his equally fearsome-looking mate.
‘James, Bruce, these are the Kruger brothers,’ Wheels said. ‘Tony and Tim, this is James and Bruce.’
‘Morning,’ James said, as he slammed the car door.
Chloe had run the Krugers on the police computer and pulled up a long list of suspected armed robberies, but no convictions apart from a couple of stretches in youth custody back in the 1980s. It seemed strange that two brothers whose careers had been based around carefully planned robberies were coming to help Sasha take down Major Dee, but James reckoned it made sense when he saw them up close: out of all the hard men he’d ever met, these two were the ones James would have wanted on his side in a rumble.
‘Sasha speaks highly of you boys,’ Tim Kruger said, as he reached across the back seat to shake hands.
His voice was gravel and he clamped James’ hand so tight that it felt like he was going to crush bone, but Bruce took his turn as a challenge and squeezed back. James was in the middle with the two arms stretched across his lap and Bruce’s bony wrist apparently being crushed by a fist the size of a ham. After ten tense seconds the handshake broke and Tim Kruger exploded in a volcanic laugh which sent shockwaves through James’ body.
‘Tough little bugger this one,’ Tim roared approvingly. ‘Not much meat but there’s a grip like a vice on him.’
They drove on for fifteen minutes, passing through the Thornton Estate where James had lived on his first mission in the area. He felt a slight kick of nostalgia as they skimmed past shabby houses and football pitches that evoked memories of long forgotten kickabouts, but they drove on through the back of the estate into an area of industrial units that bordered on to the high-fenced compound around Luton airport.
A 737 passed over seconds after leaving the runway, making a roar that shook the entire car. After a few more seconds, Wheels turned off the road into the car park surrounding a branch of Sofa World. It still had Closing Down and Last Day 75% Off Everything banners draped on the exterior.
He slowed to a crawl as he cut across the empty parking bays and under a half opened metal shutter, which was immediately pulled down by two members of Sasha’s crew dressed in yellow overalls.
James and Bruce were baffled as they entered the cavernous space, which still had a scattering of tatty shop fittings and was marked out with aisles and carpeted areas for displaying soft furniture.
Half a dozen Mad Dogs sat on stained and broken sofas that even the final day’s Discount Madness hadn’t shifted, drinking tea and waiting for something to kick off. Two black Mercedes vans and the cab of an articulated truck were parked on the carpet. The vans were freshly painted with the logo of an airport catering company stencilled on the side, while the truck looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, with a thick sheet of Plexiglas bolted over the windscreen and a battering ram made from two huge H-bar girders welded to the front.
James was last out of the car and he couldn’t help thinking that something was wrong. The Krugers, the passport photographs and the fact that the airport was miles from where Major Dee was doing his drug deal had already made James wonder if things were going according to plan, but the set-up inside Sofa World sent him into a full-on panic.
‘You’ve all made it,’ Sasha said happily, as he ran out of an office and – clearly knowing better than to try a handshake – gave Tim and Tony Kruger friendly thumps on the shoulder. ‘It’s all come together so well, the gods must be smiling on us.’
‘Is Savvas back from the other place?’ Wheels asked.
Sasha nodded. ‘He’s wired up enough sticks of gelignite to blow the joint sky high,’ he grinned. ‘Major Dee isn’t gonna have a clue.’
‘What about the money?’
‘I just got the call,’ Sasha said. ‘The money’s on board and the plane should be taking off from Schipol any minute now.’
‘Ahem,’ Bruce said, clearing his throat. ‘Me and James are putting our butts on the line the same as everyone else. Is anyone gonna tell us what’s going on?’
*
Over the other side of town, Major Dee had a spring in his step and the scent of Sasha Thompson’s blood. He had six men inside the small warehouse to do the drug deal. Thirty more