‘Rob and Dicky have taken a few blokes, and they are on their way over to Patrick Costello’s house where, incidentally, he is having a big fucking party to celebrate his wedding anniversary. Rob and Dicky seem to think that they can easily gain entry into Patrick’s home, and then they plan to take out the Costello family en masse. I assume they didn’t discuss any of this with you, because you would have told them that they were on a death wish. It’s fucking lunacy, Jonny. But you know young Rob – he’s got a serious fucking hard on for Michael Flynn, and Dicky has always wanted to pay back Declan Costello for past misdemeanours.’

Jonny Barber was unsure if he was actually awake. This could only be some kind of nightmare brought on by narcotics or some kind of serious illness. No one in their right mind would think – even for a moment – that they could take out the Costello brothers. And certainly not in their own fucking home, for fuck’s sake! It was so blatantly outrageous a claim, yet so like something Dicky was capable of, he knew that it could only be the truth.

He understood that Colin Dawes was only trying to help, was doing him what he felt was a favour – being loyal and decent even. But he wished Colin Dawes had kept his big fucking trap shut.

Jonny wasn’t sure if he was willing to get involved. He would rather have been able to say, in complete honesty, that he had known nothing about any of this, and that it was as big a surprise to him as it was to everyone else. Thanks to this cunt, he couldn’t do that now.

There was no way in hell that his brothers would be able to walk away from this. It was never going to happen. The fucking Flying Squad would be hard pushed to infiltrate Patrick Costello’s house, even with a warrant and a tag team from the SAS. Patrick Costello had always made sure he was well protected from any outside aggravation. He was a man who was always two steps ahead and who, therefore, had put in place security that might be needed should any threat arise.