Every aspect of his life that was in any way connected to or controlled by a computer, online services or the internet, had slowly been removed, deleted or turned-off.
Then tonight, his clubs had been hit. Not just the one in Leith, ALL of them.
One after another the electricity had just been switched off.
And the only common denominator that linked it all together was that everything, all of it, was controlled by one person.
The accountant.
Occam's razor.
It had to be him!
He was the one with the intimate knowledge. The one who paid the bills. Controlled the accounts. Ran his businesses.
Shit. How did Tommy get into this mess?
For the first time in his life, Tommy felt powerless. He hated feeling like this. Confused.
Lost.
Scared.
Tommy had to put this right and in the next few minutes he was going to do exactly that.
“Give me your gun!” Tommy shouted at Ramsay as he approached the farmhouse.
Pushing open the backdoor to the farmhouse, Tommy stormed through the building to the office where he had left the accountant. “And where are the others?” Tommy demanded to know, wondering why his other men had not appeared when he entered the house. "Go find them!"
Stopping just outside his office, he took a deep breath, switched the safety catch on the gun off, and turned the handle of the door.
The door opened, and Tommy stepped inside.
The seat on which the accountant was sitting was a large black, high-backed swivel chair. It was turned away from the desk and the door, facing towards the window.
A laptop was open on the desk, the screen brightly lit.
“Andrew!” Tommy shouted the accountant’s name.
There was no reply.
Tommy stepped towards the desk, his right hand raised with the gun pointing at the top of the chair in front, where the accountant’s head would be.
“Andrew!” he shouted again, then when he got no reply, he moved around the edge of the desk, until he could reach out, grab the side of the chair, and spin it around towards him.
Tommy stepped back, not yet decided whether to pull the trigger immediately, or to drag the accountant to the bunker and take his time torturing him slowly and inflicting as much pain as possible before he died.
Tommy blinked.
As the chair spun around and the man sitting in the chair came into full view, there was a split second of comprehension.
A tiny moment in time during which Tommy realised his world was just about to end.
“Hello Tommy,” the man in the chair said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
Then, in that moment of confusion while Tommy struggled to understand what was happening, several powerful pairs of hands grabbed Tommy from behind and dragged him down to his knees, pulling his arms behind his back and removing the gun from his grasp.
“McKenzie?” Tommy spluttered.
The man in the chair stood up and took a step towards Tommy McNunn, who was now being held firmly in place on his knees by DS Wilson and DC Johnstone.
“Yes, Tommy McNunn. It’s me. DCI McKenzie. And I am arresting you for the murders of Danielle Wessex and Keith Urqhart. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
McKenzie stood over the man before him, then knelt towards him and whispered something in his ear.
“It’s over Tommy. I won. You lost. And for what you did to Danielle Wessex, … I’m going to make you very, very sorry.”
Chapter 44
Andheri
Near Mumbai, Maharashtra
India
Monday
5.31 p.m.
Anand Mhasalkar put the last of his things into his rucksack and looked around the office for the last time.
After spending the past few days sleeping he had finally felt well enough to return to work that Monday morning.
As he had walked in through the door and headed towards the desk, he couldn’t believe that he was returning. After everything that had happened in the past few weeks, how could he simply put it all behind him and go back to normality as if nothing had happened?
On top of everything else, he now realised how much he hated and despised working in the call centre, telling lies and deliberately screwing people over, hour after hour, day after day.
However, it was not a simple choice of resigning and walking out. Anand was the sole breadwinner in the family. The others depended upon him.
But could he go on living a lie?
It was a real moral dilemma. To prostitute himself and do a job which he found unethical, distasteful and against everything he believed to be good, - all so that he could do good, i.e. provide for his family, or… to refuse to do it further: to realise that accepting money from an evil company which deliberately did wrong, and took advantage of others, was no way to earn a living.
Or was he just being spoilt?
Should he just shut up and get on with it?
Upon returning to work, he didn’t know the answer.
After signing in, he sat down at his desk, and started to go through the motions. His manager came across to see him, pretending to welcome him back and feigning concern for the illness that had kept him away, but really to tell him off and discourage him from ever being ill again. After all, there were plenty of other people who would jump at a chance to have his job.
Which Anand already knew.
The second call of the morning which Anand had to take was from an old lady whose car had suffered some water damage in a recent storm.
Anand’s heart sank.
The damage was only slight, but he knew immediately what the company procedures would require him to.
He would be expected to steal the car from the woman, so that Swiss Insurance could auction it off for a profit. Profit for them. For the money-grabbing company.
The old-woman on the other hand would be told by Anand that the cost of properly repairing the water damage to the car would be greater than the current value of the car, so unfortunately the car would be classed as a write-off: “I’m sorry, but we have to quote how much it would cost for our appointed garage to fix the damage properly, regardless of how much it may possibly cost you to fix it using your own local garage, which we understand could be cheaper." If the woman asked what that meant, Anand would be expected to be as unhelpful as possible to her, and not to really help her at all. Swiss Insurance would expect Anand to give the old lady their version of the facts, regardless of how much difficulty or inconvenience this caused for the old lady, who may now not be able to get her shopping, visit friends, or attend hospital appointments, and who may not be able to afford to buy a new car or have any capability to even get to a car showroom just to look at them; so long as it was convenient for Swiss Insurance to make more profit for themselves, they didn’t really ‘give a shit’! Which was basically the truth.
Swiss Insurance didn’t care, and never had.
In many ways, they were exactly like Tommy McNunn.
They were crooks.
Anand stared at his desk and put the lady on hold for a moment.
He was really struggling here.
He took a deep breath.
Slowly, he lifted his head and took the lady off hold.
“Hello, Mrs Davies, yes, thank you for all your details. Yes, I’m happy to inform you that Swiss Insurance would be glad to cover your costs for you, and to fix your car properly. If you'll give me a few moments, I’ll make all the necessary arrangements…”
The woman was overjoyed.
Ten minutes later, with all the repairs arranged, Anand thanked the woman for being a customer of Swiss Insurance, and added that he hoped he had been of service.
Smiling, feeling good, although a little scared, Anand picked up the next caller.
And then the n
ext. And the next.
All of whom he helped tremendously. As he did with everyone he talked to that day.
By the time the end of Anand’s shift was nearing, Swiss Insurance was slowly becoming one of the best and most customer-friendly insurance companies in the world!
“Excuse me, Anand, can we talk for a moment? In my office?” his manager asked, tapping him on his shoulder and physically taking hold of the headphones on his head and removing them from Anand, and dropping them on the desk.
It was more of an urgent instruction, rather than a request.
Anand followed his manager into his office.
“Close the door please, Anand,” he was instructed.
Anand sat down in the chair opposite his manager.
“Just what the hell do you think you're doing?” his manager asked.
“I’m helping people, sir.” Anand replied, smiling.
“Have you gone crazy?”
“No, sir. Our customers have been paying us premiums so that we can help them when they need it. I’m just helping them when they need it, sir.”
“Don’t be so silly, Anand. We DON’T help people. We help the company. You’re fired.”
Anand smiled.
He thought briefly about all the electricity that the computers and the phones and the lighting in the company used. It was a lot of electricity. They wouldn’t last very long without it.
“Are you sure you want to fire me, sir?”
His manager frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Anand stood up.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Where are you going?” his manager asked.
“Back to my desk, to collect my things. While there's still some electricity and light to see what I'm doing…”
-------------------------
Outside, the three European and one Indian man in the large, black Mercedes watched as the second day shift ended and people started to leave the building.
They each had photographs of the man they were looking out for, and were furiously scanning those leaving as they exited the main doors.
“That’s him! It’s him!” the man in the front passenger seat said excitedly, pointing towards a man carrying a black rucksack.
Rather strangely, the man stood out from all the rest in the crowd. He was the only one who was smiling.
One of the men in the back seat of the car jumped out and started to tail the man with the smile. The rest remained in the car, waiting for instructions.
A few hundred metres from the main building people started to fan out, most of the people now jumping on bicycles and pedalling away as fast as they could towards their homes.
The man with the smile was soon walking down a street, separated from any other groups, a hundred metres ahead of the man from the car.
“Come! Now!” the man urged, speaking into a microphone clipped onto the cuffs of his jacket.
Slowly, the car pulled away from its place closer to the office and drove down the road towards the Indian with the smile and the rucksack.
As the car drew parallel, the man following by foot in the rear, hurried up close to the smiler, and grabbing him firmly by the arms, used his momentum to carry him towards the car doors which had now opened.
Another man jumped from the front seat, stepped quickly to the back, and helped to forcibly bundle the Indian into the open rear door of the car, where another pair of hands inside grabbed him and pulled him in.
As soon as he was inside, everyone else climbed in and the large car drove off.
The whole incident only lasted a few seconds, but by the time the car had rejoined the traffic in the road, the Indian was no longer smiling.
“Don’t be afraid. We mean you no harm. None at all,” one of the men in the backseat said. “But before we continue, can you please confirm your name to us?”
The Indian hesitated. The others could see the fear in his eyes.
“Who do you think I am?” the Indian asked.
The men in the car all wore smart blue suits. Each of them had a pair of smart, dark sunglasses on.
One of the men laughed, reached up and removed his glasses, revealing a pair of dark green eyes.
“I’m afraid you have to tell us, who you are. But please don't be afraid. I promise you again, we mean you no harm.”
“If I give you my first name, then you tell my surname.”
“Deal.”
“My name is Anand.”
“Mhasalkar?”
“Yes.”
“Then you are who we hoped you'd be. Now please tell us your date of birth, and the name of the university you studied at in England, and your address whilst you lived there.”
Anand cocked his head to one side, new questions forming in his head.
“Are you with Tommy McNunn?”
The man without the glasses laughed.
“No. Far from it. We're on the other side. We’re the good guys.”
Anand smiled and visibly relaxed. He told them what they wanted to know.
“Good. We were very sure it was you, but we just needed to confirm it one hundred percent.”
“Why have you kidnapped me?” Anand asked, noticing that the men beside him had relaxed their grip on his hands.
“We’re here to offer you a job.”
“A job? Are you kidding? I just got fired. A job would be handy right now.”
“We know.”
“How do you know that?”
“Anand, we know everything about you. Especially everything you just did in Scotland with Tommy McNunn. We know that you're one of the best hackers there are, and we want to recruit you.”
“What? How do you know? I was using the TOR system. And taking a thousand other precautions on top of that. There’s no way you could know…”
“Suffice it to say that we do. But we’re the only people who know what you did. And we’re the only people who care.”
“Are you here to arrest me?”
“For what? What have you done wrong? And whose laws did you break? You live in India but everything you did was enacted in Scotland. We know what you did, and why you did it. And frankly, we admire everything you did. Which is why we're here. There'll be no attempt to extradite you for anything. All we want you to do is to listen to what we have to say. If you don’t like what we're saying, then at any point you're free to ask us to stop the car, and you can get out. You'll never hear from us again. Shall I continue?”
The man asked in a gentle way, not pushing, not threatening. Anand couldn’t help but want to know more.
“Who are you?”
“Suffice it to say that we work for the UK Government. Indirectly. Officially we do not exist.”
“Are you spies?”
“No. We're part of a new wave of law enforcement. Our job is to get things done, without breaking the law, but not being restricted by it either.”
Anand was thinking quickly. His heart was racing, an excitement building within him.
“What do you want with me?”
“We’ve seen what you can do. You’re good. Very good. We need people like you.”
“You need me to work for the UK government?”
“And the Indian Government too. In fact, there are several governments that are supporting our agency. Pritesh here is based in Delhi. If you work for us, you'll have the blessing of your government.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“We want you to help fight the bad guys. Single-handedly you destroyed Tommy McNunn. There are lots of Tommy McNunns in this world.”
“But why me? There are lots of people like me in England. Why not get one of them to help you?”
“Because they're in England. Subject to UK laws.” The man paused. “Think about what you did Anand. From your apartment, armed just with your laptop, you crossed international boundaries and took Tommy McNunn down. I couldn’t do that because my country's laws forbid me from doing it. But you could. And you
did. And although we found you, there’s probably nobody else in the world who could, or would even want to. You were able to operate with impunity and do what you wanted to. Using nothing but a keyboard and a big pair of balls you took on one of the biggest crime lords in Scotland and wiped him out. He’s going to prison now for so long that no one on the streets will ever hear his name again. And the information you handed over to the police in Scotland will enable them to make hundreds of arrests and close down half the illegal drug trade in Scotland, not to mention human trafficking, prostitution, gambling and a myriad of other illegal activities. If you could do this all by yourself, how much more could you achieve if you were to be part of a concerted effort, a team focussed on tackling crime like it’s never been tackled before? We all know the truth is that the world is advancing quicker than governments can keep pace with it all. Technology is evolving too rapidly for the politicians to understand or cope with. The criminals are using cyber technology to run rings around everyone else. It’s time to fight back. To take the gloves off and play them at their own game. Using whatever tools we can lay our hands on.”
Anand’s eyes were sparkling.
“How many people have you recruited so far? Are there others, like me?”
“Yes. A few. I’m one of them. I was like you, until I was approached and asked to join the team. To help form the new agency.”
“Is it risky?”
“Perhaps. But not as much as you may think. Like I said, who will know, apart from us?”
“You discovered me? Others might too!”
“We discovered you because we have the super-computing might of the UK behind us. And we almost didn’t. The people you'll be going after will not have a chance.”
“It sounds too easy.”
“Perhaps it will be. But, like I said, it’s not something we can do in the UK. But we can do it from elsewhere. And in the cyber world, borders don’t exist.”
Anand was quiet for a while. There was a lot to think about.
The man laughed.
“We’re forgetting one thing. Something important. Something that you'll like.”
“What?” Anand asked, worried.
“The small question of what your salary will be. This is a job, after all.” The man leant forward, pausing before he spoke. “If you decide to join the team, we'll pay you £100,000 pounds a year. In UK Sterling. Deposited monthly into any account you tell us. And there will be bonuses when certain targets are hit.”
Say You're Sorry: A Gripping Crime Thriller (A DCI Campbell McKenzie Detective Conspiracy Thriller No 1) Page 36