‘We don’t want overpriced cleaning products,’ the woman said wearily, pushing shut the door before she’d even finished opening. ‘Read the sign: No Cold Callers.’

‘We’re here to see your husband,’ Ryan explained politely. ‘You are Mrs Al-Zeid?’

‘He’s expecting us,’ Leon added.

The woman grunted, swiped the back of her hand against a greasy forehead and yelled up the stairs. ‘Trey, there’s three lads here.’

‘What lads?’ Trey shouted. ‘Tell ’em to sling their bloody hook.’

‘Say you’re expecting them.’

‘I’m not expecting—’

The rest of Trey’s sentence got drowned out because one of the kids slipped on the kitchen floor and started bawling.

‘Just get down here,’ the woman screamed, leaving the door ajar as she rushed in to comfort a distressed toddler. ‘Like I haven’t got enough on.’

The boys took the opportunity to step into the hallway. It smelled of bleach, and a toddler craned around a doorway to see who’d arrived. Daniel took the opportunity to stick a tiny listening device to the wall behind a radiator.

‘What the hell?’ Trey snapped, as he came around the top of the stairs in a Sonics basketball shirt and one hand holding his butt. ‘This is my home! I’m not a man to be messed with.’

Trey saw Ryan first as he began limping down the stairs. He’d not seen him before, but he recognised the twins and his eyebrows shot up furiously.

‘You’ve got some blasted nerve!’ Trey shouted. ‘This is my private home. How did you find out that I lived here?’

‘It’s not hard if you’re smart,’ Ryan said, but deliberately avoided details. ‘I thought it was better to corner you here than at the taxi office surrounded by your pals.’

As Ryan spoke, he took out the pocket revolver, keeping it pointed at the floor, with the barrel swung open so that it couldn’t be fired.

‘An expensive item,’ Ryan noted, as Trey snatched the outstretched gun.

‘Where are the bullets?’

‘That’s a gesture of goodwill,’ Ryan said. ‘But do I look stupid enough to hand a potential enemy a loaded gun?’

Trey grunted. ‘So, why are you here?’

‘I just moved into Nurtrust with these two,’ Ryan explained. ‘You’re an influential man in these parts. My brothers and I don’t want you as an enemy.’

‘We helped you find Oli,’ Daniel added.

The brat in the kitchen had finally stopped screaming and Trey pulled shut the kitchen door so that his wife couldn’t hear.

‘That prick,’ he hissed, pointing at Leon. ‘That prick put three staples in my ass. I can’t sit down and my driver has a broken nose.’

‘Through your jeans and pants,’ Daniel scoffed. ‘Not into bone, like Oli.’

‘You took my brothers hostage,’ Ryan said calmly. ‘They acted the way they did because they were scared. But it was Oli that caused all the trouble.’