Lone Wolf

  His first reaction to the two masked girls was vague amusement. ‘Can I help you?’

  Fay barged the door with her shoulder then stuck the gun right in the youth’s face.

  ‘Back up, hands high,’ Fay ordered.

  The youth did as he was told, backing down a hallway decorated with peeling floral wallpaper.

  ‘Who else is in the house?’

  ‘Nobody.’

  Fay looked at Ning. ‘Check it out.’

  Ning wasn’t armed and didn’t relish the prospect of checking out all the rooms. She checked the kitchen and living-room first, before racing upstairs to do the bedrooms and bathroom. Meantime, Fay had the youth backing up the stairs to his room.

  ‘What’s your name?’ she barked.

  ‘Warren,’ the kid said.

  Fay and Ning met up in Warren’s tiny bedroom.

  ‘Christ it stinks in here,’ Fay said, as she stepped over a floor mounded in tangled clothes and underwear.

  Ning recognised the backpack Warren had gone out with the night before. She unzipped it and found about thirty plastic bags filled with cocaine.

  ‘How much do you sell these for?’ Ning asked. ‘Twenty?’

  Warren nodded.

  ‘Sit on your bed, hands on head,’ Fay ordered.

  Ning tipped the contents of the backpack out over the floor. ‘What’s gonna happen to you if we steal this?’

  Warren kept a wary eye on Fay’s gun.

  ‘They’ll kick my ass and I’ll have to work to pay it back.’

  Fay nodded. ‘And when word gets around that you got robbed by two girls?’

  Warren just shook his head. ‘So you wanna take my stash, take it, bitches.’

  ‘Don’t call me a bitch,’ Fay said angrily, as she closed in on Warren with the gun. ‘Six hundred quid’s worth is chicken shit! We don’t want—’

  Before Fay could finish, Warren lunged and grabbed the end of the gun. Fay stumbled forward as she tried to keep hold. Ning’s first reaction was to dive for cover in case a wild shot went off during the struggle, but once she was sure the gun wasn’t pointing her way she lunged for the bed and launched a flying kick at Warren’s head.

  The powerful blow sent Warren into a daze and enabled Fay to stagger back with the gun. Ning made sure Warren got the message by punching him hard on the back, while Fay cracked the pistol across his brow with enough force to make a cut.

  ‘That’s what happens if you mess with us,’ Fay shouted, as Warren slumped sideways on the bed, making a low groan. ‘Now sit up straight before I pull you up by your hair.’

  ‘Hands on head,’ Ning added.

  Warren coughed as he straightened up. Fay picked one of the little packets of cocaine off the carpet and flung it contemptuously at his midriff.

  ‘I don’t care about your chicken-feed six hundred-pound stash. I need information,’ Fay began. ‘If you’re dealing for Hagar’s crew, you must have a lot of info.’

  ‘I’m not a snitch,’ Warren said.

  Fay laughed. ‘Imagine your mommy coming home from church and finding your brains splattered all over that lovely IKEA wardrobe. If you tell me what I need to know, that doesn’t have to happen. I won’t even steal your drugs.’

  Warren looked down into his lap. ‘What is it you want to know?’

  ‘This whole thing with Hagar and Eli.’

  ‘What about it?’ Warren asked.

  ‘How did it start?’

  ‘I don’t know every detail,’ Warren said. ‘But there used to be an informal agreement. Eli would sell weed, Hagar dealt in coke and heroin. Then, six months back, Hagar started selling marijuana and Eli got pissed off and started up with cocaine.’

  ‘So is there a war?’ Fay asked.

  ‘Eli and Hagar hate one another’s guts. There’s been a few beatings-up and some scuffles over territory, but mostly they’ve been tiptoeing around each other.’

  ‘Evenly matched?’ Fay suggested.

  Warren nodded. ‘There’s been untold rumours that Hagar is about to make some big move against Eli’s crew but I’ve not seen any sign.’

  ‘Do you report to Hagar?’ Fay asked.

  Warren started to laugh. ‘I’ve only ever seen Hagar like twice. I get my supplies from a guy named Steve.’

  ‘Steve,’ Fay said thoughtfully. ‘Is he close to Hagar?’

  ‘Close as anyone, I’d guess.’

  Fay smiled. ‘How much do you make selling drugs?’

  Warren shrugged. ‘I’m pretty small-time. A hundred, maybe two on a really good week.’

  Fay nodded. ‘How would you like to earn an extra hundred a week?’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘Tell me everything you hear about Hagar and Eli and anything you hear about drugs.’

  Warren liked the idea of the money, but still seemed reluctant. ‘Are you working for Eli’s crew?’

  ‘We’re working for ourselves,’ Fay said, sounding more friendly as she lowered the gun.

  Fay grabbed a pencil and wrote a mobile phone number on one of Warren’s school books.

  ‘Call me any time,’ Fay said. ‘I’ll make it worth your while.’

  20. CUT

  Ryan had earned twenty quid for his Saturday afternoon phone-buying spree. More importantly he’d been noticed by Craig Willow, a goon who Youssef reckoned was Hagar’s chief enforcer.

  For the next three nights Ryan mooched around The Hangout, but nobody came over to give him any kind of work. He was almost desperate enough to make a direct approach to one of Hagar’s people when Craig arrived and came right towards him.

  ‘Shoo,’ Craig said, as he waved off Abdi and Youssef. ‘Ryan innit?’

  Ryan nodded.

  ‘I’m told you’re tasty in a dust-up.’

  Ryan shrugged like it was nothing and said, ‘I don’t take shit from anyone.’

  ‘That’s a good motto,’ Craig said, as Ryan noticed the big Spurs cockerel tattooed on his forearm. ‘You up for a run into enemy territory?’

  ‘How much?’ Ryan asked.

  ‘Twenty-five quid.’

  Ryan made a wary nod. ‘What am I doing?’

  ‘There’s tension between our boys and Eli’s crew over on the Elthorne estate, so I need an unfamiliar face to bring in the resupply.’

  ‘Drugs?’

  Craig smiled. ‘What else? Go and wait outside house seventy-two. Someone will give you a package. You take it straight up to Elthorne, block seven apartment F3.’

  There was a warm summer sunset as Ryan headed out of The Hangout. He waited twenty minutes before a guy he’d not seen before passed over a backpack with a slightly doom-laden, ‘Good luck.’

  The pack was full, but not particularly heavy. As Ryan started to walk he guessed that there had to be at least a couple of hundred packets of drugs, and with a gram of cocaine costing at least £25, that meant he was packing five grand’s worth of merchandise.

  The Elthorne estate was in Highgate, twenty minutes’ walk north. The sky was a dark purple colour as Ryan approached a graffitied map showing the layout of the dilapidated housing blocks. The first part of Ryan’s route was down a lawned expanse between blocks, then he had to turn into an alleyway with houses backing on to both sides.

  A cat shot out from behind a mound of boxes, giving Ryan a fright before he made a final turn, ignoring the lift and starting up concrete stairs to the third floor. As he rounded the first-floor landing he passed two solid-looking guys, one of whom was smoking a cigarette. When he reached the second floor, he heard the two men moving quickly up the staircase behind him.

  Ryan sped up, but as he tried getting up to the third floor he found a body blocking his path.

  ‘Excuse me, mate,’ Ryan said.

/>   The man didn’t move. He was a monster, with sunken black eyes and arms like railway sleepers. The other two were coming up from behind, which left Ryan’s only option as a run along the balcony in front of the second-floor apartments.

  He ran seventy metres, passing reinforced front doors and windows fitted with bars. At the end he found a blue door with a fire exit sign. Ryan pushed the metal bar to unlock the door, but was horrified to discover that it was jammed.

  With the three men less than twenty metres away, Ryan leaned out over the balcony. He was too high up to jump, but he reckoned he could stand on the railing and reach out to pull himself up to the next floor.

  His legs swung precariously as he pulled himself up and rolled over a railing on to the third-floor balcony. He reckoned that his opponents would only take half a minute to double back and reach the third floor, so Ryan looked around desperately for apartment F3.

  The heavily reinforced front door was only a few metres away. The apartment’s front window was boarded up and there was a CCTV camera pointing along the balcony.

  ‘Hello!’ Ryan shouted, as he pressed the doorbell and banged on the door. Then more desperately, ‘Can you open the door?’

  But there was no sign of life inside the apartment. The man with enormous arms was coming around the balcony, and the other two had somehow got through the fire door Ryan hadn’t been able to move and were closing in from the other side.

  ‘Give us the bag,’ Giant Arms said.

  ‘Come and get it,’ Ryan said, feeling fairly confident that he was speedy enough to dodge the fat man’s blows. But a clicking noise came from behind and Ryan jolted when he saw a handgun out the corner of his eye.

  ‘Give us the bag, kid.’

  The sight of the gun pushed Ryan into shock and he backed up to the apartment. One guy put a hand on the backpack and Ryan didn’t resist as he ran the strap down his arm. As soon as his opponent had the pack, the big dude swooped with a fist in the guts.

  As Ryan doubled over, another guy punched him twice, and with the gun pointing at him he didn’t dare fight back. Next came a blow to the mouth, and a kick in the back of the legs that left Ryan sprawled across the ground in a daze.

  As Ryan covered himself, fearing more blows, a hand went down the pocket of his shorts and extracted his mobile phone. Finally Ryan felt a kick to the head that knocked him cold.

  *

  Fay had sneaked back to her foster-home in Elstree to pick up more of her stuff, but she’d yet to attend her school there and spent most of her time in the Kentish Town area, finding out as much as she could about Hagar’s operations.

  ‘You wanna sneak into Nebraska House tonight?’ Ning asked, as she sat alongside Fay on a park bench, watching the dramatic sunset.

  Fay nodded. ‘Nobody’s noticed me so far, and that airbed you found is quite comfy.’

  But as Ning stood up, Fay felt her mobile vibrate in her pocket. The voice on the other end was familiar, but took her a few seconds to place.

  ‘Warren?’ Fay said.

  ‘You know what you said about information?’ Warren said. ‘What’s my cut?’

  ‘I can give you fifty quid for any decent info.’

  Warren laughed. ‘I’m not gonna sell my crew out for fifty quid. I want a cut, a percentage.’

  Fay paused for a minute. ‘A cut of what?’

  Warren spoke softly, like he was afraid of being overheard. ‘Hagar’s got a house off Tufnell Park Road. It’s like a secret backup. Even if Hagar’s entire supply gets stolen, he can use what’s in the house to stay in business.’

  Fay looked intrigued. ‘How come you know about this place?’

  ‘My cousin’s a carpenter, who does odd jobs for Hagar. He spent three days working in the house, putting in CCTV. I only know because it’s near my nan’s place and he kept coming round blagging sandwiches and cups of tea while he was on the job.’

  ‘So there’s a lot of security?’ Fay asked.

  ‘I guess there’s some. But there’s no guards. Just Hagar’s brother, Clay.’

  Fay perked up when she sensed the opportunity to get at someone close to Hagar. ‘So where is it?’ she asked.

  Warren laughed. ‘I want a third of whatever money you make.’

  Fay tutted. ‘What risks are you taking? Finder’s fee is never more than ten per cent.’

  ‘Twenty-five,’ Warren said.

  ‘Twenty.’

  Warren paused for a second. ‘All right, I’ll text you the address.’

  Once Warren hung up, Fay explained the deal to Ning.

  ‘What if Warren didn’t like us invading his crib and this is his plan to get back at us?’

  ‘I suppose that’s possible,’ Fay said.

  ‘And surely anything valuable will be kept in a safe?’

  ‘Probably,’ Fay agreed. ‘Jobs like this always take planning, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.’

  21. LIPS

  ‘Are you all right, son?’

  Ryan opened one eye and saw a blurry female figure standing over him. His mouth was full of blood and his abs exploded with pain when he tried to get off the concrete. His instinct was to call James, but he found an empty pocket where his phone should have been.

  The middle-aged woman offered Ryan an arm. He took it, and used it along with the balcony railing to haul himself up. His mouth was uncomfortably full of blood and he had no option but to spit it out. He felt around with his tongue, fearing he’d lost a tooth, but he actually just had a nasty cut on his bottom lip.

  ‘I’ve called the police,’ the woman said.

  Ryan wasn’t keen on having to explain what had happened to the cops. ‘I’ve got to get going,’ he said.

  But Ryan’s knee buckled as soon as he tried to walk and when the woman’s husband appeared holding a plastic garden chair, he settled into it gratefully.

  Ryan was worried that losing the drugs would be the end of his association with Hagar’s crew and wondered what he’d say to the cops. But as he sat on the lightweight chair his biggest concern was the amount of blood pouring into his mouth.

  Two policemen arrived a few minutes later.

  ‘Two guys jumped me, stole my pack, my phone and ran off.’

  ‘Can you describe ’em?’

  Ryan invented two fairly nondescript muggers.

  ‘There’s CCTV in the lobby,’ one cop said. ‘We’ll try and get the tape.’

  Ryan doubted that the cops would put too much effort into tracking down a case of a kid getting mugged. They asked where he lived, but Ryan couldn’t speak without blood running out the corner of his mouth and the cops decided to take him to hospital.

  The larger of the two officers let Ryan put an arm around his back as they walked towards the lift.

  *

  James was in the kitchen in the flat when Ning rapped on the frosted-glass front door.

  ‘Come in, come in,’ James said warmly.

  Ning took a seat at the kitchen table and sighed. ‘Working with Fay is intense. She’s focused on Hagar twenty-four/seven.’

  ‘Tea?’ James asked. ‘Or a cold drink?’

  ‘Can of Coke, or something like that would be great,’ Ning said.

  ‘So what’s she been finding out?’ James asked.

  ‘Tons of stuff about Hagar’s people. Where they’re working from, what they’re selling, who’s important.’

  ‘Is she discreet?’

  Ning shook her head. ‘Fay’s clever, but she’s been going around asking lots of questions about Hagar’s operations. Sooner or later someone who matters will notice.’

  James nodded as he placed two cans of Diet Coke on the table and sat opposite Ning. ‘You’d think she’d be ultra-cautious after her mother and aunt were both murdered.’ r />
  ‘She’s got that thrill seeker mentality,’ Ning said, as she pulled the tab on her can.

  James looked thoughtful. ‘So I’ve got a vengeful thrill seeker, walking around with a loaded Glock in her pocket. We’re gonna have to play this carefully.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Ning asked.

  ‘Let’s just say that my new career as a mission controller will be short-lived if you and Fay get involved in a bloody shoot-out.’

  ‘I’ll try my best to avoid that scenario,’ Ning said, smiling but also aware that it wasn’t a totally unrealistic prospect. ‘I need to bring something to the party to keep close to Fay.’

  ‘Like what?’ James asked.

  ‘Fay has been doing a lot of stuff on her own, while I’m at school. She’s also getting information out of Warren. The only thing I’m offering Fay right now is a bunk on the floor of my room at Nebraska House.’

  James shook his head. ‘I don’t think that’s true. I thought you were friends.’

  ‘We get on fine, but Fay’s focused like a laser beam. If you want me to stay close to her and all the information she’s gathering on Hagar’s crew, I need to bring something to the table.’

  ‘What have you got in mind?’ James asked.

  ‘Fay thinks she’s got a better chance of getting at Hagar if she forms an alliance with Eli’s crew. Trouble is, she’s spoken to a few street dealers and can’t get anywhere when it comes to finding out who’s who.’

  James nodded. ‘So if I can get you a name and location for one of Eli’s lieutenants, you’ll seem a much more worthwhile friend to Fay.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Ning said.

  ‘I’ll speak to the local drugs squad,’ James said. ‘How will you say you got the information?’

  ‘Tell her I found out from a kid at school, or something.’

  James picked up his Coke to drink, but downed it when he felt his phone vibrating inside his pocket. He didn’t recognise the number.

  ‘It’s me,’ Ryan said, with a slurred voice. ‘I’m in accident and emergency.’

  *

  Ryan lay shirtless on a hospital bed, with his head tipped back to stop the bleeding.