by Matt Johnson
I guessed it could work, but only if I was right about there being just five or six traffickers. If there were many more, we could end up with a serious problem.
‘How long do you need to get the Wallbanger into position, boss?’ Kevin asked.
‘An hour, at least,’ I explained.
‘OK, how about this…’ He outlined his idea.
We would agree a time and, at that moment, he and Cochrane would slash the tyres on the minibuses. If the people inside tried to leave early, they would fire a few warning shots to act as a deterrent.
Inside the mine, Kevin suggested we should fire the Wallbanger and go in through Angie’s cell. Plenty of smoke, a few flash-bangs, and it will be all over in minutes. If, however, the people inside didn’t try to leave, we should still fire the Wallbanger at an agreed time. The resultant furore would be heard at the surface, so those up top would know when to come in and help.
I admired Kevin’s confidence, and Cochrane and Danny nodded approvingly. Wendy also appeared content. I smiled at my old colleague but she didn’t react. She was keeping quiet, seemingly happy to allow experience to lead.
Kevin’s plan seemed sound. We subdued the bad guys, stopped the slaves from getting hurt and then called in the local cavalry. And by going in before calling for help, we avoided the fear the traffickers might be warned of our presence. I liked it. At my suggestion, we set a time of midnight for the Wallbanger to be fired.
It all looked sorted … until a solitary hand was raised. It was Wendy. She didn’t look happy.
We all fell silent.
Wendy cleared her throat. ‘Look … I’m sorry if this doesn’t sit comfortably with your plans, boys, but I think we’re forgetting that I’m the ranking officer here and if the shit hits the fan it’ll end up in my lap.’
The three lads just looked at me.
Cochrane broke the embarrassing silence. ‘I thought we had an agreement?’
‘You don’t like my plan?’ asked Kevin.
‘I appreciate you guys know what you’re doing … and if this was an official SAS hostage rescue, then I’m sure it would be fine. But it isn’t.’
Nobody answered. Kevin sat up and braced his back against the inside of the Landie. He looked uncomfortable. I said nothing and from what I could read on the faces of Danny and Cochrane, they didn’t plan on opening their mouths either.
After a few tense moments, I decided to break the ice. ‘It’s what these guys do, Wendy. They train for this kind of scenario, day in day out.’
‘I just want you to hold fire before we rush into something that gets way out of control … and with no backup plan.’
‘But we don’t have the luxury of time. There’s a WPC in that building who needs our help, now.’
‘I know that, Finlay. But we’re only five people. Only four of you are going to try and rescue the girl and you have no real idea of what you are going to find in there. What are you going to do if all hell breaks loose? You don’t have a contingency plan.’
‘We have to go in,’ I said, again. ‘Lynn Wainwright is relying on us.’
‘I know … I know,’ Wendy replied, quietly. ‘So … if you’ll just listen to me for a minute, I’ll tell you what I have in mind.
So we listened for five minutes as she briefly analysed, assessed and debated the options to rescue all the women that were being held in the old hospital. And she made one very, very good point. The strength of Angie’s cell door. What if we couldn’t breach it?
It was impossible to not be impressed. The plan changed.
As soon as we were in a position to contain the escape routes from the hospital, Wendy would put in a call for assistance from her own force. She would route the request through her Territorial Support Group so as to reduce the possibility of a local officer tipping off the traffickers. And, even if someone did – as she correctly pointed out – the escape routes would be sealed off.
The TSG could muster three personnel carriers, each carrying twelve officers and were always ready to be deployed to any disturbance. In addition, Wendy would call in a firearms-trained dog unit to work with an Armed Response Vehicle on the initial entry. That way, she said, the operation would be undertaken speedily and lawfully. And she was confident they could be with us before midnight.
Kevin and Tom Cochrane would slash the tyres of the vehicles in the hospital car park as outlined in Kevin’s plan. I was to set up below ground, with Danny to listen through the block wall for any evidence that the slavers were about to depart early. If an escape started, then, and only then, would we go in hard.
If everything went to plan, there would be no need for the SAS lads to get involved. And she had a good plan to get us through the cell door should it prove necessary. We were convinced. Plan ‘C’ went to the top of the list.
Chapter 96
Getting the Wallbanger through the mine wasn’t straightforward, even though it was on wheels.
The first part was relatively easy. Albert had left the gates unlocked and, to start with, as we wheeled the heavy device along the dusty tracks, we made good progress. But, as we headed deeper, the tunnels narrowed and the uneven surface sloped so steeply that we struggled to stop the cannon from running away from us. Then, just as we regained control, the slope would change as we came across rocks and small uphill sections that were a real struggle. In my forties and out of condition, I found it as tough as any training run I had ever done. Danny hardly broke sweat. I envied him his youth.
Cochrane had given me a Diemaco rifle, which I had slung across my back. Although it dug into my skin, the unfamiliar weapon was surprisingly light. Using the headlights from the Landie, Danny had given me a quick run through on how to use it. I was surprised at how comfortable it felt in my hands.
Danny wore black kit; coveralls, boots, body armour and helmet. On his back, a small bergen held smoke canisters, flash-bangs, two sets of night-vision goggles and some plasticuffs. A holster strapped to his thigh contained a SIG P226 pistol with a small Streamlight torch attached to it.
From what Mollie had said, there would be very little lighting once we broke through into the cell complex. If we needed to break in before the police arrived, the NVG goggles also provided by Cochrane would enable us both to operate in the dark. Although they restricted peripheral vision, they would give us an advantage over the occupants.
Danny and I talked about how we would handle an emergency entry. We agreed that, after entry, he would take point. My role would be to use an ASP. The small telescopic steel baton was very effective at close quarters. Danny had handed one to me along with the Diemaco. It was the same type as the official police issue baton that I had drawn several times over the years without ever having the need to use it. The simple act of racking it into the open position was normally enough. Danny suggested that he would take down any guards we came across, I should then disable them with the ASP and plasticuff them around the wrists and ankles. He would also handle the smoke canisters and flash-bangs. Although I might be able to do a decent job as number two, to ask me to take point wasn’t a good idea. Danny was fitter and recently trained, so he would lead. I readily agreed to his ideas.
Once the police officers were with us, Kevin and Cochrane would bring in their team from the car park about thirty seconds after we made our first entry. From their position outside, they would hear the flash-bangs going off and, in that way, I also hoped any guards on the upper floor would race downstairs to investigate the commotion. With armed police all around and with the confusion caused by the noise and smoke, I hoped the hospital would be taken without too much difficulty.
Like most operations, though, it all depended on timing, and a bit of luck.
An hour and a half later, Danny and I had finished heaving and shoving the Wallbanger into position. Behind the wall, a petrified slave girl was going to prove key to the whole attack.
While Danny set the Wallbanger ready to fire, I spent the next few minutes with my lips pressed to t
he drill hole, whispering instructions to Angie. I reassured her that rescue was on its way. She was to listen at her cell door and let me know what was happening outside. We needed to know if the evacuation started early and, for that situation, I had to explain Wendy’s backup plan. I prayed that Angie understood me. If the shit hit the fan, I needed her to scream blue murder until the guards came to find out what was going on.
I gave her a key word to yell as the cell door was opened. Whatever happened, she was not to use the word until the guards actually entered the cell. Opening the door wasn’t enough. Mollie had told me how they liked to use a powerful hose to subdue the girls. If the local police chose to do a two-pronged attack and come through the mine, they wouldn’t want to be facing a powerful jet of water as they went through the wall.
I told Angie that, after screaming the command word, she should dive into a corner of the cell, keep her eyes tightly closed and stick her fingers in her ears. She was then to wait and keep still until we came back for her.
Her voice trembled as she relayed the instructions back to me. She sounded terrified. I checked my watch. An hour and twenty minutes to go.
Chapter 97
Every so often, I listened through the wall for any sounds of disturbance or movement. There was none.
It seemed likely to me they would move the girls in daylight. A fleet of minibuses on the road, late at night, was bound to draw the attention of any patrolling police car. Provided they took steps to prevent the girls shouting or waving for help, it would be far more anonymous if they travelled amongst the rush-hour traffic. Nina would know that. She would know how to move and how to avoid getting noticed.
Likely as not, they would be planning to take the girls somewhere temporary until the heat died down. With Mollie having escaped, they wouldn’t want to take the chance that she might lead the authorities back to the hospital. If Nina now knew I had been sent to interview Mollie, then it was likely she had warned the slavers we were getting close. They would play safe, hide the evidence, and only move back to the former hospital if she was sure it was going to remain undiscovered.
I’d had no choice but to include my knowledge of Nina’s presence in the brief I had given to Kevin and the two soldiers. Nina wasn’t to get any special treatment. If the smoke did its job, she would be taken down with the others. The priority was, however, to get to Lynn Wainwright before it was too late.
The wait gave me a chance to try the NVGs. I hadn’t used a set of night-vision goggles for nearly two decades. The set Danny handed to me was much lighter than I had experienced. With two image-intensifying tubes that strapped around my head, a small chin strap held them securely in place. Flicking a switch at the side of the headset, all around me, the tunnel complex was bathed in differing shades of green as the infrared turned on.
My watch beeped. Midnight. An hour to go.
I pulled the goggles away from my face to make it possible to whisper into the drill hole through the walls. There was no response.
Shit, I thought, she’s fallen asleep. I whispered again, louder this time, trying to inject some urgency into my voice. Still, nothing.
‘Shut up,’ came a hissed voice.
‘All OK?’ I asked.
‘Quiet … something’s happening.’
I waited. A moment later, Angie returned to the wall. She seemed petrified.
‘You’d better get the coppers here now. There’s a hell of a fight going on with the new girl. They’re either killing her or raping her.’
‘Are we ready?’ I asked Danny. It was just the situation we didn’t want, but the one we had planned for. We had to go in immediately.
‘Good to go, boss.’
‘OK. It looks like we’re gonna have to go without the local cops. They’ve started attacking Lynn.’ In the darkness, I could just make out a faint, green glow from Danny’s NVGs.
‘Great,’ he replied. ‘Let’s get this over with, then. Just make sure you’re crouched behind me when I fire this thing off.’
I called through the wall again, this time louder. Angie was crying. I managed to get her to calm down.
‘You want me to start screaming now?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘As if your life depended on it.’
Angie started. She screamed. Even through the double-skinned wall, I could hear it. Slow and deep at first, within a few breaths she was at fever pitch.
‘Fuck me, that girl’s got some lungs,’ said Danny.
I listened at the drill hole. It must have been at least a minute before there was any response to Angie’s efforts. A male voice, angry. ‘Shut up, shut up…’
Angie kept screaming. ‘Leave her alone,’ she cried. ‘Leave her alone, you bastards.’
It wasn’t working. For Wendy’s idea to succeed, I needed the guards to open her door. They were simply ignoring her.
‘Tell them you’ve got a man in there,’ I shouted through the wall as Angie stopped for breath.
‘Help me, help me,’ she shouted. ‘Someone’s attacking me…’
It did the trick. I heard the cell door open and a moment later the roar of water. Just as Wendy thought would happen, they were hosing Angie down. We were nearly ready. My heart raced … just a few more moments.
The sound of water stopped. Male voices … two of them.
Angie screamed. ‘GO.’
The key word. The guards were in the cell.
I pulled the NVG goggles over my eyes, backed away from the wall and crouched behind Danny.
‘Ready,’ I whispered.
The narrow passage erupted. Shock and awe.
Chapter 98
First came the noise.
It roared into my ears, dominated all senses and even hurt my eyes. Then, before I had time to register, came the pressure wave – like standing in front of a steam train as it entered a narrow tunnel; huge and all-powerful. Finally came the water, the dust and the rocks, which seemed to be flung at us from all directions, bouncing off the sides and roof of the tunnel. For a moment I feared we were about to be buried as the cave roof gave way.
It was no wonder Danny had suggested I duck behind him, he knew what was coming, but I’m sure even he had made no allowance for the tunnel effect.
‘You OK, boss?’
The voice came from above me … familiar. I opened my eyes. I was on my back. Everywhere was green. Feeling returned slowly, and with it, understanding. I knew where I was. I mumbled something, tried to speak. My mouth was full of dirt.
‘Fuck…’ It was the best I could manage. I moved my arms, sluggishly at first, not even sure they were still attached to me.
Danny must have sensed what I was looking for as I ran my hands over my chest and legs. ‘Don’t worry … you’re in one piece.’
A gloved hand rubbed across my face. My skin felt rough, like sandpaper. I tried to speak again but nothing was happening, and I could taste blood, warm and salty. I tried to lick my lips.
‘Try this.’ The voice calm, reassuring. Cool water, dribbling into my mouth, clearing the dirt, my tongue now free to check my teeth – all there – and to try and form a word. Then, just as I determined to speak, more water, this time up my nose, into my throat. Not sure if I was about to cough or retch, I rolled onto my side, catching a glimpse, as I turned, of Danny holding a small plastic water bottle. Slime and spit ran from my nose and mouth as I struggled for breath. In the background I heard the sound of crying … a woman … Angie.
It brought me quickly back to my senses. ‘I’m OK,’ I coughed.
Danny thrust the ASP into my hand and wrapped my fingers around it. ‘Here … take this. We need to move now.’
I scrambled to my feet, still unsteady but getting better by the second. Both knees felt sore. Around me, the floor was littered with debris from the wall. My peripheral vision limited by the NVG goggles, I turned my head back toward where I expected to see the remains of the block wall. It wasn’t there. All that remained was a pale-green mass of swir
ling dust.
From my left, I heard the sound of Danny starting to move. Remembering our agreed plan, I once again tucked in behind him. In his gloved hand I saw that he held a black flash-bang.
I tapped his arm to signal I was ready and, a half-second later, watched as the stun grenade flew forward into the dust cloud. I’d warned Angie to close her eyes tight and stick her fingers in her ears. I just hoped she’d remembered.
The light emission was immediately followed by two explosions, not the single effect I was used to. Danny flicked on his torch, the narrow beam struggling to penetrate the dust. We moved forward cautiously. I saw a bed, and beneath it what looked like the bare limbs of a woman. Then there was a hand, the fingers trembling but clasped in a ‘thumbsup’ sign. I smiled to myself … good girl, Angie. She was safe.
Two more prostrate figures lay just inside an open doorway ahead of us. The guards. What with the combination of the Wallbanger and the grenade, I could see they were now out of the game. One was moving slightly, groaning as if in pain. The other lay still and silent. Both were soaking wet and covered in a layer of pale-coloured dust. As Danny covered the doorway, I crawled forward, snapped plasticuffs around ankles and wrists and pulled them tight.
Returning to the bed, I felt beneath it. ‘It’s us Angie, you’re safe,’ I called.
A hand reached out, touching my goggles and the mat of drying dirt that now caked my hair. ‘Thought you said you were miners?’ Angie said, her voice trembling with fear.
‘Something like that. Can you keep an eye on these two while we deal with the others?’ I asked.
Angie popped her head out from under the bed, but it was clear she was too petrified to do anything more for us.
‘Ready?’ said Danny.
