the finger with his muddy hand. ‘I’ve nicked stuff before and he buys it. And a few times I’ve done jobs for Trey, like bricks through windows and shit.’
This sounded pretty far-fetched and Daniel snorted. ‘Why does Trey want you to put bricks through windows?’
‘He runs a protection racket,’ Oli said, folding his arms furiously when he saw the expressions on the twins’ faces. ‘That’s god’s honest truth, you assholes. If you don’t believe me, we’ll go see him.’
Leon decided to call Oli’s bluff. ‘Now?’
Oli scraped up the last few chips and stood up. ‘Number eighty-four bus. Ten-minute ride. You coming?’
The trio kept a wary eye out for cops as they waited for the bus and got off by a stop under a railway arch. A cobbled alleyway took them past Asian taxi drivers standing in a noisy circle alongside their parked Priuses and into a cab office under a railway arch.
The receptionist behind the Plexiglas screen looked suspicious when Oli asked to see Trey.
‘He knows me,’ Oli explained.
‘He’s in a meeting,’ the woman said, as a cynical eyebrow flickered beneath her headscarf. ‘Have a seat.’
An old-fashioned bottled gas heater gave off a sweet smell as the boys squished together on a knackered sofa. Leon flicked through an ancient copy of FourFourTwo magazine, while Daniel played with his phone, texting James to let him know what was occurring.
‘Just in case there’s any argument,’ Oli said, as he slid a Samsung Galaxy with a pink cover out of his pocket. ‘Everything is split three ways, but the money from this is mine.’
‘Where’d you get that?’ Leon asked.
‘Remember that snivelling girl who I locked in the shower?’
‘Abigail,’ Leon said.
Oli nodded. ‘Gotta pick a pocket or two, eh?’
‘Her mother died and you ripped off her phone?’ Daniel said incredulously.
Oli shrugged and smirked. ‘Life’s a bitch, then you die.’
A flimsy door by the service counter came open, and a haze of cigarette smoke along with it.
‘Trey’s ready,’ an old dude in carpet slippers said. All three boys stood up, but he pointed at Oli. ‘Just you.’
As Oli vanished inside with the wheeled case, Daniel looked at Leon, shook his head and spoke in a whisper. ‘Who robs a girl whose mother just died?’
Leon nodded in agreement. ‘Before we go back to campus, I’m gonna bundle Oli into one of the shower rooms at Nurtrust and give him such a beating.’
‘It’s a nice thought, but they’ll kick our asses out of CHERUB if we do that.’
‘Who’s gonna tell ’em?’ Leon asked. ‘James is cool.’
The pair played with their phones and clock watched. Five. Five fifteen. Five twenty-five.
‘Maybe they killed him,’ Leon suggested.
‘Maybe he took our share and legged it out the back way,’ Daniel suggested.
Oli finally emerged, looking unsure of himself and reeking of cigarette smoke. He zipped his jacket and started towards the door.
‘So?’ Daniel asked. ‘What did we get?’
They were out of the alleyway and walking towards the bus stop when Oli finally answered.
‘Sixty pounds each,’ Oli said, peeling a roll of notes out of his pocket.
‘You what!’ Daniel shouted. ‘That was a twelve-hundred-quid Lenovo laptop. Plus the Xbox.’
‘I tried to get it up to two hundred,’ Oli said. ‘Trey said the market was really tight. Like, nobody is buying stuff.’
‘You should have walked out,’ Leon said.
Oli shook his head. ‘It’s the risk you take, OK. Trey’s a serious guy. If you walk out, you’re gonna offend him. And he’s not someone you want as your enemy.’
Daniel gave Oli a little shove back into the bus canopy. ‘You’d better not be ripping us off.’
‘How much did you get for the phone?’ Leon demanded. ‘Open your pockets.’
Oli bordered on tears as Daniel and Leon stood close. They unzipped his jacket, went down the pockets inside and out, then made him turn out the pockets in his muddy tracksuit bottoms. All they found were a couple of pound coins and a Fresh Start ID card.
‘Where’s your share, dumbass?’
‘I didn’t get one,’ Oli blurted. ‘It was a hundred and twenty for all three of us. I messed up, OK? I gave you my share because Trey acted like a dick and I felt bad for letting you down.’
A tear welled in Oli’s eye and the twins felt sorry for him. He was kinda pathetic.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘We should go back over the road and beat the shit out of everyone,’ Leon said.
Oli raised his hands anxiously. ‘They’re serious people, you can’t mess with them. But there’s something else.’
‘What?’ Leon asked.
‘Trey says there’s a job that needs doing. I