Lone Wolf - Robert Muchamore Page 0,57

she slid her hand across Warren’s lap.

‘What about the security cameras?’ Warren asked.

Ning looked at Fay. ‘Is lover boy a full partner now?’ she said, a touch irritably.

Fay’s yes came in the form of a guilty smile. ‘Where would we be now without him?’

‘Must have been some date on Saturday night,’ Ning said acidly, before changing the subject. ‘Hagar’s security guards must have CCTV, but I can’t see any cameras.’

‘So how much longer do you think we should keep up this surveillance?’ Fay asked.

‘I reckon another day, unless something surprising happens,’ Ning said. ‘The park keeper’s already giving me funny looks when he turns up and sees I’m still here.’

‘The best way is to wait until the three guys open up the back doors and then jump ’em,’ Fay said.

Ning shook her head. ‘If the two security guys are doing their job they’ll be on high alert every time that door opens. And unless the set-up is a total shambles, they’ll probably have guns within reach and come out shooting before we can even take down the gardeners.’

‘You have a good brain for this sort of thing,’ Fay complimented. ‘So we’re better off at night, when it’s just the two guards in the building?’

‘We need to find a way of getting in without them knowing,’ Warren said. ‘There must be a blind spot, if we can only find the CCTV cameras.’

‘I suppose there might not be cameras,’ Fay said.

Ning shook her head. ‘The cheapo wireless cameras we bought yesterday are pretty titchy. Someone with Hagar’s money can probably get cameras so small that you’ll only find them if you climb up the side of the building.’

‘So we’re screwed,’ Warren said.

Fay and Ning both shook their heads. Fay spoke first, saying almost exactly what Ning was thinking.

‘If we can’t get inside without the two guards seeing us, we need to find a way of getting the guards to come out and meet us.’

*

Clark picked out Lladro’s Jaguar saloon in front of the golf club. After a circuit of the car park, they parked the Prius on the street opposite the club entrance. This gave them a vantage point over everyone coming in and out of the clubhouse.

Ryan played games on his phone, until he got worried about the battery dying, Clark farted noisily and thought it hilarious to tell the others to sniff that, while the driver perched his newspaper on the steering wheel and occasionally read a crossword clue aloud.

Three hours had gone by when Clark looked up and raised a smile. ‘There’s the little bastard!’

Lladro was a portly bald man. At only five feet tall, he barely seemed bigger than his bag of golf clubs.

He spoke in a clipped shrill voice with a superior manner as Ryan and Clark approached. ‘What are you two gentlemen after?’

Clark’s silence gave the fat little dentist a dose of nerves. He turned to run, but Ryan quickly circled behind as Clark grabbed the collar of his polo shirt.

‘What do I want?’ Clark asked thoughtfully, as he shoved Lladro against the back of his Jaguar. ‘How about three hundred and eighty-three thousand pounds?’

‘Now listen . . .’ the dentist began, trying to sound authoritative as Clark forced a hand down his trouser pocket. ‘I’ve already spoken to your people. The cheque is written and on the desk at my home.’

‘That’s an old record, I’ve heard it,’ Clark said.

Clark slugged Lladro in the gut, then took a half-step back and threw a Jaguar key fob at Ryan. ‘Open her up.’

Ryan stared at the little plastic pebble and took a stab at the green button with an unlocked padlock icon. The indicators blinked and there was a whirring sound from the door locks.

‘The boot, dumbass,’ Clark shouted.

Lladro made a high-pitched howl as Clark thumped him again. Ryan pressed the only other button on the key fob and the boot popped up, hitting Lladro gently in the face.

‘Time for a ride, baldy,’ Clark said.

Ryan watched in shock as Clark hoisted Lladro up by his trouser belt. The dentist’s stubby little legs kicked comically in mid-air as Clark raised him high, then shoved him into the boot of his own car.

‘Keys,’ Clark ordered, as he slammed the boot down. ‘Put his clubs in, they’re probably worth money.’

Lladro kicked and thumped as Clark settled into the driving seat, and Ryan loaded the golf bag on to the rear seats. As soon as Ryan had dropped into the front passenger space, Clark reversed aggressively out of the parking space, missing