He’d spent the best part of the night trying to work out how to turn the situation to his advantage. He accepted that he couldn’t just kill Briggs. Even if Briggs hadn’t actually copied the file containing the evidence against him and left instructions for it to be opened in the event of anything happening to him, the death of a senior policeman would be likely to attract considerable attention whether it looked like an accident or not. Highworth went through the other options open to him one last time and decided that, at least for the moment, the most pragmatic way forward was for him to agree to Briggs’ terms and pay him the ten million he’d asked for. He realised that this could be the thin end of a wedge and that Briggs could keep coming back to him for more but he reckoned he could avoid that by getting some sort of proof of Briggs’ involvement. He would discuss it with Richards but they might be able to film the money being handed over or, if Briggs insisted on the money being transferred electronically, get some sort of recording of the two discussing the transfer.
