SEVENTEEN
James Shaw, Lawrence Sharif and John Shaw sat around the dining table in Delinda and Ally’s Air BnB apartment with a fold out map, along with smaller computer printed maps spread out on the table. Lawrence had printed close up maps off at the business centre in the hostel before he was picked up by the Shaw brothers.
James and Lawrence smoked Marlboro cigarettes and John a café crème cigar, he had given cigarettes up two years ago and only smoked cigars now and again. Circled in a black sharpie pen was the hotel Will Ramsey was currently staying in, which was also the one Javier Ramos and his soldiers believed John Shaw would be arriving at later that day.
'Major, what do you think the best way around this is, it's not ideal that the hotel is located in the middle of the street two hundred yards from the nearest junction in each direction?' Lawrence asked John.
'Three of us climb to the top of the buildings opposite and we take them out from up there, get Will to leave the hotel on foot so that they react, then we will take them out, we approach the buildings from this alleyway and make our way to the top and wait' He answered, pointing with a pen to the buildings and the alleyway on one of the close-up maps.
James Shaw stubbed out his cigarette and laughed.
'That won't work.'
'And why not Wing Commander?’ John Retorted. ‘You are an intelligence officer, I am the Royal Marine, this stuff is our bread and butter.’
James stood up from the table and walked over to one of the holdalls, opened it and pulled out one of the Steyr AUG's they had captured from the Argentines and laid it on the table and pointed at it.
'This is why.'
'What the fuck is that, we can't use them from up on those roofs we will cause all sorts of damage, the accuracy is shit.'
'Exactly, what I propose is, we get Will to give us the location of the two cars, if they still have two there. We pull up, jump out and capture them, a smash and grab basically, all over in just a few seconds, let me call Will.'
James walked over to the landline phone and dialled Will's hotel and asked to be put through to his room. He was put through.
'Will, its Jay, can you see how many cars there are, blue VW polo’s? And by any chance are you armed?'
'Yes, two cars, parked right outside the hotel and yes, I brought my Glock with me, it is in the glove box, no checks today the Spanish seemed in a good mood, what's the plan then?'
'That helps us a lot you took a chance with that didn’t you, wait in the lobby with your Glock. I will text you when we leave, we are going for the smash and grab, pull up, toss them in to our car and hopefully no shots fired. Then we will have the upper hand.'
'Excellent see you soon' James hung up.
'John and I agree with your plan and it will help that Will is armed, like you said hopefully no shots fired.’ Lawrence said.
The three of them sat and checked over the weapons, to ensure they were clean and that they worked. They had two Steyr AUG’s between them, a Browning pistol for John and the Berreta M9's for James and Lawrence.
'Whose place is this anyway?' John asked.
'The girls we met are staying here, they are renting it off Air BnB’ James said.
'Very nice, I bet it's not cheap with the pool as well, bit big for two people isn't it?'
'There were five, three have gone to Granada, I am not sure when they will be back.’
'I see, true gent you are Jay send the ladies away whilst you plot and store weapons in their accommodation.’
James stood up lit a cigarette.
'They probably have more firepower in the cupboard under the stairs,’ James said. ‘There is no time like the present, let's do this.'
He picked up his Beretta and tucked it in his waistband and grabbed the Steyr Aug’s off the table, along with the keys for the Range Rover.
The others followed suit and they left the apartment building and climbed in to the Range Rover.
They sat in the same places as before, James driving, Lawrence in the passenger seat and John in the back but this time he had the assault rifles with him. James put the key fob in the slot and pressed the start button, he turned the dial on the centre console to drive and put his foot on the accelerator and headed for Triana on the other side of the river. As James drove around the tight corners of the Barrio Santa Cruz, he noticed a police car in his mirrors. He drove on slowly and came to the junction with Avenida de Menendez Pelayo which led to the bridge they needed to cross the river to Triana. As James pulled the Range Rover on to the main Boulevard the police car put its sirens on and signalled for James to pull over.
'For fuck sake, the stupid bastards what are they doing?' James Shaw said to nobody in particular.
'Stay calm, probably just a routine stop' Lawrence said.
Meanwhile John was kicking the Steyr assault rifles as far under the seats as he could. James signalled with the right indicator and found a place to stop and pressed the button to lower his window. Only one policeman got out of the police car and walked towards the Range Rover he approached James's window.
'Buenos Dias' he said.
James replied ‘Buenos Dias no hablo Espanyol, Ingles'
The policeman replied in English 'Good Afternoon, can I see your papers and licence please?'
James reached in to his pocket and pulled his wallet out without trying to expose his back where he had his Beretta, he asked Lawrence to get the rental papers out of the glove box, which he did and James handed both over to the policeman. The policeman seemed happy with what he had seen and handed them back to James.
'Thank you, you may go now.'
James replied 'Gracias' and put his licence and wallet back in his pocket before setting off again.
'What was that all about?' John asked from the back seat.
'Who knows, boredom most likely' Lawrence answered.
'That has put me off, I am going to drive along the river and cross at the Isobel bridge and come at the hotel from the opposite direction' James said.
James Shaw drove the big Range Rover across Puente de Isabell II, at the end of the bridge he pulled over to the right, put the hazard lights on and rested his head on the steering wheel.
Lawrence Sharif asked 'What is upon you James?'
'Three of us in this car, Will in the hotel, six of them in two cars, how the fuck are we going to do a smash and grab, where are we going to put them. What are we going to say to them “Please wait here we will be back for you”, for fuck sake it's all going to pot, I should have got a van, pile them all in the side door' James said whilst banging his hands on the steering wheel.
Lawrence put his left hand on James shoulder and said to him in a reassuring voice.
'Two in here and two in each of their cars John and I will take one each, we will use the same underground car park as before, John can you pass me that daysack please?'
John passed a black daysack to Lawrence who reached in and pulled out a handful of extra-large cable ties and handed some to John.
'Obviously we will restrain them, it won't take long, thirty seconds from pulling up to driving off in the different cars.’
'Thanks, I should have thought of that myself.'
'That is what teamwork is for.’
'Or Royal Marine Commando expertise' John added.
'Royal Navy you mean' said James.
'How many times I am a Royal Marine Commando Major, not Royal Navy.'
'What does your I.D. card say at the top?'
John said nothing.
'Exactly it says Royal Navy, I am going to give Will the signal' James said as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
He dialled the hotel from his recent call list and asked for Will Ramsey, he came to the phone a few seconds later which meant he was in the lobby and waiting.
James said to him 'In thirty seconds, run out of the hotel doors we will RV with you, we are in a black Range Rover.'
He put the phone down and took his seatbelt off, John and Lawrenc
e did the same. James put the selector back in to drive and held his foot on the brake whilst pushing the accelerator, he then let go of the brake and the car shifted forward, James pulled in front of the traffic and crossed on to Calle Pureza, which ran parallel behind Calle Betis which was on the river front.
Calle Pureza was free from traffic, which was a good thing, just a few pedestrians but none within harm's way. James sped down the street and could see up ahead the rear ends of the two VW Polos parked up. It was a good decision to attack from the Puente de Isabel II as it was a one-way street with vehicles parked on the left and traffic flowing on the right-hand side.
Squadron Leader William Ramsey stepped out of the hotel doors, which was on their left-hand side of the road. James Shaw was doing almost sixty miles per hour when he took his right foot off the accelerator and pushed the brake pedal hard to the floor. The Range Rover moved slightly to the left side and the front end of the car dipped with the force of the braking. The big car came to a complete stop and James and John jumped out of the left-hand side, Lawrence got out of the front passenger seat and ran around the bonnet towards the rearmost VW Polo with James Shaw, whilst John Shaw and Will Ramsey took the nearest. All four men had their side arms out pointed at the cars shouting.
'OUT, OUT, OUT.’
All six of the soldiers got out of their respective cars with their hands in the air. Lawrence Sharif handcuffed the three men from his car with the cable ties and directed the driver to the Range Rover. John Shaw did the same whilst Will Ramsey covered him, the soldiers from the driver's seat of both VW Polos struggled in to the back seats of the Range Rover, James helped shove them in and closed the door on them, he climbed back into the driver's seat. Will Ramsey got in to the front passenger seat of the Range Rover next to James. Lawrence and John had directed the other four prisoners into the back of the VW Polos.
James opened the passenger window and pointed with his hand extended and said.
'Straight on, follow me.'
He then moved forward to allow John and Lawrence to move into the road. As they set off one of the soldiers in the back of the Range Rover said in broken English.
'You cannot do this; you will not beat us.'
'Well, we are doing a fine job so far.' James said 'Now be quiet.'
'English bastards' the other spat.
'Right Will change of plan.'
Calle Pureza ended at a T-junction, James Shaw turned left on to Calle Betis and drove along it until he got to the roundabout at Puente de S. Telmo. Instead of going around the roundabout and turning left to drive over the bridge back towards Seville, James turned right down Avenida Republica de Argentina.
'Look, this is your street maybe we should leave you here' James joked.
The soldier with the broken English said.
'Malvinas will be ours again.'
Shaw and Ramsey did not react, Shaw was focused on the road, he checked his rear-view mirror to ensure that the others were still following him.
'Where are we going Jay, are you ok?' Ramsey asked in concern for his friend, who looked angry, yet he was totally focused on driving the car.
'Yes fine, how is your hotel? How long are you staying for?'
'How long do you need me to stay for?'
'That is up to you, you can go back to Gibraltar if you want later.'
'I will drive back tomorrow if you don't mind.'
'Not at all thanks for all your help, we couldn’t have done this without you' James said.
'No problem I was happy to help, nice to see a bit of action, maybe we should have gagged them as well.'
'Yeah maybe.’
The convoy led by James Shaw in the Range Rover crossed over the diverted part of the Guadalquivir which was at the end of Triana furthest away from the city of Seville.
Twenty minutes later they arrived at Embalse del Gergal which is a reservoir providing water to the city of Seville.
James stopped the Range Rover, dragged the soldiers out of the back and threw them to the floor. Lawrence and John did the same whilst Will covered them with his Glock 17 pistol. James walked over to the first Polo that Lawrence had been driving and opened the boot.
'Open that one John' James said pointing at the other VW Polo.
Which he did.
James pulled his Beretta out and gestured to the men to get in the boot.
'Tie their legs together please Lawrence.’
James and Lawrence squeezed two of the soldiers into the first car boot and closed it on them. They did the same with two more. The remaining two men were tied with cable ties to the steering wheel of the VW Polos.
'Come on let's get back.’ James said.
The four of them climbed back in to the Range Rover with James and Lawrence in the front, Will and John in the back seats.
Lawrence asked James 'What was that about then?'
'Didn't fancy paying to park in that car park again, actually surprised we haven't seen anything about the first one, that ticket has expired now.'
'Maybe they don’t check that often, what is the real reason?' Lawrence asked.
'They were pissing me off, from the moment we got here we have been followed. I even got stabbed last night, so I decided to leave them in the middle of nowhere, take them out of action.’
'OK, it should make our job easier now, I estimate the rest will stay close to Ramos with maybe only one on Surveillance duties. Which will double to two when Lyndon Powell and his team arrive tomorrow.'
John put his head in to the gap of the front seats and said.
'Lyndon Powell that used to go to our school?'
'Apparently so, have you ever met him? I haven't.'
'No but I know the name' John answered.
James drove off and headed back towards Seville.
James parked back in the lot where he had picked the car up from and walked to the booth and asked the rental man if it was OK to park there, he said it was. The four men jogged across the road towards Hotel Ayre.
'I noticed earlier that they had swimming shorts for sale in the lobby, shall I get four pairs or have you got some John?’
‘No, get me a pair please.'
James paid the same price as a full course dinner for three people for four pairs of swimming shorts at the reception desk and asked for towels which they were given.
Lawrence walked towards the swimming pool and turned off in to the bar before he got outside.
'Go and get changed I won't be long.’
The changing rooms were located next to the swimming pool. The three men came out in their new swim shorts with their clothes and towel over their arms. They found four sunbeds around the pool, put their towels down and sat on the sun loungers. It was 1700hrs and the temperature was still thirty-seven degrees. Lawrence Sharif came out of the hotel, walked up to the pool and found where the others where sat. He was carrying four beers and had two packets of cigarettes in his mouth he and James kept forgetting to take more cigarettes out with them, he set the beers down on the little side tables and threw a packet of cigarettes to James. Each of them grabbed a beer and raised them and said cheers to each other. James and Lawrence lit cigarettes.
'Job well done today, even if the end was a little off plan, but we succeeded in the end and well done. Thank you to Will and John for coming in on this one.'
'Good job we did' John said whilst laughing.
James Shaw put out his cigarette and jumped in to the pool, the others followed. They horsed around in the pool and chatted with each other and the other guests. Lawrence had agreed to pay John and Will forty thousand pounds each for their help and that himself and James would transfer it later. They refused at first but Lawrence insisted. Will said that he would be returning to Gibraltar the next evening as he had important work to complete the following week. John said he would stay until the deal happened on Tuesday, as he wanted to help and he liked the city but more importantly he was away from his Colonel who thought of John as a bit of a rogue.
James Shaw's phone began to ring so he climbed out of the pool dried his hands and swiped to answer.
'Yes' he said then he listened before saying.
'If you step out the front of the station and look left you will see Hotel Ayre, we are in the pool at the back, do you have your swimming costumes?'
He listened again.
'Oh good, see you in a few minutes, Bye' and he put his phone down.
'That was Delinda, her and Ally are back from Cordoba.’
'They did not spend much time there, did they?' Lawrence said.
'I know, well they are on their way here, to join us.’
EIGHTEEN
Javier Ramos had tried the mobile phones of all six soldiers who were stationed outside the Hotel in Triana, with no answer from any of them. He said to the most senior Argentine soldier at his disposal.
'What is keeping them, all they had to do was take the Shaw brother hostage before he got to the hotel so that the others wouldn’t know what had happened to him, maybe these Brits are smarter than what we gave them credit for.’ He said to the most senior Argentine soldier at his disposal.
'I don’t think so Sir, my men and I are Argentine special forces soldiers.'
To which Ramos replied 'Well start acting like it, we might not like them but the British are the best, that is why I hired so many of you just in case they became involved in this which they have, you and your men were supposed to be enjoying your selves instead you are losing men. Maybe they have nothing to do with our deal with Mr Powell and his company, perhaps we just picked on the wrong people at the right time.'
'That is possible Sir, it was reported at first that they were just tourists, maybe they didn’t like being followed.’
'Yes, perhaps you are right, from now on leave them alone, do not give them a reason to attack your men or come after us, we cannot let this deal collapse, from now on your men stay here or if they go out they go in normal clothes and no weapons, we do not want to antagonise the English any more or our plan may well fall apart.'
One Last Time Page 11