‘He’ll be lucky to end up as the commissionaire of his local Odeon, with his sidekick selling the ice creams by the time I’ve finished with them.’
‘And what role would I be expected to play?’ asked Lamont.
‘You’ll be my second-in-command,’ said Miles. ‘Because I want everything run like a military operation. However, your immediate task will be to assemble a team of foot soldiers, men and women, who can be trusted and will remain schtum long after the event has taken place. You can recruit them from those officers who had to leave the force rather suddenly following Warwick’s recent inquiry into police corruption, along with any first-time offenders who are no longer on probation. It’s essential they don’t know the end game, only that they’ll be well paid for their trouble, with the added bonus they’ll be responsible for finally bringing down Warwick, Hogan and possibly even the commander himself.’
‘For some of my former colleagues, that will be more than enough; there’s one in particular who had to take early retirement because Warwick doesn’t know how to turn a blind eye.’
‘Are there any other ex-coppers who fall into that category?’ Faulkner asked.
‘Half a dozen, possibly more, but do any of them need to be specialists?’
Miles opened a file that had been growing by the hour and turned a couple of pages before saying, ‘First and foremost,I’ll need three elite motorcycle riders along with their SEG motorbikes.’
‘That shouldn’t be a problem,’ said Lamont. ‘I know exactly where they end up before being scrapped.’
‘I’ll also need a Jaguar and a Land Rover, both grey, two garage mechanics who can switch a number plate in seconds, along with four taxi drivers and their cabs, a uniformed constable, preferably an ex-copper, half a dozen women and a couple of prams, but no children.’ He removed a duplicate list from his file and handed it across to Lamont, who realised he was going to have to do a lot of preparatory work that couldn’t be witnessed by his wife.
‘How long have I got?’ he asked.
‘A month, six weeks at the most, before we begin rehearsals. But don’t rush, because we only need one person to look out of place and the whole operation will be compromised long before you reach the East Gate. However,’ said Miles, ‘your biggest challenge remains who will take the Lord Chancellor’s place.’
‘I’ve already got someone in mind,’ said Lamont, but didn’t elaborate. Miles simply nodded. Lamont now felt confident enough to ask the one question that had been on the tip of his tongue since Faulkner had phoned. ‘How much will I be paid?’
‘Let me assure you, Bruce, your reward won’t be in heaven. If the operation is successful, you’ll earn a quarter of a million pounds, as well as having all your expenses covered, which will more than make up for the pension Warwick deprived you of.’
Lamont remained silent as he weighed in the balance £250,000 and, on the other side of the scales, the possibility of spending the next ten years in jail.
Miles interrupted his thoughts. ‘You’ll get fifty grand today,’ he continued, ‘another fifty when your team is in place, fifty more once the two crowns have been switched, and the final hundred as long as the Queen has delivered her speech to their Lordships in the Upper House and returned to the palace empty-handed.’
Miles unlocked the middle drawer of his desk and took out ten cellophane packets each containing five thousand pounds and pushed them across the table. The scales fell to one side.
‘In future, you will call me on my mobile at eight every morning, before my secretary arrives, and again at six in the evening, after she’s left. So, when the police question her, as they undoubtedly will, her lack of knowledge will be convincing.’
‘Plausible deniability,’ said Lamont, ‘which on this occasion will have the virtue of being true. And may I make another suggestion?’ Miles nodded. ‘Change your mobile regularly and make sure the old one can never be traced. That’s the first thing the police will look for should you be arrested.’
‘Where’s the one place they never look?’ asked Miles.
‘The bottom of the Thames, where there are more mobile phones than fish.’
Miles laughed for the first time. ‘One more thing before you go, Bruce. If Hogan was absent on the day of the operation, it would make our job a whole lot easier, and I’d be willing to pay another twenty grand if you were able to pull that off.’
‘Hogan can’t be bribed,’ said Lamont.
‘Then find another way,’ said Miles, ‘and the twenty grand will be yours.’
Lamont thought for a moment. He was sufficiently obsessed with getting some sort of payback against Hogan and Warwickthat various mates still working inside the system kept an eye on them for him. There was probably something one of them could tell him which would give him leverage. He gathered up the cellophane packets, rose from his place and gave Mr Faulkner a slight bow before departing. Once he’d closed the door, Miles put a tick by his name. He waited for a moment before picking up a phone and dialling a number he no longer needed to look up. When it was answered, all he said was ‘Game on,’ before putting the phone down.
He closed one file marked ‘Traitors Gate’ and opened another headed simply, ‘Christina’.
CHAPTER 16
‘DO YOU THINKMILES HASworked it out by now?’ asked Beth.
‘Can’t have done, otherwise I’d be toast,’ replied Christina. ‘With a bit of luck, you’re still the only other person who knows the Fitz have the original Christ, while the fake Messiah is hanging in my ex’s New York penthouse.’
‘I’m still curious to know,’ said Beth, ‘if you’d received the hundred thousand before William, Ross and James turned up at Miles’s apartment, would the Fitzmolean still have the fake and Miles the original?’
‘How can you even suggest such a thing,’ chided Christina, as Beth poured her another cup of coffee.