Page 25 of Miki

“Nae chance!” Jamie huffed, looking almost horrified at the thought.

Drew sniggered at his brother.

“You, too!” Jim said, sounding more serious this time.

That shut the pair up, and I bit back a laugh.

“Anyway, I was about to show you the grand weans,” Jim said, ignoring his boys and opening his phone.

Vlad and I spent the next ten minutes smiling and nodding as he showed us every photograph he had of the ‘weans’.

Apparently, they were two of the most beautiful babies there ever was. They just looked like any other babies to me, but I took his word for it.

Despite their words to the contrary, it was easy to see both of his sons were just as enamoured by the newest members of their family, if their own cooing over the twins was anything to go by.

When the photographs finally dried up, our talk turned to business and the reason for the meeting.

“What did you think of the proposals?” I asked as Jim poured us another whiskey.

We’d worked with the MacArthur gang for years and they’d proved trustworthy. In fact, Jim had run the Scottish side of our drugs route since before my folks died, but his involvement stopped just at the border with England, where my guys took over.

I was hoping to persuade him to expand into the English side as far as Manchester, where another of our allies could assume control. Hence the reason for our visit.

I’d already sent my proposals to him overnight to look at, so I didn’t need to go over everything today. This was more a time of questioning and deliberation to determine if expansion was possible for him.

Jim nodded slowly and his eyes turned shrew before he answered.

“It seems like a good proposition, but we’d need to discuss the logistics more, and the other players, both in situ and the ones you hope to bring into play,” he said, sipping his drink. Gone was the doting grandad of earlier, and he was all business now.

Negotiations got underway in earnest after that and about an hour later, Jim and his lads excused themselves to go talk in the backroom. It was a big proposition, but one I felt they were ready for, otherwise I wouldn’t have offered them the opportunity.

“Do you think they’ll accept?” Vlad asked.

“I think they’d be fools not to, given that Jim’s sons are both old enough now to take on more responsibility and they already run this side of things. They certainly have enough men to control the route and with their knowledge of everything, it’s less of a learning curve for them than it would be for another player,” I replied.

“Besides, if we offload the English side of things from Manchester upward to anyone else, they need to work with the new people too, and that is a hit and miss. No, I believe Jim will do his utmost to secure this expansion for himself.”

Vlad nodded his agreement and sipped his water. Pouring myself another shot of whiskey, I thought things through once more. My proposal was a good one and Jim would accept it. I was confident about that.

Of course, it wasn’t without problems, but the MacArthur gang was already well versed in dealing with those, anyway. Expanding their operation with our help really shouldn’t cause them anymore issues.

Bringing drugs into the UK was a dangerous business, so we utilised several methods of transport, changing them regularly to avoid detection. We also had various points of entry, all of which were scattered around the south of England. However, once they entered the UK, they were moved through London, then on to Manchester and distributed to the rest of the UK from there.

My Brotherhood ran all the operations until the Scottish border, where Jim took over, the Welsh border where another gang took control, and Liverpool, where the Irish Mafia then transported them over to Northern Ireland and then into Eire.

That meant I needed to dispose of everything until those points. I hoped that today would see the start of that.

Jim and the lads returned wearing grins.

“We’ll see how it goes with the first three shipments and if there are no issues, you’ve got yourself a deal, Miki, lad,” Jim said, shaking my hand.

My stomach churned with excitement, and I grinned widely, relishing the thought that my dreams were finally underway.

To seal the deal and celebrate our closer union, Jim ordered some vodka, and we downed a shot together. Its taste exploded in my mouth, and my mind immediately flashed to the memory of a kiss which had done the same thing.

Suddenly, I had an overwhelming desire to share my news with my Little Miss Red. Dismissing the idea as foolishness, I told myself to get a grip and turned my attention back to the MacArthurs.

With the business out of the way, we discussed Mathieson a bit more.

---