Tested by Fire

by David Costa

  Reece knew he didn’t need to teach these people how to suck eggs but years of doing these things right had kept him alive and if people were going to die today, he wanted it to be the bad guys.

  ‘Any questions?’

  No one spoke.

  ‘Good, I’ll be back in a minute.’

  Reece nodded for Mary and Broad to follow him. He walked them to the canteen and ordered three coffees. When he sat down with the hot drinks in front of them, he looked at Mary.

  ‘Mary, you may have a very important part to play in this and there might be some danger. Are you still happy to continue and help us? I would rather keep you out of things, but we need to stop this fucker and to do that we need to spin all our cards.’

  Mary took a few seconds before she answered.

  ‘After the phone call, there’s one thing I know, if we don’t get him, he won’t stop until he gets me so don’t worry, Joseph, I mean, David. I still can’t get used to David I still like Joseph and I might just call you that now and again.’

  ‘I have no problem whatever you call me. Boss, can you provide a couple of cars for us to use? Range Rovers are comfortable but not practical when it comes to mobile surveillance as they stand out. By the look of things, we’ll be involved in more vehicle surveillance than foot for now and we might have to move quickly in a built-up area.’

  ‘No problem. We have access to the police vehicle pound in Manchester, I’ll get you what you need, might take an hour or so.’

  ‘By the time they arrive we should have something from DCI Connor for us to get our teeth into.’

  ‘OK, let me make the call.’

  When Broad left, Reece looked at Mary. She seemed to be calm; no sign of stress or pressure. This lady always impressed him but now, more than ever, he felt the deep feelings that were emerging every time he was alone with her.

  ‘When we move, Mary, I want you to stick with me. I need you to be in a position to identify Costello if we see him. I know he may have changed his appearance and maybe wearing a disguise, you know the little things that make Costello, Costello. But I don’t want you to take any risks…nothing that would put you in danger.’

  ‘As I told you just now, Costello will kill me if he finds me. I have no choice; I need to find him first and you’re my best hope of doing that. I’m in it to the end, Joseph. Yes, I prefer Joseph. I’ve known you longer as Joseph, so until this is over, and we have more time to ourselves, Joseph it is.’

  ‘Well, there’s not much more time, Costello and his gang have to come out of their hole soon and we need to be ready to cut their heads off when they do. Let’s go back and see how the team are getting on. It’s our job to wait until they make a mistake…then kill them.’

  Chapter Forty-two

  Costello unpacked the few clothes he had from his bag and placed them in the wardrobe and drawers. The final item he removed was about ten inches long and in its leather sheath. He withdrew the Muela Pro Throwing Knife and felt the cold, solid steel as he balanced it in the palm of his right hand. He always thought of the knife as his get out of jail card to be used as a last resort if he needed to. When he first got it, he’d practiced for hours throwing it at a tree in South Armagh until he could pull it from the sheath secured in his boot, throw the knife spinning through the air, and hit the target dead centre in a split second.

  He’d sharpened the blade producing razor-sharp sides. He’d taken the knife to a farm in Monagahan one night. He picked the farm for two reasons. The first was that the owner was old and slightly deaf, and the second it was a pig farm. He’d approached the sty quietly and stepping in, he picked out one of the larger pigs and approached it from behind. Pigs are like humans in many ways, they hear well and sense movement so the whole exercise made it all the more real for what he wanted to do. In one quick movement he stepped astride the pig pulling its head back and, just as it started scream, Sean cut its throat from ear to ear with the throwing knife. The blood spattered across the pen and the pig, now silent, collapsed its whole-body weight going limp. He knew the experience would be similar if performed on a human being.

  He felt the balance once more before placing the knife back in the sheath and secured it to the boot on his right ankle.

  He heard the door opening and Lyndsey came into the room.

  ‘Have you picked which bed you’re sleeping in?’ she asked.

  ‘The one furthest from the door…it gives me more time to react if we have unwelcome visitors.’

  ‘Mohammad got in touch. He’s burnt the car and was able to return safely to Irlam.’

  ‘Good. Will he stay there until we move?’

  ‘No. He has to pick up the keys of the apartment before he meets up with you. Before that, he’ll attend the Conference to see if there’s been an increase on security and report back. Tonight, we relax, tomorrow we work.’

  Chapter Forty-three

  Mohammad had left Irlam Station and found the pizza shop was still open. He ordered two ten-inch pizza’s one with four cheeses and one with mixed meats but no bacon. When he got to the safe house it was quiet, but he found Imtaz and Waheed watching the TV in the living room the sound down low, barely audible.

  ‘Hi, guys, food’s up.’

  Both men smiled; Waheed showing the gap between his front teeth a smile but not a smile. He could see they’d been watching the news showing that day’s report from the Conference a government minister talking to the camera.

  Getting plates from the kitchen, they all sat at the dining table.

  ‘No bacon I hope, brother,’ Waheed said.

  ‘No bacon,’ said Mohammad with a smile. Waheed wouldn’t last long living in the west, he thought. There are times in war when you had to make sacrifices and Allah would understand.

  ‘Where have you been?’ asked Imtaz.

  ‘Getting rid of the car. It’s burnt, job done.’

  They ate in silence, each in his own thoughts.

  ‘What now is there any change to the plans?’ Imtaz asked.

  ‘No, we stay on track.’

  ‘Can I ask a question, Waheed?’ asked Imtaz. ‘I’ve never seen what a bomb can do in a crowd, do you have any idea of a safe distance when I leave it?’

  Waheed gave that wide gapped-toothed smile. This time it looked genuine thought Mohammad, like he was going to enjoy the answer.

  ‘Of course, my brother, I can answer from personal experience. I was working with the Jihad and Taliban in Afghanistan and we attacked a market of the enemy. I placed a rucksack bomb exactly like the ones we’ll place in Manchester. I set it under a table in the centre of the market and went and stood about one hundred yards away, behind a wall, and pressed the phone button. When it exploded, many of our enemies died and many more were badly wounded.’

  ‘Was it the Semtex and the nails that did the damage the most?’ asked Imtaz.

  ‘Not Semtex. This time I used captured Russian plastic explosives, but it’s the same. The bomb had nails just like the ones I’ve used but you have to remember, when it goes off in a crowded place the blast tears bodies apart. The nails tear through the skin, breaking the bones underneath. Pieces of the broken bones fly like shrapnel, creating more damage to the bodies of people nearby. You can never believe unless you see it yourself, pieces of men, women, and children, still burning…the smell of charred flesh and hair. Sometimes, those closest to the blast disappear altogether, leaving nothing but a bloodstain where they stood.’

  ‘It sounds like a scene from hell. How do you live with the memories, how do you sleep?’ asked Imtaz.

  Looking from one to the other, Waheed let out a long slow breath.

  ‘You must always remember, my brothers, we’re always at war. If these people support the Great Satan and refuse to acknowledge the one true God that is Allah, then they’re the enemy and they must die, all of them, every one of them. Are you ready to carry the fight to the enemy for our God for Allah?’

  There was silence for a few seconds as Moha
mmed and Imtaz thought about the question.

  ‘That is why we’re here,’ said Mohammad. ‘We know what needs to be done. We’ve already taken the risk that’s needed, and we’ll complete the task ahead with Allah’s help.’

  Mohammad then pulled his Glock from his coat pocket and laid it on the table. Imtaz and Waheed followed suit and placed their guns on the table too. The gesture was felt by all three. This was a battle they were determined to win, a fight to the death.

  ‘Let us pray to Allah, let him give us strength, courage, and the wisdom we’ll need,’ said Imtaz.

  All three knelt on the living room carpet and side by side, they fell forward, touching their heads and hands to the floor in a silent prayer to Allah.

  Chapter Forty-four

  When the call came in from DCI Connor it was Broad who took it. Reece and everyone else in the comms room watched for any reaction but Broad gave nothing away. After he put down the phone, he turned to face the room and the expectant faces.

  ‘It’s good news. DCI Connor has just informed me that his boffins have been able to decipher the BMW satnav. The car has been all over Manchester but has been paying particular attention to a small area in Irlam near here. It parked up on at least three different occasions in the last few days. The DCI is sending us the location as we speak. I’ve asked him to keep his own people back and he informed me that as Irlam is the Greater Manchester Police jurisdiction, it won’t be a problem. For now, this is a surveillance only operation to identify what and who we’re up against.’

  Broad then turned to Geoff Middleton the SAS commander.

  ‘Geoff, I want you and your men mobile not too far in the background in case we need you quickly.’

  The SAS officer nodded his understanding. ‘Don’t worry we’ll be ready.’

  ‘David, the extra cars you wanted have just arrived… two BMWs outside. They are fully fitted with armoured windows which I hope you won’t need, and the up-to-date comms you will need.’

  ‘The information from the Cheshire police is just coming through, sir,’ said one of the two men monitoring the communications.

  ‘Can you bring it up on the big screen and print off a few copies?’

  ‘No problem, on the screen now.’

  He pressed a few of the computer keys in front of him and a split picture appeared on the large screen at the end of the room.

  Half of the picture was typescript detailing the movements of the burnt-out car the other half was a street map of Irlam with a red X showing where the car had been parked.

  ‘Fuck they’re only a few miles from us,’ said Reece.

  He then spoke to the SG9 team who were already pulling together what they would need, again checking their comms and weapons.

  ‘I want us to work in two-man teams using the BMWs. April, you go with Steve and I’ll go with Joe, that way we have good coverage. Mary, you’ll come with us, if we spot someone who fits Costello’s description then your eyes on the matter will be a great help. I know you have Glocks, but I want each car to have some heavy fire power, should we need it, so each car carries a H&K MP5. We’re all trained with them and I’m sure our SAS friends can lend us two with two, thirty-round mags for each.’

  ‘Do you think that’ll be enough?’ asked Cousins with a smile.

  ‘Well, as my old firearms trainer used to say, if you can’t hit the target with everything you have in the magazine then you may as well throw the damn gun at them,’ replied Reece.

  ‘Let’s go over the ground we need to cover,’ said Reece as he walked closer to the screen on the wall to inspect the streets in Irlam.

  ‘Comms. Can you blow up this picture of the map please and can you link it into the satnavs of our BMWs?’

  ‘Yes, no problem to both,’ came the reply.

  ‘The car seemed to be parked here in Kings Road there’s four other streets off it three avenues and one small close. By the look of things there’s around one hundred houses so we take it slowly we don’t want to spook them if they’re there.’

  ‘It will be tough to spot anything in the dark,’ April said.

  ‘I know,’ answered Reece. ‘We will do a foot and drive round of the area to get to know it. If they’re in there, they’ll most likely be in bed at this time of the morning. We also need to do a trawl of the CCTV of the Irlam train station which isn’t far from this area so it’s a good bet they’ve been using the train in and out of Manchester. Boss, can you chase that up for us?’

  ‘Will do. Do you need anything else?’

  ‘Not for now. I think we should get out there and see what we have. As Irlam’s not far away if there is anything you need us to come back and see we can do so quickly, and while you’re at it get them to check the CCTV between Glazebrook Station and Irlam for shortly after the time the car was discovered.’

  Turning to the comms and the SG9 team Reece spoke slowly and quietly making sure they heard every word.

  ‘We will need everyone to be on their toes tonight, guys. I’ll be Alpha One. Joe, you’re Alpha Two. April, Alpha Three. And, Steve, Alpha Four. Boss, you and the comms team here will be Alpha Control. We will all have the built-in radios in the cars plus our own body radios. I’ll also borrow body armour from the troops. Make sure you all have your arm bands that were provided by the police just in case we need to move about in a hostile environment. Everybody happy?’

  Everyone nodded their agreement.

  ‘Right, I’m off to have a chat with our SAS friends to borrow a few items. Mary, stay here, I’ll be back shortly.’

  Reece found the SAS team already tooled up and ready to go.

  ‘Geoff, I need two MP5s and four mags of thirty, plus a couple of flak jackets. Can you help me please?’

  ‘No problem. Mickey, can you get these for David?’ he asked of the nearest trooper, who left the room to return a few minutes later with the requested items.

  ‘If you need to use them, I don’t want it coming back on me so as long as you involve us in the fun, I’m saying nothing,’ Middleton said with a grin.

  ‘Don’t worry, if we need to use them, you’ll be the first one, I call.’

  Reece then briefed the troops on what the SG9 team would be doing and their call signs.

  ‘We’ll keep things simple. I’ll be Tango One and the rest of the team will use the Tango callsign followed by a number so that you know it’s us. Can you get your boss to get the local police to put the area out-of-bounds so that we don’t have any snoopy wooden top straying where they shouldn’t be?’

  ‘Good idea, Geoff, Northern Ireland Rules, eh?’

  ‘Big boy’s rules always worked for me.’

  When he’d worked in undercover operations in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, they always put the area they were operating in out of bounds to local forces to prevent them spooking the targets or getting involved in a Blue on Blue where the security personnel could end up firing on each other by accident. Undercover people would refer to it as part of the Big Boys Rules when involved in operations that were likely to result in a shoot-out with the terrorists.

  ‘David?’

  It was Joe Cousins.

  ‘The Cheshire Police are quicker than we thought. DCI Connor has just sent through the CCTV from Glazebrook Station, it’s not great but there is only one person on the platform just after the car was set on fire. I think it’s our hooded Asian.’

  Reece and Geoff followed Cousins back to the comms section where the grainy black and white images were already on the big screen, they were in black and white and again the suspect had his hood up. There was no way they could identify him but this time he had a sports holdall with the Nike logo on the side.

  ‘The bag gives us something else to look out for,’ April said.

  ‘Can we track where he went?’ asked Reece.

  ‘He got on a train for Manchester but got off at Irlam, then the cameras lost him when he turned right out of the station towards the streets where we know the car was
parked up,’ Broad replied.

  ‘So, he goes back to the nest tonight. No one picks him up that we’ve picked up,’ said Reece. ‘We need to get out there and try to find out exactly where he went. OK, everyone, let’s do this.’

  This was the part Reece liked best; when they had something to go on, everyone knew the task ahead, and they could get out there and do something positive. Now the jigsaw was coming together Reece felt the same adrenalin he’d felt when extreme danger was around the corner in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. The type of feeling you get when a car swerves towards you. You know the danger but the knowledge that in a short period of time you could be killed or seriously injured can spur you into the action that will make the difference over life and death.

  Chapter Forty-five

  ‘This is Alpha One, comms check?’ said Reece.

  His team responded.

  ‘Alpha Two, clear.’

  ‘Alpha Three, clear.’

  ‘Alpha Four, clear.’

  ‘Alpha Control, all clear signals.’

  ‘Tango One, clear and on the edge of town, over.’

  ‘OK, everyone, loud and clear,’ Reece said. ‘I’m going to take a drive around the Kings Road area. Alpha Two, park up on the main road through Irlam, Tango One, hold position.’

  Two voices replied, ‘Roger that.’

  Mary was in the back of the BMW being driven by Reece. Sitting beside him, Joe Cousins had a clipboard with a notepad, watching every movement in the streets as they passed.

  Mary soon worked out that Cousins was writing down the registration numbers of cars in the street and on driveways, passing them onto Alpha Control for a search of ownership. Every car registration they checked out came back to the house address they were parked outside.

  The centre of Irlam appeared to be one long main street about a mile long with shops, bars, and take away food stores A typical English high street thought Reece, a bit run down with a mixture of old and new buildings.

  As Reece had turned into the Kings Road, the narrow street had two more streets running to the left two dead ends with a further street running to the right another dead end. Kings Road itself was also a dead end all the streets surrounded by the fencing of an industrial estate.