joe has a master plan that involves karen. he explains to her that he intends to ruin mike and take over the factory, asking her to help him to do it. when joe tempts her with the lure of the possibility of a plush apartment, karen agrees to the scam. joe tells karen that as his partner, she will have to get mike to sign cheques to his bogus company, artrec (an anagram of carter). instead, however, karen forges mike's signature, much to joe's delight. just after mike has signed the final cheque to seal the deal for the couple, he suddenly announces that he is doing a full stock take, much to their horror. joe and an ex-con friend, frank marsden (martin walsh), burgle the factory so that mike will never know that no stock from artrec was delivered. joe then takes mike to a deserted warehouse pretending that this is artrec's address. they speak to a bogus security guard, frank, who tells them that artrec disappeared a few days ago. frank describes the owner as an asian man, which makes mike think that naveen alahan is behind the con.