“It's times like this that remind me why I didn't join Surveillance!” Anaura remarked.
“It's not all bad boss, it can be quite a good laugh at times, a bit like a game of cat and mouse!” Usher replied, having done her six month attachment to the unit not that long before.
Anaura looked at his Storm watch and saw that it was six thirty pm. Richards and Valera would be arriving imminently to relieve them which filled him with delight in the knowledge that he would soon be able to grab something better to eat than just crisps and chocolate bars. Over the past week the officers of Op Spear had been working overtime, sometimes pulling twenty hour shifts in one sitting. It had got to the point where Anaura had asked his staff to bring sleeping bags to the office to make sure they were available twenty four hours a day. Not long after he had been sleeping on the hard office floor he began to wonder whether dropping the Surveillance teams had been a good idea after all. However he couldn't go back on his decision, not unless he wanted to appear indecisive, or worse............incompetent.
With the hours rolling on by, Anaura started to question whether Kennedy had look outs around the area as he had barely left the house for two days and apart from his girlfriend coming and going, it had been dead quiet. A week or so after Nash had put Kennedy in the frame, Anaura had considered placing an Observation Post near to his home but had changed his mind at the last minute due to problems he was having with surveillance and gathering enough additional evidence and intelligence to convict Kennedy should they get a chance to arrest him.
Op Spear was rapidly approaching its fifth week, which in the grand history of police investigations was hardly a long time but Anaura and his team wanted things to move quicker. Boredom and moaning was a coppers trait and although they were all experienced enough to know that Rome wasn't built in a day, it wouldn't stop them praying for something juicy to happen.
Just as his stomach acid was threatening to burn a hole through his stomach lining, Richards and Valera turned up in a brand new unmarked BMW M1 sport.
“Bloody hell, where did you get the Beemer from Ian?” Anaura asked with surprise as the detectives had only been given Mondeos and Focus's to use as a result of their driving permits not allowing them to drive high powered cars for response purposes.
“A friend on traffic leant it to me. Anyway it would look a bit suspicious if there are two Fords with two passengers parked near the address all day and night!” Richards postulated.
“Good point. However, I know the real reason; you've wanted to drive that thing for months Ian!” Anaura remarked with a smile.
Richards pulled an ear to ear smile and revved the powerful engine which drew a 'quieten down' gesture from Anaura despite him finding his boy racer actions amusing. Usher leant across and signalled that she was starving so Anaura wrapped up the banter and told Richards to return to the base at three am if nothing was going on. Richards winked in response.
Anaura switched the engine of the Mondeo on and gave it a little rev in defiance to Richards’ powerful appropriated toy. As the two men laughed a white Subaru Impreza drove past, pulled into the close and across Kennedy's driveway. The detectives eyes fixed on the two occupants of the vehicle and the front door of Kennedy's house. Richards asked Valera to run a check on the vehicles number plate. Within a minute or so, she came back with an answer, the vehicle was registered to a one Jamie Poultan, a little worm who the Vice unit had busted for possession and supplying of Cannabis after he had been caught in the company of one of their bigger targets. Richards said that something had to be going down, and Anaura nodded slowly in agreement.
“There he is!” Anaura said with excitement, referring to Kennedy who had just left his house and was walking towards the Subaru.
The passenger in the vehicle lowered the window and began having a conversation with Kennedy with the nearby detectives wishing they could hear what the conversation was about. Whatever the three men were discussing it was taking a long time. Anaura told Richards through their open windows to wait until he gave the nod to move in, knowing full well that this may be their only opportunity to get Kennedy and whoever was in the car. If they moved in without seeing an exchange of goods, they would blow it.
As the detective's hearts began to pound in their chests with adrenaline, Kennedy returned to the house and came back outside with something hidden under a jacket. He then discreetly passed a package to the passenger of the car. Richards glanced at Anaura who gestured to him to wait a little bit longer. A couple of seconds later the passenger handed a package back to Kennedy. Richards raised his eyebrows at Anaura who was still weighing up whether it was worth charging in there without knowing what was in the packages or if the subjects were armed with weapons.
“Bollocks to this! Ok Ian, let’s do it!” Anaura shouted out.
Richards put the accelerator down and the BMW shot down the small hill that led into Warrior close followed by the slower Mondeo that Anaura was driving. The two cars came screeching behind the Subaru with the Mondeo crashing into the back of it before the detectives all leapt out of their vehicles and ran towards the three men.
The driver of the Subaru put the vehicle into first gear and pulled off at speed at the very same time that his passenger was attempting to get out, dragging him along as he was unable to let go of the door quick enough. The car stopped and the passenger clambered to his feet, dropping the package that Kennedy had handed him, on the ground, before running at full pelt towards the end of the close pursued by Usher. At almost the very same time Valera and Richards were leaping on Kennedy attempting to bring him down with a mixture of brute force and incapacitating Captor spray that Valera was trying to spray in his face. In the milliseconds that it took for him to see the ensuing chaos breaking out in the close, the driver was spinning his car around to drive out of the close. In the distance Usher had failed to catch the unknown passenger who had rapidly scaled a wall into the field behind the Close that led towards an old Neolithic burial ground. Anaura knew Usher would rush to assist with Kennedy so there was only one more person they had a chance to apprehend, the driver of the car.
Anaura tried to pull the Mondeo across the road to block it, but it wouldn't move. He smacked the steering wheel in frustration and saw what looked like steam bellowing out of the bonnet. He had killed the car when he drove into the back of the suspects' car. As the Subaru turned and began to head out of the close he caught a glimpse of the driver, it was Poultan. Anaura jumped out of the Mondeo and attempted to block the rapidly accelerating car himself, however he wasn't fast enough and the driver mounted the curb to get past the police vehicles. Just as he was about to swear out in anger, he saw that Richards' BMW was still running just to the side of the Mondeo, he looked up and saw the Subaru nearing the end of the Close. He swiftly jumped into the BMW and shot a quick glance into the rear view mirror to establish which way Poultan would be heading; he turned left. Anaura slammed the semi-automatic gearbox in reverse and put his foot down on the accelerator, the instantaneous beast-like power of the BMW caught him by surprise, but there was no way he was going to lose Poultan, so he gripped the steering wheel harder in an attempt to control the sports car as he reversed it at speed. When he reached the end of the Close, he spun the car on its axis so that it aggressively flicked around to face the right way within a matter of feet, something that Ushers brother, Matthew, from the close protection unit, had taught him. Anaura felt his body lean to the side with the centrifugal force of the spin. Within a split second, he pushed the electronic gear shift to first and wheel spun out of the close. Although the adrenaline was pumping even harder and he had developed tunnel vision in catching Poultan, he still managed to reflect how the amazing piece of driving was an 'up yours' to the Driver trainer unit who had slated him. As he neared the end of the close at fifty mph, he gave a quick check to his right which was clear, so he proceeded to fly out onto the road with the BMW over-steering to the right. Anaura cursed as he was unable to locate the blues
and twos switches that would help his cause. All of a sudden his finger slipped on a button located on the steering wheel, instantly putting the car into response mode with its lights and sirens. The abrupt and unexpected wailing made him jump out of his seat. As the car bounced over the bumpy road surface, he could see up ahead that Poultan's car turning right onto the A293 that headed towards the Old Shoreton Road.
For a second, his lost his concentration on driving when Richards urgently requested a police van on the double and an ambulance for injured officers. The request sent shivers down his spine as he wasn't there to help, but there was no turning back now, and he knew that help would be there imminently.
Anaura flew out onto the mini roundabout and swung right to chase Poultan who wasn't that far ahead due to being held up by cars on either side of the road. Anaura floored the accelerator out of the roundabout in second gear, forgetting that the BMW was still under cornering forces and that the powerful engine would send an incredible amount of torque through the rear wheels. The car snapped and slid sideways with him only just managing to correct it, but not without a few extra snaking slides up the road as he continued to forget to be gentle with the accelerator on the fast car.
Up ahead and in sheer desperation, Poutlan overtook a slow moving Mini Cooper in front of him and straight into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The fright of the move meant that he momentarily lost his concentration and forgot to brake as he approached the roundabout which led to a large supermarket or off towards the City centre. He went cascading straight over the top of it. He obviously had no intention for popping into the store for his weekly shop! Behind, Anaura had made up ground owing to his blue lights and sirens and Poultan's inadvertent detour over the top of the roundabout. Poultan may have braked as hard as he could when he saw the roundabout, but it didn't prevent him from damaging the suspension and wheels and sending sparks flying out from underneath the Subaru. As Anaura began to catch up, his eyes quickly flitted around the dash board of the car. “Where's the bloody radio handset!” said to himself, knowing full well that he should have been running a commentary of Poultan's driving and requesting specialist Traffic unit support to help stop the vehicle.
Anaura negotiated the same roundabout at speed after the oncoming cars had pulled over to give him a clear route. This time he was gentler with the throttle and was able to control the car with ease.
“I need one of these!” Anaura shouted out as the speed of the sporty BMW filled him with excitement.
Less than two hundred meters ahead Poultan took the centre lane of the Old Shoreton Road traffic junction. As luck would have it, the lights were green, allowing him to continue without obstruction. Anaura increased the pressure on the accelerator until the BMW's engine was roaring with delight as its three hundred horses of power were allowed to gallop without restraint.
EeeeeeRRRRRRR, Poultan's tyres screeched as they lost traction due to the damaged suspension and the now misaligned wheels. The out of control Subaru slid sideways and straight into the curb at the side of the busy double lane arterial road.
CRASH. The high performance car smashed into the curb, ripping the front and rear near side wheels off.
Anaura crossed the junction and swiftly pulled up alongside the Subaru as Poultan was trying to escape. He jumped out and ran over the top of the bonnet, denting it under his weight, leapt off and rugby tackled Poultan to the ground before yanking him to his feet and throwing him up against the side of his car. Still desperate to escape he tried to push Anaura away and punched him in the chest, prompting the much stronger Anaura to grab hold of his hoody, lift him clean off the floor and then slam him onto the bonnet of the Subaru. As Poultan crashed down onto the front of his car, Anaura swiftly turned him over onto his front and forcefully handcuffed him before arresting him for dangerous driving, suspicion of being in possession of drugs with intent to supply, and assaulting a police officer.
“You absolute dickhead Jamie! Did you honestly think that you would get away? The bloody car's registered to you; you absolute prat!” Anaura shouted at him.
“Supplying drugs? Search the fucking car, there ain't nothing in there!” Poultan protested with frustration.
“Shut up!” Anaura yelled back at him.
A few members of the public stopped their cars in the centre of the road to prevent anyone crashing into the two men. Anaura quickly identified himself as a police officer to prevent anyone else from involving themselves. Everyone stood back, until a middle aged man approached and asked if he could help.
“Ha, ha, yeah you can. You wouldn't happen to have a phone on you? Can you call 999 and tell them DI Anaura has one in custody on the junction of the Old Shoreton Road and needs urgent assistance?” he asked with a sense of embarrassment as he couldn't figure out how to work the hidden covert radio in the BMW.
The rapidly growing crowd of passers-by all gathered around to watch the large police officer apprehending the criminal; it was just like TV. Anaura considered asking them to move on, but could not be bothered as he was more concerned about Richards and the others. In the near distance, Anaura saw a Traffic unit and a response unit speeding down the hill from the Old Station Road. After a moment of relief, Anaura suddenly realised that he would have some serious explaining to do-he didn't have the advanced driving permit that authorised him to drive the high performance unmarked police vehicle and that Traffic would stick him in the discipline book for it.
“This is going to be fun!” Anaura said to himself as the two police vehicles pulled up.
Worthwhile Injuries
Chapter Twenty Three
After spending a couple of hours booking Poultan into custody, writing his arrest statement and being interrogated by the Traffic Inspector on his driving, Anaura rushed to the General City Hospital. He burst through the A&E doors and ran up to the reception to ask whether he could see Richards et al. The stern and unhelpful receptionist told him to take a seat and that he would have to wait. Anaura demanded to know where they were to which the receptionist replied that she would call the police if he continued to cause a scene.
“I am the bloody Police!” Anaura snapped.
“It's alright, he's with us” Richards said as he appeared from the side of the reception.
“Ian, are you ok?!” Anaura said with concern as he bounded up to him and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, noticing that Richards had sustained a cut eyebrow and swollen left eye.
Richards told Anaura to follow him to where Usher and Valera were being examined by a doctor. Anaura felt sick at the thought of what may have happened after he left. He asked him. Richards shook his head and began telling him what had occurred.
“Bloody hell he was a hard bastard Peter! Jennifer and I grabbed him and she tried to spray him with Captor which ended up being as useful as a condom in a nunnery. It basically made him become even more aggressive. As we began to lose our grip on him, Kennedy turned and head butted Jennifer, knocking her clean out. With his right hand free he then smashed me in the face, putting me on my arse. At this point as he began to come towards me, Naomi came out of nowhere and cracked him across the leg with her baton, and like the Captor spray, he took it and punched her in the face which sent her reeling too. I managed to climb to my feet and as he turned back around to have another go at me, I soccer kicked the prick right between the legs and gave him the hardest punch in the face I've delivered. The bastard dropped on his back and of course I had to clock him again for good measure; and a little revenge! All that said and done, there was a positive! We found five grand’s worth of cash in one of the packages and in the other, wait for it; five ounces of the white stuff!”. Richards said with a grin.
Anaura began shaking with anger on hearing what Kennedy had done and asked Richards whether the girls were alright.
“They're fine mate. Jennifer is a little bit shaken and concussed and Naomi has a bruised cheek bone, oh, and as you can see I didn't do too badly myself. We're all OK, and fortunately
the district officers arrived pretty quickly to assist.”
“I should have been there Ian! Poultan wasn't worth you guys getting hurt for!” Anaura said feeling guilty.
“Peter there was three of us and besides I think you'd have killed him if you got hold of him after all that, you punch a lot harder than I do! Anyway, I saw you fly off in the Beemer, how was it? Did you catch the little shit?” Richards said to Anaura with a big smile, trying to stop him from feeling responsible.
“Ha, ha, the M sport was bloody quick mate, I almost crashed it once or twice! And as for Poultan, well, I caught the little bastard on the Old Shoreton road but he didn't have anything on him so it's just going to be a dangerous driving job on him, annoyingly!”.
Anaura walked into the double cubicle where Usher and Valera were in beds next to each other talking. The two of them happily greeted him as he gave them both hugs, and telling them how his heart sunk when he heard Richards requesting an ambulance. Valera reassured him she was fine and just had a bit of a headache, followed by Usher who said that she wished she had wrapped the baton around his fat ugly head! Anaura felt relief that they were all fine and still had a sense of humour about it. After berating him for trying to apologise about what had happened, the two detectives asked him about the car chase. Anaura replied that it had barely lasted a couple of miles and had gifted him with a chewing out from the Traffic Inspector for using an advanced car, but on a positive note he had got Poultan.
Anuara smiled before telling the two officers to go home once they were discharged and to take a few days off; after the week they'd had, they had most certainly earned it. He turned to Richards to tell him to do the same, however he raised an eyebrow back at Anaura and told him he was coming back to the office with him. Anaura smiled and remarked how Laura and Rachel would love them for failing to come home for yet another night. Richards laughed and replied how their wives knew who they were marrying from the start!
Influence Page 17