‘There’s about half a dozen of ’em. They all hang out at the Sportsman’s. The one in charge seems to be a guy called Alan. Mike knows him; he was inside at the same time as he was.’

‘Yeah,’ said Mike. ‘Never did like the tosser.’

‘Hang on,’ said Peter, incredulous. ‘Alan who?’

‘Palmer,’ Glynn answered. ‘Big bastard, apparently, and a bit handy, too.’

Peter just stared at him, open-mouthed. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. One of his trusted employees and his two childhood friends had teamed up against him. It was hard to take in!

‘You alright, mate?’ asked Glynn when Peter didn’t respond.

Peter just stared back and gulped. He’d been betrayed! And not only that, by the very people he’d trusted. In his mind he replayed the words he’d just heard, trying to make sense of it all.

David he could understand. He’d already let him down years ago and they’d parted on bad terms, although it didn’t make his treachery any easier. But he still hadn’t come to terms with Sam’s betrayal. And now Alan! He just couldn’t get his head round it. Why on earth would Alan start a rival firm? It wasn’t so long ago that he was considering joining Pete’s gang. And they’d always stayed mates. It just didn’t make sense!

‘D’you know him?’ asked Glynn.

‘Yeah,’ said Peter, his voice almost a whisper. ‘We used to knock about as kids: him, me and Dave. Did some of my first jobs with them two ’till Alan got arrested for knifing a bloke. I was on a job with him when it happened.’

‘Shit!’ said Mike. ‘I heard about that when I was inside.’

‘Yeah. The owner walked in on him,’ said Peter. ‘I was in the other room. I scarpered as soon as I heard the owner come downstairs. I panicked. I was only a kid. Didn’t think about Alan till I’d got away. Then I found out what he’d done the next day.’

He was rambling now, going through everything in his head, trying to explain it. Maybe that’s what it was. Maybe Alan had never forgiven him for leaving him to it when they were kids! The thought that Alan might be on some sort of revenge mission sent a cold chill down Peter’s spine.

Having a firm working against him was bad enough. But having a firm that was hellbent on revenge was fuckin’ scary. He couldn’t let it get to him, though. He wouldn’t. How dare they have the nerve to try to take over his fuckin’ territory?

No, he wasn’t having it. If that’s the game they wanted to play then he’d make sure he was the fuckin’ winner. Nobody tried to take over his turf and got away with it, no matter what warped justification they had.