‘What the hell is all this?’ Vinnie asked, speaking for the first time since the shot. He let his gaze lift from both the guns and took in Boldo for the first time properly as his words came out. Then he got the shock of his life, and he knew it may well be his last.
As he stared Boldo in the eyes, he immediately recognised the face of Detective Sebastian Fernandez of the Nacional Policia from Majorca.
His mind whirred, trying to take the information in. He could see from Boldo’s, or should he say, Fernandez’s, eyes that he recognised Vinnie from that ill-fated holiday, which had ended just a few days earlier. Though it seemed like an age ago, now. Then, Vinnie’s brain started working as he hauled it above the shock. Fernandez must be working the case undercover. He’d told Vinnie back in Majorca that he’d been in charge of investigations into people trafficking. Vinnie would have to suppress his astonishment; or he risked giving both of them away.
‘OK, I’ve gone along with you, but you need to tell me what is really going on,’ Babik said to Boldo.
‘I’ve told you. These two are cops,’ Boldo replied.
‘What?’ Vinnie shouted, as he tried to understand what Fernandez was playing at.
‘This is Detective Inspector Vinnie Palmer. And I know this because I too am a cop,’ Fernandez said to Babik, who suddenly turned white.
‘But panic not, Cornel, I am as bent as your saying of the dog’s front leg.’
‘It’s hind leg,’ Sue said, speaking for the first time in ages.
‘Don’t be funny, cop woman,’ Fernandez said, before addressing Babik again. ‘Don’t forget how long we have done business and all the business we have done.’
Babik looked confused and Vinnie noticed that he had moved his gun ever so slowly towards Fernandez now.
But then Babik said, ‘That’s true, I suppose.’
‘And why do you think I am so secretive? Why have only a handful of people ever actually seen me?’ Fernandez said.
It looked to Vinnie that Babik was starting to buy it, he certainly had. No wonder the bastard had wanted Christine and him off the island as soon as possible. Then he noticed the tattoo on the inside of Fernandez’s wrist. He’d never seen it whilst he’d had dealings with him in Majorca. Fernandez had always worn a suit jacket. Then he recognised the design of the inking; it was the same as the emblem on the ornate green-handled knife, and the man’s arm, from the beach attack. Now, it all made sense. But this was still one hell of a coincidence, not that he normally believed in coincidences, or fairies for that matter.
The situation was dire, but if Vinnie could keep the threat away from Sue, then that may be all he could do. His mind raced as he knew what his next move would have to be.
‘So, my friend, we need to take these two cops over that mound and kill them,’ Fernandez said.
Worryingly, Vinnie saw Babik nod his head.
‘Wait!’ Vinnie shouted. Both Fernandez and Babik stared at him. ‘OK, there is no point in me denying it, Fernandez. You know I’m a cop and I’ve no way out of that, but Sue here is not. I infiltrated her.’ Vinnie looked at Sue and widened his eyes at her.
Sue widened hers back and shouted at Vinnie, ‘You bastard! I wondered why you killed those women so quickly and moved their bodies so fast.’
‘Did you ever see the bodies?’ Babik asked.
‘No I did not,’ Sue answered.
‘Or were you shown any photos as proof of death?’
‘No,’ Sue added.
Babik nodded.
‘No matter,’ Fernandez said to Vinnie, adding, ‘You have just told her my true name. And for that she must die, cop or no cop. Out of the car, now.’
‘Do as he says and it’ll be quick. Mess about and you will be shot many times,’ Babik said.
‘And in many places,’ Fernandez added.
‘Cornel, for God’s sake!’ Sue pleaded.
Babik merely shrugged his shoulders.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Harry directed Christine to Red Scar and she drove slowly past the entrance to the rough track where Sue’s car had been seen. It looked like the start of a new development site, and a large advertising hoarding confirmed the area of land was to become an exclusive estate of four- and five-bedroomed properties, and bore an artist’s impression showing an elite cul-de-sac with open fields to the rear. She glanced down the track as they passed, and saw the rear of a stationary car.
‘That’s it,’ Harry shouted.
‘What do we do?’ she asked.
‘We need to get an eyeball, come on daughter; let’s go for a walk.’
Two minutes later, Christine and Harry were walking down the track and Christine linked arms with him. But when they were 50 feet away they came to an abrupt halt. People were getting out of the car, so they took cover behind a large clump of earth. Christine nearly cried out aloud as she realised what she was seeing. Vinnie, being led at gunpoint by one man as a woman she recognised as Sue was being led likewise by another. As her emotions took over, Christine heard Harry whispering into his phone. She turned and ran back up the track as quickly, and as quietly, as she could. She just hoped the gunmen didn’t turn around.
A minute or two later, she was back at the car. She quickly turned it around and then headed back. She entered the rough track as fast as she could and hit the accelerator hard once the wheels were straight again. She flew past Harry’s position and was nearly at the parked car when the startled group spun around in unison to face her. She saw one of the gunmen raise his weapon towards her. Instinctively, she slid down into the driving seat, but was struggling to see. So she popped her head back up just enough to steer.
She saw Vinnie react and dive on one of the gunmen as Sue dived clear. The remaining gunman stood his ground facing her and started firing. The windscreen shattered as a round pierced it and Christine felt hot air as the bullet passed her head. That was way too close. And now she could no longer see through the windscreen. Then she felt a collision at the front and hit the brakes a moment later as all the front airbags exploded into life. Then, she felt a second, more violent impact as the car was brought to a halt.
*
Vinnie recognised that the driver was Christine in an instant, and took full advantage. He knocked Fernandez hard with his shoulder and then wrestled him to the ground with both hands grasping at the man’s gun arm. The arm flew all over the place in an effort to free itself from Vinnie’s grip and Vinnie felt like a novice sea angler trying to land his first marlin. The marlin was winning.
Then, Sue arrived at his side and with a full kick into Fernandez’s chin the arm lost its strength, long enough to allow Vinnie to take the gun from his hand. He aimed the weapon at Fernandez, who became compliant, begging Vinnie not to shoot him. The thought did flash through his mind, but death was too good for this monster. Vinnie wouldn’t have shot him, but it was good that Fernandez believed he might. Judging Vinnie by his own standards would keep Fernandez restrained.
All this took place in an instant but as time slowed, Vinnie risked a glance to where he’d last seen Babik before the car hit him. Nowhere to be seen.
Payback for Christine.
Harry arrived from somewhere with a pair of handcuffs in his hand, and as he manacled Fernandez, Vinnie raced over to the car. Its front end was buried into a large mound of earth with what was left of Babik squeezed between the two. He ignored him, rushed to the driver’s door and opened it to find Christine wedged in the driving seat, shocked and breathing deeply, but otherwise alright.
Then he heard the sound of more vehicles rushing down the track as time caught up with him. He looked up to see two saloon cars slew to a halt and several armed police leap from them.
‘Armed police; drop your weapon,’ one armed cop shouted at Vinnie, as he realised that he was still holding his gun. This is becoming a habit, Vinnie thought, as he dropped it on the ground and stood up with his hands raised. ‘I’m DI Palmer!’ he shouted at the approaching officer.
&
nbsp; Chapter Sixty-Five
Two hours later in Brian Darlington’s office, Vinnie Palmer took his seat at the chief’s conference table with Susan Grady on one side and Harry Delany on the other. Opposite was Cath Simms, who sat next to Christine Jones. The chief had invited Christine to this impromptu debrief so he could thank her in person for her outstanding bravery. He’d also agreed that she could remain, and subject to the chief’s editorial approval, use her knowledge in a documentary of the whole affair. Obviously, all the usual legal safeguards and caveats would have to be observed, and nothing could be broadcast sub judice, but Christine would have her scoop at the end of it all.
Vinnie quickly updated everyone: the mill had been raided and all the trafficked women were now safe, including the new arrivals. A woman called Gill was obviously a live-in madam, and was now settling in to her new accommodation in Preston’s police cells. DI Jim Day was co-ordinating the early investigations, protecting the upstairs of the mill forensically and formulating interview teams to speak to the women and the madam, Gill. And not that it mattered now that Babik was dead, Jim Day had confirmed that the key Jody Watson gave Vinnie had opened the steel door leading into the mill’s top floor. It was indeed the key to all they needed.
The chief re-joined them and took his seat at the head of the oblong table, and Vinnie told him that everyone was up to date. Darlington congratulated them all again, then asked about any loose ends that might need strategizing whilst they were all together.
‘The would-be informant in custody, sir?’ Harry asked.
Darlington nodded. Vinnie knew he was talking about Sadiq but choosing not to use his name in front of the others; that bit they didn’t need to know.
‘Well, unless the CPS insists, which I doubt they will, we don’t plan to use him as a witness. If we don’t need to, we don’t think he deserves to profit from this when he comes before a parole board, given the circumstances of his offending.’
Darlington nodded again. Vinnie knew Cath and Sue would love to know who they were talking about, but both were too professional to ask. Vinnie and Harry had discussed this in private and were in agreement. Sadiq had been convicted of running one of Babik’s other brothels and was only driven by greed and his own self interests. The judge of any subsequent trials would have to be shown Sadiq’s draft witness statement, but would agree that there was nothing in there to assist the defence, so would order it not to be disclosed.
Vinnie was pleased the chief agreed, as the likes of Sadiq fed the cancer of people trafficking and deserved no rewards.
‘The only other issue to clear up urgently, as Vinnie and I see it, is with regard to the bent solicitor Grant Fletcher,’ Harry said. He went on to explain that all they had against Fletcher was intelligence and not evidence — unless they used Sadiq as a witness against him, which they had just agreed not to.
‘Plus, even if we did use Sadiq, it’s his word against a solicitor’s; it won’t carry much evidential value,’ Vinnie said.
‘Vinnie’s right, the defence will tear it to shreds,’ Harry added.
Then Vinnie noticed Sue smiling widely. Everyone else must have noticed, too, as all eyes turned towards her.
‘Not strictly true,’ she said. She paused and then explained. Apparently, Babik had many conversations with Fletcher and had always been guarded about them with Sue. That was until earlier that day when she, Babik and Fernandez were on their way to collect Vinnie.
Babik was driving and he took an incoming call. His phone must have automatically synchronised with the car’s Bluetooth hands-free facility, so it came through the car’s audio speakers. It was Grant Fletcher. Babik warned him that he was on hands-free and would call him back, but Fletcher was having none of it, he was moaning that he had not been paid all that Babik had promised him, and that without his help, Babik wouldn’t have had control of Fletcher’s client. Babik tried to shut him up, but he carried on until Babik cut the call off.
‘That’ll make great evidence, but it’ll only be your word, Sue,’ Vinnie said.
‘Not strictly true,’ she said again, and smiled wider as she took her mobile phone from her pocket and started to wave it in the air. ‘I managed to click the audio record feature and have it all on here, clear as anything.’
‘Excellent,’ Darlington said, as did Vinnie and Harry. Christine looked on, clearly amazed.
‘If we get Fletcher’s billing to prove timings of calls, added to the fact we now have Babik’s phone, we just need to prove that it was actually Fletcher on the line, and we have him,’ Cath said.
‘A voice expert should be able to do that,’ Sue said.
Vinnie knew this was technically true, but he also knew how uncertain and challengeable such evidence could be, and said as much. Then he added, ‘I have an idea.’
*
An hour later they were all huddled around a technical expert in an audio lab. Harry confirmed that a full arrest team was poised outside Grant Fletcher’s office on Winckley Square in Preston where a lot of the city’s solicitors had their offices in the grand Georgian houses which overlooked a small park. Fletcher’s office directly faced a statue of Sir Robert Peel, the Lancashire-born prime minister and father of modern policing. Vinnie knew that an intelligence officer was placed near the statue, which he thought was quite fitting, and the officer had just confirmed that Fletcher had been seen entering his office building about 10 minutes ago.
Cath nodded at Sue, who picked up a mobile phone with an exhibit label tied to it. It was Babik’s phone. The technician nodded as he pushed buttons on his laptop, which was now hard-wired to the phone.
‘Ok, I’m on loudspeaker, here goes,’ Sue said, as she dialled a number.
‘About bloody time Cornel, I’ve been waiting ages,’ said a voice Vinnie knew must be Fletcher’s.
‘And before you make any excuses,’ Fletcher said, carrying straight on, ‘I want the full 20grand you owe me. Never mind all the other information I’ve given you, and don’t forget it was my idea to kidnap Sadiq’s wife. He’d have sung like the proverbial, otherwise.’
Vinnie and Harry grinned at each other; they had more than they could have hoped for. They both ran to the far corner of the room and Harry whispered his command to the arrest team, via his mobile. ‘Strike, strike, strike.’
From the other side of the room, Vinnie could hear Fletcher’s voice shouting, ‘Babik, Babik are you there?’ just before Sue ended the call.
Vinnie and Harry re-joined them as the technician confirmed he’d got the lot. A long couple of minutes followed, as they all waited to hear confirmation that the arrest team had nabbed Fletcher in possession of his phone.
Then came the cherry on the cake. Babik’s phone burst into life, it was an incoming call from Fletcher’s mobile. ‘Babik, are you there? How dare you hang up on me!’ said Fletcher’s voice, followed by, ‘Who the hell let you into my office?’ Then the line went dead.
*
Thirty minutes later, and Vinnie and Harry were back in Darlington’s office with Christine. Sue and Cath were busy elsewhere, writing up what had just taken place.
‘I just wanted to thank you all again, not only Christine for her bravery, but to you two for running this job so well,’ Darlington said.
‘I still can’t quite believe that Boldo is Fernandez,’ Vinnie said.
‘Me neither,’ Christine added.
‘Early indications from Cath’s team are that Fernandez wants to sell out his entire network for a brown envelope,’ Harry said. ‘So he’ll get 20 years instead of 25; this is a trade-off that will be worth it.’
‘It will, if we have prevented a UK-wide trafficking network from being established, and compromise an existing network that covers Europe and free many enslaved women,’ Darlington said.
Nobody spoke for a moment and then Vinnie commented, ‘I’d no idea just how widespread this trafficking problem had become.’
‘Me neither,’ Harry said. ‘It’s hidden below the surfac
e of normality.’
‘I don’t want to look into any more eyes that are barren of hope,’ Vinnie said, remembering the soulless looks he’d seen at the first mill they liberated.
‘Don’t worry, I’ve already spoken to June, and we are going to throw some serious resources at this one. The programme will go out primetime, to help highlight the problem. Increase public awareness,’ Christine told them.
‘And I am due to see the home sec next week, so will do my bit to make government aware,’ Darlington said.
No one spoke, as all seemed to be having a moment of reflection. Then Harry spoke up. ‘Just do me one favour,’ he said, as he turned to Vinnie and Christine.
‘What?’ Vinnie asked.
‘Be more careful where you take your holidays in future. My blood pressure can’t take it.’
‘Not sure about that, Harry,’ Christine said. ‘Come on Vinnie Palmer, it’s time you took me home. We need to plan the next one — after we’ve sorted out some other unfinished business.’
Vinnie could feel his cheeks redden slightly.
‘Then, tomorrow, I need to get to work,’ she added, serious again.
He knew that they all had plenty to do.
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Hidden Page 28