‘Bloody hell, Tony, are you sure you can handle him? He acts like he’s royalty; he scares me. You had better learn to dress and speak properly, and fast!’ Although Jake was laughing, he meant it.

Sitting at his desk, listening intently to Jake’s ramblings about the scary butler, Tony felt satisfied. Normally, people were scared of both him and Jake, and the men that worked for them. This butler was scary without using a threatening fist; just his authority was sufficient. Now, that was clever.

Having Mr Mathers’ loyalty would indeed be a prize. There would be no question that he would keep the men’s club in good order and the members satisfied. He had interviewed Tony and Jake without them even realising he was doing it. He had heard of Tony’s reputation and so had come to assess him and assert his own authority – and he had done both.

‘So, Jake, let him use his skills. I always thought I dressed stylishly, but he seems to think there’s more to learn. Let’s use his experience and knowledge. More to the point, let’s use his reputation. If some of the old members think he is prepared to work for us, it’s like a seal of approval. The old members will join again and feel safe knowing they have their old friend back.’

‘Well, Sharon seems to like him; I suppose that’s something. What about this Ashley guy?’

‘Again, Jake, he’s one of the old staff members with the butler’s approval; that will do for me.’

As far as Tony was concerned that was the end of the subject. He could easily leave the supervision of the refurbishment and workmen under the eagle eye of Mr Mathers. If anything, he doubted Mr Mathers would want him interfering. That was fair enough; if it wasn’t broken, why fix it? The man was more than capable.

11

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Jake ran into Tony’s office, where Tony was sat at his desk, deep in conversation with the accountant. ‘That’s it,’ he said, ‘I’ve had enough.’

Tony and the accountant both looked up at the doorway and gawped at Jake, who was red-faced, angry and swearing.

It was early in the morning, the club wasn’t open, the only people around were the cleaners, so what could have upset Jake so much?

‘What’s wrong, what’s happened?’ asked Tony.

Jake was shouting threats about how he was going to ‘kill him’, and that he’d ‘absolutely had enough’. This wasn’t like him at all. He was always the calmer of the two.

‘Calm down and sit down, will you, and tell me what you are going on about.’ Tony was losing his patience. Over the last couple of weeks, he had hardly slept. His brain was constantly thinking over his plans, trying to spot anything he might have forgotten. Right at that moment he hadn’t shaved, he was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and he was stressed to the max. No one but the people closest to him ever saw him like that, he made sure of it. Now he had Jake in his office, shouting and raving like a lunatic, dressed in a tracksuit. This wasn’t the image he liked to present; thankfully, there was no one around but the accountant and the cleaners.