Free Glue by Irvine Welsh Page A

if eh found oot. It’s ehs ain fault but; ye never say things in front ay Terry, no if ye want thum tae stey secret. Ah’ve learned that much oot ay life. Sure enough, Terry mentioned it tae Doyle, then eh goat me involved. — Me n you Billy, eh sais. — Carl n Gally are our mates, but tae the likes ay Dozo Doyle n Gent, thir jist wee laddies. They willnae want them hingin aboot.
    Ye could tell that it wis really Terry whae thoat like that n aw but. Ah thought, aye, awright, but ah still felt bad aboot Carl bein left oot.He wis doon thaire wi that boy eh works for, that auld grocer radge. They’d been at the Granton Cash n Carry pickin up stuff fir the shoap. Maist of all, in a loadin bay, ootside the factory, jist aboot visible fae the Shore Road, Carl noticed that they hud these big bales ay copper wire, jist stacked up doon thair.
    Well, Terry hud goat talkin tae Dozo Doyle aboot this, jist cause ay Dozo’s auld boy bein a big gangster or crook or whatever the fuck eh’s meant tae be. The Duke, they call the cunt. Dinnae ken what eh’s meant tae be the Duke ay, Broomhoose or something like that. They like giein thir minds a treat, some folk. Anyhow, United Wire hud peyed oaf a loat ay boys so thir wis only a skeleton staff thair. It came aboot that one ay the night watchmen there was auld Jim Pender, and he drank in the Busy. Course, Terry starts tappin the boy up, gittin in wi the auld gadge n that. Eh tells Doyle eh reckons Pender’s as bent as a forty-eight-pence piece and eh wid go along wi us rippin oaf the copper. Of course, it wis drastic, cause the perr auld boy didnae really huv any option eftir Terry introduced um tae Dozo, Martin Gentleman and Dozo’s big cousin, Bri. The perr auld gadge wis shitein it; aw they wee thugs or, in Gentleman’s case, big thugs hingin roond um. Brutal really, bit what kin ye dae?
    That wis whaire the Doyles took ower everything really; n me n Terry wir jist along fir the ride. The thing is, thir’s fuck all tae dae at nights roond oor wey, ye need a bit ay excitement.
    So Dozo Doyle, the big master criminal in the scheme, the wideo Terry wants tae be like: he wis the yin that worked oot this plan.
    Thir was only one wey in, n one wey oot ay the estate where the wireworks wis. Thir wis nae wey tae drive through tae Silverknowes n Cramond, the road was blocked off at the estate by the Granton Gas Works. This meant that any chorie hud tae go in and oot through the foreshore road. Doyle kent that the polis wir eywis cruisin the foreshore road doon by the Granton industrial estate, lookin fir knock-off.
    Doyle reckoned that we should leave a van in the loadin bay durin the day. The van would jist sit thair aw day n Pender, in the office, would make sure that naebody touched it. We’d wait till the week when Pender changed fae day-shift tae back-shift, and worked right through the double-shift. That wey eh’d be thair aw the time, keepin an eye oan things.
    Thir wis one big problem. Pender telt us that there were guard dugs that Securicor left in the grounds every night. Of course, they couldnae git intae his office, which looked oot ontae the loadin bay, butwe’d be right in thair wi thum if we did it Doyle’s wey. If the dugs raised the alarm, Pender was meant tae call the polis. That wis the least ay oor worries but: they things were trained tae go fir ye.
    Doyle wisnae bothered. Whin anybody brought it up, eh’d jist run ehs hand slowly through ehs black hair, littin it faw forward in layers. — We’ll take care ay they cunts. Maist guard dugs are shiters. Thir bark’s worse thin thir bite. That’s whaire that sayin comes fae.
    Terry wis unconvinced. — Ah dinnae ken aboot dugs . . .
    — Leave the fuckin dugs tae us, Doyle smiled, lookin ower at big Marty Gentleman. The big radge looked back in a wey that made ye feel sorry fir the Alsatians. Ah’m feart ay naebody, but ah’d rather pagger wi two Doyles than Gentleman. The size ay him; eh’s a monster, a