‘Good. So any sign that the Met is about to roll over and close down the task force?’

‘Are you fucking insane? It’s never going to happen and you must know it.’

He laughed. ‘That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.’

‘I don’t get it. This is madness. You have to stop it.’

‘Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly developed a conscience,’ he said. ‘You’ve never given a shit about your colleagues before.’

‘But this is different. When I gave you the list of names and contact details you didn’t tell me what you were going to do with it. If I’d known you were going to start killing people I would never have done it.’

‘You had no fucking choice,’ he snapped. ‘It was either that or I was gonna let it be known that you’ve been on my payroll for the past five years and that a while back you were involved in the murder of a police officer. So stop whinging and stay the fucking course. If you don’t I’ll see to it that you spend the rest of your life in a cell.’

‘But I don’t understand what you’re hoping to achieve by doing this. It won’t stop the Met from going after the firm. You’re still the prime suspect despite your denials. And why are you so set on seeing the task force wound up if you’re not going to be around for much longer? It makes no sense to me.’

‘It has nothing to do with the task force or the firm,’ he said. ‘This is me getting my own back against your lot for all the grief I’ve suffered over the years. I want revenge before I die.’

He waited for a response, but all he heard was a sharp intake of breath.

‘There are things that have been done to me that you know nothing about,’ he said. ‘But eventually it’ll become clear to you and everyone else. In the meantime stop pretending that you care about your colleagues and do what you’re paid to do – which is whatever I say.’

Slack pressed his thumb against the call-end icon and heaved an almighty sigh.

Bent coppers never ceased to amaze him. They were happy to take the bung and shaft their mates. And yet at the same time they tried to convince themselves that they were still good people.

Fucking pathetic.

It was another reason he hated the Old Bill so much. They were hypocritical slags who had fewer morals than most of the people they pursued.