The Diamond Hunters, page 9
‘Must be from hearing your dulcet tones. Listen, I called in a couple of favours with this one.’
Drake knew how significant that was in Crouch’s world. He winced. ‘Sorry to hear that, mate. We’ll try to make it up to you.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll start charging you.’
Drake couldn’t tell if the man was serious or not. He coughed. ‘What did you come up with?’
‘First, something else important. I decided to keep tabs on your diamond hunter pals. They’ve been quiet for a while, but word is, they hit somewhere pretty hard last night. These guys are very active, and they’re ruthless.’
Drake held the phone tighter. ‘They robbed and killed someone?’
Crouch answered quickly. ‘Perfect robbery. And they didn’t have to kill the proprietor. They could just as easily have knocked him out, tied him up. It was one man against all of them.’
Drake swore. ‘Those bastards really need taking down.’ He cupped the phone and relayed the news to his team. ‘I’m even more tempted to take the job on.’
‘I thought you would want to know.’
Drake thanked him and then tried to concentrate as Crouch told them the news.
‘All right. Let’s call this gang the Music Men. Well, the Music Men are well known in criminal circles. They’re well connected, as you say, well respected. They’re careful not to tread on any toes, always researching their scores. If they do make a mistake, they quickly rectify it. Anyway, they’re four strong and have a leader named Victor Brown-’
‘We have a photo of him,’ Drake interrupted.
‘Good. Do you also know where they hang out?’
He knew they didn’t. ‘Unfortunately not.’
‘There’s a snooker hall off Park Avenue and 79th. It’s called Germaine’s. Victor Brown and his crew hang out there an awful lot. It’s their base, really. Like a home from home, but somewhere they can meet up and talk about stuff.’
‘Good,’ Drake said. ‘It gives us a start.’
‘I don’t have any photos for you.’
Drake took that one on the chin. ‘Thanks, mate. Appreciated.’
They hung up. Drake had the attention of the rest of the team.
‘We have a starting point,’ he said.
* * *
That first night they hired a large car and sat across from the snooker hall, watching it. It was dark and a little drizzly, the bright windows spattered by raindrops. People came and went, mostly men and couples. Their vantage wasn’t great because of the parked cars along the street, but they made the best of it. Everyone looked at the picture of Victor Bown. As the night went on and the man didn’t put in an appearance, Drake grew frustrated.
‘We’re gonna have to get someone in there,’ he said. ‘One or two of us can’t hurt.’
‘I’ll go,’ Kenzie said. ‘Could do with stretching my legs, anyway.’
‘I’ll go with you,’ Dahl said. ‘We can be a couple.’
Kenzie punched him. ‘And here’s me thinking that’s exactly what we are.’
The two exited the car, made sure their comms were working, and crossed the street. Soon, Dahl and Kenzie were inside. Ten minutes passed, and then the Swede’s voice came across the comms.
‘He’s definitely not in here. We’re gonna hang out.’
Minutes dragged by like hours. Inactivity wasn’t Drake’s strong suit. But there was nothing else to do, no other leads to follow. If they couldn’t track down Victor Brown, they were at a dead end.
But that night, wishful thinking didn’t cut it. Dahl and Kenzie left the bar after a couple of hours to be replaced by Hayden and Kinimaka. Maybe the swap would change their fortunes. It didn’t. The long night passed uneventfully, their prey not putting in an appearance. By the time the bar closed, Drake was weary and sore and cold. He drove them back to the hotel in silence.
‘We go again tomorrow night,’ he said before parting.
The second night, Drake went in with Alicia. They changed tactics outside too, having Dahl stationed closer to the snooker hall, standing in the shadows where he could keep a close eye on the comings and goings.
The snooker hall was wide and spacious, with the tables arranged haphazardly. Low-hanging lights made the place look smaller. There was a long, narrow bar to the right, around which people sat and drank. Chairs and tables also ringed the outside of the room. It was noisy with the sounds of chatter and clicking balls. All the tables were full.
Drake and Alicia found a place at the bar. They scoured the room for Victor Brown, but all they could do was hope. After a while and several sips of alcohol, they looked at each other with glum expressions.
‘He’s not here,’ Alicia said.
Drake nodded. ‘Just keep looking.’
Mostly they watched the door. Every time it opened, Drake’s attention heightened. People came and went. The noise inside was incessant. An hour passed. Drake finished his drink and ordered another. The night dragged on.
Finally, the door opened and a recognisable face walked in. Drake blinked, not daring to believe. The man was Victor Brown. He strolled through the door and stopped, took his coat off and shook the raindrops off. He looked at home in the place, as if he belonged. Drake noticed he was alone.
‘He’s here,’ Drake said into the comms. ‘We have him.’
‘I was waiting for the confirmation,’ Dahl returned. ‘Thought I saw him enter.’
Drake watched as Victor Brown angled his way towards a table and settled himself. Though nobody else received service at the tables, a drink soon appeared in front of Brown. The man nodded, sat back, and sipped.
Drake wrenched his eyes away. All they had to do now was wait.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
When Victor Brown left the snooker hall that night, he was not alone. Behind him, Drake, Alicia and Dahl followed. Dahl kept pace on the other side of the street; Drake and Alicia stumbled softly along in his wake, quite a way behind.
Brown didn’t catch a cab. He walked. That was good. He didn’t look back, confident in himself. He walked three blocks straight before turning. His pursuers hurried to catch up.
Brown sauntered down another block, then stopped and climbed a small set of steps to a front door. A set of keys appeared, and then the man was inside. Drake, Dahl and Alicia met close to the front door.
‘Now we know where he lives,’ Drake said with a smile.
‘Let’s call the others,’ Alicia said.
Soon the car was parked along the street, and the team was reunited. There was an air of relief now that they had Brown’s address.
‘All we have to do now is wait,’ Hayden said.
They had decided that, with Brown being the leader of the gang, the diamond would most likely be at his house. It was an obvious choice. Now all they had to do was wait for him to leave again.
It took a long time. The night passed, and then the next morning, and they were into early afternoon before Brown emerged. He was dressed for the inclement weather and soon headed off up the street with his head down. Again, he didn’t depend on a cab. Maybe he enjoyed walking.
Or maybe he wasn’t going very far.
‘Maybe we should wait,’ Kinimaka said.
‘We don’t have time,’ Drake replied. ‘We station you at one end of the street and Kenzie at the other, and we go in and do our thing.’
‘As quickly as possible,’ Mai said.
‘If you see him coming back,’ Drake said. ‘Jump on those comms double time.’
Both Kinimaka and Kenzie nodded and set off to take up their stations. The rest of the team headed straight for Brown’s front door. Mai got to work on the lock and soon they were inside, finding themselves standing in a narrow hallway. The hallway ran right through the house, and there was a set of stairs to the left.
‘Everyone split up,’ Drake said. ‘Let’s do this as quickly as possible.’
‘If we don’t find the diamond here, we’re screwed,’ Hayden pointed out.
Drake knew it. He put his head down and got to work. The team parted. He ran to the back of the house, finding himself in the farthest room – the kitchen. Immediately, he knew this was the unlikeliest place to find a diamond on display, but it had to be checked. He did a thorough examination, checking every nook and cranny, and found nothing.
The others ran through the house, searching everywhere. Neither Kinimaka nor Kenzie jumped on the comms. The search was fast and fluid. Adrenaline flooded Drake’s system as he thought about the danger. Sweat beaded on his brow. He expected a call from Kinimaka and Kenzie at any moment, and then a fast escape. But it didn’t happen. He next searched the most likely room, a library. There were display cabinets and an oak desk and even a couple of pedestals, but no diamond.
Drake cursed inside. He moved through the place soundlessly, wondering if all the artwork on the walls was paid for. Surely Brown wouldn’t leave questionable items on display. But then some of these criminals were insanely arrogant. They didn’t think they’d ever get caught, especially someone with the track record of Brown.
He left the library, went to another room, this one clearly a living room with two couches and a TV. Upstairs, Hayden was saying she was finished, and so was Alicia. Drake could feel the tension coursing through his veins, making the hairs on his arms stand up. His throat was dry.
The living room yielded nothing. He went out into the hallway as Hayden and Alicia made their way downstairs, faces despondent.
‘A big fat nothing,’ Hayden said.
It was the same for everyone. They exited the house in silence, went back to the car and called in their sentries. It was a glum team that, fifteen minutes later, saw Victor Brown return home. Drake drove off soon after, knowing the man was a clever criminal and might recognise a new car parked near his home for too long.
They left the area, thinking deeply but not sure what to do next. The heavens opened, and they drove through the pouring rain, wipers swishing the water away. The sidewalks emptied a little as tourists and locals found shelter in the vast array of coffee shops and other eateries that lined the streets. Drake was heading back to the hotel.
By the time they arrived, nobody had spoken. Drake hoped they were all trying to dig up fresh ideas. He concentrated on driving and then on finding somewhere to park. Even without the rain, it wasn’t a straightforward task, and today proved almost impossible.
They ended up two blocks from their hotel. Drake peered out at the steadily falling rain. ‘It’s about right,’ he said. ‘It looks like I feel.’
Dahl sat forward in his seat. ‘What the hell are we going to do?’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The team found a spare table and sat down. Drake didn’t know what to say. He could see Hayden clearly wracking her brains.
‘In all honesty,’ Alicia finally said. ‘The answer’s perfectly clear.’
Drake looked up hopefully. ‘It is?’
‘It’s staring you all in the face. We’ve done it before.’
Now Drake looked unsure. ‘I think I know what you’re going to say.’
‘You should. There’s only one way to do this. We hit them head-on, brute force.’
‘My thoughts exactly,’ Dahl said, clenching his fists.
‘I don’t see any other way,’ Alicia said.
‘We can’t keep throwing our weight around,’ Hayden said, spreading her hands. ‘Sooner or later, it isn’t gonna work.’
‘It’s worked well for us so far,’ Alicia said. ‘If we’d done it last night, we’d already have the diamond.’
Drake couldn’t fault her logic. And she was right. There really was no alternative.
‘We’ve tried it the subtle way,’ he said. ‘It didn’t work. It’s time to get harder.’
The argument went on for a while. Halfway through, Alicia came up with another idea.
‘It’s either the hard way,’ she said. ‘Or I could seduce the guy.’
Drake’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What?’
‘Either way works for me. I don’t mind.’
‘I think the hard way,’ Drake said in a strangled voice. ‘Nobody should do any seducing.’
Mai let out a snort of laughter. ‘I’m not convinced she could actually do it.’
‘Hey,’ Alicia said. ‘I can seduce anything with or without a penis. When I set my eyes on something, it gets done. And if that something is Victor Brown, he gets done.’
‘In more ways than one,’ Kenzie said with a widening of her eyes.
‘Listen,’ Drake interjected. ‘I don’t think this conversation is tacking too well. Let’s get back to the original point.’
Alicia turned innocent eyes on him. ‘Do you not want me to seduce the thief, my darling?’
‘You’d have nothing to worry about,’ Mai said quickly. Alicia shot her a narrow-eyed look.
Drake squirmed. ‘Let’s call that plan Z. How about we concentrate on plan A?’
The conversation turned for the rest of the afternoon. Drake finally said, ‘Truth be told, there isn’t a whole lot to plan. We follow him into the snooker hall and nab him when he leaves. Somewhere quiet. And then we force him to tell us where the diamond is.’
The team broke up and then reconvened half an hour before the snooker hall opened. They drove to it and parked close by. The perennial rain was at it again, still coming down. They sat for a while as the bar opened, waiting for it to fill up and watching its patrons.
It was an hour later when Drake saw Victor Brown approaching. The man’s head was down and slick from the rain, but he wore the same clothing as yesterday. He paused at the door of the snooker hall as if waiting. A canopy hung over his head, sheltering him. The man waited for five minutes before his company arrived.
Three men appeared from under the shadowy streetlights. They shook Brown’s hand and looked friendly, everyone laughing and chatting together. Then, Brown opened the door, and they all filed in.
‘That complicates things,’ Hayden said.
‘Four to take care of instead of one,’ Alicia shrugged. ‘There’s still seven of us.’
‘You’re both right,’ Drake said. ‘But we can do this.’
They waited a short while longer before sending Mai and Dahl inside to get a closer look. The pair found a seat at the bar and started to surreptitiously watch the Music Men. Drake assumed this had to be Brown and the rest of his team. Who else could it be?
The night passed slowly. Drake was anxious to get moving. Brown and his friends showed every sign of waiting until the last minute. It had occurred to him that the men might split up outside and still leave them with just one to deal with, but he couldn’t count on that. Brown lived close by. The men might retire to his house to concoct new plans.
Agonisingly slowly, closing time came around. The hall began to empty out. People put away their cues and their chalk and shrugged into jackets, eyeing the rain-spattered windows warily. Mai and Dahl remained at the bar. Finally, Brown and his cohorts decided it was time to move. They rose and pulled their coats on and finished their drinks whilst standing. Drake could see them through the windows, small figures at this distance.
‘Time to go,’ he said.
They stepped out into the constant rain and stayed in the shadows. The hall’s front door opened, and Brown and his team exited. Drake expected them to part, but his worst fears were realised. The men stayed together as a group and started walking along the street. Mai and Dahl appeared in their wake and started trailing.
Drake and his team remained on the other side of the street. They followed the men, getting some distance between them and the bar and everyone leaving. They walked three blocks and then turned, and Drake remembered something.
‘There’s a parking lot halfway up,’ he said into the comms. ‘Grab ‘em there.’
Affirmations came back. Drake crossed the street with his team just before the parking lot appeared. Seven strong, they started to close the gap on the Music Men.
They were within ten feet when the men whirled around.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Brown, Watkins, Watts and Dowling looked threatening as they stood there, fists clenched, faces spattered with rain. They were large and strong-looking men with harsh faces and cold eyes.
‘You’ll leave us well alone if you know what’s good for you,’ Brown growled.
Drake stepped forward as his team readied itself. ‘You have something we need,’ he said. ‘And we don’t want to have to kill you to get it.’ His words were deliberately harsh.
‘I’d like to see you try,’ one of the others grunted.
‘Like I said,’ Drake went on. ‘Play ball. There’ll be no violence, no bloodshed. We’ll be out of your lives in a hurry. And it probably isn’t all that valuable to you anyway.’
Brown frowned, but he hesitated. His eyes narrowed. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
Drake lowered his hands to his side, trying to look less threatening. ‘You received a diamond from a man named Henry Purves. That diamond was stolen from a client of ours. He wants it back.’
Brown blinked and frowned some more. His teammates looked equally confused. Brown said, ‘A diamond?’
‘Yes. A Joan of Arc diamond. One of six.’
Brown’s lips moved, but nothing came out. He appeared to be stunned.
‘You okay, mate?’ Alicia waved at him. ‘Need a little tweak to wake you up?’
Brown finally found his voice. ‘I can’t believe your audacity. You’re here, in the middle of the street, asking you to just give you something valuable that belongs to us?’
‘That’s what we do,’ Dahl said. ‘This is a good offer. Take it.’
Brown looked sideways at his team. They stared back with ice in their eyes. One of them gave a slight shake of the head. Brown turned his gaze back to Drake.
‘I think we’re gonna have to fight,’ he said.
‘Finally!’ Dahl pushed his way forward, balled his fists and swung at the man on the far right. The man leapt to his left, entering the parking lot. Both teams moved with him. Drake zeroed in on Brown.
The teams attacked. Brown led with two kicks, which Drake dodged. Alicia ran in from the right, picking the man to Brown’s left. He looked like he knew how to fight, raising fists and facing up to her. He blocked her first two attacks, stepping away. Kinimaka stormed into the next man, trying to bowl him over, but the guy had plenty of room. He just went deeper into the parking lot.
