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“What the fuck, Dane?”
“Listen, I’m not supposed to tell you this, so this is between you and me. It can go no further, do you understand? I will tell you everything, but you have to admit she’s gone and play along till the end, got it?”
“Dane?”
“Steel, I’m fucking serious!”
“Okay! Okay, Dane, I will do it. Just please tell me she’s coming back?”
“I can't promise you that. Steel, if things go wrong, none of us will be coming back, okay? But trust me, if she does this, I will make sure she comes back. I can’t promise she will stay. I will get her to come back. That's all I can offer.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Right, this all started about four, maybe five years ago. You heard the story of Ray getting stabbed and nearly dying in place of Bas and Pa trading Bas’s life for Ray’s?”
I nod as he continues.
“So the three guys who did that, then killed Bas. They were called Edward Lee, James Lewis and Timothy Spent. They killed Bas and burnt his body in the ditch where they had stabbed Ray. It went to court, and they got off with it. Ray exacted her revenge on them, killing them all and burning the house down around them before coming out here.
Fast forward a few years from that night, give or take, and a new name popped up: Dante Crane.”
“We already know that. Either Ray didn't kill Timothy, or someone stole his identity, and he was the driver when Ray was taken, and his wife is the one who framed me and pretended to be Ray.” We know some things and have been putting bits together ourselves, but clearly, they have more than us.
“Yes, well, Dante has been trying to create a power surge and not gaining much. He's been on our radar for a while. That's how we convinced Ray to come out here to help us with our Dante situation, so when Ray arrived here and got taken by Miguel, that's when things started to ramp up. Dante stepped in to take Miguel’s place with the Hellhounds. He had found out about Ray being here and used Tali to get Ray to take out the Hellhounds. Roach has been Dante's inside man, and that’s why he got so close to Ray. He’s been working with Dante all along.”
“But why would Ray being here make a difference to Dante?”
“Well, if you stop interrupting me, I might be able to tell you!”
“Sorry, carry on.”
“So Dante stepped into the gap Miguel and the Hellhounds left. Roach had started dating Tali, so he was also informing on Carmen to Dante, too. Dante was able to take advantage of the power vacuum they both left and recruited what was left of their organisations. He’s been trying to find a way to unseat The Armoury from our position within the country; he wants to take it all over, and he sees Ray as his way of doing that, and he feels she owes him.”
“Why would Ray owe Dante anything?”
He sighs and shakes his head. “Dante wants Ray on his side, to himself. He wants her to join him. He was going to use you, Dice, and Dozer to do that. He was trying to split you and Ray up by making it look like you were playing away. He thought she would see the video, flip and leave so he could swoop in and propose that she could join him. Ray didn’t believe the video, swooped in, saved you all and killed his men.
Dante then set up this event. The guy was just some half-rich wannabe who Dante paid to play the part of getting Ray alone. But my dad would never send anyone on a job alone, so he had a security team follow them. Ray was drugged in the back of the car, and the security team disappeared. They were later found murdered. We tracked the car and found the picture of the driver. Till then, Dante hadn’t made much sense. We didn't know him, didn't know why it seemed so personal. But that picture of the driver… and then when we pulled the driver's licence and found the name Timothy Spent, it all fell into place.”
“You lost me.”
“The night Bas was killed, he wasn't. Bas never died. He used Timothy's passport. He must have come up with some kind of deal with them or something, but he fled the country as Timothy and set up a life here.”
“Bas? As in Bas, Bas? Ray’s Bas?”
“Yes. Bas never died. He's Dante. And Bas or Dante or whatever the fuck we’re gonna call him, wants his little sister back! He always hated how close we were. He’s burning Ray’s bridges, so she has nowhere to go other than to him. That’s why she set fire to this place and fucked us off at the clinic, because she’s playing into his hands. She’s joining him and letting him think she’s turned against us all, especially you.
Turns out his plan was rushed when Ray got in the car. All he could smell was sex, the smell of you on her. He lost it and took her then. He’s jealous; he wants his sister back. He thinks she’s his other half, and she should feel the same.”
“So I need to pretend I’ve turned my back or believe she’s dead so he believes what she’s selling, and she finds out all his secrets and takes him down from the inside?”
“By Jove, I think he's got it.” Dane claps me on the shoulder.
“So… what the fuck do we do now?”
“I’m on call. We have to play our part when they hit our bases. We have to let them get away with so much while still being a formidable presence, so he thinks they’re winning. You, you need to organise a fucking wake.” He grimaces at me. “You need to bury your wife and make it look fucking convincing!”
“How long do we have to play along?”
