"Easy, mate," said the construction worker as Harvey began to jostle his way out of the crowd, knocking the man's dinner to the ground. Harvey ignored the comment, pushed free from the crowd, and stepped in front of the bus in time to see Lola being dragged into the van.

  The side door slammed, the driver gunned the engine, and the van roared off in a squeal of tyre smoke. Harvey gave chase for a few seconds. He ran between the moving cars and dodged a man on a bicycle, but the effort was futile. The van turned into another side road and was gone.

  Another loud car horn honked behind Harvey, followed by a stream of abuse. Harvey turned to find an impatient man behind the wheel of a Mercedes, gesturing that Harvey was mad by tapping his finger against his own temple and urging Harvey to get out of the road with wild waves of his other hand.

  Harvey's head cocked to one side. He stared at the man through the windscreen and watched as the impatient anger turned slowly but surely to confusion, then fear. The driver slowly brought his hands down and stilled them. He locked the doors. As soon as Harvey stepped to one side, the man accelerated away with cautious looks in his rear-view mirror.

  The world had just witnessed a kidnapping, but as soon as the van disappeared, life had returned to normal.

  The BMW was also gone. But lying on the ground where the struggle had taken place was Lola's wrist tag.

  "So, what's the plan?" asked Charlie. "Do you actually trust her to bring us the diamond?"

  The two brothers sat in the back of their Bentley and passed over the River Thames on Battersea Bridge. Their driver kept the speed to a cool thirty-five miles per hour, giving his bosses a smooth ride in the style of which they'd grown accustomed.

  "She has no choice but to bring us the diamond," replied Rupert. "She knows what will happen to her if she doesn't."

  "And what about after?" said Charlie. "We can't just let them go free, not after what they did to Mad Bob and Cannon Bill."

  "You're right," said Rupert. "And that's why we're not going to let them go free. She's going to meet us at Doctor Feelmore's funeral home, where she thinks she'll be handing over the second diamond and walking away with a fresh start."

  "However?" said Charlie.

  "However, we'll be waiting there to receive her, and when we get that second diamond in our own grubby mitts, she'll be taking a turn for the worse. We'll be handing all of them over to the good doctor along with all our troubles and sins."

  "What about this other fella?" asked Charlie. "The new guy."

  "Glasgow is putting the feelers out. If he's got any sense he'll stay low. But if he decides to come for us we'll be ready. Lola knows I want him. She'll stay well clear of him if she's got any sense."

  "No, Ru," said Charlie. "It's too easy."

  "Too easy?" said Rupert. "You want me to make it harder?"

  "Alright, listen," began Charlie. "Picture this. You did a robbery with a mate and got away with a priceless diamond. I mean, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm guessing it's the last robbery you'll ever need to do, right?"

  "Right," said Rupert.

  "But on the way out, some better-equipped men with guns take the diamond off you, shoot your mate, and tell you to go get the second diamond. Oh and by the way, it's in the Natural History Museum."

  "Right," said Rupert. "I'm following."

  "So you do the second robbery, and somehow by some godforsaken miracle, you manage to get out alive and with the diamond. So for the second time in a week, you're holding the keys to a life of luxury. How did you put it? Sun, sand and semi-naked women?"

  Rupert didn't respond.

  "Do you honestly think for one second that you're going to waltz down to the local morgue to meet the blokes with the guns and hand it over to them?"

  "If she's got any sense, yes. She'll want her freedom."

  "She wants the diamond more, I bet," said Charlie. "She'd have to have a screw loose to give up a life of luxury. In one hand, she'd be Lady Lola LaRoux of some sun-kissed island in the Maldives, and in the other hand, she'd be Unlucky Lola of Peckham, the bird with a council flat who could of had it all, but didn't."

  "You reckon she'd do a runner?" asked Rupert, doubting his own judgement.

  "I reckon she might. But you know what, bruv?" said Charlie.

  "Go on."

  "I know for sure that if we're sitting on our arses waiting for someone to deliver us the second diamond, while they're skipping their way to Heathrow Airport, we'll be laughed out of London."

  "Shit," said Rupert.

  "You ain't the only one with brains, bro," said Charlie, sitting back in the fine leather seats with a smug look on his face.

  "I hate it when you're right, Charlie," said Rupert.

  "Don't beat yourself up," replied Charlie. "That's why there's two of us."

  "You know London will be locked down if she does actually get out, right?" said Rupert.

  "Yeah, we'll be quiet for a while," said Charlie. "We'll get the obligatory questioning from the plod, but they won't have nothing on us. No prints, full alibis and the rest. We'll let it blow over then we can talk about this sun, sand and semi-naked women thing."

  "What's to talk about?" asked Rupert. "There'll be sun, there'll be sand, and guess what?"

  "There'll be semi-naked women?"

  "You'll be drowning in them, Charlie," said Rupert. "You mark my words."

  The two brothers stared out of their own windows, both deep in thought. The day was drawing to a close, but the long summer sky still held hints of blue.

  "I love London at this time of year," said Charlie.

  "I like the blue sky," replied Rupert, but his mind was elsewhere.

  Charlie gave a little snort of laughter. "The blue sky?" he said. "You carry on admiring the blue sky, bro. I'll carry on admiring the short skirts."

  "Glasgow," said Rupert.

  The driver caught Rupert's eye in the rear-view mirror.

  "Yes, boss?" he replied.

  "Do me a favour, drop me here," replied Rupert.

  "What are you doing?" said Charlie. "We're miles away."

  Glasgow George pulled the car to a stop in the bus lane, to the annoyance of a black taxi driver who was trying to pull out into the traffic.

  "Is here alright, boss?" asked Glasgow.

  "Perfect.”

  "Rupert, what the bloody hell are you doing?" asked Charlie, as Rupert pushed the door open and climbed out. Charlie leaned across and peered up at him.

  "Charlie," said Rupert, feeling energised by his new plan. He enjoyed the flourish of confidence a new idea gave him. "Meet me at Doctor Feelmore's later and bring our passports."

  "What about you?" asked Charlie.

  Another taxi beeped its horn, and the driver gestured rudely at Rupert for stopping in a bus lane. Rupert gave the man a stare he wouldn't forget. The taxi pulled out around the Bentley.

  "Me?" said Rupert, when the taxi had passed. "I'm going to make sure old Lola LaRoux delivers us from evil, bruv."

  Car horns shook Harvey from his thoughts. He casually stepped to the side of the road, hearing but ignoring the angry comments that passing drivers made through open windows. The noise was just a background blur.

  Were they too late? Had the Bond Brothers grown tired of waiting? Where did Fingers go? Was he scared? Was he in on it?

  Harvey began to walk away from the junction. A girl had just been dragged from her car and thrown into a van; someone would have called the police, and Harvey couldn't afford to be questioned.

  He ducked off the main road into an alley and pocketed the wrist tag. The alley led into a series of back streets that Harvey knew would eventually lead to the canal. He kept walking, using the time to think.

  Walking away and leaving London as originally planned was an option. That was one thing Harvey loved about his life; he had options. First and foremost was the option to go home, put his feet up and forget about it all.

  But forgetting was easier said than done.

  He'd spent a lifetime dealing with bullies, hard men that preyed on the weak and gained from it either financially or in status. Harvey couldn't abide bullies.

  Standing tall, a few hundred yards along the back street and adjacent to the main road, was a library. Harvey approached the building in thought. He pushed open the door and in a few sweeping glances had the place mapped out. The washrooms were in the far left corner with the fire exit beside them. In the centre of the large room, a middle-aged lady with glasses on her nose sat behind the curved reception desk. She didn't look up at Harvey. To Harvey's right was a bank of six desks with computer screens. Teenagers with books occupied two; the other four were empty.

  Harvey took a seat at the furthest desk, facing the window and giving himself a view of the outside, with easy access to the fire exit. It was an old habit, but one that had proved useful on more than one occasion.

  He clicked on the mouse button, which seemed to wake the computer up, and presented a box on the screen stating that the user agrees to the terms and conditions of the library's free internet usage policy. The terms and conditions looked long. There was no time for that. Even if he did break an internet law, it wouldn't be the worst thing he'd done.

  Harvey opened the internet browser to begin his search. He started with the words, Natural History Museum Diamond, and hit enter.

  The page filled with results. Some were about a diamond exhibition that closed just a few months ago due to police warnings about potential organised criminals robbing the place. Other results gave a brief description of single diamonds, and enticed the reader to click on the link to read more.

  One of the results, close to the bottom of the web page, briefly discussed a pair of diamonds, Demonios Gemelos, or Demon Twins.

  Something twitched in Harvey's mind. There was a connection there that he couldn't quite grasp.

  He clicked the link. Another web page opened up. At the top was an image of the two diamonds, the demon twins. Below the image was a single paragraph of small italic text.

  Demonios Gemelos, or Demon Twins. A pair of 200-carat diamonds found in South Africa during the mid 1800s. The diamonds are believed to be cursed, bringing a quick death to any man that holds the two together. The diamonds have been separated since nineteen forty. One was donated to the National History Museum. The other was retained by the Abrams family, but was subsequently stolen in nineteen forty-eight.

  Harvey ran an internet search for Demonios Gemelos.

  Once again, the page filled with results for various websites all encouraging the internet user to click. But one result stood out from the rest. It stated that the missing Demonios twin might have been recently found. Harvey clicked on the link.

  A new web page opened showing a stock image of diamond mining in Africa in the nineteenth century. The page went on to describe a pair of very precious diamonds discovered by a man called Roland Steinbach, who owned several diamond claims in Kimberly. Servants found Steinbach dead at his desk. Both of his hands had been removed, and the diamonds that he'd kept so proudly in a small safe were also missing.

  Harvey went on to read that people believe the diamonds somehow ended up in the hands of a Dutchman who brawled with an Englishman and lost. The Englishman then took the diamonds as a gift for Queen Victoria, but he was drowned at sea. The captain of the ship stole the diamond and escaped with a few of the crew on a lifeboat.

  However, the crew soon learned of the diamond and killed the captain before they washed up in Portugal. The three men found the British Army and requested safe passage to England. But before they left France, one of the men tried to steal the diamonds. He was caught and killed by the remaining two men. The two men agreed to carry one diamond each. They went their separate ways at the busy port of Calais, and never saw each other again.

  One of the men, Jack Penn, sold his diamond to Hans Sloane, who eventually created the Natural History Museum and donated his huge collection of natural artefacts. The remaining diamond remained in the Abrams family up until nineteen forty-eight when it was stolen. Despite the Abrams' large offers of reward, it was never returned.

  More recently, the diamond was spotted by a collector who wished to remain anonymous and is due to be sold at a private auction in the UK.

  Harvey checked the top of the article. It was dated three days previous.

  He opened a new web page and searched for Stolen Diamond. A fresh page of results appeared, and at the very top of the page, the headline read, Missing Cursed Diamond Stolen.

  Movement outside caught Harvey's attention. Two armed policemen ran past the window of the library towards the door. Harvey closed the internet browser, ran the sleeve of his jacket over the mouse and keyboard, more out of habit than necessity, and then casually made his way toward the washrooms. He took a quick look around him then bolted for the fire exit.

  The alarms sang out immediately.

  The alleyway behind the library was clear, but neither left nor right was a great option. Harvey took a few steps forwards then leapt up and grabbed onto the wall in front of him. He pulled himself over and dropped down to the garden on the other side. Dogs barked nearby, and he heard the heavy engine of the police arriving behind the wall. Car doors opened and radios sang as the police closed in.

  Harvey tore up the garden. He ducked down the side of the house, burst through a garden gate, and found himself in a backstreet. He glanced left and right, then bolted into an alleyway in front.

  The thump of an approaching helicopter stopped him dead in his tracks. He dove for cover beneath a large bin and waited for it to pass, knowing that the police would be using infrared to find his heat signals.

  Sirens sounded in all directions. Harvey knew they would close the area down, and he had to get out fast.

  The whomp of the helicopter's rotor blades was suddenly deafening in the air above. His subconscious readied himself to fight. The familiar iron taste ran around his gums, and the tingle of adrenaline surged through his veins.

  The helicopter hovered for a while. At the far end of the alleyway, a police car stopped. It as if the driver was daring him to move.

  Harvey lay dead still, his senses alive, interpreting, planning and preparing.

  But as fast as it had arrived, the helicopter banked and continued its search elsewhere. The police car slipped away, leaving an empty run of alleyways in front of Harvey, all the way to the canal.

  Seeing his chance, Harvey slid from beneath the bin, checked around him then sprinted through the network of alleyways. Slowly, the noises of the sirens and helicopters began to fade away, and eventually he burst onto the quiet canal-side footpath.

  But Harvey didn't stop running. He ran with everything he had until less than a kilometre later he reached the factory where he'd first met Lola and Fingers, Mad Bob and Cannon Bill.

  After finding the gap in the fence, Harvey kicked the door open and stepped through onto the factory floor. It was empty, as he knew it would be, save for the pigeons that scattered on his arrival. He wondered if Mad Bob and Cannon Bill had been found and their bodies removed. But he didn't stop to check.

  Instead, he walked up to the pile of boxes and old pieces of machinery that were stacked to one side of the vast room. He pulled back the dusty tarp and breathed a small sigh of relief.

  In the midst of the boxes of papers, greasy machinery and random factory objects, exactly where he'd left it three months before, was his beloved motorcycle.

  10

  Diamond Love

  "I can't believe you talked me into this, Melody." Reg's voice came across loudly over Melody's ear-piece. "This has got to be one of the stupidest ideas you've ever had."

  Melody was crouched in the shadow of a tree one hundred yards from the huge rolling shutter doors that were the loading bay entrance to the Natural History Museum.

  "You said it yourself, Reg," she began. "We're missing credible evidence and confirmed suspects. What better way to get both of those than to catch the thieves red-handed?"

  “What makes you think they’ll do it tonight?”

  “They have one diamond already. Greed will have set in by now. The longer they leave the second hit, the harder it will be. All eyes will be on the museum’s diamond and security will tighten. Anyway, we don’t have facts, but we do have years of experience on our side.”

  "Melody, if you're caught, you'll be locked up," said Reg. "And I won't be able to get you out of it. You’ll have years of experience in something altogether different.”

  "So let's not get caught, Reggie, eh?"

  Melody heard Reg's sigh loud and clear across the comms.

  "Let's just stay focused, Reg," said Melody. "Run through the plan once more."

  "Okay," said Reg. Melody had worked with Reg long enough to recognise when his reluctance was tinged with a hint of excitement at the challenge. "I'm connected to the public network and I've accessed the remote security facility. From here, I can see all wireless access points and media channels. In a few minutes, I'll be onto the secure layer, which is the CCTV and alarms. Once that's done, I'll pop the single rear door to the side of the loading bay. That'll be your cue to go in."

  "Copy," said Melody. "Any other locks?"

  "No. The internal doors are all secure key card access that run off electromagnetic locks. I can isolate the power circuit that runs those doors and release them for you so you should have a clear run."

  "Easy," said Melody. "What are you worried about?"

  "What am I worried about?" said Reg. "Ah, let me see. Well, first off, there's not seeing Jess for the next ten years. Then there's showering with an entire wing of men much bigger than me who haven't seen a woman for God knows how long. Then, of course, there's the little thing of being locked in a tiny cell with one of them every night and becoming their sex slave."

  "Anything else?" asked Melody, as she pulled her hood up over her head.

  "I hear the food isn't great either," replied Reg.

  "Are you finished?" said Melody.

  "Finished listing the things that I'm dreading or finished opening the doors?"

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50