The Conspiracy 4
Page 1
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
By The Same Author
Join The Mailing List
Foreword
Meet Jake Tanner
Quote
Previously On: The Conspiracy
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Pre Order Episode 5 Today
Join The Mailing List
Enjoy This?
Also in The CID Case Series
About the Author
—————————————————————————————————
EPISODE 4
By Jack Probyn
Copyright © 2020 Jack Probyn. All rights reserved.
The right of Jack Probyn to be identified as the authors of the Work had been asserted him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by: Cliff Edge Press, Essex.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission of the author, Jack Probyn, or the publisher, Cliff Edge Press.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-912628-24-7
First Edition
Visit Jack Probyn’s website at www.jackprobynbooks.com.
For Nana.
By The Same Author
The CID Case Series
The Conspiracy
The Community
The Confession
The Cadre
The Company
The Cabal
The SO15 Files Series
The Wolf (coming 2021)
Dark Christmas (coming 2021)
London Eye (coming 2021)
St Paul’s (coming 2021)
Power Station (coming 2021)
School Attack (coming 2021)
Mile 17 (coming 2021)
Royal Wedding (coming 2021)
Arena (coming 2021)
The Terror Thriller Series
Standstill
Floor 68
The Jake Tanner Terror Thriller Series Boxset 1 (Contains Standstill & Floor 68)
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Foreword
THE CID CASE SERIES: HOW IT WORKs
This is no ordinary series…
… it’s so much more that.
Before you begin reading The Conspiracy, there’s something you need to understand.
The Conspiracy, and the rest of The CID Case Series, is modelled on television. The story is split into six different episodes, and each episode is intricately plotted, and follows the same storyline right up to the end. Think of your favourite programmes like Line of Duty, Stranger Things, Peaky Blinders, Breaking Bad.
I wanted to bring that experience to your e-reader. One story, but edge-of-your-seat pacing.
Just keep that model in mind as you begin reading. You won’t want to flip the channel.
Episodes are released every Monday from the 8th June 2020.
MEET JAKE TANNER
Born: 28.03.1985
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 190lbs/86kg/13.5 stone
Physical Description: Brown hair, close shaven beard, brown eyes, slim athletic build, scar on his cheek
Education: Upper Second Class Honours in Psychology from the University College London (UCL)
Interests: When Jake isn’t protecting lives and finding those responsible for taking them, Jake enjoys motorsports — particularly F1
Family: Mother, older sister, younger brother. His father died in a car accident when Jake was fifteen
Relationship Status: Currently in a relationship with Elizabeth Tanner, and he doesn’t see that changing, ever
“He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him.” - [Thomas Jefferson, 1785]
PREVIOUSLY ON…
THE CONSPIRACY: EPISODE 3
Jake meets with an old friend in the form of the former Crimsons leader, Freddy Miller, who inspires Jake and the rest of the team to inspect the ports out of the country. Meanwhile, Bridger, with the help of a police constable, locate the third key in Farnham Abbey, and head to the location for the fourth key.
Danny taunts the police by making a phone call to DCI Pemberton, feeding her with false information — while his brothers disagree with his motives.
Finally, after shocking revelation regarding Candice’s involvement in the conspiracy, DCI Pemberton is forced to make a difficult decision.
And now, The Conspiracy: Episode 4…
| EPISODE 4 |
CHAPTER ONE
INERTIA
‘Drive! Drive! Drive!’
Danny slammed his fist on the back of Luke’s chair, but it made little difference. Traffic enveloped the three of them. In the time since he’d shot the police officer a few hundred yards back, those stuck in the traffic jam had pulled into the hard shoulder in front of them, blocking their exit. Now they were trapped, and there was nowhere else for them to go.
‘Fucking drive!’ Danny screamed, small bits of spittle and phlegm expelling from his mouth and landing on his arm.
‘What do you think I’m doing?’ Luke hissed back.
‘Ram into them if you have to.’ Danny turned to his middle brother. ‘Micky – how many bullets you got left?’
Michael glanced back at him, fear filling his eyes. ‘Why? What are you going to do with them?’
‘Just tell me how many bullets you’ve got left. We don’t have time for this.’
Michael inched further away from Danny. ‘I’ve not used any. You’re the only one who’s used them.’
Danny extended his hand. ‘Give it to me.’ He spoke as calmly as he could, but his brother’s hesitation made him want to scream and beat him into submission.
‘Micky,’ he began, ‘don’t make this any more difficult than it already is. Just give me the gun,’ he enunciated, hoping that his composure would appease Michael. But when his brother didn’t move, Danny screamed, ‘Give me the fucking gun!’
‘There are kids in these cars, Dan. Don’t shoot—’
Danny lunged across the seat, slapped Micky on the back of the head and snatched the Mini-Uzi from him. He gripped the light machine in his hand, unwound the window and hung out of it. Donning the mask, he swung the weapon around in a wide circle. Petrified faces stared back at him, and those hidden behind the confines of their cars tucked beneath their windows. Danny knew their efforts were futile; the bullets would undoubtedly penetrate the glass and side of the doors. There was nothing that could save them.
He steadied the gun and depressed the trigger. Bullet fire rained down on the already battered and beaten 4x4 family van whose driver had decided foolishly to be a hero by pulling out in front of them. The small lumps of lead ripped into the boot, tearing the number plate in two, and smashing the rear window; sprinkles of glass descended to the floor. One of the bullets tore
into the right rear tyre and sunk the car. Danny screamed in euphoria as he felt the weapon bounce mini shockwaves up and down his arm. The sound of his voice and his rapid heartbeat drowned out the ringing in his ears.
‘Ram into them,’ Danny ordered, leaning back into the car.
Luke did as he was told and slammed the Audi into the back of the family van. The brothers lunged forward with the collision, while the engine beneath screamed and the tyres squealed. A few seconds of inertia passed, until eventually the torque from the Audi was strong enough to nudge the 4x4 along. Luke lowered his foot to the floor and Danny watched the rev counter climb into the red.
The Audi started to move faster now. Danny reached forward, grabbed hold of the steering wheel and swerved the car to the left, banking onto a small incline. There was a gap, large enough for them to fit through, and he wanted to take the opportunity. It was now or never.
Luke clipped the wing mirror as he sped past the 4x4. Danny chanced a look inside the vehicle. The family were cowered over the chairs – the parents leaning across the seats to protect their children. It was pathetic really. That they thought you could get in the way of The Crimsons. Why did people think it was OK to interfere?
Danny couldn’t comprehend their need to be heroes.
‘Well done, Luke,’ he said, congratulating his brother with a pat on the back as the 4x4 became a small dot in the rear window. ‘Now get us the fuck out of here and down to the port.’
| EPISODE 4 |
CHAPTER TWO
AHEAD OF TIME
‘Where are you?’ Jake asked into the phone.
‘Dunsfold,’ Bridger replied. He was abrupt and dismissive.
‘Have you received any update on The Crimsons’ location? Pemberton said something about them heading down to Portsmouth,’ Jake said eagerly. He was feeling a resurgence of passion and desire to catch The Crimson brothers before the end of the day surge through his body. He just hoped he’d get the outcome he wanted.
‘Why don’t you ask your little friend?’ Bridger asked. He said it with so much malevolence and anger that Jake felt as though Bridger was sitting beside him.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Ask your buddy – Freddy. Or do you like to call him Fred?’
‘You’re being childish.’
‘I bet he told you all sorts of things, didn’t he? I know what you two are up to.’
Jake rolled his eyes. Don’t rise to it, he told himself. Don’t rise to it. But it wasn’t that simple. Bridger had been pushing him and pushing him and pushing him closer to the edge all day, until eventually, at some point, he was going to… snap. He was going to have to stand up for himself. And Jake was more than happy to deal with the consequences afterwards if it meant he could save his integrity now.
‘A woman is going to die if we don’t do anything to save her,’ he began. ‘And three of the country’s most notorious criminals are going to escape if you don’t stop this behaviour. It’s completely unprofessional. I’ve every right to make a complaint to the Professional Standards after all of this is done. And I’m not even going to entertain your insinuation that I’m somehow working with Freddy and The Crimsons. It’s completely unjustified.’
Jake breathed heavily. He’d stopped caring. Bridger’s opinion of him mattered none; there were more important people to impress.
‘All right, all right. Calm down, princess. Can’t you take a little bit of banter?’
‘There’s a difference between banter and bullying, sarge.’
‘Well, if you give me a reason to trust you then I will. But until I see it, I’m keeping a close eye on you.’
‘Do whatever you have to do,’ Jake snapped.
He clenched the mobile in his hand with anger. He was close to snapping the device in half. Instead, he hung up the phone in anger. He slammed his palm on the steering wheel and threw the phone into the seat beside him; it ricocheted and bounced off the door frame and landed in the passenger-side footwell. He swore aloud and reached over to inspect its damage.
‘Bitch!’
A thick crack splintered from the top right of the screen to the middle. His most expensive possession – by a long margin – was destroyed, and it was his fault. It was then that Jake felt a panic attack strike him. It was a dizzying sensation he hadn’t felt for some time, born from a horrifying avalanche Jake found himself in when he was twenty, on a snowboarding trip that had been organised by his university. The wall of white had encompassed and suffocated him then, and it was beginning to encompass and suffocate him now. His body tensed, a thin layer of sweat formed on his skin and he became incredibly hot. His vision turned to white and his head felt light. He closed his eyes and pressed his palms into his eyeballs, attempting to calm the rising pain in his head.
His phone vibrated in his hand, immediately clearing the white veil and bringing him back to reality.
Dazed, he answered without checking the caller ID.
‘Hello?’ he asked.
‘It’s Bridger. We—’
Jake groaned as the headache fluctuated and bounced around his skull.
‘You OK?’ Bridger asked.
Jake blinked away the pain, but it was useless. It only resided as far as the back of his brain – just out of reach, like the memory of a long-forgotten friend.
‘I’m fine. What do you want?’
‘We’ve got a location. We’ve just had reports come in that they opened fire on uniform on the A3, and then they turned the fire on the rest of the traffic.’
Jake remembered what Freddy had told him; that this was unchartered territory for The Crimsons. That they had never done anything like this. Which meant they were dangerous and even more volatile than Jake originally thought.
‘Any other casualties?’ he asked, starting the engine.
‘None. Yet. The uniform was shot in the neck. I don’t know if he’s going to make it. He’s on the way to hospital now. But there haven’t been any confirmed civilian casualties. The ambulance service is already on the scene.’
‘Where were they spotted?’
‘Outside Portsmouth.’
It’s really happening.
‘What does that mean for the motorway?’ Jake asked.
‘It’s fucked, in a word. It’s backed up about ten miles apparently, and it’s going to be stuck there even longer. Nobody’s going anywhere. Head towards Portsmouth, but you’re going to have to try the back roads or the long way round. It’s under Hampshire Police’s command now, so we have to follow their rules and procedures. They’ve got helicopters in the air hunting them down – apparently, they stole a vehicle from a petrol garage along the A3. They’ve got them on CCTV and the number plate running through ANPR.’
‘What’s your ETA?’ Jake asked, entering the address into his onboard Tom-Tom.
A pause.
‘Thirty-five minutes. Yours?’
Jake waited as the satnav calculated the results. The screen informed him it would take forty minutes for him to travel via the motorway to Portsmouth.
‘I can be there in twenty.’
| EPISODE 4 |
CHAPTER THREE
DIFFICULT DECISIONS
Never before in her illustrious career had DCI Pemberton been forced to make as tough a decision as the one in front of her now. Candice Strachan had just confessed to being a member of The Crimsons, to having a role in their robbery and kidnapping, to helping them smuggle themselves out of the country, to aiding and abetting their crimes. And Pemberton hated her for it, for lying to her and the rest of the police for so long. But now Candice was the victim. She was going to die. The collar would detonate if the final key wasn’t found. There wasn’t enough time on the countdown for Jake or Bridger to retrieve the key from Danny and return to Farnham. There wasn’t enough time to find Danny and the rest of his brothers, arrest them and then bring them back to the collar bomb. Whichever way she looked at it, it wasn’t possible. And then what would happen? Candice’s blood would be on he
r hands. It would be her decision to leave her stranded there in Surrey.
‘PC Mooney,’ she called to one of the uniformed officers who’d been standing on the outskirts of the garden; he came rushing over.
‘Yes, ma’am.’ His face beamed and his cheeks shimmered with a thin layer of sweat.
‘I need a vehicle. A police escort vehicle. Something big. Something that’s going to be able to transport Ms Strachan over there.’ Pemberton nodded in Candice’s direction.
‘Are… are you sure, ma’am? Would we not be able to use the OED’s van?’
Pemberton shook her head. ‘It’s not the right kind of vehicle. That’s just a Transit. We need something that we can isolate Candice in. The same thing we use to transfer criminals from prison to prison. You know what I mean?’
Words weren’t making sense to her. It was like the events of the past few hours had destroyed the synapses in her brain that controlled all thought processes and communication. All her training and police jargon had flown out of her head.