Read Online Collusion by Stuart Neville - Free Book Online

chest. The graze on his cheek from when he’d hit the ground behind Sylvia’s café had started to scab over. A cut on his lip suggested that Crozier at least got a decent punch in before Rankin knifed him.
    Lennon took another swig of Lucozade and went to the window. They’d given Rankin a nice quiet private room, the kind of room only those with the best medical insurance could afford, while the rest of Belfast’s sick and injured had to make do with the NHS. Being a scumbag had its perks. The only downside was a police guard on your door.
    ‘Like I was saying,’ Lennon continued, ‘friends in high places. I’m told you’re going to cooperate, which is awful good of you. If it’d been up to me, you’d be facing two counts of attempted murder. I’d have plenty to make it stick. But your pals have persuaded me to put GBH to the Public Prosecution Service. Aren’t you the lucky boy?’
    ‘Luck’s got nothing to do with it, son,’ Rankin said, a slight lisp lending his speech a greasy effeminacy. ‘It pays to befriend the right people.’
    ‘You’re not their friend,’ Lennon said, turning from the window. ‘You’re a tout. You’re a commodity. They’ll shit on you the second you’re no more use to them.’
    ‘That’s another name I don’t like.’
    ‘I don’t give a flying fuck what you like,’ Lennon said. He put the cup on the windowsill and dragged the vinyl-covered armchair from the corner to face Rankin’s bed. It wheezed displaced air as Lennon sat down, an odour of stale urine coming with it. ‘You tout for Special Branch. That’s why they stepped in for you, asked me to soften the blow. That’s what got you off the hook.’
    ‘I’m not off any hook,’ Rankin said. ‘I’m still going to do time, aren’t I?’
    ‘Not the sort of time you should be doing,’ Lennon said. ‘You’re getting off easy, and you know it. I agreed to the GBH against my better judgement. Now what are you going to do for me?’
    ‘Sweet fuck all,’ Rankin said, smiling, his eyebrow arched. ‘Special Branch tells the likes of you to jump, you jump. Don’t make out you’re doing me any favours, son. You’re just doing what you’re told.’
    ‘Maybe, maybe not. I haven’t sent the file to the PPS yet. A lot can change between now and then.’
    Rankin turned his face to the window. ‘Fuck yourself.’
    Lennon leaned forward. ‘Course, I have my own contacts among your boys. And Crozier’s. I might say the wrong thing to one of them. I might let something slip. And I know how you boys talk amongst yourselves. Rumours spread like crabs in a whorehouse. Next thing you know you’ve got a gun in your—’
    ‘Don’t threaten me,’ Rankin said. He turned his gaze back to Lennon, his eyes blank like a cadaver’s. ‘Don’t do it. You can’t scare me. You’re not the only one with contacts. I know all sorts of boys in all sorts of places, some of the mon the other side. Some of them aren’t on ceasefire. Some of them would love to have a crack at a peeler, score a goal for their fucking lost cause. You get me, son?’
    Lennon didn’t reply.
    Rankin’s eyes came back to life. ‘Right, now we’ve shown each other how big our cocks are, let’s try being a wee bit civil about it, eh? You want to ask me some questions, go on ahead. Maybe I’ll answer them, maybe I won’t. Fair enough?’
    Lennon held his stare for a few more seconds. ‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘What was the aggro between you and Crozier about? Off the record. You’re not under caution.’
    ‘That cunt’s been doing business with the Lithuanians.’
    ‘We know that already,’ Lennon said. ‘Everyone knows that. You’ve been doing business with them too.’
    ‘Not like this.’ Rankin shook his head. ‘I buy and sell with them, the usual trade, move girls about, sometimes get the odd bit of blow off them. They’re useful now and then, but that’s all. But we keep them out of our areas, them and the rest of the