at home?’
‘Yeah, but your man will be in the Green Pepper.’
Gabrielle was surprised by this instruction. The Green Pepper café was a hangout for dealers that frequently came under police surveillance. Small quantities of cocaine and marijuana got passed under tables, but high-ups like Major Dee only went there to talk trash and eat the best Jamaican food in Luton.
‘You want me to take a kilo bag into the Green Pepper? Are you on a trip?’
Gabrielle heard Dee tut, then his temper snapped. ‘Listen, dumb girl. You always trying to act like you’re something and saying you want to make money. I don’t want a hundred questions. You do this for me or I hang up and don’t you bother showing your face no more.’
‘OK, I’ll pick it up,’ Gabrielle said. ‘I’m just saying that it’s rank.’
‘I know it’s dodgy. That’s why I want a girl for this. The cops don’t have two brain cells to rub; they’ll think you’re somebody’s bitch.’
‘What’s the brother look like?’
‘What brother?’
Gabrielle groaned; Dee was high for sure. ‘The guy I’m meeting. Unless you want me to hand a big bag of cocaine to the first random soul that comes my way.’
Major Dee didn’t sound sure. ‘Just get the bag to the Green Pepper. Someone will be expecting you.’
The call went dead and Gabrielle looked around at Michael.
‘Pickup?’ Michael asked.
Gabrielle nodded. ‘But it’s weird. He wants me to go into the Green Pepper with a whole K of coke.’
‘Did you tell him that’s insane?’
‘He reckons the police won’t suss me because I’m a girl … I mean, I know the police aren’t genius IQ, but I think they can get their heads around the idea of a female drug dealer.’
‘He’s probably mashed,’ Michael reasoned. ‘Knowing Dee he’s smoked about twenty joints and hasn’t even been to bed yet.’
‘If I get arrested it’ll wreck the mission.’
Michael thought as Gabrielle pulled a T-shirt over her head. ‘Here’s what we do, Gab: we grab the coke from the park, but once you’ve got it you give Major Dee a call and say that there’s a cop car circling around the Green Pepper and that you’ll have to meet the dealer somewhere else. He won’t want to risk losing a whole kilo of cocaine, no matter how stoned he is.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ Gabrielle nodded, as she kissed Michael’s shoulder and nuzzled his neck. ‘But I don’t like this one little bit.’
3. BEACH
James opened his eyes and saw the crab rear up and open its armoured pincers. But the bravado didn’t last and it scuttled off towards a shallow pool. The ground was James’ friend and he felt like hugging it, but he had to free the chute from his back before the wind caught hold.
He rolled on to his chest and was relieved to discover that nothing hurt as he looked along the plain of sand and caught a sight worthy of a soft-drink commercial: palm trees, blue sky and orange parachutes billowing in the warm breeze.
Dana had made a perfect landing three seconds after James and was jogging towards him. Parachute gear isn’t exactly feminine, but she still looked good with long hair floating behind her.
‘How’s it going down there?’ she smirked, as James pulled his chute off his shoulders and began to unbuckle his helmet.
He wasn’t sure how to act. Dana was great and he didn’t feel too bad now that he’d made the jump. But it’s hard to ignore when your girlfriend shoves you out of an aeroplane.
‘You …’
‘Are you hurt or not?’ Dana said bluntly, placing her hands on her hips.
‘You should have seen the crab …’ James smiled as he pointed towards the glistening pool.
‘I saw you lying there; I thought you might be hurt.’ As Dana spoke she edged in to peck James on the cheek, unsure how he’d react.
‘Quite a buzz,’ James shrugged, not sounding as cool as he’d hoped. ‘I arsed up the landing, but I guess I wouldn’t mind doing it again some time …’
‘Riiiiight,’ Dana smiled, as she stepped backwards. ‘If you’re OK I’ll go pack up my chute.’
James grinned as he knelt on one knee in the sand and began gathering the waves of rustling fabric. He imagined himself fifty years in the future, an old dude surrounded by kids and grandkids, telling them about the day his wife shoved him out of an aeroplane …
Jumpers rolled their chutes at landing sites at hundred-metre intervals along the beach. When James’ chute was half packed, the two-way radio