“Customer Service Award for Outstanding Performance”, “Highways Agency South East Area 1993”
Case collected himself before continuing:
“Business looks healthy Mr Griffiths… It’s a very competitive market particularly in London… Is this the same firm who own the Ford Dealership in Sevenoaks…? My sister has bought her last two Fiestas there, she swears by them…”
“Yes we are… We own another three dealerships in Crawley, Borehamwood and Maidstone too, plus an insurance repair centre in Sittingbourne… But here was the first, my Grandfather set it up when he was demobbed in ’46 and my Father branched out in the ‘70’s…”
Griffiths placed the files on the table… “I require these back, of course…”
“Oh I’m not taking them; I’ll just jot the info down… Then, if I may, I’ll have a quick look at the garage area then we’ll be off…”
Ten minutes later a wholly convinced Inspector Case said goodnight to Griffiths…
“Right lads… I want him followed as of now, 24/7… I want all the dealerships watched and I want a couple of officers to have a look at the business in Sittingbourne…”
“Sir…?”
“Did you not see the award on his desk…? The one from the Highways Agency…? Also I think the vehicle in the spray booth could be our missing Granada and why did he look so worried…?”
“Sir and why was a nearly new Rover 600 in here for a service when surely it would go to the dealership who sold it…?”
“Correct John… You two shouldn’t look so worried… If they hadn’t had done a runner we would never have sussed this place… Now, get on it lads…”
Steve Case climbed wearily into his car and headed for Compass…Well, the SO12 office there had a sofa bed too…
Chapter Twenty Four
To say that Chris and I were surprised to see Steve return was an understatement…He had looked completely done in when he had left us three hours earlier, however, a fresh shirt and shower plus a renewed sense of purpose had definitely restored him…
“What gives Steve…?”
“I think we have something…I’m waiting for corroboration but I’m convinced it’s concrete…”
He gave us all the details: the safehouse and the garage. We had to agree, Griffiths outward display of anxiety plus the subtle indicators of Sittingbourne and the award certainly weren’t going to do him any favours.
The activities of Marward, Riddell and McCauley also indicated that there must be further ASU’s in place too.
“Well, now I know why my bloke in Hendon came up empty…”
“Yes Chris… He was one of the first we investigated… We know of him, useful isn’t he…?”
“Er…Yeah…?”
Chris looked surprised; clearly he believed that his man in Hendon was exclusive.
Before Steve had returned, Chris and I had been concentrating on major UK road junctions which we believed to be vulnerable to attack. Clearly there were the usual suspects such as Birmingham, Manchester and London, we however were more concerned with the lesser known but equally important areas of congestion. These would be easier targets in relation to reconnaissance and deployment. We had also decided to delegate the rail network; established rail line choke points appeared to be more rural and isolated. The viaducts and tunnels used by our network ran cross country and rarely ran in tandem to our road network…
On this point we were also waiting on the Royal Marine base at Chivenor. We had asked their 1IC a hypothetical; “Where would he and his men attack our road and rail links…?” Having a military perspective we felt was crucial. We had also brought Bill Mortimer and 621 EOD into our confidence, we felt this would allow us to search these vulnerable sites quicker. Equally, his lads would ultimately be responsible for diffusing any such devices which we now felt were inevitable, so to bring them in, so to speak, we felt was right.
“I’ll be staying in the office tonight so we can burn the midnight oil a bit. I’ve spoke to the Commander, we’re going to hit the garage mob-handed at 0900, intercept the service staff and interview all of them. Forensics is still at the house, so far they have nothing. I’ve also got three officers from the Met reviewing the images for London heading out to the M4 and M1…”
“Steve, do you need any manpower for Sittingbourne…? How about the motorway traffic cameras…?”
“We are a little thin Chief, what with the ports and farmhouse searches… It would be appreciated…”
“Right then… Chris…? Get hold of Snipe; have him visit the Highways offices in Leeds…”
“CCTV from say 1530…?”
“Yeah, that should do it… I’ll get on to Cormorant and have him do the same at Birmingham, what with the police searches there; they’ll appreciate the extra pair of hands… Further south Steve…?
“There is a site near Northampton which can cover the M1, M11 and M40 also the southern section of the M6 to Coventry…”
“OK… I’ll have Kestrel on her way there too…”
My desk phone rang: “Yes Stuart…?”
“Chief…? I have a DS Green for Inspector Case…” “Put him through here Stu’… Steve, a DS Green…?” “Ah yes… Thankyou… Maybe we have something…”
Chris walked to Abby’s desk and called Snipe, I used Charlie’s office to instruct Cormorant and Kestrel.
We congregated back in my office…
“Right Steve, they’re on their way… Anything else, just say the word…”
“Thanks Iain… Ok, DS Green has camera coverage of the Rover 600 heading west on the A4 then joining the M4. Traffic cameras then pick them up passing West Drayton, Windsor and Slough. The lads are waiting for a call back from Reading and Swindon… I think it’s fair to say they headed along the M4… Back home maybe…?”
“That would be nice… Somehow though I get the feeling we’re not that lucky…”
Chris agreed with a degree of resignation… “No…I don’t either.”
Steve replied somewhat unconcerned…
“Come on… What’s in that neck of the woods…?”
“What…? Apart from a couple of major motorway interchanges, a rather large road bridge over and a rather long rail tunnel under the River Severn, Steve…?”
Steve looked a little embarrassed…
“Oh yes… I see…”
“I may be able to speed things up a bit in Sittingbourne…”
I pulled a business card out of my top drawer and dialled the cellphone number…
Steve gave me a quizzical look: “What have you got there…?
“Chief Constable of Kent’s mobile number… A very nice lady, she laid on coffee and sandwiches for us at Brasted when you and Frank went off romping in Romford…”
“Oh… I see…” Steve had repeated…
Clearly he didn’t, and he was dead on his feet now. I informed Anne Pendleton about Sittingbourne and what we needed regarding the insurance repair garage… She agreed that a certain degree of snooping was required; officers would be sent first thing the following morning.
“Right Steve… All we are waiting on is DS Green’s report regarding the M4… It’s gone eleven, get in that office and get your head down or I’ll personally boot you along Victoria back to the Yard…”
With a smile he replied simply… “Yes Chief…”
Chris and I decided to concentrate on searching the Avonmouth area… A Highways Agency vehicle would not look out of place parked adjacent to a bridge nor a Railtrack van next to a rail tunnel but surely they would not travel so far…?
Were we looking at the right targets but concentrating on the wrong delivery systems…? There had to be more… DS Green rang back shortly before midnight and confirmed target vehicle sightings along the M4 as far as junction 18 for the A46 however it was unclear whether the vehicle was driven north or south from that point.
*****
I was awoken a little after 0100 by the duty officer…
“Sorry Chief… I have the Duty Sergeant from Weston Super Mare…”
“What…?”
“He says he has the target vehicle on CCTV heading north on the M5…”
I let out a long sigh…
“Ok… Put him through please Stuart…” “Hello… Is that Compass…?”
“Yes… Compass Section Chief speaking…”
“Oh right… Sorry for the hour sir but I was told any information was imperative…”
“That right Sergeant…?” “Cooper sir…”
“Ok Sergeant Cooper what have you got for us…?
“Lovely images of the Rover 600 heading north on the M5… We have stills timed at 1754, which is on the A371, joining the M5 northbound at 1759 and again crossing the Oldbridge River at 1811… If your Duty Officer could give us your fax number sir, I’ll have them over to you. We also have copies ready for a courier…”
“Excellent Sergeant Cooper, thank you… I’m sure you now know this means your Constabulary will be more heavily involved now…?”
“Yes Chief… I do… Well, a bit of overtime never goes amiss…”
“I appreciate the effort Sarg… I’ll have the Duty Officer give you all the help you need…”
“Goodnight Chief…”
Chris popped his head around my door… “I thought I was on call…?”
“Yep… Never mind, I have a feeling the next call isn’t too long away. Avon and Somerset have the vehicle heading north on the M5… It joined at Weston…”
“That means we have a search area a hell of a lot smaller than we thought…” Chris had said this as he walked to my office wall with the large scale map of the United Kingdom affixed to it… I was waiting for the penny to drop, which it did rather loudly…
“Oh fuck…! There’s a friggin’ airport right in the centre of our search area…!”
“Yeah… I wondered when you’d realise…”
“Oh well, another short night followed by a long day… Might as well sort some coffee…”
“No not yet… The day will begin fast enough; we’ll get our heads down while we can Chris… Let Stuart collate the incoming… We’ll begin again at 0630…”
*****
The day began at 0610 with a telephone call from the Dutch AIVD. They had been watching the berthing space for an expensive sports yacht owned by a well-known Amsterdam sex trade operator by the name of Koenraad Stegen, a name which Sarah had used that previous evening. The yacht “Lady Gulya” had departed Dordrecht marina at approximately 1930 local time and was not due back until later that afternoon. Stegen was renowned for hosting parties of a rather sordid nature aboard, however on this occasion he had left for the UK. Although he had not been more elaborate with his destination it was thought a marina along the east coast was favoured. Speaking to Customs and Excise they had mentioned that there was a rather nice facility along the coast from Clacton-on-Sea which saw rather a lot of traffic from such vessels… Brightlingsea…
A discussion between Special Branch and the Coastguard offices based in Dover had also revealed that the vessel had relayed her position throughout the crossing and had also acted correctly when crossing the traffic separation system. She had indeed moored at Brightlingsea: for all of fifteen minutes…She was now at this very moment making ten knots, heading easterly back toward the European mainland… A further conversation with the Royal Navy was a little less forthcoming: the yacht had not at any time violated any law and although the “Lady Gulya” was in English waters, there was no reason for her to be heaved to and boarded. This of course, Stegen was well aware of…
What would be the point…? I thought. There would be nothing on board to indicate a passenger had ever been carried and there would certainly be nothing aboard to incriminate Captain, crew or owner…
This particular adventure was over; it was time to turn our attention to more immediate matters… There were ferries en route from Holland due to dock at Hull for 0800 and Newcastle for 0900 but even more pressing was the arrival at Harwich for 0630. All the field officers had called in and were in position, we also had a greater uniformed presence at the ports too. We were confident that if any of the three had travelled conventionally we would spot them. The fact that the AIVD hadn’t had a positive at their end the previous night was another matter entirely…
Before Stuart finished his shift he had brought up the overnight communications: There were four sitting on my desk…
The DVLA had sent information regarding two Mercedes Vito vans which fitted the profile, both red in colour and both bought in the Birmingham area by a man known as Alan Brazil. The index numbers had been circulated and were now part of the active investigation. The file also held the information of the green Rover 825i Sterling bought from another auction in Bromsgrove, again under the name of Alan Brazil but more importantly this time the two sheets of A4 paper were held together with a paperclip which also had a grainy image of the buyer attached. The footnote comment was from a local uniformed police officer who had the nous to check the CCTV…
Two of the other files related to motorway CCTV images capturing the Blue Rover 600, one from Avon and Somerset Police, the other from West Mercia Constabulary whose Central Motorway Police Group had secured images through the Highway Agency of the target vehicle right up to junction 6 of the M5… Which way had they travelled along the A449…? However now we could narrow the search area again to shorter distances along the M5 corridor…
The fourth file was general communication from our UK field officers and a message from Blackbird stating that there were no detection cameras in place at North Shields, marvellous…
Chris and Steve entered my office clearly rejuvenated. I brought them both up to speed then we began on the files:
“The image taken from the CCTV…? It’s James McCauley, I’m certain of it. He’s definitely one of the three from Chiswick…”
“He’s been a busy boy hasn’t he…? Trips to Birmingham now the Bristol area too, well at least now we have a face for a codename…”
My cellphone rang…
“Section Chief…? Right, you’re certain…? Ok Puffin we’ll cross it off the list. We need you at the private marina in Brightlingsea. Have a chat to the staff there and see what the local lads have come up with… Check back in at 1200…”
Both men looked at me expectantly…
“Harwich is a negative… Nothing from passport control and nothing on the CCTV…”
“Which is next…?”
“Hull at 0800 then it’s your neck of the woods at 0900… Incidentally, Blackbird has said there are no det’ cam’s at North Shields…?”
Chris’s face answered the question but for the sake of letting off steam…
“Fuckin’ Catlin… How much damage has that bastard caused…!”
“Yeah I know, Chris… Look, we have armed officers at the port and their photos have been circulated even the port security staff are up to speed. If everyone is switched on we’ll get them…All the routes are covered…”
“Chief, I have Chief Superintendent Morgan from West Midlands Brierley Hill Police for you…”
“Thanks Abby… Yes Chief, how can I help ma’am…?”
“I’ve already passed the information to Special Branch however I was asked to inform you too… We’ve discovered the blue Rover 600…”
“That’s excellent news…I know we had INTEL up to junction six of the M5…”
“Yes that’s what we have. We found it in Stourbridge, Waitrose carpark of all places… Forensics has had it since the early hours and have taken an interesting mix from the tyre treads and wheel arches… Definitely agricultural, whether active or otherwise is yet to be discovered… We’ll have Police 41 airborne by 0815…”
I had a mental image of the surrounding areas around Stourbridge, miles of rolling green fields and isolated farms; air support or not, the task of discovering their whereabouts would be daunting…
“Thanks Chief, we also think he or
they stopped somewhere in the Avon or Bristol area too and dropped one or two passengers… Maybe your forensics team can pick something up from the vehicles carpets or upholstery…?”
Her voice gave her away, she wasn’t hopeful…
“Yes maybe… If there is anything to find, do I inform your office…?”
“SO12 or 13 as normal ma’am, in case we need to move fast…We have office based Special Branch, D.I. Steve Case however as you’ll appreciate he’s very busy but your call will always be welcome…”
“Very well Chief, until the next time, goodbye…”
Chris was looking at me hopefully…
Bearings: The Compass Trilogy Part One Page 26