A black hole of despair swallows my gut. All that separates me from a massive drop and solid tarmac is Imran’s vengeful hands wrapped round my ankles. Twenty-five feet below, a stream of potential witnesses whizz by. Won’t do me any good if I’m a broken body lying dead in the middle of a busy road.

‘Imran, please!’ I beg. ‘It was an accident! You know this …’

‘Shut up!’ he roars, giving my ankles a violent shake.

Bile floods my mouth, overflowing into my nostrils. I choke, then start to scream.

‘What you doing, man?’ Daevon asks in horror, trying to haul me back up.

Noah’s fist crashes into the side of his face. Daevon tumbles out of sight.

‘You people need to learn to put some respeck on my name!’ Imran spits, a shudder of rage coursing through his body. Meanwhile, I’m dangling from his psychotic grasp, praying to God for a miracle.

‘Look – he pissed himself!’ Noah sniggers, aiming his phone at my damp crotch.

‘OK, you guys got me. Now let me up, man. Please!’ I beg.

‘You don’t seem to understand how gangs work,’ Imran says. ‘I’m the Don. If my own mans disrespect me, gangstas start believing they can pull the same shit, and DedManz dies. That ain’t happening. I got a lot riding on this.’

Has he been at the crack again? DedManz is just some stupid game we play to make ourselves feel important. Then I make a horrible leap. The tip of a tattoo I glimpsed earlier was the pointed ear of a dingo – a DX Dingo. Imran must have gone big time, and my death is probably his initiation. A way for him to prove himself, and for Zaman to have revenge on Dad for ending his relationship with Shais.

I beg for my life without shame, but Imran’s already shaking his head. ‘You brought this on yourself, fam.’

And then he lets go.

I scream before realizing he has only let go of one ankle. He yanks on the other one, tossing me back on to the bridge like a leg of lamb.

‘Con-grat-u-lations!’ Imran says, squatting down and lifting my head so I look into his eyes. ‘You get to live. Now go home and wash the pee-pee out of your pants. And remember who da boss.’ He rises up. ‘Come on, lads.’