Jackanory - Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

"The Reverend Iain Maisley - self righteous old git. I wonder what he
wanted" Hotlips thought. As the car sped off up the Close and out
through the gates nearly mowing down the two guards she rushed into
Jack's private office. "What did that sanctimonious old bugger want"?
She shouted at him. "He wants to make amends for all the family feuding
that's taken place over all these years. He's even offered for us to go
over to the rectory to celebrate his engagement". Jack replied -
somewhat quieter. "Engagement - getting married, is this a joke"?
Hotlips exclaimed with her mouth still gaped open in astonishment.
"Well seeing as yesterday was Valentines Day - he proposed and she
accepted" Jack replied.

Well the news to both Jack and Hotlips left them both speechless. The
Reverend was actually going to marry his housekeeper. They'd guessed
that there had been something going on between them but had said
nothing. She was a good looking blonde hair woman of German descent.
Voluptuous and somewhat domineering she seemed to have an aura about
her that made her presence seem important. Elsa Von-Vogel was in her
late twenties and a fine figure of a woman which I'm sure the Reverend
made full use of. The name Vogel in German meant 'Bird' and she was a
good looking bird to. It was rumoured that she was related to 'Eva
Braun' the one time lover of Adolf Hitler. The story went that Eva
Braun had a love child by Adolf Hitler before they both committed
suicide and this child was raised by another German family and named
Celicia Braun who in later life married Herman Van-Gorbel. When Herman
was brought before the War Crimes Panel for concentration camp crimes
during the war his wife Celicia gave their daughter Elsa up for
adoption to another family to hide the shame. The child Elsa changed
her surname to Vogel and fled the country to live the rest of her life
in peace.

When Jack and Hotlips finally visited his cousin some weeks later at
the rectory in Wezham they were welcomed with open arms. The news of
the engagement and forthcoming wedding had spread wide and far. Many of
the congregation that had once deserted his flock started to return in
dribs and drabs. There was still a large hole in the Reverends
congregational numbers and he was not best pleased.

As the four sat around the old wooden table enjoying the sumptuous meal
that was set before them the conversation was of idle niceties and idle
chit chat. Hotlips was pleasantly surprised and found that she was a
pretty likeable person after all and was intrigued with Elsa's
childhood stories in her native land, however it was a little difficult
to get detailed information from Elsa as she was careful to what she
said. As the meal came to an end the ladies stayed at the table while
the men retired to the drawing room for port and cigars. Once the
cigars were lit and the first glass of port had been downed Jack could
wait no longer. "OK you righteous sonofabitch what is it that you
really want - after all, and lets be honest - there's no love lost
between us". "You're absolutely right" the Reverend replied "I can't
stand the sight of you and vice versa. So let's just cut to the chase
and be done with it. I have a little job that's best suited to a man of
you're talents let's say".
"And what might that be" Jack retorted.
"Let's just say that at the moment I have some competition that needs
eliminating and you'd be just the man to, how can I put it - do the
eliminating" the Reverend replied sneeringly.
Jack was puzzled. "What's in it for me"
"Sort out my little problem" the Reverend quietly replied "and you will
be able to take over all the underground and illegal rackets that
operate in this area, and then when you've double your little army
you'll be able to invade Greys Wick and snuff out that stuttering
goodie two shoes Maurice once and for all".
As quick as lightning Jack stuck out his hand "It's a deal - let's
shake on it. And remember don't cross me or you'll never live to regret
it. Blood may be thicker than water but cross me and it'll be yours
spilt".

As they left the rectory everyone shook hands, the girls hugged and
kissed goodbye and promises of future family meetings planned. The
journey out of Wezham back up the hill and past the old workhouse took
only minutes but seemed like a lifetime to Jack. He couldn't get back
quick enough and all Hotlips could do was keep asking him want went on
in the drawing room. As he approached the steel bar gates he honked his
horn and the guards swung them open - he flew passed them, tore down
the close and swerved around the corner straight up onto the driveway
into the headquarters armour plated garage. Once in he started to
barking orders "Where's my section commanders, I want them all here
now, this is a red alert and everyone is to be armed and ready for
action at a moments notice".

_

The last two weeks in Greys Wick had been peaceful and rather
uneventful. Maurice, Chuck and Clint had had meetings on what had been
seen from the wooded clearing. Most replies were "stop pissin around
and tell us what really happened" or "they muzt've had too much o' that
cider and just been pissed up". All very jovial and made great pub
stories of an evening but Maurice was worried and not very happy at the
unusual event that took place. Something was not right, he had a
strange feeling that dark days were ahead and that retribution for past
events would unfold into nightmare proportions.

Maurice had decided that it was time to do some more undercover work
but this time in the area of Wezham. In times past he'd not ventured
over the hill northwards down into that area as it was run by other
gangs and the unwritten law was not to trespass into other gangland
territory, commonly known as 'Territorial Pissings' an unwritten
agreement formerly made by a famous gang leader called "Kurt
Cobain".