by PETE DAVIES
“Oh nice quip, mate,” said Terri. “I do like him and we’ve had some fun, but I don’t think our jobs make things easy for anything to happen.”
“Oh that’s rubbish!” said Simon. “If you want to make it happen, you will, so stop thinking about it and do something and here ends the lesson on building lasting relationships.”
She smiled. He was about ten years older than her and she had always looked at him, a bit like Tommy, as an older brother who was forever trying to look after her. He was a good man. A hard man too, God he had made her blood run cold once when she saw him attacked by three men in Cairo. They thought they had an easy target with an unarmed foreigner. He taught her a lesson about ensuring you are the one left standing in any engagement with an attacker.
She had met up with him in a souk and she’d been looking at things in a carpet shop when she saw two men try to grab him from behind, whilst a third was in front of him waving a knife. Before she could even get to him to help, Simon had ducked his body down, turning one of the men into a battering ram that he charged into the man with the knife knocking him to the floor and he kicked the knife away to safety. The other man behind him tried to react but walked into Simon’s thrusting elbow, which caught him just under the jaw and he staggered back creating room for Simon to follow up with an arcing right hook that left the man on the floor unconscious. The moves were short, efficient and highly effective and she saw how Simon seemed to be in slow motion, breathing easily and in complete control.
He used everything to his advantage and the one he had used as a battering ram came back at him, but as Simon feigned one way and then the other, the man was caught off guard and Simon used the man’s momentum to propel him hard into one of the alley walls, leaving him moaning and bleeding from a head wound. ‘Knife man and battering ram’ were looking around, looking for a way out, but again the lesson for Terri wasn’t finished. ‘Find out why’ was what he said later.
Recognising the man with the knife was probably the leader, he isolated him by despatching the other man, the ‘battering ram’, with a vicious kick to the man’s right knee cap and she heard the sickening crunch of bone cracking before she heard the scream of pain. Then he was on ‘knife man’, holding his head under his left arm and he was applying pressure by twisting it very slowly in a rolling motion.
“Just tell me who sent you and you can go home with just a headache my friend,” said Simon quietly.
The man was either brave or stupid, but he took the option of trying to shake his head. Terri saw Simon lift his right hand and bring it down in a fist on the man’s nose.
“One last chance and then I break your neck.”
The man started to scream as Simon applied more and more pressure on the man’s neck. She didn’t know if she should intervene, but before she could do anything she heard the knife man trying to say something. Simon eased the hold and then the man couldn’t talk quickly enough as he gave up the information before Simon did as he said he would and let him go. Afterwards she had asked him what he would have done if the man hadn’t spoken.
He had looked at her, almost quizzically and then said, “Broken his neck, like I told him.”
‘Yes,’ she thought. 'He’s a tough one is Simon.'
*****
Sam had considerable experience both as a police firearms commander and as a firearms officer. However, he knew he was entering new territory here. Greg and the others were far more experienced in terms of this type of operation, so he was happy to seek their advice and take their guidance. He and Tommy had been carrying out a final recce of the area and deciding on where they would take up their positions when Tommy turned and looked at him.
“Are you okay going in here unarmed Sam?”
“Well I’m not sure ‘okay’ is the word I’d use, but I think it’s the right way to do it,” said Sam.
“Yes, I do too. Any sign of a weapon and he, if he’s carrying, or if not, one of his guys, would probably take you out before they ask any questions. Just because you haven’t got a weapon in your hand doesn’t mean you’re not protected. You can trust Terri with the long distance stuff and of course you’ve got three Glocks for company with me, Greg and Anna,” said Tommy.
“Thanks Tommy, I appreciate that and yes, I know my back and for that matter, my chest is covered. I think the plan is sound and as long as his guys are good, which if I was him, I’d want my best blokes covering me, then I don’t think they’ll go firing off shots in a public place without good cause.”
“Good, so don’t go giving them any reason to shoot you and everything will be fine and dandy. Now let’s eat. I never like going into battle without a full stomach,” grinned Tommy.
Sam thought for a moment about Tommy’s choice of words, but thought better of it. He knew what he meant. Time for food.
TWENTY NINE
Greg and Anna were finishing off their lunch, sitting at a table immediately behind the front table that they expected Sergei to occupy in about half an hour’s time.
They had seen a waiter place a RESERVED sign on the table at 14.30, so everything seemed to be going to plan. They watched as Tommy and Sam went through their final checks and they had also been keeping a look out at the top of the Central Library for any sign of Terri and Simon and they had seen nothing, not even any unwanted reflections, as by this time the sun was facing back towards the Library.
Anna had already offered up to be in charge of Comms. She was carrying a Glock, but she also knew she would be rusty after having not handled a firearm in over thirty five years. So it made sense to her to control the Comms and only draw the Glock if things went badly awry. She spoke as though she was chatting with Greg as she went around each of the group checking they could receive and transmit before returning for final confirmation with Terri and Simon.
“All clear Anna,” said Terri.
“Roger that Anna,” said Simon.
“Anna, I’m just going to check the red dot in three, two, one,” said Terri.
“Confirmed,” said Greg, as he saw the red dot momentarily appear on Anna’s summer dress.
“Sam, let me know when you are ready to take up position,” said Anna.
“Yes, yes,” said Sam in the usual police radio speak. “Five minutes.”
“Okay, we’re set to go. Comms transmissions to a minimum from now on please,” said Anna.
She then dialled Daniel’s mobile. He picked up immediately.
“Good afternoon Anna. We’re going through our final checks at the moment, so we’ll be ready to go when you get to us,” said Daniel.
“Thank you Daniel, we’ll see you in around an hour or so,” said Anna.
She put her phone into her handbag and nodded to Greg. A few minutes later they saw Sam moving slowly towards them and they both got up and moved away. Sam looked around the café and to anyone looking, it would have appeared as though he had been fortunate to turn up just as a table became clear. Sam sat down with his back to the pavement and facing the café windows. A waiter approached the table and gathered up the plates and glasses, before returning to wipe down the table and offer Sam a menu.
“Just a coffee please,” said Sam.
“Certainly Sir,” said the waiter.
Sergei Grigoryan arrived as expected, at 15.25, when two black BMW M5s with blacked out windows pulled up outside the front of the café. Greg saw them appear and was concerned they might block Terri’s view, but as soon as Sergei got out with a young girl, presumably his eleven year old daughter, the two BMWs moved away, one to either side of the front of the café and the drivers got out and waited by the vehicles, looking back into the café area.
Sergei walked into the outside terrace area and headed for the table with the reserved sign. One of the waiters arrived shortly after carrying a tray with coffee and a fancy bowl of ice cream. The back of Sam’s chair was only a yard or so from the back of Sergei’s chair, so he was almost close enough to touch him.
“Terri, to confir
m, you are at my six o’clock,” said Anna.
“Roger,” said Terri, and then waited for Anna to describe the location of Sergei’s men in relation to Sergei.
“The cars and drivers are at five and seven o’clock to the subject, about thirty metres away. Two guards are standing at three o’clock and nine o’clock to the subject,” said Anna.
“Roger that again,” said Terri.
“Sam, they’re doing a visual sweep of the Square, so now is a good time,” said Anna.
Sam double clicked his mic to confirm he’d heard before he moved his chair slightly backwards and to his right and spoke quietly to the man behind him.
“Good afternoon Sergei. Please do not be alarmed. I’m not here to harm you or your daughter, but I do want to talk,” said Sam.
“We have engagement,” said Anna.
Sergei Grigoryan barely moved when he heard the man’s voice behind him, but he did look at his men and made eye contact and with a barely perceptible movement of his head he indicated the man behind him may be a danger.
“You are playing a very dangerous game here whoever you are. My men will shoot you if you do not tell me who you are and what you want in one minute,” said Sergei.
“My name is Sam Martínez.”
Sam then opened his mic so that his next words would be heard by the rest of the team.
“And before you tell your men to do anything I want you to look down at your shirt.”
Terri had been holding her aim on Sergei’s chest area since he had sat down. As soon as she heard what Sam said, she flicked the switch on her telescopic sights and a red dot appeared on his white shirt.
Sergei looked down at his shirt and couldn’t help but flinch when he saw the red dot. How the hell had these people got into this position to put him at such risk and worse still, when he had his daughter with him?
“I thought you said you wanted to talk,” said Sergei.
“Yes, but you just told me you would get your men to shoot me.”
Sergei smiled.
“Sam Martínez? You’re the Mallorcan Bookseller aren’t you? So what brings you here to threaten me whilst I have my child with me? That is not what I would call a very nice thing to do Bookseller.”
Sam was distracted for a moment. ‘He called me Bookseller. Where the hell has that come from?’ he thought, before he refocused.
“What brings me here is that your man in Mallorca had my mother kidnapped, which again, is not a very nice thing to do, wouldn’t you agree?” said Sam.
Sergei turned in his chair to look at Sam. He saw he was in just a shirt and didn’t appear to be carrying anything. He motioned to one of his men to come across. Simon tensed as he was watching the wider view of the scene and put his hand on Terri’s shoulder, a sign she understood to mean she may need to engage. The man at three o’clock walked across to Sergei with his hands at his side.
“Milena, I’m sorry my child, but I just need to talk to this man for a moment. Why don’t you go with Grigor and eat your ice cream over there my darling?”
“Okay Papa,” said the little girl, as she picked up her bowl and walked across to an empty table with one of her father’s bodyguards who looked back with confusion, uncertain as to what was playing out in front of him, but not seeing any message from his boss to engage. Simon took his hand from Terri’s shoulder.
“So if you don’t want to shoot me, which presumably you don’t, as you would have done it by now, what do you want?” said Sergei.
“To suggest a business transaction. One that I think you will find acceptable,” said Sam.
“This had better be good Bookseller, as I don’t take kindly to be threatened in my home town,” said Sergei.
“I think my mother would say the same, in fact she might just do that,” and Sam nodded to his mother who got up from her chair and walked across and sat next to Sergei.
“Señora Martínez,” said Sergei.
“Mister Grigoryan, I can understand how you might feel affronted at being threatened in your own town. Well so was I when your thug Sonny had me kidnapped. So did you know about this?” said Anna.
He looked at her. He guessed she was around sixty five. She could have been older, but she looked vibrant and was certainly attractive. Well dressed, but not in a rich extravagant way, she was wearing a beautiful flowing summer dress that showed she chose carefully. Yes, this lady had class.
“It pains me to say lady that I did not know about it. I allow my people a certain degree of latitude in how they run their part of my business, so perhaps there was a good reason for what Sonny chose to do.”
He looked down and was relieved to see the red dot had disappeared.
“But I accept that whatever the reason, it must not have been very pleasant for you, so please accept my apologies.”
Anna smiled. He was trying to understand what they were doing here in Armenia, in his town.
“Thank you and your apology is accepted,” said Anna.
“So what do you want from me, other than an apology?” said Sergei.
“You seem to be the type of person who would want to ensure that what you were being told by your people was in fact all of what was going on. So can I assume that you have some insider knowledge and that you have someone telling you that there is a lot of police attention being directed at your operations?” said Sam.
“Ah yes, Señora Garcia. A charming woman, but what is it you English say, she is like a dog with a bone. So come now, we haven’t got all day. I know your pilots left for the airport over an hour ago and so I imagine our meeting will not be long?”
Sergei looked at Sam and then his eyes moved towards Greg on the other table and he nodded towards him, before turning to look at Tommy who was across the other side of the road. Sam hoped he didn’t show any reaction. They had talked about how much Sergei might know about their visit and they hadn’t hidden the fact that they were in the country and this pretty much confirmed that the message had got back to Sergei.
What Sergei didn’t let on was that he had only found out that morning at his daily briefing that some investors had arrived the day before. When pressed, Miqayel hadn’t known as much as he should have. A mistake that he wouldn’t make again. Sergei had anticipated something happening, but even he was taken a little aback at the brazen approach at The Meeting Point. He was annoyed with Sonny that he hadn’t thought through the idea to first of all kill the MacDonald woman and then to follow it up with a kidnap. These were two serious errors of judgement and he didn’t want to see a third, but he feared he might.
“No, it won’t be long Sergei if I may call you that?” said Sam.
“Why not? We are almost friends now Bookseller,” said Sergei.
“You can make the problem go away if you change the management of your Balearics team,” said Sam.
“And if I don’t? What? The police carry on being a pain in the ass? I can live with that. They will get fed up eventually and then we will start the business up again,” said Sergei.
“I understand you might be able to play a waiting game with the police, but it won’t just be them you see Sergei. The other mistake Sonny made was to murder the wife of a very good friend of ours. A very wealthy friend with significant influence across the world. He has already provided a £2 million fund to use against your OCG and he will keep doubling that if he needs to. You may wonder how we managed to get firearms across the borders and into Armenia in such a short time. Only people with very extensive resources can manage to do that. People who operate in collaboration with the Security Services for example. This isn’t a threat Sergei, but a warning. If you don’t feel this is a transaction that is worth you taking on, then the alternative will take a lot more of your time and it won’t just be in the Balearics. We will start on the rest of your organisation and leave what is then left of your OCG for the Russians to pick up.”
Sergei pondered for a moment about what this Bookseller had just told him. It was a threat and he didn
’t like being threatened and certainly not in a café in his own town. But he did run the organisation like a business because he found it the most effective and efficient way of making money. Therefore, he needed to lose the emotion and focus on the problem he was being given. But he also wasn’t going to let them get away with this too easily. If there was an opportunity he would let them know that they could not make Sergei Grigoryan look foolish without some sort of retaliation.
“Okay Bookseller, you have two hours to get out of my country. I do not take kindly to being offered such business advice when I have a sniper pointing a gun at me and by the way, how far away is he?”