The boys had been disappointed, as apparently he hadpromised to take them to the park. He felt a twinge of guilt over that butagain resolved that he would make it up to them in the evening, once his planshad all come to fruition. They wouldn’t be complaining come teatime when hewould be rolling in money and offering to take them out for the evening.
Before lunchtime he had managed to place bets totalling over£1,500 with 15 different bookmakers. He hadn’t bothered messing around bettingeach way like most people did on the National. The whole lot went on the nose.He couldn’t lose.
He wanted the satisfaction of collecting a big wedge of cashas well, so for good measure, he headed into town and drew £500 out of the cashpoint.That was the maximum that his card would allow in one go. He then went directlyto the very betting shop where the robbery was due to take place.
When he asked to put the bet on there was an irritatingdelay. The manager was forced to phone up head office to authorise the bet as apparentlyit was too much. There was then further irritation when the traders at headoffice said he couldn’t have the bet on at the early price of 100/1. They wouldonly let him place it at the starting price. Kent didn’t care. 66 x £500 wasstill a lot of money.
“Get the wheelbarrow out,” he had joked to the managerbefore he left the shop. “You’ll need it later.”
By the time he had left the betting shop it was gone midday,less than three hours before the robbery was due to take place.
It was time to put the next phase of his plan into action.He walked back up the High Street and through the small park that led to the mainroad upon which the police station was located.
When he got there, Adrian, a sandy-haired man in his mid-twenties,was manning the desk. More precisely, he was sitting at the desk with his feetup, eating a sandwich and reading the paper. When Kent came in he leapt up.
“Morning, sir,” he flustered, caught off guard. “I was just…”
Ordinarily Kent would have chastised him for having his feeton the desk, but he needed to keep Adrian sweet for the plans that lay ahead.
“That’s OK, Johnson, relax. You were having your lunch break– perfectly acceptable. All quiet on the western front?”
“Yes, boss, haven’t had a single visitor all morning. It’slike this most Saturdays. It’s hardly worth us opening, really.”
Kent knew that Adrian had a young son at home and hatedworking on Saturdays, but the three of them had agreed to share the rota. If heshut the front desk at the weekend it would send out the wrong message to hissuperiors. The next thing he knew, they would be cutting back his staff again.
“Oh yes, you’d prefer to be at home with Miles, I guess?” askedKent.
“It’s Miley, actually, and yes, I would,” replied Johnson. Kentalways got Adrian’s son’s name wrong, much to his annoyance. “This is hardly CrimeCentral, is it?”
“Well, it will be today,” replied Kent. “There’s somethingbig going down, that’s why I’ve come in. Get Benson on the phone, she needs tobe here for this, too.”
Half an hour later he had the two of them in his office, ashe eagerly outlined his plan.
“So, the key thing is, we wait until they actually leave theshop before we nick them. Is this all clear?”
Twenty-two-year-old Hannah Benson was a fresh-faced recruit,having only joined Kent’s team two months before. To Kent she seemed impossiblyyoung and pretty, with short, blonde hair that she kept tightly cropped. Her youthfullooks betrayed a wisdom that was beyond her years and she had quickly proved herselfto be a competent young officer.
Despite her recent arrival in the job, it had not taken longfor her and Adrian to become as thick as thieves. Even at this early stage ofher career, there were signs that she had Kent’s measure. She certainly wasn’tshy about coming forward with her opinions. Right now she was more than ready tomake her thoughts on Kent’s plan blatantly clear.
“I can’t believe what you’re asking us to do,” she said. “Youtell us that there’s going to be an armed robbery, but you won’t say how youknow other than some vague story about overhearing it in the pub. And then youwant us to take on trust that these guns are fakes and calmly wait outside theback of the bookies to arrest the gang when they leave. How can you be so surethe guns aren’t real? What if you’re wrong? Are you really willing to put ourlives on the line like this?”
“She’s got a point, boss,” said Adrian. “We can’t be surethe guns are replicas. I don’t think either of us is willing to risk getting blownaway just on hearsay. I’d feel a lot happier if we had an armed response unit intow.”
“And even if they are fakes,” added Hannah. “You’re talkinga gang of men here up against the three of us, unarmed. I can hardly see themcoming quietly, saying, ‘It’s a fair cop, guv,’ when they find us waiting forthem.”
Kent was becoming exasperated by all of this but he couldsee they were making valid points. The two of them didn’t have his benefit of hindsightand were bound to have doubts.
“I wasn’t intending it to just be the three of us, but I don’twant the place to be crawling with armed police. If the gang get any wind of usbeing on to them, they will get cold feet and plan it all again for another daywhen we won’t be prepared. This is our one chance to catch them red-handed. Andwe don’t need an armed response unit. I’m telling you now, I know for a factthat those weapons aren’t real.”
“You still haven’t satisfactorily explained how
