‘Kerist, whassat?’ Sluggsy had backed away and his hand was inside his leather jacket. Horror recovered himself first. There was a cold snarl on his face. ‘Git over behind the door, Sluggsy. Hold your fire until I tell you. You,’ he spat the words at me, ‘get yourself into shape. You’ve got to front for us. If you don’t do it good you’re dead. Understand? You’ll be shot. Now get over to that door and find out who it is. Tell ’em the same story you told us. Get me? And take that silly expression off your face. No one’s going to hurt you if you do what I say. Pull that zip up, dammit!’ I was struggling with the thing. It was stuck. ‘Well, hold the damn thing together across your chest and get moving. I’ll be right behind you. And don’t forget, one wrong word and you get blasted through the

