It was simply chilling… Major road and rail networks would be destroyed bringing the UK to a standstill; looking at the projections the loss of life would be considerable too…
There were three bomb factories already set up at three farm locations mixing the chosen fertiliser bomb ingredients in huge amounts… The chosen delivery systems for these were the last component of the operation to be put in place… This would commence from now, as soon as Donal Garret arrived at the Romford safe house… Small and medium sized vans would be used for the majority of the devices; there would also be a substantial amount of Semtex in the form of shaped charges used…
Three UK based active service units comprising of mostly lilywhites had already infiltrated maintenance, construction and service provider companies necessary for gaining the access required for such an operation. Many had been in place for upwards of two years now and this was just phase one of a long term plan to bring the UK to its knees…
The depth of cover and organisation showed a sophistication never before seen by any terrorist organisation… The end of the cold war had given PIRA and others access to no end of disaffected individuals and factions more than willing to share their knowledge and skill with any group wanting to terrorise mainland Europe or the UK or indeed, further afield if that’s what floated their particular boat…
Four major areas of operation had been created code named… EENY, MEENY, MINY and MOE set up thus…
EENY was a disused dairy farm off the A449 in Whittington Hall Lane in Kinver, Staffordshire… Two massive fertiliser bombs had been constructed here; the targets for these were the Gravely Hill motorway interchange more commonly known as Spaghetti Junction… The Catthorpe interchange, where the M6, M1 and A14 converge or an alternate, the M5/M6 junction… The ongoing construction of a new toll road for the M6 allowed the ASU members to move quite freely…
MEENY based at Wrington Hill was a gated farm with a long driveway; the buildings were half a mile from the main road which allowed the goings on to be unnoticed… It was also located just southwest of the newly opened and refurbished Bristol airport hence the reason for its vacant state… Again a fertiliser bomb had been constructed here; the proposed target for this was the Almondsbury interchange; the massive four level stack which was the junction of the M5 and M4 motorways… There was also to be two 50lb Semtex bombs earmarked for the M48 Severn river crossing and the Severn rail tunnel…
MINY had been very busy. A farm on Goodley Stock Road just south of Westerham, Essex again isolated from the main road and shielded by Lodges Wood, had prepared two fertiliser bombs. These were destined for the M25/M4 junction… One would be driven onto the eastbound carriageway of the M4 and parked under the M25 and the other was to be driven clockwise along the M25 and parked under the M4 sliproad… These two if detonated would sever the link totally; if these proved unsuitable, the alternate sites were the M4 junction to Heathrow and the M1 at Brent Cross…
Three Semtex devices had also been constructed for use on the Blackwall tunnel, the Dartford tunnel and the Isle of Sheppey Bridge…
MOE was the codename of the safehouse located in Seymer Road in Romford just off the A12… this was the home of the lilywhite codenamed Ray Wilson and of the unknown driver caught on film at Plymouth and now Harwich… The white Fiat Ducato and the red Vauxhall Carlton estate were parked on the driveway…
Donal Garret stepped aboard the fishing vessel Brandywine moored at Kilkeel, County Newry. It was 1900 and he was heading for Mostyn, North Wales… It was to be a slow trip, not docking until 0500 but that suited him. A car driven by a lilywhite would be waiting to take him to the Staffordshire farm, his plan was to inspect all three over the next two days then give a Sit’ Rep’ to his masters before moving on to his next phase, the procurement of the mentioned delivery systems…
With the assistance of BT and GCHQ the cellphone signal received from the McQueen call had been narrowed down to Essex and in particular the Romford area… The local constabulary were now in the process of searching the town concentrating on rental properties leased within the last eighteen months especially those in the name of former England International players… They were busy as Essex Police were also tasked with the Fiat Ducato and Vauxhall Carlton…
We thought the fact that the two vehicles which had been purchased rather than stolen then ringed was a chink in their armour… The DVLA based in Swansea were in the process of searching their databases, again shortlisting those vehicles registered in the names of former England players…
Chapter Eighteen
By Sunday morning the momentum gained by the previous Thursday’s events had slowed somewhat… Norman, Chris and Sarah were enjoying their weekend with their families so the office was quiet. Dillon Garvie had proved to be less forthcoming during his recent interviews, he was now waiting to be processed then relocated to a certain pretty island off England’s south coast…
We were still unaware of the injured lilywhites identity as he was still very much in a coma after surgery in Germany and according to the recent report his prognosis was not the best…
It was safe to say we were also a little disappointed with the outcome in Holland; the Dutch had successfully located the PIRA safehouse although the occupants were long gone… The AIVD had also commented on the cleanliness of the property, everything had been wiped…
Charlie and I were discussing PIRA’s use of the lilywhites and the advantage this had given them so far when my desktop computer informed me that I had received an Email…
“It seems we two aren’t the only ones working on a Sunday… Finally we have something…”
The computer screen showed an image of a male in his late teens or early twenties standing at what appeared to be a College or University reception desk. The name, hand written under the image, said Brendan O’Keefe, 15/07/72… so, we had a name and date of birth for our German gunslinger… The rest of the information was interesting too. The picture was from CCTV cameras at Belfast Metropolitan College and dated October 1991, he had just commenced his second year of a five year engineering course… O’Keefe had dropped out six months into his third year…
“You should have stayed in College yer nasty wee bugger…!”
As Charlie had been reading the printed sheet I had handed to him,
I opened another Email…
“Charlie…? O’Keefe died twenty minutes ago…. Another dried up lead…”
*****
The Two Essex Police motorway patrol officers had noticed the white Fiat van join the M25 at junction 28 heading clockwise, they noticed most things… The officer in the passenger seat, Dave Monk was just polishing off his second pork pie as they both were enjoying their break during a quiet Sunday lunchtime suddenly the driver sat up in his seat.
“Hey Dave what was that bulletin about a white Fiat van…? Connected to the Chelmsford murder wasn’t it…?”
“Yeah Pete, that’s right...”
“Right, put your belt on…! A white Fiat Ducato van has just joined the motorway; let’s see what he’s up to…”
As he spoke the flamboyant liveried two toned yellow and blue Battenberg-chequered BMW accelerated rapidly onto the M25… The speedometer showed the Police vehicle effortlessly manage then pass 70mph. Officer Monk noticed the van first…
“There he is Pete… About a mile and a half up ahead…” “Got ‘im… Call it in Davie boy…”
“Control… Whiskey Tango X ray 44…” “Go ahead 44…”
“In pursuit of a white Fiat Ducato van… Subject vehicle may have been used during the Chelmsford murder, over…”
“Roger 44… Be advised the driver may be armed and dangerous, over…”
“Yeah… Roger control… Hold for index… Lima one four one Hotel Foxtrot Yankee…”
“Roger… Hold position and wait further instructions.”
“Roger control… Pete, pull back a few yards… Control wants us to hold…”
Pete Matthews ha
d been driving high speed Police vehicles for ten years, seven on this particular stretch of motorway. He had the pleasure to come across “A few right nutters” in his time and was not about to jeopardise his pension or deprive his family of a husband or father by playing Mad Max…
Officer Jasmina Ochoa punched the index number into her computer, after a few seconds something very interesting happened… Her green screen began to flash… Having been a police radio operator for three years, she knew it denoted something serious…
“Sir…?”
Her Sergeant was immediately in attendance then equally immediately animated…
“Instruct them to follow discreetly and not to pull them over… I know it’s Sunday and quiet but advise them to position themselves a vehicle or two behind… they’re both good coppers, they’ll know what that means… I need to get on the blower to SO12 and 13… Well go on…!”
“Yes sir…! Whiskey Tango X Ray 44…?” “Go ahead control…”
“You are instructed to follow discreetly and advised to position yourself two or three vehicles back is that understood, over…?”
The two traffic officers looked at each other seriously then Matthews geared down and slowed to 55mph…
“You know what that means Dave don’t you…?” “I do… It’s not just murder they’re wanted for…”
“Ok, let’s start to relay our position every mile or two…”
At 1240 my cellphone rang… “Section Chief…”
“Iain it’s Steve… We’ve got your white van… Two Essex motorway patrol officers are tailing it now along the M25… There should be a chopper airborne by now too, Frank and I have both sent a car… My plan is to tail the bastards and see what they’re up to…”
“Yeah good idea, let’s see how much rope we can give them… Hang on… Charlie wants to know where they were spotted….?”
“Junction 28 from Romford not Brentwood… As we suspected…” “Yes that’s right… Do the traffic officers know the score Steve…?”
“No… I want to let them know what the risks may be in case something goes off before we get there… They are experienced enough, they are relaying their position every mile or so…”
“Yeah do it… I’m in the office so let me know if you need anything…”
“Will do Chief…”
Edward O’Boylan and Robert Gannon were on their way to the farm, they wanted to be sure everything was in place for the arrival of Donal Garret…
He had travelled without being tagged from Mostyn on Friday morning having been picked up by Kevin Rafferty. Garret had already visited Staffordshire and Avon, Westerham was to be his final stop before submitting his Sit Rep… If replacements were needed, now would be the time then hopefully he would receive the final green light. After that he would head to the safehouse in Holland…
The two lilywhites had thought they had outwitted everyone… Of course, just like Garret, they were unaware of O’Keefe’s end in Germany… Garret however had contingencies for all the new boys, as far as he was concerned they were all expendable… That was the point of deploying them on this operation. In his eyes none of the very modern PIRA members were true believers anyway, no, to him, just like Donna McQueen, they were a means to an end… A gloriously spectacular and fiery end... There would always be more from where they came from.
O’Boylan and Gannon had made two fundamental errors… The vehicles, both should have been disposed of, particularly the van, the Catlin killing which had been planned and executed by Gannon and O’Keefe. To them the public murder had been a statement, to Garret it had been a colossal mistake… The campaign was the bigger and only picture not some stupid money grabbing tart who couldn’t keep her knickers on… she should have been disposed of at home in the bath or some such…?
It was fair to say O’Boylan and Gannon AKA George Cohen and Norman Hunter could very shortly find themselves off the team…
SO12 and 13 joined the M25 at junction 31, as Special Branch was driving an unmarked Sierra Cosworth RS500 they took the lead. This allowed the liveried BMW to drop further back and be replaced by an unmarked Rover Vitesse Coupe of Kent Constabulary; again this would further aid the shadowing process of the subject vehicle…
Dedicated air support was now in place too from Surrey’s Air Operations Unit… It was decided this would be the best option as Kent share their air support with Essex… The helicopter was based at RAF Odiham in Hampshire giving the op an added benefit… The base was also the Headquarters of the UK’s Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, a real asset if we required certain serious individuals to start yomping through the undergrowth…
The Fiat turned off the motorway at junction 5 and joined the A21 heading south… After a short distance the subject vehicle turned right to travel west along the A25 Westerham Road. All three vehicles slowed at this point allowing the van to pull away slightly… At 2000 feet the Police chopper had the target firmly in its reticle… on entering the picture postcard village of Brasted the van turned left again heading south along Chart Lane… The Sierra continued on passed the junction allowing the Rover to follow. It was now that the Police Helicopter backed off, an aerial presence could so and so often did give the game away…
The Ducato passed two very expensive properties then turned into a courtyard. The large green sign told the officers the buildings had once belonged to an Equine breeder, the For Sale/To Let sign had recently been papered over by the Estate Agent and cursory inspection showed stables in an ongoing state of reconstruction with two horse boxes against a west facing wall…
The Rover continued along the lane to a dead end outside a beautiful house with a fountain in the centre of the driveway… Well, nobody had said the IRA were poor, this was a very select area. Having the cover of wealth and good standing has always been used by the not so godly…
A little after 1400 my office phone rang… “Section Chief…”
“Iain we have tailed them to an old stable complex in the Kent village of Brasted, 2O miles west of Maidstone… Frank and I have approached the property opposite and spoken to the owners; it appears there has been movement here for six or seven months…”
“Ok, give us the address Steve; we’ll check the Land Registry database…”
“West Kent Stables, Chart Lane, Brasted, Kent…”
I passed the note to Charlie who logged on to my desktop… “What else…?”
“Well there is a good deal of cover for surveillance and it also seems that the property backs on to the local golf course… I’m confident we can set up a control choke point without being noticed back toward the village… when the two targets stop milling around the courtyard we’ll set up audio visual… I need you to contact Colchester… we could do with a couple of specialists from the 2nd Battalion of the Paras maybe…?”
“Ok, I’ll get on to that now… Steve, you have Tactical Command… Are you comfortable with that…?”
The phone was quiet; clearly Steve was weighing up his options…
“Yes… That’s fine for now… I think you and Charlie should pay a visit… We need to see whether pre-emptive neutralization is in order or let them carry on with a shadow… If it’s the former, we’ll need to put a call in to the Home Sec’…
“Right… We’ll be on our way… See you soon…”
I called the Duty Officer…
“Stuart…? We need you to contact Robin, let him know Charlie and I are on our way to Kent… We have an op in progress and we need him to speak to the Home Sec to grant military support… Then ask him to ring me…”
“Right away chief…”
Charlie had finished with the database…
“I’ve got a name for the stables… Graham Rix”
“Well that confirms it then… We better put the ’82 England squad on the board too…”
The desk phone rang again… It was Robin… “What do we have…?”
“Two males in a van matching the descriptions for the Chelmsford h
it have been tailed to a Stable in Kent… The property fits the demographic, as in the lease in in the name of a known footballer from the 1982 squad and it’s quite secluded from the main roads…”
“I’ve given Steve Case TACCOM… He wants us to have a look see…”
“I see… You want the Military onsite I take it…?”
“Yes sir, if you could speak to the Home Sec to release a Tactical Assault Group from Colchester also to have 621 EOD on alert too… I would also recommend to him that the threat board should be escalated from Special Black to Amber…”
“Will do… Ring Norman or Sarah, have either or both report to the Birdcage… Leave Chris; let him enjoy what’s left of his weekend with his wife and children… I’ll call you back on your cellphone.”
“Ok but I’ll let Chris know… He’ll be annoyed of he’s kept out of the loop.”
Bearings: The Compass Trilogy Part One Page 17