The man with the sawn-off shotgun tapped the Securicor driver’s window with the barrel and rotated his finger, indicating to him to wind it down, which the driver quickly did. The man leant into the van and pulled the key from the ignition, then spoke in a deep tone to disguise his natural voice.

‘Keep your hands on the steering wheel. You so much as twitch towards the horn or alarm and I’ll blow your fucking head off.’

The Securicor driver shook with fear as he nodded, and gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.

The man with the Luger was at the back of the van, pushing the barrel of the gun into the neck of the other Securicor guard, who was frozen to the spot. The unarmed robber grabbed the metal case with the money in it from the guard’s hand and pushed him down onto his knees. He leant forward and whispered, so as not to alert the security guard in the back of the van.

‘Tell him to put the other case in the chute.’

The guard’s voice trembled as he said, ‘There’s only the one.’

The robber shook his head. ‘Don’t lie, son . . . I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t do exactly what I tell you.’

‘Frank, George . . . What’s happening out there? Is everything all right?’ the third guard shouted from inside the van.

The man with the Luger moved around and put the gun to the forehead of the kneeling guard.

‘Last chance, son . . . Tell him to put the fucking case in the chute.’

The guard was unable to stop shaking and the fear in his voice was evident.

‘Everything’s fine. You can send out the other case.’

Suddenly the van’s alarm went off, closely followed by the sound of a shotgun being fired once. The two robbers at the back of the van ran to the front and saw their colleague standing over a young man lying on the ground, clutching his stomach and crying out in pain. The robber with the shotgun was breathing heavily, causing a white foam of spittle to build up around the mouth hole of his balaclava.

‘The fucking idiot tried to get the shotgun off me.’

The unarmed man raised his hand to shut his colleague up. The man with the Luger turned and headed back to the rear of the van, intent on getting the second cash box. The unarmed robber grabbed him by the arm, shook his head and pulled him towards the Cortina, which skidded to a halt beside the Securicor van.

*

‘Central 888 from MP, receiving, over?’

‘Go ahead 888, over,’ Kingston replied.

‘Sounds of gunshots heard outside the bank. Local uniform units requesting permission to move in.’

‘ETA, Cam?’ a concerned-looking Kingston asked.

Cam hit the accelerator. ‘A minute, tops, Guv.’