Either way he's left me in a bit of a pickle. I have urgent orders and the little shit kept all his chemical recipes in his skull," Lisa explained.

  "Production of what?" Gavin said turning his head in the direction of the cannabis plants.

  "Not skunk doctor, any monkey can produce skunk. I make steroids."

  "Steroids."

  "Yes doctor I'm sure you've heard of them," she said sarcastically.

  "You manufacture steroids here?" Gavin said with disbelief.

  He was thinking large factory scale, clean room facilities, huge production halls, conveyer belts, fume cupboards and all the sophisticated equipment needed to produce steroids.

  "Catches on quick," Jim said to Lisa.

  "Apparently you are an expert on steroids," Lisa said.

  Gavin ground his teeth and cursed Tyler Wattsin under his breath. His mind filled with the idea that he would ask Zoe to take the little shit up a blind alley and beat him senseless.

  "Sorry I can't help you. I could lose my job if I got involved in illegal steroids."

  "Oh my God doctor. Is that right? Well we can't have that can we," she raised her voice and her brothers laughed.

  She eased off the desk and walked towards Gavin then stood looking down at him. Gavin felt intimidated by her presence. Her voice boomed and commanded with a solid confidence that stemmed from the fact she believed she was smarter and more determined than him.

  "I'll make it worth your while," she said temptingly.

  "Money doesn't control me."

  "I'm not talking about money," Lisa said as she turned and opened her arm to point at Lexy.

  "I'm sorry …, erm. I should leave now," Gavin said as he stood up from the settee.

  Jim and Jamie moved to stand on either side of Gavin Shawlens. Gavin looked at their faces and knew he wasn't going anywhere.

  "What's your hurry doctor?" Lisa asked.

  "I don't want to get involved in illegal drugs."

  The two brothers grabbed an arm each. Their grip was so powerful it was impossible to struggle against them. She walked back to her desk and the two brothers forced Gavin to follow her.

  Her faced became severe. She snatched the Banksia from its rest and stood menacingly in front of Gavin. She pushed the Banksia up under his chin. He felt the hard nut pushing into his throat.

  "I don't bloody care what YOU want. You'll make my steroids and you'll train my monkey how to make them," Lisa bellowed into Gavin's face.

  She moved the Banksia from his throat and tapped his shoulder bone hard enough to let him know what the Banksia was used for since grandfather's day.

  "You can't make me do anything."

  "Son!" she said condescendingly.

  "My family were making people do what they're told long before your granny wet her first nappy," she said.

  "If you beat me up I'll become so confused I'll make enough air-borne poison to kill off everybody within a half-mile radius. I do know how to do that."

  Lisa pushed the Banksia into his chest.

  "How DARE you threaten me. I do the threats in here. You stupid little shit."

  She walked around Gavin and allowed the Banksia to slip through her hand until she held the opposite end. Then she swung the stick so the nut hit Gavin's back between the shoulder blades. The whack made his step forward.

  Lisa took her time walking back to her desk then placed the Banksia on its rest. She opened a drawer and lifted out an exquisite looking Walther PPK .38 calibre, semi-automatic pistol. It was gold plated and engraved with fine oak leaf scrolls. The handgrips were brilliant white ivory. She rotated it in her hand like it was a thing of beauty. She took the clip out to let him see the bullets in case he was dumb enough to think it wasn't a real gun.

  "This little beauty is Esther my personal eraser. When I have an intractable problem, Esther, bless her, will erase it for me. Gone forever."

  She held the gun in her right hand. She stroked and caressed the gun lovingly with her left hand.

  "Let me go and I'll say no more about this to anyone."

  "You're not walking out of here alive. You've seen too much of my private business. If you won't work for me, fine. Esther will erase you," Lisa said.

  "I will die today, tomorrow, next week. It's only a matter of when."

  "Esther has seen many weak men collapse into snivelling, shivering piles of shit, pleading for their pitiful life to be spared. Know what, she just doesn't listen. She shouts her big loud word to drown them out and spits out her hot tongue to make sure they never speak again."

  Lisa pressed the muzzle of the gun into the centre of Gavin's forehead and pulled back the hammer.

  "Give me a few seconds please."

  "Why should I?"

  "I have someone waiting for me. I just need a moment to let her know I'm coming. We'll both be very grateful."

  "So be it," Lisa said with a ring of finality.

  Gavin Shawlens relaxed his body until it was almost limp and closed his eyes. He brought a picture of Emma Patersun into his mind and in his thoughts he called loudly to tell her he was coming home to her.

  30

  Southsea, Hampshire

  Lisa looked closely at Gavin's pathetic-looking face. She didn't expect him to start praying if that was what he was doing. She shrugged her shoulders to her two brothers as they propped Gavin up between them. She returned the Walther to its drawer and re-thought her strategy.

  "Lexy darling take your knickers off," Lisa said to the young girl as she walked back from her desk.

  Lexy stood up, pushed her knickers to her feet, then picked them up and handed them to Lisa. Lisa looked disgusted at the shabby garment with its frayed elastic band, on worn and discoloured cotton material with a strong smell of urine. Lisa lifted Lexy's left hand and took a cheap gold coloured ring from Lexy's
finger. The brothers manhandled Gavin to a nearby table. Jim McVickin took control of Gavin's left hand and slammed it on the table.

  Using Lexy's ring Lisa made three fleeting scratches and two deep scratches on the back of Gavin's hand. She mopped some of his blood from the deep scratches with Lexy's knickers. Another person would be worrying about what was going to happen next but Gavin Shawlens was worrying if bacteria or viruses had just got into his blood.

  Lisa walked over to her desk to fetch a clear plastic pouch bag then dropped the knickers and the ring inside. The brothers let Gavin free of their grip. Jim McVickin searched Gavin for his car keys and handed them to Sidney McVickin. Sidney took Lexy and left the room.

  "Tell me doctor in your expert biochemist opinion. Is there enough DNA here? Should I have one of the girls extract some of your sperm to be absolutely sure?"

  Gavin Shawlens looked horrified and Lisa was certain she was going to get what she wanted.

  "Put this in the drawer Jim. Follow me doctor," she said as she handed the bag to Jim McVickin.

  Lisa strode diagonally across the centre of the factory floor toward the bay on the opposite side of the building in the southeast corner. A South East Asian man inside wearing a grey overall pushed aside several of the large plastic strips to allow her inside.

  Gavin followed her and Jamie followed him. The first two bays on the east wall had been setup as a small-scale production facility. She told Gavin that as production had stopped they didn't need overalls or a respirator in the room.

  "This is Tokai he's Vietnamese. He's old school chemistry, bucket and spade stuff, you understand. He's very good with dog testicles when we get enough for a small batch."

  She rested the Banksia in the centre of Tokai's chest and pushed him backwards out of her way. Tokai stumbled back and nodded vigorously to his masters while keeping his eye on the hard nut. He didn't get three dark red lumps on the side of his head falling out of bed.