“Gimme options people” Jacko had the foot to the floor, but they were racing into something they just didn’t know how it would go, and they had no idea how many there were. There were three vehicles, possibly seven-seaters, that meant potentially twenty-one bad guys, against three! That meant serious trouble, and the only weapon they might have was taken away from them as the mole had gotten the location, they could be driving straight into an ambush!
“Boss, three miles ahead there’s a clearing, drop me and ‘Lee’ off there” Smithy waived the rifle he had in the case in the rear view mirror, it was his own personal .303 Lee Enfield. Classed as a ‘hunting rifle’ the fact is the .303 Lee Enfield is just about the best sniper rifle ever made bar none.
“What the, How the hell did you get one of those?” Jacko shouted, they’re regarded as a dangerous weapon, and as such there are strict regulations on who can hold them, Smithy had never let on that he had one.
“Ask no questions boss” Smithy replied, “and I’ll tell yer no lies, and no you don’t have to check the armoury logs” he knew that’s the first thing that would be thought if word got out, that he’d stolen it from the armoury/.
“Okay” Jacko replied slowing down for the clearing, “what’s your plan?”
“The eastern vehicle is four hundred yards that way” he pointed to the right, “And I’m loaded with tracer, ten minutes and I put two into their tank, should give a nice little fireball, it’ll give a bit of a distraction.”
Both of them knew better than to point out that a full fuel tank doesn’t really burn that well, especially when the fuel is Diesel, but they also knew that out here, the tanks wouldn’t be full, and Smithy knew exactly where to aim to ignite the fumes, that would heat the fuel up causing more fumes that would ignite causing more etc until the whole thing just exploded.
They were now five miles away, and it was time for Smithy to leave.
“Go” Mac shouted as the vehicle slowed to less than ten miles an hour, the back door flew open and Smithy forward rolled out of the vehicle, as soon as he touched the floor the wheels span as the Lannie accelerated away.
Chapter 47
“Alexei Serkhov, in accordance with the prevention and investigation of terrorism act of 2008 I’m taking you into custody” Billie went to handcuff him, Joey stopped her and launched a kick into Serkhov’s groin, he dropped the knife he’d secretly pulled.
“Spread ‘em” Joey screamed as he grabbed the Russian’s head and went to drive it into the desk, Serkhov reacted by grabbing the desk with both hands as Joey kicked his left foot away from the right, “assume the position”
A quick and not very gentle ‘pat down’ had Serkhov spread-eagled with fingertips only touching the desk, and his feet off the floor with only the tips of his toes touching, every time he tried to move he was rewarded with a kick to the offending part by Joey, “I’ll kill you for this you” Serkhov began.
“You’re not capable” Joey screamed into his ear, “and you can forget your lackeys, they’re bundled up in the back of a black Moriah, or you call it a ‘paddy wagon’ waiting to be shipped to wherever wants to give them the longest prison term!”
By now two armed uniformed officers had entered the room, they went to stop the abuse only to be physically blocked by both Sandy and Billie somehow Billie just knew Joey wouldn’t be stopped and would break Serkhov, this boy only ever understood terror, and Joey was good at that.
“You’ll never get away with this” Serkhov replied, “I have friends, I’ll”
“You mean your Judges and lawyers, you know, those you’ve been blackmailing all these years?” Sandy reached for an electronic device that was on the desk, “don’t worry, we’ll be talking to them as well, those that don’t go to jail will be glad to see the back of you, so I wouldn’t count on help.” She indicated for Billie to continue with the handcuffing, Joey pulled the man to his feet, then wrenched his hands behind his back.
“You have no proof” Serkhov began again, “I’ll be out in an hour, then I’ll come hunting for you, after I’ve had your jobs, and ruined your families that are”
“Dream on” Joey replied as he threw the Russian towards the two coppers who were still stood there open-mouthed.
“Stop” Billie stepped forward, “Mr Serkhov, under the act I don’t need proof to send you into custody, I can do it indefinitely while we investigate, and there is no right of appeal, so good luck with that,” she indicated the cops to lead the man away, then stopped them again, “Oh and let me add, all your accounts are frozen as of this moment, so any funds you do try to use will only complicate things more for you”.
Serkhov stumbled into the two cops, as soon as he regained his feet, he slowly turned face as white as a Russian winter snow, it was dawning on him just how royally screwed he really was, “You'll never get away with this, we will track you down, we will kill you.”
Sandy had been busy with the electronic devices they'd found in Serkhov's office, almost as if she was there, but so concentrating so hard that she was missing everything, she wasn't. She missed nothing, but only now she stopped what she was doing, she signalled the two cops to wait a moment. “We know who you Mr Serkhov, we know who your friends are, ” she let that sink in for a whole ten seconds, then went on, “we know the death and destruction you've dished out since you went freelance, we know and we're finally doing something about it, we're getting our vengeance Mr Serkhov, Scorpion's Vengeance!” she stopped, then looked directly at the two coppers, waved them off and said, “Take him away.”
“Not to the local nick” Billie added as they frogmarched Serkhov out, they stopped and turned around, confusion written on both faces, “take him to Scotland Yard, and I want one of you with him in the cell until I get there”
“Yes ma'am” the older of the two cops replied.
Chapter 48
Sandy was still working on the devices, a lot of it was encrypted, but there was a huge amount that wasn't, but it was in Russian which was almost as bad, she was struggling with some of it.
“Joey” Sandy looked up from the device she'd been working on, they were still in Serkhov's office, she was at the desk. “Send Jacko a message now, ” there was some urgency in her voice, “oh give me the tablet, it'll be quicker if I do it, I can put all the relevant information in” she reached for the tablet Joey was handing her.
“Any problems?” Joey asked not sure if he should be worried. He came round to her side of the desk to see what she was working on, Billie was still in the room waiting for the crime scene people to arrive, she looked curious, “anything we can help with?”
“Not at this stage” Sandy looked up, then thought again, “second thoughts you know anyone in the Cheshire Police force?”
“Not really” BJ replied, “but I could make a few calls, why?”
Sandy finished typing the message, “cos I think there's gonna be a bloodbath in Eastern Cheshire, around a place called Macclesfield forest in about half an hour, that's why!”
That set alarm bells off in her head, she grabbed her phone and began punching numbers, as soon as someone came on the line she started barking orders, “put me through to the North West operations centre NOW!” turning to Sandy she asked, “What do you need and where?”
“There’s a cop car following our team now, he's got the sirens and lights on” Sandy began, “Tell the maniac to back off, we need a five-mile perimeter set around this grid, nothing in or out, our people are outnumbered four to one and aren't going to be asking questions if you get the drift!”
“But”
“Too many bodies causes mayhem” Sandy replied, “and these boys don't need any help causing that, but we should try and keep it to a minimum”
“Okay” Billie turned as the phone came back to life, “this is DS Jones of the Metropolitan police, we've got a situation developing in East Cheshire, in the Macclesfield forest, one of your squad cars need to back off the chase they're involved with” it took a full te
n minutes and raising her voice at a few people but eventually she put the phone down, looking at Sandy she said, “you've got it, but they're not happy”
“Be even less happy when they see the result” Joey muttered under his breath, thankfully only Sandy heard him, she gave him a filthy look. “What?” Joey asked, “you ever tried to follow Jacko, that cop's got real balls and I mean big brass ones!” He totally changed the subject.
“SHIT, I DON'T BELIEVE IT” Sandy stared at the screen her mouth open, “Shit, blast the bloody swine!”
Both Billie and Joey stopped what they were doing and focused on her, “what?”
“ That's not Serkhov!” she pointed to the man the cops were putting into the back of the police can, “we've been duped!”
“What? How?” Billie demanded, she held up the picture they'd pulled off the police database earlier, “that says he is?” She was emphatic.
“I'm tracking calls from Serkhov's number at the moment” Sandy cut her off, “and we just got a video call to his private plane, take a bloody look” she swung the small device she'd been using round so that both of them could see. “Look familiar?”
The face on the screen was the spitting image of the man they’d just had taken away, it had them stumped.
“A double?’ Joey asked confused.
“No idea” Sandy replied, “but he just told a pilot to get his plane ready, he'll be there in half an hour, any idea where that plane is?” she began searching for information.
“Half an hour you say?” Billie was on her phone again, hoping the people at Lloyds could help, “five airports in London, where did the call originate?”
“Pinged cell towers inside the M25 Sandy replied, “half an hour from there has to be Docklands, I’ll see who's got a private plane at Docklands and where they are.”
“Screw that” Joey shouted as he ran for the door, “yer can get that info as we go, let's haul ass, COME ON” as he bounded down the steps.
“JOEY” Sandy shouted as she bounded down the steps after him, it was the first name Billie had heard for any of the team, “Joey, where the hell are you going?” she caught up with him as he climbed into the vehicle, she started to climb into the passenger side, BJ was only two steps behind and was halfway as he started the engine.
“You just said the pilot was told be ready in half an hour right?” Joey started to explain as he put the Lannie into gear, “ the only airfield let alone airport that close is Docklands, that's where most of London's billionaires keep their flying toys, so that's where I’m going” he was just about to pull away, he stopped, then threw the drivers door open causing total confusion, looking back towards BJ he said “second thoughts you drive, we need to get ready, ” it sounded ominous, that and the fact he went round the back, opened the back door and took the commando out of the lockbox along with magazines and grenades.
Billie jumped out of the vehicle, running round to the driver's door she unclipped a small cylinder out of the glove box. It had two lights on the top, one had a red filter, the other blue. On the bottom a small wire about twelve inches long leading to an electrical jack.
Slamming it down on the roof there was a metallic thud as the magnets gripped, next she pushed the jack into a socket at the end of a wire that exited the driver's doorpost at the top.
Flicking a switch on the side, the lights came on along with a police siren sound, she looked over at the two who were little surprised. “You're meant to be bomb disposal remember!” She almost smiled, “they all have this kit!”
As soon as the vehicle took off both Sandy and Joey went to work checking their equipment, that meant weapons. Joey loaded both the normal magazine and the grenade launcher, he had a feeling they were going to need it, Sandy just began to pray he didn’t do too much damage.
“What's that?” Billie glanced curiously at Sandy, “doesn't look standard issue!”
“It's not” Sandy replied, “least not here, one of the perks of the government department we work for” she smiled back, “we get to choose our own weapons, mine's a Makarov, Russian made, pretty reliable, Buffalo Bill back there” she indicated Joey in the back seat, “He’s got the Colt commando with a forty millimeter grenade launcher, though what the hell he’s loading that for I have no idea” she turned to Joey, “so how are we going to play this?”
“Who exactly are you people?” Billie was driving fast, threading her way through the traffic, but that didn't stop the detective mind asking questions.
“You mean you haven't figured it out?” Joey acted surprised, he knew she knew, but was wanting confirmation.
“I figured the security services”
“Good enough, now let's get moving” Joey cut in. “just don't say anything more okay”
They were on the A13, the slip road to the left took them onto the East India dock road, the old docks that used to trade with the East, now long gone except for the names, names from an era long passed but not forgotten.
“Sandy sitrep?” Joey's request sounded like he was barking an order.
“Plane’s a Cessna” Sandy replied, “and I don't mean a poxy little trainer, it's a Citation, with a range of about two thousand miles, it can take two or three passengers, the pilot was told to expect two, no prizes for guessing the guest list!”
Chapter 49
“You” Sam pointed to Paul, “In here NOW!” she opened the door to what he’d thought was the pantry. It was in the kitchen, to him, it looked like a pantry, and it had been in the kitchen so he’d just assumed that’s what it was.
“What, the bloody pantry?” Paul was surprised, pantries don’t have windows, so they’re good for keeping food cool, and the stone walls would protect from bullets, but he was claustrophobic, and, that looked a pretty small space, “You gotta be”
“Kidding you?” Sam asked, “Not a chance, and no, it’s not a pantry, it’s a stairwell, one that leads to a safe room,” she pushed some sacks of food out of the way revealing a trap door in the floor, it had what looked like a barcode reader in the middle of the right-hand side of the door, Hene took out a small device and swiped it over the reader, a faint click was heard as the door raised itself five millimetres, just enough for a fingertip to get the edge of the door. “Remember why you were brought here?”
“That was what you claimed” Paul spat back, “all I know is someone was shooting, that’s all I know!”
“Yeah well, they’re here” Sam replied as Paul’s face turned to one of absolute terror, “look, get down here and follow the path to the room at the end, get into the room and close the door, you’ll be safe there” she assured him. He looked down into what seemed like a black hole, with stone steps leading down into the blackness.
He looked around frantically, hoping that this wasn’t really happening, the fact that he saw Hene strapping body armour on, he knew that’s what it was from the games he played, it was amazing how like the games it really looked, the guns though were a different story, they looked puny compared to the armour they were wearing, “what about you?” was all he could say as he disappeared down the steps, he was still looking up at Sam, hoping for some reassurance.
“We’re just here to observe” Sam assured him, “Help is on the way, they just want us to tell them how many and where the bad guys are, that’s all, Now get a move on!”
As soon as he was ‘down the hole’ Sam replaced the floor tile that was the trap door they’d lifted, hit the ‘lock’ button, a slight click and the door slid back into place, you couldn’t see the joint where it slid in, they were going to put the spuds back but thought better of it, they’d need the extra time it took if they had to make a quick getaway, their brief was to keep Paul alive and get out with him. Hene was in the kitchen checking their comms link as she ran in, “How far away?” she didn’t need to mention which group she was asking about.
“They’re here” Hene replied as he stood up, reaching for the binoculars on the table he began to move towards the stairs that led to the
tower in the attic, he turned and carried on, “the team’s about ten miles away, they want to know the lay of the land, see you later” he began to climb the stairs.
The farmhouse was from the fourteenth century, a time when this part was pretty wild, and possessions had to be guarded, and what better way than a stone watchtower that gave you a good view of what your enemies were doing as they approached, it wasn’t a high one, but just enough to clear the tops of the trees so they could see down the road, not perfect, but better than nothing.
Sam got to work, she was monitoring the security equipment they had, right at this moment, she was regretting rejecting Joey’s idea of mines! He’d wanted to put mines and trip wires among the trees but they’d rejected the idea as they didn’t want animals tripping them and causing false alarms, not to mention the panic it would cause any forestry workers who accidentally came across one!
“We’re in position” the message came across their radios, they had the earpieces in, so no noise carried, it went straight to them “Sitrep?”
“Four vehicles,” Sandy replied, “One three klicks north, two three klicks East and one mobile from the North to here, not sure how many occupants but six others following on foot and four on foot closing from the East”
“How many at the vehicles?” Smithy’s voice came on the line.
“Four in the East, three in the North” was the reply, it was Hene, “and the other stopped half a klick short of us, north of the boundary wall.
“Hang on a minute” Mac spoke to both Jacko and Smithy, “Sam and Hene are both Kiwis right, that means they”
“I know” Smithy didn’t give him chance to finish, “They think in metric, and that’s different to our imperial, a mile is about one and a half ‘klicks’ so three klicks is just under two miles, got it, no worries.”
Timing would be everything, they were up against at least five to one against. If it was going to work then everything had to be done at exactly the right time, start too early and they’d lose the edge of surprise, start too late and they’d be killed in a blast of gunfire as the distraction wouldn’t be working!
Scorpion's Vengeance Page 23