David Peace - GB84

The Jew is still excited. He’d draw Neil a picture if he had the time –

‘Denis is as dry as tinder,’ says the Jew. ‘You’d adore him, Neil. Adore him.’

Neil Fontaine smiles. Neil Fontaine nods.

‘There we were discussing our friends in South Yorkshire and the Sheffield Stalin when Denis, who had been quietly practising his golf swing by the fireplace, shouts out that we should intern the lot of them,’ laughs the Jew. ‘Intern the bloody miners!’

Neil Fontaine smiles again. Neil Fontaine nods again.

‘And the Chairman,’ says the Jew, with tears in his eyes, ‘he strokes his chin and looks across the table at the PM and says, “Might not be such a bad idea —”

‘“Might not be such a bad idea!”’ screams the Jew again. ‘Can you imagine it?’

Neil Fontaine doesn’t smile. Neil Fontaine just nods –

Rows and rows of Nissen huts. Rolls and rolls of barbed wire –

Factories and chimneys. Badges and banners –

The yellow Coal Not Dole stickers. The black stench of death.

The Jew takes another swing with his invisible club. He shouts, ‘Fore!’

Brass in pocket. Dogs in the back. The Mechanic has a plan. His master plan –

He makes the calls. The connections. The introductions.

Money. Dogs. Plans packed. The Mechanic drives down to the Cotswolds –

He makes more calls. More connections. Introductions –

Appointments.

The Mechanic parks behind the Avenging Angel in Cirencester. He turns off Jimmy Young and MrsThatcher. Hegoes into the pub –

The Mechanic spots him immediately. In the corner. In a dirty suit and a Paisley waistcoat –

Hand out, the Mechanic asks, ‘Tony?’

Tony Davies nods. He shakes the Mechanic’s hand. Holds it a moment too long –

The Mechanic pulls away. He points at Tony’s drink. ‘Another?’

Tony Davies nods. ‘Thank you. VAT, please.’

The Mechanic orders a brandy and a double vodka and tonic at the bar. He takes them back over to the table in the corner.

‘You’re a gentleman,’ says Tony Davies. ‘Thank you. Cheers.’

The Mechanic smiles. He raises his brandy. ‘Cheers.’

Tony Davies drinks quickly. Down in one. Then asks, ‘How do you know Julius?’

‘The usual places. Faces,’ the Mechanic says. ‘You know?’

Tony Davies nods. ‘Roland said you might know what’s happened to him.’

‘I might,’ the Mechanic says.‘I might.’

Tony Davies leans across the table. ‘He was my friend. How much do you want?’

‘Not money,’ the Mechanic says. ‘Information. I’ll tell you what I know and you tell me what you know.’

Tony Davies smiles. Tony Davies winks. ‘All that I have is yours.’

‘Julius Schaub is dead,’ the Mechanic tells him.

Tony Davies stops smiling. Tony Davies blinks. ‘How can you know that?’

‘I did some work with him,’ the Mechanic says. ‘It got very badly messed up. Julius got blamed.’

Tony Davies sniffs. Nods to himself. Then shrugs. ‘I heard. Shrewsbury.’

‘Then I won’t waste your time any longer,’ the Mechanic says and stands up –

Tony Davies grabs the Mechanic’s arm. ‘I didn’t mean it that way.’

‘Another drink then?’ the Mechanic asks him.

Tony Davies smiles. Tony Davies nods. ‘That would be very kind of you.’

The Mechanic orders another brandy and another vodka and tonic. He takes them back over to the table in the corner.

‘A true gentleman,’ says Tony Davies. ‘Thank you.’

‘John Parish? James Riley? Pete Lucas? Neil Fontaine?’ the Mechanic asks him.

Tony Davies puts his drink down. Tony Davies nods.

The Mechanic smiles. He says, ‘When did you last see him?’

Tony Davies sighs. ‘Last month in London.’

‘To do with Schaub?’

‘Yes,’ says Tony Davies. ‘To do with Julius.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He didn’t say anything. Just assaulted me. Followed me home. Threatened me.’

‘You were lucky,’ the Mechanic tells him. ‘He killed your mate Schaub.’

Tony Davies shakes his head. Tony Davies says, ‘How do you know that?’

‘Friend of a friend,’ the Mechanic says. ‘You know?’

Tony Davies looks at the Mechanic. ‘Roland told me you had contacts.’

‘But not the one I need,’ the Mechanic says. ‘How did you find Fontaine?’

Tony Davies finishes his vodka. ‘You must want him pretty bad, cowboy.’

The Mechanic stares at the man in the dirty suit. The Paisley waistcoat –

The flowers and the stains –

He says, ‘Do you want me to show you just how bad?’

Tony Davies shakes his head one last time. He sighs and says, ‘The General.’

Neil Fontaine drives the Jew up to Victoria. The Jew watches the crowds flow –

Back to work with Mr Sweet.

The Jew has promised people the Earth. The Jew has promised people results –

The Jew has delivered neither earth nor results. The Jew has delivered only sky –

Big, grey, empty, English sky.

For all his many working committees. His many legal moves. His many adverts –

His very many promises to very many people –

The Earth has refused to move, the results refused to come.

There has been no mass return to work. No cracks in the coalfields.

People are still waiting; still waiting for the Earth; still waiting for the results –

People who don’t like to be kept waiting –

Important people. Impatient people.

The Jew walks into Hobart House and the doors in the corridors close before him. The Jew does not care. The Jew has enough to worry about –

‘No, no, no,’ the Jew scolds Neil. ‘The whole thing to the right. To the right.’

Neil Fontaine has a mouthful of pins and a handful of map –

Neil Fontaine holds the map up on the wall opposite the Jew’s Hobart House desk. He twists his neck to look back round at the Jew –

The Jew shakes his head again. The Jew says again, ‘To the right, Neil.’

Neil Fontaine moves the map further to the right. He turns back.

The Jew nods. The Jew says, ‘Pin it there, Neil. Pin it there.’

Neil Fontaine takes the pins from his mouth. He puts them in the four corners.

Neil Fontaine steps back –

The huge map of the British coalfields looks crooked. Not straight.

The Jew doesn’t care. He is back in his biscuit tins, sorting out his pins –

The red pins. The yellow pins. The blue pins –

The bullets for his battles. The forces for his fields. The battlefields of the North –

The numbers he needs. To win the war –

The Numbers War.

The Jew has been inspired by the work of the North Derbyshire Area Director. The Jew has met Mr Moses. Mr Moses targeted Shire-brook Colliery in July –

There are now almost a thousand men back at Shirebrook –

The Jew sees no reason why this cannot be replicated across his entire wall map.

He has his biscuit tins. He has his new pins. His demands and his secretary –

Chloe crosses her legs. Chloe takes a note –

The Jew wants a copy of the entire payroll for the National Coal Board. The Jew wants every miner’s name checked against police and county court records –