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Just Because We Do What We Do	By : gallygaskins Category: G through L > Hustle Views: 1283 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hustle and I do not earn any money from this fanfiction

Chapter List
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Chapter 1

Stacie Monroe sighed heavily as she took her friends hand between her own and massaged it with her thumb. “I’ll have to talk to Danny about this.”

“Please, anything. I’m absolutely desperate, Stacie. When that man finds me, my body is likely to be found at the bottom of the Med. I don’t know what else to do.” The usually strong minded, charismatic, confident girl that Stacie had remembered from over ten years before had morphed into the bullied, down trodden woman that now sat before her.

“Imi, what has he done to you?”

“Nothing, Stace. Please leave it eh?”

“You trusted me enough to find me. You trust me enough to tell me about your son. And yet you haven’t got the balls to tell me, let alone show me, what that Greek bastard has done to you. I’m your friend, Imogen, the same as Mickey is, the same as Albie. The same as Ash, even.”

Imogen Baxter shook her head, her long dark chocolate brown bedraggled hair which now reflected a hint of grey fell around her face as she did so. “Huh, Ash!” She laughed in despair. Would her heart ever stop breaking into smaller pieces every time she heard that name? After all, he had been the reason she’d run away in the first place. Found herself running into the arms of a man that would just about do, that wanted her as she was, until he got that ring on her finger, the wedding band that he believed gave him carte blanche to do exactly what he wanted to her whenever it suited him.

She looked up to Stacie, her friend’s eyes full of concern for the battered hollow shell that she had become. She stood up, her fingers on auto pilot as she began to undo her blouse before allowing the rich mocha coloured, silky fabric to fall from her shoulders and pool at her feet.

A key in the door signalled Danny’s unexpected return, “Oi, oi, Stace. Didn’t tell me I’d be missing some girl on girl action,” he smirked, Stacie rolling her eyes at him as she attempted to shield her friends body by placing her own lean figure in front. “Caught you up to no good, eh?”

“Don’t be your normal disgusting self, Danny. Go back out for a bit will you?”

A meek voice from behind startled them both, “it’s ok Stace; if he needs convincing then I’d rather do this in one sitting.”

Stace turned around, “are you sure?” Imogen nodded. “Introductions first then. Danny this is an old friend of mine, well of the team to be exact from when she worked the long con with us. Her name is Imogen and she deserves a little respect. Imogen, this is Danny, my current ...”

“Partner!” Danny suggested, offering his hand to the half naked woman.

“Colleague!” Stacie finished, watching the two shake hands. “And he deserves very little respect, even though he is a damn good grifter some of the time.”

“Ooh, they’re nasty bruises aren’t they?” Danny asked, as sympathetically as he could.

“And I’m pleased to meet you too, Danny.” There was still a little life left in the old girl yet, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Danny continued his surveillance of her upper back, “shit, is that a ...?”

“Nice burn. God, that looks nasty,” Danny’s comment had alerted Stacie to the truth she hadn’t necessarily wanted to see, but now Imogen had decided to trust them enough to be showing them the evidence, she had little other choice. Scabbed wounds criss-crossed over her back, some patches of skin still bore angry bruises from her last battle with her husband, but Danny was pointing out a large burn just above her left shoulder blade.

“It was, not so much now,” Danny and Stacie looked at one another, so they hadn’t both just imagined that badly hidden whimper, “it was worth it though.”

“Worth it!” Stacie screamed, “worth it. Your husband burns you with a cigar and all you can say is that it was worth it?”

Picking up her blouse, Imogen re-clothed herself. She looked Stacie in the eye, “it was either me or my son. I decided that it was better for me to be the one to be punished.”

“Ash would never ...”

“Ash didn’t want me!” Her head in her hands, Imogen sobbed.

Stacie’s heart went out to her, her own eyes filling with tears. She stepped over to her friend, her arms encircling Imogen’s racking shoulders. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She whispered.

“Have I just walked into some kind of Stepford Wives does horror?”

“Shut up, Danny!” Stacie warned.

“No, please. Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Shut up, Danny!”

“Wait, Stace, he deserves to know the truth, especially if you’re going to help me.”

“We’ll help, won’t we Danny?” He dared not say no with the look that had just crossed Stacie’s face. “After all, grifters stick together. I promise you Imi, George Liakos won’t know what’s hit him.”

.oOo.

“Danny we have to go to London, we have to go and speak with Mickey.”

“She doesn’t want him to know.”

Stacie was exasperated enough. For a while now the con’s that she and Danny had been pulling hadn’t been working out quite as they had planned and the local cops seemed to be taking a particular interest in them. Perhaps a little time back in London would set them straight again. “She doesn’t want Ash to know. Slight difference, Danny.”

“All the same, Stace, we tell Mickey, Mickey tells Ash. One way or another he’s gonna find out.”

“And we can’t do anything without a fixer, can we?”

Danny shook his head, “problem is even if you can convince Mickey not to say too much to Ash, they’re all gonna know when they’re looking at the mark’s details. Then there’s the other slight problem of how we’re gonna explain the boy?”

“Perhaps I could say he’s mine.”

“You been shining your light, Stace?” Danny smirked. “Hold up, give me that picture again.” He studied the photograph. “He’s got my colour eyes and hair, he could be mine?”

“I don’t think so.”

“He could be my nephew. Uncle Danny, showing him the ways of the world, I like the sound of that.”

“In your dreams, Danny. And I don’t think I’d like to see what Imogen would do to you if you handed him back as a miniature version of yourself.”

“Why? What’s wrong with me?”

“Do I really need to spell it out? Maybe I should pretend to be his aunt instead.”

“What do you know about kids?”

“Not a lot.” A sudden thought came to her, she smiled. “Hang on; we really need to keep him at arm’s length, don’t we? Who would be the perfect person to help us out and if anyone should ask who the boy was he could say he was staying with him over the holidays, cheap labour or something?”

Danny grinned, knowing exactly who she meant. “Eddie.”

“Right, Eddie. Ok, I’ll divvy up what we’ve got and book the flights. London here we come.”

“Yeah, great.” Danny smiled; it would be good to see the old place again even if it meant taking orders from Mickey. But if they were going to take down this Greek bloke then they’d need all the help and expertise they could get, not to mention attempting to get the job done before Imogen was hurt again or worse. “Stace?”

She was busy sorting out plane tickets on the internet. “Hmm?”

“How long do you think we’ve got?”

“In what respect?”

“Well, until Imogen’s found.”

“She’s clever, Danny, but once the cash she’s got runs out Liakos will have the power and influence to find her and quickly too. A month maybe, six weeks at best I should think. I’ve given her some of savings to give her as much of a sporting chance as possible. America’s a big place to get lost in, but Liakos has friends everywhere. It’ll only take one person to see her.”

“Best get a move on then, I’d hate to think that that little lad had to grow up without his mum because we couldn’t ... well, you know.”

“Yeah,” she smiled. For all his bravado Danny did have a heart, “Mickey has never let us down yet.”

.oOo.

When Imogen had questioned herself about where to go it had initially been a struggle for her, having decided that her best course of action was to not stop at any major city her next advice for herself had been not to stay in any little towns either. After all, George had many friends in many places and most of them had something to do with one Mob or another and wouldn’t think twice about shopping her to him.

At least Tom was safe, or relatively at least, having handed him over to Stacie that morning before Stacie, Danny and Tom had taken their flight to London. No one within George’s friends or acquaintances had ever taken much notice of the son that wasn’t his or so he’d always claimed in front of them. When George had found Imogen, she was alone, abandoned, heavily pregnant and wanting. He was happy to oblige her every need, at first. Then when she’d given birth he’d changed, she tried to coax him into having time for Tom so that the youngster would have a bond with a father figure, but it wasn’t to be. The boy had been allowed to fade into the background and left to his own devices, he’d even been sent away to school when he’d become old enough. And for her, that had been the most heart wrenching day she’d ever had to cope with until that morning, saying goodbye to the lad and hoping that it wouldn’t be long before they were reunited.

Wafting the newspaper in order to aid her body to cool down, she contemplated her next move. If only she’d been able to use a proper hotel with air conditioning but that was impossible. They now demanded credit checks and she was even finding it difficult in some of the motels she was choosing to use. But she’d found this roach house and it would do for a few more days.

She lay down on the bed, hoping that sleep would eventually claim her but she was out of luck; the temperature didn’t help and all she could think of was Ash. What was it he’d always say? “You know I don’t do heat.” And nor did she now even with all the years she’d spent in Greece. She could honestly say that Alaska suddenly seemed very appealing.

Ash. Tears slid from her eyes, the only thing that she couldn’t stop herself from doing in her remorse for losing the best man she had ever encountered. She remembered her words as if she’d said them the day before, “just because we do what we do, doesn’t mean we have to be on our own.” But that had been the nail in the coffin, the one last thing that had made him run for the hills; leaving her all alone. She’d have gone to him if she’d thought it would’ve made a difference but knowing that it wouldn’t even scratch the surface she had done the only thing she could do. She’d left.

She considered her position, what would she do when she finally did get her freedom? No one would want her that was for sure, her bruised and battered body lay testament to that. Not Ash, not anyone. She carried so much baggage that it would be impossible for anyone to break through the veneer. It wasn’t just what lay on the surface. She was broken inside too, George had made sure of that; raping her, abusing her, kicking her into touch, causing untold damage and several miscarriages. She could no longer bear children. What kind of asset would she be to another lover? She was truly only worthy of one thing, the scrapheap.

Finally, as the sun descended toward the horizon, she was able to close her eyes and dream. Dream of a different life, of a different set of circumstances and of a man that loved her. She’d only wished that instead of choosing to run away from him she’d made the decision to stay, to find a way to make him change his mind. And for a few moments, in her mind’s eye, she was blissfully happy lying in his arms, his hands roaming over the bulbous belly that carried their child, their words of love being spoken unconditionally as they realised their future was to be together whatever happened. It may have only lasted a few moments but it was enough to see her sliding off into a deeper sleep where she was safe from harm and George Liakos.

.oOo.

As it was still half an hour to opening, Eddie briskly went about his usual business of setting up shop before his well earned tea break. Whistling to himself he pulled the last of the clean glasses from the glasswasher and proceeded to dry them with his cloth. “Hello stranger,” the wonderful tones of Stacie Monroe’s voice dripped with honey collided into his subconscious, he’d often wondered what had happened to her.

“Oi, Eddie!”

Eddie shot round to look at the two grifters propping up his bar. “What the bleedin’ ‘ell are you two doin’ ‘ere?”

“Thought I’d come and see the only man I miss,” Stacie simpered, a long finger nail drawing a line under his chin.

“Well, you can bleedin’ sod off again, the pair of ya!”

Stacie and Danny looked at each other in mock surprise and hurt. “Do you know, Stace, of all the places in this town that I’d thought I’d not be welcome in again, well this sure as hell wasn’t one of them.”

“What do you want? An’ all drinks ‘ave to be paid for,” he pointed to a sign on the wall, “by order of the management.”

“Oh, Eddie, are those other grifters still not paying their tab.”

“Oh, no, Stacie.” He grinned. “They are now part of the management, with me like.”

Danny looked quizzical, “who are?”

“Mickey an’ Ash, they both ‘ave a stake in the bar.”

“Shit,” Danny exclaimed.

“Shit!” Stacie agreed. “Look Eddie, we need a favour. Well not us exactly, Imogen Baxter.”

“Imogen Baxter, wow, ‘aven’t ‘eard ‘er name in a while. Not since she an’ Ash fell out anyway.”

Danny pouted, “am I the only person that doesn’t know about them?”

“Danny, stop acting like a child, maybe one day when you’ve grown up a bit I’ll tell you the story but until then please keep quiet.” Stacie turned her attention back to Eddie, “All you need to know is that she ran off and married a Greek.”

“Who’s been an absolute bastard to her.”

Pinching the top of her nose, Stacie stared at Danny. “Do you want to tell Eddie?” She watched him shake his head. “Right. She married this Greek, he knocked her about, and she ran away with her son. She found me and asked me to look after him whilst also asking me to help her get her life back from her husband. Well I can’t do both and besides she doesn’t want Ash to know ...”

“She doesn’t want Ash to know what?” Mickey Stones’ fixer stood with his hands firmly punched into the pockets of his jacket, a rolled up newspaper under one arm and a boy of about ten years by his side. “Found this little lad upstairs on your doorstep Ed, you starting a workhouse?” He grinned, crow’s feet creasing at each side of his bright blue eyes.

“Somethin’ like that, my sister’s eldest come to stay with me for the holidays, ‘aven’t ya?” The boy merely nodded and walked over to ‘Uncle’ Eddie.

‘Thank you’ mouthed Stacie across the bar before turning to her old friend, he now stood with arms open waiting for her to hug him. “America had enough of you and Danny, then?”

“We’ve had enough of it,” she countered, tottering over to him, throwing her arms around him and kissing him squarely on the cheek. “I’ve missed you Ash.”

“Me too, Stace.”

“How’s everything?” Danny interrupted. “We hear you and Mickey have bought a share in the bar.”

“Well, you know how it is, the previous owner went bankrupt due to several large unpaid bar bills. We just decided to make sure that never happened again. Although Albert’s been known to try and get away without paying on occasion.” Ash laughed.

“And Mickey?”

“I wondered how long it would take you to ask me,” Ash smiled over to Stacie. “He’s good, we’ve got a couple of kids working with us and things are going ok with them. They’re quick learners and taking to it like a fish out of the proverbial. I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you though. Here for a job are you?”

“Kind of, need to speak to him privately though first, see if he can help out. Any idea where I can find him?”

“Buckingham Gate, Churchill Suite.”

“Thanks Ash,” she kissed him again as he took a seat at the bar.

“What on earth have you got mate that earns you two kisses from her when I don’t even get a look in?”

“Danny, you’re not still trying?”

“Always, Ash. Always.”

.oOo.

There really was no reasoning with him sometimes, “Mickey, she’s our friend, a fellow grifter, we have to help her.”

“And get caught up with the Greek Mob in the process. No, I won’t ask them to do that.”

“Why not? We used to have a democratic vote in this team, what happened to that?”

Mickey eyed Stacie suspiciously. “Why are you letting this eat you up so much?”

“Because ...” She bit back the words. It was real but somehow saying what she was about to say would make it positively genuine.

“Because?” Mickey coaxed her.

“Do you know what he is?”

“A Greek drug baron with lots of friends who would think nothing of even giving you a concrete overcoat.”

“No, Mickey. He’s a thug, a bully who loves to kick her, to punch her, to throw her down stairs. She miscarried you know,” she was stood with one hand on her hip, a defiant look on her face whilst tears threatened to fall, “he tried to tell her that she’d got pregnant as a result of having an affair. He punched her to the floor, kicked her stomach, threw her against the wall and that was all before he’d even asked her if it was true. He and some of his cronies had raped her beforehand, Mickey.” She shook her head, “she can’t even have children anymore.” The tears fell splashing over her pallid cheeks. “How would you like it if someone had done that to me?”

Mickey folded her into his arms. “Come on Stace, no one would.”

She pushed away from him taking a position by the open window. “Wouldn’t they? Can you be totally, one hundred per cent sure of that? I’m sure Imi never imagined it could happen to her. Thank God she had Tom before all of this started.

His eyes studied her face, “Tom?”

“Her son, Mickey. Who’ll look after him when she’s not around or not able to look after him anymore?”

Stacie was wretched; Mickey went to her, pulling her close once more. This time she didn’t object so he planted a kiss onto her forehead. “Ok, I’ll have a word with the team; if they vote yes then we’ll help out.”

“There’s just one thing,” slowly Stacie began to calm down. “She doesn’t want Ash to be involved.”

“But he’s got to be, he’s our fixer!”

“I know, but you’ve got me and Danny, too!”

“Neither of you can do what he does. No one can, that’s why he’s part of the team.” He closed his eyes momentarily, “right. Let me think about it, there may be a way that I can involve him without him knowing everything. Leave it with me.”

She kissed him briefly on the mouth, “thanks, Mickey.”

Watching her move towards the front door of the suite, he smiled. “You’re more beautiful than I remember, Stace.”

“Thanks, Mickey.” Her hand hovered over the door handle, contemplating if she should say anything more. “Did you ever take up with anyone?”

“No, haven’t got time for all of that.” He watched her nod in agreement, a smile touching her lips. “Did you and Danny?”

No more words were needed for Stacie to understand his meaning. “No, you’ve got to be joking.” How could he ask her that? “Let me know then as soon as possible, whatever you decide.”

He watched her leave, already trying to ascertain angles that could be appropriate to a con that would bring down an extremely powerful man. It wouldn’t be easy, he knew that, and he would need his team with him wholeheartedly including Ash. But first things were first, he needed to find Albert and find him quickly.

.oOo.

Mickey’s impatient pacing outside of 19 Old Broad Street astounded more than one of the members of the City of London Club as they passed by him on their way in or out of the huge 19^th century building that towered up above them. He was already trying to think of ways to get to George Liakos without the need to tell the team everything but he knew that would never work, the only way to get to any mark was to know everything about them before they started. That way, if a problem arose it was easier for them to find a way out.

Finally he stopped and looked up meeting with the very amused and quizzical expression upon the face of his former mentor and team roper, Albert Stroller. The American quickly descended the steps, “and to what do I owe this unexpected rendezvous?”

Signalling for a cab, Mickey took Albert’s arm, guiding him into the waiting vehicle. He sat down beside the older man, giving his directions to the cabbie before settling back. “Albert, we have a problem.”

By the time they had arrived at their destination, a small wine bar situated close to Gray’s Inn, Mickey had relayed Stacie’s news to Albert. Sitting outside and away from prying ears Mickey began sipping at his espresso watching Albert as he steadily moved the glass of whiskey around in a circular motion; a gesture that meant Albert was deep in thought. He pursed his lips whilst squinting his eyes at Mickey, finally he spoke. “It seems to me that we need two meetings.”

“Two meetings?” Mickey asked perplexed.

“Yes, we need one to gather the facts as they are from Danny and Stacie whilst informing Emma and Sean what is required of them. I’ll keep Ash out of the way on that one; take him to the races or something. Then we’ll have another ...”

“To relay the facts as if it were a normal con and seek acceptance by way of a vote. We keep Danny and Stacie out of this one so that Ash doesn’t become suspicious, and then we can utilise them behind the scenes as and when required.”

Albert smiled, “exactly!” Resting back into his seat he took a grateful sip of his whiskey. “This information isn’t wholly unsurprising to me.”

Mickey studied Albert for a moment, “how so?”

“I remember Imogen’s father asking me to talk to her after she’d came home with the news that she was to become Mrs George Liakos. Indeed, I was shocked myself to learn this and endeavoured to reason with her but she was unfaltering if a little nervous. I feel responsible, Mickey.”

“Albert, she made her choice. When she came to me to tell me she was leaving the team I tried everything to stop her. But she was always so determined in everything she did. I couldn’t keep her and you couldn’t save her even though we tried.”

“No, Mickey. When I spoke to her she didn’t appear to be as forthright as she had always done before. And when I asked her what had happened with Ash she kept quiet. Mind you, so did he; he never has told me what happened even though I asked him several times up until he met with June.

“And Imogen must have been at least six or seven months pregnant by then so the child obviously wasn’t the Greek’s. Maybe Liakos already had some kind of hold over her by then? Knew who the baby’s father was? Although I’m sure she still would’ve been the Imogen we knew her to be before she married. I mean, she only stopped seeing her parents after she’d married Liakos and then they went to live in Crete.” Another slug of whiskey passed Albert’s lips. “Is she in a state?”

“According to Stacie she’s been punched, kicked, thrown about, had several miscarriages, can’t even have children anymore.”

“Is there evidence to back it up?”

“Yes, Imogen showed both Danny and Stacie, she has a roadmap of scars across her back, bruises that have not yet healed from the last kicking she got and a rather large cigar burn because she accepted her son’s punishment in his place.”

“Dear God. So why doesn’t she want Ash to know?”

“Hmm,” Mickey’s index fingers tee-peed in front of his face, “that’s what I’d like to know and until we can get close enough to the woman to ask her we’ll never be sure.”

“But we can hypothesise. What would make a woman run from her lover?”

“If he hurt her, like Liakos has done.”

“But we both know Ash isn’t capable of such atrocities. What else?”

“When she knows that they don’t have a future together?”

“A strong possibility, especially considering that the only time I ever heard Ash talk about the con being a lonely existence was after she left.”

“So, he grabbed hold of the opportunity the next time it came around. Just because we do what we do doesn’t mean we have to be on our own.”

“Yes, he grabbed with both hands, Mickey. After all, he married June and was very happy for a while. But that still doesn’t really account for Imogen running off the way that she did. We both knew her to be so feisty and there was no doubt that she was very much in love with Ash, so why didn’t she stop and fight for him?”

“Perhaps she knew she was flogging a dead horse.”

“Yes, perhaps. But she was almost certainly carrying Tom at that point, given his age.”

Mickey laughed. “I can’t believe she cheated on Ash.”

“Oh, she didn’t, I’m sure of that.”

“You’re suggesting that Tom is Ash’s?”

Albert nodded, “absolutely.”

“So why run?”

Albert’s look became distant, “apart from you and Ash, I’ve only ever heard one other person say that little sentence you just uttered.”

A realisation hit Mickey. “You mean Imogen.”

Albert nodded. “Now, let’s go to Eddie’s and scope the boy out if we can, he may just give us a few clues as to who his father really is.” Getting to his feet Albert began making his way towards the kerb in order to flag down a taxi, “we’re never going to truly know until Imogen tells us one way or another but there’s no harm taking a look now is there.”

“No, I suppose you’re right. But the one thing we mustn’t do is tell Ash what we think. Not yet anyway.” Quickly finishing his coffee, he joined his friend in the taxi. As they rolled away they watched as a bemused landlord stood at the threshold of his bar wondering how a couple of customers had avoided paying for their drinks. Mickey made himself as comfortable as he could against the hard leather, “because if Ash ever finds out what Liakos has done to Imogen, ex-girlfriend or not, he is going to want to murder Liakos in cold blood.”
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Just Because We Do What We Do