While they were chatting, the first of the evening’s customers arrived. Spotting that Cindy and another barmaid were busy chatting to two of the bouncers, Paula went to serve them. Knowing that it would be some minutes before Paula finished serving, Adele swivelled her stool and had a look around the club.

On the other side of the dancefloor she could see Glynn and Mike deep in conversation. They were too far away for her to tell what they were saying, but judging by their body language, it was something serious.

Glynn was standing very close to Mike and gesticulating a lot with his hands while Mike kept nodding his head in response to what Glynn was saying. Then Glynn took a quick look over his shoulder as if he was checking no one was listening. He didn’t spot Adele watching them from a distance as he craned his neck even closer to Mike and whispered something into his ear.

Adele quickly swivelled her stool back till it was facing the bar. She had a feeling Glynn was up to no good and didn’t want him to spot her watching them. She smiled at Paula, who came back to join her and they chatted again until Paula became too busy to talk. Peter wasn’t in the club that night and Adele soon became restless once she didn’t have Paula to chat to so she called a cab to take her home.

*

‘Glad I’ve seen you, mate,’ Glynn said to Mike when he bumped into him in the club.

‘Why, what’s up? Have you found someone else to deal with things?’

Glynn knew Mike was referring to the arrangement he had previously had with Little Gaz. As Glynn’s close ally, Mike knew all the details and had received a share of the mark-up for agreeing to ignore the nefarious activity. He also knew about Glynn’s intention to replace Little Gaz with another dealer as soon as he could.

‘No, not that. I haven’t found anyone yet but I’ve got other things to sort at the moment. It’s to do with the raids on Angels and Bramleys that I told you about.’

‘What is?’ asked Mike.

‘Opportunity fuckin’ knocks, that’s what,’ said Glynn. When Mike stared back, nonplussed, he elaborated, moving closer to him and lowering his voice. ‘Remember I told you I was waiting for the right chance before I made my move?’

Mike nodded.

‘Well, when we do the raids next Saturday, that’s when I’m gonna do it.’

‘Nice one. And about fuckin’ time too! So, how will you do it?’ asked Mike.

‘Pete’s told me the plan for next Saturday,’ Glynn responded, keeping his voice low. ‘He’s leading one team, I’m taking the other. The plan is for you to stay here and look after this place.’

‘No fuckin’ chance!’ Mike fumed. ‘I wanna be part of the action.’