‘Not me,’ said the one that had been pestering Jax. ‘But I would have if this stuck-up cunt had helped me out. I told him I was going to get nicked, but he didn’t give a fuck.’

‘Yeah, like fucked you got nicked,’ said another man sitting at Jax’s table. ‘We aren’t going to fall for that shit again. You’re a fucking shifty cunt, aren’t ya, Robbo?’

Robbo stood up. ‘Nah, I swear on me mum,’ Robbo said. ‘They got it. I had enough for youse all. I’m not holding out. I swear to shit. Ask him. I tried to give it to him in the holding cell.’

Suddenly the man to Jax’s right got up.

‘You’re a fucking snake,’ he said.

‘Oiiii,’ a voice boomed. ‘What’s going on here?’

‘Nah, nothing, hey,’ Robbo said as he backed away from the voice that Jax thought must have belonged to a guard until he saw the inmate bearing down on his table. Jax was surprised by his size. Big voice. Little man.

‘Yeah, nothing,’ agreed the man on Jax’s right as he retook his seat.

‘You shitbags better not have gear that hasn’t come from me,’ said the intruder. ‘Youse know the rules. Who’s got it? Who brought it in?’

‘Fucking him,’ yelled another man as he fingered Robbo. He then pointed toward Jax. ‘Or him. Heard ’em talking about it. They both came in today. Robbo’s trying to pull a swifty and gyp us all again.’

‘Who’s this cunt?’ the newcomer said as he looked at Jax.

No one answered his question.

‘Fucking smartarse, hey?’ he yelled at Jax.

Jax knew what was coming as soon as he saw the man’s shoulder turn and his elbow drop: a left, a jab. He used his right arm to parry the punch.

Thrown off-balance, the attacker toppled onto another inmate. ‘You’re fucking dead, cunt,’ he said to Jax as he pushed away from the hapless junkie who’d broken his fall.

Jax was now on his feet, fists raised and ready to go. Still getting to his feet, the inmate with the big mouth was a sitting duck, his head slightly turned to Jax’s right. The temple was always the best target, specifically the thinnest part of the skull between the eye and the ear. A decent slap was enough to knock a person out, and from where Jax was standing – above him, balanced, with his weight loaded on his hip – he could have killed him. But even though it went against everything he’d been taught in the army, Jax wanted to fight fair. So he stood on his tiptoes with his fists up and waited for the man to get to his feet.