Jake could see Tony’s face turning red with anger. He looked like a kettle about to boil. He was about to speak when Jake put a hand up to stop him. ‘Carry on, Sharon, what happened?’

‘Can you believe it, one of our own bouncers, Joe, stepped in to pull this Luke guy away, and he pulled out a canister from under his coat, took the top off and threw it at him. Liquid flew out everywhere. Thankfully, when the bouncer saw him put his hand under his coat, he half turned away. He must have thought he had a knife or a gun, or something. The liquid was acid, Tony. This Luke guy threw acid at him. It went down his back and his arm, where he tried to shield himself. The publican threw the contents of the ice bucket on Joe and pulled his shirt off to stop it from sticking to his flesh, and thank God he acted so quickly.’ Sharon looked concerned, even a little scared. ‘What are we going to do?’

‘Was anyone else hurt?’ Tony was in command now and he wanted to know everything.

Sharon sighed. ‘Well, the stripper will be off work for a couple of weeks with her black eyes, I suppose, but it’s mainly the bouncer, Joe. Everyone is shit scared, Tony, and they want you to put them at their ease. After all, this is what you wanted, isn’t it? Superheroes, Tony and Jake, what would we do without you both. Well, the hospital wouldn’t be full up, that’s for sure. All this to keep people paying you both protection money. Jesus Christ. This is people’s lives you’re playing with!’ Sharon walked away from the table and went to the ladies’ room. Anything to stop her arguing with them both. She had said more than enough.

Jake watched her leave. What could he say? He had agreed to this and gone along with Tony’s idea, although, to be fair, there weren’t supposed to be any casualties.

‘Now, we go and see Angus. And you tell Sharon to stop spitting her dummy out, will you, Jake? She’s your wife; sort her out.’ Tony stood up and went to the car. He was in no mood for Sharon’s sarcasm. He was angry, and wanted some answers.

Jake ran towards the car; there was no way he was going to let Tony meet Angus alone, not in this mood.

This time there was no preliminary chit chat. Tony went straight upstairs to Angus’s apartment, walked directly towards him and threw his fist into his face. Angus was knocked backwards and fell to the floor. Tony took out his gun and pointed it at him. ‘You stupid bastard! I give you one job to do and you can’t get that right. Get up, so I can hit you again. I’d blow your brains out if I thought you had any.’

Tony walked forward to where Angus lay on the floor and shoved the gun in his mouth. He was angry; his eyes had gone that awful dark blue that meant his mean streak was well and truly to the surface, Jekyll and Hyde style.