He smiled to himself as, once again, he felt he was back in control of events. A few seconds later, he clicked on to his online Bitcoin wallet and completed the payment. He shut the laptop, left the room and headed for the bank of lifts at the far end of the corridor. His suite was on the fifth floor and he took the lift straight down to the basement. He arrived at the underground car park and, as he walked across it, kept a careful eye on where the CCTV cameras were positioned. It took him a while to locate the giant steel rubbish bins, which he’d anticipated he’d find on that level.

There were four grey units positioned together near the exit barrier in an unlit section of the car park. He checked no one was around before opening the black laptop. He raised it high above his head and began maniacally smashing it down against the top of one of the bins, breaking it into dozens of pieces. Parts of the screen and keyboard scattered onto the concrete floor around his feet. He spent the next ten minutes carefully picking up the wreckage and depositing the pieces into the four bins. He emerged from the shadows and made his way back to his suite. Once inside, he downed another glass of bourbon, picked up his mobile and punched in a text to his son.

All has gone as planned. Sleep well.

Chapter Fifty-Three

31 January 2012

Los Angeles

It was gone midnight when Hembury and Vargas arrived back at the apartment. Earlier in the evening, Hembury had arranged for two of his senior detectives to meet them at Wicks’s townhouse. As soon as the hitman had sent through the confirmation message to Franklin, he was taken away for further questioning and charged.

Vargas grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge as Hembury spoke on the phone with Amanda Carter, filling her in on the latest events.

“Troy, this episode confirms this man is a monster, running totally out of control. I’m not sure you should be walking into the lion’s den tomorrow.”

“At least we have the element of surprise on our side. He clearly won’t be expecting me to show. I think for now we stick to the plan.”

A few hours’ later, two planes took off from different locations, both heading for San Francisco. Hembury and Vargas took a scheduled Delta flight from LA, and John Franklin joined his father on board his private Cessna at Phoenix Airport. As they belted up for the two-hour flight, John again queried the need for him to go to his father’s house for a meeting he now knew wasn’t going to happen.

“Given the news on Hembury, I’d like to go straight to my office. There’s so much going on at the moment. I just can’t afford the time.”