in the doorway and walked to the small bar in his socks. The Mad Dogs had the smartest clubhouse in their league and Sasha acted like lord of the manor, propping up the bar with a brandy in hand and the Mad Dogs FC’s trophy cabinet at his back. Nobody else was in earshot.
‘Drink?’ Sasha asked, as James got close.
James was out of breath and Sasha reached behind the bar to grab him a bottle of Coke. As he pulled the lid with a bottle opener, James propped himself on a stool.
‘For god’s sake,’ Sasha yelled. ‘Get off there.’
James shot up and saw that his muddy shorts had left a brown mark on the stool.
‘Sorry,’ he gasped.
‘Haven’t you got any sense?’ Sasha snarled, as he tried brushing the mud away with a bar towel. The towel was damp and made everything worse. ‘Kids these days … If this doesn’t brush off when it dries, you’re paying for a new stool.’
James didn’t know where to look or what to say, but he knew it wasn’t a good sign when the three other men in the clubhouse headed for the exit.
‘What happened out there with you and Wheels today?’
‘Things got untidy,’ James shrugged. ‘We didn’t lock the shop door and this old dear—’
‘Who’s we?’ Sasha snapped. ‘Who was responsible for locking the door?’
‘Well, I was the last one in so I guess it was me.’
Sasha grunted. ‘So Wheels told you to lock the door?’
‘No, but I guess it was obvious.’
‘Not if you’re nervous and you’ve never done something like that before,’ Sasha said. ‘He definitely didn’t tell you to lock the door?’
‘No way.’
‘I had Wheels round my house earlier. He’s trying to say that you messed up and the little piss-taker even tried getting me to pay towards having his car resprayed.’
James grinned slightly, unsure if he’d get his head ripped off if he laughed.
‘Wheels is a good lad if you keep him on a leash,’ Sasha said. ‘But he’s too casual about details and he likes to lay the blame. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the new kid while he’s been around for a few years. If something goes wrong the only thing I want Wheels to do is doff his cap and say sorry boss.’
‘I’m not a baby though,’ James said. ‘We messed up and I’ll take my share of the blame.’
This seemed to be what Sasha wanted to hear. As James placed his empty Coke bottle on the bar, Sasha reached around and grabbed him another.
‘Cheers.’
‘I’ve been asking around,’ Sasha said. ‘Ormondroyd down at the parole office pulled your file. Apparently you never cooperated with the cops and you never gave the screws an inch while you were in young offenders. A couple of Keith Moore’s old mates also told me you’re solid.’
James didn’t know what this was leading up to, but he couldn’t help smiling. The mission required him to feed the cops information on who the Mad Dogs were and how they operated. Winning Sasha’s trust made that a lot easier.
‘What are you like with electronics, computers and stuff like that?’ Sasha asked.
‘I can use ’em, but I’m no boffin,’ James said.
‘Do you think you could handle it if I asked you to rig up some CCTV equipment and keep tabs on who’s coming and going at a certain address?’
‘I suppose,’ James said. ‘As long as I’ve got all the instructions and that.’
‘Yeah, course you will. I’ll pay you thirty quid a day. Once you’ve set up the cameras I want you to go in every day and skim through the recordings. I want a written log of who’s coming in, who’s going out and how many people are putting money through the letterbox to buy drugs.’
‘Drugs?’ James nodded casually.
‘It’s a hard front,’ Sasha said. ‘You know what a hard front is?’
James did, but he wouldn’t have known if he wasn’t a cherub, so he asked Sasha to explain.
‘A hard front is a place where people deal drugs. Sometimes it’s a house, but usually it’s a flat in a multi-storey block. The dealers put steel reinforcement up behind the front door, bars over the windows and keep the curtains shut twenty-four seven. There will always be two or three people inside. Business is arranged over the telephone and people turn up at the door, push money through the letterbox and get handed drugs.
‘A hard front is a dealer’s dream and a policeman’s nightmare. If the cops find the place and start picking up the individuals buying