by M K Farrar
Chapter Thirty-Five
Erica arrived at Angela Hargreaves’ Grade-Two-listed Kensington house. These places were worth millions. No one with a regular day-to-day job lived in a home like this.
She trotted up steps leading up to the front door and rang the bell.
A short-dark-haired woman she’d never seen before opened the door. The woman ducked her head in a nod. “She is waiting for you upstairs.”
Erica hadn’t even introduced herself. “Right, thank you.”
“It is second door on the left.”
Erica detected an accent, something Eastern European. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Magda Orlov. I help Ms Hargreaves and Millicent during the day when Ms Hargreaves is at work.”
“I see.” They may need to speak with her in more detail at a later stage, but right now, Erica just wanted to speak with Milly. She followed the directions she’d been given and found the correct room.
The girl in the bed was the spitting image of her mother, with one exception, not including the obvious age difference. Though she was clearly decades younger, she seemed faded, like a photocopy that had been taken too many times. Her blonde hair was thin and hung down either side of her face. Her skin had a shallow, yellow tone to it, and the dark marks smudged beneath her eyes had nothing to do with last night’s makeup.
“DCI Swift,” Angela said, rising from where she’d been perched on the side of the girl’s bed. “This is Millicent.”
“Milly,” the girl corrected her.
“Hello, Milly.” Erica extended her hand to shake hers. “I’m Erica. How much has your mum told you about what’s been going on?”
She gave a small shrug of her narrow shoulders. Her collarbone protruded painfully through her thin skin. She was so slight, she looked like she’d blow away in a high wind.
“She told me the basics. She said I’m not in any trouble.”
“You’re not, I promise.”
“You think the person my kidney might be coming from is in danger? That she’s being forced to do this?”
“We believe so, yes. She’s been taken against her will.”
“She’s not from here,” Milly said.
Angela had clearly told her everything.
“No, she’s an illegal immigrant. We think the traffickers have been bringing people over here, promising them a new life, only to use them as organ donors.”
Her pale lips twisted. “And then they’re killing them afterwards?”
“Or the patient is simply dying on the table. We can’t be sure of that yet, but either way, they die.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have agreed if I’d known someone was going to get hurt. That was never what I wanted.”
Angela’s eyes also welled at the sight of her daughter’s tears, and she took Milly’s hand. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I never should have put you in this position.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” Erica agreed, “but we can’t go back now. What we can do is try to help the girl they’ve taken.”
“What’s her name?” Milly asked.
“Chau Phan. She’s from Vietnam.”
Milly nodded. “And she’s my age?”
“Well, a couple of years younger, but just about. Her mother is beside herself with worry.”
Angela covered her mouth with her hand and squeezed her eyes shut. “I never thought about another mother, someone else I was putting in the same position I am. No one deserves to lose their child. No one at all.”
“So, help us track these people down.”
Angela looked to her daughter. “This is what I was talking to you about, sweetheart.”
“You want us to act as though we’re going ahead with the surgery?” Milly double-checked.
“Yes. We have some of the men involved lower down the rung in custody, but they’re not the brains of this organisation. To organise something like this, it takes someone higher up. We’re fairly sure a businessman is the one at the top of the food chain, but we need to pin him down.”
“Won’t that be dangerous?” Angela asked. “What happens if they try to force us to go through with it?”
“We won’t let that happen. You’ll be wearing a wire, so we’ll be able to hear everything that’s being said, and we’ll be following close behind.”
“Can’t we just tell you where we’re supposed to meet them, and you go instead?” Milly’s already pale face had paled further, and she chewed on her lower lip.
“If you don’t go, it’s unlikely that we’ll find the girl. They’ll see that it’s not you there and make themselves scarce. We’re not expecting for this location to be the final one where the operation will be taking place.”
Angela clutched her daughter’s hand tighter. “How do you know the girl won’t already be dead?”
Erica let out a breath. “Honestly, we don’t. It’s a gamble, but it’s the only one we have. The fresher the kidney is, the more likely it’ll be to survive, so we’re hedging our bets that they’ll keep Chau alive for as long as possible. After you arrive, Milly, they’ll be wanting to prepare you for surgery and run some tests, which will all take time.”
Angela’s face remained pinched with worry. “Maybe they don’t care whether or not the kidney works.”
“They’ll care,” Erica assured her. “For one, they’ll want the final payment, and secondly, they won’t want someone like you shouting from the rooftops about what kind of business they’re running.”
“That’s a hell of a gamble. What if Milly’s body couldn’t cope with the surgery or rejected the kidney?”
“I imagine that happens, but they’ll do everything they can to make sure it doesn’t. I expect a few threats about ruining your career and a prison sentence would also come your way. Lawbreakers rarely report their own crimes.”
“I wouldn’t care about any of that if Milly didn’t make it.”
It was Milly’s turn to squeeze her mother’s hand. “You’ll still have a life after I’m gone, Mum. You’ll need to live it.”
“Don’t talk like that. You know I hate it.”
“It’s the truth, Mum. You need to face up to it. I’m not getting a new kidney. This was my last chance, and you know it.”
“You still might get one through the organ donor donation.”
Tears slid down both mother’s and daughter’s cheeks.
“My time’s up. I don’t want to die, you know that, but I’m also really tired of fighting all the time. And I definitely don’t want to live if it means some perfectly healthy girl is going to die because of me. How am I supposed to live with that on my mind?”
“With your help, we won’t let that happen,” Erica said.
“You have my help.” Milly looked to her mother. “Right, Mum?”
Angela nodded. “Yes, of course, though this breaks my heart.”
It was a sensitive situation. Angela had broken the law by attempting to purchase an organ and was clearly distressed at the possibility of losing her daughter. Grief at losing a child didn’t excuse someone from committing a crime, however, and that was exactly what she’d done.
“What happens now?” Angela asked her.
“I’ll have my officers stay with you through the night, to make sure you’re safe”—and to keep an eye on you so you don’t do anything stupid— “and I’ll be back with my colleagues first thing. We’ll get you wired up and with trackers as well, so we won’t lose you, and we’ll be able to hear what’s going on. The moment we know we’re in the right place, we’ll get you out of there.”
“What if they realise something’s wrong and they turn on us?”
“They won’t realise something’s wrong. It’s only natural to be anxious and worried before something like that, so they won’t think you’re acting strangely at all. If at any stage you feel things are going too far, we’ll give you a safe word to say which will mean you want us to get you out of there. We’ll be with you in minutes.”
Angela pressed her lips together. “Minutes is enough time for them to kill us.”
“We won’t let that happen.”
She hoped she could keep her promise.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Erica barely slept more than a handful of hours. She’d let Poppy stay with her sister, knowing she needed to be able to focus on the case and not worry about carting her daughter around to various places.
She was back in the office by six a.m., going through the plan and ensuring she had enough bodies in place to pull it off. She found herself wishing Gibbs was back in the office, so he could take the full brunt of planning out a sting operation like this.
They needed to slip into the property, taking the rear exit. Observations by the officers who’d stayed with the Hargreaveses overnight reported that they hadn’t seen anyone watching the house, but Erica didn’t want to take any risks. They had one shot at this. If they messed up, they’d lose their chance to find Chau, and Erica couldn’t imagine them letting the girl go again. They’d kill her first.
Her team filtered into the office, everyone looking as though they’d had as much sleep as she had. But they brought with it a determined kind of energy, a quiet focus. A surveillance van was outside, and the officers who’d be manning would join the briefing.
Her phone rang, and she answered. “Swift.”
“Detective, it’s Karl Hartley from digital forensics.”
“What have you got for me?”
“I’ve found who your man is. You were right that the name on the profile was incorrect, but I was able to do a reverse image search and I found him. Well, I still don’t know his location, but I can at least tell you his real name.”
“Tell me.”
Erica listened to everything Karl said, making notes, and then called her team into the briefing room. DS Shariff and members of her team had also joined them.
“Thanks for coming in so early, everyone. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to get that caffeine in. We’ve got a busy morning ahead of us, and I need everyone on top form.”
She brought up a picture of Chau that they’d found in Linh’s belongings back at the house.
“We are searching for thirteen-year-old Chau Phan who was taken from the Royal Comfort Hotel in Canary Wharf yesterday morning. We believe she’s going to be used as an illegal donor for this girl,” Erica brought up another photograph, this time of Millicent Hargreaves, lifted from the girl’s Instagram, from when she’d been in better health than she was now, “Millicent Hargreaves, daughter of the Minister of Care, Angela Hargreaves. Both Millicent and her mother have agreed to wear a wire and a tracking device so we can follow them and any conversation that might take place. Our number one focus is retrieving Chau Phan alive, and our second focus is locating the main man behind this.” She pulled up another photograph. “This is James Beckett. He is the brother of a businessman, Kenneth Beckett, who owns a number of businesses across London, including the hotel where Chau was snatched from, and a boxing gym in Stratford. James Beckett used to be a surgeon until three years ago when he was struck off the books for inappropriate misconduct with a patient. It looks like his brother felt sorry for him and gave him a job within his business empire, and James proceeded to use those businesses as a cover for the import of illegal immigrants. He’s not only housing these immigrants in appalling conditions, he’s also using them as cheap labour. Even worse, he’s keeping the immigrants as a kind of pool for the biggest money-maker—the trade of illegal organs. Each of the immigrants have blood tests done upon their arrival, and if they’re matched to anyone they have on their books who is in need of an organ and is wealthy and desperate enough to deal with them, they’re signing their death warrant.”
Erica clicked to another image, this one containing two photographs, side by side. “These are our two victims, so far, who we believe were harvested for their organs and then were either killed, or just left to die on the table, and then burned in an attempt to disguise what had happened to them. As of yet, we have no identifications of these two victims, but we believe them to have been brought into the country the same way as Linh and Chau Phan.
“Angela Hargreaves has been given a burner phone and has been told she’ll receive a call at nine a.m. with an initial meeting point. We suspect she’ll then either be met by someone and taken to the location where the operation will take place, and where we also hope to find Chau Phan, still alive, or else she’ll receive a second phone call with instructions about where to meet next. She’s been ordered to answer the calls on speaker so we’ll be able to hear through the wire, what’s going on.
“I’ll be in the surveillance van with DS Turner. I’ve requested to have Armed Surveillance Officers in the van, too, since we don’t know if the traffickers will be armed. DC Howard and DC Rudd, I want you both in an unmarked car, trailing the Hargreaves’ vehicle. Any questions?” She looked around the room at the solemn faces, officers shaking their heads. “Good. Let’s move out.”
THEY PARKED SEVERAL roads from the Hargreaves’ townhouse. Most of the team remained in their vehicles, while Erica shrugged a more casual jacket on over her suit and walked the rest of the way. She took the rear entrance to the house, slipping in through the back gate and trotted up to the back door. Angela Hargreaves was already waiting for her, peering through the glass, so she opened the door before Erica had even made it down the path.
Her lips were pinched, her complexion pale. She was clearly worried.
“Morning,” Erica greeted her. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m going to either throw up or pass out.”
“That’s understandable. How’s Milly?”
“Much the same, though she’s hiding it better.”
The Family Liaison Officer, Alice Mackey, was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of coffee.
“How were things overnight?” Erica asked her.
“Quiet.”
“That’s good.” Erica turned her attention back to Angela. “I assume no call has come in yet?”
Angela gestured to the mobile phone set beside her on the kitchen counter. “Nothing yet. My stomach is churning at the slightest noise. I keep thinking I hear it ring.” She chewed at her lower lip. “What if they don’t call?”
“They will. They want the rest of their money.”
Angela nodded, her gaze flicking back to the phone.
Erica had brought the wires with her. “I’m going to need to attach these. I have trackers for your shoes as well. Is Milly in her room? Perhaps we can do it in there?”
“Of course.”
They went up to Millicent’s room where the girl was sitting on her bed, looking even more pale and anxious than she had the previous day. Erica got to work, attaching the wires. She tried not to show her distress at the permanent port in Milly’s chest as she stuck down the tape.
She called back to one of the Armed Surveillance Officers waiting in the van to test the wires. All were working perfectly, as were the trackers.
“What if they search us?” Angela asked worriedly. “They’ll find them.”
“We won’t let it get to that point. If it looks like that’s going to happen, we’ll move in.”
The phone rang, and everyone stiffened. The air felt as though it had been sucked out of the room. Angela’s eyes widened at Erica, who nodded.
“Answer it.”
Angela picked up the phone in a shaking hand, swiped the screen, and answered on speaker. “Hello?”
“Be at the unit at eighty-six New Kent Road in thirty minutes.”
“I’ll be there.” She hung up and blew out a breath. “Did you get that?”
Erica nodded. “We got it. I’ll have one car following close behind you, and the van with armed police will be a couple of streets back. Okay?”
“Okay?”
“You’re being really brave,” she told Milly.
The teenager grimaced. “I don’t feel it.”
She wanted
to reassure them both that this would all be over soon, but the truth was that this wasn’t going to be over for either of them. Angela would be facing criminal charges, and Millicent would still be sick. There was unlikely to be a happy ending for either of them, and yet they were willing to help a stranger who wasn’t even from this country.
Erica left the house the same way she’d entered, through the back. She checked to see if there was anyone else around, but it all seemed quiet. At a brisk walk, she hurried back to where she’d left the surveillance van. She pulled the door open and climbed in.
“Let’s go.”
The driver started up, and Erica checked in with the Hargreaveses. “Can you hear us, Angela?”
“Yes, I can hear you. We’re in the car now.”
“We’re right behind you. Hold your nerve, you can do this.”
She prayed they weren’t going to be too late for Chau Phan. It was impossible to dismiss the possibility she was already dead, and the kidney that was worth more than her life was sitting in an icebox somewhere.
The drive through East London felt never-ending, the minutes seeming to stretch to hours. They hit traffic, and the tension inside the surveillance van notched up. Erica couldn’t imagine how tense the Hargreaveses must be feeling.
Finally, they approached the location.
“We have to hang back,” Erica warned the others. She spoke over the radio. “How are you two doing?”
“We’re okay,” Angela’s voice came back. “We’re here but can’t see anyone else yet.”
“Wait for contact.”
She checked her watch. It had been thirty minutes now.
“Come on, you bastard. Where are you?”
“They’ll be here,” Shawn assured her.
She shot him a grateful smile. There was always the chance they’d been spotted and had frightened Beckett and his cronies off.
Angela spoke. “Someone’s arrived in a white van. They’re pulling in behind us.”
“Do whatever they say,” Erica instructed. “Command Two, have you got visual?”
