‘Take a seat.’
The man pointed to a chair in front of his desk. He didn’t raise his head and continued to give the paper he was reading his full attention and me none. He lifted a pen, scribbled a little and shuffled the paper into a tray. He leaned back and eyes as grey as a wet Loch Lomond sky wandered over me.
‘What did we take last year?’
No preamble. No small talk.
‘10.6 million clear.’
‘And this year?’
‘12’
‘Is that good?’
I thought it was fucking fantastic but it was clear that he didn’t.
‘Much more and we start to step on toes that will bring down a lot more heat. Most of our cash is in small amounts. That keeps the major crime boys off our back.’
He smiled. Cold.
‘Nice strategy. I approve. I reckon twenty five million tops in Scotland before we have to change the way we do things.’
Twenty five. Christ that would be hard work. The organisation would have needed to double again to get close and that was a lot of organising and recruiting.
‘Not your worry,’ he said. ‘How do you fancy south of the river.’
For a second I was lost. South of what river?
‘Giles is moving north and his number two isn’t up to it. I don’t see anyone better for the job. That is if you fancy it?’
I knew who Giles was. Giles Taylor and he ran south London. That meant I had just been offered the second largest patch in the organisation next to north London.
‘Think about it.’
With that he hit a buzzer, the suits reappeared and my time was up.
On the way back to my hotel my head was spinning. This was an altogether different scale. I knew Glasgow and I could get by with the rest of Scotland but London was foreign territory and not without its share of heavy hitters. In Glasgow shooters were thin on the ground. In London they grew on trees.
This was a different game on a different ground.
In my hotel room I fell back on to my bed and let my head wander. I suspected this was another offer I couldn’t refuse. Martin was more than capable of running the operation in Scotland and, if I showed a lack of ambition, or worse, a lack of gratitude, I would get short shrift.
I went for a walk but I knew my time in Glasgow was up and when I got back to the hotel I made the call and said I was in.