Soft Target 02 - Tank

by Conrad Jones

  Yusuf poured more cold water over the Russian and he regained consciousness with a start. The pain that racked his body returned with a vengeance. He looked up at the Saudi security chief as he lowered his face towards his.

  “Yuri, you unfortunately offended my employer Omar Kellesh at the station. You threatened to have his daughter raped which caused him great distress. We will investigate the validity of the information you have shared with us, and continue our conversation later on when you feel better. In the mean time Omar has ordered that you learn a little humility,” Yusuf spoke softly into the Russian’s ear.

  Two of the Saudi guards grabbed Yuri by the arms and lifted him from the chair. They dragged him to the desk and bent him over it. Yuri was confused at first; pain had clouded his perception of what was happening around him. It was only when the first guard started to bugger him brutally that he realised that the method of torture had changed. By the time the fifth guard had finished the abuse he could no longer stand up by himself and he looked forward to dying soon, very much.

  Chapter 18

  TTF/ Casino Liverpool

  Tank, Faz and Chen exited their Mitsubishi Shogun in the car park of the Liverpool Casino. The casino was a relatively new building in comparison to the historic docklands in which it stood. Situated next to the Albert Docks it looked out of place next to its ancient neighbours. The walls were white and the building was almost triangular in shape. Thirty feet high glass windows surrounded the reception area, which revealed the interior of the casino and its first floor bar to entice passers-by in. The River Mersey ran past the rear of the casino, you could flick a poker chip into its murky waters from the casino’s restaurant balcony. Tank walked to the trunk and opened it. Inside was a metal lock box and Chen opened it with a digital combination code. Tank reached inside and removed three battle vests, which he distributed between them. The battle vests were made from knitted Kevlar fibres, which made them light, but capable of stopping a high velocity bullet. Ounce for ounce the material was stronger than stainless steel. Faz removed three Mossberg 12 gauge pump action shot guns. Each gun had a magazine that held eight shells containing double o shot. Double o shot was comprised of the largest lead pieces available for ballistic use. It was designed with stopping power as the prime function, and could drop an elephant at a hundred yards. The three Task Force agents went through the motions of checking that the magazines were full and functioning. Tank removed his 9mm Glock pistol and repeated the checks on the smaller weapon, Faz and Chen followed suit.

  A senior uniformed officer approached their vehicle, crouching behind it dramatically as he arrived. Tank recognised him as the chief officer of the Organised Crime Unit, and a major pain in the arse.

  “I have an undercover agent inside the casino, with approximately six members of the 18th Brigade. My agent informed us that their objective is to rob the casino and burn it to the ground. I have the casino surrounded with Armed Response Unit officers, and when I get the word we will arrest everyone inside including my agent. We do not need Terrorist Task Force involved, it’s my jurisdiction,” the uniformed officer said agitated at the arrival of the Terrorist Task Force agents, “this is an Organised Crime Unit operation and I am ordering you to stand down.”

  “How does get stuffed and fuck off grab you?” Tank said in reply, “you have no authority over any of my agents, and the 18th Brigade became Terrorist Task Force jurisdiction when they decided to get involved in blowing things up. You can leave the Armed Response Unit in place. I have requested them as back up but you and your men aren’t required here.” Tank glared at the Police Chief. The domestic law and order agencies had no authority over the Terrorist Task Force, who answered directly to the British government. The police officer flushed a crimson colour in anger but he knew that Tank was right, and he had no authority.

  “How dare you speak to a senior police officer like that, you Neanderthal? I will be making a complete report about this behaviour,” the officer blustered.

  “You are not my senior officer, and in case you hadn’t noticed we are not members of the police force,” Tank chambered a shell into the Mossberg loudly which made the policeman recoil adding further humiliation to the Police Chief’s hopeless position, “now take your report and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine, because we have some terrorists to catch.” Tank pushed past the policeman followed closely by Faz and Chen.

  Faz noticed a marked police car parked in front of the main doors of the casino in full view of the armed men inside, two uniformed officers leaned against the vehicle chattering. Suddenly a burst of automatic machinegun fire pierced the night. The bullets were fired from an upper window inside the casino. The two uniformed officers dived for cover as their vehicle was peppered with high velocity bullets. Sparks and shattered glass filled the air. The tires exploded and the noise echoed across the dark waters of the River Mersey.

  “So much for a low profile approach,” Tank sneered, “uniform has screwed this up already. Faz, take charge of the Armed Response Unit, have them maintain the perimeter until we can work out what to do next. We have no idea if that’s the Russians or Brigade men shooting at us, and we don’t know who else is in there. Chen, you come with me I’ve got an idea.”

  Tank communicated with a special operations listening post that was situated in an old school building on the other side of the city. He requested an unmanned helicopter drone to survey the casino from above. Within a matter of minutes the miniature helicopter was above the building. The engines were capable of running in silent mode and the machine was almost impossible to detect at night. The unmanned drones were used by American Delta Force operatives extensively in the mountains of Afghanistan, searching for Osama Bin Laden. On November 5, 2002 four senior al-Qaeda members who were travelling in a car through the Yemen, were killed by a missile launched from an American Predator drone. Their machines are described as ‘medium altitude, remote controlled aircraft’. On May 15th 2005 Haitham al-Yemnini, a senior Pakistani extremist was also assassinated by a CIA controlled remote drone in the disputed territory of Kashmir. The unmanned drone passed information back to the listening post in the old school. Heat seeking equipment on board the drone showed the position of fifteen people, who were seated together in a group. Eight others were spread out around the building’s perimeter. There were two other subjects giving off detectable heat, but not to the level a live human would radiate. Tank had to assume two people were already dead or dying.

  The Armed Response Unit surrounded the casino alongside over a dozen Terrorist Task Force agents. Grace Farrington positioned the Task Force agents where they could get a clear shot at anyone trying to leave the building. The members of both elite forces resembled Robocop in their battle armour. They were equipped with state of the art night vision and motion sensors; nothing could enter or leave the casino undetected. The weapon of choice with British Special Forces was the new Brugger and Thomet Semi-Auto Tactical 9mm pistols, which are capable of firing over 900 armour piercing bullets a minute. They had the capacity to kill everyone inside the casino if the order was given, by simply shooting through the brick walls. The problem that the Terrorist Task Force agents had was that they couldn’t identify the good guys from the bad guys, unless they breached the casino walls.

  Major Stanley Timms spoke to Tank from the control room, via a micro-receiver which the TTF agents had inserted into their ears, “What’s the situation Tank? Can we move in?”

  “Negative Major, we have a group of fifteen subjects in the centre of the building, and eight others positioned around the interior perimeter, it looks like a hostage situation. Uniformed officers came under automatic gunfire a short time ago, so we have the building surrounded by Armed Response Units and our agents. The commanding officer from Organised Crime Unit has a bug up his arse because he has an undercover agent inside. The undercover officer has infiltrated the 18th Brigade ranks and apparently tipped of the OCU to the casino mission,” Tank explained the situ
ation.

  “It would appear that the Brigade has taken issue with our Russian friends. We are getting reports of over thirty incidents in which buildings suspected as brothels have been attacked and burned. All have links to dubious Russian businesses. You need to get those hostages out of there in one piece Tank. Westminster is all over this following the River Dee and Manchester bombings,” the Major sounded under pressure to get a result. The position was being compounded by the rising death toll. The British public were on the verge of panic fuelled by misinformation in the press. Islamic extremists were being blamed for the riverboat bombings. The responsibility for the bomb at Manchester Piccadilly station had landed at the same place. Dozens of buildings, reportedly being used for the sex trade were ablaze across the north west of the country, fuelling the flames of racial mistrust.

  “We need to breach the building’s perimeter Major,” Tank said as he walked across the parking lot toward a building site. He could see a huge yellow JCB digger parked silently on the empty construction lot.

  “I think I have an idea Major,” Tank said.

  Chapter 19

  Pete Dodge & Terry Nick

  Pete Dodge took off his mirrored sunglasses and opened the window of the Ford van that he was driving. He was looking at the smouldering embers of what was once the Orford Arms, his business, the base for the 18th Brigade, and his home. The buildings were raised to the ground by the fire, which had started in the cellar and spread quickly. Two weeks ago he had a successful door security business and control of the lucrative drugs trade that came hand in hand. Now he was a fugitive from the law and his empire was crumbling before his eyes. Word had spread quickly that the Brigade’s headquarters was destroyed, and that its leader had gone to ground. Rival gangs were already moving in on his area trying to secure the security contracts that the Brigade held, in the event that Dodge didn’t resurface. Whoever controlled the door security also controlled the drugs, which was a huge cash cow. He needed to regain his grip and enforce his authority immediately. The 18th Brigade had devastated the Russian Mafia’s business interests overnight in retaliation for the deception surrounding the River Dee bomb, and the kidnap of Jeannie Kellesh. His troops had done well so far, but he had received a call from one of his lieutenants, Dano, alerting him to the situation at the Liverpool Casino. Dano had informed Dodge that he and his men were surrounded by armed police. The best option was to surrender and be charged for what could be construed as an armed robbery gone wrong. It would be difficult for the police to prove that it was anything other than that.

  Dodge turned to his passenger and said, “We need to set up a new base immediately Terry. Use the offices above the Quarter-Deck in Oakwood, and get word to all our people that we are very much still in business.” The Quarterdeck was a two-storey pub building that the Brigade frequented. Terry Nick had just been released from hospital after being shot twice in the foot by a Russian enforcer. His wounded appendage still raged in pain but he needed to return to business immediately. Terry was Dodge’s main enforcer and they needed to regain control. Nelson’s Quarterdeck was a large pub which only traded on the ground floor. The void space above it was unused apart from a small office. It would suffice as a base for operations temporarily. Terry had already used his vast network of contacts both domestically and internationally, to apply pressure to the Russian Mafia to call a truce. Going to war was bad for business, especially against millionaire-backed mercenaries like the Organizatsiya.

  Terry had spent six years in a Californian penitentiary following a foiled arms deal. The American courts looked dimly on foreigners breaking the law on American soil, and they placed him into the worst prison that an Englishman could enter, San Quentin. San Quentin was opened in 1854 and is the oldest jail in its state. It is the equivalent of a human jungle where a lone white Englishman is at the mercy of the prison gangs. Terry Nick was a big man, pumped up by Nandrelone injections and a strict weight-training regime. His shaved head and Nazi tattoos made him an immediate target for the black inmates but a natural ally to the white Nazis. San Quentin was segregated into racial groups, The Black Guerrilla Family, Neustria Familia, Cripps, Bloods and Black P. Stones absorbed the majority of black and Italian inmates. The Mexican Mafia protected the Hispanic prisoners while the Aryan Brotherhood covered the white population. The Aryan Brotherhood took Terry Nick into their ranks and under their protection on day one of his sentence. The bulk of their memberships were white skinhead supremacists, most of them were marked with similar Nazi tattoos to those worn by Terry. The Brotherhood has a membership of over one- hundred and twenty thousand hard-core members involved in drug trafficking, racketeering and protection rackets. According to the FBI the Aryan Brotherhood makes up just one percent of the American prison population but is responsible for twenty six percent of the murders in the federal system. Their members were spread far and wide across the American continent making them a formidable crime organisation. The advances in technology now made controlling and the organisation of such gangs considerably easier. Mobile phones smuggled into prison extended the reach of the prison gangs, making them more dangerous. Prison guards and their families were identified and targeted. They were influenced or forced to turn a blind eye to contraband being smuggled into the prisons. Many warders were assassinated for non-compliance or for giving gang members a hard time. Huge crime families could be operated from a prison cell, and multi million pound drug deals arranged from behind bars. It was just as easy to eliminate rival gang members and their business interests. Terry Nick had already contacted his affiliates within the Brotherhood to enlist their support against Russian Mafia aggression. The screw was already being tightened across the USA.

  Dodge had made similar calls for assistance to groups sympathetic to the 18th Brigade worldwide. The alarm had spread around the globe overnight through fascist communication networks, the links normally used to arrange drugs and arms trafficking were now buzzing with a call to arms against Soviet Mafia interests worldwide. The Nazi website Stormfront.org was a hive of activity as word spread. A Nazi group known as the Hammerskins which has chapters in Canada, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, New Zealand and Australia has a membership which runs into the tens of thousands, and is just one of hundreds of similar groups. The specific policies of these neo-Nazi groups differ slightly from country to country, but they all include an allegiance to Adolf Hitler, anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia. They also use their large memberships to control the extortion, drug and sex trades. They actively seek to recruit disaffected violent youths into their ranks, some of whom would enjoy nothing more than going to war against a rival crime organisation for whatever reason at all.

  “The ball is already rolling Dodge,” Terry Nick said looking at the smoking ruins. His foot was throbbing with pain and he winced as he tried to move it to a more comfortable position. “If Alexis and his Russian friends want trouble then they are going to have their hands full.”

  “We have a problem now the government and the Terrorist Task Force are involved. Blowing up that boat was not the most subtle plan I have ever encountered. I think that we should arrange a meeting with the Task Force, we need them off our backs,” Dodge said, “let’s be honest we knew nothing about any bombs. We were tricked into this by the Russians.”

  “You can’t be serious Dodge,” Terry said, “you can’t go to the police. They will string you up.”

  “Look what has happened since we became involved in this bloody mess,” Dodge turned to Terry and looked him in the eye. Communication with the police was a taboo, problems were dealt with in-house. “Matt and Ivan are missing or dead. The arrival of the Task Force at the Orford means that the riverboat bomb is being linked to us. You got shot in the foot. Our boys are surrounded by armed police in a casino and we are ready to go to war. We will lose everything if we don’t sort this out right now.”

  “Look what we achieved last night Dodge,” Terry said angrily
. The pain from his bullet wounds was increasing as his medication wore off. “We gave the Russians a good kick up the arse, they won’t mess with us again in a hurry. Our contacts in America are ready to give them a good shoeing.”

  “Your Aryan Brotherhood friends will use it as an excuse to move in on Russian businesses. The same goes for all the rest of our affiliates, they all have their own agendas. The best we can hope for is that the Russians will see it as too much trouble to take us on. Be under no illusions Terry, if they want us gone then we are already dead.” Terry remained silent as he mulled over what his leader was saying. It went against the grain.

  “I tell the Task Force everything that we know and give them the fucking Russians on a plate. We can carry on as normal and pick up their prime sites,” Dodge said slowly trying to coax Terry onto his side. “We didn’t ask for any of this bullshit Terry, let’s lay the blame where it belongs.”

  Terry nodded slowly as he saw the opportunities that would arise if the Russians’ key players were arrested or shot by the Terrorist Task Force. The plan was brilliant and could definitely work. It looked like they would not have to wait very long to find out.

  Chapter 20

  The Saudi Embassy

  The Saudi government knew that Jeannie Kellesh was still alive. They also knew that a Russian entrepreneur was behind her kidnap plot. Demands were delivered to the Saudi Princess’s father which instructed them to increase the price of crude oil by 10 dollars per barrel. The increase was to be maintained for a minimum of ninety days, after which she would be released. Any attempt to alert international security services to Jeannie’s plight would result in her death. It appeared to the outside world that there was no tangible evidence that she was still alive. All the evidence pointed to her being a victim of the Islamic extremists that had bombed the riverboat at Chester, and the press were still all over the story causing domestic unrest.