‘Fuck’s sake, mate! Come on! Get out of the way!’ A large lorry was now blocking the entrance to Dean Street, full of sand for the nearby building site. He honked his horn, waving out of the window. ‘Come on! Come on! How long you going to be?’

The lorry driver chewed on his cigarette, staring at Vaughn. He shrugged, looking amused. ‘However long it takes, mate!’

Resisting the temptation to get out and do the builder some serious injury, Vaughn knew he had to get to Franny. Seething, he reversed down the street, pulling into the nearest parking space before jumping out and running down the road.

In the back room of the club, Franny knelt down and began to unlock the safe, quickly turning the combination, hoping and praying that Vaughn hadn’t got around to changing the code. She could break into most safes, certainly the one they had, but the one thing she couldn’t do was buy more time.

Without realising she’d been holding her breath, she let out a sigh of relief as she heard the safe’s lock click and the door spring open.

She could feel the sweat running down her back, and she could see her hand shaking, still stained with Bree’s blood. Taking a short, sharp inhalation of breath, Franny muttered to herself, knowing she had to think of Mia. ‘Come on. Come on, don’t give in now.’ She began to empty the safe. The money. The gun. The passport. The credit cards in different names. Throwing them all into the large canvas rucksack.

Getting up, Franny, feeling agitated and trying not to panic, quickly closed the safe door, glancing up at the clock. It was still early and thankfully the mornings were still very dark. At a rough guess she had a couple of hours before it became light but by then, she’d be well away. Heading to Scotland and from there she could sort out a passage to Norway. Just her and Mia.

The thought of it spurred her on and she began to run through the small corridor and into the staff room door, her heart pounding, but she paused and gave a quick look round, satisfied there wasn’t anything else she needed. She stormed through the door … and straight into Vaughn.

‘Franny, this is becoming a habit.’

‘Get out of my way.’

Vaughn shook his head. ‘Not until Alfie arrives, and then you can explain to him what you’ve been up to.’

‘Just leave him out of it. This has nothing to do with Alfie, you understand?’

Vaughn’s bitter laughter filled the club. ‘Why don’t you let him be the judge of that? What’s that?’ He pointed to the canvas bag that Franny was holding. His face twisted up in anger. ‘Are you robbing from us, again?’