‘Why not, Max? The Warboys brothers were the biggest pimps in London. That’s what Paul and Danny did, Max. Not Reggie and Ronnie Kray. Not Charlie and Eddie Richardson. Paul and Danny Warboys. The Warboys brothers were into the flesh trade. And although the world gets all misty-eyed about these old celebrity gangsters, there was no romance in it. Not then, not now. The Warboys firm peddled girls in Soho and if the girls answered back or were too tired to work, then they lost their front teeth. So don’t be fooled by this sweet old man.’

We were silent for a moment.

‘So you want to bring in Paul Warboys?’ I said.

‘I want the old man watched. But I want to bring in this Chinaman for another interview.’

‘But if you like Paul Warboys for this, then why are we sweating Keith Li? He gave us the lorry with the dead girls and the lorry with Lee Hill. Keith Li led us to them.’

‘Exactly. We’re being led around by the head of the Wo Shing Wo, Max. It stinks.’

I shook my head but said nothing.

At the far end of the landing strip, Billy was attempting to reverse but the rear wheels were up on the grass verge and struggling to gain traction on the icy ground.

Glenn began running towards him, waving his hands to stop but Billy kept his foot pressed down on the metal, his wheels screaming in protest, the ten-ton truck going nowhere.

I had a bad feeling about all this.

‘Billy’s not ready,’ I said.

‘He has five more days’ intensive training with Glenn,’ Whitestone said. ‘He will be ready by the end of it.’

‘I’m not talking about the driving. I know he can be taught to handle an HGV. I’m saying that he’s not ready for an operation this dangerous.’

‘Billy’s no canteen cowboy. He’s got a heart on him.’

‘I’m not doubting the size of his heart. He’s just too raw to go into that migrant camp alone. He hasn’t got the miles on the clock.’

Whitestone turned to look at me. The low sun blazed on her glasses and I could not see her eyes. But her voice was full of ice.

‘He’s been in the field with you, hasn’t he?’

‘An Essex strip club? A language school on Oxford Street?’ I could feel my blood rising and I struggled to keep my voice under control. ‘It’s hardly the same thing as that camp in Dunkirk.’

I thought of Billy in the field. How easy it was for a couple of strippers to play him. How he tried to open the back of the lorry containing Lee Hill’s body by chucking a brick at it.

And I felt sick to my stomach.