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Standing on my own, I watch the van approach. Carl and Bram are fifty metres away, watching; Dylan and Sepp are in the car, parked out of sight. I feel more exposed than I have for a long time, but I have to do this alone. This conversation is just between the two of us.
The van stops in front of me. Bana climbs out and shuts the door; his driver waits inside. Bana spits on the ground then lights a cigarette. He’s changed his T-shirt for a black one but he’s still wearing the same scuffed trainers and ripped jeans. He doesn’t speak, just looks at me, his brow knitted together, eyes squinting as he waits to hear what I have to say.
My fists are clenched at my sides. This is the man who ordered a hit on Dale. He was so very nearly responsible for her being gone. I want to smash him into the middle of next week. But I need to keep control. I force my breathing to steady.
‘You and I have got something personal that needs to be settled,’ I tell him.
He nods for me to go ahead.
‘You need to know. From now on –’ I pause and wait for him to look at me – ‘El Patron’s daughter, Daleylah Martinez, is mine.’
‘Yours?’
He’s surprised. I guess that was the last thing he was expecting me to say. I wait for my words to sink in.
‘Yours? How so?’
‘Just mine,’ I repeat, firmly. ‘I don’t want any more attempts on her life. If you do, you won’t be beefing with El Patron, you’ll be starting with me. And considering the nature of our partnership, I think it’s better for both of us if we remain friends.’
His face dissolves into anger. ‘And Patron? You with him now?’
‘No. I’m neutral. As before.’
‘Patron hit us. He wiped out everything I have. He killed my Solo.’ He speaks fast, his accent heavy.
‘I know he hit you.’
Bana glares at me, his lip curling as he tries to work out what I had to do with the hit.
‘You know he hit me? You work with him?’
I shake my head. ‘I only found out about the hit later. After you tried to take out his daughter. My crew had no part in the hit, nor would we have agreed to it, had we known. I have no alliances with El Patron.’
‘Just his daughter.’ His eyes are fixed on mine.
I nod. ‘Just his daughter. His daughter is mine. She doesn’t belong to him any more and he’s not happy about that, but that’s not my problem.’
He raises his head slightly in acknowledgement. ‘You take her from him?’
‘Yes.’
He smiles, exposing yellowing teeth. ‘Good. You going to kill her?’
‘No. Never. And neither will you. Your beef with him about the hit is nothing to do with me, or Daleylah Martinez. Are we in agreement?’
He drops the cigarette and crunches it out under his foot. ‘Taki.’
We shake hands. He goes to get back into the van.
‘Bana, there’s something else.’ I put hands in my pockets, my fingers closing around my gun. This is the part I’ve been dreading.
‘What?’
‘I was at El Patron’s when Solo came to kill her.’
He looks at me, a snarl appearing on his face.
‘He came in the night. I protected her.’
‘It was you? You killed Solo?’
‘Yes, I killed him.’
He lunges at me. I block him easily, my hand on his chest, and dodge his punch. The driver goes to get out of van, and I hear my brothers approaching.
‘It’s OK. Leave us,’ I shout to them.
I push Bana off me, holding him at arm’s length. I can smell him, a mixture of cigarettes, sweat and alcohol.
‘She’s mine, Bana. I had to protect her.’ I speak loudly and slowly. ‘It was night. I didn’t know it was Solo, I only saw a man with a gun.’
He stops struggling and steps away from me, shaking his clothes straight.
‘Don’t let this come between us, Bana. The risks are part of the job, part of what we choose to be involved in. But not her. She didn’t choose her father.’
He glares at me, then takes out another cigarette and lights it.
‘She’s nothing to do with El Patron any more. Go after him all you want but don’t touch her. Come after me if you want, we can go to war if you feel you need to take revenge for Solo, but I hope you’ll see it for what it was and we can continue to do business.’ I study him, waiting for his reaction. He’s processing what I’ve told him. I’m pretty sure he’d be happy to take me out, or at least try to, but he knows that wouldn’t be a smart move. Our businesses are too intertwined. He needs me.
He draws hard on his cigarette, then flicks it on the ground. ‘Tak.’
I feel a flash of relief. I hold out my hand. He grips it and shakes it briefly, then turns and gets into the van and they reverse away.
‘That appeared to go well,’ Bram says, as he and Carl walk to me. Dylan and Sepp get out of the car and join us.
‘And?’ Dylan asks. ‘We at war with Bana’s crew, now?’
I breathe deeply. ‘I don’t think so.’ I look at Bram. ‘But make sure Jimmy and Rich stay at the lock-up twenty-four seven. Tell them not to leave, even to take a piss. Get another couple of boys to work shifts with them. I want that place guarded round the clock, just in case Bana does decide to take his business elsewhere without telling us first.’
Bram nods. ‘We shifted about a quarter of the stuff this morning, but our guy won’t be able to take any more for a few days.’
‘We should have some money flowing soon. Get the first payment made to Bana, ASAP. That should take some of the sting out of the bombshell I just dropped.’
We walk back to the cars.
‘You heard any more from El Patron?’ Dylan asks.
I shake my head. ‘I’ll give him a couple more days to calm down and then I’ll call him. Find out if he still wants to do business with us.’
‘Can’t imagine he’ll want to.’ Bram chuckles. ‘But he ain’t got much choice. There’s nowhere else he can clean the amount of casheesh he must be making at the moment with Bana’s supplies diminished.’
‘You’re right. And I’ll call him. But not yet.’
My brothers and Sepp leave. I look at Dylan.
‘I told Bana to get the target off Dale’s head.’
‘And?’
‘And we had an agreement. But that was before I told him about Solo.’ I draw my finger along my chin. ‘I don’t know if I can trust him. She’s keen to get out, though, and I promised her she could.’
‘Wait. Keep her inside for now. We’ll soon find out if we can trust him, it won’t take long. But don’t take any risks, not now. Don’t rush it,’ Dylan says. ‘She was pretty shaken after Nio’s. Must have been hard for her.’
‘Yeah. He’s kept her locked up most of her life. She’s no fucking idea.’
Dylan shakes his head. ‘All the more reason to keep her in.’ He looks at me, his eyes on mine and I know he can tell she means more to me than anything.
‘If anything happens to that girl...’ My stomach tightens at the thought.
‘We won’t let anything happen to her, Slater. We’re stronger than any of them, they won’t fuck with us.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ I say, and get into my car.