PROLOGUE
Three male youths hung menacingly around a disused warehouse in north London, kicking empty cans and discarded food wraps as they waited for their instructions. It was night and their faces could hardly be seen in the enveloping darkness. It was a typical sight for this area of London; unruly youths loitering on street corners and in front of shops using their hooded jumpers and the cover of darkness to hide their faces. In the majority of cases these skulking youths typically kept themselves to themselves and bantered in between each other- their bark sounding worse than their bite. But to a solo traveller on their way home late at night a sight of these feral looking youths was more than enough for someone to cross the road to the other side.
Unfortunately with these youths this was not one of those misinterpreted situations; these three were up to no good.
As the youths prowled around the area staying low and out of site, each wondered internally what their next assignment would be. As runners, typically their orders were simple; they were each assigned a certain amount of marijuana (known as a thousand different names on the street)- which they then had to distribute and sell around their given areas. Each was supplied with 5 ounces of the drug, worth around £1200 street value which the runners then had to sell within a month. It was a lucrative business that brought healthy financial rewards, but also highly illegal, hence the location and the use of night.
The youths weren't to know but they were all being watched as another two figures in an adjacent building kept an eye over proceedings in case of police or a sting operation of some sort. It was typical of a situation like this in the capital, there were always watchers with weapons for fear that anything would kick off with rival gangs or if the distributors decided they were going to take the drugs and not pay their suppliers. But these youths knew better than that, they had all made a lot of money from this illicit business and in general everyone concerned wanted it to stay that way.
Unbeknownst to the youths a text message had passed between the watchers and the suppliers that the coast was clear and the handover could go ahead and as they continued to wait in silence, a loud voice bellowed down to them from the top of the old abandoned building.
"OI YOU MAN..UP ERE!"
The startled youths looked upwards and could only just make out a distant figure at the top of the building.
"OI WALK ROUND THE BACK, THERES SOME STAIRS YEAH". The voice shouted.
The three guys followed their orders and trudged around the back of the building. It was much darker there as there were no street lights from the road to act as distant illumination. They reached the iron corrugated stairs which spiralled upwards four floors to the top of the building where the supplier waited.
"Yes yes you man, come through" The man said as the youths approached him. Visibly, only his outline could be seen but behind him stood the vast backdrop of central London, which was lit up beautifully as lights from various establishments, motorways and cars warmed the scenery of the capital. The drug dealer was an older looking black man, in his early thirties but still sported a hooded top and a large cliché silver chain hanging from his neck.
"Yes Ali, yes Bizzle, yes Jordan. Everyone cool yeah?" The man said greeting them as he bumped fists with each of the youths consecutively, his voice deep, commanding respect but with a hint of friendliness attached with it.
One of the youths stepped forward directly addressing the drug dealer.
"Antone man! Allow making us wait out here for time cuz" He said.
The guys name was Ali, he was of Indian descent and had a hint of resentment in his tone. He was the youngest of the three but he had enough gall to approach the dealer alone.
"I beg though, can I just grab the ting and bounce. Mans got things to do yeah". Ali continued.
The supplier, now known as Antone chuckled slightly and paused before answering. Everyone's eyes had adjusted to the dark now and faces could be seen relatively clearly. Antone smiled a broad joker -esque grin directed at Ali.
"Ah my bad bro, come through man, I got the ting right ere" Antone added through his teeth and beckoned the youth towards him. "Come man".
Antone wore an extremely large hooded top and began to rummage through the front pockets as Ali stepped forward closer to the dealer. Then, suddenly when Ali was close enough Antone reached out and grabbed the young male with his left hand and wrapped it around his throat squeezing hard enough to make Ali squirm and gag. And to Ali's further horror a knife emerged in Antone's other hand and was placed directly under his left eye. The other two runners stepped back in shock and looked at each other, visually asking each other what to do.
"LISTEN YOU LIL PUSSY'OLE! Who the fuck you think you are cuz?! What... you running this operation now yeah?...You telling ME what to do fam?!" Antone said aggressively as Ali continued to squirm.
"Allow it man..allow me pl – please" Ali squawked, struggling to speak.
Although of average height and build, Antone managed to control Ali easily with just one arm as the kid continued to struggle.
"Please bruv, I'm sorry yeah..Its just that-"
"SHUT UP!" Antone interjected fiercely "You think i give a fuck what you got to say! YOU work for ME yeah! WHOSE OPERATION IS THIS FAM...WHO WHO!?" The aggressive drug dealer shouted, shaking Ali with each question.
"Yo- Yours bbruv...allow me... I beg!" pleaded Ali.
"That's what I thought" Antone threw the youth back and released him from the snake like grip. Immediately he bent over began rubbing his neck and breathing heavily.
Antone looked squarely at the other two youths.
"Anyone else got a problem waiting for man?"
"Nah man it's cool" Bizzle replied quickly, trying not to look Antone in the eyes. He was the only Caucasian in the group and looked distinctly nervous. Jordan, the other youth of African descent and up till now the quietest of the group suddenly perked up.
"No problem at all Ant" The black youth stepped closer to Antone "Listen, I'm sorry about Ali man, he's just a yoot innit. Everyone's eating well from this..sorry...your.. business man. Allow him, he'll learn". Jordan said persuasively but still trying to keep a tough demeanour.
Antone looked at Jordan directly and maintained eye contact for what seemed like an age and then finally turned his gaze at Ali who was only just starting to get his composure back.
"Yeah...motherfucker better learn". The drug dealer said, spitting at the floor as he did so.
Turning around and facing the vast landscape of London, Antone walked up to a small box like feature jutting out from the floor. It had previously been an air ventilation unit for the office below and it had a cylindrical roof turbine protruding from it. Antone began unscrewing the unit from its base.
"Come... come, come get that good grade stillll" He said nonchalantly without turning around. Jordan looked at Ali and gave him a nod to go first, the youngster did as he was told and gingerly walked up to the dealer. Antone rummaged around momentarily and brought out three large square cellophane blocks. Almost immediately the air around them became infused with the potent smell of marijuana.
"Yo smell dat boy's? That's the smell of profits, you get me! This is a new ting, Blue Cheese straight from Amsterdam yeah? Got it through today and I'M the only mans dats got this yeah so let dem customers know...Exclusive yeah" He continued as he handed out a block to each of the youths
"Right I'm giving you each a brick o dis shit! Do your ting, get it out there, hustle and promote alright?"
"Jheese! Smells like the peng blud!" Bizzle said excitedly and snapping his fingers. Antone stared at him directly, his top lip beginning to snarl like a dog.
"DO I LOOK LIKE YOUR FUCKING BLOOD? Look at you, then look at me! You think we're fucking related?!" He growled.
Immediately Bizzle retreated into his shell again and put his head down in shame "Nah man..ss..sorry"
"Right! You man are starting to piss me off and i'm thinking about cutting someone" He said angrily. "So take the ting... shot it out! I want at least 1200 bills for dis yeah. You get me dat...you get 4 bills each, no doubt"
In unison, the youths nodded in agreement. The tension was high and quite evidently aggravating Antone so anymore stupid bouts of confidence from the runners could be costly both financially and physically.
"Alright now fuck off! And bell me when you got the cheddar!" Antone said aggressively. The youths turned around and began to disperse. They were nearly at the stairs when Jordan heard Antone calling his name.
"Oi Jordan...hold back yeah..need to chat to you still" Antone looked at him through eyes slit like needles.
Jordan stopped nervously in his tracks and turned back around to face Antone. Both Bozzle and Ali stopped briefly as to enquire what was going on. "What?! You two answering to Jordan now?! FUCK OFF!" The drug dealer barked as the two youths immediately scuttled off into the dark down the stairs. Antone approached Jordan slowly and although deeply terrified of the drug dealer, Jordan managed to keep some semblance of composure.
"Listen blood, this weed ting...how you eating from it? You surviving or what?" Questioned Antone.
"Doing alright still. Covering my uni bills and that so, not bad I suppose" Jordan replied.
"Sure...sure ..But mans could always do with a bit more dough innit?..Times are hard with uni and that right?"
Jordan sensed these questions were leading somewhere and started to become fidgety and nervous in his own skin. Antone was a guy you didn't want to mess with and Jordan had learned in the past it was easier to accommodate rather than complicate.
"Yeah man definitely. Moneys money though innit. Sometimes you got it...sometimes not"
"See, thats why I like you man.." Antone said, putting a hand on Jordan's shoulder creepily. "You got your head screwed on..not like those other pussy'oles. You doing your university ting, getting that education..bettering yourself...thats good man..real good"
"Just doing my thing man" Jordan said uneasily.
A pause ensued as Antone squeezed Jordan's shoulder slightly.
"Listen, I want to take you up a level..give you a...promotion within the business. Take this" He handed Jordan another cellophane wrap from his back pocket. It was smaller than the previous wrap of weed and a lot lighter. Jordan looked at it intently for a moment, when he realised it was cocaine his jaw dropped.
"You serious? This is coke!" Jordan said fearfully.
"Yeah..you at the big man table now blood" Antone stared at Jordan directly, his eyes unmoving "So you get to make some big man paper. I want you to shot this for me, you already got the connections..so just tell whoever you shot to.. that you got the white as well yeah? Trust... Your uni mates will love this shit!"
"I don't know man..I don't think I can do that you know" Jordan looked up at him panicked "It's just...if I get caught with this-"
"Dont worry about that fam" Antone said, shaking Jordan as if they were the best of friends " Your already doing the green thing with no problems, your under the radar cousin. No-one's ever going to suspect a university head and listen...you shot this white for me..there's another 6 bills in it for you. You get me?"
Jordan's world had turned upside down. Saying no to a guy like Antone could have serious repercussions; if he was to say no now then he knew he would get cut off from his weed supply and lose the financial gain. On the flip side Antone was right, Jordan already had the connections , they were mostly his university peers and selling weed to that group was obviously a risk as well but he had taken measures so that if he was ever caught, he made sure he only had the smallest amount on him. So no large deals and no dealing to customers he didn't know. It only eased his mind a little bit that he could apply the same restrictions to the cocaine issue and possibly branch out and gain more financially which was obviously appealing; but in reality the risks of selling cocaine were endless. Police, jail time, permanent record were just a couple of the horrors that flew through his mind unnerving him but he was shaken out of his daydream by Antone increasing the pressure on his shoulder once again.
"So what you say fam.. you gonna do this for me yeah?" Antone squeezed a little bit tighter, almost too tight.
Sadly, it was a heavily rhetorical question as they both knew the answer. Jordan came to the solemn conclusion that he would now be selling cocaine. He shook his head in sad acknowledgement "Yeah...I'll do it" he muttered.
"THAT'S my nigga! See I knew I could depend on you man. Brothers in this city gotta stick together..you get me"
"Yeah" Jordan replied silently as he placed the larger packet of marijuana into his canvass shoulder bag and the cocaine into his back pocket and prepared himself to go.
" ..before you go" Antone said holding Jordan back gently "I'm trusting you with this...Dont fuck me alright. You got a clever head on your shoulders Jordan.." He reached inside his pocket on the front of his hoodie again and rummaged ominously. Jordan looked down and saw that the shiny large knife had once again re-appeared and had found its way to being pressed in his mid drift. "Be a shame to lose it yeah?"
The drug dealer looked at him square in his eyes, even though it was dark Jordan could sense the intense ocular pressure directed towards him. With a large uncomfortable gulp Jordan nodded his head again and started to walk off towards the stairs, leaving Antone where he stood. He could still feel the drug dealer's eyes on him as he descended down the metal stairs, each stair clanging loudly as his feet connected with them. Upon reaching ground level, he took a swift look upwards to see if Antone was still looking at him but to his relief he saw nothing, just darkness and a black sky littered with glittering distant stars. Making his way round from the back of the old building, Jordan brought out his mobile phone and started dialling a friend's number.
Unbeknownst to the youth only 60 or so meters ahead of him, multiple texts messages and radio communications were being passed between officials regarding Jordan's location. Jordan walked on towards the entrance unaware, only concentrating on the voice message he was leaving on his friend's mobile phone.
"Chris. Got the stuff mate, so let people your end know we've reloaded...also got some other stuff as well...Dont freak but ...but...actually I don't really want to talk about it over the phone. So just give me a call whe-"
Jordan's message was swiftly cut off by flashing blue and red lights and a loud siren. The police and the drug squad had turned up and as Jordan stood there startled like a rabbit in headlights, policemen jumped out of their respective vehicles and began to circle him.
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE! THIS IS THE POLICE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE" A loud mechanical voice bellowed over a tannoy speaker.
Jordan paused momentarily as his mind raced. He had over £3000 pounds worth of drugs on him and he was cornered by the police, it was definite jail time. At the sound of heavy boots behind him instinctively Jordan bolted.
He ran to his left, the only place he saw was an opening between the cars, lights and policemen. The boots behind him quickened their pace and to his right more policemen appeared chasing after him. Jordan ran as fast as he could, his shoes pounding on the gravel and dirt underneath as he manoeuvred the best he could around the obstacles in his way, jumping over bins, crates and cardboard boxes as the police continued to follow. To his horror, in front of him about 20 meters away he saw a large metal fence almost 10 ft high.
"STOP WHERE YOU ARE. YOU'VE GOT NO WHERE TO GO" A policeman shouted from behind him. Jordan would have to make a decision soon, the fence was coming up and as he looked around he saw there was no other way to go, the fence itself spread around the whole of the building area. It was starting to dawn on him that the entrance in which he had come through earlier was the only way in or out. He was breathing heavily now and he could sense the policemen encroaching upon him. Jordan looked at the fence again, it was his only hope he had try and scale it. He hoped if he could get enough speed and bounce of it with one foot to leverage himself up, he might be able to grab the top, get a hand hold and pull himself up and over. Internally Jordan cursed, if the fence hadn't been there he could have out run the police no problem, he was a fast runner but that made no difference now as the land in front of him was shortening and he only had the one option. He stayed low and pumped his legs hard and fast, he only had about 10 meters left until the fence and even though the policemen were a little way behind him it was make or break time. Because if this jump failed, it would be definite jail time and as that last horrible thought ran through Jordan's mind, he jumped.