“And from that, you deduced who the mole was?” Sir Michael was surprised, “You gave me a tape, I heard a full conversation!”
“Yes, you did Sir, but not THAT conversation, once they had it the people in New Zealand went back in the call logs, found another from the same voice and played with it, that’s why we couldn’t just go in and arrest her sir, it was faked! But we did have a location and gender!”
“You faked it?” Sir Michael’s voice went icy cold.
“We knew the call came from the third floor of this building, it was female and had detailed knowledge of us sir”
“What do you mean?” this was the first time he’d heard any of this, “detailed knowledge”
“Next to the phone were a list of five names, our names sir, that’s what I mean by detailed knowledge, only three people had that knowledge,”Jacko replied “and only one was female, nothing was ever recorded about our op in Iran, no names were ever recorded, the cameras were off that night as no one was to see us arrive or leave, yet the dealers had our names, they knew it was us, that can only have come from one source, but we needed to catch her in the act as it were!” Jacko looked over at BJ it was almost as if he was trying to apologise for what happened, “we had a plan, but they acted first, so we had to run with what we had!”
“And that meant what exactly?” Sam couldn’t help herself, it seemed they’d glossed over what happened to her and Hene.
“Same as in New Zealand” Joey replied, “when they took you they thought they were getting me and Sandy, they were going to get what information they could out of us, and then it was bye-bye, when they realised you weren’t us, they moved it up, we weren’t going to let that happen!”
Normally, at this point the debate should have been at the level of a farce, but it wasn’t, yes everyone was ‘letting go’ but Billie was amazed that it actually seemed to be ‘therapeutic’ in that each one was letting go of the stress in a way they hadn’t been able to during the whole thing, even the two people she didn’t know, okay she’d worked out they were Kiwis, that meant the guy’s tattoos were probably Maori, she filed that away in her brain, and by the sounds of it they’d been cops who ended up with this crowd, that meant she’d figured out who everyone really was, and that made her feel a little happier.
“Sorry about all this sergeant” Sir Michael was looking directly at her, the noise had abated and everyone was looking in her direction, “but I felt that some explanation was in order, so you could see a little of how complicated things are going to get with the prosecutions.”
“So I gathered” Billie replied with a trace of sarcasm in her voice, “Just how many will actually make it to court though?” she didn’t really believe they would want their dirty laundry airing in public.
“There are some that won’t” Sir Michael began to reply.
“Dirty laundry?” Billie asked.
“On the contrary” Sir Michael assured her, “extradition, Serkhov is wanted in the Ukraine, as are a couple of his henchmen, we’ve decided to make it happen, naturally that means we can’t charge our mole with any crimes as there’s no evidence, but there is a thing called ‘detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure’ that’s what she’ll get” he looked pleased. “As for the rest, the drug ring, the chop shop, taking down the terrorist, you get all the credit, except for what’s been already given to Sergeant Harris that is!”
The meeting went on for another half hour, not that she heard much of it after. Justice had been done, each had received some form of punishment, yet it still left a hollow feeling inside, but it was the best she was going to get, and she knew it.
Chapter 55
Somewhere in the United Kingdom
The lights came on, she had no idea of the time, they hadn’t given her any means of measuring the passage of time, but that was part of the technique she knew they would use, to ‘disorient’ her. Make her think that weeks had passed when it might only have been days, but then again it might have been months! It was all part of the game.
Next a small trap would be opened at the foot of the cell door, and a metal tray with food would be pushed through, that was good, she felt hungry.
She guessed that it had been a week or so since she was taken at the airport, but there’d been no contact with the outside world since being brought here that day, she was allowed no contact, not even sunlight!
There was a routine of sorts, the lights would go on, and would stay on regardless of whether she tried to sleep or not, a metal tray of food would be slid through the small flap at the bottom of the door, they would be watching, of that she was certain.
The cell, that’s what it was, had no cameras, that would be too obvious, and too easy to break, no this one had the old victorian one-way keyhole spy glass, they could see everything in the cell, and she could see nothing of the outside.
Breakfast came through. Lukewarm porridge, nothing else with it, it looked like wet cement, and tasted almost as bad as that, she longed for a Bagel and coffee, but that wasn’t going to happen.
Proof that she was being watched always came when she finished breakfast, as soon as the bowl was back on the metal tray it was withdrawn, that was usually the end of her contact with the outside world until just before the lights would go out, then more food would come through, usually with a cup of nearly cold tea.
The rest of the day was spent in mind numbing boredom, this day was shaping up to be the same.
Footsteps outside the cell, a rattling of keys, keys turning in the lock. No she wasn’t asleep, she pinched herself to make sure it wasn’t a dream, actually it was, but it was one in which she was conscious and never ending, a living nightmare.
The door swung open, and the first human face she’d seen in who knows how long stood here, and they showed zero emotion. Instead the woman walked into the cell, clasped her on the shoulder and spun her around, grabbing her arms, first the right then the left she was handcuffed with the arms behind her back, then spun round again, two more uniformed people, guards marched her down the corridor.
Less than fifty feet away she was wheeled into a room, there was a table there with two chairs, one was filled with a man she didn’t know, the other was empty, she was forced into that chair, the handcuffs were not removed.
On the desk was a file, brown plain and not very thick, she knew it contained her life, at least what they knew of her life! And he was here to find out more.
“Hello Michelle,” the man looked at her for the first time, a slight smile on his lips, “First welcome to the secure psychiatric facility at Broadmoor.” he waived his arms, “Sir Michael said I should have a word with you, what do you want to tell me?”
“Nothing” she spat out.
“Really?” the man asked again, “so you like it here then?”
She stayed silent, the sullen look said it all, but she would give nothing away.
“Because until you tell me what you know, this is where you’ll stay, with no contact with the outside world,” he was almost gloating, “not even sunlight!”
The End
Scorpion's Vengeance Page 27