by Chris Ryan
'Does it need stitches or anything?'
'No, no. The bleeding's stopped. It'll be fine. He just can't talk any sense.'
The telephone stood on a glass-topped coffee table near Farrell's left hand, so I pushed it towards him and said, 'Right. You'd better get talking.'
The dark-blue eyes glared at me from out of their inflamed rims. 'Talking?' he spat. 'What about?'
I stared back at him. Was he trying to wind me up,
or had he really no inkling of what was happening?
'D'you know who I am?' I asked.
'Not a clue.'
'In that case, I'll start from the beginning. My name's Geordie Sharp I'm in the SAS. Some of your people in the PIRA have lifted my four-year-old, Tim, and his guardian, Tracy. They're holding them hostage, to get you released.'
I watched the information sink in. Farrell's eyes were wary, as if he didn't believe what he was hearing. He said, 'SAS? Like luck you are. How would the SAS be after attacking a police convoy?' With his split upper lip and swollen tongue, Farrell couldn't get his mouth round the consonants and he was lisping.
'They wouldn't,' I said. 'That wasn't the SAS. That was myself and a few pals — my private army.'
'But you're in the regular army. You just said so.'
'I'm on leave. I've taken time off specially, to sort this out.'
'Who are these other turds, then?'
I gestured towards Tony. 'He's a friend over from the States. He's doing some BG work here.'
'BG? What's that?'
'Bodyguarding. Close protection.'
'All right. And these others?'
'Also friends. Former members of the Regiment, in civvy street now.'
Farrell looked out through the doorway, towards the rest of the guys in the kitchen. Again, he seemed to be weighing up what he was hearing. 'So… what's the game?'
'The game's dead simple,' I told him. 'Your people have told me that if we get you out, they'll release my two. We've got you out. As soon as the kid and the woman are in my hands, you can go.'
At that moment Whinger came in with a couple of mugs of tea. 'Will I do one for him as well?' he asked.
I was about to say no, but I changed my mind and told him, 'All right, then. Give him a cup.'
'You can keep yer fucking tea,' Farrell snapped.
'Whisky if you have it, but not fucking tea.'
Ah, sling yourself, I thought, but all I said was: 'Just get on the phone — right? And set up a rendezvous for an exchange.'
He shot me a look of hatred and said, 'Look, I've not been in Belfast for over a month. I don't know where any of the lads are.'
'You'd better find someone, and quickly. Otherwise you may not make it until daylight.'
Farrell reached for the phone, bu stopped and withdrew his hand. 'Hey! Sharp! You're the little prat that was after shooting me at Ballyconvil.'
'What if I am?'
'You made a fair cock of that operation, didn't you?'
'Dial!' I told him. 'And get something set up for first thing in the morning.'
At last he moved. Holding the receiver in his left hand, he had to draw Tony's left hand across with his right in order to pick out the buttons. I knew the call would be monitored and recorded, so I didn't bother trying to memorise the numbers, although I did notice the dialling code for Belfast, and guessed he was calling one of those sleazy bars on the Falls tkoad where IRA players drift in to drink at all hours of the day and night.
The first man he got was evidently pissed out of his mind.
'What are you at?' Farrell snapped after a moment.
'Answer my question, will you?'
'Bollocks!' came the answer, so loud I could hear it across the table.
'Bollocks yourselfl' Farrell shouted. 'Pull yourself together, man.'
A bellow of laughter came down the line. Farrell held the receiver away from his ear and I heard a voice say, 'By the powers, we have a right prick on here!'
'Get off the line, twat!' yelled Farrell. Tll speak to someone sober… Hello?'
The man had gone. Another came on, apparently in little better shape.
'Is Eamonn there?' Farrell demanded.
'What's that?'
'Eamonn! It's Eamonn I want.'
'Eamonn who?'
Getting nowhere, Farrell banged down the receiver and dialled again. This time he found a contact who was making more sense, a man he knew called Charlie.
'Now, Charlie,' he said. 'It's Declan here… Yes…
More or less… I don't know — some charming friends. What? Of course it's me. It's me fucking tongue, that's all — I bit it in a car smash… Yes… Certainly not. Not at all… Where am I? Wait one.' He put a hand over the mouthpiece and looked at me enquiringly. I spread my hands out and down. 'No idea,' he went on. 'About two hours from Birmingham, but God knows where… Yes. These fellers are looking to swap me for the woman and kid… That's right. Are they with you?… Oh, I see…'
Talking to this guy, whoever he was, Farrell was fairly polite. Eventually he was given another number and hung up. While he dialled again, although I knew the SB monitors would pick it up, I watched the first four digits and saw that they were 0802 — a mobile.
The moment the call was answered, Farrell's manner changed. He became arrogant and hectoring, just as he had been on the night at the barn outside Belfast. He wasted no time on explanations, just yelled, 'You'll get me out of this shit-hole first thing in the morning. You know that?'
Whatever the other guy said only seemed to enrage him further. 'When I say tomorrow, I mean tomorrow!' he shouted. 'Upgrade.your fucking ideas, man, or I'll see you regret it! I'll give you quarter of an hour to sort something. Then I'll be back.'
I noticed Farrell was trembling as he hung up.
'Jaysus,' he said, 'the fever is on me again. I thought I had the better of it too…'
I put the back of my hand on his forehead, which felt burning hot. 'Your wounds, is it?' I said.
'It is.'
'What happened?'
'Some fucker shot me.'
'R.eally! Where was that?'
'South America.'
'You get around.'
Farrell's face contorted, as if in sudden pain. 'Listen,' he said. 'I need the bog.'
'Go on, then. Tony'll take you.'
Tm not going with him. I need some privacy. Take these cuffs off.'
'No way. Tony's watched plenty of guys taking a dump. You can shit in company or not at all.'
Farrell gave in grumbling, and while the two were in the bathroom I said quietly to Whinger, 'Have you got those tablets the Med Centre packed?'
'Sure.'
'Fetch a couple out, then, and a glass of water. We need to get something down the bastard. We can't have him dying on us.' Special Branch had found out from the prison hospital what antibiotics Farrell had been getting, and the Med Centre had made up some of the stuffinto plain white pills that looked like Paracetamol.
When Farrell reappeared, I gave him two.
His response was predictable. 'What — are you after poisoning me?'
'Don't be daft. Alive you're worth a lot to us; dead, you'd be worth fuck-all. These are just aspirin. Can't do you any harm. And listen — when you get back on to your man in a moment, I want to speak to him myself.
That's the only way to get ourselves straight with details of the meeting.'
Farrell took the tablets and drank the water. A few minutes later he put the call through, and while he was talking I quietly asked Tony, 'Did he want to shit?'
'Sure did!' He held his nose and scrunched up his eyes. 'Boy, has he got the runs.'
'Got to watch him,' I went. 'We don't want him getting too sick to travel.'
After a few exchanges Farrell handed me the phone.
I put my palm over the mouthpiece and asked, 'Who is it?'
'Feller called Malcolm.'
'Hi, Malcolm,' I said. 'What's the score?'
'The M25, northbound,' went
the Belfast voice.
'Between junctions fourteen and fifteen. One mile north of fourteen there's an emergency phone on a pillar. Be there on the hard shoulder at eight forty-five in the morning — eight forty-five on the dot. Our people will pull up fifty yards behind you. The hostages will walk forward towards you. You'll bring our man back. The exchange will take place when the parties meet in the middle.'
I repeated the details carefully, then had to check something: 'Farrell was saying tomorrow but it's today, Saturday, we're talking about?'
'It is. And no more than two of you in the car.'
'Your man plus two.'
'All right. And no surveillance, either.'
'You're joking!'
'Just so you know.'
'What vehicle will you be in?… Hello?… Hello?'
The man had gone.
'No point in asking,' said Farrell. 'They probably haven't got the wagon yet. They'll nick some old banger in the morning, and come in that.'
TEN
The night wasn't exactly a rest cure. First I'd had to put fresh dressings on Farrell's wounds. A furrow through the flesh on the inside of his upper arm was healing well, but the twin punctures, fore and aft, at the edge of his abdomen lust below the bottom rib, didn't look so good. I could see that somebody had made an exploratory incision — presumably to clear out debris drawn in by the bullet — but there was an angry flush round both ends of the wound, and some suppuration coming out through the stitches. Even though medical training had killed the last of my squeamishness, I didn't enjoy patching up this particular patient; I'd rather have stuck a knife through his ribs and be done with it.
For the rest of the night we chained him to one of the iron bedsteads in the double room, wrist and ankle.
To make doubly sure he didn't do a Houdini on us, Tony volunteered to sleep in the other bed.
With Farrell safely shackled upstairs I took a walk down the drive with my mobile phone, and called the incident room from the middle of the wood. Ever since the intercept I'd been shitting myself with worry that we might have hurt or even killed somebody, so when I got through to Fraser, my first question was, 'Was everyone OK on the bypass?'
'Fine, fine,' he answered. 'No problems at all.'
'What about the guys in the van? Both vans.'
'A few bruises. A couple of vehicles bent. Otherwise, nothing.'
'That's great. Who were those guys in the Lexus?'
'We don't know yet. They cleared off on foot into the hinterland. By the time the cops got there they'd gone. The car'd been stolen in Shrewsbury.'
'So we don't know if they were players or joy riders?'
'The last, we reckon.'
'Well — hell. They gave us a fright and a half. And did you monitor those three calls?'
'We did. We got some numbers to work on. What about your lot?'
'We're all in good shape.'
'Your guest behaving?'
'More or less. But listen, we've set up the exchange for the morning…' I confirmed details of the arrangement and asked for back-up, both from SB and from the Regiment.
'Crafty bastards!' Fraser said. 'Typical, to call the 1LV on a motorway. Especially there. At that point the M25's four lanes in each direction, and at that time of the morning it'll be heaving with traffic, even though it's the weekend. Hell of a place to put on surveillance.'
'I know. But for Christ's sake don't do anything obvious. Don't have a car on the hard shoulder anywhere, not even on the opposite side. The slightest thing could put them off.'
'Leave it to us,' said Foxy. 'We'll be.watching you.
And once you've done the swap, we'll be going for a quick intercept of the PIRA vehicle.'
'OK. Can I speak to Yorky, please?'
Yorky came on, and when I had gone through things with him he echoed Fraser's disgust about the choice of location. 'Bah gum, it's bang under the flight-path out of Heathrow.' He paused. 'We'll have a chopper airborne, but it'll have to stand right off. There's no way it can come overhead around that area.'
'I know,' I said. 'For Christ's sake keep everyone out of sight.'
'Fear not, Geordie. I've been in this business longer than you have.'
'I know. I'm getting jumpy, that's all. Any media leaks anywhere?'
'A reporter from a local paper got on to the police in Ludlow, and they told him there'd been a minor accident, that was all. That choked him off.'
I didn't get to sleep until nearly three o'clock. And all too soon the alarm went and Doughnut came in with a brew. Farrell, he told me, claimed he hadn't slept a wink, but Tony knew this was garbage because he'd heard the man snoring. I was glad to hear that Farrell had made no fuss about putting on the clothes we'd bought for him: black jeans, a white T-shirt and a dark- blue sweat top. Of course, he hadn't much option but to wear them: he couldn't carry on in his prison kit of striped shirt and brown trousers, and his own clothes, such as they were, had been left in a bag inside the police meat wagon. Having discovered from the screws at Winson Green that he had a thirty-six-inch waist, we'd deliberately gone for the next size up so he'd have to winch the trousers in with the belt that had been doctored to contain a tracking chip. When we got him he'd only been wearing a pair of cloth slippers on his feet, and so he also went happily for the new trainers we'd supplied. They looked like brand-new leeboks, but they'd had a little expert attention around the heels.
By the time I got up, Doughnut already had some porridge on the go, and Farrell surprised me by consenting to get a bowl of it down his neck. His face and tongue had swollen more during the night and he had problems swallowing (he also looked fairly grotesque), but at least his fever seemed to have eased.
Nobody spoke much at breakfast. I think we were all feeling shattered. After a quick nosh we hooded our prisoner again, to make sure he didn't pick up any idea of where the safe house was, and set forth.
We pulled out in the minivan at 0500, Whinger again at the wheel, myself beside him, and Farrell.cuffed to Tony in the back. To give each of them slightly more freedom we'd put them on two pairs of cuffs with a short chain linking them. We'd left Doughnut and Stew to look after the cottage, confident that the Regiment would have put plenty of other guys out to OP the rendezvous.
The rain had moved away, leaving the sky clear, but mist still hung in the hollows and made driving tricky until the light was strong.
We headed down through the Forest of Dean to the M4, and 15y the time we hit the motorway my spirits had really picked up. The thought of seeing Tim and Tracy again in a couple of hours gave me a tremendous lift. The dawn mist had burned off, and the glorious day that was developing exactly matched my mood. The early sun shone in our faces as we headed east, but I welcomed every ray of it.
To help while away the time, I tried to work out how many days had passed since I'd got back from Bogotfi. It was twenty-eight or twenty-nine, but with Libya thrown into the middle the time seemed longer.
No doubt it was the same for the hostages. With no word from me or anyone on our side, the four weeks must have stretched out like eternity. I worried that Tracy would be blaming me for not making more effort to find her. Well, I thought, it shouldn't be long now.
All went well until we were on our way past 1Leading. The traffic had been steadily building up, but all three lanes were still moving fast and everything seemed normal. Then, maybe three miles short of Exit 10, where we wanted to turn south for Bracknell and the M3, Whinger let out a curse as he saw brake-lights coming on in front of us. There was no chance of sliding up some slip road; all he could do was stick to the outside lane and wind down to a halt in company with everyone else.
'Shunt,' he said. 'Must be. What do we do?'
'Sit it out,' I told him. 'We've time yet.'
We sat and waited. Five minutes, ten, fifteen… and no movement. Twenty minutes, and we couldn't even see any flashing lights in the distance ahead. The block had tailed back for miles behind us.
The irony of the situati
on was not lost on me. If we'd have been responding to a real emergency we'd have ignored the rules and gone like shit off a shovel up the hard shoulder, prepared to front it out if the police turned snarky. But now, the last thing we could afford was any entanglement with the law. I knew SB would have warned off the force operating in the area of our rendezvous, telling them to keep their hands offa white 1Lenault van with our plates on it, but down here in Berkshire it might be a different story. If coppers caught us with a hooded, cuffed prisoner in the back, our entire deception would be up the spout, Farrell would realise that he was being conned, and the only chance of recovering my family would be gone.
At last the lines of massed cars began to creep for ward, only to stop again after a few yards. Whinger kept cursing and muttering under his breath, and presently his impatience started seeping into me. I shifted around in my seat, wondering what we could do.
'What the hell are all these people doing, heading into town on a Saturday?' I said irritably.
Nobody answered. Our covert radios were on board, but bundled up inside a bag. Because, we couldn't afford to let Farrell see or hear us using them. What we could use, though, was the mobile phone.
I turned round and said to Farrell, 'Here — we're in the shit with this traffic. You'd better call your contact in London on my mobile. Say we've got held up and may be late.'
'Jaysus,' he mumbled through his hood. 'I don't have the number. I left it in the house.'
'Call Belfast then, get the number again.'
'Get this fucking hood offofme first.'
'Not likely, mate. You can keep it on and talk through it. What's the number over there?'
Before Farrell could give it there was a sudden move ment in the traffic ahead, and we began making ground again, reaching a reasonable speed. 'Cancel that,' I said.
'Hold on a minute. Looks like we're going now. I don't think you need call after all.'
Then, “inevitably, everything slowed down. This time, before we came to a halt, I spotted a break in the central barrier. A section of the heavy rail had been removed, maybe for repair, and the gap was blocked only by plastic cones. The traffic coming the other way was light.