Troubleshooter

Chapter 35 - Into Action

THE ACTION team consisted of five men. To call them hoodlums would be polite. They all were violent professional criminals, with long records and convictions to their names. All five had ties to an organized crime group that specialized in private loans, business protection, and prostitution. Their territory covered large parts of London and its surrounding areas. The action team would never brand themselves as the "action team" because it sounded much too much like a toy action figure franchise. To their regular employer, they were simply "the boys." Whenever something cruel, violent, or immoral needed to be done, someone in the organization would inevitably say, "Let's give it to the boys." What they lacked in finesse, they made up for in direct action.

Arnie, Toni, Don, Jigg, and Danny-Boy were lounging in their favorite pub in standby mode. They could have been brothers, all clothed with tight-fitting jeans over their strong legs, bomber windbreakers over huge upper bodies, and heavy Doc Martens on their feet. They had matching shortly cut hair and red faces (either from sun exposure or alcohol). All were smoking; in this area of town, no one minded much—and in this particular pub, no one would dare to mind. They talked shit, drank coffee, and waited for the call.

The instructions had been clear: Wait until the location is given to you. Their boss had told them, "It's good money for us. Expect a bonus. Make the client happy." That was fine with them, as they did not really care as long as the boss was okay with it.

Arnie's phone rang. They had no designated leader in their group. Usually assignments were done in pairs, maybe three of them if there was an additional need for a driver or point-guard. Today, it was Arnie's task to answer the phone and shoot shit with the client.

Arnie listened before looking at his phone display. Then he looked at the rest of the boys. "Let's get to work, guys. Canary Wharf."