“I’m doing a deal with your boss, boys—all right? You keep this up and you’re going to have to tell him why the customer who was ready to invest a ton of money in his business just walked away. Your choice.”

Milton saw the shadow disengage from the Range Rover and melt back into the vegetation at the side of the road.

“Mierenneuker,” the man spat derisively.

“Give me the bag, please,” Milton said.

The man held onto the strap for a beat longer—his childish point made—and then let go. He turned and went back to the car. The other man waited until his colleague was inside and then followed suit. Milton stayed where he was. He heard the Range Rover’s powerful engine turn over, and then watched as it lurched ahead. It bounced over a speed bump, rejoined the road and sped toward the bridge and the city.

Milton went back to the Mondeo and got in. He put the bag on his lap and unzipped it. There was a small oblong parcel, wrapped in brown paper and then wrapped again in cellophane. He took it out and held it up. He had paid for a kilogram, and the weight felt about right. He peeled back the corner of the cellophane and then the brown paper. There was a solid brick of a white substance inside.

“The magnet wouldn’t stick,” Hicks said over the phone.

“But you got it on?”

“Think so.”

“Ziggy?”

“I got it,” he said. “Signal received loud and clear. They’re heading back to the city.”

“Good. Chase?”

The American responded, “Just tell me where to go.”

Ziggy had provided Hicks with a small tracking device. It was simple: a GPS receiver attached to a battery that was secured to the target vehicle by way of a magnetic plate. Hicks had pressed the plate against the chassis, most likely at the top of the wheel arch so that it was hidden from view. Ziggy was able to monitor the device from the apartment, and Chase was standing by to follow it back to wherever it was the two goons were headed. The odds were good that they would go to wherever it was they stashed the cocaine; Milton wanted to find out where that was. It would be useful for later.

“The package?” Hicks said.

Milton folded the brown paper back around the brick and then replaced the cellophane wrapping.

“Looks good,” he said.