8.10 p.m. and the early evening calm is shattered by the volley of gunfire. As the smoke and cordite clear a young cyclist lies dead in the street, five rounds having ripped through his body. Five days later in a separate incident a forty-eight-year-old psychiatric nurse and her son are arrested in possession of a devastating Mach.lO machinegun. Later at a 'Wild West' style disco a youth lies bleeding, gunned down by revellers shooting in time with the music. Miami? Not even close; this is London where everyday headlines scream execution, assassination and gangland hits.

At the forefront of the fight stands S019, the Metropolitan Police Specialist firearms unit, 'the Glory Boys'. They alone take the war to these villains, a war fought many hundreds of times a year by these men in black. It's here, on your streets, in your towns and in your cities.

As a stepping stone to Europe, London has become the natural staging post for international crime and with it comes gang-related murder and violence. South American drug barons, the Russian Mafia and Jamaican Yardies now threaten the very existence of the traditional 'good old south London villain'. Steve Collins says: 'We are barely keeping our head above water in the rising tide of international crime. Gun battles on your streets are now commonplace, the only reason you sleep safe at night is the sheer dedication of S019, who daily risk death, for they remain the last defence in the arsenal of the thin blue line.

Steve Collins was born in south London in 1957. In 1978 he left home and joined Surrey Police. In 1989 he transferred to London's Metropolitan Police, where after a vigorous selection, he entered S019, the Tactical Firearms Unit, as team leader, Specialist Firearms Officer, National Firearms Instructor and Tactical Advisor. He left the police in 1996 and now lives in the south of England with his wife. His first book The Good Guys Wear Black, published last year, was a top ten bestseller.