Petey Bailey knew all about the scam – he had been the brains behind it – so it was going to be an interesting few months for everyone concerned. Petey had always had that fucking greed in him, that need to tuck an extra few quid in his back pocket. It was as if he enjoyed having his old man over and, in a way, Terry could identify with that. Like everyone else, Petey had to live by the Bailey credo and, for a man like Petey, that had to burn. He had a personality that didn’t take well to being curtailed, and the older Bailey brothers controlled everyone around them in one way or another.

Petey Bailey was not liked or trusted by many of the people in the Life any more. He was tolerated at best by most; he was far too petty in many respects – he had been known to chase a person down for a poxy score. He was a fucking cheapskate by nature, a drama queen who could, and would, cause murders for a few quid. He had no class. Petey was a product of his father – he had lived so long in his shadow he wouldn’t last ten minutes in the real world. Alone, without the Bailey name, the Bailey backing, he would be insignificant. The fact he was having his own blood over on a daily basis said all that needed to be said. Now he was panicking, and so he should be; his little scam was in danger of being discovered. Of course, that left the Allens in a position of power – for all their troubles, they knew the truth of the matter.

So Terry would wait, and he would plan. Petey Bailey had fucked off more than a few people over the years and, like Terry, they would welcome the chance to take the fucker down and with him the whole Bailey family. This was personal now.

His brother Billy was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he was with Terry all the way on this. Billy knew that without Terry he would not have anything, and his brother had always looked out for him. If Terry said that something had to be done, Billy never questioned it, he just did as he was told. Terry was more than willing to use his brother for his own ends. Billy would do anything if you asked him nicely: maim, harm, torture. If Terry asked him to chop off his own foot, chances were Billy would do it.

Together they were a good partnership; Terry was the brains of the outfit, and Billy was happy to be led. Terry cared for his brother deeply but, that aside, if he had to sacrifice him, he would without a qualm. The Baileys were not the only people capable of taking out a family member, and the sooner they realised that the better.