The Informant by Susan Wilkins

way through another mouthful. ‘It’s not for wusses, I’ll give you that.’
    Joey poured out two fresh mugs of coffee from the pot on the hob and brought them to the table. ‘Can I have my say now?’
    Kaz shot him an acerbic glance. ‘Can I stop you?’
    He strolled over to the vast window, coffee mug in hand. ‘Look out there. What d’you see?’
    Kaz took a mouthful of coffee. ‘Buildings? London?’
    ‘Yeah London. One of the biggest financial centres in the world. You know what’s at the heart of it? What makes it tick?’
    ‘Money?’
    Joey shook his head. ‘That’s how it functions. That’s like the wheels. Nah, at the heart of it all there’s one truth. Only one truth: everybody’s at it.
Everybody’s on the take. Laws don’t matter, nothing matters. You’re smart enough, you grab your share. How do I know this? ’Cause I got lawyers, accountants, bankers –
posh boys with degrees down to their bums – who’ve never seen the inside of a nick or the back of a police van. And now they’re working for me.’
    Kaz watched him, his eyes shone with that same fervour she’d seen the day before.
    ‘And I ain’t exaggerating.’ He put down his coffee mug and laced his fingers together. ‘Nowadays villainy and business are like this. ’Cept we don’t call it
villainy no more, ’cause as I say everybody’s at it. We’re all players in the market. I’m no different to the rest, I’m just a businessman.’
    Kaz shifted in her chair. ‘What d’you call selling cocaine then? ’Cause I call it drug dealing. Last time I looked so did the old bill.’
    ‘It don’t matter what the product is. If people wanna buy it, there’s a market. Recreational drugs is a billion-dollar industry. And don’t talk to me about harm –
fags and booze and stuffing their guts with junk food is what kills more people in this country than anything else.’
    Kaz laughed. ‘You got an answer for everything, haven’t you?’
    Joey took another slug of coffee. ‘Let’s talk about risk. You don’t wanna go back inside, ’course you don’t. Thing is babes, there is no risk, ’cause now we
got technology on our side.’
    Kaz extracted a shred of bacon from between her teeth.
    ‘Technology? Don’t try feeding me a line, I ain’t daft.’
    Joey returned to the table and sat down facing her. His expression was deadly serious and she could sense his excitement.
    ‘Look, it’s gonna take less than a year, but I’m scaling right back on all face-to-face dealing. We’re gonna do it all on the Net.’
    ‘On the Net? How’s that gonna work?’
    ‘Punters place their order online using an anonymous market. It’s like a website that the authorities can’t get to or trace. It’s just out there in cyberspace.’
    Kaz frowned and gave him a sceptical shrug. ‘Then how do the punters find it?’
    ‘People are getting savvy to how this stuff works, it’s not only for techies and nerds. All you need is special software to conceal your IP address and make you anonymous. We been
using a site called Trade Winds to try it out, but I got some of my own people building a site exclusively for us. It’s beautiful, you sell anything you like, any kind of contraband, collect
the dosh using bitcoins – no way it can be traced to you.’
    ‘Bitcoins?’
    ‘Cybermoney. Change it for dollars on the Net, straight into an offshore company.’
    ‘Someone’s still got to deliver the drugs.’
    ‘Ordinary postman. Vacuum-sealed plastic pouch. No one’s any the wiser.’
    Kaz stared at him. ‘It’s still dealing. They’ll find a way to get to you eventually.’
    ‘In a few years maybe, but by then we’ll have moved into the mainstream: property, equities, other legitimate investments. We’ll be untouchable. Very rich and totally
legit.’
    Kaz puffed out her cheeks. ‘Sounds great. But I ain’t stupid Joey, you still got to get the drugs in the first place. And that’s a very dangerous business. What about