Contents (83)
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- Acknowledgements
- OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK
‘I can’t do that,’ Haye replied. He seemed shocked at the suggestion. ‘What if someone sees me?’
‘Are you serious?’ Moxon could hardly believe what he was hearing. ‘We’re sitting in full uniform right outside this guy’s house, in a fully marked bloody police car. Short of a neon sign, there’s no way on Earth we could be any more conspicuous. Which is the whole bloody point.’
Haye still seemed confused.
‘Jesus Christ, Richard. Is the oxygen not reaching you up there? We’re not here to lure whatever crazy bastard is after this bloke into his home and jump him. If we were there’d be a whole lot more of us. We’re here to be seen. So the crazy bastard stays away. It’s not bloody rocket science.’
Haye nodded his head. At last he seemed to understand. Moxon could only wonder how long he’d remember; how soon he would need it explained again.
Christ knows where they find them these days, he thought to himself.
Haye was already halfway out of the car when its radio crackled into life.
‘Sierra Granada to Sierra Four, over.’
Sierra Four was the call sign for the car. Sierra Granada was its home station, Islington.
‘Sierra Four, over,’ Moxon answered.
‘Sierra Four, operation is suspended. Perceived threat was incorrect. Head back to the station, over.’
‘Understood, over,’ Moxon replied.
He turned to Haye, who was now fully back inside the car.
‘Looks like you’ll have to stretch your legs back at the station.’
‘Why do you think that is?’
‘You heard them. They got their information wrong. All we need to know.’
Moxon had already started the engine as he spoke. Within moments they were moving. Moments more and they had left Lonsdale Square behind.
The figure in the shadows watched as the police car drove away.
It had been parked outside Derek Reid’s house since at least 5 p.m., but no earlier than 4 p.m., because it had appeared some time between Pale Eye’s second and third passes of the address.
And it had posed a problem.
Maybe not a problem. But it was still not ideal.
Nothing could be allowed to get in his way. Nothing could be allowed to derail his plan. What was going to happen here was going to happen tonight. And if that meant that the men in the car died, well, then they died.
So no, not a problem. Just an inconvenience.
That inconvenience disappeared as the car drove away.
He had no idea why it was leaving. Nor did he know if it would return. The first of those facts did not matter. The second did. And so he would wait and he would observe. If they came back, then he would do what he had to do.
And when that was complete, he would do what he wanted to do.
FORTY-THREE
Steven Hale tightened his grip on his pistol. A Glock 17. Standard issue. Seventeen 9×19mm Parabellum rounds. It was seventeen more than he intended to use. But it paid to be prepared for the worst.