The Passenger by Daniel Hurst (great book club books TXT) 📕

money from any mark was to take your time. I agreed that was a skill I wasn’t particularly strong on, but I have worked hard on that during my time behind bars. There aren’t many places better to help you learn patience than prison.

I was relieved when he told me that he was willing to work with me, and I am sure we can make some good money together, just as soon as we can get away from these poker hands for pathetic prizes and play in the real world for much bigger stakes. We’ll both still be young men after we have served our sentences, and there will be plenty of time to earn the kinds of fortunes that I know both of us dream about when the lights go out in this prison, and we’re alone on our beds with nothing but our imagination.

As I turn over the fifth and final card and my hopes of winning this hand dwindle even further, I can hear the noise from outside our cell door where the rest of the inmates on this wing are gathered in the communal area, playing table tennis, watching TV, or sitting around chatting. Murderers. Thieves. Common thugs. All bundled into one place and expected to exist together without any problems. But while I have witnessed plenty of trouble since I have been in here during my stretch, including threats, fights, and even a riot, I have kept myself out of all of them. That isn’t because I lack the necessary tools to thrive in a dangerous place like this. It’s because the only problems I want to cause now are in the outside world with my new partnerand the sooner I get out of here, the sooner I can start doing some damage where it really counts.

As my cellmate turns over his cards and shows that he has beaten me again, I smile, not because I’m happy to lose, but because I know we are both going to win in the long term. As soon as we get out of here, there is nothing that is going to stop us. I want to succeed badly. And I know that he does too.

‘Nice hand,’ I tell him as he collects the cards and prepares to take his turn to shuffle them, but he doesn’t offer anything back. Not that I expected him to. Knowing him as well as I do now, his mind will already be on the next hand because that’s how he likes to think. He’s always planning several steps ahead. I guess that’s the biggest lesson he has taught me in here.

Make a plan. Execute it. But always have another one to implement immediately afterwards. I will bear that in mind when we get out of here. I will also bear in mind his other piece of advice, the one he reminded me of on the day we met.

‘Didn’t your mother tell you it was dangerous to talk to strangers?’

20

STRANGER

I want this damn code, and the longer I go without getting it, the more I am prepared to do things that are expected of a man who has spent considerable time behind bars. I’d hate for people to think that I’m not dangerous just because I wear a sharp suit and talk fast. I can be just as dangerous as all those men I met on the inside, the ones with the shaven heads, scarred faces, and murderous eyes. The only reason I haven’t demonstrated this yet is because I’m exercising patience. But it’s starting to wear thin the longer I go without this code. I can’t understand why Amanda is still refusing to give it to me, and the only possible explanation I can think of is that she doesn’t fully understand the severity of the situation she finds herself in. Maybe that’s my fault.

Maybe I haven’t been clear enough.

‘Do you enjoy playing games with Louise’s life?’ I ask the woman opposite me after I have showed her the photo of her daughter tied to the bed.

I had told James before today that he was to do whatever it takes to keep Louise occupied until I was able to send him the code, and it looks like he has done just that. I honestly thought I would have had the code by now, and I know James did too, but things don’t always go to plan. A younger man such as my partner might panic in this situation and do something hasty. But an experienced man knows to stay calm and that everything will work out well in the end just as long as you stick to the plan. So that’s what I am trying to do right now. I am staying calm, and not even the quick check on my watch makes me concerned. We are twenty-five minutes away from Brighton, and every second that goes by is a second closer to Amanda not giving us what we want, which would force us to hurt her daughter as punishment. But it won’t come to that. Amanda might be a little feisty, and she still might be doing everything she can to delay her fate, but it is inevitable, just like mine was on that day I stood in the dock and prepared for the judge to send me down.

Amanda will give me this code. She has no choice if she wants to see her daughter again.

‘Seeing as you clearly don’t realise exactly how much trouble Louise is in,’ I say as I place my mobile phone on the table and rest my hands in my lap, ‘let me tell you something about the man your daughter is with right now.’

I notice Amanda’s hands are much less relaxed than mine, still gripping the edge of the table tightly, and that sight comforts me. She is angry. She is afraid. I continue.

‘James and I shared a cell together in prison, and we became quite close. That’s why we decided we would