Three Faces of West (2013)

by Christian Shakespeare

  “Three men inside, amongst the workers. They’re the Russians!!”

  “What?!”

  “Those three Russians picked up in Colchester! They are here overseeing the bombs in the carts. What the hell are they doing here?”

  Harvey thought for a second, “Waterson must have corrupted evidence to facilitate their release if they were ever caught. Some kind of evil legacy in case he died.”

  “Well they are here, and doing everything they can.” He said as he could hear shouting from the inside, evidently they were rushing to meet a deadline. The arguments continued on and on, unwittingly providing John with precious intelligence. It seemed to be nothing special, just a conflict of views and general orders, but during the heated exchange of views, there arose a series of alarming words,

  “Alpha 2 to control, they are mentioning various chemicals stored on site.”

  “What chemicals?” Asked Harvey as Clive and Samantha came closer,

  “Chlorine, scopolamine, arsine.evid Control, these are they ingredients used in this mixture, along with the arsenic. If I’m right, they plan to detonate these carts somewhere releasing the poison across London.”

  The plan was now exposed. The carts, filled with poison, were to be set out across the capital, causing catastrophe. Clive advised a stark reality check,

  “If that’s the case then if this is distributed, it’s going to cause mass delirium and widespread death.”

  Harvey, as well as anyone knew of the consequences of the events happening over at the docklands,

  “I’m well aware of that.” He said,

  “Well you need to do something about it.” Rebuffed Clive. Harvey, standing his ground, just looked at is college straight in the face without rising to the tension. Eventually he turned away,

  “I know.” He said quietly. Privately he had good reason to fear the worst.

  Chapter 22:

  Everyone at Thames House was now fixated on the developing situation over at the docklands. The plan and the setup had been totally exposed, although the terrorists didn’t want it that way, still unaware their plan had been utterly compromised, they carried on with the preparations to deploy the carts and their lethally poisonous cargo. Just like the personnel on the ground, the team at the headquarters were nothing short of total concentration,

  “Harvey, the SAS are finished deploying.” Said one of the operatives in a heightened tone, “The armed police want to storm the compound alongside the Special Forces, shall I tell them to proceed?”

  “Negative, tell them to standby.” Clearly he was stalling, knowing that timing was everything, too soon, and some key members such as Bruenstein and Grey may get away. Too late didn’t bear thinking about,

  “Where’s Jack?” He asked coming back into range of the radio mike, “Alpha 1 report.”

  “Alpha 1 here. Entering the compound now.” Jack responded as he climbed over another small wire fence into the storage area of the docks. There didn’t seem to be anyone around at the moment as he moved forward with his silenced pistol ready in what seemed to be a total maze of small building and sheds typical of this part of the site. Carefully walking forward as silently as he could, he made his way over to the nearest of the structures as his eyes continuously flitted from point to point almost half-expecting someone to confront him, but nobody came. By now he had arrived at a medium sized wooden building which appeared to be unlocked, but Jack could not be sure. Pressing on the door, it came slowly ajar telling him it was not at all secure,

  “Careless.” He said to himself.

  Inside, various boxes stored away in piles greeted him, nothing too suspicious on the face of it but Jack investigated further just to be sure. He opened one of the boxes that were, like the door, not locked either,

  “Careless again.” He said as he looked inside to examine the contents,

  “Alpha 1 to control, we appear to have stumbled upon a weapons cache, semi-automatic rifles and ammunition.”

  “Can you ascertain why they are there Alpha 1?” Asked Harvey,

  “No, it’s probably surplus supplies but there’s no way of telling from here. The only thing we can be sure of is that these terrorists are extremely well armed.”

  The tension in Thames House was now beginning to rise even further. With the discovery of the heavy weapons, the stakes had by now risen considerably,

  “Proceed with extreme caution Alpha 1.” Warned Harvey.

  West knew to be careful in such a precarious situation, but for now he had to explore other outbuildings. Perhaps there was more to be discovered,

  “Alpha 1, you have a contact!! Approaching your position fast!!” Said a voice over Jack’s radio earpiece in a rapid, alarming tone. Instantly, without replying, he turned and shut the door. Crouching below a dirty, window, Jack froze in the darkness as he heard the pounding of footsteps. Louder with each one confirmed that whoever they were, they were heading in this direction. Suddenly he flinched in the shadows as a beam of light from a torch shone through the frosted glass, illuminating some of the boxes. This, of all points, was when he realised that he did not fit the lid of the box he had been examining correctly. He knew that if it was spotted, it would arouse suspicion. However, luckily the torchlight faded as whoever was outside moved away from the window, causing West to dare to breathe a slight sigh of relief which only lasted for an instant. Daring not to move his body, instead Jack moved he head slightly just to get a better view or to position himself for better hearing. The door began to rattle, West froze as the door latch began to shake, whoever they were, they were trying to get in, had they seen the disturbed box? Had he been discovered? He was about to find out to be sure, but it never came. The rattling stopped as suddenly as it started because the door had locked behind him thus denying the intruder access. Relief flooded Jack’s periodically shattered nerves as he heard the footsteps gradually move away and get fainter with each second,

  “Alpha 1, report.” Asked Thames House,

  “Control, Alpha 1 here. I’m still in the same position. Approaching contact has moved on, attempting to move now.”

  “Acknowledged Alpha 1.”

  Gingerly, almost frighteningly Jack gripped the handle of the door and turned it slowly. Tensing up as it clicked he unlocked it from the inside as he opened the door only slightly ajar. Pausing for a second, his hearing in overdrive, ever listening for the sounds of other footsteps. None could be heard so he proceeded, by peering out and looking left and right to check the coast was clear. Once satisfied, he moved out, carefully closing the door behind him to eliminate any signs of presence as he moved quietly to probe further on.

  Coming to the corner he paused once again. He could see a guard, most likely the one who had almost stumbled across him, patrolling further down, he could only see him from the back, but it was clear he was not one of them,

  “Contact,” He whispered quietly into the radio,

  “What do you see?” Asked Harvey,

  “A guard,”

  “How many?”

  “Just one. Looks like he’s patrolling.”

  “Is he armed?” Asked one of the other operatives monitoring events via his computer,

  “Yes. Looks like he’s carrying an AK-47 assault rifle.”

  This was the confirmation that Harvey and the team needed that the personnel they were up against were personally armed and dangerous,

  “Thousands of those things are shipped all around the world, wouldn’t take much to procure a few without too much trouble. Notify the police marksmen, and tell the special services to take it into consideration as they are deploying. Instruct them not to engage until they are notified.” Harvey warned, “Alpha 1 proceed as you see fit.”

  Another building lay in front of him, just off to the left. Carefully monitoring the patrol movements of the guard, he slipped past him to the rear end of the longer structure. Noticing a door, Jack approached it, gun raised, to find out what was inside,

  “Entering no
w.” He whispered into his earpiece as he opened the door slowly with one hand, his pistol raised level with the other. It was deserted,

  “Seems like storage compartments, I’m clearing them out now.” He said as he examined all of the areas. The building was quite long, with all the areas lined in a row, flanked by a long corridor area which Jack slowly made his way down stopping at each area one by one,

  “What can you see?” Asked Harvey,

  “Nothing, they are all empty so far. Checking the last one.” Was Jack’s reply as he approached the last compartment. Suddenly something did not feel quite right; Pausing next to the door, Jack had an overwhelming uncomfortable feeling but he could not determine what it was. With his pistol raised his eyes fixated on the door, looking for any sign, the slightest inkling of a shadow…but there was no such giveaway,

  “Your imagination is getting the better of you Jack.” He thought to himself. Calculating the risk, he took the decision to proceed. Moving into the doorway the compartment was empty like all the rest in front of Jack with his gun raised. He proceeded some more, advancing another yard before he was startled. With lightning speed he came face to face with a guard positioned inside the last area, obviously hearing movement he must have hidden once West had entered the building. Instantly without saying a word he swung his automatic rifle around, clearly with the intention of shooting Jack. Reactively with his Walther poised he pulled the trigger before a word or movement could be made, firing a bullet into the guard’s head, killing him outright. The suppressor on the gun barrel muffling the bang as it fires ensuring the killing has gone unnoticed apart from the splattering of blood from the exit wound as the man thudded to the ground.

  “Alpha 1, are you alright?” Said Harvey,

  “Yes, contact taken out in the next building.” Confirmed Jack as he dragged the quite heavy body further into the compartment to better hide it, hoping that it lay undiscovered.

  Outside the still air was calm with the backdrop of normal city life far away but was disturbed ever so slightly by the faint thud from inside the long building. It attracted the attention of the guard who almost stumbled across West earlier, who by now had begun to come back on his patrol route. Alerted, but still suspicious he approached the source of the sound which he determined to originate in the structure beside him. Coming round the corner slowly and with his own rifle primed and ready to fire, he cautiously made his way to the back where the rear door was. Unbeknown to him he had stumbled directly into the sights of a police marksman positioned on the roof of a building across the street,

  “Contact, hostile inbound. Permission to take out target.” Radioed the sniper as he tracked the movement of the guard,

  “Harvey, the police say there’s a hostile inbound, they are asking permission to take out the target.” Said Aazim who by now was sat at a computer on the opposite side of the desk to join in the monitoring,

  “Alpha 1, you have a hostile inbound on your position!” Warned Harvey to Jack. Sensing the danger, he made his way to the door, but it opened just as Jack got to within two feet away from it,

  “Harvey the guard is going through the door now!” Said Aazim,

  “Are the police authorised to fire?”

  “No idea!”

  While the confusion reigned at Thames House, Jack, seeing the door open instantly knelt down. His left knee resting on the wooden floorboards, waiting for the figure to appear as he pointed his gun yet again finder pulsed on the trigger. The guard appeared turning left, then to the right in the direction of where West lay in wait. The eye contact between the two men lasted perhaps half a second, as he was already in a marksman’s crosshairs when a shot was taken. In through the right temple and out of the left, the terrorist guard did not stand a chance,

  “Target down.” Said the police marksman as the man he just shot fell to the floor. Thames House listened intently to the drama as it continued to unfold,

  “Wait, there’s another in my sights.” Said the sniper, as another figure appeared,

  “Is he a friendly?” Asked another officer. Harvey alarmed tried to clarify,

  “Inform the police there is a friendly officer in that location, do not fire, repeat, do not fire!!”

  The sniper held his nerve as he watched the figure grab the dead guard and pull it inside to hide it,

  “Hold your fire, that is a friendly, I say again that is a friendly.” The police officer heard over his own earpiece. He kept off the trigger. Jack headed out again now that he had dumped the body with the other one together,

  “Hope nobody discovers them.” Jack thought to himself as he made toward another building to search. Another one was further down but due to the orientation, the snipers would not be able to cover him all the way round,

  “I’ve lost him.” Said another police sniper as Jack reached the bottom end and out of sight,

  “Control to Alpha 1, you are out of sight of the police snipers, use caution.” Warned Aazim,

  Jack replied, “Understood.”

  He made his way round other buildings; the whole place was a maze, aggravated by the darkness. The restricted lighting in this part of the compound only served to make matters worse as Jack moved between walls and round corners. Knowing full well that there may be other guards around in this clearly important part of the site, he took his time moving from point to point but the close proximity of each building frustrated the police snipers and special services moving in and tracking him,

  “Where is he?” Asked one of the police marksmen looking through a sniper scope, it was hard tracking somebody when they had disappeared from view,

  “Do we have a visual?” He asked. Concerned, Thames House decided to find out,

  “Alpha 1, report your position. Confirm we have a fix on your location.” Asked Harvey.

  “No response, come in Alpha 1 report.” Replied Aazim

  “Come in Alpha 1…Jack?”

  There was absolutely no reply whatsoever from West. Hearing the words perfectly through his earpiece there was nothing at all he could do about it, freezing in his tracks with his hands raised, he was held at gunpoint by another guard. Caught red-handed, the situation seemed like a checkmate as the short cold sawn off barrel dug into the back of his head. Without moving his prisoner, the masked guard slammed his shotgun barrel under Jack’s arms forcibly gesturing his to place his hands upon his head. All he could do was stand there as he was fleeced on the spot, holding the forearm to his head with one hand; Jack felt the woollen gloved hand pat him down, until he came across his Walther. Removing it in brusque fashion the terrorist captor pushed and shoved West in such a violent way, forcing him toward a concrete structure on the other end of the compound,

  “Wait,” Said one of the snipers as he looked into one of his sights, “Contact. Two people, one of them are being led by the other. He’s armed.”

  “Do we have a positive ID?” Asked Harvey,

  “Negative. It may be your man on the ground. He may have been compromised.”

  Monitoring the situation, one of the operatives turned to Harvey, “If that’s West and he is caught, if he talks.”

  Harvey cut him off, “He won’t talk.”

  “Then do we send in the special services?” He was asked,

  “No, not yet. One man cannot jeopardise the whole operation. Keep monitoring the situation; I want to know the second something happens. Any sign of increased activity, we go in.”

  With his hands raised above his head, Jack was bundled into the large concrete building with its dingy interior. Dimly lit inside at least Jack could see where he was going now, it was some kind of dog kennels, an impounding facility for the guard dogs accompanying security on the site. Having only a few seconds to survey his surroundings, he heard the door slam behind as the guard turned violent toward him within the privacy of the four walls,

  “WHO ARE YOU?!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!!!”

  Realising he was on his own now, West had to quickly thi
nk on his feet as the guard began to rough him up. The barrel end of the sawn off pressing into his right cheek, the coldness of it stinging like a bee,

  “I’m just a burglar!! I didn’t realise what this place is!! Please don’t hurt me!! I’m just looking to see what I could take that’s all!!! You don’t have to shoot mate, please don’t hurt me!!!” He pleaded. Obviously trying desperately to sound like a harmless petty criminal,

  “YOU THINK I’M STUPID? WHAT YOU LOOKING FOR?!!!!” Continued the guard,

  “No, No mate-‘

  “I’M NOT YOUR FUCKING MATE!!!”

  “OK, OK, look, I saw this place was a dock, so I only came looking for something, you know, anything like cargo or something to take. Anything I can steal and sell off. I swear I don’t know anything!!! Are you going to call the police?” Jack continued,

  “WHAT ABOUT THE GUN?!! WHERE’S THE FUCKING GUN COME FROM?!!!”

  Pinned down on a nearby table, his face pressed into the wood and the gun still digging into his flash, West continued with the charade,

  “I just got it from a mate. I wasn’t going to use it!!! I don’t even know how to fire it!!! It’s just for show, to scare people you know.”

  By pure chance the table was in front of the window, West had seen it and subtly positioned himself so if the guard did grapple with him, he would be pinned down on the table, maximising his chances of being seen. Aware that police marksmen was tracking him, he prayed that he was now visible to the men on the rooftops.

  His prayers were indeed answered, by now he was visible, and had been since he was being led to the building. The window and the full exchange was being seen directly through the scope of a police sniper,

  “Control, Alpha 1 is being pinned down by a hostile. Do we take the shot?”

  Harvey paused, “Have you got a clear line of sight?”

  “Negative, your man is pinned down, it’s too risky”

  Frustrated, there was little Harvey could do,

  “If you get a clear shot, eliminate the target.”

  In the concrete building, the Guard by now had let West go, sitting him on a chair next to the table. Either he didn’t believe his story or he just had no time for it,