Private Princess

Chapter 55

The buildings of London were a blur beneath the helicopter as it belted across the city, green parks just a flash as Morgan and Knight raced to Kensington, and to Sharon Lewis.

Morgan had been silent for the first two minutes of the flight, but now he pulled his phone and dialed into Private London’s HQ.

“Put me through to Hooligan,” he commanded the watch manager.

“Hooligan left once Patel was taken into custody,” the watch manager explained. “I’ll put you through to Denise.”

“Who’s Denise?” Morgan asked Knight as the call went through.

“We recruited her last year straight from Cambridge. Hooligan hand-picked her. She’s quite brilliant, really.”

“Denise, this is Jack Morgan. Are you OK with breaking the law?”

“I am if it’s for a good cause,” the young woman answered without hesitation.

“I need you to hack into any and all CCTV systems within five hundred yards of Mayoor Patel’s home, and then feed them to me. Can you do that?”

“I can.”

Morgan hung up the call.

“Why the hell isn’t Hooligan there?” he asked Knight.

“Jack, he’s been working non-stop. As far as he was concerned, our cases both wrapped up once we took Patel into custody. He couldn’t have foreseen... this.”

“Private isn’t a part-time gig.” Morgan spoke through clenched teeth. “If this new girl is as good as you say she is, then Hooligan’s gone.”

“Gone?” Knight stammered, flabbergasted. “He’s a lynchpin in Private London, Jack. I know things are not great right now but—”

“Not great?” Morgan cut him off, seething. “Jane is dead, and my people are not where they should be.”

“He didn’t know,” Knight pressed.

“And whose fault is that?” Morgan shot back, his eyes burning into Knight. “You are the head of Private London, Peter, and Flex is on your turf. If he was planning this, you should have known about it.”

Knight didn’t know what to say.

“Cook is dead because Private London didn’t see this coming,” Morgan warned. “Hooligan isn’t the only one that’s replaceable.”