Joey was half out of the window, one hand holding on for dear life, the other trying to steady the weapon, Sandy was also half out of the other side of the car, she knew that at this distance she had no chance with the Makarov, “Joey we need them alive remember!” she shouted into the mike, they were still on their local network. He switched from the grenade launcher to the rifle and selected automatic fire.
“You two are bloody bonkers” Billie shouted at both of them, she had her foot to the floor and was accelerating as fast as the car would go, but the jet was closing the distance much faster and would get to the take-off point or V1 as it was known long before the car would be there to stop it.
“Head towards the sodding thing” Joey screamed, “We have to stop them reaching takeoff velocity”
“They’re almost there” Billie shouted back, “How the hell are you going to do that?”
“Don’t worry” Sandy sounded almost as if she was trying to assure someone, Billie wasn’t sure if it was her she was trying to assure, or herself, “Joey’s King when it comes to hair-brained schemes, and he hasn’t had one for a whole week, JUST GO WITH THE FLOW”
“You asked for it” Billie realised that right at this point, if they didn’t pull this off her career wasn’t just ‘in the toilet’ it had been flushed down the drain and disappeared out of sight, she yanked the wheel hard left and straightened up, the car was doing nearly ninety miles an hour, the plane doing closer to two hundred and they had less than a quarter of a mile to cover.
“Sandy inside, NOW” Joey screamed as they sped towards each other.
Sandy had a sense of what Joey was going to try, and she didn’t want to be anywhere near what was about to happen, she climbed back inside, then reached across and back, grabbing Joey’s chest she pulled as hard as she could, he would need the extra stability.
The car was less than a hundred yards from the plane when he pulled the trigger, he wasn’t aiming for the aircraft itself, he was aiming for a point in front and letting the bullets ‘drift’ onto the target. They were closing at nearly three hundred miles an hour, the Commando can fire at a rate of 800 rounds a minute pn automatic, that meant they were closing at around one hundred and forty-six feet per second, in one second the machine gun would discharge maybe fifteen rounds, the chances of hitting anything were so small he just couldn’t think of it, he daren’t think of it, Joey held on and began blasting away, firing just in front of where he expected the tyres to roll.
Four seconds later he was out of ammo, unclipping the mag he swivelled it around, he’d taped another to it, clipped back in and began blasting, even though the plane was already past them.
Security was closing in from both sides, sirens wailing lights flashing.
The plane was hurtling down the runway when the pilot felt a massive pull to the right, warnings started going off in the cockpit as the plane slewed engine warning lights came on, something wasn’t right.
“What the hell just happened?” Serkhov demanded, he could feel the plane was almost in a skid, he’d managed to get his harness back on and was strapped in for takeoff, two other men with them were strapping in, faces ashen.
“I think the undercarriage just blew out” the pilot yelled above the noise, he was doing his best to control the skid.
“Can we still get airborne?”
“Not a chance” the pilot replied, “I’ll be lucky to stop her bursting into flames, brace yourselves”
“Turn us around and give chase” Joey shouted down to Billie, the other security vehicles were closing fast, but there was still room for the maneuver. “Bring us up behind, but make sure they don’t see us”
“This better be worth it!” she shouted as she swung the wheel and the car careered round, not quite on two wheels, but not far off, gunning the engine they were off again, just in time to see the right wheel blow out, the whole side of the plane dipped dangerously towards the runway and the struts began to gouge a trench in the tarmac.
“Too bloody late for that” Sandy shouted back over the noise of the engine as Billie raced forward, “we either pull this off or all our careers are finished, not that he’s worried about that, bloody adrenaline junkie, he’s having a great time” she nodded in Joey’s direction.
The plane was slowing dramatically as the pilot fought to control the skid, they were coming up fast, but the airport police were also closing fast, and they weren’t heading for the plane, a new set of sirens began along with lights and the full paraphernalia, the fire brigade was heading for what it saw as a potential air disaster, Bille had to do something, and fast.
“We are the Police” Billie was speaking urgently into the radio in the car, she’d been patched through to airport security, “this is a joint operation with the Metropolitan Police and MI6 DO NOT INTERFERE” she hoped that worked as they came level with the slowing plane, Joey was inside the car and swapping magazines, Sandy was doing the same, they both had their seatbelts undone and doors half open.
“Come up behind the plane” Joey spoke instead of shouting, “I don’t want them to see us”
Security surrounded both the car and the plane, not sure who to arrest, if anyone that was, BJ was on the radio giving them the information that she had, someone told them to hold off, but they had no idea who.
“What do we do now?” Margaret was feeling trapped, she’d only ever been in it for the money, and there had been lots of it, but field experience? She had none, consequently, she had no idea what to do, but she was armed, they all were.
Joey and Sandy had managed to get out of the plane without being seen, they were by the tail of the plane where all the action was taking place up the front, they needed it to stay that way.
The rear of the plane was open Serkhov was getting ready to jump and make a run for it, Margaret was right there with him, both carrying weapons, both concentrating on the vehicles in front, the fence was less than fifty yards away, neither of them had seen Joey or Sandy.
Sandy looked over at Joey, it was almost like she could read his thoughts, they were telling her to wait, “let Serkhov make his move” she heard his voice, but saw his lips weren't even moving, they were communicating directly yet without talking, he did look her way, but the look said, “get my drift?” She knew exactly what was coming.
“You” Serkhov pointed to one of his guards, “keep an eye out at the front, I want to know where every cop is, especially the maniac who shot at us!”
“Da” the guard went into the cockpit and started watching, both the pilot and co-pilot were unbuckling themselves, the guard pushed them back into the seat, “The cop is talking to the other cops” he shouted back, “I keep watch”
“Good” Serkhov opened the back hatch, “Get the pilot and co-pilot to the front hatch, but don’t let them off until I say, if the cops begin to move throw them off, that’ll cause confusion, then start shooting.”
“Okay boss” the guards grabbed one each and held them near the door, all it would take was one wrench on the handle and it would fly open, they didn’t open it. One guard tied the two pilots up while the other watched from the window, they knew exactly what the boss was about to do.
Serkhov opened the rear hatch and peered out, he couldn’t see anyone there, leaning back in the plane he looked directly at Margaret and asked, “Want to find out what a British jail is like? or want to be free?” then turned, jumped onto the tarmac and began to run, the turncoat spy was right behind him.
Joey’d holstered his weapon and was waiting, Serkhov came first, he glanced at Sandy and gave her a ‘wait’ signal, then the turncoat came out, Sandy leapt and flattened Margaret as her feet touched the floor, and Joey was off like a greyhound chasing the ‘rabbit’ on the racetrack.
Serkhov was fit, he was old, but he was fit and very fast. The distance to the fence was about a hundred and fifty yards, for an Olympic sprinter that would take about fifteen seconds, but fit as he was Serkhov was no Olympic sprinter, for him it would take more l
ike thirty-five to forty seconds, he did, however, have a twenty-yard start on Joey.
Joey was closing the distance when the first shots pinged around his feet, ‘no prizes for guessing where that came from!’ he thought to himself but otherwise ignored what was going on, he didn’t have time to zigzag, he just hoped for bad aim, then he heard a familiar sound, the bark of a weapon he was familiar with hearing, all shots stopped after that.
Serkhov was less than thirty feet from the fence when Joey launched himself in a flying tackle, he hit the man around the waist and took him down.
Serkhov had seen the dive and tried to sidestep, but Joey’s outstretched arms wrapped around him and they tumbled sideways, he knew he was going down, but that wasn’t without a fight. As he twisted he reached out and grabbed the arm that had wrapped around his waist and accelerated the twist wrenching the arm at an unnatural angle, he wanted to break it.
Joey went with it, flowing with every move, he followed the twist and launched a classic scissor kick at the same time, looking like a ballerina performing a ballet move, except instead of ballet shoes making contact, they were Army combat boots, and it was full body contact that was aimed for. The first foot landed and broke Serkhov’s hold on Joey’s wrist, the second one, literally two-tenths of a second later should have knocked him senseless, he went down on all fours but came up brandishing a knife.
Joey’d landed on his knees, almost in a squat position facing his opponent, as soon as he saw the knife he curled up into a ball and launched himself hitting the man right in the chest before he’d had time to use the knife, he still had hold of it and was trying to raise the weapon but Joey lashed out with a leg and kicked the hand so hard the knife went flying, at the same time he punched the man in the face, he heard the nose splinter, but still Serkhov was fighting.
“That’s enough” he heard an English voice shout, not one he knew but the click of a weapon being cocked made him stop, Right there next to him were two airport police, weapons drawn and ready, BJ also stood alongside them, her weapon in her hand, they were all pointing at Serkhov.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Serkhov was trying a bluff, “do you have any idea who I am? I’ll have your jobs for this, and after that, I’ll”
“Save it” BJ stopped him, “Alexei Serkhov I’m arresting you on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, espionage, drug trafficking and money laundering, you don’t have to say anything, but should you later rely on evidence that you withheld from the police you will be charged with perverting the course of justice, am I making myself clear?” she was already securing the handcuffs on the man, as soon as they were on the two officers frogmarched him away.
Sandy had Margaret secure, the handcuffs on and two other cops were leading her away, she slowly walked over and joined the other two, as soon as she was there she simply reached up and kissed Joey, he responded by hugging her tight while Billie looked on slightly embarrassed, then, after a good minute they relaxed and both of them reached out to give her a hug.
Chapter 54
Three days later.
“Yes, she’s expected” the voice on the other end of the line assured the security guard, “We don’t give visitors passes so I’d like one of you to escort DS Jones up to my conference room, we’re waiting for her there” the guard hit the button to end the connection, they were both slightly confused but for seemingly different reasons, the guard because visitors just weren’t allowed into the building, and BJ because of who was asking to see her, worried was a major understatement!
It’d turned out that the woman on the plane was none other than the secretary of the ‘DG’ or Director General of MI6! The most secretive man in the whole of the UK, the very man tasked with making sure all Britain's secrets stayed just that, secret.
Townsend had actually been in the process of giving her the biggest bollocking she’d ever had, she wasn’t even sure she still had a job when he got the call, and it was a very unpleasant one, not from the ‘super’ or even the district commander. It had been somewhere much higher up the government food chain.
Whatever was said in the conversation obviously hadn’t been pleasant for the Detective Chief Inspector but he’d simply said, “You obviously have friends Jones, and one of them wants to see you over at Vauxhall house, get out of my sight” and virtually threw her through the door.
The elevator looked just like any other elevator in any other office block in the country, six floors, six buttons, plain steel interior, two cameras in the elevator along with cameras in the entrance. The security guard looked like any other in the country, she was even wearing a uniform, except for the 9mm Beretta in a shoulder holster that is, both smiled at each other, but neither really spoke as they waited to reach the top floor.
As soon as the doors opened the guard stepped out and turned left, they reached the end of the corridor and faced another door, this one required had an intercom, the guard spoke into the intercom and the door opened, “there you are ma’am” the guard indicated for her to go through.
“Aren’t you coming up? He said to escort me all the way” Billie replied slightly confused. She was halfway through the door.
“The conference area starts here ma’am” the guard assured her, “top of the stairs, turn right and walk down, you can’t miss it, there’ll be another guard to show you the way, I don’t have clearance for that area.” and with that the guard gently closed the door.
As soon as she was at the top of the steps there was another guard, this one was also armed, Beretta in a shoulder holster, and just as businesslike, “If you’ll follow me ma’am” he started walking down the corridor.
She didn’t really like being called ‘ma’am’, it reminded her of a spinster schoolmistress from the St Trinians comedy she used to watch growing up, but she managed to say nothing.
They came to a door and the guard knocked before pushing the door open.
“Come in” a familiar voice spoke, it didn’t have the metallic ring of the phone, but there was no mistaking the voice, it was the one from the phone calls, “Glad you could join us, everyone this is Detective Sergeant Jones who was the one heading up the investigation into Farid Akbaris murder” the man speaking was slightly older than all the others in the room, very ‘distinguished’ with short white hair, modern but metal-rimmed glasses, they looked like progressive lenses, he was the only one wearing a three-piece suit, and it wasn’t a cheap one, “Oh, I forgot, where are my manners, I’m”
“Thank you Sir Michael, I recognise you from photos” Billie stammered out, she was in the presence of the ‘DG’ himself, and that took a few moments to get used to.
“Yes well” Sir Michael stopped momentarily, “I believe you’ve met most of the people here” he began again, “Please, take a seat” he indicated to the one spare seat in the room, right next to Sandy and flanked on the other side by another female, a blonde who had a guy with a dark complexion and strange tattoos on his arm, they looked like coppers, they just had that look!
As soon as she was sat down Sir Michael pressed a button in front of him, “Yes, you can bring the drinks in now, as well as snacks for everyone” he leaned back as the guard came through the door with a trolley full of beverages, as soon as he left the room Sir Michael began.
“I just wanted to take the time to say a big thank you to all you folks here for your part in what we called Operation Scorpion” he gave a very brief pause, then went on, “Our aim was to hinder the flow of drugs into Britain, but what we’ve achieved goes much further than that, and it’s only been possible because of what you folks in the field did”
No one said anything, Billie had no idea what they were talking about, neither did Hene or Sam, or the Scorpion team for that matter, the only ones who really knew what was being hinted at were Chambers and Sandy, it was Chambers took over next.
“At first, it was simply diverting their funds into bank accounts they couldn’t access,” he reached down and took up the clicker on the t
able, a screen came alive down the end of the conference room, figures started popping up, “that revealed money all over the globe, when we started doing that they got nervous, so they did something about that, and I was kidnapped.”
“We couldn’t let the Intel fall into enemy hands” Sir Michael took over again, “so you four were called on” he waived towards Jacko and the team, “You were sent into Iran to get him out!”
“We know all this” Jacko replied, “where are you going with it?”
“You do” said Sir Michael, “but these folks don’t, and they had their lives on the line more than once, I felt we owed them some form of explanation, and besides, this drug ring, the Phoenix group had been damaged, but we’re not sure it’s totally destroyed, they’ll need to watch their backs from this time onwards, best they know who it might be!”
“They’ll be joining a long list” Sam quipped, “Just about every villain in New Zealand would like a piece of me” that drew a few smiles, but the only one she reacted to was Hene who got thumped on the arm, he rubbed it as the same time as smiling, Sam leaned over and whispered, “I’ll deal with you later” but the smile on her face said he was going to enjoy it. Everyone except Billie missed it.
“New Zealand wasn’t meant to happen was it boss?” Joey asked the question, he was still a little uncomfortable with what he felt they’d caused for Sam and Hene to go through, especially the near execution.
“You’re right there Joey” Sir Michael used Joey’s nickname instead of his real one, or even his rank, that didn’t go unnoticed, “It was only after the fact we started turning things up, and you folks began to pretty much run your own operation, we wanted the mole, but that’s where the lead came from, care to explain how you knew?”
It was Jacko’s turn to reply, “There was a call placed, just before we stormed the positions on the Island” he replied, we weren’t able to hear all the conversation as it was using a frequency hopper, but we got a location, and gender from it!”
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