Barry Maitiland - Spider Trap

She turned to Ricky. ‘What happened to Ivor wasn’t Brock’s doing.We just wanted Tom Reeves back.’

Ricky gave her a bleak look and said,‘If you say another word I’ll smash your face in.’

Mark got out of the car and came over. He took Kathy’s shoulder bag and searched her pockets, taking her mobile phone, which he switched off before throwing the lot into the boot of the Merc.

‘Okay,’ he said,‘get in.’

‘Hey,Mark,’Martin protested,without much conviction.‘You don’t need her. Let her go, eh?’

They shouldered past him without replying, pushing Kathy into the back alongside Spider, with Ricky close behind. Mark turned back to Martin and pointed at his chest. ‘You-go home now and wait. Don’t do anything stupid and maybe, just maybe, our black brothers won’t be too rough with your missus, right?’

Kathy caught a glimpse of him as the car reversed out and roared away, standing in the roadway, clutching his coat around him as if he were freezing to death.

They drove through Saturday morning shopping streets, past mean brick terraces and concrete tower blocks. After a while, Spider spoke to Kathy for the first time. He didn’t change his posture, staring stiffly ahead, but growled, ‘Vexx told me what happened Thursday night. Now I want to hear your version.’

Kathy told him, briefly, without elaboration.

He nodded and said, ‘Now tell me what Adonia’s been telling you.’

She told him some of it, omitting things that they hadn’t yet been able to follow up. The old man said no more.

An ambulance was leaving as they swung into the lane leading to the building site. They spotted Wayne Ferguson climbing the steps into his site hut and Mark parked the car and got out. Ricky followed,pulling Kathy out.As she straightened,she found the nose of a gun in her face, Mark’s index finger curled around the trigger.

‘Behave,’he said,‘or people will get hurt.’He pushed the gun hard into her side and together the two men steered her through the site gates and up to the foreman’s hut. As she stepped inside Wayne Ferguson turned and began a smile that froze as he took in the others at her back.

‘What do you want?’

Ricky stayed with Kathy while Mark advanced on Ferguson, pointing the gun at his chest.

‘Jesus!’ The builder’s eyes widened.

‘You’re going to take us to your cottage,Wayne. Give me your mobile.’

As Wayne reached into his pocket,Kathy said,‘You don’t need him. Just get him to draw you a map.’

‘Don’t be soft.’Mark kept his eyes on Wayne as he handed over the phone.‘We might take a wrong turning,and anyway,we don’t want him talking to anybody once we’re gone, do we?’

They made their way out of the hut, Mark taking up the rear. As they walked towards the gate a man in a hard hat and boots came hurrying up.

‘Oh, Mick,’ Wayne said, and Kathy felt herself and the two Roach brothers stiffen.‘Will you be all right now? I have to go.’

‘That’s fine,Wayne.Everything’s sorted.See you tomorrow.’

The man marched away and they continued to the Merc. Wayne was prodded into the front with Mark, Kathy as before in the back between Spider and Ricky.

‘So,’Mark said,‘M6 is it?’

‘Yeah.’Wayne was chewing his lip, face taut.

‘Just relax,Wayne,’ Mark said soothingly.‘Put your seatbelt on and relax. Everything’s going to be fine, as long as you two behave yourselves, okay?’

‘Yeah, sure.’

‘Lovely day for a trip to the country, eh?’

As they cleared London and headed north on the motorway, Mark switched on the radio, occasionally tapping his fingers on the wheel in time to the music. He showed no signs of being unduly distressed at having lost a brother, unlike Ricky, who seemed dangerously angry and morose. Mark made several calls on his mobile phone as he was driving, though Kathy couldn’t hear much of what was said. From time to time he would light a cigarette, and Kathy was reminded of family outings when she was small. Her father was a heavy smoker, and as soon as he lit up she would feel the nausea rise in her throat, as automatically as if someone had thrown a switch.

Apart from Mark, hardly anyone spoke.

‘So what’s this place of yours like then, Wayne? Give us the picture.’

Wayne had sunk into himself, and took a moment to answer.

‘It’s small-living room, kitchen, two bedrooms. Stone walls, with a slate roof, couple of hundred years old.’

‘Nice. Got a view, has it?’

‘Yes. It looks out to Moel Fammau.’

‘What’s that then?’

‘It’s a mountain, the highest point in the Clwydian Range. From the top you can see Snowdon.’

‘So it’s wild country? Neighbours?’

‘Not really. A couple of farms about a quarter mile in each direction along the lane. The village is half a mile away, down in the valley.’

‘Much traffic on the lane?’

‘None. It isn’t made up and doesn’t lead anywhere. It stops at the last farm, at the top of the hill.’

‘Sounds ideal,’ Mark said, but didn’t say what for.

Wayne glanced back over his shoulder at Kathy and she understood the message in his eyes. She was the professional, wasn’t she? This was what she had been trained for. Why didn’t she do something? But she knew there was little she could do. The Roaches were watchful, and they had done this sort of thing before. Wayne and Kathy were following in the footsteps of the Brown Bread victims.

The traffic grew heavy around Birmingham, and several times the motorway came to a total stop. Mark began to drum his fingers impatiently, and Kathy recalled Wayne’s comment to Brock about getting there before dark. With any luck, Brock would have left before they arrived.

‘How long’s this going to take?’ Ricky said. It was the first time anyone had asked, and when Wayne said, ‘Another two or three hours,’ Ricky said,‘Fuck!’ with disgusted surprise, as if he’d imagined the rest of the UK as a narrow fringe just beyond the London boundary. Maybe they flew everywhere.

‘I’m hungry,’ Ricky said.‘When are we getting lunch?’

Another echo of childhood, her final car journey doomed to be a dark reflection of her first.

‘Let’s stop at the next service station for a burger,’ Ricky said.

Good idea, Kathy thought. She saw Wayne stir hopefully.

‘No way. We keep going,’ Mark said, but he was wrong, for his father made a rare sound. ‘I’ll need to pay a visit, son, and get a drink for my pills.’

Mark grunted reluctantly.‘Okay, Dad. There’s a place coming up soon, if this fucking traffic would get a move on.’

They turned into the Birmingham North service area, and as soon as the car slowed to a crawl in the car park,Wayne Ferguson slipped his seatbelt, yanked at the door handle and threw himself against the door. Nothing happened. Mark laughed. He pulled to a stop.

‘Child-proof locks, old chum.’ He pulled the gun out of his pocket and pressed it into the other man’s side. Ricky did the same with Kathy.

‘Okay, Dad?’ Mark said, and released the locks. The old man got out stiffly and hobbled off, and the locks clicked again.

‘Actually,I need the toilet too,’Kathy said.‘Urgently.’

‘Shut up,’ Ricky hissed, as if he was desperate for an excuse to do something violent. Kathy shut up.

Spider returned, got back into the car and handed chocolate bars and bottles of juice to his sons. They set off again, and as they moved north of the Black Country they came upon the first dustings of white over the fields on either side. By Newcastleunder-Lyme it was thick all around, great banks of brown snow piled on the motorway verges, and in the fields beyond black tree skeletons stood stark against dazzling white beneath a dull grey shroud of sky. It looked as if the falls had been very recent, and slush and grit was sprayed over them by the traffic they overtook as they sped up the outside lane.