Free Black Coke by James Grenton Page B

Steve, who was looking up and down the ground floor corridor.
     
    Steve pulled out his radio: ‘Bring in the heli. We’ve got a scrotie on the run just off Dalston Road.’
     
    A male voice crackled back: ‘On its way.’
     
    A shadow moved outside. Nathan rammed through the metal door further down the corridor, into a deserted car park. Tony was climbing a six-foot wall, struggling to slide his obese body over it. Nathan raced over and jumped up just as Tony was letting himself down the other side. Nathan balanced on the wall and pulled out his gun. The other side was pitch black. A rock flew past him. He lay flat.
     
    A whirring noise appeared above him, bringing Nathan momentarily back to the Colombian jungle. A helicopter’s floodlights lit up the area. It was a garden, with well-kept bushes and flowerbeds and a kids’ corner with swings and a sandpit.
     
    But no sign of Tony.
     

Chapter 14
    North London, UK
8 April 2011
     
    ‘D on’t you worry,’ Steve said as they walked back into the crack house, brushing the dirt from their clothes. ‘He’ll show up eventually. Then we’ll get the fat bastard.’
     
    ‘This place is like a war zone,’ Nathan said.
     
    The front door was off its hinges. The banister was in pieces. Shattered furniture lay everywhere. The police had lined the addicts up against the wall in the hallway as though preparing them for an identity parade. Some yelled obscenities. Others tugged at their handcuffs until their wrists bled. A young woman blubbered and sobbed. The rest looked too mashed to speak, their eyes rolling and saliva dribbling down their chins.
     
    ‘What’s that with their eyes?’ Nathan said.
     
    ‘They’re mashed, that’s what,’ Steve said.
     
    ‘Look.’ Nathan pointed to the young woman, who was leaning against the wall, head hanging back. ‘Those black spots on the eyeballs.’
     
    ‘Could be nothing.’
     
    ‘They’ve all got them.’ Nathan looked from one to the other. ‘And their ears. Look at them. All black and blue.’
     
    ‘Bruisings. Junkies are always getting whacked around the head.’
     
    ‘All of them?’
     
    ‘Hey, guv, check this out.’ A policeman handed Steve a bag of black powder about the size of two cigarette packets. ‘Found it upstairs.’
     
    ‘Is that what I think it is?’ Nathan turned the package over in Steve’s hands. On the other side was the logo of a black beetle. ‘Straight from southern Colombia.’
     
    ‘How d’you know?’
     
    ‘I was there last week. I saw the labs where they make this stuff. It’s genetically-modified.’
     
    ‘Explains why this lot are so wasted,’ Steve said. ‘Found some in a den in Camden yesterday. Looks like it’s getting rather popular.’
     
    Nathan slit open the packet. He licked the tip of his index finger and dabbed the powder with it. He placed a tiny amount on his tongue. It went totally numb. A buzzing sensation spread throughout his mouth. He wiped his finger on his trousers and handed the packet back to Steve, who tasted it and grimaced.
     
    Nathan was already thinking through his report to Cedric. The presence of Black Coke here confirmed his prediction that the Front was seeking to expand fast internationally. Amonite was setting up the supply chains, generating demand. For all Nathan knew, a huge shipment of Black Coke may already have landed and was about to spark an epidemic of drug addiction and gang violence across the country. George would never be able to shrug this off as not being hard evidence.
     
    ‘Why you smiling?’ Steve said. ‘Something funny?’
     
    ‘No, nothing. Just thinking of the Soca board’s reaction when I tell them about this.’
     
    ‘Why?’
     
    A voice came from behind them. ‘Guv! Over here.’
     
    They ran into the kitchen.
     
    ‘Where?’ Steve said.
     
    ‘Down here.’
     
    A wooden door was open to their right. A smashed metal padlock lay on the floor. They went down wooden stairs into a basement