Old Crackers

by Peter Bates

“There’s a lot of cash around this area,” said Tony.

  “There is,” agreed Jed, “especially in the summertime. There’s also a lot of security as well, and cash vans are much harder to target than they used to be. At one time they were easy meat. Now they’re fully armoured and some of the staff have guns. Fast access to the police via mobile phones doesn’t help either. After a call from the public, the coppers can be on the scene in a matter of seconds. It’s not as though we could make a quick getaway — the traffic’s that bad these days — we’d struggle to get some distance from any job that we pulled.”

  “What about getting hold of a big sack of powder?” asked Ted.

  “That seems favourite, Ted. We know from speaking to several of our street contacts that Harrison’s lost his supplier now, so the market place locally must be screaming out for some replacements. There’s a guy in Manchester that would know where to obtain the stuff from. He’d tell us because we’re no threat to his patch, and he’s not interested in ours. I think you’ve got his number, Paul. I’m fairly sure we got it when the bloke supplied us with a shooter last year.”

  “What was his name?” asked Paul, pulling his mobile from inside his blue denim jacket pocket, and clicking it on.

  Jed Thomas scratched his head thoughtfully for a few seconds, looked up to the ceiling for a moment, and then finally spoke. “I think it was Bill Croasdale, yes, I’m almost certain it was. Have a look anyway. If you find that name in your phone, it’s certainly the man.”

  Paul entered the name ‘Bill’ into his phone and scanned the results. “There are two Bills in here, a Thompson and an Eaves, but not one called Croasdale. Hang on a minute though, I’ll just try something else.” Paul clicked several more buttons, and then grinned broadly. “Here it is, boss. The name’s Phil Croasdale, not Bill Croasdale.”

  Thomas laughed. “Well, I was close. Give him a call, Paul, and see if he knows any suppliers. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  Paul clicked the call button, rose to his feet quickly, and moved to the corner of the room with his phone pressed tightly against his ear.

  “Is that Mr Croasdale?” he asked quietly.

  “Who wants to know?” a gruff voice responded.

  “My name’s Paul. I work with a man called Jed Thomas. He said that he’d dealt with you previously, and thinks that you could help us to find what we’re looking for.”

  “Is he with you now?” asked the voice.

  “Yes, he’s sat a few yards away.”

  “Put him on then. If I’ve dealt with him before, I’ll know when I speak to him. If you’re just pissing about, you can bugger off and shut off your phone.”

  “OK, Mr Croasdale. I’ll put him on now.”

  Paul carried the phone to Jed Thomas and held it out to him. “Mr Croasdale will only speak if he knows that it’s you, Jed.”

  Jed Thomas smiled. He had dealt with Phil Croasdale before, and really should have known. The man was almost neurotic when it came down to his own security.

  Thomas took the phone from Paul, and walked quickly to the same corner of the bar area that he had just come from.

  Paul returned to the table, looked briefly at Ted, Tony and Graham, and shrugged his shoulders.

  “The guy that I called will only speak to the boss,” he said simply, re-taking his vacated seat, and picking up his pint glass.

  Jed Thomas was longer on the telephone than he had expected, and almost ten minutes of deep conversation passed by before he finally pressed the ‘off’ button and re-took his seat at the table. His face remained expressionless, his eyes staring blankly at the table top and giving nothing away.

  Graham was the first to pluck up sufficient courage to pose the question that they all wanted to ask. “How did it go, Jed?” he requested quietly and apprehensively, leaning forward in his chair as he did little more than whisper the few words.

  “Great.” smiled Jed. “It couldn’t have gone better, in fact.”

  “I only heard bits of conversation, but the bloke was a bit cagey,” commented Paul.

  “Well, you would be, if you dealt with the amount of stuff that guy deals with. He’s got to watch his back permanently. He doesn’t know for sure who’s at the other end of a phone.”

  “How did he know it was really you then?”

  “He simply just asked a few questions that only I would have known the answer to. Don’t forget, I have dealt with him before, and only I would have known the detail.”

  “Makes sense,” agreed Graham.

  “Can he help us?” asked Tony.

  “He certainly can, mate. I can collect the first order the tomorrow and pay him on the spot. The dealer’s a bit pricey, but the stuff’s still cheap enough for us to make a very big bundle of dosh. If we turn out to be a regular and put in more orders, he’s committed to reduce the price quite quickly. Tony, you’ll need to get some cash out of our secure place tomorrow morning, and I’ll take it with me. I have to go on my own, at least on the face of it — Croasdale’s instructions were very clear that I must be alone when I pick up the gear — but you lads will be in the background when we get close to the delivery point.”

  “How much do you need?” asked Tony.

  “About fortyK.”

  “Hell’s bells.” yelled Graham. “That is a big pile of dough.”

  “Yes,” laughed Thomas. “It is a big pile, Graham, but we’ll pick up at least four times that amount on the streets from the local dealers.”

  “Do we know who the dealers are?”

  “We all know some already, even though we haven’t done this seriously before. The ones that we do know will probably pass us on to some others. Most of them seem to know those that are out on the street dishing the stuff out, and I’ve no doubt that our supplier will know one or two as well.”

  “Where are we going to collect it from?”

  “He’ll call me back tomorrow morning and let me know. No doubt it’ll be somewhere off the beaten track, and knowing him as I do, he’ll certainly have some serious back-up nearby, so you guys will have to camp down well out of sight, but somewhere fairly near just in case.”

  CHAPTER 51

  “I reckon that if he’s not doing them already, he’ll very quickly be in the market for drugs. He’s bound to know about Harrison’s stuff being confiscated. If he didn’t know already, his contacts around the streets will have told him the news. I’ll bet that he’s even got the odd copper here in town that would tip him off on anything like that. He’ll know that there’s suddenly a very big hole in the market, and that the local pushers will be busting a gut to get their hands on some stuff.”

  “I think you’re right, Frank. It’s too good an opportunity for Thomas to miss, and it gives him a chance to put one over on Harrison again.”

  Roy nodded his head in agreement towards Terry, and then added. “If you’re right, Terry, we should be watching Thomas carefully. If he does have a go at it, he’ll be on the move very quickly, and trying to fill the big hole that has been left. It’s a very dangerous business to get involved in, but how do you lads feel about doing a bit of spotting?”

  “What do you mean,” asked Reg.

  “Well, if we’re right, I don’t think that it will be too long before Thomas makes a start. We might just be wasting our time completely, but why don’t we tail him from a safe distance for a couple of days and see what he’s up to. I’m not saying that it will be easy, but we’re not stupid, and if we do get a link, it will be well worth the effort. If there’s one thing around here that needs eliminating, it’s drug dealing. One day it could even affect our own grandchildren. We know where he lives; let’s take a couple of cars and some provisions to keep us going, and see if he makes any moves. We might get lucky, we might not, but it’s got to be worth the effort.”

  “I agree,” nodded Terry. “I think it will be too late today, so why don’t we make a start tomorrow morning?”

  Frank tipped his head and looked first into Terry’s ey
es, before taking in the expressions of his other two friends. Both Roy and Reg were smiling in agreement.

  “Good idea, Terry. I don’t think it will be long before he does make a start if he’s going to. That way he gets well in front of any competition. We’ll take two cars — rotate them like we’ve done before — and see where it gets us. If that happens to be nowhere, we’ve lost nothing but a bit of time, and we’ve got plenty of that on our hands.”

  “OK. Don’t forget to charge up all your phones and cameras, lads, and don’t forget also to bring a decent supply of food and drinks. This could all be a very big waste of time, but these days we’ve got plenty of that to spare. Who knows? We might just get lucky again. We’ll park up close to Thomas’ house at around nine o’clock in the morning, hope that he’s not already gone, and watch out for him leaving in his car. Wherever he goes, it should be quite interesting, even if our hunch doesn’t work out to be right. Reg, you’d better bring a couple of newspapers to read — it could be a very long day, and we might even need to hide behind them at some point.”

  Reg laughed. “Whilst you mention ‘hiding’, Terry, we should make sure that we dress up as drably as we can as well. Hats, scarves and maybe the odd false moustache from Frank. If we don’t, those buggers might just start to notice us, and we certainly don’t want that. If we leave the cars at any point, which we may have to do, we’ll move around in twos.”

  “That makes sense,” agreed Roy.

  *

  Jed Thomas felt unusually agitated. For most of the night, he’d tossed and turned in bed, his mind constantly drifting over what the morning would bring. One half of his brain focused on the huge pile of cash that the next few days would surely bring to him, whilst the other half pondered on the consequences of something going wrong. He liked to be in control, and for as long as he could remember, he always had been. Even in his school days, if he wanted something, he would get it — one way or another — and rarely had he ever paid the price for whatever it was that he chose to have. He’d never had a job. Why would anyone want all the drudgery and boring routine of work, when all you had to do was to be tough enough, strong enough, and clever enough to take whatever you wanted?

  Despite his current agitation, Jed allowed himself a brief smile, thinking of all those school pals many years ago. The lads would do paper rounds, walk miles on errands, and do odd jobs around the neighbourhood for nothing but a few measly coins. He could nick more from the local stores in one week than they would earn in a whole year. At school they’d all be busy as hell trying to pass examinations, whilst he was working out new ways to pinch stuff. Where were they all now? Probably scratching around to make a measly living, whilst he was living in luxury. He owned a classy half million-pound house, had two very tasty cars, and could have holidays at any time of the year, whenever it suited him. He also had women coming out of his ears, and could virtually take his pick.

  Jed was pleased that his memory had taken him back to the beginning. He was feeling better already. Today was just another day in his lifetime adventure. Nothing would go wrong. How could it? He’d just do what he’d always done, and this time the reward would be bigger than ever. After it was all done, he might just take some time off for a few weeks. After all, he well deserved a break.

  Still smiling, Jed rose from his bed, took a quick shower, and cooked himself bacon, eggs and toast for his breakfast, followed by a large mug of fresh coffee.

  “Always start off a busy day with a hearty breakfast,” his mother had said to him many times as a child. “If you do that, you’ll get a good start to your day and you’ll never look back.”

  “Good on yer, Mum.” Jed Thomas spoke the words aloud to himself as he peered out of the kitchen window to check the weather. “Mmm, it looks good. A few light clouds, but mainly sunny. I can tell already that today’s going to be a good day.”

  Jed was halfway through his breakfast when the mobile phone buzzed loudly. The gadget was already lying in position, next to him on the kitchen table top and he quickly lifted it, pressed the answer button, and pushed it firmly against his right ear.

  “Mr Thomas?”

  “Yes.”

  “Croasdale here.”

  Jed Thomas wondered why Phil Croasdale hadn’t called him Jed, instead of his surname. It didn’t really matter, as long as the man came up with the goods. Surnames were fine.

  “Good morning, Mr Croasdale.”

  “I hope that it is, Mr Thomas.”

  “I’m sure that it will be, Mr Croasdale.”

  Croasdale ignored Jed Thomas’ comment, and briefly added, “Have you got a scrap of paper, and a pen, Mr Thomas?”

  “I have.”

  “We’ll be meeting at eleven o’clock exactly. I’ll give you a postcode now for your SatNav system.”

  Thomas scribbled the code on the paper, and spoke back into the phone. “I’ve got that.”

  “Good. When you get there, you’ll see some bicycle sheds about fifty yards from the supermarket building. I will be at the entrance of one of them, and I’ll be wearing blue jeans, a green coat, and a grey cap.”

  “What about cameras?”

  “Are you stupid, Mr Thomas? Do you think that I would choose a spot where there are cameras?”

  Jed Thomas felt a sudden surge of anger. Nobody ever spoke to him like that. Certainly not without being punched to the ground and then given a good kicking. At the moment the money was far more important than his irritation, and he quickly quelled his natural reaction. Even so, the man’s words would stick in his memory until another day.

  “Sorry, Mr Croasdale,” Thomas forced himself to say. “I was just being cautious.”

  Croasdale ignored the apology. “The shed has opaque sides and is very rarely ever used these days, so our quick transaction will not even be noticed by passers-by. The adjacent car park means that we can both get in and out very quickly and back onto the main road just seconds later. People are naturally carrying bags all around that area, so ours will not stand out in any way.”

  “Sounds good,”

  “Yes, well we’ve done it before many times, so we know that it’s safe, and the place has easy access both in and out. You’ll be back on the main road within half a minute, and so will we.”

  “What about counting the money that I bring?” asked Jed.

  “No need, Mr Thomas. We know it will be right. I’m certain that you wouldn’t want to risk the aftermath if the cash was short of the agreed figure.”

  Jed Thomas swallowed deeply. This was a discussion trend that he certainly wasn’t used to, but for now at least he would let it go. It wasn’t as though he would be dealing with this idiot on a daily basis. The man was simply a means to an end.

  “I’ll see you at eleven o’clock then, Mr Croasdale.”

  CHAPTER 52

  “Has everyone got their equipment and grub?”

  “I think so, Reg. It looks like we’re ready to go.”

  “It’s an early start for us lads,” commented Terry.

  “It is,” agreed Roy, “especially these days.”

  Reg smiled. “Well, I know that it’s very unlikely, but it’s possible that we’ve already missed the delivery, and that’s even if it is taking place today.”

  “You’re right, but as you say, it is unlikely though,” commented Roy, “and we could just be unlucky anyway. All we can do is to try, so I think that we’d better be on our way. It’s only ten minutes or so to Thomas’s house, but we don’t want to miss him if he leaves early.”

  Apart from a series of adverse traffic lights, the journey to Thomas’ house in the South Shore area was reasonably traffic free, and the short trip took a little less than a quarter of an hour. The house stood out clearly as both cars drove past its entrance. It was the only detached house in view, and Thomas’ shining silver Jaguar sat motionless on the driveway.

  “Good news, Frank. If he is going somewhere, he hasn’t gone yet.”

  The property was obvio
usly the most expensive house on the road, and had been recently built on land where two semi-detached properties had previously been standing until Jed Thomas had purchased both and then demolished them. Roy deliberately drove past the large home and took the next turning on his right into a side street. Fifty yards into the quiet street, he halted the car, and performed a quick U-turn. He then waited for a few moments before Terry had done the same, before edging forward to the end of the street and finally pulling on the hand brake. Leaning forward in his seat, he was easily able to see the parked Jaguar, and glancing in his rear-view mirror, watched as Terry pulled up immediately behind him. Roy opened his door, stepped out, and after walking several paces to Terry’s car, leaned towards the half open window.

  “I can see his car from where I am, mate. We just need a bit of patience now, and maybe also have a few drinks and sandwiches. If he comes out to his car, I’ll stick my arm out of the driver’s window, and you’ll know then that we’ll be on the move. As soon as we start, the phones will have to be switched on, and we’ll keep in touch with each other as we go. We’ll keep some distance from the Jag, and swap positions regularly as we move along.”

  “Sounds good, Roy. It’s just fingers crossed from now on, and let’s just hope that we don’t all fall asleep.”

  Roy quietly laughed, and then quickly returned to his car. The last thing he wanted right now was to be spotted on the street, or attract any unwanted attention from neighbours or passers-by, least of all by Jed Thomas himself. Frank was already tucking into his pack of sandwiches, and pouring himself a coffee from a bright red flask.

  “You hungry already?” smiled Roy.

  “Well, we’ve done this sort of thing before, pal, and I know that it could be a very long wait.”

  “Yes, you’re right. I just hope that it will be worthwhile. The whole thing is only an educated hunch after all.”

  “I just hope that we all don’t fall asleep and miss it all,” laughed Frank. “We’d be kicking ourselves around the block if he left home without any one of us spotting him leave.”