‘Meanwhile,’ Eric went on, taking another pull on his cigar, ‘you, Jonnie H. and his boys will be all over the place. One of the men takes the car keys, the others are sorting out the outriders and/or the police car. We’ll need to shoot out the tyres immediately they stop, the outriders and the main ones. They’re on bikes and they can cause us hag, be off and out of it within seconds - so they’re the important ones. I’ll say shoot to wound not kill, but it’ll be so mad here, Christ knows what’ll happen.

‘Once the shooters go off, especially the Armalite, we should get some good cooperation. I can’t guarantee it, though. You know what people are like when they’re shit-scared. They could go one way or the other. However, once they’re all taken care of, we’re laughing.

‘Meanwhile, I’m dealing with the bloke out of the sweatbox. Remember - only the driver will have the key to the doors. It always works like that. He alone knows the procedure for opening them. You see, the lock is like a safe - You turn the keys in special positions. The driver will know them off pat. So, I get him to open the doors, we chin the guards inside, lock them in - and we’re off! I’ll take Georgio on the bike with me.

‘We all shoot across the field and over to the country lane, going in the opposite direction from the one they’re expecting us to take, because there’s a crossroads there. They’ll expect us to be moving away from the way they came, but in fact we’ll be going in the opposite direction until we come to Gibbet Hill about a quarter of a mile away. We’ll dump the bikes there, run over the railway bridge on foot, and that’s where the safe cars are. We strip off the boiler suits and balaclavas, dump the guns. Georgio slips into the foot rest at the front of the first car, we let him go with you or me, whatever. The rest go in the second car and then it’s up to you for the actual safe houses and all the rest.

‘The railway bridge is an excellent scam,’ he told Alan enthusiastically. ‘It’s got high brick walls everywhere in case the Old Bill decide to follow with shooters. We can be over it and off in no time. I’ll let off a few rounds of the Armalite as we begin to run. That way they’ll know we’re well-armed. But myself I don’t think we’ll be followed by them. If we are, they got a lucky strike, and they’ll be woodentops anyway out here. Not worth a wank. So what do you think, Alan?’