‘She was on her way downstairs with the young girl so didn’t see you smack O’Duncie. I told her you tripped him up as he tried to escape and that’s what she’ll say when the rubber heelers interview her.’
‘Thank Christ for that,’ Gibbs said as they drove off.
Jane lay in her bed mulling over her discussion with Bradfield. Although he had reprimanded her about not finishing counting the money and about the receipt, she knew she had got off lightly because basically what he wanted was for her to lie.
When it had just turned dark John dropped David off on the top level of the newish nine-storey car park in Great Eastern Street and got his wheelchair out the back of the van. He then handed David binoculars and a Shira-WT-106 walkie-talkie.
‘This has been modified by Danny for a greater transmission distance. We already tested ’em and they work fine – we’ll be able to hear each other. Don’t have it up too loud, though, and I don’t want to hear any idle chit-chat.’
‘I know, John, I ain’t stupid.’
‘Yeah well, you only call us if there are any problems like-’
David sighed. ‘The rozzers, passers-by, anyone reacting to any noise coming from the café… you’ve told me loads of times.’
John patted his brother’s cheek. ‘Yeah well, I know what you’re like for forgettin’ things. See ya in the morning.’
No sooner had John left to go to the café than David felt how cold it was due to the wind being more intense at such a height. He was grateful that the car-park barrier walls were low enough for him to be able to sit in his wheelchair and still have a good view of the café, the bank and surrounding streets. Although he had a rug around him for warmth he was soon freezing cold, and he realized he’d best wear some thermal underwear, gloves and a woolly hat in future.
Silas had already opened the café back-yard gates and closed them as soon as John drove in and parked up the van. Danny opened the back doors and he and John started to unload all the equipment which was wrapped in decorators’ sheets: the Acro poles, Kango drills, sledgehammers, wire cutters and two large buckets filled with tins of paint and brushes.
‘Come on, hurry up,’ Silas said, worried that they may be seen.
‘It’d save time if you bloody lifted a finger instead of just standing there watching us,’ John snapped.
Silas cracked his knuckles, lifted a stack of wooden joists and muttered they were too long.
‘For Chrissake, I’ve brought a fuckin’ saw… just get the gear inside.’
Danny glanced over to John. ‘He’s just nervous, John, so lay off him.’
‘All right, all right. David’s in position and I just want to get this stuff down the basement then get started with the job.’
Working through the night from 9 p.m. proved to be a lot tougher than John Bentley and the others had anticipated: breaking through the brick wall was a depressing, arduous and time-consuming exercise. The wall was not one brick in depth but had four individual layers. Using masonry chisels and hammers they painstakingly removed a line of single bricks six feet long into which they inserted wooden joists, supported by Acro poles, to ensure the four-foot-high square hole they’d made through the brickwork wouldn’t collapse in on them. Once this was done they were able to make a start on knocking through the next layer of bricks with heavy-duty hammers and chisels, taking their time so as to make as little noise as possible. As they moved through each layer of bricks they added more wooden supports. Silas had wanted to use the small electric Kango hammer drills, but John said it was safer for now to proceed slowly and use the hammers and chisels, but they would need the Kango to break through the concrete floor of the vault. Again Silas suggested using a small amount of explosive, but John, with Danny backing him up, was totally against it, fearing the shockwave would make too much sound, or worse still, cause the supports to give way.
Between them, Silas, Danny and John worked hard, with only a couple of breaks for tea or water to clear their lungs. As Silas had to open up in the morning, to make everything appear normal, he was allowed to have some sleep during the night in the flat above. John and Danny felt mentally and physically exhausted, and by 4 a.m. they had removed just three layers of bricks. Silas was sleeping when John suggested they stop and clear the bricks out of the café cellar as the sun would be up in just over an hour. Danny agreed, but chiselled out one brick in the fourth layer to see what was on the other side. He shone a torch through the small gap expecting to see the vault’s concrete base, but was surprised to see two thick iron bars a few inches apart. He peered closer, using the torch to illuminate the dark void beyond the bars.
‘Shit, there’s iron security bars, and we’ve miscalculated the length of the fucking vault,’ a disheartened-sounding Danny said.
‘What? Let me see!’ John exclaimed moving forward to look.
