Above Board

Chapter 10

The gun went off.

Brian flinched. He did not move.

Raoul looked down at his chest. He looked at Brian and Will. He took out his cigar and began to laugh hysterically.

He laughed until the tears were pouring down his cheeks.

"Boss? You alright?" one of the bulldogs called from the jeep. They were guarding Nikki, who sat mournfully in the back.

Raoul looked at his henchmen, gave one final chuckle, then fell backwards and was still.

The blood from his chest stained his new suit, but Raoul was past caring. His eyes were open, blood dribbled from his mouth.

Trembling, Will put down his father's pistol. Small puffs of smoke emanated from the cap.

"What was that?" A sleepy Joey emerged from the bunker, rubbing his eyes which widened in bewilderment as they took in the scene.

Brian carefully approached Raoul. Kneeling down, he placed two fingers against Raoul's neck. He looked up at his eldest son and shook his head.

"He's dead?" whispered Will. He looked at the murder weapon in his hands and tossed it aside.

Brian picked up Raoul's handgun and placed his hands on Will's cheeks.

"You did what you had to do," he said firmly.

"But I was only supposed to disarm him!" whimpered Will. "I'm a murderer!"

"No you are not. Listen to me, Will. You are not a murderer. He would have killed us almost certainly."

"Tío? Tío!" cried Nikki, running out of the jeep. She ran to her uncle, cradling his head in her lap. "Tío, lo siento. Lo siento."

She looked up at Brian and Will. "My family were from Spain. Raoul was my uncle. He was all I had left."

"But I thought he was your pimp?" Brian crossed his arms. "Nikki, have you been lying to us?"

"No I haven't! I swear I haven't!" she replied. "We came here for a better life. I had two older sisters. My Padre and Madre wanted us to marry young and have lots of children of our own. It happened to my sisters. But when my time came, I refused. My family tried everything but I still said no. When the Rioting began, my family knew we had to leave immediately. Padre organised to take us across to France before the Bandits arrived at our street, but we didn't have enough money. Padre knew my Tío Raoul was running his business, and because I'd disobeyed him, Padre sold me to my uncle as a whore when I was thirteen and disowned me as his daughter."

Nikki bent down and kissed her uncle's forehead. "He mayn't have been the best uncle, but he took me in, kept me safe and off the streets."

Brian sat next to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Nikki this marks the start of your new life now. Raoul will never bother you again. You should have told me he was your uncle, but I understand why you didn't."

Someone cleared their throat.

"Uh, what about us?" The bulldogs were standing with their hands behind their backs, looking sheepish.

"What about you?" Will wondered.

"Well our boss is dead. We answer to no one now." they mumbled. Brian held out his hand.

"Give me the keys," he instructed.

"Keys?"

"The car keys. The keys to the jeep. Now!"

"And your weapons," Will cut in.

"Our weapons? But sir, we'll be defenceless without them."

"You should have thought of that before you started prostituting young girls then, shouldn't you?"