At the top of the back stairs, which were strewn with empty condom wrappers and smelt of urine, Alfie pushed open the large, metal fire door. He walked along the corridor to the far end, quietly going through another door, not wanting to attract attention.

‘Oi, mate! Do you mind! We’re busy in here! Now piss off!’ A large, balding fat man sitting naked on a chair in the middle of the room sneered at Alfie as a young girl, who Alfie guessed was no more than seventeen, knelt at the man’s feet, attempting to give him a blow job.

Angrily, Alfie strode up to him, clutching hold of the man’s thinning hair, pulling back his head. ‘Do you want to say that to me again, mate?’

Terrified, the man gave the smallest shake of his head. ‘No, I’m sorry … no harm meant.’

Ignoring him, Alfie looked around the dark, bare room and seeing the man’s trousers lying on the floor, he walked over to them, picking them up before going into the pockets and bringing out a brown leather wallet.

‘Let’s see how sorry you are, shall we?’

Opening it up, Alfie pulled out a wad of notes before walking back to where the man was watching him wide-eyed. He smiled at the girl who was still kneeling on the floor, and handed her all the money. ‘Here, darlin’, take this.’

‘Oi, there’s five hundred quid there. You can’t give her that! She ain’t even finished yet!’

As the girl got up and hurried out of the room, Alfie bent down, staring at the man square on in his eyes. ‘Funny that, mate, cos that’s exactly what I’ve just done … You got a problem with that?’

Reaching between the man’s legs, Alfie grabbed hold of the man’s balls, squeezing them hard and causing him to cry out in pain.

Alfie sneered. ‘I said, have you got a problem with that?’

The man was barely able to speak. ‘No … no.’

‘Good, that’s what I thought you’d said. Now where’s Charlie?’

‘Upstairs … he’s upstairs.’

Smirking, Alfie stood up, wiping his hand on his trousers before leaving the pathetic, terrified man squirming about in agony.