Hicks pulled out in the Galaxy, turned left and puttered down the road. Chase was in front of him in the Mondeo, with no one else between them. Hicks glanced into the mirror and saw three cars behind him, with the lights of another further down the road.

“Check in,” Milton said over the conference line.

“This is Baxter. I’m in position.”

“This is Hicks. Same.”

Ziggy’s voice came on the line. “Target is thirty seconds away.”

* * *

Milton ambled slowly up to the traffic lights that controlled the flow at the junction between the A580 and Moorside Road. He reached the junction and looked to the left. He could see the Ford there now, ready to turn right but held up by the red light.

Traffic was flowing from right to left. Milton tried to spot Anthony Jackson’s Bentley. He couldn’t.

“Ziggy?” Milton said.

“Fifteen seconds. Get ready.”

Milton walked up to the junction. He reached for his rucksack and took it off his back, unzipping it and reaching inside until his fingers brushed against the edge of the sealed packet of cocaine.

* * *

Chase was held at the junction by a red light. The road ahead was wide by British standards, with three lanes in each direction and a pedestrian bridge immediately to his left. There was a decent flow of traffic in both directions, with the lights that he could see showing green.

He looked into his mirror and saw the Galaxy three cars behind him. That was just as they had planned it; Hicks was there for backup and, if that was not required, would provide Milton with a means to quickly leave the scene.

He heard an angry honk of the horn from the car behind him. Chase raised both arms in a gesture of helplessness that he hoped would be visible to the driver.

What could he do? It wasn’t his fault the light wasn’t changing.

* * *

Ziggy watched the blinking blue dot that represented the Bentley, then changed his attention to the traffic camera on the pedestrian walkway.

The Bentley came into view.

“Switching lights now.”

He pressed a button on the keyboard and activated the command that he had prepared in advance.