The Takedown

by Ricky Black

  ‘People have been noticing the work you’re doing on the roads, so keep it up.’

  Darren shoved the money into his pocket. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Teflon sees summat in you. We all do. He wants you to be a big part of what happens next.’

  ‘What’s gonna happen next?’

  K-Bar scratched his head. ‘You know shit’s been funny since Teflon’s shooting, right?’

  Darren did. The shooting of their leader, along with the murders of Marcus, Chink and Timmy had cast a negative spotlight on a crew known for keeping things low-key. Their inner conflicts had been thrust out into the open, leading to a notoriety that made it difficult to do business. They persevered, but there had been little growth and the crew were surviving rather than thriving.

  ‘Yeah, a few people have noticed.’

  ‘Course they have. People think we’re weak, plus the Feds are just waiting for us to mess up. Fact is though, Teflon is back.’

  Darren frowned. ‘I thought he was leaving.’

  ‘Who told you that?’ K-Bar flinched.

  ‘Heard it in passing.’

  K-Bar sized up Darren.

  ‘Anyway, he’s recovered, and he wants a push on the streets. We need to re-establish ourselves and to do that, we need you in another position.’

  ‘Which position?’

  ‘For now, you’re only gonna report to me. Your money goes up, obviously. You’ll meet a few new people and you’ll keep everything you hear to yourself. Cool?’

  ‘Course it’s cool.’ Darren fought to keep the grin from his face. He sensed he wasn’t being told the full story, but would not turn down more money or responsibility.

  Lennox Thompson sat in the kitchen of one of his spots, drinking coffee and writing in a battered notebook. He heard the front door unlock and footsteps heading toward him. Checking his gun was within reach, Lennox resumed writing as Nikkolo bounced into the kitchen.

  ‘What you doing, boss? You writing bars or something?’ He chuckled. Lennox laughed.

  ‘Yeah, I’m trying to start a career as a Grime MC. Can you imagine me up on stage with Kano?’

  The pair laughed. Lennox sipped his drink and motioned for Nikkolo to sit.

  ‘Is everything in place?’

  Nikkolo nodded. Lennox knew Nikkolo wasn’t on board with the plan, but he wouldn’t dare to speak his mind on it.

  ‘The police are there now. They got our little tip-off, and they raided the spot.’

  ‘Any word on what they took?’ Lennox had ordered Nikkolo to leak the address of Delroy’s stash house, wanting to weaken Delroy’s fledging power base.

  ‘Only rumours from people who were hanging around, but there were boxes and boxes in there, and about twenty kilo’s of weed. They had some fancy equipment to hide the smell. Couple’ guns too. People are still talking about it.’

  ‘Good. Make sure our people are discreetly out there talking it up too. I want everyone to see Delroy Williams for the fat, worthless weakling that he is.’

  ‘I’ll take care of everything.’

  Satisfied, Lennox went back to writing his notes as Nikkolo poured a shot of brandy.

  Lamont led K-Bar into his study and poured him a drink. They toasted.

  ‘Surprised you didn’t want to meet at the barbers,’ said K-Bar, noticing Lamont’s expression darken for a second.

  ‘It’s good to switch it up. This room is well-guarded. Akeem made sure of it.’

  ‘You trust him, don’t you?’ K-Bar remarked.

  ‘I trust both of you. You wouldn’t be here otherwise. There aren’t many people that know where I live.’

  ‘Mostly women I’m guessing,’ quipped K-Bar. They both laughed, which seemed to take some tension out of the room. K-Bar knew Lamont was right. It had been years since K-Bar had been to any of Lamont’s houses. The fact K-Bar was here was a sign things were changing.

  ‘Did you put that list together?’

  K-Bar handed a crumpled piece of paper to Lamont.

  ‘Are these guys available?’

  ‘I’ve put out feelers. They’re all willing to work for the right money. Jamal and Rudy in particular will get shit done. They knew Marcus back in the day and had good things to say about him.’

  ‘Bring them all in, piece-by-piece, and put them to work. What about the other thing?’

  ‘We have collected Most of the money you were owed. A couple people were funny about paying. Akeem went to speak to them and the money popped up like magic. A few others arranged payment plans as they didn’t have the money in full, so we’ll make interest off that.’

  Lamont smirked. Akeem had already informed him about those people.

  ‘Great.’

  K-Bar shook his head. ‘There’s one little problem.’

  Which is?

  ‘Big-Kev is holding out. He’s ducking out of paying, trying to avoid meetings, fronting about paying later.’

  ‘What does he owe?’ Lamont scratched his chin.

  ‘Fifteen bags,’ K-Bar replied, though he was aware Lamont already knew the amount.

  ‘It’s not a massive amount, but definitely enough that people may pay attention.’

  ‘Agreed. You wanna meet with him, see if you can convince him to pay?’

  Lamont finished his drink, pouring himself another.

  ‘Kev is the one who shot up Rika’s house, right?’

  K-Bar nodded. Big-Kev had links in Manchester and had loaned Marrion a large amount of money. Marrion then skipped town and ducked paying Kev back. After a few warnings, Kev struck, shooting up Marika’s house, then murdering Marrion a short while later.

  Lamont’s expression became cold, taking K-Bar by surprise.

  ‘Meet with Akeem, and you two sort the situation between yourselves. Send a message and let people know that we’re back in the game.’

  Chapter Seven

  Tuesday 17 February 2015

  ‘I don’t think it’ll hurt him.’

  Darren Lyles sat in the stash spot with Maka, watching a few of the young workers bagging drugs. They were deep in conversation about the raid at Delroy’s spot.

  ‘Del’s been doing this for years, and I heard the police got like twenty boxes at the most. That can’t hurt Delroy,’ he kept saying. Maka was more reserved. He had been in the game far longer than Darren and read between the lines with certain situations.

  ‘You think so?’

  ‘Yeah. Twenty’s a minor when you’ve got money like he must have.’

  Maka shook his head. ‘Lesson number one: never assume the other man has money. You don’t need to count anyone’s pockets but your own. I’m telling you as a man that’s been around, that loss will hurt Delroy a lot. There’s gonna be a lot of restructuring behind the scenes. It’s the same thing K had to do when Tef was down.’

  ‘What are you lot on about?’

  K-Bar entered the spot and greeted the pair, ignoring the workers.

  ‘Just the Delroy thing. Is everything good?’

  ‘I need to talk to you.’

  Maka and K-Bar headed to the garden. The cold was biting to the point both men wore large winter coats, hoping that the spate of bad weather subsided soon.

  ‘What’s going on then?’

  ‘You hear about Kev?’ K-Bar got straight to the point.

  ‘I heard he was ducking L.’

  ‘Well, now he’s gotta go. Permanently.’

  ‘For real?’ Maka’s eyes widened.

  ‘Tef is back, bro. He wants people to know they can’t take liberties.’

  ‘That’s a big move for him though. Shorty used to have to talk him into hitting people. Now he’s ordering it himself.’

  ‘Things change,’ K-Bar shrugged. ‘I’ll handle the hit, but I want you to do the driving. Cool?’

  ‘Let me know when. What about the slotting crews in Manny? Didn’t Kev use one of those to shoot up Marika’s house?’

  K-Bar nodded. ‘They’re not gonna get involved. They’re saying it�
�s a personal issue.’

  Maka scratched his chin. ‘Tef must have given them something to make them step aside.’

  ‘I doubt it was a small amount either. He’s gonna have us back on top though.’

  Lamont sat in his study, leafing through a file Akeem had given him. Akeem stood in the corner, waiting for Lamont to finish. Lamont took his time and when he finished, he placed the file in his drawer and locked it.

  ‘Those are the people you could locate?’

  Akeem nodded. ‘Akhan is a ghost. I couldn’t find an address without exposing what I was doing. He stopped using the office on Hares Avenue over a year ago. Another family appears to be staying there now, and I don’t know what connection they have to him. It could be family, or random renters. It’s hard to get a fix.

  ‘His organisation is all over the place, which makes them harder to track. Saj was easy enough to tail, and through him, my people were able to find some others.’

  ‘Looks like mostly low-level guys in that folder, so we’ve either grossly exaggerated how powerful Akhan is . . .’

  ‘Or, he keeps his inner circle close to his chest,’ Akeem was silent for a moment before speaking again. ‘What’s the move here? Akhan is blackmailing you, but you decided to keep selling drugs, regardless. What’s the endgame?’

  Lamont thought for a moment before he replied, appreciating the question Akeem had posed to him. When Vincent suggested Akeem come and work for him, Lamont had quickly taken to Akeem’s way of viewing things. He kept his own counsel and spoke when necessary.

  Lamont appreciated those traits. He’d been open with Akeem about Akhan’s threats. Akeem listened, then asked what Lamont wanted him to do.

  ‘I can’t let Akhan have an edge. If he thinks he has me over a barrel, he’ll take more liberties. It’s how men in his position work.’

  ‘And are you willing to risk the high quality drug supply to usurp this man?’

  Lamont rubbed his eyes.

  ‘Let’s deal with one thing at a time.’

  Jenny entered a coffee shop in the city centre and waited in the queue. After ordering a drink, she headed upstairs and saw the person she’d come to see. Taking a deep breath, she strolled over and slid into a seat opposite.

  ‘When you asked for my number, I didn’t think you’d use it,’ she said to the person, who smirked over the rim of their own cup.

  ‘I just thought we should talk. A loud bar in the middle of town wasn’t the best place.’

  Jenny nodded. ‘It always tickles me to enter these coffee shops. My first date with L was in one, believe it or not.’

  ‘I’d have expected him to pull out all the stops.’ Marika laughed.

  ‘I did too, but it was nice. Awkward at first. You know how it is when you don’t quite have the right back-and-forth yet. Didn’t help that every woman that passed us kept staring like they wanted to steal him.’

  Marika laughed again. ‘We have good genes in my family.’ she ran a hand through her silky hair.

  ‘Things got better from there though,’ Jenny finished. Marika watched her.

  ‘How is he?’

  ‘Like I said, he’s getting there. L doesn’t like to let people in. He just bottles it up and hopes it will go away.’

  ‘I think he learned that when we were younger. Has he told you about his upbringing?’

  ‘He’s mentioned your Aunt if that’s what you mean.’

  ‘I didn’t see what it was he saw.’ Marika took another sip.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Ever since me and L stopped talking, I’ve spent more time around Auntie, and she’ll always find a way to bring up L; how horrible he is. How he doesn’t take care of family. It’s bullshit, because L always helped me out, and he helped other family members too. L’s paid for funerals over the years, family holidays, given people money when they were sick.

  ‘I think Auntie’s issue is that L doesn’t give her any money. He doesn’t acknowledge her, and the family are all aware of it. I guess we were all avoiding the question staring at all of us.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘Why did L hate Auntie so much? L’s not a bad guy. He’s no angel, but still. He was a top student, never put a step wrong, did all the housework and cooking without complaint. How can you do all of that and still have your Guardian hate you?’

  ‘Did you ever see it?’

  Marika looked away a moment. ‘I saw little things. Beatings here and there. She was always going on about L’s appearance, but she bought him rubbish clothing. Mine was a little better, but she used to say that was because I was younger and my clothes were cheaper. I used to try to get him in trouble all the time.’ Marika looked ashamed.

  ‘Kids do that though.’

  ‘It was worse. Auntie didn’t need much provocation to punish Lamont, and he just took it. He never stopped loving me, never mistreated me. I was his closest family member, and I revelled in it, even as we got older. I could always count on him for money, and my kids loved him. Still do.

  ‘When we argued after Marcus was killed though, and he called me a leech and said all those horrible things, it broke me. He was right though; I took and took, and I definitely learned it from Auntie.’

  ‘Is that why you stayed with Marrion?’

  Marika wiped her eyes, her voice quiet now. ‘He wanted to look after me.’

  Jenny waited for Marika to continue.

  ‘Marrion came out of nowhere and he was strong, and he dressed and talked nice. I guess I hoped I’d found someone I could build with; someone who would motivate me to do something with my life. He was a hustler who’d come up from nothing, just like my brother, and I imagined them working closely together and everyone making more money. Marrion had different goals though, and his agenda was nowhere near mine.’

  ‘In what sense?’

  Marika took a deep breath. ‘Marrion was behind the shooting.’

  Instantly, Jenny’s blood ran cold, as her hands began shaking. She remembered the man who had screamed for Timmy to pull the trigger, before grabbing the weapon and doing it himself.

  ‘Why?’ She whispered after a moment.

  ‘He wanted it all, and L was in the way.’

  ‘L was walking away from the life though; surely he knew that?’

  Marika shrugged. ‘I honestly don’t know. Marrion lied to me and said L was behind the shooting at my house.’

  Jenny breathed deeply, trying to rid herself of the memories. Marika clutched Jenny’s trembling hand. It was just for a moment, but it calmed Jenny.

  ‘What shooting?’

  ‘Turns out Marrion owed some people. They came looking for him and shot up my house with me and the kids in there. Luckily, no one was hurt.’

  ‘How does this coincide with Marrion trying to kill L?’

  ‘Marrion warned me that L would be taken out. I told him that L was my brother. I said that if Marrion loved me, then he would stop it from happening.’

  ‘And then what happened?’

  ‘He stormed out, and he was shot. Right outside the house. I heard about L’s shooting afterwards, when the police finished questioning me.’

  ‘That’s why you came to the hospital . . .’ Jenny realised. Marika nodded.

  ‘Look after my brother, Jen. He’s not as tough as he wants you to believe, and he needs you. Just help him get where he needs to get.’

  The two women from opposite ends of the spectrum surveyed one another for a long moment. Jenny broke the silence.

  ‘I will if he lets me.’

  That night, Lamont and Jenny hosted Shorty at home. It had surprised Shorty to get the invitation. He had seen little of Lamont lately, focusing on catching up with old faces and getting the lay of the land.

  Youngsters dominated the roads, with many of Shorty’s age group leaving Chapeltown behind, or going legal and working jobs. It was a culture shock.

  Shorty vaguely remembered the rise of social media just before he got locked up, but now a
ll he seemed to see were youngsters on their phones. Even Darren and Shadow had posed for a photo the last time he’d seen them, claiming the ladies loved it. They’d tried getting Shorty to take one with them, but he had refused.

  Shorty hadn’t broached the conversation with Lamont about getting started again. He was still collecting money, but other than giving some to Amy, hadn’t done much with it. He’d purchased some new clothing. Having been locked up during the summer, a lot of his clothing was unsuitable.

  Back in the day Shorty would have blown the lot, then hustled up more, but he was wary of the police now, and didn’t know how to get in contact with a lot of his independent links. He would need to take things slowly.

  Jenny and Shorty spoke as Lamont prepared the food in the kitchen. Jenny offered to help, but Lamont refused.

  They kept the conversation light, speaking about her business, his daughter, and the incident in Chapeltown still dominating the local news. Jenny didn’t know much about the situation, but was open to the thought of more scrutiny being given to police officers.

  They spoke about the OurHood Initiative, and Shorty was surprised when Jenny mentioned Malcolm Powell, whom Shorty knew was the driving force behind a lot of the work the group was doing.

  When Shorty pressed, Jenny said he was a customer she’d met recently, leaving Shorty to wonder if she was being truthful.

  Soon, they sat at the table consuming Lamont’s food. He’d made grilled steak, baby potatoes with asparagus and green beans.

  ‘I gotta say, fam, I forgot you could cook like this,’ Shorty admitted, a massive grin on his face as he tore into the food.

  ‘I like to cook once or twice a week at least, maybe more if Jen’s tired. It’s therapeutic.’

  Jenny sent him a wide smile which he returned, squeezing her hand.

  Shorty watched the pair, happy that they seemed to be getting along. It was the most time he’d seen them spend together since his release, and he recalled how high-strung Jenny was when he’d gone to buy the flowers. Lamont seemed more relaxed now, more like the old L.