The Mallorcan Bookseller (The 3R International Series Book 1)

by PETE DAVIES

  “I’ve never had a sister, but I’m glad I’ve got one now,” said Sam, and got up and gave her a hug.

  “And just to think when I first set eyes on you I thought you looked a bit hot. Now wouldn’t that have been awkward?” she laughed.

  “Oh, let’s not even go there Sis,” said Sam. “Right, time for bed and sleep and Terri,” he paused, “thank you for that.”

  She didn’t say anything but just hugged him again.

  THIRTY FOUR

  Simon and Terri set off around 9am and headed for the villa. It was warm, around twenty seven degrees, but already it felt hotter because of the humidity.

  They went straight to the location they had first seen the villa, parking up and unloading their gear. In the daylight they could see the impact of the completely open space, surrounding the villa, made it look slightly eerie, like it was dead ground with no vegetation or animals.

  Terri checked the scope and they were about half a kilometre from the back terrace. Whereas the night before she couldn’t see into the living room area because of the background lighting, today the glass doors were wide open. They looked like concertina sliding doors and they were pushed to the right hand side of the aperture. The two of them sat quietly and watched for any movement around the villa or the perimeter. Terri could see occasional movement behind the windows in some of the rooms, but no one had yet come outside.

  “You still okay with this location Terri?” said Simon.

  “Yes, it’s as good as we need it. I wish we had a camera on the front to see what’s going on, but there’s no chance of that.”

  “They’ll be fine,” said Simon. “So whilst you’re finalising your set up, I’m going off for a recce on foot.”

  Terri texted Greg that they were in position and sent their GPS position. It was now just before 11.30am and the wind, what there was, was coming in from a WSW direction off the coast, so it was coming across her right shoulder towards the villa and the sun was around her two o’clock position, if the villa was at twelve o’clock. She then spent some time prepping her rifle and because of the sun’s position she attached the anti-glint cap to the scope.

  Used primarily to help keep it clear in wet weather, the cap also provided two other uses. One was to disguise the unnatural ‘scope ring’ of the telescopic sight, which is often the give-away of snipers as there are no perfect circles in nature, but secondly, it also helped to prevent any glint or flash off the scope lens and she guessed Simon would be checking for that whilst out on his recce. She then added the flash hider to the muzzle, a device designed to decrease the level of flash when she fired the rifle, thereby reducing the chances of her position being identified.

  She checked her scope and used the x20 setting to get a good close up for setting the range and then reverted back to x12 as her shooting setting. She knew the distance wasn’t going to be an issue. The chairs by the patio table were coming up as 512 metres, but with no elevation she was still a little uncertain about the wind coming in from the coast that might be swirling about in this open space. Simon, as her spotter, would give her the final data when she needed it using the anemometer, but if the wind was swirling she’d just have to deal with it as and when the time came and the fact that the distance wasn’t excessive gave her a margin to play with.

  She got up from her shooting position and took a pair of binoculars and then looked around the villa again. It was on two floors with what looked like a main bedroom on the upper floor, facing west towards the coast, with a large balcony over-looking the pool below. She thought for a moment that she saw someone through the bedroom balcony doors, but couldn’t get a clear look. She then brought her sights down to the ground floor. The room that backed out onto the pool was presumably the living room and there were other rooms either side of it. The one to the left had a smaller set of french doors, so possibly some sort of dining room and the other room to the right just had a large window looking out towards the pool, so that might be the kitchen. She then caught sight of a man in light chinos and dark t-shirt walk from around the side of the building. Was that the bodyguard? She couldn’t see any sign of a weapon. This was a big property, so she was expecting to see more evidence of security. She texted Simon, ‘See anything?’

  He was making good ground around the perimeter. He had gone to his right when he’d left Terri as they hadn’t seen this part last night and so far he hadn’t seen anything to worry him. He continued on and then quickly stopped where he was. There was a small building ahead that they hadn’t seen from their position and he realised they wouldn’t have seen it the previous night because it was hidden by a small copse of trees. Some sort of cover maybe to block it from the woman’s view? He got as close as he thought safe and then looked through his binoculars. Yes, this was where the security team were holed up. At least three men, no four. Maybe the team that had been on the night before? A four man team gave them two at the front, one by the villa and one on wander patrol. That was how he would have done it, so presumably they should expect the same numbers for the daytime team. He saw Terri’s text and messaged her back with details of the security house and then took one final check on her position for any sign of scope ring. Nothing. He then started to make his way back to her.

  Terri took in the details in Simon’s text. Eight security guys plus the bodyguard and then Kaur herself. The odds had gone up somewhat since they had planned the Op last night. She forwarded the text on to Greg and then rang him a moment later.

  “Did you get the latest intel from Simon?”

  “Yes, I’m thinking we may need to alter our strategy,” said Greg.

  “What about an upfront approach? She knows her organisation has been busted. She might realise it’s connected to what went on in Mallorca, but she probably doesn’t know how. It ups the risk a fair bit as she will be on the front foot when you sail into her lion’s den.”

  “You’re right about raising the risk, but Anna’s had a thought about how Rob the IT man could balance things up a bit,” said Greg. “She’s calling him now.”

  “Okay, I’m intrigued, but it’s still leaving you guys really exposed until you get around the back when I can give you some cover,” said Terri.

  “I know, but with what’s gone on I think she will want to hear what we have to say,” said Greg. “So we’re heading out and will be with you in about twenty to thirty minutes.”

  Terri sat back and thought through the potential scenarios that might play out and a few minutes later she heard Simon’s voice.

  “Just me, back with the shopping,” he joked.

  They talked about the options of relocating to be able to see the security building as well, but they would lose the angle she liked of the back of the villa, where they could see both sides of it. They checked their equipment for a final time. Because they were being shielded by the trees, Simon still couldn’t give any firm clarity on the wind as he couldn’t get a true reading of the anemometer (which looks a bit like a mini weather vane with cups that spin). He could see dust in the open space was swirling about and stopping and starting, but going on local weather forecasts he knew that even at its maximum, it should still only be about 10-12km/h, so nothing too much to worry about and he was happy with the distance and the trajectory data he was seeing from the ballistic calculator. He’d done some sniper spotter training in the SAS, but most of it was self-taught and guided by Terri when working out in the field with her and the most important element he knew was to remain calm and focused and give the shooter the detail at the right time. Meanwhile, Terri was back in position lying down in her shooting position, checking her comfort level, whilst breathing slowly and moving her hands calmly and efficiently across the rifle, practising the reload, adjusting the sight and settling in behind her sight.

  “You set for this?” said Simon.

  She didn’t look up, but just gave a thumbs up. Everything from now on would be with minimal communication. Simon would be the one talking and she would be lis
tening and reacting. Simon got the text from Greg that they were just turning off the highway. Moments later they pulled up behind them and Simon passed the keys to their SUV to Greg.

  “We’ll pick you up in a while. Stay safe and we’ll get this done as quickly as we can,” said Greg.

  Simon winked at him.

  “Sure thing Boss, I’m looking forward to a nice pint of bitter back in London.”

  *****

  Greg and Anna got into the SUV Simon and Terri had been using and set off one way and Sam and Tommy turned theirs around and went the other way. The plan was that Greg and Anna would approach the front entrance from one direction and Sam and Tommy from the other, although they would hold back and only go in if they were called or they got no response on three minute time checks. Anna checked her covert comms kit. It wouldn’t stand up to close scrutiny, but her hair covered the ear piece pretty well and the mic was 4G W-Fi and hidden in her bra.

  “Testing, one two three,” said Anna.

  “Loud and clear to Simon and Terri.”

  “Same to Sam and Tommy.”

  “Okay guys, let’s do this. Nothing silly, just the stuff we know we can do,” said Greg.

  “Roger that,” said Sam.

  Greg saw one of the men at the front entrance get up from his seat as he realised the SUV was coming towards the gate house. The man was wearing a light grey suit and Greg could make out the tell-tale bulge of a handgun holster, against the inside shoulder of his jacket. He slowed down and stopped beside the man and lowered his window.

  “We’d like to see Miss Kaur,” said Greg.

  “No appointment, no visit,” said the man.

  Anna was surveying the gate house and saw the second man coming out to see what was happening. She’d also seen the CCTV cameras by the gate house were fixed on a position behind their SUV and the other one was pointing back down the driveway towards the villa, so they had no camera currently on them. She looked at Greg and motioned to him to change their plan and quietly spoke into her microphone.

  “Change of plan. Repeat. Change of plan. We have no cameras on us, we will revert to Plan B. Stand by.”

  Greg nodded and casually opened the door, as did Anna. Neither of the guards took any of their movements to be threatening and both continued to approach them. Anna deliberately moved away from her door causing her guard to change his direction to follow her and he called out.

  “Lady, stop there. Please don’t leave your car.”

  She turned around and feigned surprise that she was causing an issue.

  “I’m so sorry young man. I was just stretching my legs.” The man came closer and Anna continued talking, “Gosh it’s a hot one today isn’t it, now where did I leave my mini fan?” and she opened her handbag, just as the man got too close for him to be able to move for his gun.

  He suddenly realised that it wasn’t a mini fan she had taken from her handbag, but a Glock handgun which was now aimed at his stomach.

  “Lady! What the…”

  His partner heard him and instinctively turned towards him and away from Greg and didn’t see the Glock that came crashing down against the side of his head, knocking him out cold.

  “Slowly does it my friend. Do as I say and you will be okay. Do you understand?” said Anna.

  The man nodded.

  “Now carefully take your gun out of your jacket holster with two fingers and drop it on the ground.”

  She then motioned for him to walk towards the gate house. Greg picked up the other man and pulled him into the gate house. Sam moved their SUV forward and parked up behind the other car, before picking up the handgun off the ground. Anyone looking at the gate house from the security building would just think the guards were talking to someone. Tommy moved quickly forward and bound the hands and legs of the two guards with plasti-cuffs and taped up their mouths. As Greg and Anna pulled away in their SUV and made their way up the drive, Tommy went back in the Gate House and knocked the remaining conscious guard out with a punch to the side of the head.

  “Best if you’re asleep whilst all this goes off,” he said out aloud to no one in particular, whilst Sam moved the SUV forward to a position where it looked like he was talking to someone in the gate house through the window.

  “So far so good,” said Anna into her mic. “That went better than we expected. Approaching the villa.”

  Terri still had sight on the man and woman.

  “That’s got to be Kaur and the bodyguard.”

  “Agreed,” said Simon, who then passed the message across the comms.

  “We have two people by the pool. Male and female,” said Simon. “The woman looks like Kaur and the male is her bodyguard, dressed in dark polo shirt and light chinos. She is sitting at one of the tables to your left, nearest the pool. She’s got a tablet. Looks like she has just opened it up. Can’t be sure, but it looked like fingerprint access. He’s standing up. Can’t see any weapons.”

  Anna clicked her mic twice to confirm as she looked at Greg.

  “What do you think? Just knock on the door?”

  “I think maybe we walk around the back. Sooner Terri gets us in view the better I think,” said Greg.

  “Yes, I like that idea,” said Anna.

  He stopped the SUV to one side of the front door of the villa and they got out and walked quickly around to the left side of the villa.

  “I’ve got you,” said Simon as he saw them come around the side of the villa.

  Greg almost instinctively looked out towards Terri’s location, but his eye was drawn to a glint at around his two o’clock. That couldn’t be Terri as it was too far right of her position, but he was drawn back to what was in front of him, when he heard a woman’s voice.

  “Who are you? Ekam, how the hell did they get in here?” said Kaur.

  Ekam had already moved between Kaur and the two people who he saw in front of him. Greg could see a radio on the table in front of him and Ekam was moving towards it, so he drew his Glock from his belt behind his back.

  “I’d rather you didn’t do that. We’ve just come for a chat with Miss Kaur and once we are done, we will leave and no one needs to get hurt,” said Greg.

  Ekam remained in front of the table where Kaur was sitting.

  “I don’t know who you are Mister, but this is a very big mistake that you don’t want to be making. Leave now and you might just get away with your life,” said Ekam.

  “Brave words and I admire your courage and commitment to your Principal,” said Greg. “However, we can all get through this if Miss Kaur, you will just hear us out?”

  She had looked shaken when she saw the gun, but had relaxed when she heard the man start talking. If he had wanted to shoot her, he would have done that already, so what was it he wanted? If there was negotiation to be done, then she was a past master at that, so why not hear what he has to say?

  “You have me at a disadvantage. Who are you and what are you doing here?” she said.

  “Forgive me. My name is Greg Chambers and this is my business associate, Anna Martínez, but perhaps you know her name already as your boyfriend kidnapped her?”

  She had heard his name and was already planning strategy to talk through whatever it was this man was here about, but when she heard Anna’s name and about the kidnap she froze.

  “I had nothing to do with that,” she said.

  “I know that young lady and that’s not what we’re doing here,” said Anna.

  “Before we go on. Ekam, tell your man in the villa to bring you a jug of water and some glasses and tell the other one patrolling the perimeter to go and check on the Gate House,” said Greg in Hindi.

  Ekam looked at Kaur, who nodded to him.

  “You speak well Mr Chambers, presumably you have worked for some time in my country?” said Kaur.

  “It was a while ago, but I sometimes needed to understand what people were saying about me, so it was important to get the basics,” said Greg.

  Ekam spoke to the two g
uards over the radio and passed the exact message Greg had asked him to say. Anna spoke quietly into her mic to let Sam know to expect a guard was on his way down to the gate house and got two clicks back from him. Moments later a guard walked out of the living area carrying a tray with a jug and glasses on it, unaware of the situation he was walking into. Anna walked behind him and checked for any sign of a weapon and as he put the tray down she jabbed her gun into his back and told him to sit down. Caught off guard, he looked in vain at Ekam, who just nodded and motioned for him to sit at the other table away from Kaur. Ekam thought this might just give him some opportunity as these people would need to be watching two tables now.