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

guess this is what it looks like to be a winner. I spent my whole life trying to get my mum to give me some of her money, and this guy got it all in less than an hour. That would sting if I wasn’t already feeling bad enough.

‘I guess I’ll be going, then,’ James says, taking one last look around the room. ‘But before I do…’

He reaches back into his bag again, and I dread to think what it is that he might pull out of there. In the end, it’s almost a relief to see that it is just more cable ties.

Stepping towards me and grabbing my left wrist, I fight only a little as he secures me to the radiator. I’m done struggling now. I just want him to be gone.

‘That should hold you a little longer than the bedpost,’ he says with a smirk, making one final check on the strength of the tie before heading for the door.

‘Don’t bother trying to call the police. You’ll need your phone for that,’ he tells me, tapping his rucksack to let me know that my mobile is in there too. Then he heads for the door.

‘Wait!’ I call after him, and he pauses.

‘Is my mum okay?’

He takes a moment to think about it before shrugging his shoulders. ‘I’m sure she’s fine,’ he replies. ‘My partner isn’t as dangerous as me.’

Then he walks away, leaving me alone in the flat.

37

JAMES

I close the door to the flat behind me and head for the staircase, checking the time on my phone as I go. It’s 18:50. The train will be due in any minute. I’ll be expected to go straight to the rendezvous point and wait there. But I’m not going to do that because that would result in me sharing what I have in this rucksack, and that was never part of my plan going into today.

Instead, I’m going to take it all for myself.

I make it to the bottom of the staircase before sending a text confirming that I was able to access the safe and that I am on the way now. Then I leave the flats and step out onto the street, trying to keep myself calm despite now being in possession of a life-changing sum of money.

I was told that there was around £20,000 in that safe, and I would have classed that as a good day’s work if I’d been able to get it all. But then I opened the door and saw that there was so much more than that. I haven’t had time to count it all out yet, but I estimate there could be at least three times that amount just in pure cash now lying in the bottom of my bag. Not only that, but there was what looked to be an expensive watch too, as well as a gold ring, so depending on their value, I could be looking at the best part of £100K.

I haven’t done too bad for a guy who got out of prison a month ago.

I hurry down the street, lugging my heavy rucksack as I go, but the heavier the better in this case. I’m tempted to call a taxi to take me to the station, but I know it would be wiser not to. The police will probably be called to the flat when Amanda gets home, and then they’ll be interested in knowing if any young males were spotted with a black rucksack in this area around this time. The last thing I need is some taxi driver telling the police that he dropped me off at the station—then they might be able to catch up with me before I leave the country. I’ll just make the ten-minute walk to the station instead. I can still make the two trains I need to take tonight even after this delay. That should also give enough time for my partner to leave the station and make his way to the pub on the seafront where we are due to meet up for a debrief.

The pub in question is called the Mermaid and Anchor, and it’s where we met to go over this plan way back at the beginning, so it only felt right for it to be the location where we would meet to toast the success of it upon completion. But I won’t be showing up at that pub.

I’ll be long gone by then.

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and take it out as I turn onto the next street. It’s another message from my partner on the train.

“Just arriving at the station. See you soon.”

I smirk at the words as I put my phone away again. He has no idea what I am about to do to him. But I’m not going to feel bad for double-crossing him. After all, I was the one who met Louise and found out about the safe in the first place. He might have helped me come up with the idea of how to get the money out of it, but without me, there would have been no plan to make. So why should I share this loot with him? He thinks he’s so clever with his sharp suits and his sales patter, but I know he is no different from me. He’s just a guy trying to get ahead, and I’m confident he would have screwed me over at the first opportunity. But now I’m the one getting ahead, and he’s the one who has been screwed.

That will serve him right for cheating in all those poker games we played.

I cross the street and keep my head down as I pass a dog walker on the pavement before turning the next corner and seeing the train station come into view up ahead. I check the time again on my phone, and as I do, I feel the ring in my pocket beside my device.

Taking it out, I have a closer look at