The Informant by Susan Wilkins Page A

the
people that get in the way? What d’you do about them?’
    Joey lifted both arms and turned his palms upwards. ‘I’ll be honest, if you have to, you kill ’em. I ain’t saying it’s ideal. But it’s the way of the world.
Governments do it all the time. Bunch of ragheads give you grief, you don’t like the way they run their country, send over a couple of drones, blast ’em all to buggery. You can dress it
up with fine words, comes down to the same thing.’
    Kaz smiled. ‘You really have got it all worked out, haven’t you?’
    He got up from the table and shovelled his hands in his jeans pockets. ‘The rich get richer and the rest get screwed. I don’t wanna be a villain Kaz. I just wanna join the
club.’
    Kaz gazed up and around her at the vaulted ceiling, the spiral stairway and balcony leading to the bedrooms. ‘I’d say you already have.’
    Joey scratched his head. ‘Nah, this is nothing. This is profit from a few smart deals. But you and me together babes, we’re gonna be invincible.’
    She could feel the power, the absolute belief in his voice.
    ‘Why me? I don’t know nothing about the Net, business, any of it.’
    ‘You’re smart, you’ll pick it up. Plus you’re the one person in this world I can really trust.’
    Kaz considered this. ‘What about Sean?’
    Joey’s lip curled. ‘What’s he got to do with anything?’
    ‘Oh come on Joey, him and Dad, they was the firm. Once he gets parole—’
    Joey didn’t let her finish. ‘
If
he gets parole. Him and Dad was a couple of second-rate villains with no imagination. He wouldn’t even understand what I’m
talking about. The firm – what’s that even mean? The firm is us.’
    ‘Sean might have other ideas.’
    He fixed her with those hypnotic baby-blue eyes. It put her in mind of the little Joey, always gazing up at her with a mixture of need and adoration.
    ‘Listen to me, we don’t owe him a fucking thing. ’Specially you don’t.’
    ‘I know that.’
    ‘I need you in my corner, that’s all I’m asking. I don’t expect you to get involved in none of the rough stuff. I got people for that now. Ex-military. I keep all that at
arm’s length. The old bill can’t touch us, I promise you.’ He squatted down beside her chair, took her hand, cradled it in his own. ‘We deserve it, don’t we?
We’ve earned it. It’s our time babes.’
    She held on to his huge paw, stroked it. ‘Look, I know what you’re saying, but I can’t go back Joey. Not to jail, not to the old life, not to any of it.’
    He encompassed the room with a sweep of his hand. ‘This look like the old life to you? You can have your own place just the same. Do your painting. Go to college. Okay you’re out on
licence. But all you gotta do is give ’em the spiel, keep ’em happy. You’re dealing with a bunch of two-bit, underpaid civil servants. They ain’t that smart. Long as they
can tick their boxes. Any problems, the lawyers sort it out.’
    Kaz looked into his eyes, his conviction was captivating. He was a lot cleverer than she’d ever imagined. She thought about Helen, the woman she so desperately wanted to impress. Helen had
no idea of the world she and Joey had grown up in. Helen could walk away tomorrow and leave her high and dry. Whereas she’d always be bonded to Joey and it wasn’t simply blood. It was
everything they’d suffered together and that they’d survived. Maybe he was right: it was their time.
    She gazed at him, her huge little brother. ‘Look I’ll always be in your corner, no question, you know that.’
    He gave her a big grin. ‘That’s all I’m asking.’ He went to the kitchen drawer and pulled out an envelope. ‘I’ll get you a proper bank account sorted,
something they won’t be able to trace. Meantime you’ll need some walking-round money.’
    He emptied the envelope on to the table, five neat bundles of fifty-pound notes tumbled out. Kaz’s eyes widened, he smiled.
    ‘Don’t worry, it’s