The four gang members moved away, taking up a position close to the bar. Of the four, Morris kept his eyes firmly on Bateman, Larry and Wendy.
‘I don’t like the look of him,’ Wendy said.
‘Marlon? He’s harmless, just likes to look big and strong,’ Bateman replied. His tone was mocking. Wendy didn’t believe the man.
‘What do you have for us?’ Larry asked. His glass was empty. He looked over at the barman and held up the empty glass, a nod from the barman in return. Bateman followed suit as did Wendy. Soon there were three more pints of beer on the table.
‘Devon Harris and Jeremy Miller will be here soon enough.’
‘Why not now?’
‘Cojocaru has been trying to make a deal. He’s frightened of the Russians, so are we.’
‘They killed Crin Antonescu, almost certainly were responsible for Briganti’s and one other murder in Ireland.’
‘We can’t trust the Romanians, no more than the Russians. What do you suggest we do?’
‘Seamus Gaffney knew something. He told someone else what it was, and he’s dead. Whatever it was, it was lethal. I need to know what the man knew,’ Larry said.
‘You want a lot. We know less than you, and that we’re unsure what to do. If Gaffney had found out something, why didn’t he tell you?’
‘It had more value if he sold it on, or offered his silence if they paid enough.’
‘Gaffney was always a fool, playing the margins, listening where he shouldn’t. He was going to die one day on account of his big nose.’
‘Maybe that’s true. What else do you have? Hearne’s dead, yet you stayed with Cojocaru.’
‘He told us about Antonescu, not that we cared for the man. Marcus was talking to the police, and secrecy was vital.’
‘You accepted that? He did no more than what you’re doing now.’
‘We didn’t accept it, but we needed to know what Cojocaru had to say. Men die, men live, and Hearne led a violent life.’
‘The same as you.’
‘The same as me. One day, one of those at the bar will challenge me. You know this.’
‘Cojocaru’s been in Romania, although he’s back now. Have you seen him?’
‘Not since that day when Hearne died. Cojocaru told us about Ivanov and what he’s capable of. Is it true what he said?’
‘That Ivanov is a mafia boss, more violent than anyone else you’ve ever encountered, and that one of his men shot up Briganti’s?’
‘That’s about it.’
‘He didn’t lie.’
‘That’s what we thought, not that we trust Cojocaru. But the man had a message, we had to listen to it.’
‘Why were the three of you out of touch with your people?’
‘We weren’t, not totally. Hammond knew where I was, but he was keeping quiet. We agreed to give Cojocaru three days, but then he never came back. We enjoyed his hospitality, and Harris and Miller are still there.’
‘It must be good hospitality,’ Wendy said.
‘It was,’ Bateman said. ‘The best.’
Wendy needed to know no more.
Larry looked over at the four gang members. He could see that two of them were drinking heavily, Victor Powell and Marlon Morris were not.
‘You need to stop Ivanov,’ Bateman said.
‘With what? The man’s got no criminal record, not even a parking ticket, whereas you do.’
‘I’m not the problem, Ivanov is. We’ve learnt to live with Cojocaru, even do business with him, but this Ivanov may cut us out altogether.’
‘He may just remove you, chop you into little pieces and feed you to the fish.’
‘We’ll fight.’
‘On a street corner, knives and fists? Not a chance. The Russians will be armed with guns, and they’ll know how to use them. If this is not stopped, it’s you who’ll lose. What was Cojocaru’s plan?’
‘I don’t think he knew what to do. He just needed to know that we’d be with him and not the Russians.’
‘Will you?’
‘We represent our community, not his or Ivanov’s.’
‘If you had to choose?’
‘Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.’
Wendy could see that Bateman, the same as Marcus Hearne, was looking for de facto support from the police for the criminals. She knew that would not happen, and that Bateman was not a man to be trusted.
Marlon Morris came over, a scowl on his face, a disparaging look at Larry and Wendy. He carried a half-full glass of beer. He drank it before speaking. ‘Devon Harris is back,’ he said to Bateman.
‘Where?’
‘Not here,’ Morris replied. Larry knew that what he was saying was that he was wherever the police weren’t.
Larry stood up, offered his hand to Bateman, which he shook. ‘Keep in touch and don’t get yourself killed. You’re playing with the big boys now, and they won’t have any scruples about killing you and your men.’
‘According to Cojocaru, they kill the police as well.’
‘None of us is safe, you’d better remember that. If you want to meet Harris without us being present, then so be it. But don’t blame us if you end up on the pathologist’s table, cut open from top to bottom.’
‘I’ll be in touch,’ Bateman said as he leant over and shook Wendy’s hand.
Larry wasn’t sure if he would see the man again. The West Indians were playing a dangerous game, a game they were not prepared for.
***
At 10.02 a.m. Stanislav Ivanov walked down the four steps outside his Bayswater residence. On the street, three men stood close to a Rolls Royce. On the other side of the road, another man looked up and down, checking. All four men were bodyguards, as were the two on either side of the leader of the Tverskoyskaya Bratva.
Ivanov was in
