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I dont need a friend who changes when I change and who nods
when I nod; my shadow does that much better. Plutarch
PROLOGUE
Brockley was the last place Donnie had expected to wind up.
Hed known the suburb by name most of his life, it being
only ten minutes by car from where hed spent his childhood
a childhood punctuated by thick ears, bloody noses and petty
theft. Brockley had always sounded rural to his ears, and compared to the Docklands, it was. It was a steep climb up the hill
from New Cross, past a park with a view across London and
through a few leafy streets. But Brockley was a place no one of
his acquaintance ever went; you just drove through it, cutting
up through Lewisham or New Cross with a view to ducking
down to Peckham or Forest Hill to do a deal. A late-night route
through anonymous backstreets of terraced houses, where you
could be almost sure you wouldnt get a tug when you were
driving with a skinful. There were no pubs in Brockley. Actually, that was an exaggeration. There were one or two; the kind
of places populated by builders covered in plaster dust discussing the price of copper pipe with plumbers who tutted and
sucked their teeth between gulps of lager. And there was a new
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Dave?
The ritual was a familiar one, played out whatever selfinvented alias Donnie came up with, most of them well tried
and tested.
Half a minute later Donnie finished the call. He sighed
inwardly at Daves command and within five minutes hed
necked the rest of his lager, flagged down a cab and was on his
way up to Greenwich Park.
He found Dave Slaughter in the car park, sitting in a shiny
navy Mercedes looking out across the panorama: the O2, the
river, the tangle of cranes and new developments. Donnie got
into the passenger seat and inhaled the leathery smell of the
spotless interior.
Its all changed, innit? Dave observed, looking at the
oddly shaped towers and spires that had replaced former London badlands.
All changed, Donnie concurred. So, wassup, Dave? he
asked, though he didnt really want to know the answer.
Dave turned and looked at him. You know Paul Dolans
cases gone to the High Court?
Donnies mind clunked into gear: Dolan, another Kelly
family hitman, had been nabbed when Tommy Kelly had been
arrested.
Whats is chances?
None. Irish prick, Dave said.
Good, Donnie said. Neither of them liked Dolan. So?
Guvnor wants to see you, Dave replied.
Thought I was on light duties. Donnie sighed. A prison
visit to Tommy Kelly didnt bode well.
No such thing on this firm, Don.
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Donnie had kidded himself that after the big one on Patsy
Kelly he would be put out to pasture for a while. He looked out
of the steamy car window, his clear view of the panorama now
blurred.
Two words, Don, Dave said. Eddie Savage.
Bollocks, Donnie thought.
ONE
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Kelly crime family had liked me and, as far as he was concerned, Id turned him in. Id got close to his daughter, his
pride and joy, just to be able to spy on him. Id nailed his
son and got them both a life stretch. Tommy Kelly was
hardly going to greet me with open arms and let bygones
be bygones. So I continued to say no to Tony, and after a
while he stopped asking.
But Tony was a sneaky bugger. It was part of his job.
He would drop by in the evening with a couple of cold
beers and reminisce about the work Id done for the
organization. He would praise me and big up my results,
reminding me how close theyd got to cracking the
cocaine syndicate in Spain on my intel. Although whatever he said, there seemed to still be tons of it in London,
as well as plenty of E, so the gear was obviously still getting through.
But, Tony pointed out, good intel is never wasted. It
joins up other dots.
Other times hed call round in the morning. Lets get
you out in the fresh air, hed say. We would walk through
the central London parks, stopping for lattes, watching
girls go by. Tony would give them marks out of ten, but
Id lost interest. Wed talk about this and that, and nothing in particular. Gradually, I began to feel a little more
normal. It was like having a dad; someone who made me
feel safe again. I got to know Tony, who had never given
much of himself away, a little more. He had been in the
background in my life for as long as I could remember, an
old family friend. I never knew quite what his connection
to us was.
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I winced. Shit.
They kept him like that until he confessed. When the
police the RUC eventually found his shallow grave,
his captors had finally executed him with two bullets to
the back of the head. And do you know the worst thing?
He was no informer. He was innocent, an IRA man
through and through, and just a kid. Tony paused, shut
his eyes momentarily. And it was me who dobbed him
in to Lynch to divert attention from myself.
He opened his eyes and a change of expression came
over Tonys face.
Dere was no way Michael ONeill could stay in the
old country.
It was as if Tony, boring, featureless Tony, had channelled a different personality. A convincing one at that.
That was your cover? Michael ONeill?
He laughed, shrugged. There really was more to Tony
than met the eye.
So, when I started with the service back here, I was
kept on the Northern Ireland case as it was my area of
expertise. And when Steve started to work for us, I trained
him up to pick up some of the pieces.
I did a mental calculation. That must have been a few
years later?
A few, Tony agreed. But all the leads were still up
and running, a couple were brown bread but I was able
to place Steve right where all the action was. And by that
time, Tommy Kelly was helping out the IRA too. Steve
hooked up with the Kelly firm through the Irish connection, and as you know, the rest is history.
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TWO
A week or so later, I found myself in the back of a darkened car with my new case officer, Simon Sharp, headed
towards Belmarsh high security prison.
Sharp was in his late twenties, with cropped blond
hair and a face that wouldnt have looked out of place in a
boy band. He was a little taller than me, but wiry.
I looked out of the window at the familiar puzzle of
roads that formed the Blackwall Tunnel approach.
Nervous? Sharp asked.
I would have been lying if Id said no: my mouth was
bone dry and my stomach was in a tight knot. If Id eaten,
I would probably have vomited.
A bit, I said. I looked at his knee jigging up and
down, and guessed that he wasnt exactly relaxed either.
But as far as I knew, he didnt have history with the man
I was about to visit.
Did Tony tell you Paul Dolans appeal has come up?
He hadnt. The last time Id seen Dolan was a couple
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You seem fit and healthy, but when I look at your eyes
I can see that youre not a happy bunny.
I looked at the floor, avoiding his searching gaze.
How would you like to work with me again?
What? I was incredulous. My case officer and God
knows who else were listening to this: Tommy Kelly trying to recruit me from inside Belmarsh under their noses.
I thought we worked quite well together until,
well
Until you got caught out? I suggested. He smiled.
You really think you were responsible for sending me
down, boy? He shook his head. You may have wrongfooted me a couple of times, but there was someone
bigger and dirtier behind that sting. Dont flatter yourself:
Tommy Kelly doesnt get brought down by a kid.
I felt slightly put out. While there had clearly been
other fingers in the pie, I had played a significant part in
Tommys capture and conviction.
You havent answered me, Eddie, he said. About
working for me?
Of course I wont work for you.
You dont know what the job is, he pointed out.
I guessed he had some idea of who I might be working for. He had known I was still alive, and through his
lawyers, or the police, the word had filtered through to
Tony Morriss government intelligence department. But
I wasnt going to spell it out for him. Neither did he seem
to expect me to.
I trust no one, he said. Not even my closest friends
and associates, and I certainly dont trust you. He jabbed
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a finger at me. But of all the fuckers I dont trust, you are
the only one I can trust with this job.
What is the job? I asked, intrigued. I looked up at
him and his expression had softened. He slid a postcard
across the table to me.
I want you to find Sophie.