The Ninth Step - John Milton #8 (John Milton Thrillers)

The Ninth Step - John Milton #8 (John Milton Thrillers) Read Free Page A

Book: The Ninth Step - John Milton #8 (John Milton Thrillers) Read Free
Author: Mark Dawson
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“That was good. Quick and efficient. Did any of you have any concerns?”
    They all shook their heads. Higgins nodded, seemingly satisfied. He was an exacting commanding officer, rarely praising his men, and just the suggestion of his satisfaction was valuable. “It was a good haul. Alistair?”
    Woodward picked up his bag and deposited it on one of the tables. He unzipped it and pulled out thick bundles of bank notes. Hicks counted forty bundles and guessed that each bundle must have contained five hundred notes. There would be tens and twenties and fifties in each bundle. Even on a conservative estimate, there must have been a quarter of a million on the table.
    “We’ll count it up and divide it tomorrow. I don’t need to tell you to be careful. Nothing extravagant. Put it wherever you put it to keep it safe. Not the bank. All clear?”
    Hicks nodded with the others until he noticed that Higgins was looking at him. He flushed; the new boy was getting special attention again. “Don’t worry, sir,” he said. “I’m not an idiot.”
    “I know you’re not. But a big payday like this needs to be handled with caution. The temptation is to go out and spray the money around. Isn’t that right, Shepherd?”
    The men looked at Shepherd, their laughter intensifying with his discomfort. Hicks didn’t know any of them well enough to know what the general was talking about, but, from Shepherd’s expression, it was obvious that whatever it was, it wasn’t something that he liked to have brought back up. “Very funny,” he said.
    Well, Hicks thought, a joke that wasn’t at his expense. He felt like he was making progress.
    Gillan leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. “What’s next, sir?”
    The general nodded his head to the bags of equipment. “Get the gear put away safely.”
    “Yes, sir. And then?”
    “There is another thing.” He turned his attention to Hicks. “What are you doing tomorrow?”
    He had arranged to take his kids to the cinema, but he knew he couldn’t say that. “Nothing, sir.”
    “I need you to drive me.”
    “Where to?”
    “Back down to London. There’s someone I need to speak to.”
    #
     
    HICKS STAYED for an hour before making his excuses and leaving. It was raining with a fine drizzle as he stepped outside, and he blipped the locks of his Range Rover and hurried across to shelter inside the cabin. He sat there for a moment, composing himself. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking. All that adrenaline, all that juice; now that it was gone, he was left with just the nerves that had been torturing him ever since he had agreed to take part.
    He had done it now. He was involved.
    He had spent the last two days searching for a way to extricate himself from taking part. But he had known that wasn’t possible. He had been involved in the planning, he knew all of the men now, and the suggestion that he wanted out would have met with a hostile response. The events of the last few hours just underlined his involvement; he had committed himself as soon as he had met Higgins and Woodward and taken their offer. He had resorted to the consolation that he had taken part because he was desperate for the money and had no other choice. He wasn’t driven by greed, like the others. It was fear that pushed him on. He tried to believe that that was true, and sometimes he did. But other times, he found it difficult to ignore the ache in his gut that told him that he had made a mistake, that he had bound his fate and the fate of his family to some of the most dangerous men that he had ever known.
    And on those occasions, like now, there was no comfort at all.

Chapter Three
     
    “MY NAME IS JOHN AND I AM AN ALCOHOLIC.”
    The meeting was held at St Leonard’s, a church on the outskirts of the city of London. The building was located next to the major junction with Shoreditch High Street and Hackney Road. Milton had learned during the first meeting that he attended

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