Chapter 6

Being late May, it was light at 6.45pm when Dan arrived at the Curzon. Walking in it looked like nothing had moved for the week. The girls were still wailing, the old boys were fixated on their dominoes, the beer still tasted like piss and Ray had by now lost the fifty quid on the fruity he'd won the week before. If it weren't for the extra bum passed out on the floor, anybody would have thought it was ground hog day.

"Ray, smoke break" Dan said as he walked past without stopping.

"No worries, give me a sec to whoop this machines arse and I'll be right with ya"

Entering into the smoking shack Dan could see Terry was there hovering under the clouds of smoke hanging in the air. Next to him stood a bloke of about six foot tall, skinny frame with shoulder length hair and a pot marked face.

"Alright Tel, mines a pint of the usual piss, lets chat"

Walking to the bar Terry knew what was being asked of him. He produces a little folder holding some sheets of paper.

Looking up at Dan he notices a slight smile on his face.

It was always nice to see Dan smile, it assured him that he had done well and Dan was pleased.

Pulling out a montage of pictures of Rob through the last ten years or so, he hands them to Dan. He had not changed much over that time other than different styles and lengths of hair.

Browsing through the pages of past accomplices, Dan saw a few petty arseholes that he knew in passing. They were nothing to worry about in this case. What he was worried about was finding some career criminals that had a grudge against his crew. That was the hardest part of this game. Taking months to meticulously plan and execute a job, then some arsehole with a grudge sticks a shooter in your face and takes all the profits from under your nose. What could you do, call the police?

Scanning the list of hits Rob had been involved in Dan noticed that they were all petty, penny jobs that weren't even worth mentioning. If it added up to making him fifty grand over the years he would be lucky.

After reading the file, one thing Dan noticed is that every job where Rob was the driver became an unsolved crime. At least that told him that he was a good driver, and that's all he needed.

Pint in hand they make their way back to the shack.

"Dan this is Rob" Terry introduced as Rob held out his hand

"Alright mate, has Terry filled you in?"

"Just the basic details that you need a driver"

The voice that came out did not suit him. The rasp sounded like he smoked 200 cigs a day. Even then, it was strange for someone with such a beanpole body.

"Yeah that's it, the job details will be filled in properly over the next couple of weeks. We will be doing a C.V.I.T Van" Dan explained

"Poxy C.V.I.T van, they don't carry enough to make it worthwhile" Ray pipes up while counting his pound coins

"This one will, it will be full of the cash I can assure you of that"

"Assurance is something we cannot guarantee in our line of work Dan"

"Hold your horses Tel, normally you are right but I can at least be sure the cash will be in the van, and more cash than just a normal van"