It was the arrival of a fifth that was going to answer all his questions. If Jai thought he was broken and defeated before, then he was a proper Pollyanna compared to how he’d feel when the self-styled Gallowhaugh Godfather made his entrance.

He was just arriving now, in fact. He’d followed the van at a necessarily careful distance, but now that he’d parked, he was deliberately taking his time, making their captive wait. Making everyone wait. Prick. If conceit was consumption, Wee Sacks there would be dead.

He slammed the door of his big BMW to herald his arrival, alert their prisoner that there was more to this than he had already understood, as much as you can understand anything when you’ve been ragdolled around the back of a van by three guys battering your melt in. Then he walked across slowly, taking the long way around the side of the van to further protract the anticipation before he would make his presence known to the poor bastard quivering in the dirt.

Wullie detested him, always had. Gallowhaugh Godfather? Gallowhaugh Grandfather more like. All right, the guy was only about forty, but he was always wearing gear that was too young for him, which had the paradoxical effect of making him look older even than his scarred and lived-in face would indicate; a face you would never get sick of kicking.

Wullie resented being here, dancing to the jumped-up old throwback’s tune. It was one thing playing along to keep the peace, but that wee cock just loved this all too much. The bastard should watch his step, see he didn’t make the same mistake as his ex-pal lying on the deck. Seemed to think he was gangland royalty because he’d been around the game for a while, saw himself as ‘old school’ and somehow more respectable than the new breed. He shouldn’t forget who was the biggest gang in this city. Just because they found it expedient or mutually profitable to help you out didn’t mean you could take liberties or start kidding yourself about the nature of that relationship. Wee Sacks thought Big Fall had come to him because he ran Gallowhaugh. Truth was, Wee Sacks ran Gallowhaugh because it suited Fall to allow him to.

That the wee shite had insisted on being here tonight said it all. Small-man behaviour. He should have risen above it, just been content in the knowledge that the problem was being taken care of, discreetly too, ensuring no uncomfortable fallout. Not Wee Sacks, though. He was taking unnecessary risks simply because he had to let Jai here know he’d got the last word, that it had been trying to put one over on the mighty Godfather that had sealed his fate.

He wanted to sing when he was winning.