‘You must be joking. That only gives us two days.’

‘No, it’s got to be then – you’ll see why in a moment. There’s an express to London in an hour. You’ll catch it easily. That’ll give you plenty of time to recruit your team, gather your gear together and be back here by tomorrow night.’

‘What will I need?’

‘That depends. You’ll do the vault yourself?’

‘Naturally. What is it?’

‘Bodine-Martin 53 – the latest model. Burglar proof naturally.’

‘They always are.’ Morgan chuckled. ‘A snip.’

‘What will you use – nitro?’

‘Not on your life.’ Morgan shook his head. ‘There’s some new stuff the Army’s been experimenting with going the rounds. Handles like nitro, but three times as powerful. It’ll open that vault up like a sardine can.’

‘How long will you need?’

‘On the vault itself?’ He shrugged. ‘I’ll have to cut a hole into the lock. Let’s say forty-five minutes.’

‘And twenty to get you inside.’ Vernon nodded. ‘Just over an hour. Let’s say an hour and a half from going in to coming out.’

‘Sounds too good to be true.’

‘You’ll need a good wheelman to stand by with the car.’

‘Frankie Harris is available. He’s just out of the Ville. Could do with some gelt.’

‘What about a labourer?’

‘That’s settled to start with – Johnny Martin. He knows how I like things done.’

‘And a good heavy and I don’t mean some punch-drunk old has-been. You’ll need someone who can really handle himself, just in case of trouble, though I don’t think he’ll even have to flex his muscles.

‘I know just the man,’ Morgan said. ‘Jack Fallon. He used to run with Bart Keegan and the Poplar boys, but they had a row.’

Vernon nodded approvingly. ‘That’s a good choice. I remember Fallon. He’s got brains, too.’

‘Okay – now that’s settled let’s get down to brass tacks. What’s the pitch?’

‘Chatsworth Iron & Steel down by the river. Only five minutes from where we are now as a matter of fact. Nine thousand workers and the management are still daft enough to pay them in cash. It takes the staff two days to make the wages up, which means there’s never less than two hundred thousand, sometimes as much as two hundred and twenty in the vault Wednesday and Thursday, depending on earnings of course.’

‘Isn’t there a night shift?’

‘Only for the workers. The admin. side closes down at five-thirty on the dot. It’s housed in a brand-new ten-storey office block between the factory and the river and they’ve installed just about every kind of alarm known to man.’

‘Bound to with loot like that lying around. How do we get in?’