Free The Amen Cadence by J. J. Salkeld Page A

another couple of steps, but towards Manson this time.
    ‘And that’s what you want, is it, Mr. Manson? You want me dead, do you?’
    ‘In the fucking ground, mate.’
    ‘And would you like to know what happens if I do die?’
    ‘Fuck all,’ said Manson, glancing at Young for approval. ‘The coppers will do nowt, believe me. Just another psycho ex squaddie who’s found dead. You’ll shoot yourself, I expect. Won’t he, Dai? Fucking top himself.’
     
    But Hood spoke again before Young could.
    ‘There are worse ways to go, believe me. And you will get to find that out, the hard way, if your all-mouth-and-trousers mate here does manage to off me. Because you’ll go, Mr. Manson, and so will your wife, your son and your daughter. Boating accident, I expect it’ll be. Aye, the Sheila-Ann, isn’t it? Tidy boat, that. But you see my mates are trained. So she’d go down, with all hands, like, and it would seem like an accident.’
    ‘Fuck off. You’ve told me about it now. So I’ll just sell the boat.’
    ‘Aye, you will. But that won’t stop my mates, because nothing will. You, everyone you love, they’ll all go. It’s just the price you’ll pay for the company you keep. And the same goes for all of Dai’s guys.’
    ‘Like who?’
    ‘I’m glad you asked.’ Hood thought for a moment, and rattled off half a dozen names. ‘They’ll all be held personally responsible.’
    Young tried not to look alarmed, but he couldn’t quite manage it. ‘Shut up. You’re all fucking talk, mate. You and whose army will do all this? Because all I can see is you standing there.’
     
    And then Hood laughed, long and hard. It didn’t seem forced to Manson, but then it wasn’t.
    ‘Whose army? That’s priceless, mate. For fuck’s sake. How stupid are you? But I’ll tell you one thing for free, like. When I came out of the military I thought I had no skills that’d be any use on civvy street, just like lots of the other lads. But now it turns out that I do, and so do my mates. And don’t think the lads won’t keep coming after you if I’m gone, Mr. Manson, because they didn’t need any fucking officers to tell them to keep going when our mates got blown to bits over there. So we’ll not stop, because of a fucking bully like Dai Young. So you just remember that, Mr. Manson, and tell your colleagues and all. It would be rude not to, like.’ He turned back towards Young. ‘Now, Dai, are we doing this, or what? One of us hasn’t got all fucking day.’
    This time Manson didn’t say a word.
    ‘No?’ said Hood. ‘Then they were right about you, Dai. You’re nothing but a sadistic bully with no balls. A fucking coward. You’re the reason that the world still needs people like me and my mates. And I tell you what, mate, sometimes it’s pretty sweet to feel needed.’
     
    Hood turned and walked slowly back towards the door, and he smiled at the surprised looking receptionist as he passed. ‘Bloke in there needs a sweet cup of tea, love. He’s not quite feeling himself. You can’t miss him. He’s lying on the ground, like.’
     
     
    DC Henry Armstrong was already back at work, and he’d taken the jokes as they were meant. Just a working copper’s way of showing concern and sympathy, delivered by means of saying exactly the opposite. But he was glad to be in with Pepper in the DI’s office now, going through an impending court case. They both had a brew in front of them, made by Pepper for once, and everything felt safe, and normal, but still slightly unreal. As if something fundamental in his personal universe had shifted, ever so slightly, but for ever.
     
    He’d told Pepper that he didn’t remember what had happened in Dai’s office when it all kicked off like that, but he did. And eventually he just couldn’t stop himself. He had to tell Pepper what he’d decided.
    ‘I’m leaving, Pepper. I’m jacking the job in.’
    ‘Why, Henry? Is this your old man talking?’
    ‘He wants me out, I