The Cunning (18+)

51

"Jase, he didn't get in the car!" Tommy shouted, bursting through the front door at half-eleven that evening. Jase looked up from his phone. He hadn't heard anything in the past two hours. Now he knew why.

"What do you mean he didn't get in the car?" he asked, his body stiffened. Tommy shook his head, raking his fingers through his sweat-damp hair.

"He didn't get in his car. He must have been tipped off. We were waiting for ages but no one went in or out, so we had a closer look, the place was deserted. His car was there, but he wasn't," he replied. Jase grit his teeth. Only one person would flake on them.

"Where's Harvey?" Tommy's eyes widened when the pin dropped. Jase growled in fury, launching the Nokia phone across the room. "When I get my hands on that sly little cunt," he seethed. "I knew we couldn't fucking trust him." He pulled a metal box out from under the sofa, unlocking it. Inside was the sister to the Glock in his glovebox, and six magazines. "Adam's still out there. Get him to find Harvey, tell Kieran to uninstall the bomb," he demanded, loading the gun and pulling the slider back. "Go and help him, I don't want any of McKinney's lot sneaking up on him."

An hour later, Adam was dragging Harvey through the front door, kicking, screaming, and embarrassingly effortless for Adam to overpower. Harvey was all flailing limbs and red-faced. Apologies tumbled through his lips in desperate gasps, but not a single denial. He knew he'd fucked up.

"Please, Jase, you have to listen! They caught me snooping, I had to tell them; they were going to kill me!" he screeched, reaching a pitch grown men couldn't reach. Adam threw him down on the sofa. He made to leap up but a swift glare from Jase pinned him in place. He sank back down, eyes wide, shimmering with tears. He looked as scared as the girls when they were thrown on that sofa. "Please, Jase, I didn't know what else to do, I panicked-"

Jase sighed, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. "Shut up," he said. The calmness in his voice only unsettled Harvey further. He had heard stories about things Jase had done but he never expected to be on the wrong side of him. Harvey took a few deep breaths, clocked the gun in Jase's hand, and lost control of his bladder with a childish whimper.

Adam laughed at the dark patch that spread on Harvey's joggers but no one else muttered a word. All eyes remained on Jase, waiting for his next move.

"You knew the risks you were taking coming into this," he said, leaning forward in his chair. "You begged me to involve you, you even asked for more responsibility." He picked up his cigarettes, lighting one and relaxing back again. "Yet, the second push comes to shove, you rat." He looked at Sam. "Go and get Madison." Sam's brows furrowed.

"What?" he asked.

Jase took a long drag. Madison's words about lions listening to the opinions of sheep had rested heavily on his mind. He was worried that the mistake he'd made wasn't in his treatment of her; it was in taking note of others. Showing them their thoughts mattered. He was handing out power to nobodies.

Before he made any drastic decisions, he wanted to see her true colours. The lockpicking? The gun? Who was this girl? Where did the act begin and end? If she wanted to play, he would give her one final chance to back out by showing her what happened when someone crossed him.

And if Madison didn't react to the situation the way he wanted? If she whimpered and fell apart? If she was all talk and the flirting was another façade? Well, he could just kill Harvey and her then and there. No one would question his intentions again. He hoped it didn't come down to it but he was prepared to pull the trigger should she play the good Samaritan. He could handle her wanting freedom for herself, he wouldn't tolerate her trying to save everyone around them, it was a nuisance. If she wanted to commit herself to him whilst she was in the house, that was fine, but she had to accept that he was not a good man and he wasn't going to pretend to be for her sake either.