“We can do what we like,” said the burly policemen to Bill. “We’re the law.” That sounded just the sort of job that might suit him. Do what you like with impunity, have a bit of power over folk, and get paid a half-decent wage at the same time. It was the moment of his epiphany, but it was a change of life that brought Bill into a larger game than the one he was used to, a world where more powerful people than he exercised their entitlements, a world where he was returned to a familiar struggle against unfair laws and the plight of desperate people. Using his native wit – and a GCSE in Latin, he would proudly claim – Bill treads a risky path to help foil organised people trafficking, sustained throughout by his sense of humour and an old-school irreverence. If you can’t beat them, join them, may have been his motto, but he learns that sometimes one has to accept there are certain elements of established society that will never be beaten. Bill, however, remains optimistic to the last, he has his own inner advocate for survival, and survive he will.
