Hall tapped the side of his cup and appraised the recent successes against the Canal Gang. A second major drug haul last night; two in a week. Both of them thanks to the bug Shay planted in Ghost’s jacket. Both hauls were conducted by ISD units, not local gardaí, further boosting his standing.
The hauls would have cost Lock Man hundreds of thousands of euro. That would hurt. And being such a paranoid bastard, Lock Man would suspect a rat. That would hurt even more. All of which fitted in to the second part of Hall’s plan.
He grabbed a seat inside the door of the coffee shop facing the window. It was just after 7 a.m. Through the steam he watched a geezer scarper across the busy junction and stride down towards the hospital. He had the typical gait of an addict on his way to score, like a man late for a flight. He had a hoodie pulled up, but Hall knew it was Leo.
Not long after, Leo skipped around the corner heading in his direction. He was making his usual pit stop. Pushing open the door, he strode past Hall, who bowed his head.
‘Four packs of twenty blue there, bud. Hold on, I wants me Coke as well.’
Hall heard a fridge door open and close and a can land on the counter. As Leo headed back out, Hall shoved his hand out, blocking him.
‘Hey, hey, coming through there, pal,’ Leo shouted.
Hall didn’t move his hand. He sensed Leo leaning down towards him.
‘I can help ye,’ Hall said, keeping his face looking straight ahead.
‘Don’t need Jesus, pal. Have me own God in me pocket.’
Hall smirked.
‘Thought you were off the gear?’
Leo bolted still.
‘Do I know ya, pal?’ Leo said, an edge to his voice.
‘It’s about your mother,’ Hall said quietly.
That was met with silence, broken only by a bus horn beeping outside.
‘Sit down,’ Hall said.
Leo shuffled behind him and took a seat. He placed his smokes and Coke on the table. He tried to edge a look at Hall, past the cap, shades and high collars of his coat.
‘Don’t be sneaky,’ Hall said. ‘You don’t need to know who I am. All you need to know is I can help you.’
‘Don’t know what buzz yer on, pal,’ Leo said, pulling his hoodie tighter. He cracked open his can and took a swig.
‘You want revenge for your mother,’ Hall stated.
‘Don’t be talking about me ma, right, or I’ll slap ya one.’
Leo leaned closer, but Hall didn’t budge.
‘As I said, I can help you.’
‘Help me what?’
‘I know you want to get the Canal Gang,’ Hall said. ‘I can help you do that. But I need to know you’re serious.’
Leo shot up, forcing his chair back, metal end scraping hard on the floor.
But before he could say anything, Hall added in a controlled voice: ‘You walk out of here and your chance is gone.’
Hall knew it was a gamble, particularly with an addict gunning to get high. They knew he had given up the gear alright, but he was going through trays of tablets and bags of weed. Hall put out his hand, gesturing to Leo to sit down. Another moment passed. Hall knew he would sit. He would have been over the bridge by now otherwise. Leo slumped down.
‘Who the fuck are ya?’ Leo said, leaning towards him, whispering. ‘The Garda?’
‘Who I am is not important. What is important for you is that I can give you the bait.’
Hall could see from the reflection in the window in front of him if anyone was around, but it was still quiet.
‘What bait ya on about?’
‘You tell them the garda have them compromised.’
‘Yer a copper alright.’
‘Just listen. You tell them the garda have inside info on them and you know who the rat is.’
‘How the fuck do I know that? Anyways, they’ll tie a rock around me neck and fuck me into the canal as soon as I says that.’
‘You tell them you know because the gardaí had to throw you in a cell as you were raging to go after them, over your mother. To calm you down, a detective let it slip they had someone on the inside and they were working on that.’
‘What ya think I am, the dope of the year?’ Leo said. ‘Ghost won’t fucking buy that and he’ll have Cracko pour acid down me throat.’
‘Maybe, if it was their call, but it won’t be. Ghost will have to send it up the line. I know the boss man. He’ll want to know.’
That was what Hall had said to Nessan. Both of them calculated that Lock Man would not be able to resist this one, despite the risks, particularly given their recent successes against the Canal Gang. Anything sniffing of a rat would override the rational part of his brain.
Leo took another swig.
‘What’s in it for youse?’
‘Don’t worry about that. We need to know you’re serious?’
Leo tapped his smokes on the counter.
‘If you’re not,’ Hall said, ‘we’ll leave it.’
‘Yeah, I’m fucking serious.’
Hall mentally ticked the first box.
‘Now, do you know when you’re meeting your contact?’
‘What contact?’
‘In the RCAD.’
‘How the fuck do youse know all this?’
‘We just do. Well?’
Leo was tapping his feet.
‘Haven’t got the word yet.’
‘Okay, they’ll put holes in your knees for wasting their time if you go in half-cocked. Even with your uncle.’
‘Ah here, how do you know about me fucking uncle?’
‘Never mind. With the bait I’ve given you, they might, just might, go for it.’
Hall could tell Leo was taking in what he was saying. Second box ticked. Leo was an addict, but he had brains.
‘Now, another thing you can tell the Provos is this, that you heard Ghost was back. He’s up at the soccer training. You go up to Ghost –’
‘Hold on, he’ll fucking shove a knife into me head …’
‘It will be out in the open and there’ll be other people there, so he won’t do anything, anything serious anyway. And when you tell him there’s a rat, he won’t chance it. As I was saying, tell the Provos that you’ll say to Ghost you want to meet all of the gang, that you’ll say it to their faces and in return you want your debt cleared.’
Silence again. Leo was hopping his legs and tapping his smokes in unison.
‘This is your best chance to get revenge, Leo, for your mother,’ Hall said.
‘Fuck it,’ Leo said, nodding.
Hall got Leo to go through it all several times, so he knew it backwards. Third box ticked.
‘What do I do next?’ Leo asked.
‘That’s up to your Republican friends. If they bite, they’ll devise a plan. But we’ll be watching, from a distance. When you know the plan, repeat it back in your room in the priest’s house, like as if you are trying to remember.’
‘Youse have me bleeding room bugged too? Jaysus. This is fucking mental.’
Leo was nearly jumping out of his seat.
‘You clear on everything?’ Hall asked again.
‘Crystal.’
He could see Leo was fingering the drugs in his pocket.
‘Don’t fucking OD on the tablets,’ Hall said.
He got up to leave, telling Leo to wait a few minutes.
‘Last thing,’ Hall said. ‘Don’t let anything slip about this conversation to anyone. You do, not only will your plan be history, so will you. And not at my hands.’