Jakes Dilemma ( Part 2)

The big guy with the spread nose walked away and joined the others. Jake saw them talking but couldn’t hear what they were saying. He’d known something was up for the past few days. He had a feeling he was being followed on his way to work. He noticed a guy in the café staring at him during yesterday’s lunch break. But what the fuck did they want. He just worked in a bloody Ironmongers doing a mundane job.

The three of them approached him again. This time another guy spoke, he wasn’t as big as the first one but he had SOME face, a face that looked like it had been lived in, a face that looked like it had seen its fair share of violence, but had always come out on top!

“Jake, listen to me very carefully, no one wants to hurt anyone, but if we have to then we will. We need you to do us a favour, a favour that you will be well paid for. We know your old man hasn’t worked for a long time, your mums got a little cleaning job, not much money around, and everything’s a bit tight. So, we want to help, give you a few bob to make things easier for you. But you have to help us out, understand?”

Jake didn’t, but nodded.

“Good boy, now we’re gonna let you go now, you go back to work, make your excuses for being late and carry on as usual. We’ll be in touch in the next couple of days, but remember Jake, if you tell anyone and we mean anyone, the big guy over there WILL break both your dads’ legs, you wouldn’t want that to happen now would you Jake?”

Jake shook his head.

“Can’t hear you Jake, you need to say the words so that we can all hear them!”

“No, I wouldn’t want that to happen!”

“Good boy!”

He untied Jakes hands and led him to the steel door of the railway arch.

“Word of advice Jake, don’t try to be clever, don’t try and be slippery, just do as you’re told and everything will work out fine”

Jake stepped out into the bright sunshine and squinted as the sun made his eyes burn. He looked at his watch. It was 8.45. Fuck he was over an hour late!

His mobile was in his pocket, he had two missed calls. He listened to his voicemail and picked up Stevie’s messages. Thank fuck for Stevie, he couldn’t afford to lose this job, no way.

A million questions went through his mind as he walked the thirty minutes to work. Who were these guys, what the fuck did they want, it all seemed surreal, like a scene from a bloody low budget British gangster film. But it had happened, it was real. He kept trying to figure out what the hell they wanted him to do; he just worked in a bloody factory for fucks sake that makes door fittings!

He entered the warehouse via the fire escape entrance, a short cut that all the boys knew. He picked up a pair of overalls that the boys kept hidden behind the radiator, put them on and walked over to his machine. He started it up.

“Oi, bollock chops, where you been?”

“Doctors Guv, told you last week!”

The Shift Supervisor walked over and stood beside him.

“Well I don’t remember you telling me, so just get on with your job, no lunch for you today Jake, you can catch up on the hours that you missed”

“Yeh, no problem, I’ll work through lunch and stay an extra half hour after work as well”

“Good!”

The supervisor walked off, pleased with himself that he’d told that bloody Jake Roberts his life story.

Jake smiled to himself, what a wanker that bloke was, he would be asleep in his office at 2.30 this afternoon and not wake up till 6. After being in the pub for two hours at lunch time and downing 8 pints he wouldn’t have a clue if Jake had a break or not. He quickly called Steve on his mobile.

“Thanks for covering mate, look I’ve got to take a late lunch. You do the same, meet you in the café at three?”

Stevie agreed. The two of them went back to the big heavy machines that they operated and continued their boring days’ work.

At three o’clock, Jake looked over at the supervisor’s office; sure enough he could see pisshead fast asleep in his chair. He turned off the machine and headed out of the building towards the café. Stevie was already there.

“Where the fuck were you this morning, pisshead was going mad!”

“Something came up that I had to deal with straightaway”

“And that was more important than your fucking job?”

“Look Stevie, I need to tell you something”

Jakes phone rang, it was an unknown number. He answered it.

“Are you some kind of cunt Jake? If you say one more word, your dad will be in a wheelchair by the end of the day!”

The phone went silent.

Jake looked around, he couldn’t see anyone or anything that looked suspicious. Without saying another word, he got up and went straight back to work.

Stevie looked up in astonishment as Jake left the café.

“He’s definitely on the gear” he said quietly under his breath.