Paddy released Sammy from his grip. ‘We got a deal then, boy?’ he asked Jed.

Jed grinned. He’d never been one to sense fear, and wasn’t about to start now. He also hated being called ‘boy’. ‘No, we ain’t got a deal. As for you, you inbred, lowlife tinker, go fuck your grandmother.’

As Paddy Brady lunged at him, Jed ducked, grabbed Sammy’s arm and, laughing, the pair ran from the market as fast as their legs would take them.

Terry Baldwin was in pole position by seven-thirty. Eddie had told him which way the horse-box would be coming from and he’d also informed him that Jed and Jimmy were usually so inebriated it seemed to take them for ever to unload any of the horses they’d bought, which gave Terry the perfect opportunity to strike.

Aware that Jimmy O’Hara was no mug, Terry decided to hole up in the middle of some bushes on the right-hand side of O’Hara’s driveway, which enabled him to see the horse-box approaching. His previous hideout had been on the left. Knowing that he probably had a good couple of hours’ wait, Terry chopped some leaves off the bush with a Stanley knife he’d brought with him, to give himself more room to manoeuvre and a better view. He’d decided to shoot Jed as he pulled onto the drive, rather than when he got out of the horse-box. That way, Jimmy had less chance of guessing where the bullets had come from and he could be on his bike and away in sixty seconds flat.

Having made enough room to now sit down, Terry gave his legs a rest and thought about his strange encounter with Eddie Mitchell the previous evening. Like the majority of London’s East End, Terry Baldwin had always known who Eddie Mitchell was. Over the years, Terry had attended a couple of functions where Eddie had also been present, but he had never been properly introduced to him before. Having now met Eddie in person, Terry understood the aura that surrounded the man. From his looks to his mannerisms, Mitchell had that something special, but the thing that had surprised Terry the most was Ed’s fairness and integrity. Terry had honestly thought he was a dead man last night, but Eddie had listened to what he had to say and had now given him a chance to save his own bacon.

Staring at the gun that lay beside him on the ground, Terry smirked. He was no mug himself and he couldn’t wait to show Eddie Mitchell his capabilities and prove to him that he had made the right decision by letting him live.