Free Fire in the Blood by George McCartney Page B

Vectra. I said to him, “Please, a girl does have her standards. Now if it was a shiny red Ferrari, well … you know, that might be different.”’
Fidgeting with his shirt collar, Jack urged, ‘Okay, just get on with it. I’m starting to feel queasy.’
‘Anyway, I tell him that I’m on early shift at work for the next two weeks and, depending on where he stays, I’d be really grateful if I could just drop the car off at his place and then pick it up from there later on. So when he tells me his address, I say, ‘Great that works, I’m only a mile away. We fix up a day and time, then we shake hands. Job done. Of course he holds on, gives me his best smouldering look and says, “Don’t worry too much about the bill , babe. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”’
Wiping his brow with a handkerchief, Jack held up both hands in mock surrender. ‘Enough with the details. I’ll show you how to do the invoice, then you can phone the client later and wrap this one up. Good job Annie, I think it’s time for a bit of music to celebrate.’
As Jack prepares to slip yet another homemade compilation tape into the dashboard player, Annie rolled her eyes in horror and enquired tentatively, ‘Boss, can I ask you something? You won’t be offended?’
‘As long as you don’t want a raise, fire away kiddo.’
Seriously cheesed off with the relentless country music soundtrack in the car, Annie hopefully asked, ‘Do you ever, like, listen to any new music?’
‘ Absolutely ,’ replied Jack, indignantly. ‘I bought the new Hank Williams album just last week.’
‘But hey, wait a minute. Didn’t you tell me that he’s been dead for about a zillion years?’
‘That’s right, Hank Williams Senior was called to the big roundup in the sky, way back in 1953. He was only twenty-nine when he died of heart failure and hard living. But the good news is that his music lives on and his son, Hank Junior, is still going strong.’
Annie was horrified by the news and blurted out , ‘You mean there’s two of them? Come on, no way. That’s too much. One’s bad enough, but two . It’s like having two noses, or three tits … it just doesn’t work. It’s one too many.’
‘That’s bollocks Annie, if you’re a true country music fan you can’t have too many Hanks.’
Innocently, Annie replied , ‘Well, you know what they say, boss. Too many Hanks and you’ll start growing hair on the palms of your hands and you’ll go deaf.’
Playing along with her tirade, Jack first checked his hands and then feigned deafness. ‘Eh, pardon? So, reading between the lines here, Ms James, do I detect a slight undercurrent of discontent, with the standard of the on-board entertainment?’
Annie was placatory, struggling to get her point across without being too insulting.‘Look boss,
I do like a little bit of country music, honestly I do. People like Patsy Cline, Van Morrison and Johnny Cash can be almost cool, but only once in a blue moon. Like if I was pissed off, sitting alone in a crowded bar near closing time, waiting for someone who I know in my heart isn’t going to turn up … well okay, bring on a bit of country music and I’ll cry into my beer with the best of them. But I really don’t want to listen to it every time we get into the effing car. I haven’t checked with a lawyer, but I think it probably contravenes my human rights.’
Seemingly immune to criticism, Jack sort of apologised.‘I’m sorry, Annie, you should have said something sooner. I wasn’t aware that I’ve been torturing you. Okay then, absolutely no problem. Tomorrow I’ll bring along some of my brand new Showaddywaddytapes. They’re really good.’
Annie shook her head and sighed in resignation. ‘You’re not listening, boss. You’ve never once asked me what kind of music I like.’

Chapter 14
Jack and Annie were parked outside the busy Greenbank Sports Centre, the five-a-side venue where Frankie Ross’s football team was due to play