‘Give me ya phone . . . I said, give me your fucking phone!’ yelled Mike, directly into Leon’s ear, almost deafening him.

Fumbling inside his pocket, Leon pulled out his mobile and handed it to Mike.

He gave Leon’s face a sharp tap and grinned. ‘Now, you listen to me very fucking carefully. I’ll be coming for you if I hear or see any of that shit being peddled anywhere this side of South-East London. Got it? And if you see this bloke called the Governor, tell him from me, I’m the Governor in this fucking manor, and if he wants to argue the point, then he needs to see me.’

Leon wondered who the hell would win in a fight between the Governor and this giant. ‘Who shall I say is looking for him?’

A fully fledged grin adorned Mike’s face. ‘The Big Fucking Bad Wolf. So, you run along, Little Red Riding Hood, and you tell him from me, I’ll take him out if I hear of any of this shit being sold anywhere in my manor!’

He let Leon and Saeed go. ‘Now, fuck off!’

As soon as they were out of sight, running for their lives, Mike looked at the phone and tried to fathom if there were any stored numbers or text messages – nothing. Had the fucking little shit lied or had he just mentally stored the Governor’s number in his head? It was too late to find out now though.

In a black BMW 7 Series, with heavily tinted windows and parked in full view of the back of the pub, sat the so-called man himself: The Governor. He watched and clocked every move, every flinch, and lip-read every word that was spoken. He smiled to himself: he knew he was already one step ahead.

Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

The next morning, Ricky awoke with a banging headache and unsteadily walked into the kitchen to find his dad as fresh as a daisy. He was sitting at the breakfast bar reading The Sun and sipping a black coffee.

‘Where did you go, Dad? We turned around and you lot had gone.’

Mike laughed. ‘I’m surprised you could even see straight. You were as pissed as a fart.’

Ricky laughed. ‘I was just having a good time. It was such a laugh, Dad. The lads were blinding, and I did get to have a snog an’ all. The barmaid, Kendall, she gave me her number. I said I would take her out tomorrow night. She’s got the night off.’

‘You make sure you have protection with ya.’

Ricky’s eyes widened. ‘What? Ya mean a gun?’

‘No, ya daft sod. Ya need condoms. Ya don’t wanna go getting some tart pregnant.’

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by Mike’s phone ringing. It was a withheld number. He guessed right away it was the Police Commissioner. ‘Hello!’ He knew his voice sounded abrupt.