Free Reckoning by Heather Atkinson

hand and assisted her to her feet, not that there was anything physically wrong with Toni, it was just part of the elegant lady image she’d built around herself. He placed her floor length fur coat on her shoulders.
    “Get it sorted Boys. I suggest you listen to her,” said Toni, pointing at Jules. “At least one of you knows what they’re doing. Honestly, if you need a job doing properly kill all men before you do it.” She patted Caesar’s arm. “Not you. You’re not like other men.”
    With that they both flounced from the room.
    “What has Caesar got that no other man does?” said Jez, his mind boggling.
    “I don’t want to know,” said Mikey, slumping into the chair Toni had vacated, disturbed by how hot it was. “Christ, that didn’t go well.”
    “Yes it did,” said Jez. “We’re all alive and we’ve still got our eyes. In my book that’s a good meeting with Toni McVay.”
    “She liked me,” grinned Jules.
    “Just because you’re old,” retorted Jez, making her frown.
    “We need to find Nilsen and the Starklaws fast,” said Mikey. “If Toni does decide to terminate our partnership she’ll kill us all.”
    “Could she do that?” said Jules. “Is Glasgow really that strong?”
    “The McVay’s have a fucking army,” continued Jez. “We have good people behind us and a lot of allies in this city but we’d still be outnumbered.”
    “So it’s vital we give Toni some results and fast,” said Mikey. “I’ll call Grant, see if they’ve managed to get anything out of the blokes who attacked Dane.”
    “Doubtful, Dane probably got any information there is to get. He’s good at inflicting pain,” said Jules with a waggle of the eyebrows.
    “We don’t want to hear about that,” retorted Mikey, already dialling.
    “What if they can’t tell us anything?” said Jez as Mikey spoke with Grant. “Then what do we do?”
    “Fuck knows,” replied Jules.
    Mikey hung up with a frustrated sigh. “Grant said they couldn’t tell him anything they hadn’t already told Dane.”
    “What about getting DCI Taylor to run a check on the Starklaws and Nilsen?” offered Jez. “He could find out if they own any properties we don’t know about.” DCI Taylor was a bent copper but quite a decent one who’d helped them bring down Alex and his backers and was still on Mikey’s payroll. The partnership suited them both.
    “The Starklaws don’t own any other properties, they’re too thick to buy a bolthole,” said Jules. “If Nilsen has one he’s too smart to put it in his own name.”
    “Good point but he still might have heard something from one of his grasses,” replied Mikey. “It’s worth a try anyway.”
    “Go for it,” said Jez. “I’m willing to try anything, I don’t care how remote the chance might be.”
    They frowned at each other at the sound of breaking glass and yelling coming from the bar.
    “What the bloody hell’s that?” said Jez.
    “I hope Toni hasn’t changed her mind and decided to come back to fuck us over,” said Mikey.
    In response to his question, the door flew open to reveal the terrified-looking manager who was starting to wonder why he’d accepted the job.
    “There’s four men with baseball bats smashing the place up,” he cried. “Shall I call the police?”
    “No,” barked Mikey, striding for the door. “Fucking police, unbelievable. We’ll sort this.”
    Jez and Jules followed Mikey into the bar to find four men wearing balaclavas smashing glasses and bottles and overturning furniture. All the customers had cleared out except for the drunk at the end of the bar who refused to leave his pint. The intruders were so engrossed in their work that they failed to spot the three of them standing there.
    “Oy,” yelled Mikey.
    The four men finally realised they weren’t alone and stopped, eyes bulging out of their balaclavas when they saw who was watching them.
    “Oh shit,” said one of the men, running for the door, only to be confronted