Chapter 3

We drove into the pub car park. It was almost empty apart from two black four-by-fours. we parked up, I got one of the bags from the car’s boot and walked into the beer garden.

Crumble and his lads were sitting t around two tables, they all had pints of beer.

Crumble stood up and gave Curly and me man hugs. Ade stood up and we shook hands.

“Beer?” he asked.

We both said yes, and he nodded to one of his lads to go and fetch them. All of the other lads moved further down the beer garden.

We sat down. I gave Crumble the bag and he looked inside.

“Is that for me?” he asked with a smile.

“Yes, mate we found it in the drug factory!”

We had agreed to keep some money for ourselves, we had emptied all the bags and shared the cash equally. We had netted around one hundred and fifty grand each. To me it had been a good day, we had destroyed a shedload of drugs, killed a load of drug dealers and a serial rapist and taken the cash they would have used to buy more class A.

“So how many of the gang did we take out in the end?” Curly asked as a beer was placed in front of him.

“My contact says that they have twenty dead and five injured,” Ade said.

I took a long swig of my beer.

“And you have one guy injured?” I asked.

“Yes, it was just a flesh wound, he will be fine, the police also had one guy injured,”

“And I guess your contact is happy?”

“Yes, more than ... we killed the fuckers,” he smiled, “if they arrest them, they get five years in an HMP with three meals a day and a free Xbox,”

“So, I guess we did the job that they want to do but can’t!” Curly said.

“Bang on mate, we took out the trash!” Crumble replied.

We all chinked glasses.

“So, what happens now?”

“So, the gang is in tatters and other dealers are taking over their beats,” Ade said.

“And the cops are all over them,” Crumble said.

“So, our job is done?” Curly said and picked up the food menu.

“Not quite mate, our contact has asked for a favour!” Crumble said.

“Okay and why do we owe them a favour?” I asked.

“Let’s just say if we do this favour, they won’t be looking into the shooting very hard!” Ade said.

“So, we owe them a favour!” I replied.

I got the feeling we were being played.

“So, what do we have to do?” I asked.

“So Burhaam is looking to get back into the game!” Crumble said, “Rumour has it that he has borrowed cash to buy more gear,”

“Who does a drug dealer get a loan from?” Curly asked.

“Seems that he has borrowed the cash from a gangster in Manchester!” Ade said.

“That’s unusual drug dealers subbing each other, they had an agreement not to deal on each other’s turf!” Crumble said with a shake of his head.

“So where do we come into this?” I asked.

“So, we know that Burhaam has a boatload of class A and B coming in in three days, he and his gang will all be there to make sure the deal goes well!”

“How much are we talking about and how do you know?” I asked.

“The plod had someone inside,” Ade said.

“And we are talking about drugs with a street value of one Mil!” Crumble said.

“One Mil, fuck me that’s some haul!” Curly said.

“Yes, and that’s why you are needed, they will have lots of lads with lots of guns!” Crumble said, “We will be taking out three gangs in the city at the same time as you take out Burhaam and his lads as well as taking the drugs off the street!”

“So, the cash?” Curly asked.

“We divide it 50/50!” Crumble said. It was a fair deal.

“Hang on who is bringing the drugs in?” Curly asked.

“It’s coming in from Ireland, some old paramilitary lads who have turned to drugs now peace has broken out!” Crumble told us.

I looked at Curly and he looked at me, taking on druggies and plastic gangsters was one thing but taking on the PIRA or the red hand of Ulster was a different thing altogether.

Then again, we were SAS, our gang was bigger and better armed than them.

“Right, a few questions lads, one we will need some serious weaponry!” I said.

“Name what you need, and our contact will get them for you!” Crumble said.

“And if we get caught?” Curly said, “I take it this is all strictly off the books?”

“You will be cool. The police in the area will be stood down!” Crumble said.

“And what do we do with the drugs?” I asked.

“They are coming in on an old trawler, we want the trawler taken out to sea and burnt.”

That was good, I did not mind getting my hands on drug dealers’ money, but I didn’t want to deal drugs.

“Crumble mate, we need to talk about this!” I said and looked at Curly.

“I understand that mate,” he said.

Curly and I stood up and walked about a hundred yards down the canal.

Once we were there, we looked at each other.

“So, mate what do you think?” I asked.

“It’s like this mate the army pays us peanuts, I have five years left and then I want out, it would be nice to have a few quid in the bank!” Cury said.

I thought about that and what he said made sense.

“So, are we in?” Curly asked,

“Yes ... Yes, we will be doing the world a favour and making a few quid for our retirement pots!”

We shook hands and walked up to the beer garden. I sat down and drained my pint glass.

“So, lads are you in or out?”

We left the pub and drove back to the house. Nothing was said during the journey. We parked the car up two streets away and walked around.

The girls greeted me with hugs and kisses and Curly got hugs as well. As soon as we were in the house they started to cook. I got two beers out of the fridge and Curly, and I sat in the back garden and made up a list of the kit we would need.

An hour later the girls called us in to eat. They had cooked up a feast. The table was full of plates of Badenjan (cooked aubergine with potatoes and tomatoes), Bhindi (cooked okra), spicy chicken and Lamb Koftas. Maushawa (mixed beans and tiny meatballs, served in a bowl) plus, a plate of flatbreads.

I got us all beers; the girls had gotten into beer since they had arrived in the UK.

We chatted about life and the move to Hereford. The girls had come round to the idea and to be fair they were excited about the move.

We planned to book a van and started to make a list of things we needed to do.

After we had eaten Curly, and I did the washing up. Then I made us coffee and we sat in the lounge and made plans.

That night I slept with Asmaan. We shagged until the early hours. I was as horny as fuck. It would be good to have the girls in Hereford. I could spend a lot more time with them.