by J. D. Weston
"If we blow this and they get away then the girls who have already died did so for nothing. Come back to the van, Mills."
"Since when do you give the orders, Cox?"
"When you're out of control. Get back to the van and let's talk it out. If it makes sense, we'll call Frank, and he'll get us back up, but right now you need to get back to the van."
"Cox-"
"These comms are recorded right?" asked Denver.
"Yes, direct to file,” replied Reg.
"So there's a direct order on file, Mills. We have all the authority, it's a closed loop, if one of us loses control, the others can take action. Come on now. Come back to the van, let's talk it out."
"But the cars-"
"I have all the information on Mr Narakimo we need, Melody. I also have a file auto-populating on Bruno Mason. He's the big guy. Sneaky's in place to get video, they have to get rid of the body through one of those doors and Sneaky will record it."
"If another girl-"
"If another girl dies, Mills, we'll deal with it. Get it together," Denver cut in. "If we compromise the operation and they get away, more girls will die."
There was a silence.
“Mills, do I have to call it in?”
Mills fell back into the field and made her way along the fence to the road. She climbed through the hedgerow and walked casually across the dark, empty lane into the dead end turnout where the van was parked two hundred yards down. Reg slid the side door open as she approached.
"I'm not happy about this one bit," she said, slinging her small pack into the back of the van. She began to remove her hat and coat while Denver and Reg waited for her to calm down.
"No-one is asking you to be happy about it, Melody," said Denver. "Listen, I'm sorry I had to do that, but we're not equipped to go kicking doors in and making a bust. There's three guys in there and one woman, any one of them could be carrying."
"Harvey's there too."
“Yeah, we know Harvey’s there, but our objective is to observe. Harvey is no longer on the team.”
“Yes he is. He wouldn't have left Brayethwait alive if he was off the team. You heard the confession. You know Stone.”
"What makes you think Stone would back you up?" asked Denver. "He's a villain deep down. Besides he doesn't care about the girls or Creasey. He's after Cartwright. That's where his head’s at."
"He would have backed me up," replied Melody, reaching around to retie her hair back, "he's one of us now."
Denver turned away shaking his head, then looked back at her. "You really think so?"
"Of course," she snapped, "we have to think that. We have to believe he's on our side, or what else have we got? Nothing is what. We can't alienate him."
The two men fell silent. Then Denver spoke, “Take the comms off.”
Melody pulled her ear-piece out, and Reg paused the recording. He nodded at Denver.
“If you want to believe that Stone is on our side, then we need him to know that we’re on his side. Otherwise, he’ll just think we’re out to bring him in, and that Frank will put him away.”
"How do we get a message to him? I have his phone, and he doesn't have comms."
"Sneaky-Peeky to the rescue," said Reg cheerfully from the back. "Talking of Sneaky-Peeky, the camera just went dark. Small glitch, we're back up, not sure what that was."
Melody and Denver were watching Reg work the tank's camera. He focused on the large Bentley and zoomed in on the dark windows. "There seems to be someone still inside the Bentley."
"Mr Narakimo's driver maybe?" said Denver.
"Possibly, hold on, it's moving. Hey, I'm not doing that." The camera shifted from the car to the double doors.
“What was that?” asked Denver.
“Stone,” said Melody, with triumph in her voice. “Does that thing have a speaker we can talk to him through?”
“Um, no. But I’ll make a note, and Sneaky-Peeky Two will have.”
They waited for it to move again, or for Harvey to show himself on the camera. But enough time passed for them to realise he was gone again.
"We have action," said Denver.
They watched as Mr Narakimo stepped out of the barn, followed by Jamie Creasey and Donny Cartwright. They stood and chatted for a while. The body language suggested that Mr Narakimo held the power, while Creasey and Cartwright tried to please him. Reg tracked him as he walked to his car, and the driver emerged and opened the passanger door before returning to the driver’s side. The night vision picked up the heat from the engine, glowing brightly in contrast to the surroundings.
The Bentley pulled away and then the whole scene turned white.
"Turn the NV off," said Melody.
Reg switched the NV off and turned the turret back to the barn. The double doors were open, spilling light out onto the forecourt. The big man, Bruno Mason, sat at the controls of a digger, filling the cage that served as a cab. Two bright lights fixed to the top of the cage came on, and the digger’s exhaust began to emit clouds of black diesel smoke.
The digger rolled out of the barn and turned right around the back of the building. Its two bright lights bounced through the darkness and then out of sight.
Cartwright stood by the fence at the edge of the screen and looked out into the night. He was joined by Creasey. They talked inexpressively for a while until the big man returned from the rear of the barn and entered the double doors. He dragged a blue plastic sheet to the open space at the front and then disappeared. He reappeared with the limp, dead body of a young female.
Melody gave a gasp.
“Easy, Mills, we knew what we were getting into here. Reg, is this recording?”
Reg double checked. “Yep, we have video evidence of three suspects disposing of a dead body, and one more who has just left the building, who I am sure will have left some kind of DNA on the victim’s body.”
The three were transfixed as the huge man causally wrapped the body in the tarp, and tied it off with gaffer tape. He worked quickly and efficiently then easily hoisted the body up onto his shoulder and walked past Creasey and Cartwright, back behind the barn.
Before long, the lights of the digger bounced back along the narrow walkway between the rear fence and the building, then turned left into the barn. The engine was killed, which kicked out a chuff of black smoke, and the lights were switched off.
Five minutes later, the two men left the woman there in separate cars, and Jamie Creasey prepared to leave.
The headlights of the two cars flashed past the top of the turnout where the team were parked.
"Okay I have Cartwright's phone via GPS. I can follow him home," said Reg.
"Good, track his every move, but we also need eyes on Jamie. She's the low hanging fruit," replied Melody.
The lights of the BMW flashed on, then faded as the interior brightened. Jamie fumbled with the barn door then disappeared inside once more.
"What’s that?" said Reg. "See that shape?"
They saw the passenger door of the BMW open, and Harvey's silhouette place something under the seat. He closed the door again, and the shape faded away as the barn door reopened and Jamie came out. She locked the barn then climbed into the car. There was a short pause, and she pulled away. Sneaky-Peeky was left staring at the barn.
"NV," said Melody.
Reg switched the night vision back on.
Harvey stepped into view and walked to the building. He glanced back at the camera then slipped around the back to where the digger had been working.
“Shall I follow him?” asked Reg.
"No, wait a minute. What’s he doing?"
Five minutes passed. Then ten. Harvey did not re-emerge. "Okay, bring Sneaky back, Reg," instructed Melody.
Sneaky's extract was much faster than the journey in. It was pitch dark, and there was little chance of anybody returning, so Reg set the tank to return to their GPS coordinates. He watched the screen as it made its way along the country lane and turned to drive towar
d the van. As it drew near, he opened the rear door and stepped out.
Immediately his arm was twisted behind his back. His body was turned, and his face was pushed hard onto the wooden floor of the van. He went down with an audible grunt.
"Hands on the roof."
Melody and Denver began to turn, "Hands on the roof, I won't ask again."
"Stone, did you enjoy the show?" asked Melody.
"Hands on the roof or I break his arm." Denver and Melody slowly raised their hands to the roof of the van. Harvey increased the pressure on Reg's arm.
"Ow, ow, you're hurting me, ow," whined Reg.
Melody and Denver pushed their palms flat against the roof.
“Okay, do I have your attention?”
“Undivided,” replied Melody.
“Good, I’ll do you a deal.”
"A deal, Harvey? Why don't you just come back and we finish this together? It's not too late. I can talk to Frank."
"I'll talk to Frank myself."
"Frank won't be in the mood to talk to you if you hurt one of us, Stone. Come on."
"I'll give you the girl, you give me Donny's location."
“You know where she is?”
“Roughly. You know where he is?”
“Roughly. Why should we trust you?”
“Because you’re still alive.”
“And Brayethwait?”
“A gift.”
“A gift?”
“From me to you. To get some brownie points.”
“We can all do well out of this if we do it right, Harvey.”
“Doing well is not my objective, Melody.”
“What’s your objective?”
“Same as it’s always been.”
“Hannah?”
Harvey didn't reply.
“Reg, are you okay there?”
Reg’s face was held against the floor, “I’ve been better.”
“Are we recording?” asked Melody.
“No, we turned it off.” Reg spat dust from the floor away from his mouth.
"Okay, Harvey, but it’s bigger than this. We want you on the team. I'm talking long term. Once all this is over, we can go back to normal. You're an asset. I can help get you back in. We all can."
"I need to do this-"
"I know, you've spent your life chasing this, I can't imagine how that must feel to be so close. But hang in there. Trust us."
“Trust you?”
"I know that's hard, honestly. But we can do this, and all get what we want." Melody paused. "How about you let Reg go, he's a bit fragile."
Harvey didn't reply.
"Okay, have it your way. How about we give you Donny, but you help us take this down. Rescue the girls, nail Creasey and the Jap, and plug the hole where the girls are leaking in from?"
"I don't need you to give me Donny."
"No, but you need us to give you freedom. Frank will have you put away for this. For everything you've ever done. You know he has that power. But I know he doesn't want to. I know he wants you on the team, just like we do. Right boys?"
The boys each grunted affirmatively.
“I'm taking Donny anyway, we can talk after.”
“You don't know where he is.”
“He’s on the screen.”
“What about Creasey?”
“What about her?”
"You give us Creasey, we give you Donny, right? It’s what you said."
"You find her when the time's right."
The pressure on Reg's arm relaxed, and he slumped to the floor rubbing his shoulder.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Harvey didn't reply.
10
Beware of the Beast
Once Harvey had retrieved his motorbike from the copse of trees in the field, he found the road in the dark and made his way to Loughton where he'd seen Donny on the screen. Donny was inside the small apartment block that Harvey had seen him and the Bruno enter the previous day. So he parked his bike in a back street, stashed his helmet in the back box and continued on foot.
It was gone midnight, midweek, so the roads were quiet. Cabs owned the roads in the early hours, carrying drunk businessmen returning from the city after a night with clients or colleagues, who would probably need to steal into their house to avoid waking their spouses. Then tomorrow they'd do the same thing. It was an endless cycle.
Harvey liked his freedom, he preferred not to become tangled with the same woman; too many questions, too much emotion. Once you spend your life being trained to dispel emotions and set them aside, it's hard to call them back. He'd tried to have a girlfriend several times, but each time they got heavy, and Harvey would back off. They'd complain he was too cold and didn't show affection. He'd treat them right, more than right. Show them a good time, nice restaurants, walks in the wild, he even took one on a weekend break to the Lake District, so they could walk in the mountains and see the beautiful lakes. But they always wanted more than what Harvey had to offer.
The apartment block was situated on a corner where a small side road ran onto the high street. It was four storeys tall and had a high wall around the property. To the rear, trees poked above the brick wall, and Harvey imagined there was a lawn, flowers and some kind of outdoor seating for the occupants to enjoy on rare sunny days. If the property had been in France or Spain, there'd be a pool.
The entrance to the underground car park was at the front of the building to the right of the main doors. Harvey walked past the building once, and found the cameras without breaking stride. By the time he had walked two hundred yards further and turned back, he had a plan.
A building like that rarely employs a full-time security guard. The cameras probably weren't manned, but were there for the footage to be called upon should an incident occur, which in Harvey's mind was ridiculous. He could get into the building, rob an apartment, or worse, and then leave. Sure the cameras might have his face on camera, but he'd be long gone.
A lesson he had learned from Julois was that acting like you were doing nothing wrong drew less attention than trying not to be seen. So he walked casually up to the top of the entrance ramp and strolled in around the barrier. There were no whistles, no alarm and no security guard calling after him. He walked to the bottom, turned into the car park and looked around for Donny's black Mercedes.
It was parked next to the silver Toyota SUV that the big guy had been driving. Donny must have him living there full time, which meant he was either waiting for something to happen to him, or just plain paranoid. Donny had never been paranoid before, he was overly confident if anything. He had a brilliant mind for business but no backbone.
Six months previous, after Harvey had been asked to take out the son of the rival Thomson family, they had retaliated by putting a hit on Donny. John Cartwright had seen this coming and had Harvey shadow Donny. Harvey had managed to pull Donny out of a burning car and probably saved his life. He didn't do it for love, he didn't do it because he cared about his foster brother; he did it because that was what John had paid him to do. Harvey had often thought about watching him burn. It wasn’t until after the event that Harvey discovered Donny was one of three men that had gang-raped his sister, Hannah. If he had known Donny had been involved, Harvey would have taken pleasure in watching him burn.
The Mercedes was parked in space thirty-five, the Toyota in thirty-four. On the wall behind each of the vehicles was a small sign with the apartment number the space belonged to. Harvey guessed this was to stop other residents using the wrong spaces. The sign behind the Mercedes and the Toyota read, Aptmt 204.
He strolled casually over to the glass door of the hallway. Two large elevators had their doors closed. The digital numbers were still. The building slept.
The door was locked, and had a small electronic card reader to one side; flashing a security card in front of the device would release the magnetic lock. Reg would have the door open in seconds. Reg would no doubt be able to hack into the building’s security system,
find the network where the doors were located and release the locks, maybe even control the lifts as well.
Harvey was not as technically gifted as Reg. Harvey had a much simpler approach to life that required minimal technology. Of the team, Harvey related to Denver more than Melody or Reg, but he was growing to like them all. They were all different, they'd led different lives, but he respected their skills.
Melody was fantastic at what she did, she had a great mind, was tough and could shoot better than any of them.
Denver had been a villain himself until the government put him into a program to nurture his skills in an environment more conducive to doing good. His proudest moment was having two police helicopters and more than a dozen police cars chase him across the country. The chase had made the news, and he had eventually outsmarted every police driver and both the pilots; he had got away.
Sadly, people with great technological minds like Reg had installed speed cameras, and Denver’s image had been captured in a stolen Ferrari. He was arrested for the theft of over eight million pounds worth of high-end supercars and given the ultimatum to either join the rehabilitation program or go to prison for a very long time.
For Denver, the choice had been simple. He ended up being trained by the country’s top drivers and pilots and taught how to use his skills to create a legitimate career. He’d been a real success story.
Harvey stepped around the walls of the car park until he found what he was looking for. The breaker box was locked, but the lock was just a plastic key insert and a weak metal barrel. Harvey ripped it open, and the catch on the inside fell to the ground by his feet. The building was designed for use by private residents, which meant that the public areas had to conform to British standards. One of the standards defining the safety and security of electricity circuits stated that each device or outlet in a public space must be labelled with the circuit number and identifier. Harvey found the circuit that matched the label on the card reader and flipped it off.
Another British standard that defined the fire evacuation protocols stated that, in the event of a power outage, all magnetic locks must release, allowing doors to open without hindrance. Presumably, so that people weren't trapped inside a burning building.