Chapter 1

I drove out of the camp and set the satnav for Birmingham, not that I needed directions, I had done the journey a hundred times, but the travel info always helped me to decide to go via the motorway or the country route. Traffic could be a bitch at times, Google Maps told me that the motorway was clear. I tuned the radio into an eighties station and headed towards the M5.

It had been a while since I had seen Asmaan and Damsa, we had exchanged emails and texts and of course, we had spoken on the phone. But I was as horny as hell, and I had two weeks to enjoy their company. They still seemed happy to share me, but I had never managed to get them in the same bed. They were happy for me to alternate.

I was halfway there when my bladder told me I needed a piss, I pulled into the services by Worcester and visited the gents. Then I grabbed a coffee and chocolate bar before heading back to the car. You miss chocolate when you are in the sandpit, it never tastes the same as when you are back home.

I had just shut the driver’s door when my phone rang. It was Asmaan.

I answered it after taking a sip of my coffee.

“Rosie where are you?” she asked and I could sense panic in her voice, “When are you going to get here?”

I glanced at the clock on the dashboard.

“I will be there in an hour, what up?” I asked.

“We just need to talk to you,” she said. I could hear Damsa in the background. She was asking how long I would be. I heard Asmaan telling her to stop panicking.

I fired up the engine and headed toward the motorway.

“What’s going on Asmaan?” I asked as I put my foot down and watched the speedo needle hit eighty miles an hour.

“Rosie, we can talk when you get here!” she said, and I heard the phone die.

I glanced to my right; nothing was coming up behind me in the outside lane.

I changed gears and headed into the fast lane. The speedo hit ninety miles an hour.

The traffic was kind to me. something in my head told me that there was bad news waiting for me. I pulled off the motorway at the junction for Birmingham Airport and the NEC. Ten minutes later I was pulling into the end of the street that the girls lived in.

Something in my head kicked in and I parked fifty yards from their house, grabbed my rucksack and walked down to their house. My eyes were all over the street looking for something, anything that was out of place. I walked past the house until I got to the end of the road. Then I crossed the road and headed back up the road until I was opposite the house. I looked left and right before crossing. It was my SAS training kicking in...

I knocked on the door and saw the curtains of the window next to it twitch and I heard Damsa telling Asmaan it was safe and that it was me. the door opened and I stepped inside. I hugged both of the girls after dropping my rucksack in the corner of the hall.

Both of the girls looked sheepish, they looked scared.

“Right get the kettle on and tell me what is happening!” I said.

They led me into the kitchen and Damsa put the kettle on and Asmaan put biscuits on a plate. I saw them exchange glances, the hairs on my neck were standing up.

Once the mugs of tea and biscuits were on the table they sat down and again exchanged glances.

“Right now, stop messing around and tell me what the fuck is up?” I asked my voice was firm and level.

They both looked at each other before talking.

“Right, two men knocked on our door last week and when we opened it, they forced themselves in,” Damsa said. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

“They told us they want to use our house and that if we don’t agree they and their gang will take us away and...” Asmaan said but she could not finish the sentence.

Damsa looked at her...

“They said their gang will all fuck us and then make us work in a brothel!” Damsa said tears welling up in her eyes.

My blood began to boil.

“But they didn’t touch you?” I asked, “Did they hurt you?”

“No, they told us they want to use our house for a grow and that we would help them with the plants,” Asmaan said.

A grow, so drug dealers wanted to use the house the girls lived in to grow cannabis. Wankers

“So, when are they coming back?” I asked.

“Tomorrow night or the night after!” Damsa said.

That gave me some time.

I stood up and the girls did the same. We all hugged.

“It’s okay, I will sort this, I promise no one is going to hurt you!” I said, “We need to track them and see who they are and who they work for!”

“You will protect us?” Asmaan said and hugged me.

“Yes of course I will protect you,” I told her, and I meant it.

“We are scared, they said they are part of a big gang,” Damsa said.

“Did you capture them on the door cam?” I asked.

“Yes, I will send you the video?” she said. She fiddled with her phone and gave it to me.

I watched as a BMW 4X4 pulled up and three lads got out, the driver did not, he stayed in the car. The three lads were typical druggy gang member types, one Black guy that was built like a shed, one white lad, and an Asian guy. The driver I could see but not make out.

They walked with that swagger that all gang members do. They were plastic gangsters...

The way they walked and the way they looked around all told me they were street kids with attitude. The tracksuits, the trainers, and the haircuts, all scream chav gangster

But they had threatened my girls and that was not on. I sent the video to my phone.

I needed to make plans and get some tools. I drained my teacup and grabbed my phone before heading out into the garden.

My first call was an old mate, EX-SAS, now in security and his business was in Birmingham. His name was Crumble, well that was his nickname, his real name was Dave Apple, so Apple Crumble became Crumble. He had done ten years in the SAS after five in the Royal Marines. He was as hard as they get. I had heard his security company was just a front for other stuff, he might be the man I needed.

He answered the call on the third ring.

“Hi Crumble, it’s me, Rosie!” I told him.

“Rosie lad is that really you?” He said.

“Yes mate, we need to talk, I need to see you!” I said, “When are you free?”

“Now, where are you?” he asked. He knew from my tone and how direct I was being that it was not a social call.

“I am in Birmingham mate, in Yardley,” I replied.

“Cool I will meet you at the Navigation at Lapworth in one hour!” he said and hung up.

I googled the pub; I needed half an hour to get there. I googled house rentals in Hereford.

Three houses took my fancy. I rang the agency and arranged viewings for the following day. then I headed back into the house.

“Rosie, what will we do?” Damsa asked.

“You will need to pack your bags and get ready to move,” I told her.

“But we like it here,” Asmaan said, “Our jobs are here!”

“But no matter what we do they will be back, they won’t leave you alone no matter what I do,” I replied. I knew in my head it would not be the same lads that would try to hunt her down and they would soon be dead and buried.

“I need to go out and I won’t be back until late this evening, this is what you need to do, when they come back tell them you agree to have the grow here and that you will help them,” I told them. The cannabis farms were always put in the houses you least expected. The dealers and growers looked for clean skins, and they were always looking for new places to grow and were ruthless in their methods.

“Use this afternoon to get some packing done, I will move you tomorrow,” I said.

They looked at each other and exchanged a look that told me they were not happy. I did not care if they were not happy. I need them to be safe and they would not be safe if the gang found them. They would eventually realise that what I was doing was for the best and I was only doing it for their well-being.

“It’s like this girls, these plastic gangsters will not stop hassling you, I don’t want to find you dead in the gutter or to find out they have forced you into working at a brothel where twenty men a day will use and abuse you!” I said, “The grow is just the start!”

I left them to think about it, I gave each girl a kiss and hug before I left them. The drive to the pub took me through some leafy suburbs and into the country. The pub was situated next to a canal. I parked up and headed into the bar and got a pint of bitter.

It was a nice day so I headed out into the garden and took a table as far from the pub as I could. Ten minutes later I saw two black Land Rover discoveries sweep across the bridge that spanned the canal and they turned into the car park.

I just knew it was Crumble and his lads. Minutes later they walked into the pub’s garden. Crumble was followed by six lads. All big, all mean-looking, all ex-army. You could see it in the walk, in the eyes...

I stood up and Crumble took my hand and pulled me into a man hug.

“It’s been a long time mate!” he said, “you are looking well, nice tan, have you been somewhere hot?”

“Oh, mate I spend all my time sunbathing these days!” I laughed.

One of the heavies stood near his boss. I could see he was armed.

“Are we eating mate?” Crumble asked and picked up a menu.

His second on command took the orders for food and drinks and two of the lads went onto the pub. The rest took a table a few feet from us.

“How is the family?” I asked. I remember Crumble had a Mrs and two kids, one of each.

“They are all good, they are out in Spain at the moment, it’s half term, I will fly out at the weekend,” he smiled.

“That’s good to hear mate,” I said and sipped on my beer.

“And you did you settle down mate?” Crumble asked.

“Not really, I have two girls in Yardley that I rescued from the sandpit!” I smiled.

“Two, you greedy boy, and I take it they have some sort of trouble and that’s why you called me?” he asked.

So, I told them the story of how the girls had helped me when I was in the warzone and how I had brought them back to the UK. Then I told them about the gang who wanted to use the house and the threats they had made. I showed him the video and he passed the phone to one of his lads, a lad called Ade, he played the video twice. As he watched it the two lads came out of the bar with trays of beers. They passed them around.

“Those lads are Connor, Sinbad and Tegsy,” he said, “they work for Burhaam!”

“Burhaam is a gangster, small time. He sells a lot of weed and some class-A, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD, and he runs three or four brothels. The sort of brothel where the girls are zonked out and men do not mind if the girls shower between shags,” he said and shook his head.

“Burhaam?” I asked, “Somalian?”

“Yes, works out of small heath,” Ade said, “he has a few lads that do his dirty work, he’s a mean fucker and he employees mean fuckers and headcases.”

“Connor is the white guy, mean fucker. Tegsy is the black guy, he is a rapist, and we have been told that he will rape men and women. We know of one family that said they would not have a grow in the house and he analy raped the mother, father and the two kids. Worse of all he made them all watch, and Sinbad is a vicious cunt, and carries a zombie knife” Crumble said with a shake of his head, “I know he boasts of at least three kills, and he stabbed a cop so bad she had to retire!”

“You will need to cut the snake’s head off mate, if you take out his lads he will come for you,” Crumble said. That did not worry me, I lived in one of the most secure places in the UK, but the girls did not and no matter where I hid them, they could be found.

The phone was passed around the lads, and they all watched the video.

The food was brought out by two girls, we had all ordered burgers, with fries and onion rings. We all tucked in; the food was great.

Once we had all finished it was back to business.

“So, you want to take these lads out, or just warn them?” Crumble asked.

“I get the feeling they won’t take a telling,” I said with a shake of the head.

“You are right there mate,” Ade said and looked at his boss, “he has a gang of gun-happy hotheads, they won’t stop until hassling your girls unless they are dead and buried!”

I thought about that for a few minutes, but at the end of the day they had threatened my girls and that was not on.

“I take it the police won’t be too eager to find the killers if Burhaam and his gang take a hit?” I asked. Crumble nodded at Ade.

“Ade can you please ring Colsey and ask the question please mate,” he said. I guessed that Colsey was a police officer that Crumble either worked with or had in his back pocket.