by Nick Albert
“That’s right. Just do as I say and you’ll be fine. There’s no risk to you.”
He smiled and nodded dismissively towards the mall entrance.
“Off you go then.”
Once she was out of earshot, The Fixer turned to Peter White.
“Get your people spread out along the river walk. If they see this Eric Stone, he becomes their prime target. Do they appreciate how dangerous he is?”
“Yes Boss, I’ve briefed them carefully.”
The actor spoke in a calm voice that belied the tension he was feeling.
“You don’t need to worry — my people can all handle themselves.”
“They may need to. I heard this morning that Anton Stephens and his pet gorilla were found dead in his burned out car.”
“Oh!”
“Oh, indeed. I’m starting to suspect that Eric Stone has been busier than we had first thought. Not that it matters anymore. This ends now — right here.”
He shuffled his feet in silence, until The Fixer spoke again.
“You’d better stay on this side of the river so you can keep a look out. I’ll be around, observing from a distance.”
“Right, Boss.”
The Fixer watched Peter White stride away. Then he turned his attention to Kitten and Bunny.
“You two cover the car park. I want one of you at each end — and for Christ’s sake, keep out of sight.”
Once his huge bodyguards had silently shambled into position, The Fixer pulled his coat collar up around his face and began walking towards the north end of the mall. The plan was in place, now there was something else he had to do.
***
The journey along the M25 was horrendous, due to a combination of too many cars, foggy conditions and a couple of inattentive drivers. Stone fought his rising tension as the traffic slowed to a walking pace. Twice, their progress was reduced to miles of frustrating stops and starts, as three lines of cars attempted to merge into two, in an attempt to negotiate a minor shunt. Furthermore, the tension inside the car did little to improve his mood.
Stone wanted to apologise for his omission, for not considering her feelings, but he couldn’t find the words. The problem was that he was in love with this woman, and in his planning, he had subconsciously wanted to place her in a position of the least danger. It was a perfectly natural thing to do — for a man.
For Stone it was like opening a door for a lady, or making sure that the house is secure before bedtime, or placing a valuable ornament safely on a high shelf. It was just something that you did. Of course, Linda is not an ornament to be kept safe, and he was wrong to treat her as one. Conversely, shouldn’t a man try to protect his loved ones — or is that just too old school? Silently, Stone admitted that he was confused. In his frustration, he gently bumped his fist on the steering wheel.
He had tried to say sorry. He had wanted to move past this, to engage Linda in some bright and witty conversation — to make it all go away, but she had remained sullen and unresponsive. In the end he had to bite his tongue, for fear that he would lose his temper and verbally lash out.
As they stood in the hotel car park, Carter had leaned in close and gently patted his friend on the shoulder.
“Let it pass.”
Perhaps Linda heard the kindly comment he had whispered, and chose to take further offence. In any event, Carter was treated to a harsh glare as she threw herself into the passenger seat, thereby nominating Stone to drive to Reading. Now he speculated that perhaps Linda was simply reacting to her own tension about the dangerous situation that they were walking into. She had every reason to. Things were about to get deadly, and when they did, Stone would wish that he had done much more to protect Linda Smart.
After yet another delay as they negotiated their way past the school-run traffic, with seemingly endless lines of cars filled with busy parents and overexcited children, they arrived at The Oracle at 3.50pm. Using the wonders of the internet, they had already studied the layout of the mall and the surrounding area. Stone could see why it had been chosen as a location for the meet.
The Oracle was a complicated and confusing maze of shops and corridors, with dozens of exits and blind alleys. There was a large food court alongside the river and above that, two floors of shops. Overall, The Oracle contained more than eighty shops, twenty cafés and restaurants, and two car parks, with twenty-three-hundred parking spaces. Each car park had a separate road exit. Both gave easy access to the main road, which would allow a determined driver to reach the fast escape of the M4 motorway, in just a few minutes. In truth, they were walking into a security nightmare, that couldn’t be safely secured with fifty people — and they only had three.
As they had planned, Carter parked in the Riverside car park, whilst Stone circled around to the much smaller Holly Brook car park, on the east side of the shopping centre. Stone fitted his radio earpiece, and attached the microphone inside his right sleeve. By placing his right hand by his face, he could whisper into the microphone relatively undetected. Although he had used the system before, he still thought it was all very ‘Secret Service’. He took a moment to check the radio again — first calling Ed and then making sure that Linda’s set was working as well.
“Stay here and stay safe — please.”
He leaned forward to kiss her on the lips, but had to settle for a proffered cheek. He offered a final olive branch.
“I love you.”
“Likewise,” she mumbled without any real enthusiasm.
There was a crackle from the radio.
“You two do know this radio’s on?” Ed said.
They ignored the jibe.
“Disguises on people — I’m on my way in.”
Stone donned a baseball cap that he had purchased earlier from the motorway services. Linda put on her floppy sun hat and then she slid low into her seat, until she was barely visible. He gave Linda a small wave and then jogged briskly across the car park towards the rear of the mall.
Using the back entrance, he quickly climbed the staircase to the top floor. As he had planned, he went directly into a bedding store, and bought two pillows, which the assistant fitted into an extra-large plastic shopping bag. Stone figured that anyone watching for them would be less likely to take notice of a shopper carrying such bulky purchases.
With his lightweight, but obvious shopping in hand, he casually walked back into the shopping area. By following the polished marble walkways and using the central escalators, he worked his way down through each floor. When he reached the ground floor, he turned around and made his way back to the top floor again. He window-shopped as he walked, randomly crossing the walkways and occasionally pretending to look at something that may have taken his interest. All the while, he kept a watchful eye out for anyone else who was doing the same thing.
After forty-five minutes of searching, Carter’s voice crackled in his earpiece.
“I’m just crossing the bridge onto the river walk. I can see the coffee shop, there’s no sign of the woman yet.”
“Ok, Ed. I’m still checking. I haven’t seen anything yet.”
“And I’m sitting here doing some knitting,” Linda’s voice softly whispered into his ear.
Despite the jibe, Stone found himself smiling. He risked a reply.
“Oh, good! There are some socks in my bag that need darning.”
Linda blew a long raspberry in response.
Feeling happier, Stone found that there was a little more spring in his step. He was suddenly jolted back to reality as he walked by a mall security guard. Something in the man’s face was familiar and Stone realised that he had seen him somewhere recently, but in a very different setting. Although he couldn’t remember where, he was positive it was in a context inconsistent with being a trusted security guard. Alarm bells started to ring in Stone’s head and, making a huge effort to remain calm, he casually walked into the first shop on his left. It was a kitchen supply store.
Once inside the store, Stone use
d a display stand for cover, so he could look out of the window unobserved. The security guard was on the opposite side of the 20-metre wide walkway, far to Stone’s right, but still in clear view. He was leaning against the wall at the entrance to a service passage, and looking hard and long at the face of each man that passed. The man was wearing an ill-fitting security uniform, and a clip-on lapel badge showing his photograph and name. The logo on the badge suggested a well-known security company, but to Stone something seemed amiss. Without the badge, the man was just wearing a blue jacket and trousers, the sort of generic uniform that an actor might wear in a low budget film. If you changed the hat and badge, the uniform could suit a police officer, or suggest a military function — or a pretend security guard.
Stone didn’t take much interest in retail and fashion, but he was confident that a prestigious mall like The Oracle, would insist that their security guards dressed correctly. He guessed that they probably supplied their staff with smartly polished black leather shoes, with soft sticky soles, similar to those worn by most police forces. Such shoes would be sturdy and comfortable, suitable for a full day of walking, but light enough for chasing down a suspect. He was confident that The Oracle would never permit a security guard to wear brown canvas shoes, like those worn by the man he was looking at now.
He brought his right hand to his ear and whispered into his microphone.
“Do you see any security guards in an ill-fitting blue uniform?”
“Yes,” Carter answered. “I can see one leaning over the railings on the first floor. He hasn’t seen me yet.”
“There’s nobody here at the knitting club.”
Stone smiled again at Linda’s joke, but this time he didn’t comment. It was time to focus on the job in hand.
“There’s a guard up here on two, but he doesn’t fit. In a minute, I’m going to have a conversation with him. I’ll ask if he knows were his boss lives.”
“Take care,” Carter whispered.
“Will do.”
Stone carefully backed away from the window, then he turned and walked into the store in search of a suitable weapon. With a little help from an enthusiastic sales assistant, he quickly found exactly what he was looking for. He selected two items and paid with cash, politely refusing the offer of a bag or receipt. Moving back to the window, where he could keep a watchful eye on his target, Stone carefully prepared for his attack.
The security guard was getting bored. He had done several gigs for Peter White in the last year. Usually they involved following some married bloke, and taking photos of him wrestling naked with his girlfriend. Twice, he had been allowed to get physical with someone, usually to get them to do what was wanted. He liked the physical stuff. He got a big thrill out of seeing some bloke squirm and cry, and piss on himself, while his arm got twisted. This gig was already boring, and standing around looking for some old guys in a crowd wasn’t helping to ease his hangover. He didn’t like the stupid outfit that they made him wear, either. The collar itched, and the pants were too tight. It was a rushed job as well, and that was never a good thing. He’d got the call just a few hours ago, and if it weren’t for the money, he would have stayed in bed. As it was, he was hungry, tired, and his head hurt.
The security guard looked to his right, towards the kitchen supply shop. He was supposed to be looking at faces, searching for the men in the photos. Yet, he still took a moment to check out the women — particularly the hot ones. There wasn’t much to see at this time of the day. There were just a few young mums pushing their prams. He spotted a cute redhead, wearing some very tight jeans. She paused for a short time outside the kitchen shop, to make room for an older guy who was carrying a huge shopping bag. She did have a nice bum, he thought.
He casually looked to the left, but there was nothing of interest to see. He slowly swivelled his head back to the right, to watch the redhead again, but now the old guy was in the way. The security guard was surprised. He thought that the old guy must have moved unusually quickly, because suddenly he was a couple of yards away and walking quickly. The guy smiled reassuringly, and said ‘Excuse me’, and then his right hand shot forward with incredible speed.
An explosion of red dust hit the security guard full in the face. Instantly his eyes, nose, and mouth, were burning with incredible pain. Before he could take a breath, something slammed into his solar plexus with unbelievable force, driving the remaining air from his lungs.
Stone grabbed the helpless security guard, quickly pushing him backward along the corridor, and out through the emergency exit door. They were on a bare concrete landing at the top of the fire escape staircase. The stairs were dusty and unswept, and there was no visible sign of any security camera. Stone relaxed and gently lowered the security guard to the ground. He was wheezing from the punch to the gut, and coughing helplessly because of the cayenne pepper that Stone had just thrown into his face.
Taking care not to get any of the red dust on his own hands, Stone rolled the security guard onto his back, and roughly stripped the man of his shoes, trousers, and underpants. When he tried to resist, perhaps fearing that he was about to be raped, Stone quickly subdued him with a second punch to the gut.
“Who sent you?” Stone demanded.
“My face is burning!” the man coughed and spat, his eyes and nose were running freely.
“Who sent you?” Stone asked again.
“Fuck off!”
Stone pulled the man’s right hand away from his face and stood on it, partly to add to his discomfort, but also to subdue him a little more. The man groaned and drummed his heals in pain. Then Stone pulled a wickedly sharp paring knife from his pocket. It was the second item that he had bought in the kitchen shop. He leaned closer.
“Listen to me very carefully. This knife is very sharp.”
Stone pulled the flat of the blade across the man’s thigh before placing the sharp edge at the base of the security guard’s exposed penis.
“You will answer my questions, honestly and immediately. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
The man suddenly became very still, his streaming eyes and nose forgotten.
“Yes,” he croaked.
“Who sent you?”
“Peter White.”
“Who’s Peter White, how do you know him?”
“Sometimes I do work for a place called Second Chances — it’s in Aylesbury. Peter tells me what to do. I got a call from him this morning.”
“Describe him,” Stone snapped.
“He’s tall. A posh guy, about sixty-five, always wears a tweed jacket. He has a little beard on the end of his chin.”
“How do you contact him?”
“I don’t. He always contacts me when he has some work.”
The guard coughed again, he was having trouble breathing. Stone didn’t care.
“How many others are here?”
The man paused. Stone could see he was counting in his head.
“Six — I think.”
“You think?”
Stone increased the pressure on the knife. The guard squirmed in panic.
“Six…It’s definitely six — that’s all I saw.”
“Describe them,” Stone demanded.
“There’s Peter White, and there’s Jerry and Mike who I work with sometimes. They’re both wearing the same costume as me. Then there’s three other blokes. I don’t know who they are. One has dark hair; he’s wearing a dark coat. The other two looked like twins. They’re real big with shaved heads.”
He squirmed some more, trying desperately to move away from the knife.
“That’s all I know, mister. Please don’t cut me!”
“Tell me about the Wrecking Crew.”
“Who?”
“The Wrecking Crew. Where is their base?”
Stone backed up the importance of the question with a poke from the knife.
“I’ve never heard of them — I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man said with obvious panic in his voice.
He poked a little harder, drawing some blood with the tip of the knife.
“I don’t know — please, please. I don’t know.”
Stone eased the pressure slightly. He had decided that the security guard was telling the truth. If the positions were reversed, Eric thought that he would find it very difficult to lie. Unfortunately, it also fitted in with what they had found out so far. The Wrecking Crew was very good at maintaining separation and secrecy.
“What was the plan for today?” he asked.
“We were supposed to arrest you, and another bloke, for shoplifting. Then take you out to a black Land Cruiser in the car park. That’s it — it’s all I know.”
Stone couldn’t think of anything else to ask, and he was aware that precious time was passing. He put the knife back in his coat pocket and gently pulled the man’s left hand down away from his face.
“I believe you,” Stone said in a soothing voice, “now just lay still, and you’ll get out of this alive.”
As soon as the man relaxed, Stone swung his fist in a fast wide arc, striking him on the side of his chin, with a perfect knockout punch. The guards head snapped violently to the right, and he instantly slumped into unconsciousness. Before rolling the man into the recovery position, Stone performed a quick search. He found a wallet, a small walkie-talkie, and a sheet of paper showing pictures of Carter, himself, and Linda.
Leaving his shopping bag behind, Stone walked back into the shopping mall. After he had shoved the security guard’s shoes, underpants and trousers into the nearest waste bin, he checked in with Ed on the radio, quickly explaining what had just happened.
“Good job, Eric,” Carter said. “What now?”
“Well, it’s a safe bet that the other two security guards will know nothing more than this guy did. If I can take them out, it could give us a clear run at Helen Atkins. She may know something.”
“Ok,” Carter said, “I’m in a card shop, opposite the coffee bar. I can’t see any woman waiting around, but there’s another security guard down here. He’s leaning on the railing near the bridge.”
“I’m still on two, but I can see him from here. You hang tight, Ed. I’ll try and deal with the guard on the first floor, then make my way down to you.”