It was a Lexus LS, and the property of one Errol Buchanan, who, according to observations by Scotland Yard’s Organised Crime Division, had been involved in car-ringing operations for the best part of a decade. The Lexus, which would initially have been stolen, was now – on paper at least – Buchanan’s property. It would probably have been intended for sale abroad, but Buchanan, a reckless, self-indulgent bastard even by car thief standards, had presumably fallen in love with it and decided to keep it. This was why Heck had no qualms about taking and driving it away. Not that he’d have hesitated to lift it from a law-abiding citizen if he’d had no other choice. It was close to one o’clock in the morning and he was bulleting up the M1 motorway. That last telephone message went through his head again and again: he’d been told simply to head north and await further instructions, which he would receive en route. They’d threatened that if they saw any sign the police were following, both Dana and Lauren would suffer unimaginable consequences.
