Maurice Procter - Two men in twenty

'The job' was a tight cordon around the area. It was pear-shaped to take in the Marquis of Granby. In addition to the cordon, squads of plainclothesmen standing by at stations throughout the city were sent to strengthen the cordon, and, when ordered, to converge on some point inside it. Also, the A Division men who had been previously selected to patrol tiny sections of the Archer Street area were called from standby duty and sent into the area.

It looked as if nothing could go wrong. Martineau joined his own men in the yard, and took them to that part of the cordon which was nearest to College Street, where Haddon and Walker's stood.

Entry to Haddon and Walker's was quick and easy. France's self-made key was still adjusted to the wards of the big lock on the back door. He opened the door while Cain was opening the van door and getting the men out. The XXC equipment was carried through the doorway and put down inside the building. France closed and bolted the door, and then after a moment's thought he locked it. Coggan drove the van away, having been told to return in fifty minutes, or when it seemed safe to do so.

Inside the warehouse the raiders breathed an atmosphere redolent of coffee, smoked bacon, spices, and household soap. Three of them waited in silence while France went off in the direction of the office. While they stood there they heard distantly one sharp crack of splintering wood. It was the biggest noise they had ever heard their door-and-window man make. 'I'm glad we're chuckin' this game,' Jolly commented in a hoarse whisper. 'It's about time.'

France returned. He burdened himself with an armful of Husker's protective clothing and then picked up Jolly's drill. Carrying the rest of the equipment, the others followed the dimmed light of his torch as he led the way to the cashier's office. The jamb of the office door was quite ruined. 'Sorry about that,' France whispered to Cain. 'It was deadlocked.'

The cashier's office had only one window. France and Cain put up the blackout with the deft teamwork which comes from practice. The safe was of the sort, neither old nor new, to which they were accustomed. It was a good safe. Husker was of the opinion that Jolly would have to bore a starting hole for him. Jolly found a power plug for his drill, and set to work.

The drill took half an hour to pierce the safe door, but Husker found the correct jet heat and force at the first attempt, and the oxygen-propane operation was unexpectedly quick. Forty-five minutes from the start, the safe was open. It yielded bundles of notes which were estimated at more than three thousand pounds and less than four.

'Right,' said Cain, when he had stuffed the money into a carrier bag. 'Leave everything. Let's go.'

Jolly picked up his drill, but all the other equipment was left behind. The four men returned to the back door. France decided not to unlock the door until he had heard Coggan's signal. They settled down in the darkness, and waited in complete silence.

* * * * *

Cruising around to fill in his time, Coggan pondered as to the wisdom, or foolishness, of having just one drink. There was always a possibility on these outings that he, the wheel man, might have to do some fast and fancy driving before the job was finished. He had heard that even one drink would retard a driver's reactions. Just one drink? He refused to believe that one shot of whisky could have any effect on Bill Coggan.

'Beer, maybe, yes,' he decided. 'It makes you dull. But one drop of the hard stuff? Never. More likely to make me drive better. Strengthen my nerves.'

He was about to drive past a small tavern called the Marquis of Granby. There was a passage which, no doubt, led to a yard at the rear of the place. Coggan argued that it would be safer to have the van out of sight for half-an-hour. It would be better than driving round and round the town. He drove into the yard, and found that it was full of cars. There was not even room for him to turn. He backed out again, then turned in the street and reversed the van into the passage. The people whose cars were in the yard would be staying longer at the inn than he would, anyway. He entered the inn.

A few minutes later, the van was noticed by one of the mixed pairs of police officers. Word of it was passed to the Information Room. The couple stationed themselves in a doorway along Granby Street, some distance from the inn but near enough to perceive the van when it emerged from the yard entrance.

When Coggan came out of the inn he looked around the cars in the yard, then went along the passage to the entrance and stood for about a minute looking up and down the street. Eventually he discerned the couple standing close together, and he could see by the two white blurs of their faces that they were looking his way. Well, a courting couple were nothing to worry about but why didn't they move further back into the doorway? And why were they looking his way?

He looked into the back of the van to make sure that a police stowaway had not been planted there. Then he got behind the wheel and drove out into the street. Now, he knew he had to be extra careful. Before he returned to Haddon and Walker's he had to make sure that the place was not under surveillance. And furthermore he had to be sure that he was not being followed.

Being careful, he drove along the street towards the courting couple, thus going away from his destination in the back street behind College Street. When he passed close to them, the man and girl were standing close together, face to face, apparently engrossed in their own affairs. They seemed to be all right, but he thought that the fellow could have been more enthusiastic. Ah well, every man had his own technique.

He went round the block and so back to his route. His speed was moderate. He was in no hurry, but he did not want to drive so slowly that he would attract notice. He stopped at every corner and looked both ways, and he had both near- and off-side windows down for better visibility. His eyesight was excellent, and to some extent it could pierce the gloom of shadowed doorways. He saw two more couples, and three times he saw young men walking alone. He decided that he was seeing too many young people for this district at this time of night. And every man that he saw, alone or with a girl, was of a good enough physique to be a policeman.

'Not one of 'em over thirty,' he muttered. 'This don't look so good.'

In comparatively busy Archer Street he saw a police telephone, and a little further along there was a rather exceptionally stalwart young man sauntering. Coggan passed the man and took the first street to the left. He put on speed. He turned left again and then again, and was back in Archer Street in time to see the young man running to the telephone.

Coggan's suspicion hardened to certainty. The place was alive with coppers and they were plotting the course of the van. They were waiting for it to lead them to the tickle, then up would go the barricades. Until the police knew where the break-in was, the area would not be closed. So reasoned Coggan, whose only desire now was to get out of this dangerous situation, and out of Granchester. Loyalty fell an easy victim of self-interest as he argued that it would be better to leave his friends to look after themselves. They would still have a slim chance of escape if he left them hidden until they realized that he would not be coming for them: they would have no chance at all if he went to collect them now.

What would they, Cain and Company, think that he should have done? Who cared what they thought? Every man had a right to do what he believed to be the best thing in the circumstances.

He drove along Archer Street until he came to a crossing with a long and reasonably wide intersecting street. To the left, this street stretched away until its lights merged and blurred into a dim nebulous glow. To the right, a few hundred yards away, were the brighter lights of a main road. There, traffic crossed his view at speed.