by Brian Cain
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
In a warehouse adjacent to Heathrow airport, a man sat at his desk pondering several lines of communication, he was tired, weary, slow, his system laced with caffeine from endless cups of coffee. He folded his arms and looked in a gaze at his computer screen, he had been left to rot by those he trusted. He got up and paced around attempting to bring on a second wind when he was startled by a pounding on the roller door of his establishment and a loud voice shouting above all. 'Customs and excise, we have a warrant to search these premises, open the door!!'
He immediately became wide eyed, short but stocky and dark skinned he ran to a cupboard, he fumbled with his keys attempting to open the door. An enormous crash sent him sprawling to the ground as an assault Land Rover equipped with a battering ram broke down the roller door, it collapsed onto the pallets and drums of goods staked inside having a domino effect across the lower floor and shifting the mezzanine floor above. Several armed personnel followed the land rover brandishing assault rifles and wearing bullet proof apparel. They were obviously familiar with the layout, they checked the lower floor and several members of the team shouted clear. They scaled the stairs slowly with weapons cocked and raised to eye level, the man appeared at the top of the stairs with his hands on his head, they cuffed his arms behind his back, took him inside the office and sat him down with his back to a window overlooking the airport. A shout of clear was given at the top of the stairs and personnel began to remove balaclava's and helmets.
A female member of the crew sat down at the computer the man had been using. 'Got him off guard.' was her comment. She viewed several screens and then called a male member of the crew that had searched the man and was busy inspecting the contents of his wallet. He lent over his colleague and read the screen. 'Not exactly what we were expecting,' she added.
Her male counterpart studied the screen with a squint. 'So it would seem.'
She rolled through a few documents then noticed a name folder of interest, she opened it. 'That's it, if he cooperates that's it.'
The male officer walked to the window and looked backward and forward along the street adjacent to the commercial premises. He activated his communication system in his ear, 'Move on the street, two vehicles one south and one north, immobilise and question.'
An assault team left the building and began working their way to both ends of the street, in teams of three. As soon as they were in view of the parked vehicles they took off speeding away one having to do a u turn. The officer at the window got a report on his ear piece. 'We lost them, down to aerial surveillance.'
'Okay, got it, vehicles report.'
'Both stolen yesterday.'
The officer was a big man, huge hands and spoke in a voice that low you had to be a bison to understand the details. He looked down at the cuffed man beside him, he spoke with a wide cockney accent. 'You're in a lot of trouble me ol fruit, we're your only hope sunshine, no one loves you anymore, you have a chance to cooperate.'
'An if I don't.'
'We call off the choppers and they know where your family lives.'
The man looked down at the floor. 'What do you want.'
'Everything you have.'
He had a middle eastern accent. 'They will find me.'
'Not if we find them first.'
'There are two lap top computers in the draw of my desk, I will need them.'
The female officer opened the upper draw and there they were, she pulled them out. 'Anything else,' she asked.
'No, just the main station you have been looking at.'
The male officer pulled him to his feet and handed him to two officers still rigged in full face covering. 'Take him back to the Cross, don't let anyone near him, let everyone know we have him but keep him out of the way.' They took him and shuffled him down the stairs to the Land Rover, he was placed inside the rear compartment and the vehicle reversed from the building dragging the roller door with it and leaving it in the car park. It speed of down the street with several support vehicles in tow.
The female officer looked at a few more documents on the screen before dismantling the main frame of the computer and removing it. She spoke to her partner. 'Not exactly what we expected to find.'
The male officer was assisting, they were the only two left in the building. 'Someone is pulling our chain, this geezer could be very valuable, couple of names there rang a bell straight away.' The burley male took the computer under his arm and they headed down the stairs. 'I'll call in the civvies and they can clean this up.'
'What about his family.'
'He sent them to France this morning, can only wish them the best like.'
'Well you play with fire you get burnt.'
'Not sure if he is the one with the lighter, ask intelligence to track all names found in his files for movement out of the country soon as you get back to the office.'
'Some of the names are a bit er.'
'Touchy.'
'Yeah.' They threw the computer frame into the boot of their jaguar. 'Lets get out of here before the press roll up.