He drove brilliantly, keeping on the move all the time, tie seemed to have an uncanny knack of beating the traffic lights, and his judgment of distances as he cut in through the traffic was hair raising.
Neither of us said anything until we were rolling towards
Buckingham Palace.
“Got a plan yet, pally?”
“Yes. When do I do it?”
He shot a quick look at me. I saw surprise in his eyes.
“Tonight. What’s the plan?”
“The sorting-office remains open all night. The man in
charge sleeps most of the time. The van is at the far end of the garage away from his office.
If he spots me I’ll tell him I’m working late, made myself some tea and thought he would like a cup. I’ll take tea with me in a vacuum flask. Then I’ll clear out and try again.
If he’s asleep, I’ll go straight to the van. I think I can get to the van without him seeing me. The alarm bell works from the car battery. It shouldn’t be difficult to disconnect one of the leads.”
“Suppose they check the leads? That’s not good enough.
How about muffling the bell?”
“Even if they check the leads they won’t spot what I’ve
done unless they test the bell itself. If they do that, muffling won’t help either.”
“Okay. I’ll leave it to you so long as you make a good job
of it. I don’t threaten twice. You know what’ll happen to you if you play your cards wrong.”
“I know.”
“Now listen, pally, looks like the job is fixed for Sunday
morning. I’ve had a tip the stuff will arrive at King’s Cross about one o’clock Sunday morning. I’m telling you this so you’ll be ready to handle the cops when they come, and they’ll come to you, make no mistake about that.
As soon as we’ve pulled the job, the heat’s going to be tuned on good. The cops will take the town to pieces. Sooner or later, they’ll come to you to find out if you’ve seen anything. Well, keep your trap shut. You’re in this as much as I am now.”
“Tim Greensleeves might tell them you three have been
in and out of the garage.”
“That’s up to you. You’ve got to keep the cops away from
him If he talks, those art pictures are going to be put in the post.”
“I’ll take care of him.”
“That’s the idea, pally.
Handle this right and by Monday
morning, you’ll have seen the last of us. Talk out of turn, slip up somewhere, and I’ll fix you so you won’t forget me in a
hurry.”
“I won’t slip up.”
He slowed down.
“Okay. This is as far as you go. So long, pally. It’s been
nice and profitable meeting you. I don’t reckon to see you
again. For your sake I hope I don’t.”
I walked slowly up Eagle Street, my mind busy.
Somehow I had to get Bill out of the way. If the hold-up was to take place on Sunday morning I had to make certain Bill
wasn’t on the van.
Whatever happened to me, I didn’t intend he should run into any danger. I had no idea who would take his place, and I didn’t care, but I had made up my mind he wasn’t going to run into Dix and his mob.
But my first job was to fix the alarm bell. Ann, of course,
was the major snag in an otherwise fairly easy job. I couldn’t tackle the bell until after midnight, and she would wonder what I was up to.
As luck would have it a Vanguard had come in while I
was out to have its brakes adjusted.
I told Ann the Vanguard had carburettor trouble, and I
might have to work late.
“The chap’s going away tomorrow on holiday, and I
promised to fix it for him,” I said as she served up supper. “I don’t know how long it’ll take me, but it may be some time.”
After supper I went down to the garage and took off the
carburettor. I got a length of copper tubing and began to bore
a hole through it. I was still fiddling about with the tubing when Ann came down about ten forty-five to see how I was getting on.
“I’ll be a couple of hours yet. The whole set-up’s gone
haywire. You go to bed, darling. I’ll be up as soon as I’ve finished.”
“Would you like me to make you some tea?”
“Not now. I might make some myself later. You go on to
bed. The longer we stay nattering the longer I’m going to be.”
“All right, Harry. I’ll have my bath and come down again.”
“Don’t do that. I’d rather work without interruption. This
damn thing’s tricky.”
“All right. I don’t suppose I’ll be asleep when you come
up.”
A few minutes past midnight I went quietly upstairs and
put the kettle on. The light in the bedroom was cut, and I
decided thankfully that Ann was asleep. I made some tea and
filled a vacuum flask, then I went downstairs again. I put a
screwdriver and a pair of pliers in pocket, and taking the vacuum flask with me, I unbolted he garage door and looked across the street at the lighted doorway leading to the sorting- office.
Joe suddenly appeared in the doorway of tip, partitioned
room.
“He must be asleep,” he said. “I haven’t seen a sign of
him for the past hour.”
I grunted, and moved out on to the pavement.
Eagle Street was deserted.
Moving quietly I crossed the street, my rubber-soled
shoes making no sound. I walked into the sorting-office.
One powerful light lit up the front entrance, but the rest of
the place was in dark shadows.
My past experience of jungle fighting came in handy
now. I had been in far tighter spots than this.
Time and again I had had to lead a patrol into dense jungle to winkle out Jap
snipers who were as dangerous as rattlesnakes. This job was
a romp after jungle fighting.
My heart was beating normally, my feet made no sound
as I walked straight down the length of the dimly lit shed,
making no attempt to conceal myself.
If Harris was watching me, he would have no suspicion
that I was up to no good. I was behaving like a man who had
legitimate business in the place.
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