by David Costa
The first street on the left was Henley Avenue which was the smallest of the three streets branching off Kings Road having about ten houses in all a dead end with a turning space at the bottom. Although it was dark, the street lighting was good so Reece drove in slowly then, after driving through each of two other streets once and, making sure Cousins had all the registrations he needed, he drove to the top of Kings Road and turned left onto the main street stopping a few hundred yards from the Kings Road.
‘Alpha One to Alpha Three, come in, over.’
‘Alpha Three send, over.’
‘We had a drive around Kings Road and the streets off it. As you would expect at this time of the morning it’s all quiet, nothing moving, and only one or two with interior lights on. I’m thinking that although the satnav shows Kings Road, if they’re in a house here then it could be any of about one hundred. The good thing is that if they’re in there, they’re going to have to come out of the top of the Kings Road. If we cover the road, we should get them coming out. We decide what to do next depending on what we see,’ Reece said.
‘Roger that. We’ve taken a drive down the full length of the main street and it’s all quiet. We’re on the Manchester side of the street away from Kings Road. On the other side of the Railway Bridge, can you see it from your side?’
Reece could see the bridge over the main street in the rear-view mirror.
‘Yes, I see it.’
‘Just as you drive under the bridge there’s a side road up to the Irlam train station. We took a drive up to look and I must say the station looks in better nick than most of the buildings on the main road. It looks Victorian and has two lines going between Manchester and Liverpool. There’s a tunnel walkway that goes under the lines for access to the two platforms then on down to the main road coming out at the traffic lights beside the overhead bridge. It would be ideal for anyone using the trains in and out of Manchester and staying near the Kings Road.’
Reece was having the same thoughts his memory went quickly back to his foot surveillance training with an MI5 officer who was one of the famous ‘watchers’ team who followed the Russian spies during the Cold War. This day one of the other instructors had been following Reece and his instructor when they’d gone down a walkway under the main road outside Madame Tussaud’s in London. As they went down the subway steps and turned the corner to go down further the instructor in front of Reece just managed to avoid stepping on a Tramp sitting at the top of the steps with a large glass sitting on the step beside him. Stepping over the glass he told Reece to listen as they walked along the long tunnel. He knew that as there was a number of exits from the tunnel the instructor following would be following close behind concentrating on where they were and what exit they were taking. Suddenly there was a loud crash and smashing of glass with a burst of profanities. They had both looked around able to identify their following watcher as he picked himself up off the ground.
There was more than one way to get caught out when following someone and that was the point being made by his instructor.
‘OK, we need eyes on the end of Kings Road to cover foot and vehicle surveillance. We will take another run around the Kings Road and make sure we have all the vehicle registrations, then we can all meet up in the station carpark for a quick chat.’
‘Roger that,’ said Grey.
Reece drove around the streets once more slowly this time to try to identify the driveways without vehicles on them. This was easy as only Henley Avenue had driveways and garages and only two houses had no vehicles. The first on the left number two as you entered and one at the end of the street number ten, both could have a car in the garage.
Mary had been sitting quietly in the back but now she spoke.
‘If you find them in one of these houses, what then, Joseph?’
‘Then we decide what to do. That’s what I want to chat to everyone about.’
He drove to the Irlam Station carpark where the second BMW was parked in a corner that avoided the span of the security cameras covering the station.
Everyone stood by the cars, the rain had subsided for a change.
‘I’m happy where we are,’ said Reece.
‘We now know the basic lay of the land and I have to believe they’re somewhere in the Kings Road area. The problem is, we don’t know exactly where, or if they’re together, or how many of them there are. We could call in a big squad of police and soldiers, seal off the area, and wait for them to show their hand, but there may be people we’re not aware of, and again they might not even be there. We would be showing our hand what they don’t know right now works in our favour. They don’t know we’re here. Now’s the time to be patient and wait them out wait for them to make their move. It’s three in the morning. I’m going to drop Mary off at the hotel, then Joe and I’ll get back to the hanger for a little shut-eye. April and Steve, you park up on the main road with a view of the entrance to Kings Road anything coming out, especially on foot, make a note of it. If it looks like anyone we’re interested in, follow them. Joe and I’ll be back at 7 a.m. to let you get back for some rest. We know the target for these guys will most likely be Wednesday, so we still have time, let’s use it. Any questions?’
‘What if we think there’s a danger to the public?’ asked Harrison.
‘We have a green light. We’re here for one reason and one reason only: to find these bastards and take them out of the picture. If that means permanently, then so be it. This area has been put out of bounds to local police so if they need to come in here for any reason, they’ll let us know for clearance purposes. That’s the reason we don’t carry handcuffs, that’s not our job. The one thing we don’t need is a Blue on Blue situation when they might run into us doing our job.’
When he dropped off Mary, he could see the tiredness in her eyes. He kissed her on the cheek and watched her walk slowly into the hotel, she’d turned to wave goodbye, but Reece was already gone. When he got back to the hanger the comms team were doing the same getting some rest leaving only one at the desk to cover the team out on the ground. All was quiet, so Reece and Harrison headed to the team section of the hanger. But as usual when he was in the middle of an operation, Reece found sleep hard to come by the different scenarios would constantly swirl around his head the questions he needed to ask the answers he needed but didn’t know yet.
Chapter Forty-six
Tuesday 1st Oct
The dawn light had started to come through the bedroom window where Mohammad was sleeping at the front of the house. Stretching, he got out of bed and looked out through the net curtains to the street below. It was 5.30 a.m. and the street, like the rest of the house, was quiet. There was a slight drizzle of rain with hardly any wind and the sky was a miserable grey hinting at more rain to come. After he’d showered and dressed, he went down to the kitchen and made himself scrambled egg and toast. Sitting at the table he checked his phone, no messages. He sent a text to Lyndsey.
Up and ready heading into town about eight.
A reply came back almost immediately:
See you later.
He switched on the TV, keeping the sound down, to get the early morning news from Sky. Alongside worldwide events, it dedicated lots of airtime to the Conference. They were speculating on what would be in the Prime Minister’s speech on Wednesday. As he watched, he could hear footsteps above him; someone was awake. A short while later, Waheed came into the room.
‘Good morning, brother, did you sleep well?’ he asked Waheed.
‘Yes, soundly thank you. I’m going to make a coffee; do you want one?’
‘Yes, that would be great white no sugar.’
When he returned with the coffee, they watched the Sky reporters speaking to people attending the Conference yesterday. It was too early to speak to any of today’s delegates as the doors wouldn’t be open until around 8 a.m.
‘Are you nervous, brother?’ asked Waheed.
‘Not really. I’ve already sent a text to Sharon and she
is also awake. Today we move toward to the completion of our plan. On Wednesday we’ll make the world shake with our Jihad. We just have to believe in Allah, and all will be well.’
‘I agree, brother, my heart is set now that the end is near. When are you leaving?’
‘I’ll set off early to get there for eight.’
‘I still don’t trust that infidel. His agenda is not ours; his God is not ours.’
‘He has his own agenda if he is successful and it suits Allah’s purpose, then it will be in Allah’s name that the word will go around the world. The false God he worships will be of nothing compared to Allah.’
They could hear Imtaz as he started to move about upstairs. Waheed looked at the ceiling. ‘When he comes down, I think we should pray to Allah together,’ he said.
April Grey had slept a little before the radio mike in her ear sounded the voice of David Reece waking her from her slumber.
‘This is Alpha One, we’ll be taking over the watch. Alpha Three, we’ll be parking up close to you about 07.30, anything to report?’
‘No,’ said Grey. ‘The world here is starting to awake. The road has been getting busy, it’s coming up to rush hour. But nothing significant from Kings Road.’
‘Roger that, we’ll be with you shortly then you both get back and get some shut-eye for a few hours.’
Twenty minutes later, Reece and Cousins pulled into the parking space behind Grey and Harrison. When Harrison pulled away, Reece moved his BMW into the space they’d vacated as it provided a better view of the entrance to Kings Road and two of the streets adjoining it.
Turning off the engine, they watched the traffic and the pedestrians moving about, starting their working day. The registration numbers taken down by Cousins earlier had shown all the cars belonged to residents who had lived in the streets around Kings Road for many years. But that didn’t mean they were all clear.
One of them could be a long-time sleeper but the names had also been checked for criminal and terrorist links and apart from some with minor traffic violations nothing flashed up to show there was reason to investigate further. In the first few minutes they’d been there two cars had come out of Kings Road the occupants elderly grey haired and white skinned. After two hours it was beginning to look like a long day. It was as Reece was looking down Kings Road, he saw a man come out of Henley Avenue and turning right, he walked towards the top of Kings Road. Reece fired up the wiper blades to clear the slight rain sitting on the windshield. Yes, the man was definitely Asian, with a slight beard and glasses, he walked with his head down he was wearing a suit with a shirt and tie but what was more interesting was that he was also wearing a jacket over the suit with a hood pulled up over his head. Not only to protect him from the rain, Reece thought but also to protect his identification. Now Cousins could see the man. Both held their breath, straining their eyes to make sure, afraid to speak in case the figure disappeared.
‘I think we have a hot one,’ said Reece. ‘He’s not carrying any bags and he looks like he’s going to a business meeting.’
Reece grabbed his Barbour jacket from the back seat and slipped his gun into the pocket.
‘Alpha One, to control. I think we have our Asian hoodie. He came out of Henley Avenue, so we need to pay more attention to the residents there. There could be more of them in there, maybe even Costello and Lyndsey. I’ll follow our friend on foot, I’m sorry, but get Alpha Three and Four back here as soon as possible, no sleep for anyone today.’
‘Roger, Control, Alpha Two will stay and cover until backup gets here.’
‘Roger, Alpha One.’
‘Are you OK with all that, Joe?’ Reece asked.
‘No problem, David. Anything more comes out before help gets here, what do you want me to do?’
‘Do what you can to check it out, anything moving try to stay with it; the street won’t be going anywhere.’
‘Roger that. Will do.’
Reece left the vehicle and started walking at the same pace as the target who was now about fifty yards ahead on the opposite side of the main road. Reece was watching for signs that the target was conducting anti-surveillance techniques, but he didn’t appear to be. He was keeping a steady pace towards the junction at the railway bridge overpass. Reece pulled a tweed flat cap out of his pocket, it wasn’t much, but the cap was also good protection when following someone as it would make it difficult for the target to see the concentration on the face of someone in a crowd.
As Reece expected, the man stopped at the main junction and waited for the traffic lights to turn green before he crossed the road to the side Reece was on before turning right once more towards the railway footway underpass to the station. Reece held back until he was sure the man had entered the underpass.
‘Alpha One to Control, Tourist One now heading to the Irlam Railway station I will stay with him.’
‘Roger, Alpha One.’
Reece took the turning into the underpass following the path under the railway line above and walked up the stairs on to the platform. The station was very busy with a large band of early workers on the platforms on both sides of the tracks. Looking around slowly, Reece took in the faces and spotted Tourist One buying a ticket at the machine then walking to the front of the crowd to wait for the next train.
Reece took his time and slowly moved to the same machine and purchased a ticket that would cover his travel for the rest of the day, then he moved behind the target. The man was about five-foot ten, with a lean build and smart appearance. His clothes looked like they’d been purchased from Marks and Spencer and he wore smart black shoes. The shoes were important and made Reece smile. They were not the kind of shoes for walking long distances, more for working in an office environment. To Reece this meant unless Tourist One was stupid he wasn’t going to be walking far today, and that was OK by Reece.
When the train arrived, the loudspeaker announced that it was the nine fifty to Manchester Piccadilly, calling at Manchester Deansgate. Tourist One boarded the middle of the three carriages by the forward doors, Reece boarded the same carriage at the rear doors. The carriage was packed, and it was standing room only, the passengers from Irlam filling the aisle almost to capacity. Reece could easily observe Tourist One for the journey. He faced forward throughout the trip, speaking to no one and Reece could see him move towards the exit doors when the train started to slow on its approach to Deansgate.
When the carriage stopped, and the passengers alighted from the train, Reece followed Tourist One over the walkway and down the steps then a sharp left street level. Reece followed him at the same pace from fifty yards behind.
‘Alpha One to Control. Tourist One took the train from Irlam and we got off at Deansgate. We’re on foot heading towards the city centre.’
‘Roger, Alpha One. The rest of the team now in Irlam maintaining observation.’
Where are you going, pretty boy? thought Reece. He walked with his right hand in his pocket feeling the grip of the Smith and Wesson helping to reassure him. There were fewer people on the street and Reece made a point of not gaining on his target and walking to his left rear as most people in Britain are right handed, they’ll look over their right shoulder when turning around to see if anyone is behind them, this would leave Reece in the targets blind side. If the target did turn to his left, Reece would definitely know he was looking for followers, Tourist One was making no effort to turn. Reece assessed that Tourist One was sure of where he was walking to, and that he wasn’t carrying anything of concern, his steps continued in a set direction with the walk of a man who had no cares no fears.
‘Tourist One now walking past the Bridgewater Hall following the tram tracks towards the Midland following the security barriers on the outside of the Conference Centre.’
‘Roger, Alpha One.’
‘Bloody hell he’s just turned towards the main security entrance to the Conference, wait out.’
Broad stared at the speakers in the comms section of the hanger trying
to imagine what Reece was seeing and reporting, the rest of the room was silent.
‘Alpha Control, you’re not going to fucking believe this but Tourist One just produced a Conference Pass and went through the security checks into the Conference Hall itself. I closed the distance between us; if he’d made a wrong move, he’s one of the bloody delegates. I’m heading to the security suite within the building to see if I can get him on CCTV, will phone you when I get there.’
‘Roger, Alpha One, I await your call,’ said Jim Broad.
Chapter Forty-seven
Costello had been up and had breakfast an hour before Lyndsey had appeared in the dining room.
‘I must have been tired; I didn’t hear you get up.’
‘If you didn’t hear me snore, then you must have been dead to the world,’ he replied with a grin.
When she left for the hot buffet table, Costello called a waitress over and asked for a pot of coffee for two. The coffee arrived just as Lyndsey sat down with her bacon and eggs. Costello poured two cups of coffee.
‘Any word from the boys?’ he asked.
‘I spoke with Mohammad before I came down, he was just leaving to catch the train into Manchester. He’ll be in touch later when he’s had a look around the Conference area. I suggest we wait for Mohammad’s call have lunch and maybe head in later.’
‘Sounds like a plan. We can’t do anything anyway until he gets the keys for the apartment.’
‘Yes, a slight change of plan there. I have to be with Mohammad at the estate agents with my passport to sign for the keys at five this evening. The agents are on the main Deansgate street, so you can drop me off at the NCP and I’ll let you know when we’re inside the apartment.’
‘Good idea, I don’t want to be hanging about anywhere.’