Before she’d even finished speaking, Rick Bainbridge had picked up the phone and asked to be put through to London. Five minutes later, he carefully replaced the receiver on the handset, and looked at her squarely.

‘It looks like you are right, Nikki Galena! The undercover drugs squad has intercepted information that a huge amount of cocaine will be hitting the streets in the next few days. They just have no idea where or how it’s coming in.’ He ran a hand through his iron-grey hair and shook his head. ‘You really mean all this … this carnage is a distraction?’

‘I do, sir. What would focus us more than a murder enquiry? What would stretch us to the limits more than a hunt for a missing girl?’

‘And what would use up our remaining manpower more than trying to quell a gang war? What’s the old saying? Divide and conquer?’

‘Well, sir, they’ve divided us, but I’ll be damned if they’ll conquer!’ Nikki’s brain was moving into overdrive. ‘The drop is obviously imminent, isn’t it? They’ve stopped making the masks, and killed off their distributors.’ Her eyes lit up. ‘But they have no idea that we have sussed what they are up to, and that puts us in the driving seat, sir! We need to get on to HM Customs and Revenue, and the Port Authorities and see what ships are due to berth in Greenborough Port.’

‘And we’ll have a very big and extremely well-armed reception party waiting for them.’ The superintendent seemed to have suddenly shed a few of the years that he had put on over the past days. ‘I’ll get on to that immediately, and I’ll involve the Special Drugs Squad – they have a protocol for dealing with something as big as this.’

‘It’s my guess that the gang who have arranged all this will think its going to be a walk in the park.’

‘Well, thanks to you, it’ll be far from that.’ Rick Bainbridge smiled warmly. ‘Well done, Nikki. If we pull this off, your job will be safe and secure until you decide to draw your pension!’

‘Or just until I ruffle a few more feathers, sir. But thanks, I appreciate all your support recently. I know I’ve been a total pain in the arse.’ She stood up abruptly. ‘But this can wait. Kerry Anderson is still out there somewhere, and I have to find her.’

‘One more thing, Nikki. All cooperation with Archie Leonard stops here. I know you’re fond of him, for reasons that I really don’t want to know about, but this could be the biggest drugs bust of the century, and like it or not, the Leonards are criminals. We can’t afford for a single slip-up and talking to him constitutes an unacceptable risk. Do you understand where I’m coming from?’