“Hene” the little handheld radio crackled to life, “ how far away are you?” Sam asked it sounded urgent.
“Just finishing up” Hene replied.
“Roger, see you then” the radio went quiet again.
Everything looked quiet, ‘that has to be good’ he thought to himself as he walked towards the door, one more scan around especially out front, where there was a clear line of sight to the bridge over the stream before the road disappeared around a bend and began twisting up the hill opposite, there were a couple of dry stone walls about chest height, marking off farmers fields that ran either side of the road, and two more on each side that went from the first wall to the trees. Hene estimated there was about a hundred and fifty yards or a hundred metres between the two.
Opening the door he could smell a fresh pot of coffee brewing, ‘hazelnut mocha’ he thought to himself, ’Brits just don't appreciate some of the finer things in life’. Walking in he made his way down the hall, past the second door which should have been closed but they'd gotten a bit too blasé with security, he secured the Yale lock and made sure the door was locked.
“What's up?” He walked into the kitchen, Sam handed him a mug of the brown nectar, he took a sip.
“All good outside?” Sam asked seemingly ignoring his query, as the senior officer she was still technically in charge, though things had gotten somewhat blurred over the last few days.
“Yeah, all good” he replied taking another sip of the coffee, there were four chairs around the kitchen table, high backed pine kitchen chairs, he pulled one out and sat down. “I've managed to put a couple more cameras linked to motion sensors, should help us pick up any unwelcome visitors”.
“How do we get the signal?” Same asked, “and where'd you get the stuff from?” No one had said anything about putting extra stuff in.
“Compliments of Joey” he replied taking a swig of the coffee, it had cooled down some, “he told me not to ask too many questions, but said he figured we might benefit from them as the mole isn't going to know anything about ‘em!”
Same gave a bit of a worried look, after all, she was still a copper, and old habits ‘die hard’ she figured they might just have ‘fallen off the back of a truck’ knowing Joey. “Okay,” she said, “just how does it work?”
“Basically” he began, “as soon as it picks up an intruder, it emails us a link for the live feed”
“Whoa, stop there, emails who? and what live feed?”
“At the moment me” Hene replied, “Paul only set me up with it, but he can”
“Wait a minute!” She wasn't impressed, “you told Paul about the security here?”
“Actually he didn't” Paul was stood in the doorway between the kitchen and lounge, “I'm a security consultant remember” he moved further into the kitchen, there were a couple of English muffins on the table, part of a pack Sam had opened earlier, he took one, split it and popped the two halves in the toaster next to the cooker which was on the right of the door to the lounge. “It's what I do, advise people on their security” he added.
“Yeah, internet security” she replied, the last thing they needed was a rank amateur screwing things up, “not the kind of”
“And how do you think we keep the servers safe? Not just the software, but the machines themselves?” he let that sink in for a moment, “we design the whole system, and besides, it's only clicking a few icons”
“You make it sound pretty simple” Sam wasn't so sure, “but I'm not so sure we should be messing with stuff we can't control”
“Too late” Hene interjected, “we've got four of ‘em set up, all we need do is put your email address in here” he pointed to the screen, “and anything the sensors pick up will send a live feed to your phone, Paul can put an override in so only the nearest one to the house will broadcast”
“Actually” Paul butted in, “that might not work, but I can set it up so you get an email from each and choose which one you’re going to watch, how does that sound?”
Sam nearly threw the phone at him, “make it so”
Paul caught the phone and swiped the screen to open it, the ‘password’ icon came up, “here, you better open it, I'll talk you through what to do” he moved to her side, a little too close for her comfort, she stepped away slightly. Just then it began to ring, she looked at Hene, a flicker of alarm registering, “It's Jacko” was all she needed to say.
Chapter 45
The Colt Commandos were stored in the lockbox in the back of the Lannie along with something special Smithy had brought along, something both Jacko and Mac thought belonged in a Museum, they didn’t have the courage to tell him that, and he didn’t have the courage to tell them that’s where he got the .303 Lee Enfield from! They did choose to keep the Glocks handy, they were in the door pockets, ‘could be an issue if we stop for a piss’ they all thought, but that wasn't the intention.
Jacko was driving, Mac in the passenger seat was monitoring their comms, Smithy was in the back plotting the topography and likely ambush points around the farm, they were going to be as prepared as possible for whatever lay ahead.
“I'd say we’re gonna be three hours, maybe four” Jacko glanced at the speedometer, they were doing sixty-five miles an hour, pretty respectable for a Land Rover, but still not fast enough for their liking, the Lannie would do eighty even though they weren't exactly built for speed, then again the last ten miles might just be ‘cross country’ regardless of what might be in the way, that's what they were good at. “But we need to do it in a lot less!”
“What about Joey and Sandy?” Smithy asked he didn't look up from what he was doing, but that didn't mean a thing, he could seem totally focused on what he was doing and still take in everything going on.
“About an hour and a half” Mac replied, “they called in with an ETA about half an hour ago”
Even though they were on a four-lane highway, it wasn't the motorway, and the car in front seemed to think it was a scenic tour doing about half the sixty miles and hour they were supposed to be doing, and severely pissing Jacko off, they were already in the fast lane.
“What the hell?” Mac grabbed the door handle as Jacko pulled violently to the left, the vehicle swerved between two other slower ones, narrowly missing the front vehicle and causing loud horn blasts from the one behind as the driver slammed the brakes on, they hit the service lane as Jacko gunned the engine, a momentary pause before the vehicle lurched forward clearing the traffic, as soon as they were in the clear Jacko pulled back onto the road and into the right hand ‘fast lane’ again just missing the front of a fully laden semi, “boss, we've got enough people trying to kill us” Smithy added, “yer didna need to add pissed off truckers to it!”
“Quit your whining Jacko shot back almost laughing, “we've got three hours to make a four-hour drive!”
The news reports would be hitting the airwaves about now, that meant every second counted. Serkhov wasn't dumb, as soon as he realized what was going on anything could happen, and that was the plan.
Sam and Hene had Paul at the safe house, but nowhere was safe, they would be compromised, that was certain, and Serkhov would want revenge, he would want blood! He’d regard the hacker as the reason the scheme failed. It wouldn't go well with his bosses, and even less so if he told them the reason their money wasn't recovered was still ‘upright and sucking air’
They would try to make the hit, ‘just hopefully not in the next three hours’ Jacko, Mac, Smithy, Joey and Sandy were all silently praying.
“Yer coulda picked a faster ride boss” Mac couldn't resist a jibe at Jacko's expense.
“Yeah well, you ever saw the luggage space in a Ferrari?” Jacko quipped back, “wouldn't even get you in, never mind the gear!”
“Be prepared” was the Boy Scout motto, “it was also the creed the SAS lived by, and that meant they had as many ‘scenarios’ prepped for as they could carry, and then some!
“You reckon Serkhov’s worked things out ye
t?” Smithy asked.
“Possibly” Mac replied, “suppose I better give Sam and gang the heads up” he reached for the phone and began tapping out a message.
Chapter 46
“Yer got the location yet?” The Irish brogue was strong, he was frustrated, and when he got frustrated the Irish brogue showed itself as a calling card.
“Da” the Russian replied, “it's not far, about fifteen miles, in a forest” he pulled his phone out, tapped in an address and up came ‘Google maps’ a few more taps and a route from their present position appeared. “ See” he showed the Irishman.
“Do ya think I've got a bloody magnifying vision or something?” O'Flanagan let fly verbally, “bloody well put it on something I can see” he moved back to his vehicle, one of the others in the van passed him a laptop, “here” he thrust it at the Russian, “put it on this”
“Here” the Russian finished tapping the screen. “Fifteen miles away, there are two ways in, one to the north, and one to the east, maybe we take them from both directions, what you think?”
O'Flanagan couldn't quite believe his ears, ‘Jeez, if brains were dynamite, these bloody Russians wouldn't have enough to blow their friggin noses!’ he did manage to keep that thought to himself though, “We do that and we're likely to kill each other in a crossfire, ya bloody idiot!!” He adjusted the laptop for topography, “see here, to the east,” he tapped the tablet, the Russian followed his direction, “there's a bit of a dip in the road, enough to keep you hidden, park your vehicle blocking the road and wait in the trees”
“What for?”
“Friggin Christmas what do ya think?” he was getting really annoyed, working with Gromatski had been hard enough, but at least he’d known what he was doing, these clowns had no idea, “ya there the stop help getting through ya numbskull!!”
“What you talk about?” The Russian’s name was Stefan, this wasn’t the brief he’d been given by Serkhov over the phone earlier, granted he’d said to help this stupid Irish ‘Mick’ but he’d been told to make sure the kid didn’t carry on breathing beyond sundown, and preferably that he stopped well before it.
“Do yer have any idea who's guarding the kid?” O’Flanagan was beginning to lose the plot, “A flaming’ team o’ the best, that’s who! Trust me, I’ve dealt with these pricks afore! They’re gonna come at us from all bloody angles, and I want your boys to stop ‘em coming in from the east,” he stopped for a moment to let that sink in, “let me deal with the kid, and if it gets too bloody hot, you hit ‘em from the east, but we don’t let ‘em know you’re there until we bloody well have to, have you got it?”
Stefan didn’t like the plan, it meant he wouldn’t be able to confirm whether ‘the mick’ had done the job, “Serkhov want confirmation” was all he said.
“Then I’ll make sure to post him a bloody picture!” the Irishman quipped back, “Look, your boys seal off that road, I’ll leave a couple of lads to seal off the other, and the rest of us will go in and finish the bloody job, Got it?” he paused again to make sure the Russian understood, he could see the anger in his face, but he also knew the Russians were outnumbered in this one, they had four guys, where O’Flanagan had brought his whole cell, six of them, more than enough for the average, but this was no average hit. “Now, what did you bring?”
“Boss” Mac spoke up, they'd been driving for a while, “I reckon we’re about forty-five minutes out, the roads get a bit narrow from here on in” he glanced nervously over at the speedometer, he couldn't tell the speed, but the needle was well over on the right-hand side. The dial went up to 90 mph, but it looked as if the needle was well off the dial, and in a Land Rover, that wasn't crazy, it was suicidal!
“Boss” Mac spoke up again, his knuckles were white with holding on, but Jacko, in fact, all of them had done the police pursuit driving course, it was part of the training, “message from Sandy, ” he looked over at Jacko who glanced back, Jacko didn't like what he saw.
“What?”
“Says at least two teams, one Russian, one Irish” Mac put the tablet back in the recess and grabbed hold tightly, “Ya better stop playing around and get a move on boss.”
“Looks like two entry points boss” Smithy added to the conversation.
“Yeah” Jacko was concentrating, they were fast approaching a car doing the speed limit, but he had no intention of slowing down, there was a slow lane just in front of the car, he was plotting the best way forward.
The car wasn't moving over, Jacko blew the horn, but all he got back was a ‘one fingered salute’, he swerved left and gunned the engine, considering he hadn't slowed in the first place the Lannie flew past the car, Smithy obliged with a return ‘salute’ and was serenaded with a long blast of the other car’s horn, something that other motorists would normally take as an insult, for Jacko it was just normal.
There was a crossroads ahead with a set of traffic lights on it, they were yellow or ‘amber’ heading for red. A car was pretty close to them coming from the left, the driver had anticipated the change and was cruising up. The lights changed and he started to go as Jacko flew into the junction literally ‘drifting’ the Lannie round the other vehicle, no horn came on, but seconds later a police siren came on as well as red and blue lights receding but pursuing them.
“Boss” Mac joked, “I know we're gonna need the cops later, but bringing ‘em with us, that's bloody ridiculous!”
“Shut up, ” Jacko responded, “and get on the blower, get someone to call this idiot off”
“Roger that” Mac reached for the phone.
“Smithy, directions, now please” Jacko barked
The difference between map reading and high-speed map reading is for high speeds you have to read the map a couple of miles ahead of where you actually are, at ninety miles an hour you're travelling at three hundred feet per second, identifying an object, recognising what it is from the map and relaying the information might only take five seconds but you're already nearly twelve hundred feet, or a third of a mile past the object, then you've got to break, turn round and get back, all time lost if you got the map reading wrong.
“Half a mile turn left, then four hundred yards, crossroads turn right boss”.
“Got it, hang on” Jacko braked and yanked the wheel in a hard left turn, half way round he gunned the big V6, she growled in delight at finally being able to ‘lose some traction’, Smithy tried to throw himself as much as he could onto Mac's side of the vehicle as the two wheels on that side left the ground, they came back down with a thud, dust spraying everywhere as they left the tarmac road and entered a gravel one. The ‘Lannie’ was doing what she was made for, and it was as if she was trying them how much she loved it.
The cop had been slowly gaining, that was until they hit the gravel, then they seemed to back right off, stone chips were flying off the back tyres like bullets, anything behind them was going to get pelted with them.
“Ya got through yet?” Jacko shouted at Mac over the engine noise, “or am I gonna get a roadblock?”
“Chambers is trying now” Mac replied, “Smithy, alternatives?”
“Four hundred yards on the left, dirt track boss, should avoid any roadblocks, brings us out three miles south of the farm, but she's pretty rough.”
“It'll have to do” Jacko replied, “hang on.” This time he yanked the handbrake and turned at the same time, all four wheels locked as she slid sideways around the corner gravel flying in all directions, half way round Jacko let go of the handbrake and floored the accelerator, all four wheels spat gravel as they searched for traction, as soon as they got it the vehicle jumped forward pushing them back into their seats with a force that slammed their heads against the headrests.
The Lannie made the turn but fishtailed coming out of it, she went on fishtailing a few times before Jacko finally got her under control, “Guess she didn't like that much then?” Mac shouted above the engine.
“I’d say she loved it” Jacko replied as she straightened u
p, he had a smile as wide as the famous Cheshire cat, “Didn’t even hit anything!” he smiled as they took off like a bat out of hell, “Any sign of the cops?”
“Nah” Smithy replied looking backward, “he’s got more respect for his life than to try and follow you!” he couldn’t resist a dig at the boss.
They were less than ten miles away now, if they had to they could ditch the vehicle and ‘hoof it’ in, but that would take about two hours, and they just didn’t know how much time they had, it could be minutes, but then it could be hours, they just didn’t know.
Jacko’s phone was mounted in a cradle on the dashboard, so far the phone had been silent, and that was a good sign, that was the number Sam and Hene had for emergencies, right at that moment it chose to come to life with Queen’s ‘Another one bites the dust’ that wasn’t good.
“Go” Jacko shouted just after pressing the answer button, it was already on speaker, pleasantries would have to wait, he barked out one word “Report?”
“Jacko” it was Sam on the phone, “Bozos got round the security MI6 put out, but Hene got four cameras on the north and eastern routes, we’ve got three pax north with two vehicles and four with another to the east, not sure how many are coming our way yet but the cans just went off!” she stopped, then came back on and added, “Vehicles look like SUVs, possibly seven-seaters”
“Thanks, Sam” Jacko replied, “Now get Paul to the bolt hole, I want you and Hene to do a token, no more than three each, then into the hole yourselves GOT IT!” he was emphatic.
“Got it” Sam replied, “Paul’s already there, we’ll do as you say” the line went dead.
“Shit” Mac cussed, “that isn’t good, no bloody good at all, we’re ten miles away, even at this speed it’s gonna take seven minutes at least, then we gotta close in”
Scorpion's Vengeance Page 22
