Page 35 of Crave

I let out a small laugh, rubbed a finger across my brow. That was the rep following me. The one where people handed things over before I even asked. Or even knew I could ask. This weren’t my trade, not really. But around here, everyone looked after everyone’s hustle. If we all ate, nobody talked.

I took the envelope, not bothering to count it. Called it a bonus. “Kind of you.”

Tariq nodded. “Don’t want no hassle.”

“How’s business?”

“Good. Unless you ask HM Revenue and Customs.”

“Not likely to.” I chewed on my lip, looking around again.

“You…want something else? Sami ain’t in at the mo.”

“Nah, don’t need him.” I fished out Darren’s phone, threw it on the counter. “But you can add that to your pile.”

“Will do.” Tariq popped it under the counter. “How much?”

“On the house.”

“Kind of you.”

“Yeah.” I didn’t move.

Tariq peered up. “Anything else?”

I sighed, psyching myself up. “Yeah.” I then took out the stolen iPhone from my back pocket and slid it across the counter to him. “Can you unlock that?”

Tariq picked it up, weighed it in his palm and whistled. “Nice bit of kit.” He tapped the screen. “I can clear it, add it to the pile, pay you for it.”

“No.” I sniffed. “I want it open. I want in.”

Tariq scrolled, thumbing the case. “Whose is it?”

“That’s the point.”

He looked up, arching a brow. “Not royalty, is it?”

I snorted, but honestly, that hit. What if it was? The picture on the front showed a bunch of tuxedos and ball gowns at a mansion. And Luca had said they were posh. What if they were that posh? Although, I doubted royalty would be sniffing around Hackney corners. Not even the gentrified, hipster part.

“Can you get in it or not?”

Tariq sucked in through his teeth. “These days Apple’s tight. Activation locks, remote wipes, the whole lot. If it’s linked to iCloud and the owner knows what they’re doing, anything in there like bank apps, messages can be nuked from their end. Makes it tricky.”

“But it can be done?”

He shrugged. “Depends. Old handsets are easier. Newer ones, not worth trying unless you want to throw money at it. You got options: brute-force the passcode, slow and risky, and a lot will wipe on failed tries; social-engineer the owner to reset it. Dirty, but sometimes the quickest; or send it to a proper tech who does hardware jobs. That chip-off stuff. Expensive, specialised. Takes time.”

“And if it’s just a locked phone with nothing left on it?”

“Then it’s scrap money, or someone pays to scrub it clean and flip it. If there’s anything worth seeing it’s a hunt. But nobody can promise you access to bank accounts. That’s tied to two-factor and remote locks more often than not.”

“Ain’t interested in bank accounts.”

“What are you interested in, then?”

The pretty boy on the front. “Name of the owner. An address. Messages be good. But mostly I want intel from it.”

Tariq cocked his head. “I’ll see what I can do.”