The next day Ron was working with the American gentlemen. He was called Nathaniel Rutherford. Ron met him and his bodyguard at Gatwick. Rutherford was old, to Ron he looked like he was about one-hundred-and-twenty-three years old. Ron took them to their hotel on Park Lane. He and the bodyguard took the luggage up. They weren't long at the hotel because Rutherford wanted to go to the Travellers Club, on Pall Mall. Ron had his suit on but no tie, he had to borrow a tie from the bodyguard so that they could get into the club. The bodyguard was called Bradley, and Ron had the feeling he was ex-military.
They were a few hours at the Travellers.' Ron and Bradley sat and chatted at a separate table whilst Rutherford caroused with some English friends, in the club's bar. Ron saw an officer who had been in his regiment, and the man came over and chatted to him. He told Ron that he was in intelligence now, and he said he was pleased to see Ron looking so well. Bradley had served in the American Marines, and it turned out they'd both been in Afghanistan at a similar time. Bradley seemed like a decent guy.
They went back to the hotel just after seven, and that was Ron done for the day. He wanted to go running. He got changed and was just about to go out when the phone rang. He thought about not answering and just going out, but he answered it in case it was work stuff. It was Katie's number.
'Ron can you come and get me?' said Katie. Ron thought she sounded drunk. From the background noise it sounded like she was out somewhere.
'Whereabouts are you?' said Ron.
'Westminster,' said Katie.
'Is this a work thing? No offence but I had plans,' said Ron.
'I need to talk to you,' said Katie.
'What about?' said Ron.
'I can't say, there's people here, I'm in a bar,' said Katie.
'Have I done something wrong?' said Ron.
'No. You're wonderful, you're the only employee I have that I don't want to fire and never fucking see again,' said Katie.
'I'll come and get you. It's going to take time to get up there now,' said Ron.
'That's ok,' said Katie.
Katie named a bar in Westminster. It did indeed take a long time to get up there because of the traffic. He double parked outside. She was sat at a table inside, by herself, drinking. There were quite a few empty glasses on the table. She wanted him to sit down and have a drink, but he told her he was double parked, and they needed to go.
'What's been going on?' said Ron.
'Bad day,' said Katie. She'd had a few more G&Ts since she'd rang him.
'Why bad? Where are we going?' said Ron.
'Can we go to your place?' said Katie.
'No
boss
, we can't go to my place. Stepney, right?' said Ron.
'Ok, Stepney,' said Katie. She looked like she was going to fall asleep. Ron thought that if she was sick in his car, fuck the money, he'd go back to just working for Toby.
It was obviously going to take absolutely ages to get to the East End, and Ron was not even remotely happy about spending his fucking evening stuck in loads of traffic, breathing in exhaust fumes, instead of running.
'Ron,' said Katie.
'What's up?' said Ron.
'We all met up. We always get together on Fridays,' said Katie.
'I know, Marie told me about that,' said Ron. He remembered that Marie had said they handed the money over. He looked at Katie's bag. 'Have you got money on you?'
'Yeah,' said Katie.
'How much have you got?' said Ron.
'About three grand,' said Katie.
'Can I come with you in future if you're carrying money like that, and drinking?' said Ron.
'I'm not normally pissed. They don't normally start screaming at each other and causing a fucking scene in the middle of a fucking bar,' said Katie.
'What happened?' said Ron.
'Emma turned up. She doesn't usually come because everyone fucking hates her, but she came today,' said Katie.
'Did she cause the grief?' said Ron.
'Yes. She's seeing Layla, and they did a job the other night with Annabelle, and Emma thinks Layla and Annabelle like each other. She's jealous, and she started making fucking niggly comments to Annabelle, and Annabelle snapped, and they started screaming at each other,' said Katie.
'Right. That doesn't sound good,' said Ron.
'Emma's saying that she's going to leave. She said that if she does stay with me, Layla can't work with Annabelle again,' said Katie.
'Are you better off without Emma?' said Ron.
'No Ron, no. Far from it. She makes more money than the others. She lets people take turns up her arse, and she lets people fucking piss in her mouth, and the money from that is good, Ron, it's really good, and I have a mortgage, and I have my kid's school fees... and I have a cocaine habit, Ron... I can't lose her, but I don't want her fucking dictating things to me either,' said Katie.
'How much coke are you using?' asked Ron.
'A lot,' said Katie.
'Do we need to get you some help?' asked Ron.
'I don't really want to talk about it,' said Katie.
'Ok,' said Ron.
'It's a lot, I'm using a lot,' said Katie.
'Ok. We'll have to have a chat about that when you're sober,' said Ron.
They were silent for a few minutes, before Katie said, 'I'm going to have Layla.'
'Really? Ok,' said Ron.
'I spoke to her at the bar when it was just the two of us. I told her I'd heard she was good with a strap on, and she said she was great with a strap-on. And I told her I wanted her up my arse. She's up for it too, she likes me,' said Katie.