The Badge & the Pen Thrillers

by Roger A Price

  Vinnie turned to Jim Day and asked, ‘So, who is the person at the top of this particularly slimy tree?’

  ‘You’ll not believe it when I tell you. But sorry Vinnie, I can’t tell you until you are en route, and even then you’ll be only one of a selected few on the team who will know — until he reaches the custody suite, that is.’

  ‘Sounds fascinating, but how can the arrest team risk assess the nominal prior to the strike?’

  ‘They’ve been told that the nominal is a male in his forties, well-built and known to carry firearms, so it will be a fully pre-planned firearms operation until he is safely arrested; then it will be downgraded to a non-firearms job,’ Jim said.

  ‘I bet you are pissed off at missing it,’ Vinnie said.

  ‘Not really, the strike as you know is all show really, the hard work starts afterwards. It’ll give me all the time I need to give this armed robbery my full attention, after which, one of my DSs can take that over.’

  Harry and Vinnie said their goodbyes as Jim Day rushed off. Vinnie hadn’t forgotten the pressures of working in a busy divisional CID office, and he sure as hell didn’t miss it.

  ‘When you’ve read the OP order, pass it over,’ Harry said.

  ‘Sure thing Harry, but you’re not considering coming too, are you?’

  ‘Why not? I’m dying to know who the main target is, and I promise I’ll not get in the way.’

  Vinnie smiled. It would do Harry good to leave the desk behind for a while, especially when he’d have no responsibility.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘Are you sure this is the right size?’ Harry asked, as Vinnie struggled to fasten the stab-resistant vest for him.

  ‘They don’t shrink, Harry. When’s the last time you wore one?’

  ‘Never have. Superintendents don’t generally need them. They must have issued me the wrong size originally.’

  Vinnie very much doubted that, but didn’t say so. One last yank and he had the final snap buckle shut.

  ‘It’s no good, I can’t breathe, I’ll have to wear it loose,’ Harry said.

  ‘If anyone else…’

  ‘I know, but they won’t know, and to be fair, by the time we walk in the boys and girls in blue will have the place secured.’

  ‘Fair point,’ Vinnie said, as he looked at his watch; 11.15 am, time to go and give the arrest and search teams a final briefing. Not that they needed it, but it would give them a chance to introduce themselves.

  By 11.30 am everyone was heading to their vehicles to drive to a forward RV, which was a local fire station car park about five minutes from the target address. Vinnie drove his Volvo as Harry checked that their personal radio was working and then had a further leaf through the operational order.

  ‘Everything alright?’ Vinnie asked.

  ‘Yeah, just checking the map of the target premises, a disused mill with one driveway in and out. We’ll have to be quick.’

  Vinnie knew that superintendents didn’t get out too often, but it had obviously been some time since Harry had been on a raid of any sort. Vinnie knew that those trained in rapid entry would only take seconds to breach the premises. Some would go through the front door, some through the rear door, which incidentally was a fire door and would put up the most resistance, and some were going to go through the front frosted windows — partly to shock and disorientate those inside. He knew it wasn’t uncommon for targets to foul themselves on such jobs. He was sure he would have; though he wouldn’t be in an illegal brothel, keeping frightened and trafficked women, in the first place.

  As soon as they arrived at the fire station, Vinnie texted Jim Day to tell him and seconds later a photo message arrived on his phone, followed by a text. The main target was Cornel Babik, a Romanian citizen in his forties. Six feet tall with a stocky build. His name meant nothing to Vinnie. Harry said he’d heard the name, but as they both worked homicide as opposed to organised crime, they could be forgiven.

  Vinnie knew that the lead entry team — those attacking the front door — and the firearms team would all have received the same text. Vinnie had a quick chat with them, although they all knew their responsibilities inside-out. The firearms team were obviously going in first and as soon as they had located Babik, the lead entry team would make the arrest, search the prisoner and get him out of there as quickly as possible whilst the rest of the teams moved in.

  Ten minutes later Vinnie and Harry joined the teams manning a discreet cordon around the mill. The window and rear door entry teams were poised, ready for the go. Vinnie watched from a distance as the armed entry team forced the front door and were in within seconds. There was a lot of shouting and then seconds later their radio burst into life. ‘Alpha team leader to control, target one not present, repeat, target one negative.’

  Vinnie shouted into the radio, ‘Control received. All units; strike, strike, strike.’

  Five minutes later, Vinnie drove his Volvo into the car park at the front of the disused mill. There was a line of marked police cars and a van already there. He and Harry got out and made their way to what was left of the front door. Outside stood a uniformed cop with a clipboard, clearly maintaining a scene log. Vinnie reminded the officer of their surnames and ranks before they entered.

  Beyond the door was a long corridor, which led to a set of steel stairs. On the first floor landing they found themselves standing in a large space of about twenty-five metres in length and fifteen metres in depth. At the end, by the gable end of the building, was a door which must once have been an office of some kind, probably a supervisor’s. The floor had long been stripped of machinery, and adorned with roping and sheets to create makeshift partitions and rooms. There were several officers walking to and fro with purpose. Vinnie looked up and could see a couple of sky lights covered in bird droppings, which limited the illumination and gave the whole place a dank, subdued ambience.

  ‘What a shithole,’ Harry said.

  Vinnie was about to reply when the sheet from the first partition opened and a female officer came out, carefully escorting a terrified-looking young woman of eastern Mediterranean appearance, skinny, with long black hair tied back. She wore a tracksuit that was far too big for her. As the sheet swung to, Vinnie caught a glimpse inside the makeshift room. There was a mattress on the floor, with some clothes suspended by string across the angle from the outside wall and the rope which served as a divider from the next compartment. The sheet hanging from the rope was fastened to the concrete floor with shoes and other objects, obviously designed to stop the makeshift wall from billowing. Vinnie turned to face Harry. ‘Now that’s a shithole; I can’t believe they use those areas as boudoirs, and make the women actually live in them.’

  ‘The kind of monsters who use those rooms as boudoirs aren’t the kind to give a damn where they are, and as for making the girls live there; it’s beyond belief,’ Harry replied.

  ‘No escape from their hell. Not even a different corner where they can separate the horror of being forced to do God knows what, from the horror of their enslavement,’ Vinnie said, realising that there was probably little difference between the two for the poor women.

  As they slowly made their way towards the office at the end of the room, more women were being led gently away from their sheeted hells. They all looked to be of similar age — late teens to mid-twenties — and of similar appearance. He noted something else as well; they all had that far-away stare. The one that stretches forever, yet looks nowhere.

  Heroin. He was sure of it. It was probably how Babik kept them all compliant.

  They reached the office door and Vinnie noted that Harry looked how he felt. Becalmed and saddened beyond measure. He had seen many things that he hadn’t wanted to, whilst a policeman, but today’s images were up there on the top shelf. Vinnie started to feel unclean.

  Before they could open the office door, it opened from within and the DS running the investigation on the ground came out hurriedly. She shut the door behind her on seeing
Vinnie and Harry. This snapped Vinnie’s mind back into focus.

  ‘A quick word, sir, before you come in here,’ the DS said.

  ‘I’m the observer: Vinnie, you carry on,’ Harry replied.

  ‘Call me Vinnie, and what have we got in there?’

  The DS reminded them that her name was Susan Grady, and then carried on. ‘In here is what you might call the madam. She is a local who says she has only been working for Babik a few months. Her name is Jody Watson and she’s got loads of minor form. She used to be a working girl herself. She says she was terrified of Babik and really wanted to quit once she realised that all the women were trafficked, but was too scared to.’

  Vinnie could feel what was coming next, and pre-empted it. ‘All very charming, Susan, but why is that sorry excuse for a human not already in handcuffs awaiting the van that will take her to her new home?’

  ‘That’s what I wanted to ask you.’ Susan explained that as soon as she cautioned Watson, she had spat out pretty much what she had just repeated. And then made an offer.

  ‘Go on,’ Vinnie said.

  ‘She’s asking not to be arrested, and in return she’ll be our star witness. She says she’ll give us enough to show us it’s not a bluff, and then if CPS agree she’ll give us all we could ever need to nail Babik.’

  ‘She’s obviously been around the courtroom herself a few times.’

  ‘All I’m suggesting is that we start off treating her as a witness. We can always lock her up later, if we choose. But if we lock her up first, there’ll be no going back. It’ll be a brief straight away, followed by “no comment” and a ticking custody clock.’

  Susan had made a valid point. Vinnie asked her to give him a minute and she nodded and headed back inside the office. He turned to face Harry. ‘OK observer, what do you think?’

  ‘Highly irregular, we should nick her and charge her with everything we can prove and then, if she wants to turn Queen’s evidence for a reduced sentence, so be it.’

  ‘I agree, Harry, but I can see one small problem.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Babik is not here and according to the intelligence brief we were given, no one knows where he is. He just turns up here as and when, and as soon as details of the raid become public, he’ll be long gone.’

  ‘Good point. Your call.’

  Thanks for the backing, Vinnie thought but didn’t say. ‘OK, let’s try it. But any deal will have to depend on us getting hold of Babik, and quickly.’

  This time Harry nodded his agreement and they both walked into the office. Inside was a grubby space, but nowhere near as grubby as the spaces occupied by the girls. There was a camp bed at one end of the large office, next to a makeshift kitchenette, and a table and chairs at the other end. Sitting on one of the chairs was a white woman in her thirties, fat and unkempt, wearing elasticated jeans and a jumper. She sat crossed-legged, smoking a cigarette.

  Vinnie introduced both Harry and himself and then told the woman, who confirmed her name, what the DS had suggested, adding, ‘It’s all about trust, isn’t it?’

  ‘I know that, and I know I’m hardly in the best place, but if you nick me I’ll say fuck all and come up with a crock of shite if this ever gets to court. Perhaps I too am a victim here?’

  Right at that moment Vinnie wanted to knock this poor excuse for a woman into next week. Not that he ever had, or would, hit a woman. But Jody Watson was barely human, let alone female. He breathed in deeply. ‘Let’s cut out the bullshit; I can’t guarantee you all you are asking, but I can start off that way.’

  ‘I’m listening,’ Watson said.

  ‘If you can give us Babik quickly, before he finds out, then I can at least go to the CPS with something solid.’

  ‘Ok, I can give you Babik, I’m sure of that, and he’s close, for the moment. Then when you have him, I can give you the rest. All the proof you’ll need. I’ll be the best witness you ever, or never, had.’

  ‘Ok, let’s start you off as a witness,’ Vinnie said.

  ‘Great, but not here, any of Babik’s men could turn up at any time. Get me out of here and once I’m safe I’ll tell where he spends most of his afternoons.’

  Vinnie asked Susan to arrange transport for the witness, but she suggested that he and Harry take Jody to the nick in their car; it would be quicker than waiting for a plain CID vehicle. Vinnie agreed and Susan said she would finish off searching the office, then join them at the station.

  ‘Once we have her in a witness interview room she’s all yours, Susan, it’s your gig,’ Vinnie assured her. Susan smiled and Harry took hold of Watson’s arm. They headed out of the building and towards Vinnie’s Volvo. He was glad to get out of the place.

  Chapter Twelve

  Harry suggested he should drive the car and that Vinnie sit in the back seat with Watson. Even though she was not under arrest, it would be safer that way, Vinnie realised. If she tried to make a run for it, she would soon be under arrest. And the back seat would give him a further chance to build a rapport with her. That was one of the hardest parts of the job sometimes; having to befriend those who made your skin crawl.

  Those who assaulted women were a good example. They often — but not always — came in two classes; the big steroid-pumped macho-men and the snivelling insignificants who only felt powerful when dominating anyone weaker than themselves. Some of the latter were often pitiful and weak beyond belief; not what you might expect. Fake empathy or sympathy was often the way to open them up. Hearing these beasts admit what they had done was the reward. Vinnie decided to try a similar approach with Watson.

  It wouldn’t take Harry long to drive the few miles back into the centre of Preston, but as soon as Vinnie started talking he saw Harry’s eyes in the driver’s rear view mirror, registering an understanding. He also saw the speedometer drop down to 25.

  ‘Look, I’m sure we can swing this with the CPS, especially when we get our hands on Babik. I understand more than you think; it must have been a nightmare working for him,’ Vinnie started.

  ‘You have no idea, at first I thought it would be fun, and he was paying me a grand a week. Back in the day, I’d have had to sell my arse to earn that kinda money,’ Watson said.

  Vinnie smiled while inwardly cringing. ‘When did it turn sour?’

  ‘Almost straight away. He said after the girls were burnt out he would probably be moving on, as he wasn’t sure if he could replace them. It was how he stayed ahead of you lot, I guessed. He said I would then receive a bonus, but if I didn’t do as he asked he’d chain me up, and offer me as a special for 24 hours to some of his special clients.’

  ‘Special clients?’

  ‘Trust me, you don’t want to know.’

  Vinnie took a glance out of the side window for a moment’s respite, and noted that they were still in the industrial estate, but away from the all the other units. There was grass on both sides of the road and it looked as if the brown-belt area was being extended. The road was dotted with many junctions that only led a few metres before ending; yet to be developed. A couple of hundred metres ahead he could see the main exit from the site, where it joined a major road on the edge of Ribbleton, an easterly district of Preston. He turned back to face Watson.

  ‘How confident are you that we can get hold of Babik straight away?’

  ‘Very, and he won’t be far away.’

  ‘How are you so sure? I thought he was a very cautious man.’

  ‘He is, but it’s Tuesday afternoon.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘Look, as soon as we are safely in the nick, I’ll tell you, I promise.’

  ‘Be an act of good faith if you told us now. I can have the cavalry on his case straight away. And in any event, you’re safe now.’

  Vinnie then saw Watson’s eyes widen as she looked over his shoulder. She had a faraway gaze, but unlike those of her charges, this gaze had purpose and focus. He was facing her and would have to turn fully around to see behind himself. He s
tarted to move when he saw Watson’s gaze shift quickly to her right hand. Vinnie instinctively looked down as Watson pulled her hand from inside his suit’s left-hand outer pocket. He was about to ask her what she’d been doing — that thousand-yard stare must have been a ruse to distract him — but she spoke first.

  ‘If I die, go after them with the key to all you need.’ And as she spoke, she pushed Vinnie back into his seat and turned towards the car door.

  ‘Harry!’ Vinnie shouted, to warn him that Watson was making a run for it, when time suddenly reduced to a crawl. As he turned back to face Watson, and was about to reach for her arm, an ear-slitting roar filled the car and his ears. Splinters of shattered safety glass sprayed Vinnie’s right cheek, the side the roar had come from, and at the same instant, warm liquid sprayed his left cheek. But before he could compute what was happening he felt his body thrown violently forward as the car braked heavily. They hadn’t been travelling fast… it soon came to a stop and inertia threw Vinnie back into his seat, upright.

  Time caught up. First, he looked to his left and could see the origin on the warm liquid.

  Watson’s head.

  It looked as if it had exploded. There was a small black bullet entry wound in the right-hand side of her face, and loose skin flapped where the left-hand side had been. The glass was gone from that window, and as the car stopped, Watson’s lifeless body finally came to rest against the back of the front seat.

  ‘Christ, are you OK?’ Harry shouted, and Vinnie knew he was, but couldn’t answer straight away. He turned to his right, and finally he saw what Watson had seen in her final moments. A large black motorcycle with two men on it. The pillion passenger was lowering a short-barrelled weapon which looked like an Uzi sub-machine gun. He threw it to the ground, and then used both hands to grip the rear grab bar as the bike’s rider power-slid the large machine around in a doughnut before accelerating away from them. It was at the site’s entrance in seconds, where it turned right and disappeared in the general direction of Preston centre.