Lucky crammed the envelope in his pocket without checking and then slid across the table to Tom a mobile phone-sized device that resembled a small walkie-talkie with a short, stubby antenna.

‘It’s got a small magnet on one side. Just push the button, stick it on, and the battery is good for a few hours. I’d get straight to it, though, once the car’s been locked, so another key doesn’t override it.’

‘So how you been, then?’

‘Not so bad. Staying out of trouble, keeping quiet and not stealing shit, Detective.’

‘Good to hear. I’ll get this back to you once I’m done with it.’

‘Make sure you do, Tommy-boy,’ he said with an impish grin.

Tom drained his tea and left the café, walking towards Angel Station five minutes away.

He took the Tube to Tottenham Court Road, which boasted many audio-visual and electrical stores. It wasn’t a new stereo that Tom was looking for, however, as he pushed open the door of a small, grimy store and strode in.

It was a dirty, uninviting place with a solitary staff member sat behind the counter using a magnifier to inspect a small piece of circuitry. Glass cases lined the walls displaying varying types of cameras, bug finders, bugs, and other types of surveillance material.

‘Can I help you, squire?’ the worker said in Middle East-accented English. He was a thick-set man with a full beard and open-necked shirt straining against a bulging stomach that a thick, leather belt was fighting to contain.

‘I’m looking for a small GSM listening device. It needs to be voice-activated, have a good battery life, and preferably records as a backup to an internal memory,’ said Tom.

‘Best is this one, squire. Takes any SIM, just dial-in. It’s got a 16GB memory card, will do five days in stand-by mode, twenty hours talk-time, and only a hundred-and-eighty quid.’ He handed Tom a small box the size of an average wallet.

‘How big is the actual unit?’

‘A bit bigger than a fifty-pence-piece, mate. You won’t find a better one.’

‘I’ll take it. You have any SIM cards?’ said Tom as he handed over the cash from his wallet.

‘I’ll chuck in a SIM, gratis. Nice doing business with you.’ The man grinned, showing gold-capped teeth.

Tom walked out of the shop, the bug in his pocket. The whole transaction had taken about two minutes. He retrieved his phone and sent a message to Stan.

‘Glenda in?’

The reply was almost instantaneous. ‘Yes. Been to the car twice already.’

Tom dialled the number for Pet. It was time.

33