Honour Among Thieves

going to cost you a whole lot of money if you don't pull it off first time.' Cavalli turned to face the ex-policeman and tried not to show how anxious he felt. 'The hold-up, I mean. If you don't get the shoot done this morning, the authorities aren't going to let you go through this charade again for one hell of a time.' 'I don't need to be reminded of that,' snapped Cavalli. He turned his attention back to Johnny, who had climbed down from his chair and was walking over to take his seat on the tracking dolly, ready to move as soon as the twelfth vehicle was in place. Once again, the aide passed Johnny the megaphone. 'This is a final check. Check your positions, please. This is a final check. Everyone ready in car one?' There was a sharp honk in reply. 'Car two?' Another honk. 'Car three?' Another sharp honk from the driver of Lloyd Adams' car. Cavalli stared in through the window as the bald actor removed the top of his wig box. 'Car four?' Not a sound came from car four. 'Is everyone in car four who should be in car four?' barked the director. It was then that Cavalli remembered what had been nagging at him: he still hadn't seen Angelo or Dollar Bill all morning. He should have checked earlier. He hurried towards the director as a naval Lieutenant jumped out of a car which he'd left stranded in the middle of the road. He was six foot tall, with short-cropped hair, wearing a white uniform with a sword swinging by his side and medals for service in Panama and the Gulf on his chest. In his right hand he carried a black box. A policeman began chasing after him while Dollar Bill, carrying a small leather bag, followed a few yards behind at a slower pace. When Cavalli saw what had happened he changed direction and walked calmly out into the middle of the road, and the naval officer came to a halt by his side. 'What the hell do you think you're playing at?' barked Cavalli. 'We got held up in the traffic,' said Angelo lamely. 'If this whole operation fails because of you . . .' Angelo turned the colour of his uniform as he thought about what had happened to Bruno Morelli. 'And the sword?' snapped Cavalli. 'A perfect fit.' 'And our physician. Is be fit?' 'He'll be able to do his job, I promise you,' Angelo said, looking over his shoulder. 'Which car are you both in?' 'Number four. Directly behind the President.' 'Then get in, and right now.' 'Sorry, sorry,' Dollar Bill said, as he arrived panting. 'My fault, not Angelo's. Sorry, sorry,' he repeated as the back door of car four was held open for him by the Lieutenant, who was gripping his sword. Once Dollar Bill was safely in, Angelo joined the would-be physician and slammed the door behind him. The policeman who'd been chasing Angelo took his notebook out as Cavalli turned round looking for Tom Newbolt. Tom was already running across the road. 'Leave him to me,' was all he said. The second van with surveillance cameras on board screeched to a halt to complete the line. The front window purred down. 'Sorry, boss,' said the driver. 'Some jerk just dumped his car right in front of me.' The clock on the Old Post Office Tower struck ten. At that moment, on a signal from the co-ordinating officer, several policemen walked out into the road. Some held up the traffic coming down Pennsylvania Avenue while others placed diversion signs to direct the cars away from where the filming was taking place. Cavalli turned his attention to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a mere seven hundred yards away. It was still bumper to bumper with slow-moving traffic. 'Come on, come on!' he shouted out loud as he checked his watch and waited impatiently for the all clear. 'Any moment now,' shouted back the officer, who was standing in the middle of the road. Cavalli looked up to see the blue-and-white police helicopter hovering noisily overhead. Neither he nor the officer spoke again until a couple of minutes later when they heard a sharp whistle blow- three times from the far end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Cavalli checked his watch. They'd lost six precious minutes. 'I'll kill Angelo,' he said.'If-' 'All clear!' shouted the co-ordinating officer. He turned to face Cavalli, who gave the director a thumbs-up sign. 'You've still got thirty-nine minutes,' bellowed the officer. 'That should easily be enough time to complete the shoot twice.' But Cavalli didn't hear the last few words as he ran to the second car, pulled open the door and jumped into the seat next to the driver. And then a nagging thought