smile.p>
A dark Mercedes pulled up at the kerb and discreetly flashed its lights. Tadeusz crossed the roundabout and climbed in the open door. ‘Sorry to spoil your evening, Tadzio,’ Krasic said. ‘But, like I told you, we’ve got a problem.’
‘It’s OK,’ Tadeusz said, leaning back against the seat and unbuttoning his coat as the car moved off down Bismarckstrasse. ‘My evening was spoiled by a bastard on a BMW, not by you. So, what’s this problem?’
‘Normally, I wouldn’t bother about something like this, but … That package of brown we brought up from the Chinese? You remember?’
‘I’m not likely to forget. I haven’t had my hands on the product for so long, it’s not as if I could confuse it. What about it?’
‘It looks like there’s some sort of crap in it. There’s four junkies dead in 8036, and according to what I hear, there’s another seven in hospital in intensive care.’
Tadeusz raised his eyebrows. East Kreuzberg, known locally by its old GDR postal code, was the heart of the city’s youth culture. Bars, clubs, live-music joints kept the area round Oranienstrasse buzzing towards dawn every night. It was also home to many of the city’s Turks, but there were probably more vendors of street drugs than of kebabs in the scruffy,
45
edgy suburb. ‘Since when have you given a shit about dead junkies, Darko?’ he asked.
Krasic shifted his shoulders impatiently. ‘I don’t give a shit about them. There’ll be four more tomorrow queuing up to take their place. Thing is, Tadzio, nobody pays any attention to one dead junkie. But even the cops have to sit up a bit when there are four bodies on the slab and it looks like there are more to come.’
‘How can you be sure it’s our junk that’s killing them? We’re not the only firm on the streets.’
‘I made some inquiries. All of the dead ones used dealers who get their supplies from our chain. There’s going to be heat on this.’
‘We’ve had heat before,’ Tadeusz said mildly. ‘What makes this so special?’
Krasic made an impatient noise. ‘Because it didn’t come in the usual way. Remember? You handed it over to Kamal yourself.’
Tadeusz frowned. The hollow feeling in his stomach had returned. He recalled the bad feeling he’d had about this deal, the unease that had stolen up on him in the Danube boatyard. He’d tried to avoid the fates by changing the routine, but it seemed that the measures he’d taken to sidestep trouble had simply brought it to his door by a more direct route. ‘Kamal’s a long way from the street dealers,’ he pointed out.
‘Maybe not far enough,’ Krasic growled. ‘There have always been cut-outs between you and Kamal before. He’s never been able to say, “Tadeusz Radecki personally supplied me with this heroin,” before. We don’t know how much the cops know. They might be just a step or two away from him. And if he’s looking at a deal that will save him too much hard time, he might just think about giving you up.’
46
Now Tadeusz was really paying attention, his languid disinterest a distant memory. ‘I thought Kamal was solid.’
‘Nobody’s solid if the price is right.’
Tadeusz turned in his seat and fixed Krasic with his sharp blue eyes. ‘Not even you, Darko?’
‘Tadzio, I’m solid because nobody can afford my price,’ Krasic said, clamping a beefy hand on his boss’s knee.
‘So, what are you saying?’ Tadeusz moved his leg away from Krasic, unconsciously making physical the distance he knew existed between them.
Krasic shifted in his seat, turning to stare out of the window past Tadeusz. ‘We could afford to lose Kamal.’
Two months ago, Tadeusz would simply have nodded and said something like, ‘Do whatever it takes.’ But two months ago Katerina had still been alive. He hadn’t yet had to revise his understanding of loss. It wasn’t that he harboured some sentimental notion that Kamal could be to
A dark Mercedes pulled up at the kerb and discreetly flashed its lights. Tadeusz crossed the roundabout and climbed in the open door. ‘Sorry to spoil your evening, Tadzio,’ Krasic said. ‘But, like I told you, we’ve got a problem.’
‘It’s OK,’ Tadeusz said, leaning back against the seat and unbuttoning his coat as the car moved off down Bismarckstrasse. ‘My evening was spoiled by a bastard on a BMW, not by you. So, what’s this problem?’
‘Normally, I wouldn’t bother about something like this, but … That package of brown we brought up from the Chinese? You remember?’
‘I’m not likely to forget. I haven’t had my hands on the product for so long, it’s not as if I could confuse it. What about it?’
‘It looks like there’s some sort of crap in it. There’s four junkies dead in 8036, and according to what I hear, there’s another seven in hospital in intensive care.’
Tadeusz raised his eyebrows. East Kreuzberg, known locally by its old GDR postal code, was the heart of the city’s youth culture. Bars, clubs, live-music joints kept the area round Oranienstrasse buzzing towards dawn every night. It was also home to many of the city’s Turks, but there were probably more vendors of street drugs than of kebabs in the scruffy,
45
edgy suburb. ‘Since when have you given a shit about dead junkies, Darko?’ he asked.
Krasic shifted his shoulders impatiently. ‘I don’t give a shit about them. There’ll be four more tomorrow queuing up to take their place. Thing is, Tadzio, nobody pays any attention to one dead junkie. But even the cops have to sit up a bit when there are four bodies on the slab and it looks like there are more to come.’
‘How can you be sure it’s our junk that’s killing them? We’re not the only firm on the streets.’
‘I made some inquiries. All of the dead ones used dealers who get their supplies from our chain. There’s going to be heat on this.’
‘We’ve had heat before,’ Tadeusz said mildly. ‘What makes this so special?’
Krasic made an impatient noise. ‘Because it didn’t come in the usual way. Remember? You handed it over to Kamal yourself.’
Tadeusz frowned. The hollow feeling in his stomach had returned. He recalled the bad feeling he’d had about this deal, the unease that had stolen up on him in the Danube boatyard. He’d tried to avoid the fates by changing the routine, but it seemed that the measures he’d taken to sidestep trouble had simply brought it to his door by a more direct route. ‘Kamal’s a long way from the street dealers,’ he pointed out.
‘Maybe not far enough,’ Krasic growled. ‘There have always been cut-outs between you and Kamal before. He’s never been able to say, “Tadeusz Radecki personally supplied me with this heroin,” before. We don’t know how much the cops know. They might be just a step or two away from him. And if he’s looking at a deal that will save him too much hard time, he might just think about giving you up.’
46
Now Tadeusz was really paying attention, his languid disinterest a distant memory. ‘I thought Kamal was solid.’
‘Nobody’s solid if the price is right.’
Tadeusz turned in his seat and fixed Krasic with his sharp blue eyes. ‘Not even you, Darko?’
‘Tadzio, I’m solid because nobody can afford my price,’ Krasic said, clamping a beefy hand on his boss’s knee.
‘So, what are you saying?’ Tadeusz moved his leg away from Krasic, unconsciously making physical the distance he knew existed between them.
Krasic shifted in his seat, turning to stare out of the window past Tadeusz. ‘We could afford to lose Kamal.’
Two months ago, Tadeusz would simply have nodded and said something like, ‘Do whatever it takes.’ But two months ago Katerina had still been alive. He hadn’t yet had to revise his understanding of loss. It wasn’t that he harboured some sentimental notion that Kamal could be to
Similar Books
