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Back The Jump Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. BOOK ONE
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Chapter Twenty-Four
  30. Chapter Twenty-Five
  31. BOOK TWO
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. BOOK THREE
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Epilogue

Georgio held down the bile that was rising into his mouth, burning his throat and tongue. This was a nightmare, a bona fide twenty-two-carat nightmare, and inside himself he knew that if Wilson was telling Laughton what he wanted to hear, the nightmare could go on for months. Looking up, Georgio felt the fight leave his body to be replaced by a calmness that surprised him.

‘I never done nothing and you know it,’ he said. ‘I’m being fitted up and I’ll prove it.’

Laughton laughed again. ‘Yeah, course you will. Conspiracy to rob, conspiracy to murder, and aggravated assault on a police officer are only a few of the charges against you, but they’ll grow, Brunos. Like a cancer, they’ll grow - I’ll see to that. God, I wish we still had hanging! A young man died today. You know about it and you know where the dosh is, or my name ain’t Frank Laughton. You can deny it until the cows come home and the Second Coming arrives. I couldn’t give a flying fuck. You’re in this up to your neck, and for the widow of that boy, and for his kids, I’ll see you go away for it. You might not have pulled the trigger, Brunos, but you was there in spirit. You set it up and I’ll prove it. With the help of Wilson, I’ll prove it.’

Georgio closed his eyes and coughed gently, a small trail of bile escaping from his lips. Looking up into Laughton’s face he said loudly, ‘Fuck you, Laughton. You can’t prove nothing.’

Then the kicking really started.

BOOK ONE

BOOK ONE

Dilige et quod vis fac
Love, and do what you will—

St Augustine of Hippo, AD 354-430

All the privilege I claim for my own sex is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone—

Persuasion Jane Austen, 1755-1817

Chapter One

Chapter One

Peter Wilson was frightened. As he looked into Frank Laughton’s face he sensed the full force of the older man’s determination and temper. Running his tongue around his teeth, he felt the looseness of two of them and the split on the inside of his cheek where he had bitten it.

‘Please, Mr Laughton, I can’t tell you nothing, see. I don’t know nothing.’

Frank Laughton sighed heavily and stared up at the clock on the wall of the interview room. ‘Did anyone ever tell you how dogs know you’re frightened of them? They smell your fear, see - like I can smell yours now.’ He took a deep drag on his cigarette and threw it to the floor, crushing it with his heavy boot.