Lone Wolf - Robert Muchamore Page 0,32
Rupert?’
Rupert’s smile showed off missing front teeth. ‘Forget the food,’ he said. ‘Just give me thirty for my next two fixes and I’ll tell you all you need to know about Hagar and Eli.’
‘Eli?’ Fay said. ‘Who the hell is Eli?’
18. PHONE
‘Youssef,’ Ryan said. ‘What’s happening?’
Youssef was bulky and dark-skinned with a wispy beard. ‘You’re late,’ he said coldly, as he got off a wooden bench and started towards the entrance of Kentish Town Station.
‘Only five minutes,’ Ryan said. ‘I’m new in the neighbourhood, took a wrong turning.’
Youssef accepted this with a shrug. ‘There’s money to be made running stuff for Ali and that crew, but you gotta be punctual and fast.’
Ryan followed Youssef, blipping his Oyster card through the tube gates and down the escalator towards the platform.
‘We’re getting off at Tottenham Court Road,’ Youssef explained, as he discreetly passed over a roll of money. ‘That’s three hundred pounds. When we get out we’re gonna head towards Oxford Street. It’s three miles long and has about thirty mobile phone shops. Our job is to go into every shop along the way, and pick up one of the cheapest phones in each shop.’
‘Why not buy them all in one shop?’ Ryan asked, as they stepped off the escalator and moved on to the southbound platform.
‘Three minutes,’ Youssef said, as he looked up at the train arrivals board. He didn’t answer Ryan’s question until they’d moved to a quiet area at the end of the platform.
‘Mobile phones are convenient, but they’re also a drug dealer’s worst nightmare. Not only can the cops record every conversation, they can be used to triangulate your exact position. The only way to stay ahead of the cops is to never use a phone for more than three or four days.’
Ryan knew this already, but was keen to find out how deep Youssef’s knowledge was. ‘Why not just change the SIM card?’
Youssef shook his head. ‘Every phone has a built-in number called an IMEI. Even if you swap the SIM card, the cops can still trace the phone or block it if it gets stolen.’
‘So how often do the Hagars of this world change their numbers?’
‘I’ve heard that Hagar doesn’t carry a mobile,’ Youssef said. ‘If he wants something done, he’ll put it in the ear of a lieutenant. The lieutenant probably has to change his mobile every two or three days.’
‘Which is why we’re gonna buy the cheapest ones we can get,’ Ryan said.
‘You’re learning,’ Youssef answered. ‘And if you ever spot a dude stepping out of a sixty-grand car holding a twelve pound ninety-nine Nokia, I guarantee you he’s crooked.’
*
It took some gentle persuasion to take Rupert to a greasy spoon café behind the Pemberton estate. He ordered a full English and a large tea, Ning asked for beans on toast, while Fay went for a bacon and fried egg sandwich.
‘Tell me about Eli?’ Fay asked.
Rupert shrugged. ‘Don’t know that much,’ he said. ‘But there’s a rivalry going on. This part of town was all Hagar’s undisputed territory. But the last few months this Eli has been mixing it.’
‘So they’re at war?’ Fay asked.
‘If they are it’s a quiet war,’ Rupert said. ‘But at least healthy competition has upped the quality of the product. You get more kick from twenty quid’s worth of gear than you would have done at the start of the year.’
They paused the conversation while the waitress put down three mugs of tea and the plates of greasy food. Rupert tucked in by skewering his sausage on a fork, but Ning was put off by a plate that didn’t look too clean and the unwashed aroma of her dining companion.
‘So where do you go to buy heroin these days?’ Fay asked.
‘Eli sells a decent product. You can usually pick it up in the park over by the reservoir, or behind the Archway tower.’
‘And Hagar?’ Fay asked.
‘He’s got a dozen places, but I usually go up to the Pemberton estate.’
‘Same for cocaine?’ Ning asked, to Fay’s surprise.
‘Most places will sell you both,’ Rupert said, as he erupted into a violent coughing fit.
Fay nodded as she greedily bit into her fried egg sandwich. ‘Pemberton estate,’ she told Ning. ‘That’s where we’re headed next.’
*
It was a hot Saturday afternoon and the estate writhed with kids riding bikes, kicking balls and squirting one another with water pistols. Amidst the fun, Fay picked out an alleyway behind the refuse chute where a three-strong crew were peddling drugs.
‘Three blokes,’ Ning said. ‘How would you rob them?’
Fay