Old Crackers

by Peter Bates

  A quick glance around the bar room confirmed in his mind that they certainly were the first to enter and that at the moment were the only visitors. Putting a big smile on his face, Roy approached the table.

  “Hi fellas. I see you’re getting the beers in already, and even sitting in the right place.”

  “Yeah,” grinned Frank. “Bert, the landlord, tipped us off about the table that you’d chosen.”

  “They could come in any time,” said Terry in a lowered voice. “We don’t have any guarantees that they will sit at that table even if they do enter this pub. I’ve set up the gadgets, so if they do come in, we’re ready to go. Whatever happens, just act very normally. We’re just a bunch of old guys calling in for a few pints, and we need to act like casual visitors. If I feel that we have to go, I’ll just give you the nod, and out we’ll trot. We should know if it’s them because of the pictures we took. If you do look at the prints that we’ve done whilst they are in here, make sure to keep it to no more than a glance, and put them away quickly. Obviously, Bert, the landlord, has a decent idea of what we’re doing, so he definitely won’t be calling out our names or even letting on at all that he already knows us. Look, lads, I don’t really need to tell you how to do this today. God knows how many times we’ve all done something similar when we were working. Just do what you’re good at.”

  *

  Over the next twenty minutes, just eleven people entered the pub, a group of four girls, each wearing fancy ‘Pleasure Beach’ hats and brightly coloured dresses; five young lads in their mid to late teens, each one a devout Burnley FC supporter, judging by the colour of their shirts; and a middle-aged couple that looked completely out of place, both dressed in smart and obviously very expensive clothes. Their uncomfortable faces made it very clear that this type of pub was a totally new experience for them, and after ordering their drinks, they quickly headed for one of the side tables, well away from the centre and bar area.

  At eleven forty-five precisely, the entrance door swung open sharply, and Mel Harrison swaggered into the pub, closely followed by four other men, each one laughing loudly as they entered.

  “No need to look at the pics,” muttered Terry quietly, as he quickly turned his face away from the doorway, then lowered his head to face his friends. “They stand out a mile.”

  From the corner of one eye, he watched as the men headed straight for the empty table that the landlord had predicted, noisily dragged out the chairs, and then sat down, stretching their legs out beneath the table top. A brief glance from Terry at the landlord totally confirmed the gang’s identity. The man’s previously broad smile had disappeared completely, and was now suddenly replaced by a seriously downcast expression.

  “What about some pics?” asked Reg. “Shall we go for it?”

  “Not yet,” answered Roy quietly. “Let’s just wait a while first. We definitely know it’s them now, and don’t forget that we already have some pics that match up to them. See how it goes for a while, and then maybe we’ll take a couple of you, whilst those guys are conveniently in the background. It would be good if we could listen in to their conversation, but I don’t think we’ll hear too much from here. You never know though; they are nearly loud enough to be heard next door. Don’t forget too, that we have the listening device under their table, and we can collect that later. The camera will have to wait until after closing time.”

  “Are we staying until they go?” asked Reg quietly.

  “Probably. That’s why we’re here, Reg, and you never know what we might come up with if we’re patient and don’t do anything daft. They’re not exactly quiet, so if we’re lucky, we may well pick something up.”

  Harrison beckoned to the landlord, holding up five fingers, and yelled, “Bitters, mate,” at the same time.

  The landlord’s stricken face nodded twice. His already shaking hands immediately moved to one side, and then began pulling sharply on the pump handles. Steadily, he began to fill a row of five, pint glasses that were already set up in readiness beneath the bar top.

  “If they stay this loud,” said Frank in a low voice, as he appeared to scan a newspaper, “we’ll hear everything that they say, and won’t even need the device.”

  As Frank finished speaking, the middle-aged couple that had entered only minutes earlier, rose quickly to their feet, and leaving their drinks almost untouched, walked out and through the entrance doorway without a backward glance. Frank’s eyes flickered from the couple to the landlord, taking in the man’s distraught expression.

  Reg muttered quietly without looking up, “I’m fairly certain that one of them just asked something about Jed Thomas. That name rings a bell. Those young lads that I spoke to the other day mentioned his name as the boss of one of the biggest outfits in the area.”

  “I heard it too,” muttered Terry equally quietly. “Definitely,” he added.

  The noise from the group of five men was escalating, the bad language becoming more and more frequent, and Jed Thomas’ surname was clearly mentioned several times.

  “Did you hear that?” asked Terry quietly, his face for a moment turned completely away from Harrison and his men, and now blankly staring at the opposite wall.

  “I did, mate,” answered Frank in a low voice. “He said in very colourful language that Thomas and his mob would pay for what they’ve done, and that it would be very soon.”

  “I heard it too,” responded Roy immediately and equally quietly.

  Terry nodded his head. “OK lads, I think that’s enough. We’ve definitely got what we wanted and it’s time to go. We don’t need pictures. We can pick ’em out easily from the ones we took at the funeral. If you think that those are not enough, we can cross the street, wait a while, and take a couple more as they leave the building.”

  “It’s enough,” grinned Reg in agreement. “I think we’ve moved far ahead tonight boys. I don’t think that the camera or listening device will tell us anything that we don’t already know. We’ll play them back, but it’s very unlikely that they will tell us anything new. Now it’s simply a case of trying our best to fix the outcome. Don’t forget that we still have no evidence that would stand up in any court. I’m sure that whatever we do from now on won’t be as easy as it has been up to now, but at least we know who and what we are up against, and how far these men will go to sort out a problem. We certainly need to make sure that they never realise that their real problem will be us lads until it’s too late for them. In my book, they can kill each other all day long. It’s when they start killing innocent people, including kids, that they go beyond the limits. For my part, I wish that they really would simply wipe each other out, all on the same day if possible.”

  Terry took a final sip of his beer, put the empty glass on the circular table, and then very casually rose to his feet, intentionally looking away from the bar and towards the entrance door of the pub. For the first time in several days, he had a genuine smile on his face.

  CHAPTER 15

  “We need to get this stuff bagged up and then out on the streets.”

  Mel Harrison stared along the length of the corridor in both directions, glanced sharply at his men, quickly unfastened the two external heavy-duty locks and then ushered Bob, Alan, Gary and Kenny into the flat, before sliding the large bolt into place on the inside. The safe door took a little longer, but once the code numbers had been keyed in, he was quickly lifting the large plastic bag and hoisting it onto the central table.

  “Bob, stay on the lookout by the outside window, whilst Kenny guards the inner door. I don’t expect any interference, but keep your shooters in your hands just in case anyone uninvited turns up. This sack of powder is worth a whole pile of dosh, and many geezers have been wiped out for a lot less than this.”

  Harrison quickly opened the unsecured wooden cupboard, pulled out a large paper sack that contained hundreds of small self-sealing plastic bags, and then placed them under the table. Reaching again into the safe, he took out two shiny metal scales
from a top shelf and set them both up at opposite ends of the table’s surface. Within a few seconds he set both of them to the exact weight he required, and then stepped back, taking up a central position against one wall of the room, where he could see the main entrance door, the table, and the outside window.

  “Right. Alan and Gary, you can start bagging it all up now. Just make absolutely certain that every single bag is dead on the mark for weight. There’s no rush, so just take your time and do it properly. We don’t want any unhappy punters, do we? We provide a top service,” he laughed.

  *

  “One of our paper boys have spotted Harrison and his four men entering a block of flats in the Layton area this afternoon, just about half an hour or so ago. The lad just called me on his mobile.”

  Smiling broadly, Ted sat back in his chair after making the statement, a very satisfied look spreading across his unshaven face. The Cock and Hen was almost empty, the only other customers were at the opposite side of the lounge, and he was able to speak in a relatively normal tone.

  Jed Thomas sat up sharply in his chair. “I don’t think that any of his crew were from the Layton area. As far as I know, they are all from South Shore.”

  “You’re right, boss” agreed Ted. “They are.”

  “So, what do you think?”

  “Well, they are either visiting someone, or the place belongs to Harrison. If it did belong to him, then why would he really own it in the first place? He wouldn’t be living in a poky flat, that’s for sure.”

  “No idea,” commented Paul. “Could be loads of reasons, I guess. Maybe some bird that’s on the game lives there. Maybe it’s one of his relatives, or a friend, but it’s certainly a fair distance from where he lives.”

  “Could be any of those,” said Graham. “And maybe it’s much more than that, who knows?”

  “Well,” added Tony, “We never have found out any of their sources or where they store their stuff before they get it out into the streets.”

  “Maybe,” agreed Jed thoughtfully. “That’s always possible, but if we shifted drugs like they do, I don’t think that we would risk keeping the stuff here in our own part of town. If this flat is the place where they store it, it would certainly be built like a gaol cell inside and out. There must be a big pile of security all around and inside the property.”

  “I agree,” said Graham, “but there won’t be any sound alarms in the place, and I doubt whether they would put cameras up outside a small flat. Both of those could certainly attract some attention to the building that they wouldn’t want. The very last thing they’d need is to bring the police or the fire brigade to it.”

  “Did the lad give you the address, Ted?” asked Jed, after several seconds of silence.

  Ted nodded, looking pleased with himself. He quickly pulled a small slip of paper from his trouser pocket, and then unfolded it and handed it across the table to Thomas.

  Jed scanned the paper briefly, then slowly lifted his head and stared into Ted’s face. “Ted, did you ask the boy if Harrison and his men were carrying anything into the flats with them?”

  “No, boss. I never thought —”

  “Well, you bloody well should have.” interrupted Thomas angrily. “Go back right now, Ted, and make sure you find the lad that saw Harrison. Just ask him that simple question, you pillock. It’s not very difficult, even for you. A bloody village idiot would know that if they were using the place for temporarily dumping the powder, they would have to carry it in to the building one way or another.”

  Ted’s face turned red, his pale grey eyes now switched from Thomas and fixed firmly onto the table top. Nobody had ever spoken to him like that and got away with it. If the speaker hadn’t been Jed Thomas, he would have punched the man’s face hard and downed him on the spot. His fists clenched tightly, unseen under the table, but at the last moment he checked his natural response. Jed Thomas wasn’t the best man to cross, and doing that right now was not the exactly the best time either. Maybe that opportunity would come another day. He slowly raised and then levelled his grey eyes at Thomas’ face, at the same time trying his best to keep his true feelings under wraps.

  “OK, boss,” he nodded. “I’ll go out right now and try to track the lad down.”

  Ted rose quickly from his chair, picked up his pack of cigarettes and lighter from the table top, and without looking back, walked out into the street. It might well take some time to track the lad down, but he wouldn’t be meeting with Thomas again until he had done. A fast check of his watch told him that the lad’s school would be out in fifteen minutes, and he quickly realised that it could be the best and quickest opportunity to find him. He wouldn’t normally approach the boy anywhere near to the school, but current circumstances demanded it. He turned the key, quickly starting up his old Volvo four by four, and headed directly for Layton.

  Ted didn’t have far to drive, but traffic was heavy, and after anxiously checking his watch several times en route, he finally drove by the school entrance and parked up at the very end of the nearest available side street. It was sixty yards away, but adjacent to the road that the boy would walk along. Turning off the engine, and leaning forward in his seat, he spotted the first children to leave, and the usual large crowd of adults standing close by the exit. He would have to wait and hope. Living very close by as he did, the lad usually made his own way home. If that was any different today, Ted would have no choice but to leave and return again in the morning. He quickly pulled his cap down over his eyes, wrapped an old woolly scarf around his neck, and picked up a newspaper from the passenger seat. He then stepped from the car, standing in a spot by the corner property where he could see in both directions, and lifted the opened newspaper in front of his face as though having a casual read. After just two or three minutes had passed by, Ted spotted the boy, and watched him turn in his direction from the school gates. Ted let out a big, silent breath. The young lad was on his own, and now certainly heading his way.

  Still holding the newspaper in front of his eyes, he waited without moving until the boy was no more than ten feet away.

  “Jimmy,” he called out quietly, and lowering his paper, partially exposed his face.

  The boy smiled and detoured slightly until he was standing directly in front of him.

  “Hello, Mr Smith.”

  “Hi, Jimmy. I won’t keep you long. Remember you told me the other day about those guys going into a flat?”

  “Yes, Mr Smith.”

  “Can you tell me if they were carrying anything with them?”

  Ted anxiously watched on as the boy frowned and raised his eyes upwards for a moment, as he searched his memory before answering the question.

  “Yes, Mr Smith, I’m sure they were. Yes, I remember now definitely. They were carrying a very big plastic bag.”

  Ted smiled. “Thanks mate. Thank you very much. You’re a really good lad.”

  Jimmy smiled. “I’ll have to go now, Mr Smith. I’ve got an evening paper round to do when I get back home.”

  “OK, lad,” nodded Ted, as he reached into his pocket, pulled out a ten-pound note, and handed it to the boy.

  “Just remember, Jimmy, that what we say or do together is private. Nobody must know, not your Mum and Dad or any of your pals at school. Do you understand?”

  “I do, Mr Smith, really I do,” the young boy answered with a big grin, staring wide eyed at the ten-pound note, and then carefully folding it before pushing the paper into his trouser pocket.

  CHAPTER 16

  “OK, Ted,” grinned Jed Thomas. “You’re back in the good books, lad. You’ve done very well, and now we know for certain where Harrison keeps his powder. You deserve another Cock and Hen pint, Ted. Get him a pint of whatever he wants, Tony.”

  Ted nodded his head with a faked smile. Maybe he was back in the good books, but he wouldn’t easily forget the way that Thomas had spoken to him, and also that he’d done it in front of the other guys.

  “OK, lads,” Thomas went
on. “I think we should have a good look at the Layton flat. If we could get in and nick the stuff, we’d be blasting another big hole in Harrison’s set up. What do you think?”

  “Let’s go for it,” nodded Tony. “If we can’t get in, we’ll have lost nothing.”

  “That’s true,” agreed Paul, “although I suspect it will be extremely difficult to get in the place. There certainly won’t be any sound alarms though; the last thing they would want is to draw attention to the flat under any circumstances.”

  “Yes, you’re right, Paul,” joined in Patrick, “but if we did get our hands on the stuff, we’d make a big easy bundle of dosh, even if we sold it off relatively cheaply to shift the stuff out quickly. It’s not what we usually do, but there are plenty of suppliers around here that we could easily use.”

  “Well, Patrick. You’re good at locks ’n’ doors.”

  “I’m not bad,” admitted Patrick, “but I suspect that this stuff will be very well protected, and the flat itself will be extremely difficult to break into. It’s not as though we can go in with heavy duty machinery and smash the place all up without alerting the whole neighbourhood.”

  “Even without alarms, they’ll surely have put internal cameras in, too,” added Ted.

  “Dammit. There must be a way,” said Jed.

  “I’m sure we could find some way to break into the flat,” agreed Paul. “After that, it’s just highly likely that the powder is probably contained in a very heavy duty safe, and breaking into one of those things without disturbing all the other occupants of the building would be next to impossible.”

  “Could we steal the safe, and take it away?” asked Jed.

  “Unlikely,” responded Paul. “Apart from being extremely heavy, it may well be fastened in to the wall as well. It’s impossible to say without seeing it. Having said that, if we do go ahead with this, it may be the only way to get the job done.”