Break-In

by M G Leslie

The bouncer was only able to say, “What?” before two small thuds from Price’s silenced Smith and Wesson caused him to stagger back in to the room and drop to the ground.

  Price had what he described as “A thing about vests,” referring to the bulletproof variety. He’d been shot once, some years back when he was in the Parachute Regiment. Admittedly, he had sustained nothing more than a minor flesh wound – in fact it barely slowed him down at all – indeed, his commanding officer at the time, later joked that it may have even speeded him up, because it got his adrenalin pumping. However, jokes aside, Price never forgot the incident, because he’d already shot his assailant in the chest and assumed he was dead. But, the man had been wearing a bulletproof vest and was able to fire a shot back before being annihilated by half a dozen other paratroopers who had witnessed the whole incident.

  So Price’s view was, “Once bitten, twice shy.” So with that in the back of his mind, he stepped forward and fired another shot directly between the eyes of the bouncer who was now lying on his back on the floor – already dead in fact.

  Price didn’t see any point in attempting to question a bouncer. This guy was hired help and wouldn’t know anything. However, he was intrigued to see May on the floor, looking somewhat worse for wear. That said, in his business, nothing surprised him anymore, so he simply said, “Can you walk?”

  “Yes,” she replied in a subdued and rather shocked, tone.

  Price looked out of the room to check the coast was clear, “In that case follow me and stay close. If you make any noise or any sudden movements, you’ll go the same way as him. Do you understand?”

  May nodded her reply and didn’t dare to speak.

  As Price quietly and carefully led May to the window he’d used to enter the building, he decided to let the team know in case they got trigger-happy and perhaps thought he was with her under duress. So, he pushed a button on his earpiece and almost whispering, just in case someone else had managed to creep upstairs, he said, “I’m on my way and I’m in good company – they’ll be two of us exiting same way I came in – please watch our backs.”

  The SAS soldiers in the alleyway looked across at each other, nodded and then one pushed a button on his earpiece and said, “Copy that.”

  Immediately afterwards, a double click in his earpiece from the two SAS men in the club signalled that everything was clear from their point of view as well.

  As Price helped May out of the window and lowered her down using the rope he’d used to climb up, he realised that the night had actually been a huge success so far. His golden rule was, “Never count your chickens…” referring to the old adage of course, but nevertheless, so far, so good.

  It had all started just over an hour earlier. His alarm had woken him sharp at 2:30am, at which point he’d got himself ready for the night’s events. He always liked to have a coffee before something like this, just to kick his body in to action, although he was surprised on this occasion at just how bad the mini-bar instant coffee tasted and in the end resorted to drinking the cold leftover’s from his dinner.

  He had left the hotel at 3:30am, wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a light coloured t-shirt with a small rucksack slung over his shoulder. As he’d walked out of the lobby, declining the offer of a taxi, Price had turned left, out of sight of the hotel staff, and headed straight down to the main road where he’d been picked up by a van with two of the SAS men inside.

  Once inside, and after a few simple pleasantries, he’d changed in to black clothing and black rubber climbing shoes.

  As the van made its way to the club, Price and the SAS men had completed a final equipment check – guns fully operational and loaded, earpieces working and clear – everyone could hear and speak to everyone else, including the other two SAS men who had gone ahead and were already in the club.

  The drive to Club One had only taken about 15 minutes. Manila traffic is variable at best, and often very bad, but at 3:30 in the morning it had been very quiet indeed.

  When they had arrived, the driver, who was in fact Pete, had parked two blocks up from the club out of sight of the main road. He’d chosen a quiet corner where the men could disembark unseen and walk casually down to an alleyway behind the club.

  The alleyway, was a dark, partially made up road, around the width of one car, that provided access to the back of the buildings lining the main road, as well as those in the next street along. It was also where the owners of the building left their trashcans for weekly collection – so, as Price commented, it smelled like a sewerage plant.

  The two SAS men with him, guns drawn, had positioned themselves on opposite sides of the alleyway so that one had a clear view of Price and the other had a clear view of anyone else looking at Price. When they both signalled it was clear, Price had thrown a rope hook up to a metal railing on the back of the second floor of the Club One building and had used that the climb up, levering open a window with a metal bar that he had wedged in his belt. He had thought about smashing the glass, but was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get in.

  Once inside, Price had moved fast. He’d known that he probably only had a few minutes, particularly as the SAS men inside the club had told him that the bouncer was up there somewhere. So working methodically, he had moved through the rooms including the clubs small office.

  As he had been about to leave the office Price had noticed a safe in the corner. His first thought had been, this looks like something out of the 60’s – it looked very old indeed. “Very traditional,” he muttered to himself – Pete had not been exaggerating. So he’d removed the device from his bag and followed Pete’s instructions to the letter – and sure enough, a couple of minutes later, he’d heard a reassuring click as the safe unlocked itself.

  Experience told Price that, some safes must only be opened between certain times and even if you get the combination right, alarms still sound if you open them outside of that time. This meant that, the rule of thumb was to be prepared to run, before opening the door. So, with that in mind, he had put the black box back in his rucksack, checked outside in the corridor and then opened the door of the safe.

  No alarm had sounded – but Price was well aware that many organisations use silent alarms in order to catch intruders ‘in the act’ – so he had worked fast – quickly opening the safe door wide. However, the view before him had been quite a surprise. Price had never seen that much money, at least, not in cash.

  Time wasn’t on side though – so he’d taken a quick photo, found a few documents, scanned them with his mobile phone and closed the door – locking it again and being sure to replace the dial in exactly the same position he had found it.

  As he’d walked out he had turned left and found himself standing outside the soundproofed room. It was the last room to check and he had immediately realised it was different. The door looked heavy and reinforced with steal, and it was hidden away in a dark corner. A very faint light showing through the crack where the door met the doorframe suggested that someone might be inside, so he’d decided to knock, with gun drawn, and see what happened.

  Now, as he followed May and climbed out of the window, about to lower himself down to the alleyway, he heard a voice in his ear – it was clearly one of the SAS men in the club as he was shouting over the noise of the music, “The mama and a big bloke from the bar are heading upstairs – move yourself!!”

  Price threw caution to the wind and let the rope slip through his fingers – he was wearing gloves and had descended many ropes under pressure in his time in the Parachute Regiment, so he was on the ground within a second and ducking in to a dark corner. The SAS man nearest had already grabbed May and pulled her in to a shadow, whilst covering her mouth and whispering, “It’s OK, just stay quiet and you’ll be safe – I’m not here to harm you.”

  Suddenly, the silence of the evening was disturbed by a loud shout from the window, “Hey, who’s down there?” The mama-san was looking out with one of the barmen next to her – and they were
both holding guns in their hands.

  The rope was clearly visible, but Price was certain he couldn’t be seen, so he hoped they would think he was long gone. However, for some reason the barman started firing his gun at the shadows, narrowly missing Price, May and one of the SAS men. It was clearly nothing more than blind luck that he had got within a couple of feet of them, but that was too close for comfort – the other SAS man reacted in a split second, and with pin-point accuracy, even in the poor light, shot the man between the eyes, sending him flying back in to the upstairs room and killing him outright.

  The mama-san looked terrified as she jumped back inside the building – although she needn’t have done so. Unless she was directly threatening their lives, the agreement had been that she would not be harmed – after all, they might need someone to follow!

  With no emotion, one of the SAS men just said, “Let’s go before someone else turns up.”

  Meanwhile, the two men inside the club paid their bills, walked out of the front door and they all met at the van a few minutes later. As they approached, Pete stepped out of the shadows, unlocked the doors and they all got inside and set off towards the British Embassy, being sure to check for anyone following them.

  As they drove along, Price got changed back to his casual clothes and introduced May to the team, calming her down by saying that they were working for the government. Then a thought struck Pete and he said, “If they’re targeting the girl then they’re on to you mate – you need to check out of the Mandarin. Why don’t you get your stuff now whilst we watch for any hostiles?”

  “Yes, that’s a good idea,” replied Price, as Pete turned the van towards the hotel and pulled up outside in the main road a few minutes later.

  As Price ran in the front of the hotel, he walked up to the check-in desk and said, “I have to leave urgently, sorry, a family emergency. Please prepare my bill and I’ll be back with my bags in a few moments.” Then he handed the receptionist the piece of paper printed with his room number, that he had received with his key during check-in just over a week ago.

  The receptionist started to reply, but Price didn’t wait for answer – he sprinted around the corner to the lifts and upstairs to his room. However, just because he was in a hurry, he still took the same care as always when he entered his hotel room. In fact, if anything, he was even more cautious as he walked through the doorway, drawing his gun from his pocket as soon as the door had closed behind him.

  As it turned out though, he needn’t have worried – the room had not been touched – even the safe was clearly unopened. Nevertheless, he quickly threw everything in to his bags and prepared to leave the room. Before walking outside he checked the peephole in the door to see if anyone was standing outside. The coast looked clear so he opened the door and looked for real before stepping back, grabbing his bags and literally running to the lifts.

  Once at the lifts he took the first one to the ground floor and walked casually around to reception where he saw Pete chatting to the concierge and realised something was wrong. Pete excused himself as soon as Price arrived and walked over to stand next to him, but with his back to the desk so that he had a clear and uninterrupted view of the hotel entrance door.

  As Price signed the receipt to complete the check out process, Pete spoke, “You’ll be getting a cab right?”

  Without so much as a glance, Price said, “That’s the plan,” and then asked the receptionist if she could arrange one for him, which she did by hitting the bell on the desk and instructing the porter who walked back to the door and waived at a taxi parked outside.

  “Mind if I tag along with you, my friends had to go on ahead?” Pete continued.

  “No problem,” Price replied with increasing suspicion – although you would never have known from his relaxed demeanour.

  The receptionist finished checking Price out with the usual, “Please visit us again and have a safe onward journey.”

  Price simply smiled back at her and said, “Thanks,” whilst thinking, “I’d love a safe onward journey, but right now, that is looking a little unlikely.”

  As they walked out of the front of the hotel, Price could clearly see a 4x4 with blackened windows sitting across the road from the hotel. It had definitely not been there when they arrived and it was still only around 4:30am, so a very strange time to be sitting at the side of the road.

  The van with the SAS men inside, however, was gone – but given Pete’s appearance, Price presumed this was deliberate.

  Whilst waiting for the taxi to pull over to the lobby entrance and for his bags to be loaded, Price whispered in a low tone, “Nice 4x4 – the dark windows make it very difficult to know who’s inside.”

  “It doesn’t take much imagination to figure it out though,” Pete replied.

  “Quite.”

  Pete continued with a hurried explanation of the plan, “The guys are waiting a few blocks away. We’ll take the taxi and arrive at the junction where the van is waiting, and take a left turn. They will come in from the right and slide in behind us – or behind the 4x4 if it follows us. They’ll follow us all the way to The Fort where an embassy car is waiting to do the final hop.”

  “So you think that’s where they’ll try something?” asked Price.

  “Maybe. Maybe before, I guess it depends on the traffic and lights. My guess is they’ll shunt us from behind in order to get us to stop. Let’s see,” said Pete.

  “OK.”

  “I still have the team watching the club – the mama-san has not left, which means these are most likely just hired help who want to give you a surprise and show you a good time,” said Pete.

  ”Very thoughtful – I do enjoy a surprise. Do you think they brought beer and party poppers?”

  Ignoring his jokes, Pete continued, “Any hint of anything untoward and our friends will come down on them like a ton of bricks, so just keep your head down.”

  “They may not even follows us,” Price suggested, whilst looking somewhat sceptical.

  “I’m not a betting man, but I bet they do,” replied Pete.

  By this time the taxi was ready, so they got in and it set off, Pete giving the driver strict instructions on the precise route to take to drive them to The Fort.

  Their question was answered almost immediately – the 4x4 sprung to life, did a U-turn in the middle of the road and set off after them at a safe distance. Pete immediately took one of the earpieces they’d been using at the club and pushed the button on the side twice. He received two clicks in reply as confirmation of the message being received.

  A couple of minutes later they arrived at the junction Pete had described and the van turned and joined the road behind the 4x4. A few more blocks and turns later, the taxi had to stop at a set of lights. Price and Pete could see the 4x4 approaching in the reflection of a shop window. It didn’t seem to be going very fast and was slowing down, then at the last minute it seemed to keep going and hit the back of the taxi – not very hard, but hard enough for the taxi driver to curse.

  Whilst Price discreetly took his Smith and Wesson out of his pocket, Pete pushed the button on his earpiece and said, “This is it, they just hit us.”

  “GET DOWN!” was the loud reply from the SAS man driving the van that was about to arrive behind the 4x4 at speed.

  Pete grabbed Price and shoved him as hard as he dared in to the foot well of the back seat of the taxi before crouching down next to him as best he could. Then suddenly, everything seemed to happen in a flash.

  The taxi driver opened his door.

  Pete shouted, “Do not get out! Stay where you are! Stay inside the car!”

  The taxi driver glanced at Pete giving him a strange look but ignored him and continued to move.

  Pete tried one more time, saying, “Stay in the car,” in both English and the local Tagalog language. Then he lunged forward trying to grab the driver’s arm to keep him in the car.

  The driver shook Pete off, cursed at him and stepped out of the taxi and i
n to the open.

  By now all four doors of the 4x4 had opened. As the taxi driver appeared, the 4x4 driver raised a pistol and shot him in the chest twice. The taxi driver was propelled backwards by the shots, hitting the inside edge of the open driver’s door before falling to the ground.

  As the sound of the shots echoed around, bouncing off the surrounding buildings, all four men started to walk forward with their guns raised. But they were too slow – with a screech of tires the van came to a halt behind the 4x4, barely stopping in time to avoid hitting it. All four men looked around, only to be greeted by semi-automatic machine gun fire from two of the SAS men who were literally hanging out of the van’s side windows and firing their guns in a series of short bursts.

  The 4x4 occupants fell to the ground, dead.

  Price was first to exit the taxi, quickly followed by Pete. They immediately checked to see if there was any hope of saving the taxi driver – but sadly it was too late.

  “I told him to stay put,” said Pete.

  “I know. There was nothing else you could have done,” said Price as the SAS team spread out to provide cover whilst they searched the four men from the 4x4, only to find they were all carrying small amounts of cash and no ID’s. Once they had photographed the men’s faces, checked the inside of the 4x4 which was also empty and most likely stolen, they left the scene in the van, being sure to erase any of their own fingerprints from the taxi doors before departing.

  After meeting a car at The Fort as planned, they finally arrived at the British embassy, where Pete got to work. He uploaded the photos and documents Price had retrieved from the club, plus the photos of the men from the 4x4. Then he contacted London, asking them to work on the data and advise on the best way to treat May.

  SIS in London advised they should make May welcome for the night, advise her she was free to leave if she wished, but for that night at least, she would probably be safer where she was. Then after a short pause, the Chief of Staff said, “Ideally you want to convince her to stay – if she’s caught, she’ll identify you all and then you’re totally screwed. If you need to, give her some cash and send her home or something – somewhere she’s away from it all and can’t finger you.”