Influence

by Andrew Snadden

  A Link In The Chain

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Carl Nash, nineteen years old and rumoured to be part of a chain of dealers that ends up being linked to the Gang. He lives in Charlton Road, Molehill District, and guess what boss? A PC on response recently submitted an intelligence form stating that a drug user had seen a decent quantity of cocaine at the address” Streeting said with satisfaction.

  “Yes!!” Anaura slapped the back of his hand on the file he was holding and called the other detectives and PC Sarah Williams to quickly join them.

  “Ian may have found us a way in!” he said as the four officers took seats around the computer terminal.

  Carl Nash was a low level drug dealer, nothing spectacular, but he was rumoured to have tenuous links to the Gang, and that was all they needed at this stage, even if it was rumours or idle gossip. In addition to being a dealer, Nash was a perpetual user himself and probably snorted and injected more than he actually sold. He was your usual petty criminal scum bag, unwashed, dirty, and malnourished. With a record as long as your arm, but that still didn't stop him from committing crime, he was far too much of a cretin for that.

  Nash's address was located in a rough estate in the east of the City, a conveniently short trip from the station. Anaura's team may have known most of the mid-level dealers but there were always the baby drug dealers who slipped through the net as they had never been on their radar and had been seen more as a nuisance that was a regular CID problem and not Vice's. The difficult thing with the mid-level players was that they were too clever to let slip who they worked for, hence hardly any of them could be linked to the Gang. However the low-level ones were, fortunately, not as smart!

  Anaura smiled at the others, who reciprocated. They had found a potential source, someone weak enough to influence and exploit to help them get what they wanted; a mid to high level dealer that was possibly employed by the Gang. He jumped up and ran to his office, it was time to put a call into Steiner who would help get them a drugs warrant authorised by a Magistrate. As he picked up the phone he shouted over to Valera to contact the Special Support Team governor as he wanted them to be ready for when the Warrant was signed off. Valera quickly picked up the phone and dialled the Central District extension number for the unit.

  Steiner answered his phone after less than three rings and asked Anaura what he was up to which he replied that may have found their man and needed a Warrant asap. Steiner's excitement was easily audible from the other end of the line as he assured Anaura that he would arrange one as fast as he possibly could and finished by thanking him for the team's good work. Anaura put down the phone and clenched his fist with satisfaction, the detective's involvement was finally about to commence after a week and a half of listening (with jealousy) to Surveillance life styling Cooper on the radio.

  Brimming with enthusiasm, Anaura poked his head out of the supervisor’s office and winked at Richards before asking Valera how she had got on with the SST. Valera replied that the units Inspector had said that team 3 were available, apart from regular duties, for the following two weeks. Anaura continued to raise his clenched fist, the wait had been killing him and although it was still only the start of things, it was a far better position than they had been a week ago.

  That evening Anaura got home on time. Until the warrant was signed off there wouldn't be any point in spending hours researching everything about Nash in case the Warrant was refused. For once he had managed to get back early enough to play with the kids and put them to bed. Over a curry, he told Laura about his day and how after a boring week or so, which she knew about only too well because of his moaning, the team had made a breakthrough. Laura was pleased and asked him what they would be doing now things had got moving. He replied that they just needed a Warrant sorting before they could carry out an early morning raid on his address with SST.

  Laura's face dropped with an expression of worry. Anuara asked her why she looked so concerned, to which she replied that she didn't like the idea of him being involved in a raid, especially after what had happened to Marriot and the other firearms officers at the end of the year before. He quickly interrupted her and began to explain that there was nothing to worry about, for starters he wouldn't be going in with the SST and secondly that their raid would not involve gun wielding terrorists. Although Laura appeared to acknowledge what he had said, she was still showing signs of being worried, and stated that there was always a risk in those sort of operations. He wished he could lie to her, to stop her from worrying, but she was right, all police work had an element of danger, and operations like this one were even more of a threat! Anaura himself had become a cropper when he was stabbed in the arm during a raid before the creation of SST. However he wouldn't be going in on this occasion and things had become a lot more professional and tactical since those days. It definitely wasn't the old Sweeney-like times when detectives would kick doors in with their size nines and storm in with little or no protective equipment; times had changed!

  Laura smiled. She had been a copper's wife long enough to know the dangers! Although she accepted the risks, when Anaura had explained to her a number of years before that firearms was not his bag, she was unable to hide her delight. That was one danger she was not as willing to accept. They finished the curry, and with a bloated stomach, Anaura asked her if she fancied a lazy DVD night. Laura responded by laughing, she knew full well why he had suggested it, he had eaten too much and was now worried that he might break wind during the 'act'. Laura agreed so they went through into the lounge to watch a film. If she had been honest, she was worried about the same happening to her too. Romance for that night at least, was unequivocally dead!

  A Decent Find

  Chapter Seventeen

  Two days later at the ungodly time of five o'clock on the Friday morning, Anaura walked into the SST office where he was met by two officers from the unit wrestling on the floor as the others watched and cheered. He took a sip of his usual morning coffee before asking them if he was interrupting something. The officer's heads swung around and he gave them a disappointed and officious look, before suddenly grinning and asking who he should put his money on. The six officers looked relieved when they saw it was Anaura as it could have been worse, it could have been Steiner. Anuara took a seat and shared a session of bantering with the officers until Sergeant John Averton, team 3's supervisor walked into the office. Averton was a well-respected and tough officer in his early fifties, with a great personality and an even greater sense of humour to go with it. He sat down and asked Anaura how he was doing before enquiring whether the prats on his team had still been screwing about when he arrived. Anaura replied in a sarcastic tone that they had been sat down like a group of angels. SST officers were hardly angelic! A minute or so later, Richards walked in with Valera and Usher, followed by Steiner a short time later.

  Steiner indicated that they should get started right away in order for the job to be carried out at six am sharp. He asked Anaura to start the informal briefing that would inform the team who and what they were dealing with. Anaura stood up and handed out a few slim operational packs. For a job of this threat level, there was really no need to labour the point with tonnes and tonnes of information and intelligence. After asking them to turn onto the first page, he began reading out the purpose of the operation and explained that they were in possession a Drugs Warrant that would be served on Nash after the SST had secured the premises.

  The SST knew Carl Nash only too well, he was one of their regulars who really should have been in prison already. However with the weak legal system and Human Rights Act, he was generally released from court with few weeks community service and a slapped wrist. The threat of a holiday in prison had never been a deterrent for him so when an opportunity arose for the support team to go in heavy handed, they relished it!

  As the briefing progressed, Anaura explained to the officers that he wanted them fully kitted in their level two riot equipment with each officer being armed
with a round perspex shield for good measure. Although Nash was far from being the strongest man going, there was still a chance that he could have a knife close by. Anaura didn't want to take any chances, and apart from that he knew that the SST lads loved getting fully kitted up and he didn't want to spoil their fun; especially when it was at the expense of the little scum bag. And he knew, all joking aside, that if Nash was really frightened it would help their cause. He also explained that he wanted a rapid forced entry into the property due to the risk of the evidence being disposed of by Nash. As with every police briefing, he wrapped it up by informing them of the legality of the operation, citing that it was a Drugs Act search warrant and that any actions they took would need to be appropriate and justifiable in the circumstances. With his usual enthusiastic trade mark after a briefing, Anaura clapped his hands together and said “Alright, let’s do this!”.

  The officers did not need hyping up for a job of this nature and rushed out of the office to start getting their kit ready. Richards sat down next to Anaura and began reminiscing how Vice used to do all the drug raids and that he missed it. Anaura agreed and lamented at how they only left the office on a handful of occasions per week these days, missing all the fun stuff. Valera and Usher on the other hand were always present for these style raids due to their investigations requiring rapid entries and searches, and were far from being excited. In their minds this early morning raid was a necessary evil to help propel them towards the bigger fish they needed, and although they liked the guys from the team, at five o'clock in the morning their macho bravado was less than endearing.

  The officers of Team 3 walked through the Response office looking extremely pleased with themselves as the probationers on duty looked at them awe struck. For some of them, the idea of less paperwork and more action that being on the teams would bring, seemed an eternity away. The more experienced officers, however, who were sat writing up their crime reports did not even glance up from their computer screens; they had seen it all before. They reached their van and started preparing all of the required kit before returning up to the unit's office to get changed into their tactical kit that consisted of blue fireproof overalls, arm and legs guards, a stab vest and a balaclava that was worn underneath a blue riot helmet fitted with a visor. It looked as impressive as it sounded and would stun the hardest of criminals when they were rudely awoken by the sight of and sound of a fully kitted SST officer.

  Anaura looked at his watch, it was five forty five and time to go. With one last check of their kit, the officers hurried out of the office and down two flights of stairs to their van which was located in the rear car park of Central District Police Station, followed by the four detectives who climbed into their unmarked silver Ford Focus. In convoy they pulled out of the rear yard and headed down the hill that led towards the main road, which after negotiating an annoying one way system, would take them straight to within a stone's throw of Charlton Road that was only a matter of miles north of them. Richards turned the volume up on his police radio and completed a communications test to ensure that Team 3 and Steiner could hear him. They confirmed he was loud and clear, followed by an acknowledgement by Steiner who was sat in his office listening intently.

  “Big job on?” Drayson enquired, poking his head into Steiner's office.

  “Sorry sir, I'm a little bit occupied right now, I'll catch up with you later. Anyway it's nothing special!” Steiner replied.

  Drayson felt frustrated as he had hoped that he might have learnt what was happening. However he knew that the moment he started asking too many questions, he would raise suspicions, as it wasn't generally the done thing with jobs like Op Spear, especially when he had already tried to make waves to prevent it taking place. It didn't matter now anyway, the Gang were unaware that the operation was still going ahead and what was even better was that he had finally found his ace in the hole with Foster. By chance he had also discovered that the surveillance teams wouldn't be working nights which meant that Foster could work unobstructed. He smiled and nodded at Steiner before walking off towards his own office down the corridor. It wouldn't be long before all of this mess was done and dusted, and he would be able look forward to his promotion.

  Sat in the front seats of their Ford Focus, Anaura and Richards were like giddy school boys which prompted Usher and Valera to poke fun at them and state that perhaps the two supervisors needed to get out more often. Richards told them to stop being bores and reminded them that he and Anaura spent most of their time having to write off their investigations, and mistakes.

  Up ahead, the SST van was building up steam to get to the address in good time without the use of 'blues and twos' due to the surprise element of the job. And although Anaura knew this, he kept telling the others how he would have loved to have had the opportunity to have a rapid drive, as it had been years since the last time he had switched on the blue lights. The two detective constables looked at each other and then shook their heads as Richards whole heartedly agreed with him.

  As the two vehicles pulled up into Charlton road, the van abruptly stopped and Sergeant Averton and his team jumped out and ran towards the house with shields in hand. The detectives pulled up opposite to the run down grey pebble dash house that had everything from rubbish and washing machines to a dirty sofa in the front garden. Anaura and Richards swiftly spun their heads around to make sure that they didn't miss a beat while Valera and Usher continued looking at something on Valera's smart phone; there was no need to watch.

  Less than fifty feet away, Sergeant Averton and four of his officers lined up just shy of the garden gate as another two ran up to the front door and placed a hydraulic ram into it that would apply well over a thousand pounds worth of pressure through the wooden frame, before one of them would hit the door with a hand held battering ram (the Enforcer), smashing it open within milliseconds.

  BOOM. The door burst open as the two Method Of Entry officers yelled out “BREACH”, signalling to the rest of the team that they could steam roll their way in. All of a sudden, Averton and the four officers who were lined up with him, stormed into the address at full tilt, followed by the MOE officers. Screams of “POLICE, POLICE, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” could be heard loudly coming from within inside the house.

  “Awwww yes! Get in there my sons!” Richards said with mock cockney accent as he shot a quick glance to Anaura who nodded back excitedly before they climbed out of the car.

  “I'd love to be in there right now!” Anaura said roughly rubbing his hands together.

  Inside the poorly lit house where the only available light was being provided by the early morning sun shining through the curtains, the SST officers flew into each room looking for Nash and making sure they were clear of other occupants. As the downstairs was cleared with rapid precision, the officers charged upstairs to be met by Nash appearing from his bedroom, looking paler than usual and holding a baseball bat. Seeing the bat as a serious threat, Nash was sent flying backwards by one of the officers, who ran and cracked him with his round perspex shield, sending him reeling backwards into the bedroom. As team 3 piled into the room to secure him, his fully naked girlfriend jumped out of the bed and tried to grab one of the officers while kicking and screaming at him. She was quickly restrained and placed in handcuffs at the same time as Nash. With her nice curvy and naked arse now pointing into the air, one of the offices looked at the rest of the team and raised his eyebrows with a smug smile.

  Once the rest of the upstairs had been checked for suspects, Averton called Anaura and the other detectives forward into the house. Anaura reflected how it was the usual scum bags home, one that smelt like stale sweat and dirt, and looked like it had never been cleaned before. The type of house where you would wipe your feet on the way out! As the detectives walked upstairs they could hear Nash and the female screaming out in protest.

  “Happy customers then!” Richards said as he followed Anaura up.

  As they walked into the room they were met with the sight of Nash fa
ce down on the floor in his stinky and dirty boxer shorts as his naked girlfriend was kicking out and trying to get up but being prevented from doing so by two large officers.

  Valera and Usher told the two male officers that they would deal with her and found a nearby jacket to cover her up with before dragging her out of the room to be spoken to downstairs. It was a lot more dignified and negated the possibility of a sexual assault claim, despite this, all of the male officers appeared disappointed. Anaura served the Warrant on Nash and told him that his house was going to be searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act and to tell them if he had any drugs at the address. Nash told him where to go in no uncertain terms. Anaura shrugged his shoulders and warned Nash that if there was anything to find, they would, with or without his help. Nash didn't reply, so he silently signalled for him to be taken away and he was duly dragged downstairs by two of the officers whilst the rest of the team stood commenting about how fit his girlfriend was, and what an amazing arse and body she had, even for a scummy lowlife. One of them was just about to mention her pert and ample chest before Anaura interrupted him and asked for a little bit of professionalism to be displayed. Richards winked at his hypocrisy, knowing for a certainty that Anaura was thinking the same thing as every man in there, despite being a little more discreet about it. Although Richards may have been right, the horrible smell in the room combined with the knowledge that she would smell little better herself, kept Anaura's mind firmly on the task of finding some narcotics. After an hour of searching the address using sweaty rubber gloves to prevent contaminating the evidence; and themselves, Valera finally found what they had been looking for.