Suddenly Crumbs leaned forward again, this time reaching over the table and pushing his finger into Jack’s chest. ‘What you need to understand is that this is bigger than you. Don’t you dare fuck up what we’ve been working towards for years. Just because you see silent protests doesn’t mean there aren’t other things going on. So, turn up tomorrow, keep your hands to yourself and do what I tell you, otherwise there’s gonna be trouble. Hear me?’

‘I’m not going to hang around just to play footsies with the media. It’s gone beyond that, don’t you think? Let’s really get into some action.’

‘I’ve told you. There are other things going on that you don’t know about.’

Jack stared at him, his mind whirling. As he looked at Crumbs’s face, the half-smile wasn’t only arrogant but secretive.

‘That wasn’t your group causing that mixer to explode, was it? Did you guys do that?’ His voice rose in excitement and he drummed his fingers on the table. ‘And that arsehole got hurt too, so you got a double whammy! Good job!’

Again, Crumbs didn’t answer, but the way he cocked his head to the side made Jack positive he was right.

‘So, you do that sort of shit. When can I—’

‘Calm the fuck down.’ The anger returned. Crumbs’s voice was low and mean. ‘I never said that.’

‘But—’

‘I’m telling you once more. Turn up at the protest tomorrow, but be cool, okay? You can’t let yourself get carried away. You’ve got to keep a lid on things, otherwise we’ll get blackbanned. We still need to get our message out there. You stuff this up for us, then you’ll find yourself in a whole new world of hurt.

‘You’re right,’ Crumbs went on, ‘the mixer was a great idea. Shame that someone had to get hurt in the process. Still,’ he stood up and threw a twenty-dollar note on the table, ‘it’s all for the greater good. See you tomorrow.’

Jack held out his hand, but Crumbs left without shaking it.

‘He didn’t confess, but I’m sure he organised it,’ Jack said to Dave on the phone when he was back in the safety of the unit. ‘I’ve got the recording and camera info, so I’ll put that out back for you. Have you worked out who this bloke is yet?’

‘Not yet. I’ve run his photo by most of the people who would know but haven’t come up with a hit. Even when I put the nickname into the database, I got zero. I’ll keep working on IDing him.