by Lee Weeks
‘I presume those were the chemists?’
‘Yes. I thought you’d been out here before,’ said Harold.
‘No.’
‘If you’re going to be taking over this side of things with Marco, you better get out of the car and go and see how it works.’
‘Why? What’s it got to do with me?’
‘You take over Eddie’s business and your name will be on the company that they’ll be using to bring the shipment in. Get in there, Laurence, and make sure you understand it.’
Laurence got out of the car reluctantly and Harold waited till he was out of earshot.
‘You okay, Della?’
‘Will you help me, Harold?’
‘I’m going to have a hard job coming out of this day alive myself. You should have got away while you could. I suggested it, if you remember.’
‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘Do you know what’s happened to Inspector Carter?’
‘I know Marco ordered him dead. That’s all I know.’
Laurence walked back over to the car.
‘Tony wants you inside, Harold. The shipment is an hour away.’
‘Okay.’
Harold left. Laurence locked Della inside the car.
She watched them walk away. She had one thought now: if she didn’t get away now, the shipment would be here and it would be too late. She had to seize her moment.
Carefully, she opened the glove compartment and felt inside: she had Sellotaped an object to the roof. She pulled at it and took it down, took it out of its cloth bag. It was the knife she’d been given by Johnny Mann, the Hong Kong detective. She tied the silk string around her wrist and tucked it up beneath her sleeve.
Twenty minutes later Laurence came to check on her again. He unlocked and opened the door and leaned over. His breath stung her face. The heat on her burned face was rising.
‘Hello, sleepyhead.’ Laurence moved his hand up her leg to cradle her crotch. ‘You make a good hand warmer. You’re all warm and—’
Della stabbed him in the neck three times as she grabbed his head and held it locked in her lap. The warmth of his blood flooded over her thighs. When he stopped struggling she let him slip back down on the ground beside the car. She reached down and found the car keys and her phone in his pocket and then she slipped across to the driver’s seat. Switching the engine on, she slammed it into reverse, and ran over Laurence in the process. Shouts from the barn went up. She saw Tony running towards her. She turned the steering wheel full lock and put her foot flat on the accelerator, spinning on the shingle. Behind her the air cracked with the sound of gunfire. She heard the metallic clunk as a bullet punctured the passenger door. She switched on her lights and drove at full speed.
Chapter 77
‘Where’s DS Willis?’ asked Bowie as he came into the inquiry team office to find everyone busy sorting the contents of Manson’s box. It was four thirty in the afternoon.
‘She’s searching for DI Carter, sir,’ answered Robbo. ‘She wanted to check out a couple of places that Melvin photographed. Marco left traces of Eddie Butcher at Melvin’s murder scene, perhaps from the instruments he brought with him or from his shoes. We know Eddie wasn’t moved far from where he was murdered because of the post-mortem results and the lividity settlement in his body. She still feels that somewhere on Melvin’s East End Gangster tour is the answer to why Melvin was killed and where Eddie Butcher died.’
Bowie nodded. ‘Inspector Ross has been in touch. He’s up in one of the helicopters searching for the laboratory as they lost the shipment when it was switched. Did you find any possible sites?’
‘Yes. We’re tracing a few possibles, three of which are in Kent.’ The contents of Manson’s box were spread out across the three desks in the office. All other work had stopped in MIT 17. The papers had been divided into groups according to type.
‘This is his Peruvian artefacts company,’ said Pam, as she added to a pile on the desk.
‘That makes at least twelve possible names that the shipment could be coming under.’
Robbo picked up the email.
‘Here’s our list of possible sites for the laboratory.’ He opened a file on the desk for Bowie to look at.
‘We are compiling as much information as possible on these last three. They are fifty miles apart, so I want to make sure we get the best chance of sending the helicopters to look at the most likely one and not waste their time.’
‘Another delivery note to the farm in Sevenoaks,’ said Pam as she handed a piece of paper to Robbo.
‘Where’s this one?’ asked Robbo.
‘Here.’ She showed him a map of the area.
‘The delivery address on this is a piece of land outside Sevenoaks and it was bought at auction by Manson two years ago. It’s a detached bungalow set in sixteen acres. It was part of a farm that was cut up and sold.’
‘The owner is a Mr Smithson,’ said Pam. ‘He’s a single occupant. He’s retired. There’s a photo of it now from satellite. Mr Smithson got permission to build a large barn eighteen months ago but has largely left the bungalow unrestored.’
‘Does this man exist in any polling register?’ asked Bowie.
Pam shook her head. ‘But Smithson was Manson’s wife’s maiden name. It’s possible he got hold of those documents.’
‘It’s throwing off a lot of heat for a supposedly derelict barn,’ said Bowie as he examined the satellite images of the farm.
It was nearly five and the lights were still on in Lev’s bakery. The shop was still open. Willis parked by the church and started walking towards the Albert. She stood outside and tried to see into the boarded-up windows but couldn’t. She stamped her feet on the delivery hatch in the pavement and squatted down to try to open it. It was locked. Willis got out her keys and slid the thinnest one she had around the edge of the hatch. She pulled it out and looked at the residue. There was none, the hatch had been recently opened.
She stamped again, jumped this time, landing hard on the hatch.
‘If you stamp any harder you’ll drop through,’ a voice said behind her. She turned and saw Carter.
‘Dan . . . where did you come from?’ She hurried across and stood looking him up and down.
‘From under your feet.’ He leaned on her as she helped him to her car.
‘I’ll drive you to the hospital.’
‘It can wait, Eb. I need to help Della and Maxi.’
Willis called Robbo.
‘I have Carter.’
‘Is he okay?’
She looked him over. He nodded at her. ‘He says he’s all right but he hasn’t seen himself in a mirror.’
‘Tell him Della got away. She sent me a message describing where the laboratory is. It’s a place we’ve been looking at,’ said Robbo, ‘a farm premises in Sevenoaks.’
Willis handed Carter her phone.
‘What about Maxi?’ asked Carter.
‘We know nothing about Maxi, I’m sorry.’
‘We’ll head out there now, Robbo.’
‘Okay, I’ll let Ross know and you can liaise with him. I’ll get a rendezvous point for you.’
‘Thanks, Robbo. You need to get a forensic team and a body bag down to the cellar in the derelict pub by the church. I couldn’t help him. A man bled to death down there. I’ll write it in my report.’
Carter dozed in pain on the way to the rendezvous with Ross. His left shoulder was dislocated and made his arm useless. His right had some strength returning.
‘What about Della?’ Willis asked when Carter came to and sat up.
‘She’s incredibly brave, incredibly strong. I don’t know many people who would be able to hold it together enough to escape from their captors who had burned her with a blowtorch and raped her.’
‘Survival.’
‘Yes. I just can’t tell you how much I admire her.’
‘She got away.’
‘Yes, and, if Bowie asked me whether we should chase her, I would say no. She risked ever
ything to deliver Tony to us and she came through with her promise. It’s up to us to take it from here now.’
After thirty minutes of driving, Della reached Gatwick Airport. She got the bag out of the boot and changed into her outfit inside the car, then she kept her head down as she slipped inside the airport into the ladies’ toilets. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hands were shaking as she applied her mask. It didn’t want to stick to the seeping wounds on her face, but it settled after a few attempts and then it felt good to have the burns protected. She looked at herself in the mirror and adjusted the wig so that it fell over her forehead a little, and pencilled her eyebrows to make them darker.
She texted Robbo and left a message for Carter, before removing the SIM, wrapping it in tissue paper and flushing it down the toilet. Then she dropped the phone into the sanitary disposal unit before going to buy her ticket.
Chapter 78
Ross set the helicopter down several miles away from the farm premises and waited in a Land Rover. He flashed the lights as he saw Willis’s car in the lay-by. He pulled over for them to get in and looked at Carter.
‘Jesus, are you okay? You need stitches.’
‘Yes, I know. I’m okay. I have a mate in there, Maxi Seymour, he’s pretending to be Roland de Soir, the diamonds expert.’
‘Shit. I was hoping we could change tactics now Della was out and safe. We also have Tony and Harold to try and get out alive to prosecute.’
‘Did he strike a deal?’ asked Willis from the seat in the back.
‘He’s been in touch,’ answered Ross with a smile.
‘How far away are we from the farm?’ asked Carter.
‘Twenty minutes; the shipment’s going to be there any minute now. They switched lorries on us before but we found it again after we knew where it was headed.’
‘What’s the latest?’ asked Carter.
‘We have thirty officers in the fields surrounding the bungalow. We know there are two men inside the bungalow and four men in and around the barn. We estimate there will be one more person accompanying the shipment when it arrives.’
‘The snipers are in position on the neighbouring fields but they’re not able to get the best view. They can’t get on high ground. They are going to get onto the roof of the bungalow once the operation starts.’
‘We know Marco and the Butchers will have automatic weapons. Harold has told us he won’t arm himself and he’ll try and duck out when the shooting starts.’
‘Maxi has to come first,’ said Carter. Ross nodded. ‘And we need them to take acceptance of the shipment,’ continued Carter. ‘We need them to open the boxes and take receipt of the cocaine to test it; otherwise they will claim they had no idea what it was. Once the diamonds are handed over, we move in.’
‘I know, and we need Tony alive,’ added Ross.
They came to a stop in the gateway of a field. A unit of officers was waiting for them.
‘Okay,’ Ross whispered as they stopped the car and killed the lights, ‘we’re a mile away, on the other side of the barn. We’ll cross over on foot now. You ready?’ He looked questioningly at Carter.
‘You can be more help to us if you stay here on standby.’
‘Don’t worry about me.’
‘You all right, guv?’ Willis asked as she watched Carter trying not to wince when he put his body armour on.
‘Can you shoot?’ Ross asked him.
Carter nodded. He was keeping an eye on Willis and smiled reassuringly at her.
He was handed a Glock .27 gun and two spare cartridges by one of the officers. Ross had already started walking.
Carter inserted a magazine, and then tucked the gun into his jacket pocket and followed.
Willis walked alongside Ross as they crossed the dew-laden field.
They reached the edge of the property, clipped the wire fencing and climbed through. Ross signalled to Willis to stay close to him as they crept towards the back of the barn.
Carter stayed back. He knew his limitations. He wanted to make sure he was there for Maxi.
Maxi had had his hands tied ever since they’d picked up the diamonds. He wasn’t trusted not to run. He stayed shut inside the Transit van. He’d been in there all day. He was working through as many scenarios of escape as he could come up with. His eyes were drifting back to the motorbike all the time. He’d been a good rider in his time. He’d loved his old bike. It had all stopped when he got married. The bike had to go, to get a sensible car for the kids. The big snag in his plan was that he had to find some way of cutting the ties on his wrists and he had to get the keys for the bike out of Marco’s pocket. He wished he’d had the guts to get in the car with Della when he’d had the chance. She’d seized her moment and now he must find his, but he had a feeling this wasn’t going to happen, as the lights of a lorry came down the lane towards the farm.
‘It’s here,’ said Tony, giggling, excited.
‘Are you going to help me move him, then?’ Harold called him again. ‘Or are we going to leave him here?’ Harold was standing over Laurence’s body.
‘Just drag him out of the way for now. He’s not bothered, is he?’
Tony still had the blanket wrapped around his head and shoulders but he had borrowed some shoes from the younger of the cocaine cooks.
The lorry came to a standstill in front of the barn. Marco went round to the driver’s window and spoke to him in Spanish.
‘What’s he saying?’ asked Tony.
‘He’s telling me how he didn’t bring the shipment from the docks. It was switched along the way. He doesn’t think he was followed. This is Justino. He’s a cousin.’
‘Welcome. Welcome,’ Tony said as he shuffled around to stand beside Marco. Marco grinned and said something about Tony.
Justino laughed. ‘Hello, Mr Butcher.’ Justino smiled, flashing a gold tooth at the front of his mouth. He jumped down from the cab. He was a better-looking side of the family. He was taller and slimmer but with the same confident swagger and the same love of expensive clothes.
‘Let’s get a look at it and get the cooks out to test it,’ said Harold.
Marco went around the back of the lorry with Justino to help him.
‘What are you looking at?’ asked Tony as he turned and caught Harold staring off into the darkness and the trees.
Harold shook his head.
‘Hey . . .’ Tony hissed across at Marco. ‘Harold has seen something. Stop doing that and go and look.’
Ross’s team froze. Willis didn’t dare breathe. Carter leaned against the back of a tree so as not to risk moving or losing his balance.
Justino reached inside the passenger seat of the driver’s cab and took out an AK-47 automatic rifle and Marco got his.
‘It’s nothing, let’s get on with this,’ said Harold. ‘Open up, let’s get this done and we can all get out of here.’
Harold began unlocking the door. The metal ramp lowered. Marco started walking back. The cooks came out of the bungalow and walked over to the lorry ready to start testing.
Harold stepped inside the lorry with Tony. Justino and Marco followed and Marco proceeded to open one of the boxes. The older of the cooks stepped forward to take a scraping of the contents and then handed it out of the back of the lorry and down to his colleague.
‘Five minutes,’ he said, holding up his splayed hand in the air to emphasise the number.
‘Okay. Let’s start shifting this gear.’ Harold began to slide one of the boxes out.
‘It’s pure.’ The cook returned with his approval. Then he went back inside the barn.
‘Get the diamonds and bring Roland,’ said Tony.
Harold went to get the suitcase from inside the bungalow.
‘All right to do it here?’ asked Harold, walking up into the back of the lorry.
Justino shrugged. ‘Marco says it’s good, just need the expert to okay it too, then I’m happy.’
Maxi was led out of the Transit by Marco. Ross signalled for
his team to start fanning out and to be ready. The deal was about to be done.
As Maxi walked towards Justino the talk in Spanish began and grew in volume as Justino kept his eyes on Maxi.
Ross whispered, ‘He knows that’s not Roland de Soir. He’s met him once before. Stand by.’
‘I told you he knew Della. He’s a cop,’ said Marco. ‘It’s a set-up.’
Maxi stopped in his tracks and then held up his tied hands as if he was about to remonstrate. Justino began firing. His body twisted as he was hit several times by marksmen and his gun carried on firing as he went down. The sound of shots cracked in the air and Maxi went down. Marco dragged him towards the barn entrance.
Tony scrabbled forward and picked up Justino’s weapon. He carried on firing indiscriminately around him. A police officer tumbled off the roof of the bungalow. He hit another one in the fields beyond the Transit. Harold hid inside the van. Ross signalled to the main group of his snipers to stop firing. He singled out one officer. Everyone knew that Tony had to be taken alive. Tony stood in the lights of the farmyard and the residual light from the barn and he kept firing randomly into the dark beyond. A single shot stopped him. The officer hit him in his shoulder and he dropped the gun.
Officers ran in fast to arrest Tony and Harold. The cooks were handcuffed and then led to safety.
Marco called out from just inside the barn. ‘I have your man and we’re coming out. We will get in the van and leave. If you try and stop me I will kill him.’ He walked out with one arm around Maxi’s neck and another holding his sub-machine gun.
Maxi was limping; his right leg was bleeding badly. Marco had been shot in his side.
Carter crawled along the ground to get closer. He could see Maxi clearly now. Maxi was walking towards the Transit like a man on the way to his execution. His eyes locked onto Carter and Carter knew that there was just enough light for him to attempt a shot.
Maxi’s eyes were fixed on the barrel of Carter’s gun. He was just a few feet away now. Years ago they had been good friends and they had understood the way one another thought. A long time had passed since then.