"Right, do you remember the fella you met the other day, the one from Brookbourne, by the Exhibition Centre?"
JJ often had to emphasise every detail to Tommy two fists. He was never the sharpest tool box, but he never questioned anything that JJ asked him to do. It was for this reason he employed him. Loyal, followed order's, but needed to be kept on a tight leash.
Today was a big day, it was an important day.
JJ had just had another shipment of weed arrive from Holland, and his friends in Brookbourne wanted half the load.
Then Tommy had to come back, take the other half, 10 kilo's of cocaine, and five kilo's of heroin, to the lad's down South.
JJ knew it was a big thing to do, it was a big thing to ask of anyone. Yet, in all fairness to Tommy, he switched on when he needed to. Didn't drive over the speed limit, didn't take chances, the right man for the job.
It was just this time, he'd be taking well over a million pounds worth of drugs. He'd never taken that much before in one load. This was why JJ was extra careful, instructing him clearly and several times.
It was only a year ago he was shifting between 10-15 kilo's of weed, it had been a remarkable transformation in his business. All because of one holiday. Meeting the Dutch gangster's in Thailand in the new year changed everything. Now JJ, and his crew, were seen as big players in the Heartland region.
Since then, some lad's down South, who he'd been connected to via a friend, kept asking him for more gear, each and every time they ordered. At first it was 20 kg of weed, and two kilo's of charlie, and one kilo of smack. It went up and up until they settled on 60 kg of weed, and the ten cases of charlie, and five cases of smack.
JJ was a little stressed, and this wasn't like him. Usually he took things in his stride. The only issue was he was due to fly out to Thailand later in the afternoon, taking two months off. If this deal went through, and the lad's down South paid on time, like they usually did. They'd he'd have earnt £170, 000. from this one deal.
The stress was worth it, he thought. Despite something not feeling right for him. He couldn't quite put his fingers on it.
Again, he re-emphasised the instructions to Tommy. Firstly, drop 60 kg of weed load to the lads in Brookbourne, at 9am, then return to the warehouse and take the remainder to the warehouse down South. He was due to get the second destination at 11am. He'd been there before, he knew the drill.
The lads near the capital would be ready and waiting, Tommy just needed to pull in, and the lads would unload. He didn't even need to get out of the vehicle. JJ liked the way those lads worked, quick, professional, didn't fuck around.
JJ was due to fly abroad at 1.30pm. He would only be a phone call away should two fists need him. All being well, he could relax in the airport lounge with his mate, Ricky, and chill out and look forward to a nice holiday, £170k richer.
He looked at the time on his phone, it said 7.15,am. The tall athletic JJ was dressed in a black velvet style tracksuit, ready to get to the airport. JJ even went as far as having the track suit tailored made to his taught muscular frame. The material emphasised his great physique.
Tommy looked tired, but fortunately didn't smell of drink. At least he will be a little more sharper, JJ thought.
Despite him giving Tommy the same instructions the night before, JJ felt it best to go round his apartment early, wake him up and give them to him again. He couldn't allow it to go wrong. Ricky, was complaining massively, he wanted to get to the airport that was a ninety minute drive away.
He was concerned that if they got caught in traffic, they would miss the flight. It was the wrong day to do a deal, Ricky thought. It was the wrong day to go on holiday, JJ thought. Although they had booked the holiday ten weeks ago.
Finally, JJ ordered Tommy not to go back to bed, placed a warm cup of coffee in his hand, and told him to call him when he got to the warehouse to pick up the gear, in 30 minutes time.
The bulky looking Ricky agreed to drive so JJ could conduct the business, he also had a financial investment in this delivery. Even though he moaned, which he always did. He was grateful all the weed was getting sold before they flew away. He stood to earn £45k from his investment in the weed too.
All the friends shook hands and JJ looked at his driver once more and said,
"Don't let me down now..." to which Tommy shook his head, and said he was just going to relax on his bed for a bit whilst laughing.
The boss of the gang laughed, but his stress levels remained innately high.
11.30am
JJ stood up in the lounge, looking out the large square glass windows. A variety of planes were taxying too and from the runway. Baggage handlers, bus drivers, and airport crew were all busy going out of business. A normal day for them. A stressful day for JJ.
Two fists hadn't answered his phone in over 40 minutes, he should have been there by now. The lads from South swore blindly he hadn't turned up. They even sent a few pictures of the empty warehouse, a video of it too.
This only added to JJ's frustrations and stress. His heart began to sink, he feared the worse. Often JJ was on the far side of optimistic, today he was on the low side of pessimism.
"Where the fuck is he?", JJ said quietly, not quite believing the day was turning out the way it was.
"Maybe he's been nicked", Ricky said. This could be an option, and was a very realistic one at that.
Although JJ knew Tommy took his time when driving with a load. The drive from the warehouse in Shortland, to the motorway was five minutes. The drive off the motorway to the warehouse down South, around seven minute's. If Tommy were to be pulled over by the police, it would have been a short journey. Rarely on the motorway.
There wasn't much time he could have got picked up. The thought did cross his mind that Tommy may have been involved in a tragic accident, but surely he would have heard that.
"Not if he's dead", Ricky correctly pointed out when JJ raised this point.
A stony silence formed between the two. JJ and Ricky had been firm friends for well over 10 years. It was JJ who first got into the business of selling drugs, Ricky was a football hooligan, who had a large network of lads around the city of Shortland. JJ was the quiet businessman, hiding in the shadows. Ricky was the boisterous one who liked to be in the thick of the crowd. Ricky's network complimented JJ's business.
All lad's from football, loved to drink, sniff cocaine, and fight. Even though JJ had other business interests in the cocaine field, come the weekend, a lot of charlie got sold to various dealers around the city of 750,000 people.
Now this, this mystery from two fists, named because he often knocked out men using both hands when fighting. It wasn't like him not to call. He knew all the drills, he knew what to do. He was sober, he wasn't hungover. The first drop to the lads in Brookbourne had gone through, JJ got a call confirming it.
The longer the time went on not hearing from his driver the further tension was rising. He knew very shortly he would be boarding a flight to Thailand. This had to be sorted because once they got on board he would have to turn his phone off for nine hours for the flight duration to Thailand.
Suddenly, he looked down at his Nokia basher phone. A number was called that wasn't stored under a set code name. JJ was always careful about giving his phone out to anyone who didn't. On this occasion, it was only Tommy, and the lad's down South who had this number. The lads from Brookbourne were his friends, they were stored in his other phone.
Seeing this number told JJ one thing - something had gone wrong. He picked up the phone and answered the call. He didn't even say hello, he waited.
In a very heavily accented voice, suggesting the man was from the East of the Heartland's, an Asian sounding man spoke. He had a clear commanding voice,
"If you want to make sure your man is ok, you better pay us some money."
"Who the fuck is this, is this some kind of piss take, who the fuck are you. Where is my man?", JJ demanded.
"Hang up and we'll send you a few pictures to prove your mate is ok, for now."
On heating this JJ felt a pang of nervous anxiety, anger quickly rose within him. Without even thinking he replied,
"Fuck you, you're full of shit. Is this some kind of wind up or something?"
"Mate, I don't think you're listening correctly. We've got your van full of gear, and we've got your mate. If you don't pay us the money, you'll definitely be losing two things instead of one. As I said, you better hang up, we'll show you a few pictures of him, then you can call us back to arrange a drop off."
Meaning, they'd already taken the drugs, and if he didn't play by their rules Tommy was going to get hurt.
"Bullshit, your fuckin taking the piss, my driver would never let you take any of that. Fuck you you cunt."
JJ was careful not to raise his voice. They were in a private airport lounge after all. He didn't, and knew not to make a scene. Yet, he wasn't going to be pushed around by some bloke he never knew.
By this time Dick had picked up on the conversation and was standing next to him. Silently signaling and asking what was going on.
JJ lipped and synced back that Tommy had been taxed by someone and they were holding him hostage.
In the distance he could hear the gentleman he was just speaking to on the phone speaking a foreign language. It was definitely of Indian/Pakistani dialect, he just didn't know which.
"This is the last time. If you don't hang up and look at the picture's we've just sent he will be losing more than what he just has. Then you can call us back and we can talk business."
In the background of the phone call JJ could have sworn he heard Tommy murmur something, like a cry for help. It seemed that someone had hit him and he responded, barely audible. This suggested he was close to losing consciousness.
Despite Tommy being a very physically strong man and was tough. JJ was aware no man could beat four or five men in a physical fight, and especially if they had weapons or guns.
A million possibilities were going through his mind. One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to Thailand. Secondly, he promised himself that he would get to the bottom of this. No-one was going to take his drugs, hurt his driver, and think they could get away with it.
JJ smartly replied, "Give me five minutes, I'll call you back.", he didn't wait for a reply, he just hung up. He didn't want to give any more power to the mystery man on the other end.
Right there and then he knew his life had taken a turn in a direction he'd never previously anticipated before. Unknowingly, JJ had entered the elite world of drug dealing where one wrong step could result in death. At that point in time he just didn't know who it would be.