“What about BJ?” Harris still didn't like the idea of ‘stitching another officer up’ and it still felt that way, he could accept they wanted the shadows, but Billie had taken a lot of flak for this bust, she deserved some credit.
“Don't worry” Jacko assured him, “We've got something bigger lined up for her” and with that, he pulled away leaving the copper there scratching his head trying to get the vaguest idea of what he was going to say.
Chapter 42
“You ready?” Joey shouted to Sandy as he ran towards the CP. She was coming out with the two laptops, both were in their cases, she opened the back of the Land Rover and lifted the back carpet, two recesses about the size of small padlocks were the only hints to the false floor the vehicle had, she reached in and pulled the catch over the pin where the padlock normally went, up came a lid revealing a space just big enough to take the two bags that the laptops were in, she put them in making sure that both sat snugly in the space.
Closing the lid she took out a small padlock and inserted it into the pin, clicking the arm of the lock into place she ran her fingers over the four-barrel combination lock securing the laptops into place, only she had the combination to the laptops.
“Yeah, ready for phase two, we just got the go-ahead from London” she replied making eye contact with Joey, this was the most dangerous part of the mission, it was also the most important, and there was still someone they needed to explain it to, she was vital to the whole thing.
“Phase two?” BJ had followed Joey who was making his weapon safe, he’d flicked open the lockbox on the other side and was putting his weapon, a colt commando in, he stopped and turned towards Billie, hand outstretched as if saying, ‘Give me your weapon’ she was a bit reluctant as it was a police issue MP5, or at least she thought it was!
“Yeah phase two” Joey replied, “this was just the start, there’s quite a bit more to do”
“But these are the people who killed Akbari right?” BJ stopped, wanting an answer, ‘don’t tell me I’ve been suckered into this!’ she was thinking.
“Sort of” Sandy replied, she indicated for Billie to give Joey the weapon, she began checking the safety and removing the magazine, “They were involved, and that WAS the vehicle seen in the area, but as for the man who actually did it? No, he’s not in England anymore, but his boss, the man who gave the order, that’s who we’re going to pay a visit to next, and it’s not going to be a social call!”
“Hence the artillery” BJ nodded in Mac and Jacko’s direction.
“Nah” Joey replied, “they’ve got another job to do, just as important, but not the same, this one we’ll be on our own for, but having a copper around is going to prove vital”
“What? How the hell did that happen?” she was angry, she’d so wanted to make sure that the creep who’d murdered Akbari paid for it with jail time, now she was being told that wasn’t going to happen, she wasn’t impressed, “How in God’s name did that happen, and where the hell did you send him?”
Sandy stopped momentarily, she slowly looked up and over in Joey’s direction, the look said ‘do you want to, or should I?”
Joey caught Sandy’s look, and decided to take the initiative, “British jails are way too soft’ he began, “Don’t get me wrong, they’re pretty rough for some, but for this guy, they would have been like a five-star hotel. The guy was Russian mob with a string of countries wanting him, we just facilitated one of the less pleasant places getting their hands on him, with a promise that he’d get a lot of pain thrown in well before anything ever gets to trial”
“Jeez” Billie was frozen to the spot, “where did you send him?”
Joey had taken her weapon out of her hands, checked the safety, removed the mag then worked the bolt three times before holding it open and putting his finger physically in the breach to make sure nothing was in there, once he was satisfied everything was clear, he closed the bolt, flicked the safety off, took aim at the sky and squeezed the trigger, the metallic click told him the firing mechanism had released the firing pin. All that was left to do was put reapply the safety and stow the weapon in the lockbox, he did that and closed the box up. Pointing to the rear passenger door he said, “Let’s carry the conversation on while on the move shall we?”
Both of them climbed into the vehicle, Sandy was in the driving seat, Joey in the front passenger seat and BJ behind, she still wanted to know. “Okay, who was he and where is the creep?”
“Who he was isn’t so important as what he was?” Sandy replied as she turned the engine over, “He was a lieutenant in the Russian mafia or ‘Bratva’ as they call it, you heard of it?” she put the vehicle into gear and pulled away.
“Yeah” Billie replied, “not exactly familiar with it, but I’ve come across some” she was feeling just that little bit nervous, if these guys were taking on the ‘Bratva’ then they were in serious trouble, this didn’t sound good.
“He was also wanted in a few places, one of which was for a triple murder in Kiev, and one of the people killed was a daughter of a police chief” Joey added, “They were very glad to have him back, and made the offer that he’d go through a lot of pain before facing trial, that is if he ever lives that long, they have a three year waiting list for trials and wanted to add a few more things to the list, you know war crimes and the like!”
“You mean fitting the guy up for stuff” BJ was a good cop, the thought of doing something like that was abhorrent to her, and hearing these two talking that way really shocked her.
“He killed Akbari in cold blood, and for no other reason than that he was told to” Sandy’s voice rose slightly, “Farid was a friend, he didn’t deserve that, and besides, from what the Ukrainians told us, he was pretty brutal with the little girl, don’t lose any sleep over it!” by now they were on the outskirts of the city, BJ noticed they took the slip road for the motorway heading back to London, she didn’t see the other Land Rover take the other road and head North.
“You said he was told to, who by?”
“His boss” Joey replied, “the one pulling the strings here in London, and the one who controls the mole we’re after.”
“A mole?”
“Yep” Sandy answered as the Land Rover accelerated, most ‘Lannies’ have the acceleration of a dead snail, they have lots of power, but it’s all for hauling heavy loads over uneven ground, this one was different, it had plenty of ‘get up and go’ they were flying along at just over the seventy miles an hour speed limit, “Ever heard of a guy by the name of Alexei Serkhov?”
Chapter 43
There was silence for the rest of the trip, BJ sat there wondering just what the hell it was these people were doing? Serkhov was one of the most ‘connected’ people in London, sure he was suspected in a number of things, but nothing was ever proved, and anything that seemed to link him with anything just ‘disappeared’ without any trace or record.
“How’d you folks come across Serkhov?” she asked as they slowed to merge into the inner city traffic.
“Bit of a story really” Sandy replied, “and we can’t tell you all of it, let’s just say his phone number keeps coming up in the wrong places” she slowed down for a roundabout, watching the traffic from the right she merged into it, Joey pointed to the second exit, they were heading for the centre of the city, she went on, “but we can tell you he’s the one ordered the hit on Akbari and tried to make something unpleasant happen to the hacker who stopped the virus a couple of days ago,” she said it as if it was a matter of public record.
“And you know this because?” ever the copper she wanted hard facts.
“Want to listen to the conversation?” Joey asked as he reached forward, tapping the something on the dashboard the CD player came to life, the voice was Serkhov’s but she couldn’t really tell what he was saying, it was in a foreign language, “That’s Russian, here’s the English translation” he flicked a switch, “we’ve got both recorded, compliments of Google by the way”
“You TAPPED HIS PHONE?” BJ was incredulous, she saw any chance they ever had of a prosecution disappearing in the mist almost as fast as it’d seemingly appeared.
“For your information, Cheltenham records all phone conversations within the UK” Sandy replied, “so relax, and no it wasn’t them, that WOULD be illegal, but they farm it out to a friend, and it was them that told us, not that it’s going to come out in court anyway!”
“But you had his bloody phone tapped” BJ’s voice wasn’t quite shouting, but wasn’t far off it, “Do you have any idea how many laws you’ve broken?’
“Not a single one” Joey replied, he turned to face Bille, “Look, we got the number when we took a drug ring in New Zealand apart a few weeks ago, he thought he was being smart switching SIM cards and the like, even using a frequency hopper, but we identified him, and he’s since confirmed it with what he’s been doing”
“But how?” Billie began again, “I mean how come?”
“How come he hasn’t been caught?” Sandy asked, “Simple really, he’s got someone on the inside, a mole within the intelligence community, someone at MI6 is how!”
They arrived at their destination, it was a nightclub, but as it was still daylight there wasn’t much going on at the moment, just a couple of men on the door, from the looks of them they were heavyweight boxers or the like, and they were the kind of people always ready for trouble, which was coming right at them, they just didn’t know it yet.
“So what’s the plan now?” she was dubious that any plan was going to have much traction, “what hair-brained scheme do you have in mind? Whatever it is, it’s probably going to finish our careers!”
“In case you haven’t noticed” Joey replied as he got out of the car, he turned and leaned back in, “We’re officially ‘gone rogue’ and yours went into the proverbial toilet the moment you went down the West Country, actually it was probably already in the toilet the moment your boss gave you the case, now we can argue about this all bloody day, or we can get some real work done, which one is it?” he didn’t wait for an answer.
“So, what’s your plan?”
“You walk up and tell them you want to speak to Serkhov” Sandy replied as she got out of the car, all three had taken their flak jackets and body armour off before starting the trip, both Billie and Sandy looked like professional businesspeople, Joey looked casually dressed. “Leave the rest to Joey, by the way, I’m Sandy, you may as well know that much about us”
“You’re honestly expecting them to show us in?” she couldn’t help asking.
“No” Joey replied, “if they do I’ll be really disappointed, I need a good workout, now let’s get on with it.”
“Are you bloody serious?” BJ spurted out, Joey was half out of the car, “I’ve heard of hair-brained schemes, but this is bloody ridiculous! We need backup!”
“Go ahead” Joey replied, “give your boss a call, tell him what’s gone on, and see what happens, my guess is ‘jack shit’ is what'll transpire!” he sounded angry.
“He’s right” Sandy was also climbing out of the car, “Townsend is a career climber,” she turned and looked directly at BJ, there was a look that said ‘you know we’re right’ that she couldn’t deny, they were right, Detective Chief Inspector Townsend had only ever taken on cases he knew he could solve, and that would enhance his career, all the others, the real police work, ended up with those he didn’t like.
“Actually, call the local nick, tell them ‘officer needs assistance, armed thugs in Chelsea” Joey came back, “this is going to get violent, and the sooner we get armed cops here the better” he began to walk towards the two men, that’s when she noticed he was carrying a sidearm, it was in a holster, but the holster was unclipped.
Billie hit the speed dial on her phone, it went straight through to the Police emergency response team, they were on standby twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for if a copper got into trouble, she didn’t even have to speak, it activated a beacon that told them a copper was in trouble, and it was likely firearms were in play.
British Police are still mostly unarmed, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t back up, punch in a certain code and the response team will text back for verification, punch in the wrong one, or none at all and the nearest armed units are sent straight to you, Billie knew that as soon as she punched the number, at least three squad cars of armed police would be on their way, she also knew that doing it for the wrong reasons would see her out of the force, and maybe even in jail, not a prospect she relished, but better than getting shot.
“I need to talk with Alexei Serkhov” she shouted as she trotted past Joey, the two thugs slowly turned to face her, “I’m with the Metropolitan pol”
“So what?” the nearest one sneered as he faced her, he was about four inches taller and a foot wider than she was, it was all gristle, but he liked to think of it as muscle, “You have appointment?”
“I’m with the Metropolitan police” she replied, “I don’t need an”
“Piss off” he cut her off, “make an appointment” he turned to watch the rest of the street ignoring her and Sandy.
“Stand aside” Sandy spoke for the first time in the exchange, we’re going to see Mr Serkhov”
“Piss off bitch” the first one moved to block her, he stood there seemingly immovable, the second guy had moved into a position to back up his mate, he’d also drawn his jacket back slightly not quite exposing the pistol he had, but making it easier to get to.
“Police business” Bille began again, “stand aside, we want to”
“I told you to piss off” the big guy went to grab Billie’s arm as she pushed past.
BJ didn’t see the move, all she was was a flash as Joey reached out, grabbed the arm, twisted almost to breaking point and lifted him straight up, as soon as he was six inches off the ground Joey pushed hard sending the guy flying into his mate why had his pistol half out of the holster, the weapon went off harmlessly, the bullet embedding itself in the garden just behind him, Joey deliberately didn’t draw his weapon.
“Armed police, stay right where you are!” a voice from the street screamed, they looked round to see two squad cars already in the street, ‘bit quick off the mark boys and girls’ Joey thought, but he wasn’t arguing, another voice, one she knew well said, “I was told you’d be here soon, and to have backup, but I didn’t think you’d try and take on the whole bloody Russian mafia!” It was Jimmy.
“Thanks, Jimmy” BJ was more confused than ever, ‘how the hell did he know to be here, and to bring armed cops?’ but she wasn’t going to complain.
Sandy and Joey were already moving inside, but they were only a couple of steps ahead of her, they were heading into the main entrance, a couple more thugs were making their way towards them.
“Police” she held up her badge for them to see, “Where’s Mr Serkhov?” she dangled the badge right in front of their noses, neither of them seemed too impressed, then two of the armed police came through the door, alert, but not menacing, “I said where’s Serkhov?” she raised her voice slightly, a slight twitch from one of the men gave his location away.
Joey ran towards what looked like a locked door, he didn’t even try to open it, a flying kick and the door flew open, the door jamb splintering as it gave way to nearly one hundred and ten kilogrammes or two hundred and forty pounds of muscle.
Serkhov was sat at his desk, phone in hand, he was pushing keys on the phone, “Put the phone down NOW” Joey screamed as he drew his weapon from its a holster, he aimed at Serkhov, a click told them the safety catch was off, “PUT the phone down NOW”
“It’s a phone” Serkhov began gently lowering the phone, “not a gun” he was shocked. “Who the F”
“It could also be a remote detonator” Joey replied still in the position to shoot, “Now put it down before I blow your sodding arm off!”
Chapter 44
Life at the cottage was tedious, all they’d done so far was just look after an ungrateful as
shole who really didn’t get just how much trouble he’d been in, all he’d done was moan and bitch about not having the Xbox or PlayStation, and Sam was getting fed up with the moaning.
Hene had a chess set which they'd used, that was until they both got frustrated with Paul beating them, one time he did it in six moves, he almost ended up wearing the board, and it wasn't Hene that was going to do it, Sam hated to lose at the best of times, it made things even worse when the guy was a geek trying to chat her up and failing miserably.
“You sure you don't want a game?” He couldn't help smiling as he sat in front of the board, there were no computers, so a board game no many entertainment either had to be cards or a board game , no matter what they played, the TV was on in the background, but neither was paying too much attention to it.
“Nah” Sam replied, “got a few things I need to do, maybe Hene will when he gets back” she enjoyed the fact she was ‘volunteering him’ for it.
“Where's he gone?” Paul looked up, he hadn't realised Hene wasn't there.
“Out checking the grounds” Sam replied, “just making sure everything's okay, he'll be back soon” it felt like she was promising a child someone would ‘come and play’ soon.
The farmhouse was in a secluded spot, forest at the back and on both sides gave the feeling of isolation, the forest stopped about a hundred yards from the buildings creating the perfect ‘kill zone’ for any intruders trying to get to them. Trip wires and sensors in the woods made it virtually impossible for people to slip past without being noticed, or that was the theory.
Reality's nearly always something different when one of your own is actually working for the other side! They'd improvised a few things, but everyone knew there were gaps in the defences at the farm, and Hene was out checking what had been done as well as trying to figure out what else could be done. They'd managed to put a few extra tripwires out, but most of them were just empty bean tins filled with rocks and attached to a piece of string.
Scorpion's Vengeance Page 21