‘We’ve been here a week. Simmonds has not so much as taken a step out of his penthouse. On top of that, there is no internet traffic, mobile or landline calls except for room service.’
Josie continued scrolling the file.
‘Makes this stakeout a lot easier than the others. We’ve been chasing Benueda halfway across the country. So what?’
‘That’s the thing. Your profiling and what we already know of this guy, he should be out on the street making moves, not sitting on his ass getting fucked up every day. It didn’t make any sense until we ran the Sit-Rep through SIS,’ interrupted Kamal.
‘And?’ asked Josie.
‘We’ve seen this before. Simmonds is being vetted.’
‘Would somebody please explain to me what the hell you’re talking about?’
‘Someone’s got him holed up here while they check him out from head to toe,’ answered Kamal.
‘Simmonds isn’t the type to take orders from anyone,’ replied Josie.
‘Which means whoever’s doing the vetting is in a different league.’
‘You can be sure that whoever they are, their people are watching him right now making sure he remains cut off and is making no moves,’ added James.
‘And when they’ve finished, they’ll either let him in or send an army to wipe him out,’ said Kamal.
‘If Simmonds passes…’ continued James.
‘...who knows where it will lead,’ said Josie finishing his train of thought.
Josie looked from Kamal to James and then back at the surveillance feed.
‘We’re going to need more people.’
Josie picked up the landline. One of the surveillance camera feeds suddenly showed movement. The lift doors opened. Blake stepped onto the floor a silenced gun held down by his side.
James turned to Josie. ‘Oh Shit.’
Dark wood panelled the walls. Raised uplighting illuminated impressionist artwork and ceiling set spotlights threw circular pools onto a thick purple carpet.
Blake moved purposefully along the plush corridor. The end door opened and a bear of a man stepped out.
‘How the fuck did you get up here?’ he demanded in a thick guttural voice.
‘Magic,’ Blake replied and brought up the silenced Sig. The black suited sentry’s hand made it to his jacket lapel before Blake shot him through the head. A single ejected shell bounced once and then lay still.
Another heavy stepped into the doorway. Blake adjusted his aim and fired again, punching the man back into the apartment. Lowering the gun Blake moved fast and low to the open door.
Slowly and efficiently Kamal broke it down for Rainer on the other end of the line. The pause at the other end lasted only a few seconds. Then three words. ‘Take them down.’
Josie checked and slipped a clip into her 9mm standard issue Browning. Across the room Kamal was doing the same his face pained.
‘Shoulder good?’ asked Josie.
‘It’ll hold,’ replied Kamal slipping a final clip into the holder at his waist.
The call for backup had gone out. A team from S019 were on their way. Josie was commander designate. She would lead the team in now.
They watched, their preparations picking up speed, as Blake flicked one of the automatics up and pulled the trigger. The back of the kneeling man’s head disappeared and he fell face forward, the contents of his skull seeping onto the carpeted floor.
Josie turned to Kamal.
‘Grab the rest and let’s go before this gets out of hand.’
She shouldered her holdall and sprinted out of the room, followed by Kamal and James.
Another guard stepped out of the doorway almost bumping into Blake. Blake shot him in the gut and then flipping the gun up in a single smooth motion shot him through the bottom of his chin. The guard’s head blew out like a whale’s exhale and fell forward past Blake as he stepped into the penthouse lobby.
Josie, Kamal and James, each with a holdall hurried along the hotel service corridor. Hotel staff flattened themselves against the walls. A supervisor holding a walkie talkie held a waiting service lift open for them.
Josie punched the top floor button. They unzipped the holdalls and pulled out vests and weapons. Josie strapped her Kevlar body armour in place. She checked and chambered a round into her MP5. James and Kamal loaded assault rifles, adjusted headsets. The lift counter number increased as they headed up to the penthouse suite.
‘Back up?’ said Josie tersely.
James put his finger to his ear.
‘Five minutes.’
Josie looked at Kamal. He shook his head.
‘We can’t wait.’
The lift pinged their arrival at the top floor. The doors slid open.
Blake stepped into the penthouse. Something dark blurred through a door beside him. Short compact powerful he took Blake at the waist. He was strong. Blake let him take him down twisting so he hit the floor. They rolled apart but only so far, he had a vice like grip on his wrist. They both struggled up testing each other’s strength. He could hear shouting along the corridor. The man yanked down on his arm nearly pulling it from Blake’s socket as a big bunched fist powered towards his head. He expected Blake to pull against the arm. He did the opposite, Blake pulled his head back, stepped in and whiplashed the hardest part of his forehead forward and caved the guard’s face in. He went down like a sack of bricks. The first of the others came round the door straight for him. Blake twisted at the last minute sling-shotting around his bulk and brought his elbow up under the chin of the third just rounding the door. He was lifted up off the ground and landed horizontally out cold before he hit the floor. Blake snatched up the Sig and twisted round bringing it to a slam-halt between the eyes of the second guard who had just picked himself off the floor. He stood stock still, looking cross eyed at the silencer muzzle.
‘No please,’ whispered the guard. Blake shot him point blank through his forehead.
A woman came round the door straight for him unleashing a flurry of blows. Blake countered each one. He ducked a blow to the head. Locked the arm and slammed his forearm into the elbow breaking it. He powered his open palm into her throat lifting her off his feet, then rotated and slammed his palm down into the floor, crushing her neck.
From the main area a third opened up with an MP5. Blake rolled away behind a big leather sofa. Bullets pumped mercilessly into the leather. Blake glimpsed the assailant’s feet from underneath. He pulled his other Sig and blew the third’s foot off. He fell. Blake put another into the face that hit the floor. Somebody shouted out from the corridor. A voice of authority.
On the other side of the apartment double doors flung open. Blake took a look from the side of the sofa, eyes flicked to a dark suited man raising a short-barreled Steyr machine pistol. Blake ducked back. Metal filled the air.
Blake pushed himself backward pumping round after round through the rapidly disintegrating sofa back aiming for the Steyr wielder.
Low and fast Josie, Kamal and James slipped from the lift and moved along the corridor past the dead bodies. Josie stopped at the open door as rapid gunfire filled the apartment beyond. She looked back to James and Kamal.
‘Flashbangs. Suppressors.’
Kamal pulled two from his vest and handed them to Josie. James laid out protective gas masks. They pulled suppressors from the holdalls and twisted them in place.
They nodded. Josie eased around the door. She threw the flashbangs in.
The Steyr wielder’s fire paused.
‘You took your fucking time. Hit him!’ a voice sounded out.
Blake heard the sound of a clip being ejected. Then a shotgun blast hit the sofa punching a hole in it the size of Blake’s head. Blake looked back at two closed bedroom doors behind him and prepared to cross the short open space to the nearest. He was outgunned and tactically fucked. Time to retreat and find a position to bring the L119 to bear. He could still take Simmonds.
Another boom and another part of the sofa blew a
part and took a chunk out of the floor where Blake was moments earlier. The Steyr magazine clicked into place. Blake flicked the Sig to fully automatic ready to lay a line of bullets down covering his move to the bedroom door. It was unlikely he was going to make it without getting hit but stay here and he was dead.
‘Armed Police! Weapons Down!’ shouted a female voice.
Blake saw the flashbangs roll towards him. He twisted away and put his arms tight around his head shielding his eyes.
The flashbangs exploded filling the air with a blast of light and sound.
Josie put her hand out.
‘Gas.’
Kamal handed her two grenades. Josie rolled them in, then slipped on her mask. James and Kamal did the same.
The gas grenades rolled in.
Blake, his ears ringing, muting every sound, looked up and saw the cylinders roll towards him and dove across the slowly gas filling space, firing the Sig behind him and into a side room as a line of bullets raked the air.
He kicked the door shut. It splintered with automatic fire. He tried to shake his head clear. He flicked the clip release on the Sig and replaced it with a fresh one. Another round of automatic fire raked the door. Then a muffled female voice shouted from outside.
‘I said weapons down!’
The gunfire intensified in response.
Blake moved to drawn curtains, pulled them across and slid open the doors. A short patio, the balcony railing at the end was waist high. This side of the penthouse looked over the rear of an apartment building. Gantries and fire escape ladders jutted out. Blake looked from the end of the room to the end of the patio. He kicked at the balcony railing, his heel connected hard, the second kick pushed the railing free of its moorings, the third tumbled it down to the ground far below.
Blake marched back into the room. The gunfire continued in the apartment beyond as clips were emptied and refilled. A part of Blake’s mind recognised the disciplined double taps slowly replacing the wild automatic firing.
A whimpering sounded in the gloom behind him. Blake spun; Sig aimed as two small shapes emerged from behind the bed. Children. One boy, one girl. The girl gestured to the mirrored wardrobes.
Something moved inside. She put her fist in her mouth.
Blake punched four rounds into the fitted wardrobes at adult height, the muzzle flash bright, making the children scream out. A sliding door bulged darkly for a moment and then eased back as the weight pressing against it slid to the floor inside. He sidled up to the wardrobe. One Sig pointing in, he slid the door across. A silk robed man flopped out. Not Simmonds.
James rounded the corner. A burst of gunfire hit his shoulder. Josie pulled him back and he slid to the floor. Josie knelt down, checking his wound.
‘Jesus,’ he said breathlessly.
Kamal slowly looked around the corner. Another line of gunfire raked the wall, jerking him back. He looked down to Josie.
She nodded. Kamal rolled two more flashbangs. They blew, the intense light searing everything white. Kamal lay a constant stream of fire into the apartment. Josie swiveled round into a kneeling marksman’s stance, her breath heavy, sweat dripping, her eyes trying to see everything at once. She held her breath. Kamal’s clip emptied. The men across the other side of the apartment brought up their automatics. Josie shot one in the head. The other got a burst off as Josie locked onto him and put two into his face. She exhaled, closed her eyes for a second.
Blake leant down to the children. The girl screamed, shying away from him.
‘Under the bed,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t move and don’t make a sound. There are policemen coming.’
The little girl, eyes dirty with tears nodded. The boy just stared at him, dark lines under his eyes.
Kamal covered the rest of the apartment from the floor. ‘Tac team are on their way up,’ he whispered through clenched teeth. Josie scanned the room; they were all dead. Then she heard the screams of a child and she was up sprinting across the room.
Blake stepped back as close to the door as he could. He took up a runner’s stance. He sprinted.
Kamal took a position at the door. Josie, her weapon held in a double grip readied herself. Josie nodded. Kamal slammed a booted heel into the door splintering it open. Josie threw in a flashbang.
Behind Blake a small object landed on the floor.
Blake cleared the room.
The flash-bang exploded.
He jumped from the patio.
The doors crashed open.
He heard his name. The woman,
‘Halt!’
She fired.
Blake felt something hot whiz past his ear.
He fell through the air, twisting.
Something slammed into his shoulder spinning him a full three sixty in midair.
The top of the fire escape opposite came up fast. He hit it hard and felt something buckle. He twisted and rolled smashing through the window, taking much of the frame with him.
A shot ricocheted off the metal inches from his face sparking shards of hot metal. Blake threw himself sideways as more shots rang out. He caught a glimpse of a figure standing at the edge of the patio on the building opposite. Out of the line of fire he felt a mild surprise that she was so young.
He tried to get up but fell, his left shoulder useless. He was hit. Panic rose at the amount of blood that was seeping. He suddenly felt very cold.
Josie swiveled and darted out of the room.
Kamal moved to follow.
‘No. Find Simmonds!’ she shouted.
Kamal moved towards the other rooms.
Josie barreled down the stairs, taking five at a time.
Blake limped along the corridor; shoulder cradled in one arm. There was so much blood.
He couldn’t feel the pain from the gunshot yet, when it hit it was going to be debilitating. He needed to act quickly. Darkness pushed in around his vision.
Don’t go into shock, don’t go into shock.
He lurched down the service stairs, through the fire door and into the main stairwell. He moved fast down the stairs taking three or four at a time.
He reached the ground floor and a fire escape door. He leant on the release and looked out. It was clear. He staggered out.
Blake hurried along the side of the building. He only made it a few metres when the sound of the hotel basement exit shutters rising filled the air. Blake ducked past a dumpster into an alleyway. Easing back round, through a gap between the wall and the dumpster he saw a black MPV pulling out of the underground car park.
The service entrance door banged open and Josie burst out. She vaulted off the loading deck and stopped in front of the vehicle, her gun trained.
‘Hold it. Stop the car! Switch off the engine, and come out with your hands out.’
The car slowed to a halt, its engine idling. The dark figure inside did not move.
‘I said out of the car now asshole,’ she shouted moving towards the driver’s door, the automatic trained on the driver.
Blake watched the same young woman that shot him train her weapon on the vehicle slowly moving forward. He also saw a slim suited figure step from another side door and bring a gun to her neck.
Josie stopped when she felt the cold steel of a muzzle pressed into her neck.
‘Drop it,’ whispered a deep voice into her ear, close enough she could smell stale breath.
Josie held her hand up and a large tanned fist took it from her. The MPV’s side door slid open. The blank mask of Simmonds’ face appeared from the darkness, the same man as the last image from Blake’s phone. Simmonds tapped his finger on his lap. It had a distinctive gothic ring on it. The ring that had stroked Dina’s face on the television screen all those years ago. Another face appeared beside him. Caldwell.
‘We’ll take her with us,’ he said calmly and sat back disappearing from view as a hand clamped onto Josie’s face. She struggled against the chemical-soaked cloth for a few moments before she blacked out.
Blake watched a
s the man bundled the policewoman into the MPV. The MPV that contained his target Simmonds. Blood seeping from his shoulder, down his body and dripping onto the ground he staggered away.
CHAPTER 21
shutting rainer down...ray’s mission...blake’s dream…
Kamal stepped into the doorway of their office floor. Rainer sat on the far side, his face illuminated by the screen of his laptop, his head resting on clenched fists as he stared at it. Kamal could guess what he was looking at. The footage of Josie’s abduction taken by the hotel security cameras.
Kamal briefly considered turning around and going home. He and the rest of the team had already been on the receiving end of Rainer’s wrath. He was not sure he could handle another contemptuous look from him. Shame and failure had borne down on him and driven him in equal measure this day. They should have looked out for her. They didn’t and now she was gone. The one officer that had the stupidity to state the obvious - that she should not have pursued Blake without backup, ended his career with that utterance. They should have been with her. They should have backed her up.
Kamal swallowed, his head oscillating involuntarily as if to try and shake off the extent and depth of his regret.
They had found her gun and her mobile phone at the rear of the hotel. They first thought the assassin sent to kill Simmonds had got her. The hotel security recordings put paid to that theory.
Sixty hours later and there was still no sign of her. CCTV had tracked the vehicle easily enough across town but lost it when it switched to the B roads. The old man had called in every favor to pull together the biggest covert manhunt in living memory.
He had raged and threatened at any hesitation, pulverized and throttled any dissent and roared his will and no-one had stood in his way.
He had sent his entire team out onto the streets. Junkies, informants, bookies, fences, pimps, dealers, every asset high or low was squeezed until they bled information.
The fear that Rainer had put into his troops was transformed and unleashed as anger on the unsuspecting. Relationships that had been mutually conducive and conducted in a spirited banter warped into raptorial inquisition leaving the interrogated so shaken as to have no choice but to go underground or leave altogether. It was estimated that the day’s actions had resulted in the loss of over seventy percent of their high quality street assets.
The Winter Man Page 21