18

Danny entered the Woo Hoo Club by the back door and tried to make it upstairs without being seen. No luck. Pamela had been moving bottles of vodka from the storeroom to the main bar and despite his protests she fussed over him like a maiden aunt. She produced a bag of ice and proceeded to press it painfully onto the swelling under his left eye.

“Pam, I’m okay, really. Not to sound like a cliché, but you should see the other guys.”

“Oh, but look at your face. Danny, if you want to leave we’ll understand.”

“Leave? No way. Things are just getting started. I told you this would escalate just by me and Clay being here. The Locos, they won’t just roll over and go away. Things may get worse before this is over.”

Pam nodded but persisted in pressing the bag of ice to his face.

“I hurt quite a few of them tonight and if I was in charge of the Locos, I would hit this place hard and fast to get my own back. They’ll be coming tonight or tomorrow at the latest. As soon as you lock up I need you, Larry and the rest of the staff out as soon as possible. If they come, I can’t be watching out for all of you.”

Pam chewed her bottom lip but nodded in agreement. “Okay, if you say so.”

“Did Larry bring his shotgun in yet?”

“Yeah, he’s got it under the bar, just below the cash register. It’s wrapped in newspaper so it doesn’t spook the staff, although they all know what’s going on with the Locos.”

“Good. How many shells has he got?”

“A full box,” Larry interjected from the kitchen doorway. “I take it by your face that you met some of our local dignitaries.”

“Aye, it was quite a welcome committee. They didn’t much care for my style of introduction though.”

“Just make sure you sleep with one eye open. These fuckers won’t take it lying down, they’ll be out for blood now,” warned Larry.

“I was just saying the same thing to Pam. When you leave tonight make sure you’re not being followed and if you think you are, get yourselves over to the police station as fast as possible.”

“The cops aren’t interested in us, you know that.”

“Aye, I know, but the Locos won’t try and roll you over in the station now will they? At least it will keep you both safe. Same goes for the staff: Dez, Julie and the others. Make sure they are keeping an eye out for trouble.”

Larry nodded but his jaw was set in challenge. Danny held his gaze.

“No heroics, Larry. Your only duty is to keep you and yours safe. Let me worry about the rest of it. Okay?”

Larry flexed his hands and the muscles in his jaw bunched as he looked from side to side. Pam reached and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Okay,” he said.

Danny climbed the stairs to his room. After first changing his clothes, which were spattered with both bleach and blood, Danny pressed the bag of ice tight against the knuckles of his left hand. Even after many years of training in various martial arts he knew it was still all too easy to damage the small bones of the hand in a real fight. He flexed his fingers, made a tight fist then flexed again. Nothing broken, not today.

He examined the items he’d bought at the home improvement store the previous day, which were now spread across the bed, floor and windowsill. Then he set to finishing the work he had begun that afternoon.

An hour or so later Larry poked his head into the bedroom. Danny looked up from the soldering iron, surrounded by dishes of coloured powders, liquids, lengths of wire and an assortment of small hand tools.

“Dad never bought me a chemistry set when I was a kid,” said Danny as he motioned to the makeshift workshop.

The acrid smell made Larry recoil. He waved a hand and retreated down the stairs. “I don’t want to know.”

Danny worked on, assembling and constructing. He knew the shit storm was due on a westerly wind. He looked at the range of completed items that now lay on the bed and hoped it would be enough.

The rest of the shift was akin to an endurance test for Danny. He loitered near the kitchen door, scanning the drunken crowd for any threat. The clock above the bar seemed to run in slow motion but finally reached closing time. Revellers staggered out into the night air, some with clearly amorous intent, others talking the usual drunken nonsense to each other.

Finally, the club was quiet.

As soon as he heard the music cease, Danny joined both Pamela and Larry at the front doors. Two young men dressed as Batman and Robin were half a dozen drinks past drunk and were weaving their way slowly up the centre of the road, clinging to each other for support. Robin had lost one shoe and Batman’s mask was perched on top of his head like a semi-deflated balloon.

Danny laughed. “They don’t look so super now.”

Pamela smiled as she threw the bolt on the front door. “Holy cocktail overdose, Batman!”

Danny ushered the Dukes and their staff out of the back door. “Remember what I said: any sign of trouble and you hightail it to the cops.”

“Be careful, Danny. Look after it for us; it’s all we’ve got,” said Pamela. She cast a look back into the club, clearly uncomfortable with leaving dozens of dirty glasses stacked on the bar.

“Don’t worry, lass, the Woo Hoo’s in good hands.”

Larry rested a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “You’ve got first watch then, soldier.”

“Sounds like a plan,” replied Danny.

“We’ll see you in the morning.”

Danny watched the couple drive away. The bar staff and Dez the cook followed. Julie loitered for another few minutes after the others had departed, chatting about nothing in particular. When she eventually climbed into her car at his insistence she sounded a double toot of the horn and gave him a finger wave as she vacated the parking lot.

Danny waited a few moments, inhaled slow and deep, then went back inside the club. A couple of trips later and choice items from his bed were arranged on the bar near the dirty glasses. He poured himself a Diet Coke and unlocked the front door, letting the cool night air waft in.