You Don't Know Me

The Baikal goes down my waistband. Kira has gone into shock and has started rocking on the bed. I take her by the arm and put her into the toilet and shut the door. I tell her to lock it and she must have snapped out of it long enough to do it because I hear the click of the latch. Bang bang bang! Louder now. ‘Don’t open your door whatever happens,’ I say through the toilet door. I don’t know if she hears me or not.

Bang bang bang! Then, someone is shouting something out but I can’t hear what. I go to the door. My heart is proper racing. I ain’t got one of them little peepholes thing so I don’t even know how many there is of them. If I don’t do something though, that door’s going to come down for sure and we’ll be finished. Shit! I decide that I’ll open the door quickly. If there’s more than one of them I’ll shut it again and get my gun out ready. If there’s only one? If there’s only one, maybe – I don’t know. I’ll decide later.

I pull open the door quickly just long enough to take a look and then shut it again. Huge man. For a second I think it’s Shilo, Jamil’s hench. Then I hear my name being called.

Break: 11:00

16

11:10

‘For fuck’s sake, open the door, man. It’s me, Curt.’

I open the door. I’m still breathing hard but not as hard as before.

‘Shit man. You proper had me going there,’ I goes and he comes in without really asking.

‘What you doing round these ends boy? You lost?’ I say, kinda now laughing but still confused to see him. As he squeezes past me I can feel the muscles in his body slamming into my flesh. The man is a wall.

He takes a seat at my little table in the kitchen-diner and hunches over as he does.

‘Bro this is serious. We need to talk,’ he says, lifting his eyebrows.

‘Sure,’ I goes. I push the door shut and then sit opposite him. ‘What’s happening?’

He looks down for second at the table and then meets my eyes. ‘They want her back bro. You have to give her up.’

‘Kira?’ I say. ‘Blood, what the fuck makes you think I got her?’

He says nothing.

‘Was it JC? He’s full of shit. Don’t be believing nothing that comes out of his mouth,’ I say throwing my arms out wide.

‘Then tell me where she is?’ he says, not moving a muscle.

‘How the fuck do I know where she is? I was the one looking for her,’ I say and get up from my chair. I try to make it sound natural but I ain’t no actor.

‘All I know bro is that she is gone and they want her back. And if I tell ’em you ain’t got her they ain’t just going to take my word for it. They’re going find you and start asking questions innit bro.’ He still doesn’t move.

‘What questions?’

‘Like are you gay?’

‘What?’ I say sitting back down in my chair and facing him.

‘Well if you’re not gay, why does your crib smell like Selfridges perfume counter?’ he says and looks at me in the eyes once again.

I take a deep breath and wonder whether I can style it out. Then a voice comes out from behind me –

‘It’s okay. I’m here.’

I look round and it’s Kira, standing in the doorway. Her arms are hugging her body but her eyes are steel.

‘You’re going nowhere,’ I say and then I look straight into Curt’s eyes. ‘You ain’t either blood. Not until we work this out.’ Then I get out the Baikal and put it on the table.

‘What the fuck man?’ Curt says. ‘You taking a gun out to me? Have you lost your senses bruv?’

‘I can’t let you take her Curt. I cannot do that,’ I say and I know he can see from my face that I am serious.

‘This ain’t worth losing your life over man. She knows. Let her go.’

‘No.’

Curt gets up with a sigh and walks over to my fridge and pulls out a beer. He sits back down and flips the lid off with his teeth and takes a long sip.

‘She’s going to be okay. They’re taking her off the streets now. They just want her to work in the trap.’

‘Are you kidding me? She ain’t being no one’s trap bitch,’ I say and look over at Ki to reassure her. She starts to shake her head slowly.

‘I’d rather be on the streets. I’m not making drugs for anyone ever again. No way,’ she says, pale.

I take a grip on Curt’s giant arm and look straight at him.

‘No. Turn your mind, you get me. You need a plan B coz plan A ain’t flying,’ I goes. ‘And anyway, why the fuck do you care about what happens to her? You ain’t really Glockz. Why do you give a fuck?’

‘They’re coming here any day bro and I ain’t even lying to you, they are pissed. If they see you here or her, they’ll burn this whole block down, believe.’

I take another breath and look over at Kira.

‘Then we need a new plan A,’ I say, and get up and lock the front door.

The thing is yeah, it was all very well sending out the message that Jamil had Kira but the fact was that I had misjudged him. Jamil was doing so much trade for the Olders that he was now their number one boy by a street mile. He and his two boys were shifting more gear than whole crews put together. Each week he was coming back with bigger and bigger orders. And he always paid, on the nose, you get me?