Sharks - Matt Rogers (classic books for 11 year olds txt) 📗

On the way to the door, the waiter stepped into their path.

‘Is something wrong?’ the man said. ‘You haven’t ordered.’

‘We changed our minds about this place,’ Slater said.

The ever-present kindness in his old eyes was finally drowned out by sorrow. ‘Well, if you have any queries or concerns, I’d be happy to take them up with my manager. Did you want to relay to me—?’

King said, ‘No, thank you. We’ll just be on our way.’

The old guy didn’t move.

Stockholm syndrome.

He was delaying for Vince, thinking if he forestalled any pursuit the loan shark might take mercy on a couple of payments for the displayed bravery.

Slater said, ‘Step aside.’

The old guy was trying his best, but he was neck deep in uncharted waters. He relented, stooped over, and walked off.

Probably feeling awfully sorry for himself.

Slater harnessed that misery and channelled it into his own anger at Vince Ricci.

He and King took the short flight of steps down to the beach.

Vince was a hundred feet away, deep in the parking lot, sprinting for his car.

24

After an hour of pensive concentration, Violetta sat upright, tearing herself away from the laptop screen.

‘This is impossible,’ she announced to the room. ‘Want to come with me? I need a short break.’

Alexis heard her through the open sliding doors. She’d been on the front porch, watching the waves lap at the sand, deep in thought. Now she stirred and twisted in her seat. ‘What was that?’

‘I can’t spend any longer than an hour up to my eyeballs in financial documents,’ Violetta said. ‘I’m going to find a place we can rent mopeds. Want to come?’

Alexis said, ‘Why not?’

They fitted holsters to their waists under loose summer attire and slipped the Glocks into place. To Alexis, the gun didn’t feel like a foreign entity anymore. It was part of her now. She had faith she could draw it at the first inkling of a threat and actually do something with it other than wave it about. She’d only been training for a couple of months now, but things come fast when they’re all you focus on.

They locked up the estate and walked north into the centre of Freeport, away from the beach. There was little chance of running into trouble in these streets unless it was explicitly looking for them. Alexis got the sense that the three thugs who’d ambushed Wayne had done so brazenly, violating what were no doubt strict rules around taking criminal business into tourist safe spaces.

What confrontations had to take place would do so outside of Freeport, at the edges of Grand Bahama itself. She hadn’t been here long, but that much she was sure of.

‘Tell me about Dylan Walcott,’ she said.

Violetta turned her face up to the sun, drinking in the glow, and said, ‘What do you want to know?’

‘Anything. Figured you might find it easier to sort out the narrative in your head if you have to vocalise it coherently.’

After a moment’s silence, Violetta said, ‘He’s a bad boy.’

‘That’s all you’ve got?’

‘Of course not. But you wanted it summarised.’

‘A little more detail, please.’

‘I’ve been scouring online message boards, because anecdotes usually divulge more than data. Turns out that hostage we took was right. Walcott’s the biggest loan shark in the Bahamas. Seems like the money he’s made from funding crime across the globe wasn’t enough. Either the money from Vegas and a dozen other places isn’t rolling in fast enough, or he’s just plain greedy. I’m coming down on the side of the latter. So loaning money to giant operations like Alastair Icke’s where it can sometimes take months to be laundered and work its way back to him is just a side project. For quick cash he gives out illegal loans to anyone who needs them, and there were a lot of desperate people in the Bahamas after the hurricane. He gave out money hand over fist. But you give loans without legal guarantees and you need to make sure you get paid, so that’s where the violence comes in. There’s a strong insinuation on online boards that he’s made a lot of people disappear across the islands. It’s all conjecture. Can’t prove anything. But that’s why King and Slater are going to drop in on Vince, isn’t it?’

Violetta paused for breath.

Then she smiled. ‘You were right about vocalising my thoughts. Good call.’

Alexis said, ‘I’m not an airhead, you know. Sometimes you speak like I am.’

‘I never said that. Neither did King or Slater. We all know your worth.’

‘So most of the organised crime on Grand Bahama revolves around Dylan Walcott?’

‘Seems to be the case.’

‘Then why don’t we go find some trouble?’

Violetta looked over. ‘What?’

They were a hundred feet from the “Scooter Rentals & Tours” store, but she slowed her pace. This was a conversation that needed a conclusion before they arrived.

Alexis shrugged. ‘If all crime leads back to Walcott, why not go out and find a criminal?’

‘Don’t think of doing anything stupid.’

‘Surely I’ve proven I’m capable of handling myself.’

‘You were forced into a situation you weren’t ready for, Alexis.’

‘And how’s that?’

Before she could stop herself, Violetta said, ‘Because it nearly broke you. I’ve seen how much it shook you up. Those late nights, sitting up crying. Come on…’

Alexis didn’t answer. Just shrugged it off and stared ahead.

It had its intended effect.

Violetta reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…’

‘I had a standard human emotional response to killing someone,’ Alexis said. ‘I’m sorry you’re so far off the deep end that you don’t understand it. But I got over it, just like I’ll get over the next one.’

‘And it’ll happen when it happens,’ Violetta said. ‘Forcing it won’t do you any good.’

‘Sounds like we’re talking about a relationship, not an execution.’

Violetta couldn’t hide a smirk. ‘It’s all the same. It’s life.’

Before they stepped into the scooter rental store, a mob of foreign guys in their twenties stopped their conversation out front to ogle.

Violetta didn’t take it personally.

She’d seen it all before.

But she saw