‘Our SOCO is presently working undercover in the Bruce Grove Snooker Hall and called me just before the briefing. Tommy Ripley, Aidan O’Reilly and Maria Fernadez are all there, apparently looking like they’ve got almighty hangovers from the wedding. The Colonel and Cam, with extra backup, will arrest them.’

‘What if any of them leave before we get there?’ the Colonel asked.

‘Dabs is going to come out of the hall at five minutes to two and meet you outside the sorting office in Moorfield Road with an update. I want two teams from Tower Bridge to hit their home addresses at the same time. I’ve arranged for uniform officers to go to the garage at two p.m. and secure it, then we can search it later.’

Jane and Teflon looked at each other, wondering what they would be doing.

‘WDS Tennison and DC Johnson will arrest Carl Winter. He, like Maria Fernandez, may or may not be involved in the planning or commission of the robberies, but they could be a useful source of information – especially Winter.’

Teflon could see that Jane was about to say something.

He gave her a discreet dig with his elbow and whispered, ‘Don’t say a word or he’ll crucify you in front of everyone.’

‘I want all the suspects taken to Leytonstone Police Station for interrogation, and continual updates given to me over the radio throughout the operation. Any questions?’

There were none.

Murphy went to his office with the Tower Bridge DCI and Kingston to have a quick glass of whisky before the armed operation.

Teflon took Jane to Dabs’s office to speak to her.

‘Not letting us be involved in any of the main suspects’ arrests is Murphy’s way of punishing us for what happened with Abby Jones.’

‘Carl is not in any way, shape or form a criminal,’ Jane said angrily. ‘I should be the last person to have to arrest him and Murphy knows that.’

‘Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Murphy’s arresting Carl for the right reasons, not to spite you. Even if it was someone else on the team making the arrest, it’s inevitable during questioning Carl will find out you’re a police officer. If you feel so bad, then this is your opportunity to make him realise you meant him no harm and were just doing your job.’

*

Dabs met the Colonel outside the sorting office just before 2 p.m. and told him that O’Reilly was in Tommy’s office and Fernandez was still behind the bar. The Colonel radioed Murphy.

‘Gold from KG, receiving . . . over?’

‘Go ahead . . . over,’ Murphy replied.

‘All three targets still in hall.’

‘All units from Gold, are you in position?’

He waited until the last unit responded.

‘Attack, attack, attack!’ Murphy shouted.

*

A traffic police Land Rover pulled up outside the gates of George Ripley’s house. The passenger jumped out and quickly connected a cable to the gates.