The Robert Finlay Trilogy

by Matt Johnson

  ‘So what do you think are the odds against a Special Branch man just happening to be in the foyer of one of them when Finlay walks in?’

  ‘Huge … you thinking it wasn’t a coincidence?’

  ‘The lad’s name is Anderson, Stuart Anderson. I’m wondering if he knew where to look and maybe we’ve found our MI5 mole.’

  ‘You think MI5 told him where to look? Want me to take a closer look at him?’ Parratt made a note on his pad.

  ‘You’re damn right I do. The other thing that struck me was the hotel. It’s just two or three minutes’ drive from the SO19 base at Old Street.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Meaning that maybe we were supposed to catch them. It’s so close to where our firearms officers deploy from, the chance of Finlay and Jones getting busted was greatly increased. Maybe someone set them up.’

  ‘I don’t buy that. If they were being set up we’d have been given more notice. The way it went, there was always a good chance they were going to get away before we got there.’

  ‘If we’d been given time to set up a trap we’d have caught the Arab as well. Maybe the Arab told Anderson that Finlay was there to give himself a chance to escape. Maybe Anderson was never anywhere near the hotel.’

  ‘Could be? Who knows?’ said Grahamslaw.

  ‘This gets more complicated by the minute.’

  ‘Yeah. And maybe this lad Anderson can fill in some of the blanks.’

  The phone rang again. This time Grahamslaw picked up the receiver, immediately. It was DI Miller from Kentish Town with more bad news. The CCTV at the St Pancras Hotel had been disabled.

  ‘Check it Matt, and then double check. Someone must have seen something,’ said Grahamslaw, before slamming down the receiver.

  Parratt broke the silence that followed. ‘Bad news?’

  Grahamslaw relayed what Miller had said.

  ‘Clever bastards,’ said Parratt.

  Chapter 76

  As soon as we were below ground on the tube, Kevin and I split up. I kept an eye out for CCTV cameras. Although we both had an idea where London Underground sited them, I kept my head down and held my sleeve over my face until I was in the carriage.

  Once again, I was alone with my thoughts. I tried to put myself in Grahamslaw’s place. He would be putting two and two together by now. If he hadn’t worked out that Kevin and I were the two men from both Alma House and today’s incident he could be confident that we were in some way connected. If I were him, I would pull both of us in for questioning. That meant one of two things. Either I was going to get a rude awakening during the early hours of the morning as SO19 broke down my door, or Grahamslaw was being stopped from arresting us. With no real understanding of the connections between the Anti-Terrorist Squad and MI5, I hoped it was the latter.

  The appearance of the SO19 team at Alma House and just now at the hotel had to be more than a coincidence. Twice we had been compromised and both times we had gotten away with it. The nagging uncertainty that had been plaguing my thoughts in recent days was now starting to gain substance. There was a very short list of people who knew about our plans. An even shorter list that knew we were going to be at that hotel.

  Kevin was as much at risk as me, so he was in the clear. The loyalty of Jenny was beyond question. To me, the only other way that details of the operation could have been leaked to SO19 was through Monaghan.

  I tried to decide if I was being paranoid. Maybe SO19 had been tipped off about Yildrim and were on their way to arrest him when they bumped into us. That was a possibility. It was certainly more palatable than the idea that Monaghan had double-crossed us. The more I thought about it, the more likely that scenario became. I’d known Monaghan for years and thought I could trust him with my life. If he’d had something against me, I’d know about it. He wouldn’t do anything so elaborate as set me up to be arrested. That wasn’t his style. But then … there was the story that Kevin had brought back from Hereford.

  I made my way to Kilburn and sat in a bus shelter as the evening air started to cool. The strain of recent events was taking its toll. I was beginning to imagine conspiracy and plot, even by people who I knew to be my close friends. It was often said by coppers, ‘You don’t have to be paranoid for them to be out to get you’, but I was starting to have difficulty separating reality from fear. Memories of the conversations with Monaghan were becoming cloudy. I shook myself, forcing my mind to focus.

  I went through it again. Monaghan had arranged the Alma House op and given us the location of Yildrim’s hotel. Both times we had been compromised. Was that just an awful coincidence? Einstein believed that coincidence was God’s way of remaining anonymous. Maybe he was right, maybe we needed to see the obvious. If Monaghan wanted us caught he took the risk that we would tell our story. But then who would believe us? Monaghan would deny everything. We would be just another pair of mercenaries claiming an MI5 conspiracy. But why would Monaghan do such a thing?

  Again, the stories about Victoria Monaghan came back to me. It seemed totally crazy. But supposing her lovers were the guys who’d been killed? I hadn’t been guilty, but Kevin said there had been rumours about me. Suppose Monaghan had heard them and believed them? And if Monaghan was behind it, where did the Arab fit in? And why had Kevin Jones been brought into things? Unless, that was, Monaghan knew about Kevin’s secret.

  I stood up to take in my surroundings. The Kilburn street was busy. On the presumption that Grahamslaw’s surveillance teams might be watching my car, I decided to ditch the bergen, together with its incriminating contents. I needed somewhere safe, somewhere nearby.

  By chance, I walked into the solution. A British Rail left-luggage store. With the storage charge paid, I slipped the key into my pocket and hopped on a bus heading to North London.

  I took a circuitous route and, by the time I reached Potters Bar, the day was drawing to an end. I decided to walk boldly as if I hadn’t a care in the world. In the fading light there was no point in looking for surveillance, I wouldn’t see them.

  I unlocked the door to the hire car and climbed in. It started first time and as I pulled away I braced myself for the rush, the screams of ‘armed police’ and my violent removal from the driver seat. Nothing happened.

  As I drove slowly down the ramp onto the main road, I looked around. Still nothing.

  ‘I don’t believe this,’ I said. I smiled. I was talking to myself now.

  The journey home did nothing to help focus my thoughts. They kept coming back to Monaghan. Monaghan was a link between the dead men, the Iranian, me, Jones and the two occasions that SO19 had nearly caught us. There were links between the other factors involved but Monaghan was the only common link to all. And if he had learned of Kevin’s affair with his wife, he had the motive.

  I telephoned Kevin as soon as I got through the door. He answered immediately.

  ‘Kevin, Bob here, been trying to get hold of you, fancy a drink tomorrow?’

  We arranged to meet at Debenhams in Romford. Ten o’clock. It was good to hear that Kevin was safely home as well.

  Only as I put down the receiver did my mistake dawn on me. All this time, I’d avoided using my own phone to make calls. Now, if there were a tap on the phone, anyone listening would know who I’d called and where we were to meet. On the positive side, the normality of our conversation was such that it gave nothing away about what we had been up to earlier on in the day. For a moment, I thought about ringing back to cancel the planned meeting. I thought better of it. The mistake had been made. The next day, I would tell Kevin my fears.

  Chapter 77

  Declan Costello sat quietly in the shadows.

  He had watched this target for two days now, checking his departure and arrival times. This one appeared to work strange hours. Costello had seen him arrive the previous evening, clearly in a rush. His car was parked in the road as he didn’t appear to have a garage, and when he came out at nine o’clock the following morning, he hadn’t checked under the car
or taken any other steps to indicate that he thought he was a potential target. It also looked like he lived alone. He should be an easy kill, Costello mused.

  Now that he was working on his own, it had been necessary to find a new safe-house to work from. The Kalashnikov had been in the Alma House flat so it was lost, but he still had his Browning. Yildrim had managed to source some additional explosive. There was just enough for one more device. A car bomb seemed the easiest and least risky method.

  To enable the device to be attached to the target’s car, Costello had purchased a large magnet and glued it to a cigar box. The timer would delay the bomb going ‘live’ until he was away from the scene. He moved out of the darkness and walked calmly to the bus stop. It was time to assemble the bomb. Next day, another copper would die.

  Chapter 78

  At ten the following morning, Grahamslaw and Parratt were in the middle of a heated conversation with Assistant Commissioner (Crime), George Mason.

  The subject of their discussion, Detective Constable Stuart Anderson, was sitting outside the closed doors of the thickly carpeted office suite.

  Inside, it was clear to Grahamslaw that the Assistant Commissioner didn’t like what he was hearing. Mason was no fool. A career detective who had now made the move into uniform, he had worked hard to achieve high rank and had been tipped to go even further. Although middle-aged, with swept-back grey hair and a spreading waistline, he remained true to his detective roots and looked uncomfortable in the heavily braided uniform that he now wore. He had instructed his two subordinates to sit opposite him but there was nothing relaxed about the meeting. Mason clearly had a problem and had every intention of getting to the bottom of it.

  ‘Let me get this straight, Bill,’ he said. ‘Anderson was on the Alma House raid where our boys were compromised by two SAS look-alikes? He is part of the team watching this Finlay chap, he was the man who spotted Yildrim at the St Pancras Hotel and it was him that took the photograph of Yildrim meeting with Declan Costello?’

  Grahamslaw loosened his shirt collar to allow some body heat to escape. ‘More than just that,’ he replied. ‘He was on the observation point at Alma House that actually gave the command to go.’

  The AC looked perplexed. ‘We trust DCs to do that these days, do we?’

  Grahamslaw felt a little defensive. ‘If he was in the best position to see, then, yes.’

  ‘See what exactly?’

  ‘That the attack team wouldn’t be compromised by a terrorist on the landing or at the flat door. See that the targets were in such a place in the flat that it was the best time to go…’

  The AC interrupted. ‘Or to time things right, so that two men who looked like they were SAS just happened to be on the landing as our boys turned up?’

  Grahamslaw and Parratt both nodded in agreement.

  Parratt was the next to speak. ‘If what we’re concluding is right, he created that firefight between SO19 and the two SAS men.’

  ‘Not a firefight.’ The AC jabbed a pencil on his blotting pad as he spoke. ‘He couldn’t have known that one of the men would open fire. I’m thinking that he may have timed his command to coincide with seeing the activity on the landing. And, you’re right. It’s too much of a coincidence that he was the engineer of a similar event yesterday.’

  ‘We think Anderson is working for someone else,’ said Grahamslaw. ‘Possibly the Security Services.’

  ‘As you said in your email. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting to be dealing with this morning.’ The AC’s pencil snapped.

  ‘The coincidences are inescapable,’ said Parratt.

  ‘Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that Special Branch and the Security Services have shared staff.’

  ‘That’s true.’

  ‘You said earlier that Finlay and Jones are both former SAS soldiers?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Have you spoken to the Commissioner about them?’

  ‘No, should we have?’ asked Parratt.

  ‘Maybe … I’m not sure. If you recall, he is still in the process of finishing off an enquiry into some ancient shoot-to-kill stories in Northern Ireland. He has some good contacts.’

  ‘I’d be reluctant to trouble the Commissioner,’ interrupted Grahamslaw.

  ‘I understand. Leave it with me, I’ll raise it at our next meeting.’

  ‘Any thoughts on why Finlay and Jones should be set up to be caught? Why someone might do such a thing?’ asked Parratt.

  ‘No idea.’ Mason threw up his hands and the broken pencil tumbled to the office carpet. ‘I’m not even convinced that’s what happened. Maybe they were supposed to get killed? And like you said earlier, maybe Anderson is working for this Yildrim character. There is obviously something going on that we are not party to and, as you say, it could well be MI5. Perhaps Anderson might tell us something. I’m intending to interview him as soon as we’re done.’

  ‘We’re pretty sure that Finlay and Jones are the two men in black, so maybe they are moonlighting for MI5 as well,’ said Grahamslaw.

  ‘I think that’s a pretty fair assumption, Bill,’ agreed Mason.

  Grahamslaw continued. ‘Assuming they are, could it be that whoever has employed them now wants them out of the way? They may have done similar little jobs in the past and now, with what they know, they’ve become an embarrassment.’

  ‘No, I think it’s something else. If they were a potential embarrassment I think they would have been taken care of in a far more discreet way. In this case, the aim appears to be that they should be captured. Why the hell that should be, I don’t know.’

  ‘To ruin their lives,’ Parratt said, solemnly.

  ‘What was that?’ The AC seemed confused at the short statement.

  ‘To ruin their lives … their careers. Someone wants them to suffer,’ Parratt continued. ‘It’s just occurred to me: We’ve been looking at this from the wrong angle. Instead of “why” we need to look at what the effect would be if it had come off. What would have happened? If we nick them, their lives are ruined. Finlay’s got a family and a kid. Would he suffer more if he was in prison or if he were dead?’

  ‘I see your point,’ said the AC. ‘So maybe what we’re looking at is a nasty little game played by someone with the intent of putting Finlay and Jones in prison?’

  ‘If it’s a game, it’s a bloody wicked one,’ said Parratt.

  Grahamslaw had been listening with his nose resting on his index finger. The way the conversation had developed had set his mind working. Now, with the room momentarily silent, the portraits of various previous senior officers looking down at them with confident smiles, he spoke softly. ‘I think we’d better go and have a word with Finlay and Jones. It’s time we put our cards on the table and started working together.’

  ‘I agree,’ said the AC. ‘You go and see to that, Bill. Mr Parratt and I will have a little chat with DC Anderson.’

  Grahamslaw guessed that the Detective would know very little and would be unlikely to admit working for another agency outside the police. Still, they had to try. As he closed the AC’s door, and crossed the waiting area with its office-issue easy chairs and well-tended pot plants, he cast a furtive glance to where Stuart Anderson was now standing, expecting to be shown in.

  The AC called out to his secretary and, as he did, Grahamslaw noticed the detective adjusting his blazer and tie. Poor bastard thinks he’s getting a commendation, he thought. As Anderson stepped forward and the door to the AC’s office swung closed behind him, Grahamslaw allowed himself a wry smile.

  Chapter 79

  I quickly ushered Kevin into the lift at Debenhams. The doors closed and, as we started to move off, I switched the emergency stop button. We came to a halt between the floors.

  ‘We can talk in here. How did you get home?’ I asked.

  ‘Real easy. I was expecting to get jumped on at any moment but, as it turned out, it was a breeze.’

  ‘What did you do with your gear?’

&
nbsp; ‘Buried, quite safe. What about you?’

  ‘Left-luggage locker,’ I said, sheepishly.

  Kevin drew breath sharply. ‘Bit risky, boss, they nick you with the key in your pocket and you’ll be in deep shit.’

  ‘Yeah, OK … Now what about yesterday? I’ve been thinking it’s too much of a coincidence that SO19 compromised us again.’

  ‘I’ve thought about nothing else,’ said Kevin.

  ‘OK … let me ask you something. Is there any way that Monaghan could know about you and his missus?’

  ‘Not a chance.’

  ‘So why did he bring you into things?’

  ‘To persuade you, of course. He knew we were mates.’

  ‘So, you don’t think Monaghan might be running some sort of crazy plan to get us killed?’

  Kevin shook his head. ‘You’re starting to sound paranoid, boss. It’s our old CO you’re talking about. If he thought I’d been shagging his missus, he’d kill me himself.’

  Reluctantly, I agreed.

  We ran through things over and over again to see if we had been the cause of our own downfall. We were agreed: if the Einstein theory was right, it had to be more than coincidence.

  Kevin came up with one new idea. It was possible that SO19 had compromised us, not to make sure that we got arrested, but to make sure the Arab got away.

  ‘I wonder what Monaghan is thinking right now,’ I said.

  ‘Probably livid. He’ll no doubt want us to have another try for the Arab.’

  ‘I thought he said the Arab was leaving the country soon?’

  Kevin was silent for a moment before speaking quietly. ‘He won’t be hanging around for long, that’s for sure. Do you mind if I ask you a straight question?’

  For a moment I was puzzled. ‘Try me.’

  ‘Look, I know you denied it before but just between us, did you ever fuck Vicky Monaghan?’

  It looked like my idea had gotten through to Kevin. He was thinking along the same lines as me.