by Peter Bates
“I’ll do it,” offered Terry. “Come on lads, let’s get going. Harrison may not even be at home, in which case we’ll have to do a run around the most likely pubs, and then finding him and his BMW would be next to impossible. We’d better keep our fingers crossed. Bring all the phones, too. If this goes wrong and he catches me near to his car, all hell’s going to break loose and we’ll have to get the coppers out very quickly.”
*
Mel Harrison was irritated. Even more so than he normally was. His wife, Christine, had been late as usual in fixing up his tea, and this was one day that he needed to get away early. There was no way that he and the lads could turn up late for the sham exchange. They would all have to be in place and hidden well before Thomas arrived. At the moment he had no idea whether Thomas would be alone or not, but it would be extremely unlikely for him to be on his own when it came to a deal like this one. One thing was for certain — he and the lads had to get there well before Thomas turned up.
“You’re dressed a bit funny, Mel. Are you planning on going to a fancy-dress competition?”
Harrison looked up briefly into his wife’s face, and quickly checked the verbal assault that he was about to aim in her direction. Now wasn’t the time to give her a good smacking either. He had far more important things on his mind right now.
“I just fancied looking a bit rough, Christine,” he finally said, deliberately looking away from her as he spoke. Harrison walked silently to the front door, pulled an old dark blue head scarf from a metal clothes hook fastened to its centre, and then quickly left the building.
On his way to the motorway, he stopped briefly and picked up Bob. Both Alan and Gary would be travelling in Kenny’s car. He was glad to see that it was already parked adjacent to Bob’s house, and ready to move. A quick glance into Kenny’s car windows made him smile for the first time that day. Each of the boys were virtually unrecognisable. Strange hats, scruffy jackets, and even a false moustache on Gary’s grinning face. With a brief wave of his arm in their direction, Harrison accelerated steadily, taking the most direct route to the motorway. He forced himself to remain just under the speed limit, and six minutes later entered the three-lane carriageway of the M55 and accelerated to sixty-nine miles per hour. Right now, wasn’t the best time to get a ticket or even to attract any unwanted attention.
*
“Have you got ’em Terry?”
Terry looked up from the small screen held in his right hand. “I sure have, Frank. The car stopped very briefly in South Shore, then headed directly to the M55.”
“I wonder why it stopped?”
“Probably to pick up his men. As it happens, they may even be driving there in two cars, but so long as we have tabs on one of the vehicles, it doesn’t really matter at all. If we really need to know what make the other car was at any time in the future, there are a load of street cameras between the starting point and the motorway, and it would easily show up on those. The plate numbers for all of the gang’s cars would be very easy for us to access.”
“Is it all recorded, Roy?”
“It certainly is, Reg. I’m also taking a photograph of the screen every ten minutes or so, too. That’s just for back up, just in the event that something went wrong. And just in case you ask, I’ve got replacement batteries on hand if the ones that are in already fail for any reason.”
“He’s still good,” laughed Roy. “The lad’s red hot.”
“He sure is,” agreed Frank.
“I just wish we could have installed a hidden camera as well as the tracker,” smiled Terry.
“That would have been even better,” agreed Roy, “but it would have been next to impossible, and having to be fixed in one place, it wouldn’t necessarily get any worthwhile pictures or film.”
“How’s it going, Terry? Still moving?”
“Yes, I guess it’ll be the same route for a while until they reach their destination, and that will probably be in a very secluded spot somewhere in the centre of a thick forest as we expected.”
“In the meantime,” smiled Frank, “I’m going to put the kettle on.”
CHAPTER 60
Despite a couple of minor hold ups in the traffic, Mel Harrison arrived at his chosen position near to the edge of the wood a little over half an hour before the transaction was due to take place. Kenny pulled up alongside him within thirty seconds and Harrison quickly wound down his window.
“We’ll put the two cars behind that disused barn, Kenny. We could drive closer, but it’s quiet here and the cars won’t be seen from this track, which is the one that I’ve directed Thomas to follow. The exchange place itself is about a five to ten minutes maximum walk from here, and Thomas will certainly park up a lot closer than we’ve done. There’s no way he’ll spot our cars this far away from the spot, and we can still quickly collect them later on after the job’s done. By the way, don’t forget to bring the big white plastic bag from your boot. It’ll look a bit odd if we don’t take that with us.”
Kenny nodded, steered his car out of sight behind the crumbling barn, and firmly pulled on the handbrake.
Harrison waited patiently, taking the time to pull a false brown beard from the plastic door pocket. With the help of his mirror, he pulled it on and pressed its sticky edges tightly to his face. A few moments later, he and Bob were joined by Alan, Gary and Kenny, each one of them now carrying a large garden spade over their shoulders.
“Right lads, off we go. Stick close to me while we’re walking, and I’ll go over the plan again. It’s all got to work like clockwork. There’s no room for mistakes at all. This part of the wood isn’t usually used by visitors, so we shouldn’t really come across any. If we do, just keep on casually strolling along, and ignore them.”
Harrison set off walking, heading for a gap in the trees, and a worn narrow path that ran between them. “Firstly, are you lads all tooled up, and are the silencers on?”
“Yes,” chorused the three men.
“I don’t think that you’ll need them, but have you all got knives hidden on you for back up?”
“Yes.”
“When we get to the huge oak tree with an old plaque on it, split up and pick out some of the thick bushes that I know are nearby. Make sure that you’re spread out, one on each side of the tree, and one on the far side of it. I’ll stay by the oak tree with the nylon bag. When Thomas arrives, he will probably not be alone, although we asked him to be. He’s not likely to carry a huge wad of cash through a wood without any back-up. They’ll be looking around, so stay out of sight and make no noises. When I move to hand the bag to Thomas, I’ll smack him hard and put him down. That’s the exact time for you to let go with your shooters on whoever he brings with him. Don’t wait, or it could be too late — it’s odds on that they will have their own guns with them. As soon as it’s done, we’ll quickly drag them into the nearest undergrowth that’s out of general sight and then dig like hell with the shovels. It shouldn’t take us long — the soil’s not hard around here — but we’ll make the hole deep enough to make sure that they are well under ground, and also away from any small wild animals that might roam around here. If we can get it done quickly enough, we might even just throw a few logs and old branches over it as well. We must remember to pick up the keys that they’ll be carrying for their cars too. Maybe we’ll just dump their cars somewhere that’s reasonably isolated and camera free but not anywhere near to the scene. We’ll have already picked up their bag of cash, so then we can head back home for a welcome celebration drink at the Pilgrim’s Arms. Have you got it?”
“Good plan, boss. Especially the last bit,” grinned Alan.
*
Jed Thomas parked his car close to the wood but settled closely behind a group of large rhododendron bushes that were out of direct sight of the main road. They could have come in two cars, but his Jaguar was plenty big enough for four passengers, and one car was much less noticeable than two. There was no way that he would have arrived alone with a big
bag of cash as the dealer requested. The man must be a bit naïve, to say the least, if he thought that Jed Thomas would be likely to do that.
“Keep your eyes skinned, lads,” he ordered as he locked the car. After walking around the car twice and staring into the surrounding undergrowth and trees, he unlocked the boot and pulled out the bag of cash.
“Carry the bag, Steve. Tony and I will lead you. Paul and Graham can walk a couple of yards behind the three of us.”
“Should we take the shooters out?” asked Paul.
“No. I don’t want them in sight. They may scare the dealer off. Just keep them in your pockets and put a hand on them. It’s unlikely we’ll need them but keep them to be ready just in case.”
“How far is it from here?” asked Steve.
“I reckon it’s about a hundred yards or so. We just keep to this narrow track and it should lead us to the old oak tree. We can’t miss it, it’s massive, and it has an old plaque attached to its trunk. The dealer should be standing next to the tree, and he’ll have the big bag of powder with him. As far as I know, he’ll be alone.”
The five men cautiously walked steadily along the track, their heads continually moving from side to side, each one carefully scanning the surrounding area. Seeing any distance was impossible due to the high density of the trees and bushes, but what they could see seemed totally clear of human beings.
“Here we go, Tony,” said Thomas in a low voice. “There’s the tree,” he continued, “and there’s the man. The sack is on the floor, next to him.”
Tony stared at the man. The dealer looked quite old and slightly stooped; a thick brown beard covered his face. His clothes appeared to be almost as old as he was. He certainly didn’t look like a dealer, and Tony realised at once that he was probably just a courier. More than likely the man was just making a few quid for his trouble. It made sense really — dealers didn’t usually do their own dirty work. This fella certainly didn’t look like he would be any sort of problem. In a few minutes they’d be on their way back home and the money would start to pour in.
Jed Thomas visibly relaxed, and smiling, he turned to face his four followers. “No problems here lads. Come on, let’s get the gear and we’ll head back home in no time.”
Still smiling, he strolled the last couple of yards and stopped within two or three feet of the bearded man, extending his hand in greeting at the same time.
The dealer’s lowered right arm half lifted slowly as though to take his outstretched hand, then accelerated fiercely into Thomas’s chin, lifting him momentarily off the ground before the big man collapsed almost senseless to the grassy floor.
The dealer stepped back three paces sharply, his eyes now fixed firmly on the other four members of Jed Thomas’s gang. None had moved yet. The speed of the totally unexpected attack had brought the expected shock and instant confusion. The men’s eyes were still open in surprise when the sound of several dull thuds came from the surrounding bushes, and all four dropped like stones, falling almost motionless to the floor, red patches of blood already seeping through their upper clothing.
Harrison placed his booted foot on Jed Thomas’ chest, pulled the false beard from his own face, and stared down into Thomas’ glazed eyes, waiting for some sort of recognition as his victim regathered his senses.
“Harrison, you bastard!” Thomas finally whispered.
“Maybe,” replied Harrison, “but not half the bastard that you are.”
Pressing his foot even more firmly on Thomas’ chest, Harrison turned his face to Alan, Gary and Kenny.
“Make sure that the others are dead men. If not, pump another bullet in just to make sure.”
Alan nodded his head and leaned down closely towards each man’s face, searching for any sign of life.
“They’re all gone, boss,” he finally whispered.
“Good.”
“I’m glad we saved you until last, Jed. There were a couple of things that I wanted to say to you.”
Mel Harrison waited a few moments before continuing.
“You should have cleared off our patch when we told you to. Much more important than that, though, is that you knocked off some of our family’s kids. You must be some sort of sick bastard to even think of doing something like that.”
“Serves you right. You shouldn’t have been operating on our patch. It’s not yours — it’s always been mine. Everyone round town knows that Blackpool is the kingdom of Jed Thomas. You should have listened, shouldn’t you? And another thing, if you know what’s good for you, you’d better let me go right now.”
“That’s very funny, Jed. We’ll see about that, and by the way, this is for the kids,” whispered Harrison, levelling his gun as he spoke. Mel Harrison was smiling as he pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER 61
“What do you reckon, Frank?”
“Well, the tracker halted on the edge of a wood. I have the exact place on record if we ever need the location. After that, Roy, we obviously don’t know for certain exactly where they were going, but it just has to be very close by to where the vehicle stopped, that’s for sure.”
Terry glanced at his watch. “Well, lads, if it’s all gone exactly to plan, I reckon that the job will have been done by now.”
“And we’ll all be much better off if it has,” nodded Reg.
“Well, it will be half the problem solved,” agreed Roy.
“We could solve the other half if we knew for sure that Jed Thomas and his crew were never coming home.”
“We know where he lives don’t we?”
“We do, Terry, and we know he has a Jaguar. Why don’t we go past his house and check if he’s in or not?”
“If he’s not in, let’s go to the Pilgrim’s Arms. You never know what might turn up there.”
“Yet another good idea, Roy. Let’s make tracks, lads.”
*
Half an hour later, Reg pulled the car into the Pilgrim’s Arms car park and backed into a large empty space on the furthest side away from its rear exit. There were no Jaguars parked up in the vicinity, and neither had there been one at or near to Jed Thomas’s home address.
“It could be that Thomas is fine and simply not got back home yet,” commented Roy. “On the other hand, if Harrison has really done what we think he may have done, Thomas and probably his crew will never be coming back, either tonight or any other night.”
“Who knows?” questioned Terry. “I guess it will become clearer later tonight, if there’s still no sign of his men or him.”
“That’s very true,” agreed Roy, thoughtfully, “but we can’t do a similar check on his gang members because we don’t know where any of them actually live anyway.”
“Let’s get in to the Pilgrim’s,” suggested Frank. “Maybe we can work something out a whole lot better with a drink in our hands.”
“Yet another good idea, Frank. You’re on a roll.”
Although fairly busy for the early evening, the four friends quickly found a suitable table in a corner of the saloon. It had a very good view of the pub’s whole interior.
“Get ’em in Frank. It was your idea to make us all come here.”
“I thought you might say that, Roy. What are you having, lads?”
“I think that we all will be having beers, Frank. Later on in the evening, I might just sample one of their nice malts, seeing as I’m not driving. Poor old Reg will have to stick with a couple of beers.”
Roy paused for a moment before he continued. “I’m really sorry mate, but I think as well, Reg, that it might be a good idea if you slipped out in an hour or so and did a quick drive past Thomas’s driveway.”
“The things I do for you lads,” sighed Reg.
“We’ll make it up to you, Reg,” smiled Roy. “I’ll treat you to a nice bacon sandwich when you get back.”
“You’re so kind,” laughed Reg.
“What do you reckon we should do if there’s no sign of Thomas?”
“I seriously think that we sho
uld give Norman Pendleton a call.”
“What could he do?” asked Frank, arriving back at the table with the drinks on a silver tray.
“A lot of things that we can’t do,” responded Terry. “He can put dogs out, search teams, and maybe even dig up camera stuff that’s around that area. He’s also got the manpower that we certainly don’t have. I think that if Thomas doesn’t turn up tonight at his house, there’s a big chance that Harrison and his crew have wiped the man out. And another thing, Jed Thomas’ Jaguar must be out there somewhere as well, and that won’t be very easy to hide, especially without it being seen and reported. If Harrison has taken and then hidden it somewhere, Frank’s tracker may show the route that his own car took to get near to the same location. They would, after all, have needed their own transport to get to and from the Jag’s hiding place.”
Roy leaned forward in his seat. “There must be something that we can do. It’s not like us lads to be stuck.”
“I think we are, at least for now,” said Reg. “Carry us forward a couple of days, and it could well be different. If we’d had a tracker on Jed Thomas’ car, that would have made things much easier too.”
Frank opened his phone and clicked on the tracking app.
“You’re not going to believe this, lads.”
“What’s up, Frank?”
“Harrison’s car is pulling up outside here, presumably in the car park.”
“Hells bells.” muttered Reg, snatching his cap from his jacket pocket as he spoke the words, and then swiftly placing it on his head.
“Pull your scarves up a bit, lads. We weren’t ready for this.”
“No, we weren’t,” agreed Terry, “but remember that we’re already here. It’s not as though we’ve followed them in.”
Roy stood up quickly, headed directly to the bar, and returned a few seconds later with the daily newspaper. Quickly, he divided it up into four different sections, and handed out one each to his friends.