Lone Wolf - Robert Muchamore Page 0,46

glared across, but Warren looked at the stack of money like he was expecting it to give him an answer.

‘I need another job, Warren,’ Fay said. ‘Tell me now.’

‘No way.’

‘Hagar can’t cut your balls off twice.’

Warren thumped the table. ‘Stop going on about my balls. This isn’t a game, you know?’

Fay changed tack. ‘If you turn yellow on me, word might find its way back to one of Hagar’s people, about the carpenter with the big mouth and his little cousin.’

Warren stood up. ‘Now you’re blackmailing me?’ he shouted.

Fay stood up too, and sounded upset. ‘Hagar killed my mum and my aunt. You seem like a really nice guy, but I’m gonna do whatever it takes to get revenge.’

‘Why not just kill him?’ Warren asked. ‘You’ve got guns.’

Fay shook her head. ‘I don’t just want to shoot Hagar. When he dies, I want him to know that he didn’t get away with killing Auntie Kirsten and my mum.’

A tear streaked down Fay’s cheek. Ning couldn’t tell if Fay was putting on an act, but if she was she was making a good job of it.

Warren stepped around the table and placed a hand awkwardly on Fay’s back. ‘I know he’s really hurt you and you must really hate him. But surely this isn’t what your mum and aunt would have wanted you to do?’

Fay sobbed, and gritted her teeth. ‘I can’t live a normal life until Hagar’s paid for what he’s done.’

Warren swept a hand through his hair and sighed. ‘I’ll tell you what I know, but it’s vague. Nothing like the info I had on the safe-house.’

‘Thank you,’ Fay said. She dabbed one eye with a tissue, before her tone regained its normal authority. ‘So are you gay, or what?’

Warren sounded offended. ‘I’m not gay. What makes you even say that?’

Fay smiled. ‘You’re always nicely dressed and you wear cologne. You could take me on a date some time if you like.’

Ning cringed as she saw the torment on Warren’s face. He thought Fay was hot and didn’t have a girlfriend, but Fay was borderline mental and definitely dangerous.

‘One evening next week?’ Warren said, uncertainly.

‘You’re taking me out tonight,’ Fay said, before breaking into a laugh. ‘You get the cutest expression when you’re scared.’

*

Ryan had learned to love wet weather, because people don’t pay to have cars washed when the shine will get ruined. He’d started at half eight and worked through a couple of valet jobs for a nearby Volkswagen dealer. After that he’d been sent to McDonald’s to buy breakfasts, but by ten he’d been idle for a full hour.

The forecast said rain all day, so Milosh had sent some of the guys home. The five that remained sat under the warped petrol station canopy reading newspapers and trading stories.

‘Need a shit,’ Ryan said, as he pocketed his mobile and stood up.

‘Have one for me while you’re up there,’ one of the guys joked.

The toilet was a stinking beast in a cabin behind the former shop. But Ryan had seen a couple of blokes leaving the office and driving off about ten minutes earlier, and that was his true destination.

Since Ryan started work at Kar Kleen he’d regularly seen Hagar, Craig and some of Hagar’s other senior people meeting up in the office. James had decided it would be good if Ryan could get inside and plant a couple of miniature video cameras.

When the car-wash closed at night, Milosh or the duty manager would put a big chain and padlock on the office door, but in the day it was only secured with a straightforward door lock. Rather than risk carrying a lock gun, Ryan had already checked the make and model of the lock and a skeleton key had been sent down from campus.

The CHERUB security department knew their stuff, but Ryan was still relieved when the key turned and the lock opened. The office had large windows along two sides, so he kept low as he walked inside.

He unzipped his Kar Kleen-branded overall and pulled three coin-sized rubber disks out of his pocket. Two were the same size and contained video cameras. He’d already worked out the best spots to place them, and he quickly rested one on top of a curved security mirror and the other on a disused fire extinguisher. The cameras were designed to automatically point their lenses towards any sound, and if anyone found them, they just looked like bits that had fallen off of something else.

The third device was even