Authors: Robert Muchamore
Bruce’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You can’t tell her that you boffed Lois! She’ll kill you.’
James shrugged. ‘I think I have to.’
‘But what if she dumps you?’
‘Well
hopefully
she won’t,’ James shrugged. ‘I mean, Dana’s different to Kerry. I think she’ll be OK if I explain exactly how it happened. She might even appreciate me being honest.’
Bruce laughed. ‘If you’re lucky, she won’t dump you, but I wouldn’t bank on her
appreciating
it.’
There was a gentle knock, followed by Michael’s head coming around the door. ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘mind if I come in for a second?’
James and Bruce weren’t supposed to associate with Michael, but as the mission had gone on they’d become slightly more relaxed. And as they all lived at the Zoo it wasn’t unnatural that a casual friendship should exist between them.
‘Have you spoken to Gabrielle lately?’ James asked, as he rolled on to his back.
‘Just this morning, she’s doing great,’ Michael said, wafting his hand in front of his nose as he looked at James. ‘So is not washing some kind of new fashion statement for you white boys?’
James tutted. ‘I’ll take a shower in a minute.’
‘And who are you calling
white boys
?’ Bruce demanded. ‘You’re spending too much time with your Jamaican friends.’
‘At least I didn’t call you honkies. But you’re right, I’m gonna have to watch myself when I get back to campus. I said that Gabrielle was
my bitch
in front of Maureen and Chloe the other day.’
‘So is this a social visit or what?’ Bruce asked.
‘Chloe’s heard all about your little shoot-out this morning, but she’s not happy ’cos you haven’t briefed her yet and I think I let it slip that you’d both been back for over an hour.’
‘What’s her problem?’ James moaned. ‘We’ve got phones, she could have rung us.’
‘She didn’t want to call until she was certain it was safe for you to talk.’
‘Oh well,’ James said as he sat up. ‘Bruce can call her while I’m in the shower.’
‘Great, let me get yelled at,’ Bruce said.
‘It’s good news about Simeon Bentine,’ Michael said. ‘Have you heard the latest?’
James shook his head. ‘Not since last night.’
‘They’ve analysed the pattern of calls and it seems that Sasha and Simeon are talking to each other at least once a day. They’re going to record the calls for a couple of days, then they’re going to pull Simeon in and threaten to drop him in it with Major Dee if he doesn’t play ball.’
James thought for a second. ‘What about our cover?’
‘Chloe thinks we’ll be fine,’ Michael said. ‘There’s several different ways that the cops might have tracked the calls, and while Sasha’s been changing his phone regularly, Simeon’s had the same one for over six months. It’s even registered in his own name.’
James shook his head. ‘Unbelievable!’
‘Yeah, but it’s about time we had some luck on this mission,’ Bruce said.
*
While Mad Dogs FC had all but disappeared, Sasha continued to meet his crew regularly in his basement. James and Bruce were invited and Junior came along too. With his pocket money suspended and Sasha not letting him earn, the basement was the only place where Junior could afford to socialise.
By nine the three boys had played pool and downed a few cans of beer. The poker game was lively, but the atmosphere was jovial because a lot of people had made money that morning and Sasha wasn’t at the table. He’d been holding a series of meetings upstairs in his office and James and Bruce were amongst the last to be called up.
‘Boys,’ Sasha smiled, as they pulled open the door. ‘Savvas tells me that you two did a blinding job. Did you do like I said and dump the clothes and everything?’
‘Of course,’ James said.
‘And you,’ Sasha said, pointing at Bruce. ‘That dude you threw over the balcony broke a shoulder, an arm and both legs. My mate at the hospital reckons it’s a miracle he wasn’t paralysed.’
James couldn’t fail to be impressed by Sasha’s contacts. The Mad Dogs might not have been the biggest gang in town, but they had friends in all the right places.
‘I said a grand apiece, but we made out big so I’m putting your shares up to fifteen hundred. Now that’s a lot of money for kids your age. I don’t want you getting flash, because the cops have always got an eye on the Zoo.’
‘Don’t worry,’ James assured him. ‘We’ll buy some clothes to replace what we threw out, but we’ll spend the rest gradually.’
‘Have you got somewhere to stash it?’ Sasha asked.
James nodded. ‘The lockers at the Zoo are crap, but I’ve got a spot behind the skirting board where I keep what’s left from the hotel robbery.’
‘If you’re sure,’ Sasha said, as he reached into a briefcase and pulled six slim bundles of £500 in twenty-pound notes. ‘That’s all good money,’ he added. ‘Totally untraceable. Now go off and enjoy yourselves.’
‘We’re always up for anything,’ James said. ‘Just let us know.’
‘I’ll do that,’ Sasha smiled. ‘There’s always money to be made for a couple of smart lads like you.’
As they headed out along the hallway, Lois yelled James’ name from the living-room. The entrance was an archway, and she sat on the couch with her legs tucked under her bum and a box of chocolates in her lap.
‘How’s your leg doing?’ she asked.
‘Seems to be healing up nicely,’ James said, feeling awkward. ‘Thanks for your help.’
There was no way to acknowledge what had happened the night before with Bruce standing next to him and Sasha down the hall.
‘That’s good,’ Lois said icily. ‘But don’t bother coming back with my dad’s clothes. He’s got plenty of others.’
Lois’ tone and her body language made it clear that it wasn’t just the clothes she didn’t want to come back.
‘Tossed away like rotten fruit,’ Bruce gloated, as they headed back towards the basement. ‘That’s gotta hurt!’
In a way James was relieved. Having Lois after him was bad for the mission and his personal safety. But on a human level, he’d been rejected and it hurt. He didn’t know if it was something he’d done, or maybe Lois always treated men like that. Either way, she was older and more experienced, and while James didn’t regret what had happened, he felt like a little kid who’d been invited to the big boys’ party, only to have everyone laugh at him.
Feeling sore as he headed down into the smoke-filled basement, James couldn’t resist turning his anger into spite by grabbing the money out of his tracksuit top and waving it in front of Junior, who was slumped in the corner waiting for his turn at the pool table. He’d downed at least four beers and looked wasted.
‘Check my wad out,’ James grinned.
Junior’s mouth dropped. ‘This is
so
bogus,’ he snarled. ‘I introduced Sasha to you less than a month ago and now you’re both loaded.’
‘It’s fifteen hundred,’ James teased, as he tried to pinch Junior’s cheek. But Junior batted his arm away and stood up.
‘I’m sick of being treated like a baby,’ he spat. ‘Sasha’s an arsehole.’
Junior said it loud enough that people could hear, although everyone knew he’d never have dared if Sasha had been in the room.
‘You wanna watch that mouth, Junior,’ Savvas said seriously. ‘Your name’s not gonna protect you if you wind Sasha up.’
James felt bad about teasing Junior and he pulled £100 out of his pocket and tried putting it in Junior’s hand. It was the worst thing he could have done.
‘I don’t want your charity,’ Junior growled, before turning to Savvas. ‘And I don’t want to get lectured by a sodding Paki either.’
A great wave of ooohs shot around the room as Savvas squared up to Junior. Savvas wasn’t huge, but he was a grown man and Junior was only fifteen.
‘What did you call me?’ Savvas yelled. ‘Would you like me to scrub the floor with your face?’
‘Well it’d make a change from your mum doing it,’ Junior yelled back.
The only reason Junior didn’t get a slap at this point was because Savvas didn’t know if Sasha would stand for it. Bruce squeezed between them, and it said something about the reputation he’d already gained that Junior and Savvas backed off, despite the fact that Bruce was easily the youngest person in the room.
‘Cool it,’ James said, grabbing Junior’s arm. ‘Let’s take a walk.’
‘I just want to earn like everybody else,’ Junior shouted, as James led him up the wooden staircase.
‘Maybe we could talk to Sasha,’ James said, looking towards the office.
But Junior was in no mood to talk to anyone. ‘I’m outta here,’ he said, as he headed down the hallway and grabbed the front door.
If James had been focused entirely on the mission, he would have headed back downstairs to the basement. But he was annoyed at himself for teasing Junior about the money and he followed him down the front steps.
‘I didn’t mean to wind you up,’ James said. ‘I was an idiot.’
‘It’s not you, it’s
them
,’ Junior said, close to tears as he stormed towards the football pitches across the street. ‘I’m sick of being Keith Moore’s son and you know what? Screw the lot of them. I’ve been around crooks all my life and I’m not an idiot. If they won’t let me get my hands on some cash, I’ll go out and earn myself.’
‘Like how?’ James asked. ‘You’re on parole, mate. You’ve only gotta make one slip and you’re buggered …’
‘I know places,’ Junior said. ‘We could be like Wheels. Ducking and diving, mugging some rich dirtbag here, robbing a fancy car there.’
By this time they’d reached the gates of the park, but it was dark and they were locked.
‘Who said anything about we?’ James said pointedly.
‘Why not, James?’ Junior said, as he rested his feet on the bottom of the gate and squeezed his head between the bars. ‘I know you’re earning off Sasha, but look at today. You robbed two hundred grand. Sasha makes a hundred and fifty and you made what, five grand?’
‘Fifteen hundred,’ James said.
‘He’s having a laugh,’ Junior grimaced. ‘You and me together could make
real
money.’
James liked Junior and it was the kind of harebrained scheme he would have gone for in his pre-CHERUB days. But his mission was to bring down the Slasher Boys and Mad Dogs, not encourage Junior to set up a rival crew.
‘Maybe in a few months,’ James said, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be around by then. ‘I mean, me and Bruce are earning decent money from Sasha. We can save up and then set our own crew up when we’ve got the cash to do it properly.’
‘I guess,’ Junior said. ‘But I’m not earning in the meantime.’
James thought about offering Junior money again, but he was clearly sensitive about taking charity and James had a nasty feeling that he’d blow it on cocaine if he did.
‘I wish I was older,’ Junior said, as he jiggled his arms, rattling the gate. ‘Being fifteen is so crap. I wanna go to a bar or a club. I want money and drugs and girls with
massive
tits.’
James started to laugh.
‘I tell you what,’ Junior said. ‘If I can plan a job – not some chicken-feed half-arsed job but a proper raid like Sasha does – would you be my partner?’
‘Sasha wouldn’t like it,’ James said, shaking his head.
‘Come
on
, James,’ Junior begged. ‘We’d be great partners.’
James was tired and doubted that Junior would remember the conversation by morning.
‘Whatever,’ James shrugged. ‘Partners.’
Junior broke into a huge grin and put out his hand. ‘Gimme some skin.’
And the two boys slapped their hands together before rounding off with a beer-fuelled hug.
Pulling a suspect is a tricky business. If you bust them at home or at work someone is going to know that it happened and then a whole bunch of other people – including criminals and bent police officers – are going to see them getting dragged into the police station. If Simeon Bentine was arrested and questioned in the normal manner, Major Dee and Sasha Thompson would probably learn all about it.
To get around this, Chloe spent the whole of Wednesday following Simeon to see how he lived his life. Interrogation wasn’t Chloe’s speciality, so she asked her old boss John Jones to come down from CHERUB campus and help out the following day. She’d told her liaison withthe Bedfordshire police what was going to happen, but there are strict rules about arresting, cautioning and threatening suspects and Chloe was going to break almost all of them.
To make life even trickier, Simeon worked out of a dilapidated office above a shop less than two hundred metres from the Green Pepper café; so there were always going to be Slasher Boys in the neighbourhood.
The brass plaque beside his front door said that Simeon was an accountant, but Chloe had checked him out and found no evidence that he’d earned any of the initials engraved after his name.
John and Chloe watched from inside a workman’s café as Simeon arrived for work, just after 9 a.m. He placed a blue disabled badge in his windscreen, before unlocking a door sandwiched between two shop fronts and bounding up a narrow staircase. Once the pair saw the light flicker through the blind in his office window, they headed out of the café and cut between the rush-hour traffic. They didn’t give Simeon time to settle in. They wanted him on edge.
By the time the two mission controllers reached the cracked lino at the top of the stairs, Simeon was standing in the reception where his secretary worked, placing a paper filter into a coffee machine.
‘Good morning,’ Simeon said warmly as they stepped through his frosted glass door. ‘I’m afraid I’m not open to the public. If you’d like financial advice you can make an appointment with my secretary, she’s due in at any moment.’
‘Linda won’t be here today.’ Chloe smiled.
‘I believe she’s having some difficulties with her car this morning,’ John Jones said as he slid a bolt across the door.
‘What are you people?’ Simeon asked apprehensively. He’d been playing a dangerous game with two gang bosses and clearly feared the worst.
‘Perhaps we can take this through to your office,’ Chloe said gently.
‘Are you cops?’ It wasn’t that Simeon relished getting busted, but at least cops wouldn’t blow his brains out.
‘In your office,’ John said firmly, pulling back his overcoat to show that he had a gun. ‘Sit down and we’ll talk matters over.’