Read Online The Crime Trade by Simon Kernick - Free Book Online Page A

told. Tone then came over, leant down, and ripped the shirt off his back, leaving only the arms still attached to him. He chucked the material to one side, then wrapped more of his roll of tape round Brewster's wrists, binding them together. He did the same with his ankles. Brewster didn't move while any of this was going on, or say anything.
'You're a grass, aintcha, Brewster?' said Rentners gently, walking round the other man. 'You're trying to fit us up, aintcha? And these geezers, they're coppers, right?'
Brewster desperately protested his innocence, but it was no good. Stegs could see in Rentners' face that they were going to punish him whatever he said. Rentners had decided he was guilty, and now that he had that thought in his head it was going to take a miracle to budge it. Stegs didn't believe in miracles. That was more Vokes's line. He'd bet that Brewster was praying for one, though.
Rentners turned and smiled at the two undercover cops, then walked over to the iron, removing it from its base. He gently touched it with his finger, then pulled the finger away with mock suddenness, mouthing the word 'Ow!' He was still smiling, and his whole demeanour had calmed considerably. He looked like a man at peace with himself.
'Do the honours then, Tone,' he said, and Tone stepped onto the prostrate Brewster, putting a foot on each arm above the elbow, thereby severely restricting his upper body movement. Rentners stood there motionless, watching Stegs and Vokes. His expression was blank.
'Aagh!' yelped Brewster. 'Get off. I ain't done nothing. That hurts.'
'That don't hurt,' said Rentners. 'This hurts.'
He dropped one knee onto the back of Brewster's legs, careful not to conceal the view for the two SO10 men, then pushed the iron hard against the centre of his victim's back, directly beneath the shoulder blades. Steam shot up as the iron sizzled and crackled, and Brewster unleashed a blood-curdling scream of agony that reverberated round the room. Rentners kept the iron in the same position, pressing hard, and using his weight to keep Brewster's legs from moving. Brewster kept screaming, louder
and louder, and Stegs suddenly had a desperate urge to piss. It took all his self-control to stop himself. He couldn't have that. Couldn't show them how scared he was. He avoided looking at Vokes but couldn't help but catch the eye of the man holding the bucket. He blew Stegs a kiss.
All of a sudden the screaming stopped, and Rentners removed the iron, revealing a red-raw, sizzling wound. The smell of burnt skin drifted through the air.
'The cunt's passed out,' said Rentners. 'Get some more water, Alan,' he told the bucket man. 'We need to wake him up.'
Once again Alan disappeared into the alcove with the bucket. While he was gone, Rentners used a screwdriver to scrape off scraps of flesh from the iron before replacing it on its base and walking over to the sofa, stopping in front of Stegs and Vokes. He removed the gun from his waistband and put it against Vokes's head.
'You look nervous,' he said, 'and you ought to be. You're next.' He patted Vokes's shirt, manhandling him in the seat as he hunted belatedly for a wire. 'I know you're coppers,' he said when he'd finished without finding anything. 'You know how I know, because earlier on you' - he motioned towards Stegs -'said you'd done time in Parkhurst for dealing last year, on D wing. But you can't have done. Tone was there then and he don't remember you, do you, Tone?'
Tone, who'd stepped off Brewster's arms now, shook his head slowly. 'Never seen him before in my life.' He stepped out of the way as Alan the bucket man chucked more water over Brewster's upper half.
Brewster moaned and shook his head. 'My back, my fucking back ... What are you doing?' He tried to move but Tone stood on his arms again, and the next second Rentners had grabbed the iron and reapplied it to the same area.
The screams started again - animal-like howls of suffering -and out of the corner of his eye Stegs