Short Range (The Spider Shepherd Thrillers Book 16)

by Stephen Leather

  Bradley frowned, not understanding.

  ‘Morris is dead. So is his number two. And his number three and number four for that matter. The drugs that they used to supply you with will now come from me.’

  ‘That’s cool,’ said Warwick, his voice trembling.

  Kriezis smiled encouragingly. ‘So you approve?’

  Warwick nodded frantically. ‘Sure, yes. Whatever.’

  ‘We don’t care who we get our gear from,’ said Bradley.

  ‘Well you should care,’ said Kriezis. ‘You need to sell a good product. If you sell a good product people are happy to buy and they’ll tell their friends. Word of mouth. But if you sell them shit then they’ll start trying to buy from elsewhere.’

  ‘Sure. Yes. You’re right.’ Bradley smiled and nodded again.

  ‘And you’re not just saying that because you know what will happen if you refuse my offer?’

  ‘Frenk, mate, we never fucking liked Dancer anyway,’ said Bradley. ‘He was a fucking arsehole. And sometimes he cut his shit before he sold it to us. We were always getting complaints, right Gav?’

  Warwick nodded. ‘Yeah. And when we said anything to him he said we didn’t know what we were talking about. Like we were fucking idiots. We were looking to get supplied from elsewhere but we drew a blank. He was regular, was the thing. We wanted a kilo, we got a kilo the next day.’

  ‘Well, you can have all the kilos you want from now on, and you have my word your drugs won’t be cut. We’ll send it to you exactly as it arrives in this country.’

  ‘Good. Great. Sounds like a plan,’ said Bradley.

  ‘It is a plan,’ said Kriezis. ‘And as part of the plan I want you to increase your sales. This town is wide open and with my supplying you there’s no reason you can’t sell ten times what you’ve been selling.’

  ‘I don’t know about that, Frenk,’ said Bradley. ‘This isn’t London.’

  ‘No, but there’s a university here. And schools. And a thriving middle class who just love a little cocaine to liven up their dinner parties. You need to be more – what is the word – proactive. That’s it. You need to be more proactive.’

  ‘We can do that,’ said Warwick. He looked over at Bradley. ‘We can do that, right?’

  ‘I guess,’ said Bradley.

  Warwick looked back at Kriezis. ‘Look, we don’t give a fuck who supplies us. We’re just trying to make money.’

  ‘That’s good,’ said Kriezis. He smiled. ‘It’s clear we now understand each other. The deliveries will continue as usual. What about payments? How did you pay Morris?’

  ‘We sent cash to an address in south London.’

  ‘I need you to give me the address.’

  ‘Sure, no problem.’

  ‘But in future you will send the money back with the boy. When he delivers the drugs, you give him the money. These days the cops can check the mail. Using the boy will be safer.’

  ‘Sure. We’ll do that.’

  ‘And you need to find another boy to do deliveries. Maybe a couple. Just using one is bad business.’

  ‘I’m on it,’ said Warwick.

  ‘So we understand each other?’ asked Kriezis.

  Both men nodded.

  ‘There is only one problem,’ said Kriezis. He gestured at Warwick. ‘You are bleeding. Your friend isn’t. You can’t think that’s fair, can you?’

  Warwick looked around in confusion, not understanding what he was getting at.

  ‘You’ll have a scar and every time you look at it you’ll remember what happened and you’ll remember that your friend here was unscathed. Over time you will resent that. And with resentment comes betrayal.’

  ‘No, I …’ Warwick began, but Kriezis silenced him with a wave of his hand. ‘I understand how people think, my friend. And I understand why they do what they do. I know when someone is lying to me and I know when someone is planning to do me harm. You will resent the fact that you were cut and your friend wasn’t. It’s understandable. And you will want revenge and you will stop working as a team. You might think of betraying him and that might lead to me having problems with the police. You have to know that problems with the police are the last thing I want.’ He gestured at Dushku who flicked out the blade of his cut-throat razor.

  ‘Oh for fuck’s sake, you can’t do this,’ said Bradley. ‘Please, no …’

  Kriezis nodded at Dushku. ‘Prerë fytyrën e tij. Bëni gjakderdhje.’

  Dushku smiled thinly and stepped towards the two bound men.

  Warwick continued to beg and plead, shaking his head from side to side, making the blood flow even more.

  Dushku raised the knife, took a step to the right, grabbed Bradley’s hair with his left hand and drew the knife across the man’s cheek with the other. Blood spurted over the blade and down Bradley’s cheek. ‘Fuck!’ shouted Bradley.

  Dushku stepped back, wiped the bloody blade on the back of a sofa, then folded the razor and slipped it back in his pocket.

  ‘What the fuck!’ shouted Bradley. ‘We said we’d do it.’

  ‘But now you are equal,’ said Kriezis quietly. ‘Neither needs to be resentful. We can all put this behind us and move on.’

  Warwick turned to look at Bradley. ‘He’s got a point,’ he said.

  ‘Are you fucking serious?’

  ‘I would have been pissed off if I was the only one who’d been cut. But now … yeah, fuck it. What’s done is done, right?’ He looked up at Kriezis. ‘Right?’

  ‘I’m happy to move on,’ said Kriezis. ‘We can all make money. In fact you’ll be making more money than before. We’re expanding, and as we grow, you’ll grow. And we’ll be dealing with any competition.’ He chuckled. ‘In fact there won’t be any competition once I’m done. It’ll be a monopoly. We’ll be the only game in town. Now are we good? Can I untie you and be on my way? Or do we have unfinished business?’

  Warwick shook his head. ‘No, we’re good.’ He looked over at Bradley. ‘We’re good, right?’

  Blood was oozing out of the cut on Bradley’s cheek and dripping down his neck, but he nodded slowly. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘We’re good.’

  ‘Here they come,’ said Clayton, but Shepherd had already seen the men on the monitor, walking purposefully along the side of the house. They didn’t look like men who had just committed murder but then again it wouldn’t have been the first time they’d killed and with familiarity came confidence.

  Kriezis brought up the rear. As they walked towards their Range Rover, the camera got a good look at their faces. Shepherd looked over at Clayton but before he could say anything Clayton nodded. ‘I’m on it,’ he said. ‘I’m sending stills over as we speak.’ His fingers played on the keys of his laptop. MI5’s facial recognition systems would search for a match in more than a dozen law enforcement databases, including the EU and the United States, and would also check against photographs held by Border Force, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Passport Office.

  The four men reached the Range Rover and climbed in. Kriezis was in the front passenger seat again.

  ‘Are we going to follow them?’ asked Bird.

  ‘I think not, Kriezis isn’t our problem,’ said Shepherd. He didn’t want to call Sharpe because he’d be with Harry, but he needed to get the Met on the case. In Shepherd’s experience, the higher the rank, the less cooperative the person, so he phoned Cave. The inspector answered her mobile phone straight away and she listened as Shepherd explained what had happened. To her credit, Cave didn’t ask any questions, she just said she’d get right on it. Shepherd gave her a description of the vehicle and its registration number and ended the call.

  There was a quiet knock on the rear door and Shepherd opened it. It was Liddle. The SFO climbed in and sat on a stool.

  ‘How close were you?’ asked Shepherd.

  ‘I was down the road when they came out,’ said Liddle. ‘Definitely didn’t hear any shots.’

  ‘Okay, we’re good to go,’ said Shepherd. ‘I�
�ll get the driver to drop me off at the NCA safe house and then Paul can take you all back to London.’

  He used the intercom to give Drinkwater his instructions and the van moved off.

  ‘We’ve got an ID on the men with Kriezis and Dushku,’ said Clayton. ‘The matches came from Europol and not surprisingly they’re both Albanians.’

  Julie Bacon let Shepherd into the house and followed him down the corridor to the kitchen. Harry was sitting at the kitchen table with a can of Coke in front of him. Sharpe was sitting opposite him with a mug of coffee. Sharpe looked up at him inquisitively but he was professional enough not to say anything in front of the teenager. ‘All good,’ said Shepherd, and Sharpe visibly relaxed. Shepherd patted Harry on the shoulder. ‘Everything okay, Harry?’ he asked.

  Harry shrugged but didn’t say anything.

  Shepherd pulled out a chair and sat down.

  ‘Coffee?’ asked Sharpe.

  ‘Please,’ said Shepherd. ‘Splash of milk.’ He grinned at Harry. ‘I need the caffeine.’

  ‘There’s more caffeine in Coke,’ said Harry.

  Sharpe stood up to make a coffee for Shepherd.

  ‘Yeah, but I’m watching my weight,’ said Shepherd. ‘So, how did it go?’ He had to make it seem as if they didn’t know what they had heard over the teenager’s iPhone.

  ‘They wanted me to show them the house where I deliver the drugs to.’

  ‘Okay. What can you tell me about them?’

  ‘They were four white guys. Foreign. One of them had a gun.’

  ‘A gun? Wow. Were you scared?’

  Harry nodded. ‘A bit.’

  ‘Did they threaten you?’

  Harry screwed up his face. ‘Not really. But they were pretty shitty the way they spoke to me.’

  ‘Did they say why they wanted to know where the house was?’

  ‘They wanted to talk to the guys I deliver the drugs to. I told them I never met them but they weren’t interested. So we went to the house and they knocked on the back door. When the door opened they pushed in and I think they were hitting the guy. Then the main guy told me to go.’

  ‘The main guy? How do you know he was the main guy?’

  ‘The others were always looking at him to see what he wanted them to do.’

  ‘Did they tell you their names?’

  Harry shook his head. ‘No.’

  ‘What did he look like? The main guy?’

  ‘About as tall as you. Brown hair.’ He touched his left cheek. ‘He had a scar here.’

  ‘Did they say anything about Dancer or Swifty?’

  ‘No. Well, they said I was working for them now. Oh, wait, they said Swifty had left the business, I remember now. But when I asked them what they meant they got shitty. What’s going to happen?’

  Shepherd looked across at Sharpe who was adding milk to a mug of coffee. That was the big question. If it had been up to him, he would have sent the armed cops in as soon as Kriezis had gone into the house. They could have pulled Harry out of the county line investigation and continued to use him to pursue his uncle. But Superintendent Sherwood obviously felt that he had bigger fish to fry so, for the time being at least, Harry had to stay in play.

  ‘We carry on as we have been,’ said Sharpe.

  Harry slumped back in his chair. ‘This isn’t fucking fair,’ he said.

  ‘Language, Harry,’ said Bacon, wagging a finger at him.

  ‘You said this wouldn’t be for long but it’s going on and on. And I don’t understand what’s happened to Swifty. He told me to go to that house in Kilburn but he wasn’t there. Why’s he messing me around like this? Why send me the message and then not turn up?’ Realisation dawned and his jaw dropped. ‘They did something to Swifty, didn’t they?’

  ‘We don’t know,’ said Shepherd, the lie tripping off his tongue easily. It was bad enough that they had put the lad in danger; if he knew the truth he’d be nervous and that could lead to him making mistakes. And if he made mistakes the MI5 investigation could come to an abrupt halt. He chose his words carefully. ‘All we know is that this guy has taken over from him. It might just be that Swifty and Dancer have decided to do something else.’

  ‘All you have to be concerned about is carrying out their instructions,’ said Sharpe, putting the mug of coffee down in front of Shepherd. ‘Nothing has really changed.’ He sat down at the table.

  ‘How can you say that?’ snapped Harry. ‘Everything’s changed. I don’t know who these guys are. And they had fucking guns. That guy waved a gun in my face.’

  ‘Harry, please don’t swear,’ said Bacon.

  Harry ignored her and continued to stare at Shepherd. ‘I don’t believe you,’ he said.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Harry sneered at him. ‘I don’t believe that you don’t know what happened to Swifty. You know, you’re just not telling me.’

  ‘Harry, whatever happened to Swifty isn’t the issue,’ said Bacon, but Harry waved her away without looking at her. His eyes were fixed on Shepherd’s face.

  ‘You shouldn’t be lying to me,’ Harry said, his voice a low whisper.

  Shepherd stared back at him, then he slowly nodded. The boy was right. ‘Okay,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Spider …’ said Sharpe.

  ‘It’s okay,’ said Shepherd.

  ‘Who’s Spider?’ asked Harry quickly. He looked at Sharpe and then back at Shepherd. ‘Who the fuck is Spider?’

  ‘It’s my nickname,’ Shepherd said. ‘That’s all. But I hear what you’re saying, Harry. What you’re doing for us, you deserve the truth. If we lie to you it means we don’t respect you, and you need to know that we do respect you and we are grateful to you for your help.’ He paused and nodded, hoping to get a nod or a smile back but Harry just stared at him sullenly. ‘You deserve the truth. So here it is. Swifty and Dancer are dead. So are the rest of Dancer’s gang. We don’t know for certain but there’s a good chance that the men you met today killed them.’

  ‘To take over their business?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘So they could have killed me?’

  Shepherd shook his head. ‘No. They need you and the other kids running drugs out to the provinces. He wants to control the business as is, not rebuild it from the ground up. You were never in danger.’ Shepherd smiled reassuringly. He had promised to tell the boy the truth but he was still lying. When Shepherd had watched Harry walk into the house in Kilburn, he’d had no idea how it was going to play out. And again when Harry had gone around the back of the house in Reading, Shepherd was equally unsure of what would happen.

  ‘Who is he?’

  ‘He’s a gangster who is trying to build a drugs empire quickly and doesn’t care who he hurts on the way. That’s why we need your help, Harry. You were terrific helping us to put a case against Swifty and Dancer but they’re dead so now we need you to help us build a case against these new bad guys.’

  ‘You all said I wouldn’t have to do this for long,’ said Harry.

  ‘And you won’t. A week or so. We just need you to do a few more runs and let us take samples like we did before.’

  ‘A week?’

  Shepherd looked at Sharpe who nodded.

  ‘I think so,’ said Shepherd. ‘And we’ll be watching you every step of the way.’

  ‘And then I’m in the clear?’ asked Harry.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ said Shepherd.

  ‘You swear?’

  ‘You won’t be facing any charges, Harry,’ said Bacon. ‘We’ve told you that, right from the start.’

  ‘And my mum and dad won’t know?’

  ‘We won’t tell them,’ said Bacon.

  Harry nodded. ‘Okay,’ he said. He looked at his watch. ‘I should be getting back home.’

  ‘I’ll show you out,’ said Bacon. Harry finished his Coke and followed her down the hallway.

  ‘Sorry about the Spider thing,’ said Sharpe.

  ‘Not a problem,’ said Shepherd.


  ‘Not in front of a kid, no. But a mistake like that in the wrong company …’ He shrugged.

  ‘You wouldn’t have said it in the wrong company,’ said Shepherd. ‘You’re a cop and, okay, I’m not but I’m as good as, so him knowing my nickname is neither here nor there. Don’t sweat it, Razor. In fact him knowing my nickname will hopefully make him trust me more. It works to our advantage.’

  They heard the front door open and close.

  ‘Maybe,’ said Sharpe. ‘Except he thinks your name is David Slater.’

  ‘I can’t tell him my real name, much as I want to,’ said Shepherd.

  ‘Secret squirrel.’

  ‘It’s a rule,’ said Shepherd. ‘Officers never use their real names with agents.’

  Bacon came back into the kitchen. ‘Is everything okay?’ she asked.

  ‘All good,’ said Shepherd, and he quickly filled her in on what had happened. ‘I’ve already expressed my reservations about continuing to use Harry but I’ve been overruled. We need to make sure that he’s safe and that we bring it to a speedy conclusion. Assuming they stick to the format, we can follow whoever delivers the drugs to Harry back to their base. It could be that they’ll know about Dancer’s lock-up in which case we can tie it up pretty quickly. Also, Kriezis will probably be moving in on the other county lines. The fact that we have surveillance teams already in place means we hit the ground running. A week isn’t an unrealistic timeframe.’

  Bacon sat down. Shepherd could see the concern on her face. ‘Albanians can be nasty bastards,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, and they are running true to form,’ said Shepherd. ‘They’ve moved into three other gangs that we know about. And the bodies are piling up.’

  ‘We have to pull Harry out,’ said Bacon. ‘We can’t put him at risk like this.’

  ‘We’ll be watching over him,’ said Sharpe. ‘And if they had been planning to hurt him, they’d have done it already.’

  Bacon folded her arms. ‘Jimmy, he’s a kid.’

  ‘Nothing’s changed other than the target,’ said Sharpe. ‘Dancer and Swifty weren’t pussycats. I don’t see that Harry is any more at risk now than he was before.’