UNDERCOVER
CHAPTER EIGHT
The staff of the infamous Gold Mine club in Soho were standing in line, almost like a parody of the staff in Downton Abbey, to meet the new boss, Darrin King. They didn't expect a slim, quiet-looking man with a mask covering half his face, and a wide-brimmed black hat. Corny, thought Snakebite, and it's the drama queens who always break first. The others, however, were convinced. Darrin wasn't a powerhouse, but they could see from the set of his lips that he wasn't to be crossed.
"So", sneered King, "This dump is mine all mine."
Inside, Ethan was terrified. But in his head he repeated the mantra of 'feel the fear and do it anyway'.
"Yours for as long as Devil says so."
"Well, he does say so, so shut your pie hole. Who the f*ck are you anyway?"
"I'm called Snakebite because if I turn nasty I could kill you."
"Right now you can shut the hell up. You-" King turned his attention to Elvis, "Who are you?"
"Elvis, man!"
"What's your real name, MAN?"
King got Elvis's arm up his back to reinforce his question.
"Patrick Spiller."
"There, that didn't hurt, did it?"
His eyes fell on a terrified looking young man.
"What about you?"
"De S-S-Silva."
"And why are you obviously sh*tting yourself?"
Snakebite interrupted again:
"He's Toby De Silva. Got a little greedy with a robbery he did and let the cops catch him on camera."
"Too bad. He'll have to go."
De Silva began to cry but didn't dare start pleading.
Then King's finger came an inch from his face.
"This is a nightclub, right, and there's a floorshow?"
"Uh huh huh."
The look King gave Elvis made him very uneasy, and he clammed up at once.
"Right, kid, sorry about this" King continued. De Silva went green.
"You're going to become Sylvia. You'll be in drag for the rest of your life even when you go out of this club. Get it? You're ever seen anywhere but your own front room in anything but drag again and you're dead, get it?"
De Silva nodded, unable to believe he wasn't going to die.
"So get downstairs to the girls, and ask them to kit you out. Padded boobs, the lot. Okay? Any of them argue about it and I'll be down to them."
A very relieved De Silva ran downstairs.
"We could have-" Snakebite made a throat slitting motion.
"Why waste anything you can reuse? That little fox will bring all the perverts in for miles."
"Hey you're good!" Sobersides the doorman commented.
"He might not be so good if Yellow doesn't like him" Snakebite once again interrupted.
"Get here!" King barked at Snakebite.
Snakebite came over as slowly as possible.
"Arm wrestling contest. Now."
The contest ended with Snakebite, rubbing his arm, retreating angrily into the corner. For once he decided to try the soft approach.
"Yeah, you're the boss all right. That reminds me, we've got a present for you."
Ethan/Darrin wondered if the present was a knife in his gut. But Snakebite continued:
"Wait there boss."
He retired into the back room. A slap and a scream was heard, and he came out, dragging Belissima who had an ugly bruise on her cheek. She was wearing a sleazy black dress and high heels and seemed to resent both.
"Did you just hit that girl?" snapped Darrin King.
"She was getting mouthy-"
Darrin pointed his finger in Snakebite's face.
"A lesson. Do NOT damage the goods. You, girl, what's your name?"
Again Snakebite replied.
"She's Bel, short for Belissima. She's for you."
"Well I like my presents unmarked. Right, you, Belissima. Go outside and wait for me in the car. You'll know which it is because the chauffeur's sitting in the driving seat, and it's a f*cking big one."
"P-please could I just have a pee first?"
Darrin motioned towards the ladies' toilet.
"Enjoy. Then outside, okay."
Belissima fled.
"Let me make this clear" Darrin informed them all, "Nobody slaps any woman here around without my saying so. That includes Sylvia, okay? He's a woman now. Anybody forgetting that little rule can start looking for a new pair of balls. Now I'm off. Things to do, people to see. I'll be back when the f*ck I feel like it."
With that, the new boss of the Goldmine was out of the door.
"Have I missed him?"
Sylvia De Silva came clattering up the stairs in his blonde wig, pink frock and new high heels. He could not wear them like Mrs Beauchamp, and almost fell. There was ragged applause, then Snakebite mouthed "Shut it" and took out his smartphone which was playing the theme tune to Jaws.
"Yeah. Right… got it."
He turned to the others with a smirk.
"The Yellow Devil's coming in on Saturday night and wants to meet King."
Meanwhile, back in Holby Jail, there had been a little unrest since Ethan's supposed shooting, but no signs of rioting. The truth was the inmates were nervous now they knew what the prison security staff were capable of.
Mrs Beauchamp had allowed Jeff Big Mac to share a cell with Jeff Collier again although she did warn him that he was only at Holby again pending trial and could end up anywhere.
As for Mrs Beauchamp, she and Calvino were eagerly awaiting further updates regarding their request to adopt the Hanna-Walker twins, who were now in care. Everything looked positive, and Max and Zoe stayed hopeful. But Max was becoming tense since the Ethan incident and needed some release for that tension.
The release came when another work scheme saw Max and the Jeffs sent to tidy up the litter in Holby Park.
Since the Ethan incident, security checked the lads carefully for weapons of any kind. They didn't see a book of old raffle tickets as a weapon.
As they waited for the park keeper to come and meet them by the gates, Max waved his raffle ticket book.
"Roll up, ladeees and gentlemen for a trip around the Haunted Park! Only two weeks ago Ethan Raceheart died in a hail of gunfire at these very gates! See the fatal stage where he sang the heartbreaking version of "I want to break free". Well he did break free and his short life was over! See the mini zoo with the baby animals which Ethan Raceheart planned to visit when he was released. His restless soul now looks down in grief on those baby animals that he'll never cuddle! A pound a ticket, ladies and gentlemen! Just a pound for all the wonders of the Haunted Park! It's said that at night Ethan's voice, crying on the wind for his wife, can be heard."
Max imitated a suffering undead voice:
"Honey! Honeeeeeeee!"
"How much is it please?"
A group of sobbing teenage girls were queueing for their tickets.
"Just a pound, young ladies, just a pound! Big Mac, give the ladies their…. Oh bugger. Park keeper's coming."
"Tour of haunted park cancelled due to frightening ghost activity!" Jeff Big Mac said loudly.
But it was too late. The park keeper was glaring at them.
"Busted" sighed Jeff Collier.
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