by David Costa
It’s going to be a nice day, he thought.
Steve Harrison watched Tourist One cross the street and head towards St Peters Square where he entered the newsagent’s and bought a copy of the Daily Express. He then walked to the security tents leading into the Conference at the side of the Midland Hotel.
‘He’s heading back into the Conference, what do you want me to do?’ asked Harrison.
It was Broad who spoke first, ‘Stay close to him.’
Reece spoke next, ‘Stay close, Alpha Four, but if he makes any move that looks suspicious, take him out, for good if necessary.’
‘Understood,’ replied Harrison.
Steve Harrison closed the gap to around five yards and followed him through the security area. When Mohammed reached the body scanner, Tourist One showed empty hands and raised his arms to allow the metal detector to be swept over his body by the security guard. Harrison moved to the side of the scanner queue and showed his ID to the security officer before moving through to follow Tourist One.
Turning left, Mohammad entered through the rear door into the Midland Hotel. Harrison kept up a running commentary of their progress through security and as he followed Tourist One into the long corridor towards the front reception and lounge area of the hotel which was buzzing with the loud conversation of conference delegates.
Tourist One found a seat on his own and opened his newspaper. Harrison walked past him and sat at a table where two men were already seated and in conversation. They didn’t pay any attention to Harrison but continued talking and making notes in their notebooks on the table in front of them. Harrison noticed that even though Tourist One had opened his paper he wasn’t reading it. Instead he was looking over the top of the paper his eyes moving around the room. Harrison had seen this ploy used by armatures the world over in his years as an MI5 watcher, to try to identify security forces or enemy surveillance.
Harrison leaned slightly forward as if he was involved in the conversation of the two men sitting with him.
After twice checking the room, Tourist One folded his paper and checked his watch. Harrison could see the large clock above the reception desk it was 8.55 a.m.
‘All stations, Tourist One is looking for opposition and checking his watch, still sitting in Midland.’
‘Roger, Alpha Four, it looks like he might be on a time schedule,’ replied Reece. ‘So be ready to move in if needs be, I’m still with the caretaker so now that we only have two in the building, we’ll get ready to move here when we get backup but will remain ready to move if we have to.’
‘Alpha Control to Alpha Four, I’ll let the Gold Command know you’re in the area and have them watch our friend on the CCTV system ready to back you up should you need it,’ said Jim Broad.
‘Roger, Alpha Control, I’ll keep you updated,’ replied Harrison.
‘Alpha Control to all call signs. Local mobile signals are being unblocked at 9 a.m. After that, GCHQ will keep a close ear on anything from our friends.’
‘Thanks, boss,’ replied Reece. ‘Things could start to be interesting now especially when they find they cannot contact the Irlam team.’
In apartment C12, Lyndsey heard her phone bleep indicating she was getting a signal again. She checked the screen but there were no messages, just a screen showing the network had been cleared and her phone was working again. Almost at the same time Costello noticed his phone light up for a few seconds as he had it on silent, he now knew he was back up as well.
Costello was leaning across the table looking through the scope on top of the rifle. He’d zeroed-in on the rear door of the Midland Hotel. At 9 a.m. on the dot Mohammad walked out of the hotel and stopped on the steps where he stood still for a few moments with a newspaper folded under his arm. He then walked across the square towards the Conference Centre. Costello followed him for a few seconds before swinging the scope back on the doorway.
‘Mohammad feels OK, he kept the paper folded,’ said Costello.
‘Wait a second.’ Costello held his left hand in the air as he continued to look through the scope. A man had just walked out of the door and he was looking in Mohammad’s direction. There was nothing strange in this but the fact he appeared to be talking to himself at the same time alerted Costello’s senses.
‘I think he could have a tail. A guy just behind him seems to be having a conversation with someone using a concealed mike. It might just be someone using a mobile phone now that they’re up and running but I don’t like it.’
‘I don’t like it either,’ said Lyndsey. ‘I’ve text Waheed and Imtaz with no reply, but they could be having the same signal problems we’ve had.’
‘I’m beginning to not like this coincidence. Text Mohammad and let him know he may have company.’
‘Alpha One come in.’ It was Jim Broad.
‘Go ahead, Alpha Control.’
‘Our friends in the apartment have been trying to contact the Irlam crew and now a text to Tourist One telling him he may have company. They must have eyes on Alpha Four.’
‘Roger, boss. How quickly can you get the Tango Team here? We need to move on this soon.’
‘They’re leaving here now. I’ll get the security cordon tightened as soon as they get to you.’
Chapter Sixty-five
Lyndsey spoke as she looked once more at her mobile screen. Mohammad had replied with a thumbs up emoji when she’d text him to be aware of possible surveillance.
‘I’m not happy with this whole thing. No contact from Irlam and now possible watchers on Mohammad, I think we should abort and wait for another day.’
Costello was surprised. She was usually so positive and now she seemed afraid.
‘There’s always a possibility that they’re on to us. But as you said Irlam phones might be having the same problems we were having and the guy behind Mohammad might just be talking into his own mobile hands-free mike or could be general security for the conference. We’ve come this far, and we’re so close. We should hold our nerve just a little longer. At the very least I can do a lot of damage with this little baby.’ He stroked the rifle with a look of love as he spoke.
‘You’re right. I might just be a little paranoid but let’s take some precautions. I’ll go down and have a look around. Then I’ll wait in the van ready to take you away whatever happens. Now our phones are up and running again we can keep in touch. You OK with that?’
‘Yeah, but before you go make me a pot of tea and I’ll keep an eye on things. We’re in the final leg and when Mohammad goes back into the hotel, he’ll keep us updated.’
‘Tea it is, throw me the keys of the van.’
Steve Harrison was now in the operations suite in the Conference Centre watching over Constable Jones’s shoulder as he zoomed the CCTV camera onto the face of Tourist One. He sat in the café drinking coffee and reading his paper. Harrison noticed that even though he was reading the paper for real, he still stopped to take a look around when sipping his coffee.
‘He’s looking for me but I’m not there. Let’s keep him in view at all times, constable.’
‘Will do,’ said Jones.
The sound of the gunfire was loud and close. Reece reacted first. He turned and ran out of the caretaker’s office while pulling out his Smith and Wesson. He could hear screaming from outside the building. They had missed Lyndsey on the CCTV as the machine was rebooting for its next twenty-four hours cycle, she’d came out of the lift with two other residents and turned left as she walked towards the NCP car park.
As she’d passed April Grey sitting in the BMW, April had been watching her as she’d walked closer.
There was something familiar, something in the back of April’s mind as the woman passed close by. April realised what it was as she neared; the red scarf. The same red scarf she’d seen the night before outside the estate agents. April let Lyndsey pass the car then started to open the door to follow, but it was too late, the woman had turned back towards her and now had a gun in her hand.
&n
bsp; Lyndsey knew right away the woman was security forces. She’d seen enough surveillance officers in her life to know the way the woman had discreetly watched her as she’d walked by. As she passed the car, she knew this was it, she’d been spotted.
Turning back towards the car, she pulled her gun out of her shoulder bag, aimed, and fired twice. The woman in the car already had one foot on the pavement. The first shot hit her in the chest throwing her backwards, the second in the neck producing a spray of dark red blood that filled the inside windscreen and window glass of the car in a split second.
Lyndsey turned and ran towards the car park. She dropped the gun back in her bag and took out her mobile and tried to dial Costello. It took her two attempts before he answered.
‘Get out, they’re on to us.’ Was all she said as she ran.
The screaming Reece had heard was from two young girls who looked like students. They were looking into the car, and at April Grey, not knowing what to do other than to scream. Reece, Mary, and Joe Cousins reached the BMW at almost the same time. Reece and Cousins pulled April out of the car and laid her down on the pavement.
‘Alpha Control, get an ambulance here fast, agent down. And get the security cordon to move in,’ shouted Reece into his mike.
Grey was unconscious but alive. Reece started calling her name and placed his hand down hard on the open wound in her neck, the blood pouring through his fingers onto the ground surrounding her. Her eyes were open, and she was trying to speak.
‘April, April, can you hear me? Stay with us!’ He started to pull her clothes apart with his free hand to see if she’d been hit anywhere else. He could see the brass bullet head wedged almost dead centre in the chest, but her vest had stopped it penetrating. From what he could see the only wound was to her neck where blood was pumping steadily through a large hole. Reece thought it had hit the artery there was so much blood. He shouted for Cousins to get the first aid kit out of the boot and when he brought the box, he tore the package of the solid bandage and pressed it hard against the wound feeling the warm blood against his fingers.
Mary was kneeling beside him.
‘Mary, put pressure on the wound…press down on this bandage and keep talking to her. Help will be here shortly.’ Reece could hear the sirens getting closer.
‘What happened, Joe?’ asked Reece.
‘It happened so quick…a woman in a red scarf came out of the apartment block and was passing April’s car. April must have recognised her and started to get out when the woman turned and fired.’
‘Where’s this bitch now?’
‘She ran towards the NCP, but I lost her when I was running towards April. I thought her more important.’
Jim Broad broke into the conversation over the radio.
‘Alpha Team, be aware that a female called the male in the apartment telling him we’re on to them and to get out. The female is probably the one who shot Alpha Three. Backup and an ambulance should be with you shortly. Have you a sit-rep?’
‘Roger, Alpha Control, Alpha Three’s wound is serious. She’s losing blood fast. We need that fucking ambulance here now. Mary will stay with her. We’ll go after the woman and close down our friend in the apartment. Make the police aware we’ll be wearing armbands for identification. What’s the story on the Tango Team?’
‘They’re on their way to you but will be about thirty minutes.’
‘That’s too long. We can’t wait. We need to move now. Alpha Four, can you have police move in quietly on Tourist One and take him into custody, then join us here at the apartment building? Mary, you stay here with April. Help’s on the way. Just keep the pressure on the wound until they get here.’
Reece and Cousins started to move towards the apartment building.
‘Be careful, Joseph,’ Mary shouted after them.
When they got to the door and pressed the button for the caretaker, there was no response. It was then that Joe Cousins noticed the man’s footwear on the floor in the corridor to the right of the lift.
Costello had moved fast when Lyndsey had made the scrambled short call. Leaving the rifle where it was, he’d secured his Browning pistol in the waistband of his trousers then he decided to use the stairs instead of the lift, he didn’t intend to be cornered either in the lift or the apartment. He was almost out of breath when he got to the bottom of the stairs. He could see people running outside and could hear the approaching sirens. It was then he saw the Emergency Exit sign with the green arrow pointing to the left of the lift. He ran for the door and was pushing the bar cross handle down to open when Kevin Williams walked around the corner and asked him what he was doing. For the sake of silence Costello used his throwing knife. The caretaker’s face registered both shock and surprise when he felt the pain – as if someone had punched him in the centre of his chest – before looking down to see a strange piece of metal sticking out from his body and blood starting to pour down his clothes. In those last seconds before the darkness came, he realised it was his blood pouring on his trainers. He doubled over then fell to the floor the power in his legs and body gone. Death came quickly.
Costello pressed the escape bar and found himself at the rear of the building running towards a door in the fence about fifty yards away.
Reece moved fast when he saw his footwear. He knew he only had seconds to react. He pulled his gun and fired two shots into the glass door, he didn’t have time to use the buttons for access. The glass shattered, and he cleared the large shards of glass with the gun barrel before using his body to clear the rest and enter the lobby.
Pointing his gun in front, he took a careful look around the corner of the hallway where he saw Williams lying on his back with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. Reece didn’t need a second glance or to check the body for life; he’d seen that death stare too many times, he knew Williams was dead and he could see that his killer had used the emergency door which was lying open to make his escape.
‘Follow me, Joe,’ said Reece as he moved to the escape door.
Reece left the dead caretaker and ran through the open exit door, arms stretched forward in the standard V-shape, pointing his gun…looking over it ready to squeeze the trigger. As he passed through he saw a man turning right through the open gate in the surrounding five-foot-high steel fence. As he watched, a hand appeared around the gate and the gun in it fired twice towards Reece and Harrison. Both men hit the ground hard, the bullets shattering the glass door behind them. Reece heard Cousins cry out, ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck it!’
Cousins’s face now had a stream of blood coming from a gash above his right eye from where a piece of glass had cut through his skin.
‘Are you OK?’ asked Reece.
‘Yeah…that was too close for comfort,’ he replied as he wiped the blood from his face with the sleeve of his jacket. ‘Where is the bastard?’
‘Can you see all right?’
Cousins wiped some more blood from his eye and his face.
‘That’s better, yes…I’m OK.’
‘He fired blindly just to keep us back. We need to close with him before he gets away, com’on,’ said Reece.
Reece was glad that Cousins had brought the MP5 from the car boot. They might need the heavier firepower yet. They now moved silently and as fast as they dared.
Mary had heard the two gunshots as she knelt beside April but with the echo of the sound in the city block, she didn’t know where they came from or what direction. She prayed that Joseph was all right.
The sirens were getting closer and Costello knew he needed to get away fast. He rounded the corner with his Browning held out. The woman kneeling over the body on the pavement looked familiar…even from behind.
Running forward, Costello grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet. Jabbing the barrel of the gun into her neck he whispered, ‘I told you we would meet again, Mary.’
The pain travelled right through her body from her toes to the nerve endings in her scalp. She tried to turn against it then felt t
he gun against her throat. Mary recognised his voice and tried to keep calm, but the more she tried to pull away from his grip the harder he pulled her hair and pressed the gun into her flesh.
Two young girls backed away; their eyes wide with fear. When they thought they were far back enough, they ran. Costello started to pull Mary towards the car’s open door when a voice from behind made him turn.
‘Drop your weapon, Costello, and let her go,’ shouted Reece.
Costello turned slowly to face the man standing at the exit to the passageway. He could see the gun in his hand pointing directly at him. He could also see another man standing behind with what looked like a rifle pointing in his direction.
‘So, Mary. This is your Special Branch friend,’ said Costello. Mary struggled again to break free, but Costello pulled even tighter on her hair; the gun still hard against her neck.
‘Now, now, there’s a good girl, don’t hurry me. I’ll deal with you soon enough.’
‘Let her go, Costello. Put down the gun and we can end this peacefully,’ said Reece.
Costello started back towards the car using Mary as his shield.
‘I don’t think you understand, Mister Special Branch man. I remember you from across the interrogation table in Ireland. You know, like I do, how this is going to end. You’re going to let me and Mary here get into this nice car and we’re going to drive away, peacefully, as you say or it’s not going to end very well. Your choice. Mary and I are going for a little ride and you’re going to watch us go or she dies here.’
As he spoke, he moved closer to the car, taking a quick look behind him, he could see the keys in the ignition and April Grey’s blood across the dash and the windscreen.
‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to speak to your valet service about the mess but never mind, it’ll do for now, so we’ll be off.’
He used his foot to kick the body on the ground over and further away from the car.
‘Stop, Costello. You’re not going anywhere,’ shouted Reece once more. ‘For the last time, drop your weapon.’
