by Conrad Jones
Unfortunately for Constable Thomas he was impatient. He also had a shallow nasty personality. He was always the first to shun teamwork and he was also prone to progressing his own career at the expense of someone else`s. Thomas was two faced and reported his fellow officers for breaching procedure at every opportunity that he could, in a vain attempt to enhance his own reputation as a forthright law enforcement officer. All he achieved was to gain the deep mistrust of his fellow officers, and a reputation as a backstabbing trouble maker from his senior officers. The icing on the cake was stopping the local Mayor in his car just a mile from his home and breathalysing him. The unfortunate Mayor tested positive by the slimmest margin. Once again Constable Thomas put his own ambitions to the fore, and he took the Mayor into the police station to be charged, thinking this high profile collar would lead to his promotion. He couldn’t have been more wrong. He soon realised that his career was dead in the water and he turned to a bottle of whisky at night for solace, his wife however turned to his younger brother for solace, amongst other things, and the marriage spiralled into a bitter divorce. His family was torn apart by the affair, most of them siding with his brother and ex-wife.
Now as he looked over the crash barrier into the deep dark waters of the Menai Straits he realised that he still loved her deeply. He still loved his younger brother too, and he couldn’t really blame her for running off with him, after all he had behaved like a chauvinist pig. Thomas was naked and the bitter wind was mind numbingly cold. His recollection of what happened after he had been hit over the head was hazy at best, but it was coming back to him in flashes. Blood was rushing to his head and his face felt like it would explode if he didn’t get himself upright soon.
Constable Thomas remembered a sickening blow to the back of his head, and then the sensation of being dragged across the rough tarmac naked, and being handcuffed. Somewhere in between he had been stripped of his uniform and his hands had been cuffed behind his back. He heard men laughing and remembered seeing a black man dressed in his police uniform, parading around the Brigade van with the hat tilted at a silly angle. There was another burst of laughter when black ski masks were found in the Brigade van. The policeman could vaguely remember two men coming over to him with the ski masks pulled over their faces. The first one had spat in his face, and then the second man kicked him hard in the testicles.
Constable Thomas had keeled over and vomited on the grass, sickened by the pain which spread from his groin to his abdomen. There was more laughter from the men as he writhed in agony on the floor. He remembered hearing the Brigade van being started, and thinking that they must have hotwired the vehicle. Then they started his police car and switched the sirens on and off, only stopping when an approaching vehicle slowed down as it drove by. The men hid behind the van until the vehicle was well out of sight, and its brake lights had faded into the darkness. The men seemed to be organising themselves into pairs, so the van and police car could be driven away with the three hatchbacks. The talking and laughing stopped when they discussed what they should do with Constable Thomas. He realised that his life was in mortal danger, and that was when he started to think about his wife, and the love that he had lost.
The black men had dragged him across four lanes of the carriageway and then picked him up. They tried to toss him over the coast road barriers into the sea, but he`d become entangled in the wire mesh that prevented the cliffs from being eroded by the elements and stopped landslides. Now he was hanging upside down from the cliff top. Seventy feet below him the sea was pounding the rocks, white foam sprayed high into the air as each wave crashed over the last one. His head was becoming increasingly more painful as the blood flowed to it, and gravity prevented it from leaving. His body was numb with the cold. The muscles and tendons in his legs and ankles were at snapping point as they struggled to support his weight. He could feel the heel of his right foot being sliced by a thin filament of the wire cage that encased the exposed mountain slopes. The pain was becoming unbearable to the point where he was desperate to free the injured foot, even though he knew that by doing so he would crash to his death on the jagged rocks below. His mind was weak, as was his will power, and he couldn’t stand the pain any longer. There was little to be gained from prolonging the inevitable, passing traffic couldn’t see him and the police would not return until the morning, by which time he would either die from burst blood vessels in his brain or freeze to death. Constable Thomas took a deep breath of cold Welsh air and thrashed his body against the mountain. The wire mesh sliced through what remained of the fleshy part of his heel and he thought about his wife again as he plummeted toward the cruel rocks below.
Chapter Fifty Seven
The Quarry
Omar pulled the stolen police car over to the kerb. He picked up the map that he had found on the floor of the Brigade van and looked at the markings that someone had made on it. He followed the promenade road on the map with his bony finger, and then traced the line of the quarry access road to its conclusion at the base of the mountain. He looked across the marina toward the breakwater and then back at the map. Beyond the breakwater was the Irish Sea and total blackness. To the left was the looming shadow of Holyhead Mountain. It somehow seemed to be darker than the night that surrounded it. In between the mountain and the breakwater were a copse of trees and the ruins of a building. Behind that ruin was the entrance to the quarry road, and that`s where it appeared the Brigade men were heading before he had scuppered their plan.
“We follow this promenade to the end, init, and then we are going to drive down this track here. We`ll see what happens when we get there. They`re going to be expecting their men in that van and they definitely won`t be expecting the law to be behind them, init,” Omar put the police hat on and laughed. His gold teeth glinted in the glare of the yellow streetlights.
“What are the Brigade doing down there in that quarry man, there isn’t nothing down there on this map.”
“They don’t do anything for free, that`s a fact, anyway that`s not important. They came through my Gemma`s window man, that`s not cricket. It`s payback time man, we`re going to give them the fright of their lives,” Omar gunned the engine and banged his hand on the door. “Let`s go, put those ski masks on and drive in front of me. When I flash my headlights come out shooting at anything that moves.”
All bar one of the Yardies climbed into the Brigade van, and the other sat in the passenger seat of the police car next to Omar. The three hatchbacks had been dumped in a twenty four hour supermarket car park further up the coast. Omar checked his appearance in the mirror and he winked at his reflection and grinned. The gold teeth glinted in the darkness like two jewels surrounded by decay. He switched on the flashing blue light and pulled away from the kerb, following the Brigade van closely.
As the stolen police car reached the end of the promenade, and drove into the copse two military Land Rovers rounded the bend five hundred yards behind them. Tank was sitting in the passenger seat of the first vehicle.
“What the fuck is plod doing here?” Tank said as he watched the police car heading toward the quarry road with its blue light flashing.
“I`m assuming that the local uniformed division were informed that we have an operation underway here,” Chen asked. Chen was part advisor and part agent, although he spent more time advising than Tank cared for these days.
“If you haven’t got anything sensible to say then just shut up,” Tank said reaching for the coms unit and passing it to Chen. “Pull over here, we need to see where they`re going, Chen find out from the Major if either the police or the Security Services are messing about in our operation.” The van disappeared into the tree line and the police car followed it, only the blue flashing light betrayed its position. They waited in silence as Chen relayed the information to headquarters and waited for a reply. The uniformed police divisions were always suspicious of the counter terrorist units operating on their turf, especially when they were ordered directly to avoid the area at all cost
s. The Security Services, MI5 and MI6 were a law unto themselves, and in this instance were not aware that the Terrorist Task Force were about to snatch one of their informers from underneath their noses.
“Pilgrim one,” the coms unit crackled.
“Roger, we`re receiving,” Chen replied to the call.
“We are negative for any uniformed traffic units in that area,” the Major`s voice informed them. Chen looked at Tank and they both mulled over the possible scenarios.
“It wouldn’t be the first time a police car was somewhere it shouldn’t be,” Chen said.
“Ask the Major if all their units are accounted for,” Tank frowned.
“Pilgrim one, are all the police units accounted for?”
“Roger that, they`re all on trackers now, they know where every unit is at any time.”
“Well that can only mean one thing then,” Chen said nodding sagely.
“Go on, share your wisdom with me,” Tank said dryly.
“Either that isn’t a police car at all, or it`s not from this uniformed division, and it has come from further afield,” Chen shrugged.
“We need to stick to the plan and cover that exit from the quarry, we`ll find out what they`re up to soon enough,” Tank wrapped his knuckles on the dashboard as he spoke. The driver selected first gear and the two Military Land Rovers followed at a safe distance behind the mysterious police car.
Chapter Fifty Eight
The Brigade
Two Brigade men dragged Sergeant Hickey`s limp body up a footpath and dumped him in the long grass that grew prolifically along the old railway embankments. His prosthetic legs clattered together as his body hit the ground. They would have to deal with him later on. He wasn’t a priority right now. Terry Nick picked up the key fob and thought about moving the sergeant`s vehicle. He had to think about the mental state of the sergeant, and when he did he realised that anything could happen. If it was rigged to explode on the touch of a button then it was probably booby trapped. It could be wired to a digital timer that would trigger the bomb after a stipulated period of time if the device`s creator didn’t return to it. He was debating what to do with it when a hushed whisper came over their coms.
“Two vehicles are approaching the first bridge.”
Terry ran up the footpath and ducked behind the footbridge wall next to the two snipers.
“Roger that, can you identify them?”
“Roger that, we could have an issue. The first vehicle is plated as one of ours, but the second is a traffic cop.”
“What?”
“You heard me correctly, our van is being followed by a traffic cop, blue lights flashing and the works,” the voice said.
Terry looked over the wall into the darkness. Sure enough he could see two sets of headlights and the silhouette of a van, and behind it he could see the blue flashing strobe of a law enforcement vehicle.
“What do you want me to do? Do I let them pass as planned or take them out now?” the voice crackled.
“Don`t shoot you bloody idiot, we`re not in the business of killing our brave boys in blue, shut up and let me think,” Terry hissed in reply. The Brigade couldn’t risk any further encounters with the police. It would jeopardise their credibility and attract unwanted attention upon the organisation. The slightest controversy could compromise any further foreign contract tenders.
“Are there any other vehicles behind them?” Terry looked over the wall again and tried to see the vehicles, but they were covered by the series of footbridges. All he could make out were the lights.
“Negative, there are no other vehicles on the quarry road.”
“Where are they exactly?” Terry was debating stopping them before they reached the quarry yard.
“They`re approaching bridge three,” a different voice answered this time. “When did you last speak to Jay or the driver?”
“It was a while ago, but he did say that his cell phone battery had gone flat. Why what`s the problem?” Terry was curious.
“Something isn’t right here boss, I`m looking at our men in the van through my scope, and they`re both wearing combat ski masks,” the sniper on Bridge three reported.
“What? Why would they be wearing them?” Terry asked out loud.
“Look at the traffic police man,” Terry hissed down the coms unit.
“Roger that, got him.”
“What colour is he?” Terry asked.
“He`s a black traffic cop, what`s the problem?”
“He`s not a traffic cop, that`s the problem, and that isn’t Jay in the van either,” Terry alerted his men. The snipers next to him chambered rounds into the breach.
“Hold your fire, I repeat don`t open fire,” Terry hurried the order. The two vehicles passed beneath the third bridge and motored steadily toward the quarry unhindered.
Chapter Fifty Nine
The Regiment
The SAS men approached the remote mountain residence like ghosts. The Unimog had managed to traverse the shoulder of the mountain undetected in less than half an hour, which was well ahead of schedule. They deployed the unit half a mile away from Rashid Ahmed`s hideaway, and crawled silently through the thick foliage without incident. Each man knew his role inside out and back to front. Each man in the unit could have pulled off the extraction mission on their own without giving it a second thought. The combined strength of the men in the Regiment unit made them almost indestructible. When it came to Special Forces the SAS were the best in the world, bar none.
The unit approached the mountain residence with the cliffs and the Irish Sea behind them. Their view of the building from the headland was through the wide panoramic windows which wrapped around the first floor. It was clear that there was no one moving around inside the living room or the kitchen area beyond. It was also clear that the 18th Brigade snipers were positioned six hundred yards across the headland above the quarry walls. There were no Brigade personnel paying any attention to the rear flank, which gave the Regiment unhindered access to the building.
The snatch squad prepared to enter the dwelling. One man covered the living room with a rifle from the headland, ready to drop anyone presenting a clear and present danger to either the primary or their unit. Two more men set up a `v` shaped field of covering fire, which incorporated the entire headland in front of the house. It would be impossible for anything but an armoured division to encroach the building without being cut down as soon as they were in range.
The set up was prepared and the rest of the unit entered the unlocked front door of the residence unchallenged. The men moved like one slick well oiled machine, taking up covering positions and overtaking the man in front. Once each section was deemed safe they began the process again until all the ground floor bedrooms were cleared. There was still no sign of life in the living room. They moved up the stairs in complete silence and swept the living room and kitchen areas.
“One x-ray located but there is no sign of the primary,” the unit leader whispered hoarsely into the coms unit.
They stood gathered around the unconscious body of a Brigade man. He was lolled across an armchair like a giant baby. His eyes were open but unfocused and they rolled back into his skull when a Regiment man flipped his eyelids, looking for any sign of intelligent response. There was none. The Brigade man opened his mouth wide and his tongue dangled out dripping saliva onto his chin.
“This guy has been slipped a Mickey Finn,” the unit leader said using military colloquialism for an incapacitating drug.
“He`s no use to us, leave him there. We`re out of here. Alert the taskforce that the primary may have been moved down the mountain,” the unit leader ordered.
The Regiment were about to melt back into the undergrowth and exit the mountain the same way that they came in. Suddenly the sky lit up with a red glow, and the deafening sound of a huge explosion rocked the mountain. They looked toward the headland where the snipers were positioned. From the top of the quarry walls they could see the muzzle flashes of at least six
sniper positions. The explosion had prompted the Brigade sharpshooters to open fire on the quarry below.
Chapter Sixty
The Quarry
Omar kept the police car close to the back of the Brigade van. The old railway track was cut deep into a narrow embankment, and there were passing areas built at regular intervals to accommodate tourist traffic through the busy summer months. The passing areas were lay-bys just big enough to fit one car, which would allow any oncoming vehicles to pass. They drove beneath a series of brick built foot bridges as they progressed toward the mountain. The brake lights of the van illuminated brightly and the vehicle slowed. Omar couldn`t see any reason why. His passenger had a better view of the scene from his side of the police car.
