stepped in between us. ‘OK. That’s enough. Cool it. The both of you.’ He turned to Dylan. ‘You’re panicking. You’ve got every right.’
‘Damn right, I’m panicking. Aidy, you weren’t stuck in that van with that animal. He played with the trigger to experiment with how much pressure it would take to fire the gun. A squeeze too hard and I was dead, Aidy.’
‘Enough,’ Steve barked.
Dylan sucked in a deep breath and released it. It slid from him in an untidy exhale. He crossed his arms tight across his chest and jammed his hands under his armpits.
‘The two of you had a frightening experience, but it’s over,’ Steve said. ‘You’re safe now. Nothing can erase what has happened, but we need to move on.’ Steve aimed his gaze directly at me. ‘Are you sure about this? You want to continue?’
‘I’m sure. I’ll be damned if Derek will scare me off.’
Neither Dylan nor Steve showed any enthusiasm for my stance.
‘Look, I’m not asking for your help. I don’t want you getting hurt. I can do this alone,’ I said.
‘But you’d prefer help,’ Steve said.
‘Yes, I would.’
‘Then you have mine,’ Steve said.
Dylan spun the Lotus’s front wheel. ‘You’ve got mine too. I’d be a crappy friend if I didn’t stick by you.’
‘From now on, we work under the radar,’ Steve said. ‘We don’t give anyone a clue as to what we’re doing.’
‘It’ll force them to come out of the shadows,’ I said.
Steve smiled. ‘Good. Then it’ll force them into mistakes.’
I have to admit, Derek’s shotgun party had put me in a bit of a daze, but having Steve and Dylan say they were still with me brought me into sharp focus. I had direction and meaning again. I couldn’t help but smile. All that was happening to my little group should have been breaking us up, but it was bringing us closer together. The more Derek tried to hurt us, the tighter our bonds. I felt confident for once.
Finding out what happened to Alex’s car was my starting point. Derek had said to look outside of the racing community. That didn’t help. I couldn’t imagine who outside of the racing community would want the car. The cops? I didn’t think so. If Brennan had taken the car on Derek’s behalf, Derek wouldn’t have been trying to hijack it for himself. The best person to pry an answer from was Myles Beecham. All roads led back to him. I called him twice on Sunday and once on Monday morning, each time getting voicemail. Obviously, he wasn’t getting back to me until he was good and ready.
Myles rediscovered how to use the phone on Monday afternoon. He gave me a song and dance about why he’d been incommunicado, but I didn’t much care about his excuses. I just wanted to know where to find the car and who took it. Myles gave me an address where I could find it, but warned me I’d have some explaining to do.
‘To whom?’ I asked.
When he told me, the reason why the car had been taken made a whole lot more sense.
So that night, I drove out to Ashford on the edge of London. It’s a nice drive from Windsor along the Thames, past Runnymede and the JFK memorial. The light traffic and cool, still night left me feeling good about life. I had no real reason to feel this way after the events of the weekend, but I had the backing of my friends and family and I was on my way to collect Alex’s car.
I followed the A30, the main drag into London from the south-west. An airliner glided into Heathrow airport to my left as I reached the outskirts of Ashford. I turned off the A30 into a residential maze and followed the directions Myles had given me until I reached a quiet street of semi-detached houses. The sizeable houses were bunched together on either side of a narrow road filled with parked cars. The cramped conditions made everything look smaller than it really was. I parked on the street a few houses away from the address Myles had given to me.
I picked up my mobile and called Steve. I wasn’t to go
‘Damn right, I’m panicking. Aidy, you weren’t stuck in that van with that animal. He played with the trigger to experiment with how much pressure it would take to fire the gun. A squeeze too hard and I was dead, Aidy.’
‘Enough,’ Steve barked.
Dylan sucked in a deep breath and released it. It slid from him in an untidy exhale. He crossed his arms tight across his chest and jammed his hands under his armpits.
‘The two of you had a frightening experience, but it’s over,’ Steve said. ‘You’re safe now. Nothing can erase what has happened, but we need to move on.’ Steve aimed his gaze directly at me. ‘Are you sure about this? You want to continue?’
‘I’m sure. I’ll be damned if Derek will scare me off.’
Neither Dylan nor Steve showed any enthusiasm for my stance.
‘Look, I’m not asking for your help. I don’t want you getting hurt. I can do this alone,’ I said.
‘But you’d prefer help,’ Steve said.
‘Yes, I would.’
‘Then you have mine,’ Steve said.
Dylan spun the Lotus’s front wheel. ‘You’ve got mine too. I’d be a crappy friend if I didn’t stick by you.’
‘From now on, we work under the radar,’ Steve said. ‘We don’t give anyone a clue as to what we’re doing.’
‘It’ll force them to come out of the shadows,’ I said.
Steve smiled. ‘Good. Then it’ll force them into mistakes.’
I have to admit, Derek’s shotgun party had put me in a bit of a daze, but having Steve and Dylan say they were still with me brought me into sharp focus. I had direction and meaning again. I couldn’t help but smile. All that was happening to my little group should have been breaking us up, but it was bringing us closer together. The more Derek tried to hurt us, the tighter our bonds. I felt confident for once.
Finding out what happened to Alex’s car was my starting point. Derek had said to look outside of the racing community. That didn’t help. I couldn’t imagine who outside of the racing community would want the car. The cops? I didn’t think so. If Brennan had taken the car on Derek’s behalf, Derek wouldn’t have been trying to hijack it for himself. The best person to pry an answer from was Myles Beecham. All roads led back to him. I called him twice on Sunday and once on Monday morning, each time getting voicemail. Obviously, he wasn’t getting back to me until he was good and ready.
Myles rediscovered how to use the phone on Monday afternoon. He gave me a song and dance about why he’d been incommunicado, but I didn’t much care about his excuses. I just wanted to know where to find the car and who took it. Myles gave me an address where I could find it, but warned me I’d have some explaining to do.
‘To whom?’ I asked.
When he told me, the reason why the car had been taken made a whole lot more sense.
So that night, I drove out to Ashford on the edge of London. It’s a nice drive from Windsor along the Thames, past Runnymede and the JFK memorial. The light traffic and cool, still night left me feeling good about life. I had no real reason to feel this way after the events of the weekend, but I had the backing of my friends and family and I was on my way to collect Alex’s car.
I followed the A30, the main drag into London from the south-west. An airliner glided into Heathrow airport to my left as I reached the outskirts of Ashford. I turned off the A30 into a residential maze and followed the directions Myles had given me until I reached a quiet street of semi-detached houses. The sizeable houses were bunched together on either side of a narrow road filled with parked cars. The cramped conditions made everything look smaller than it really was. I parked on the street a few houses away from the address Myles had given to me.
I picked up my mobile and called Steve. I wasn’t to go
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