Ryan shook. ‘I’m Barry, from The Hangout. Welcome to the youth club.’
‘Hey,’ Ryan said, as a couple of lads imitated Barry’s slightly pompous voice.
‘You’re a hundred per cent welcome here,’ Barry said. ‘But you do have to register and there’s a two pound joining fee. If you could just come to my office.’
Ryan looked uncertainly at his new mates.
‘Don’t go,’ Sadad said. ‘Once you’re back there he’ll try to snog you.’
This caused an outbreak of wild laughter, but Barry seemed used to getting mocked. He led Ryan past the three scary-looking heavies and into a well-appointed office. It was equipped with a photocopier, two computers and two whirring air-conditioning units.
‘Nice and cool here,’ Ryan said.
Barry sat at his desk and found Ryan a small blue form. ‘Just fill in your name, address and telephone number. It’s two pounds to join, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have it with you right now.’
‘I’ve got it,’ Ryan said, as he rummaged inside his shorts.
‘If you can just look up.’
Barry swivelled a webcam around and snapped Ryan’s photo for his membership card.
‘The laminating machine for your card takes a few minutes to warm up,’ Barry explained, as he reached behind and handed Ryan a brochure.
The leaflet was printed in colour and entitled The Hangout – There For You.
‘Make sure you give this a good read,’ Barry said. ‘The Hangout is a charity, funded entirely by donations. We work in six London boroughs providing youth clubs such as this one, day trips, sporting activities and support services.
‘Now that you’re a member, you can get involved in any of our activities, or make use of our confidential counselling and advice services. Keep hold of the leaflet and give it a read when you get home.’
‘Thanks,’ Ryan said.
Ryan spent a couple of minutes flicking through the pages while the laminating machine heated up to make his membership card. Once it was ready, Barry handed the still-warm card over and showed Ryan back out into the hall.
Sadad yelled, ‘Hope you kept your mitts off him, Barry.’
Barry ignored it, but one of the three heavies stood up.
‘Sadad, here!’ he ordered. Then he pointed at Ryan. ‘You, listen.’
Sadad looked nervous when he got close, and everyone in the room was looking.
‘Show respect to Barry,’ the thug told Sadad. ‘Get a mop and bucket and clean the whole floor.’ Then he looked at Ryan. ‘Did you treat Mr Barry with respect?’
‘I did,’ Ryan said, nodding anxiously.
‘OK, go back with your friends.’
Sadad walked briskly towards a cleaner’s closet, not daring to show any dissent. Ryan rejoined his new friends. After giving it a few seconds and making sure that the toughs weren’t looking at him, Ryan turned to Abdi and spoke in a whisper.
‘Who are the three nutters?’
‘They work for Hagar.’
Ryan acted innocent. ‘Who the hell is Hagar?’
This comment caused widespread laughter.
‘What’s funny?’ Ryan asked.
‘How can you not know who Hagar is?’ Youssef snorted.
‘I moved here less than a week ago,’ Ryan said. ‘I don’t know who anyone is.’
Abdi smiled. ‘Hagar’s the biggest drug dealer in this part of town.’
Ryan looked over. ‘So which one’s Hagar?’
This caused more laughter.
‘Hagar’s the top dog,’ Abdi said, snorting with laughter. ‘He doesn’t sit in a crummy youth club all day. Those are his lieutenants. They organise all the street dealers and dish out crumbs to us kids if we’re lucky.’
‘What kind of crumbs?’ Ryan asked.
‘If they like you, they give out jobs,’ Abdi explained. ‘Maybe twenty quid to take something from here to there, or go to Starbucks for coffees. Once they start really trusting you, you might get a package. That’s when you sell drugs yourself.’
‘Shit!’ Ryan said excitedly. ‘Can you make a lot of dough?’
Abdi nodded. ‘There’s guys our age making seven hundred a week, just for selling a few hours a day after school. But you’ve gotta be careful, ’cos if you mess up, Hagar’s guys will batter you.’
‘Maybe kill you even,’ Youssef added, as the black ball rattled into a pocket on the nearest pool table.
The guy who’d lost handed Ryan a chewed-up cue, while the victor racked up the balls for another game.
‘OK,’ Ryan said, as he lined up to break. ‘Let’s play some pool.’
15. NEBRASKA
Fay and Ning left Idris STC shortly after noon on Friday. A prison service minibus drove south for an hour and a half before dropping Fay at a semi-detached house in the suburb of Elstree. Her new foster-parents were a couple in their late forties, who had two younger foster-kids and a house