Chin nodded at Albie. ‘He was shit-scared of the man. And happy to help. Especially when I intimated to him that Joe’s demise would get him out from under. And with enough money to retire on. Then I went looking for someone to do the dirty work. And an associate of mine, a small-time gun dealer, knew just the man. A friend of his. A policeman. And very well motivated to want revenge on Joe.’

He waited for the general outrage to die down before continuing. Facing them down with the outward confidence of a lion tamer in the middle of the cage. He raised a hand to forestall Albie’s question.

‘No. You don’t need to know who. It wasn’t easy, of course. The man in question had to believe he was acting of his own free will. But we gave him the information and weapons he needed. One hit at a time. And he did the rest. Like some sort of fucking Terminator.’

‘What, so all that was your doing? The dealer. The car park. His safe house?’

The older of the two women on the council asked the question with a look of disbelief. Chin shrugged.

‘Yeah. The man was better than I could have hoped for. He even took Lewis off the board.’ That got a moment’s silence. ‘It nearly went wrong at the end. My associate was unwise enough to get captured by Joe.’

‘And he grassed your shooter up, right?’

‘Of course. Wouldn’t you have? I reckon I’d have been talking double-quick. We can be grateful that he had the sense not to mention our arrangement. Or Joe would have come at us like a blood-crazed wolf. Of course what we didn’t know was this policeman had some high-end military contacts. Deniable assets, I think they call them. Special forces nutters.’

‘You mean the raid on Joe’s arches was…’

‘Yeah.’ The second-generation Chinese kept his face straight. ‘A government death squad. They killed anyone who even looked at a gun. Did Eddie. Did Joe. Took his contingency money and disappeared.’

‘What, back to the LA underground?’

Albie smirked. ‘This isn’t the A-Team, Albie son. These are some proper nasty people. First thing you know about it, if they come for you, is when you realise your throat’s been cut. Which you know because your fucking head’s on the floor and you’re looking up at yourself.’

The older man nodded. Knowing where this was going.

‘Which is why you’re about to propose that we leave it there. And don’t try to silence your man the gun dealer.’

‘That won’t be necessary. He’s gone for a long holiday, under an assumed identity. And with all the money he’ll ever need, if he uses his head.’

‘And the shooter?’

Sammy nodded at Albie. Knowing where his thought process was going.