‘You think you know everything, Pete, you always have, since we were little kids. And I love that about you, but you can’t sit there like the fucking Angel Gabriel spreading your glad tidings at this late stage in the game. We took all this with our front, and only our front will keep us in the running. You need to remember that.’

Peter shook his head then. He had dropped the rest of the crew off at a pub, making sure that there were only the two of them for this conversation. He was aware that Daniel would fight him on this – on every level. Daniel always acted first and thought it all out afterwards. When they were on their way up the ladder that had been less of a problem. Now, though, they needed to pull back a little, keep a low profile for a while. In short, they had to wait and see how their new status was received by the general populace.

Daniel seemed to think they faced no opposition. Well, it wasn’t the case. They had trodden on more than a few fucking toes and, even though they were convinced they were big enough and tough enough for the job in hand, it would not hurt either of them to wait and see if there were going to be any reprisals.

‘We don’t know, Dan, what the upshot of this is yet. We have done our best, but we have still fucked a lot of people over. I believe we need to step back and see what the future holds. Alfie is a good earner and, as lairy as he is, he has his creds. All I am saying is, let’s see what he has to offer.’

Daniel Bailey looked into his brother’s eyes; he was sorry for him in some ways. Peter always believed the best of people if he could – he got that from their mother. He also thought that because he did things on the quiet they didn’t count. But they did. Peter was paranoid these days. Since they had made their move Peter seemed convinced they were going to get their collars felt. Daniel wondered at how he was going convince his brother of his way of thinking. He saw their next moves as pivotal in their conquering of London and the Home Counties. Daniel felt they should be rattling the cages of everyone within their orbit, making them see just how dangerous they were, whereas Peter wanted to tip-toe in, like fucking burglars, creepers – the lowest of the low where they came from.