“Late Night Business” – Part 2

by Stacey and Atonia

Adam got out of the car and followed Dob into Crossings, wishing to himself that he'd just gone into the house and gone to bed with his wife instead of hanging 'round outside. Maybe Dob wouldn't have bothered him if he'd been 'busy' with the little woman. Then again, Adam thought, maybe he would have.

The bar was buzzing with activity, which explained why Dob would have chosen this of all places to meet. A bomb could go off near by and no one would notice because of all the noise. The music was loud - real loud. Adam kinda liked hanging out here from time to time, liked the atmosphere, liked to lose himself amongst the crowd. Dob headed up to the bar, pushing his way through the crowd. The skin-head Adam had seen in here before was working behind the bar as usual. Adam swallowed hard, hoping whatever business Dob had here would be swift and relatively easy.

"Oi! Bartender!" Dob called out, "Whiskey...straight up...for me and me mate here!"

“Keep yer daks on mate,” Hando called out, finishing up the pint he was pulling. He picked up a bottle and a couple of shot glasses and walked down the bar and set them up. He saw Adam move up beside the bloke, he’d seen him in here before and wondered what business he had with the arsewipe he was collecting money for drinks from.

"Well?" Dob snarled at Adam.

Adam just looked at him questioningly.

"Pay the bloke already," Dob told him, impatiently.

Adam nodded, dug into his pocket, pulled out a wad of cash and slapped it on the counter. "Enough here to keep the tab open for a while," he said, then picked up his drink and downed it in one gulp, slamming his glass on the counter and motioned to Hando for another.

Hando glared at him and poured another drink, fishing the correct money from the pile of cash.

"We're lookin' for a bloke goes by the name of Wizzer, seen him in here tonight?" Dob asked, pulling out a picture and shoving it in Hando's face.

Hando knocked the hand away from his face, “Don’t go shoving shit in my face mate, I don’t know ‘im.”

Dob glared at the man, "Mind your attitude, skinhead, or I'll have to mind it for ya," he snarled, letting his jacket fall open so the gun inside was in plain view.

"Dob, take it easy, mate," Adam told him, slamming his second shot of whiskey. "ain't that the bloke over there in the corner?"

Dob turned around, was about to back-hand Adam when sure enough he saw Wizzer sitting in a booth with a couple of women draped on him. "Lucky for you, mate," he snarled at Hando, slamming his glass down on the counter and indicating Hando should fill it again.

Hando looked up toward the glassed in booth to catch his boss’s attention, “I’ll do better than that mate, I’ll call ‘em now, we don’t need his kind in here.”

Adam clenched his jaw. Shit, now he'd done it. If the police came and took Dob away now, surely he'd take Adam down with him. And if Adam tried to run, well, Dob would know he'd been behind it.

"Mate, listen," he said, slapping more money down on the counter, slipping it into Hando's hand, "I've got nothing to do with this, I don't need this shit, alright? If you can just signal me when the cops are here, I'd appreciate it. They can do whatever they want with that fucker, I don't care, I'll head to the loo when you signal. Think you can manage the favor?"

“If you wanna put some money in the tip can do it, don’t hand me no money, I don’t take bribes, okay.” The phone behind him rang it was John Comer the manager and owner of Crossings. Hando told him to call the cops, something was about to go down. John told him he was watching the bloke and he’d call now.

“You’ve already been seen with him, my advice to you mate is to take a hike, cops are on the way.” Maybe it was the desperation in the bloke’s voice and face that made Hando do what he did otherwise he would have let him go down with his mate.

Adam pulled his money back, shoved it in his pocket. He looked over at Dob, gritted his teeth. The man was sitting with that bloke, Wizzer. Obviously he'd given the two sheilas the boot, as they were now chatting up some other bloke two booths over. Dob saw him looking, motioned for him to get his arse over there on the double. Adam nodded to him, turned back to Hando, "Back door?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Just past the loo,” Hando said under his breath hoping he didn’t live to regret this.

"Ta, mate, I owe ya one," he said, then headed over to the booth.

"What took ya so long, mate?" Dob snarled, "Here, have a seat. I was just about to get down to business with my pal Wizzer here, wasn't I, Wizzer?"

The nervous little man nodded, cleared his throat. It was obvious to Adam now what Dob had planned for the man and Adam wanted no part of it.

"Two ticks, mate," Adam replied, "Need to head to the loo first."

"It can wait, sit," Dob told him, scooting closer to Wizzer, wrapping an arm around the man’s shoulders – his large, plump hand gripping the collar of his jacket so he couldn’t get away.

"No, mate, it can't wait, I'll be back as soon as I'm done," Adam replied, then quickly turned on his heal and headed towards the loo, waiting for the moment when he could make his escape out the back door.

Adam saw his chance, Dob was busy talking with Wizzer, his attention completely on whatever business he had with the man. He hesitated a moment, then quickly ducked down, made his way around the corner and slipped out the back door just as the cops pulled up out front. He nodded and waved to them as he got into his car and headed off for home, for The Glen. He'd worry about how to handle Dob later, for now, all he wanted to do was sleep.

TBC...