by Jack Probyn
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
By The Same Author
Join The Mailing List
Foreword
Meet Jake Tanner
Quote
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
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Also in The CID Case Series
About the Author
—————————————————————————————————
EPISODE 1
By Jack Probyn
Copyright © 2020 Jack Probyn. All rights reserved.
The right of Jack Probyn to be identified as the authors of the Work had been asserted him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by: Cliff Edge Press, Essex.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission of the author, Jack Probyn, or the publisher, Cliff Edge Press.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-912628-21-6
First Edition
Visit Jack Probyn’s website at www.jackprobynbooks.com.
For Nana.
By The Same Author
The CID Case Series
The Conspiracy
The Community
The Confession
The Cadre
The Company
The Cabal
The SO15 Files Series
The Wolf (coming 2021)
Dark Christmas (coming 2021)
The Eye (coming 2021)
St Paul’s (coming 2021)
Power Station (coming 2021)
School Attack (coming 2021)
Mile 17 (coming 2021)
The Wedding (coming 2021)
Arena (coming 2021)
The Terror Thriller Series
Standstill
Floor 68
The Jake Tanner Terror Thriller Series Boxset 1 (Contains Standstill & Floor 68)
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Foreword
THE CID CASE SERIES: HOW IT WORKS
This is no ordinary series…
… it’s so much more that.
Before you begin reading The Conspiracy, there’s something you need to understand.
The Conspiracy, and the rest of The CID Case Series, is modelled on television. The story is split into six different episodes, and each episode is intricately plotted, and follows the same storyline right up to the end. Think of your favourite programmes like Line of Duty, Stranger Things, Peaky Blinders, Breaking Bad.
I wanted to bring that experience to your e-reader. One story, but edge-of-your-seat pacing.
Just keep that model in mind as you begin reading. You won’t want to flip the channel.
Episodes are released every Monday from the 8th June 2020.
MEET JAKE TANNER
Born: 28.03.1985
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 190lbs/86kg/13.5 stone
Physical Description: Brown hair, close shaven beard, brown eyes, slim athletic build, scar on his cheek
Education: Upper Second Class Honours in Psychology from the University College London (UCL)
Interests: When Jake isn’t protecting lives and finding those responsible for taking them, Jake enjoys motorsports — particularly F1
Family: Mother, older sister, younger brother. His father died in a car accident when Jake was fifteen
Relationship Status: Currently in a relationship with Elizabeth Tanner, and he doesn’t see that changing, ever
“He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him.” - [Thomas Jefferson, 1785]
| EPISODE 1 |
CHAPTER ONE
THE CRIMSONS
They called themselves The Crimsons. And they’d been in the business of robbing banks for years. Nine, in fact. They had travelled the length of the country, raiding some of the largest banks and jewellers on the high street. And, in that time, they had become invisible – masters of deception and anonymity. Thanks, ultimately, to their excessive attention to detail. They left nothing uncovered – no escape unaccounted for. All bases of their heists were meticulously prepared. Not to mention that it helped to have certain friends in certain high places on the payroll.
But for their final heist, Danny – the eldest brother – wanted to go rogue. Off the books. Off the radar. And off the fucking chain. He had ingrained that modus operandi in them as soon as they began planning. He wanted to commit the worst robbery ever seen and be immortalised by the media coverage that had followed them throughout their nine-year career. And they were going to make it exceptional.
Danny was in the driving seat; Michael – the middle brother – riding shotgun. Michael was the strongest and biggest, declaring himself the brute force of the operation. Always the first one to enter the banks or jewellery stores, he could set the mood, the tempo, and scare the shit out of everyone in front of him. Anyone who tried to stand up to him rapidly wished they hadn’t for fear of being picked up and thrown against the wall. Whereas Danny was the opposite. Slimmer. Shorter. And in his own words, more handsome. During their operations he had always seemed to be the most calm, the most relaxed, the most authoritative. He commanded control of the entire room with his voice.
Michael leant forward and switched the radio up full blast. ‘Robbers’ by The 1975 played.
Meanwhile, Luke – the youngest – was in the back, clinging to the shoulders of Michael and Danny’s synthetic plastic seats. They neared a roundabout, and Danny showed no signs of slowing down. Instead, he pressed the accelerator and swerved the black Ford Transit round the bend, ignoring the horns and gesticulations from other drivers. The sudden force of the movement caused Luke to lose his grip on the seats and slam into the interior panels of the van, his head ricocheting off the metal.
‘Fucking hell, Danny!’ he shouted, leaning over to the dashboard and turning the radio off. ‘Watch it!’
Danny snickered and looked in his side-view mirror.
‘Sorry, mate. Didn’t realise you were in the back there. You’re so quiet.’
‘Not that you’d be able to hear me.’ Luke slapped Michael on the back of the head for nearly bursting his eardrums. ‘Thought we weren’t supposed to be drawing attention to ourselves?’
‘Can’t you feel the adrenaline pumping?’ Danny asked, glancing in the rear-view mirror. Luke glimpsed a fiery excitement behind his eldest brother’s darkened eyes.
‘This thing’ll go off if you aren’t careful.’ Holding Danny’s gaze, Luke pointed to the metal object covered in tarpaulin in the back of the van.
‘The only reason it’ll go off is if your fat arse sits on it,’ Michael replied.
The two brothers in front chuckled as they continued on a strai
ght stretch of road. On their left was a set of office blocks and the commercial entrance to the Friary Shopping Centre in the heart of Guildford.
A lorry pulled out in front of them. Danny swerved, narrowly avoiding the nose of the vehicle, and cursed beneath his breath. Luke recognised where they were – they had done a recce of the area a few days ago – and sat down, pressing his back against the metal frame his head had collided with moments ago. They were less than two minutes away, and a seed of emotion had crept into his mind. This time, however, he was sure it wasn’t the excitement or adrenaline that usually accompanied him on their heists. It was different. Emotions that he’d never felt before. The adrenaline of a job usually ravaged his body, made him shake, made him smile, made him feel alive. But this time he was filled with worry, regret and a terrible premonition that something was going to go wrong.
And, right in front of him, was the thing that made him feel that way.
The device. It was diabolical. Evil. Vicious. Luke hadn’t even been aware that sort of sinister equipment existed. But it did, thanks to Michael’s research and Danny’s handiwork.
Luke craned his neck over the seat and looked at the back of Danny’s head. ‘You sure this is going to work, Dan?’
Danny veered the car to the left and then came to a stop. Luke knew from memory that they were at a set of traffic lights at the foot of the high street. The engine ticked over, coughing at them. ‘Wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t, Lukey. Not flaking out on us now, are ya?’
‘Nah.’
‘Just think of how much pussy you’re gonna get when this is all done, mate. There’ll be seas of it.’ Danny chuckled. ‘Think how much pussy we’re all gonna get.’ He slapped Michael on the shoulder.
‘You sure you ain’t gonna miss Louise?’ Michael asked Danny. ‘Swear I saw you cry when you broke up with her.’
‘Don’t you worry about her, mate. She’s long gone,’ Danny answered. ‘Just remember one thing though, boys.’
‘What’s that?’
‘That, when this is all done and we’re out of here, you guys remain loyal to me. You owe me one.’
‘Where’d you get that idea from?’
‘Louise. She told me to sack you lot off, but I said no. Nobody splitting me and my brothers up. So you better remember that, eh, Lukey!’
Before Luke was able to respond, the traffic lights changed, and Danny slipped into first gear and pulled up onto Guildford High Street. Luke’s body tilted to the side as they climbed the steady incline, and as the van rolled over the cobbled pavements, his body began to shake violently. A deafening sound quickly filled the van, silencing all conversation. Just as well, Luke thought. He couldn’t bear to listen to more episodes of Danny and Louise. Even if they are broken up.
A few seconds later, the vehicle slowed to a stop. Luke lifted himself up and glanced out of the windscreen. He checked the dash – 9:03 a.m. A few minutes behind schedule. By now, all the shops had opened, and the only people on the high street were either keen shoppers or employees running late for their shifts, hurrying down the hill. On their left, near the top of the road, was Bridgewater Jewellers. Their next hit. Independently owned. Hand-crafted jewellery. Made with emotion and love. All that crap.
‘All right, lads,’ Danny said, sliding the handbrake on, ‘this is it. Get yourselves ready. Game time.’
Michael leant forward into the footwell, reached inside a gym bag by his feet and produced three masks. Their trademark. The masks were made from latex and depicted the face of the devil. Two large white horns protruded from the top corners of their heads and a black snake climbed between a set of fangs, exited the mouth and made its way up the cheek.
Michael passed them round, and they each took one. Danny placed his on his face and pulled his hood over his head, Michael tucked away what little of his fringe remained, and Luke pulled his full head of hair from his face, snapped the elastic band against the back of his skull and zipped his coat to his neck. They each wore crimson overalls, covering them from head to toe.
Simultaneously, Michael and Danny jumped out of the car and ran to the rear. A second later, the double doors opened, flooding light into the small space. Through the slits in the mask, Luke blinked away the brightness and restored his vision to normality. By his leg, lying on the floor, was a row of three Mini-Uzis, clamped down by cable ties to keep them in place. Beside them, a Stanley knife. Luke grabbed the knife, severed the ties, and handed them a weapon each. Danny had suggested using them as their weapon for the hit. They were small, compact, capable of rapid fire and easy to carry.
Luke loaded the magazine into his clip, aimed down the sights for good measure, then hopped out of the van. Shutting the doors behind him, he left the device in the back, ready and waiting to be used for the next part of their operation.
Bridgewater was open, as they’d expected. Danny strolled through, keeping his arm down by his side. Michael followed immediately after, then Luke. Neither of them protested that he’d disrupted the usual working order of things. This was Danny’s heist – he was in charge – and if he was going to break their usual mould, then so be it.
The inside of the jeweller’s was empty save for two cashiers behind their desks and another who sat in a half-opened booth in discussion with a client.
‘Hands in the air!’ Danny shouted, raising the gun. ‘Now!’
‘Move!’ Luke screamed. ‘Get down on the ground now!’
Danny made a beeline for the two workers standing behind the cash desk on the left-hand side of the room, while Luke rushed to the booth on the opposite side, pointing the gun at a brown-haired woman and a balding man. Luke’s breathing raced and the sound of his heart pounded in his ears, drowning the screams and shouts surrounding him. All thought of fear and guilt had quickly dissipated, as though they had never been there in the first place, and were now replaced with pure, animalistic adrenaline.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ Danny said.
Luke snapped his head towards Danny; one of the employees had her finger hovering over a panic button on the underside of the desk. If Danny’s reactions had been a fraction slower, she would have pressed it and within seconds, their worst fears of being caught would have come true.
‘Put your hands in the air now!’ Danny screamed, his temper dwindling. ‘Or I’ll blow your fucking face off.’
The woman stared at him defiantly. She was blonde, portly and had a look on her face that Luke knew meant she had an attitude. Luke glanced at the badge on her left breast. Her name was Candice.
In the background, Michael was making his way around the shop, pilfering the contents from the cash register and window displays. Shards of glass splintered into a thousand pieces and rained down on the soft carpet, scattering across the floor. Michael lifted his gym bag beneath the cabinet, and with a sweeping motion, poured the jewels and diamonds into the bag, scattering some to the floor. Watches. Rings. Earrings. Diamonds. Necklaces. Charms. They had everything.
Luke’s eyes danced between his hostages and Danny. Danny still held the gun inches from Candice’s face, but his brother’s arms were shaking. Something wasn’t right. Something was happening that hadn’t been part of the plan.
‘Hey…’ Luke said, snapping his head back to the woman and man in front of him. He switched the gun between them both, left and right like a tennis match.
‘There’s no need to panic, people,’ Danny said, keeping his eyes maintained on Candice. ‘This will only take a short while, and all you need to do is stand still and put your fucking hands in the air.’
Out the corner of his eye, Luke noticed Candice gradually raise her hands and breathed a sigh of relief. In all their years, in all their heists, they had never fired a shot on a single person. Though, for a brief moment, Luke thought that had all been about to change.
‘There was nothing difficult about that, was there?’ Danny said through gritted teeth.
Candice spat at him, a globule of phlegm landing on his
overalls and on the cheek of his mask.
Before anyone could react, Michael shouted, ‘It’s done. We’ve got everything, now let’s go.’
Nobody said anything. Nobody moved.
Luke’s heart pounded in his chest. By now, his attention was entirely focused on the dynamic between Candice and Danny. He lowered the gun without realising it and grabbed Danny by the shoulder. ‘Come on! We’ve got everything. Let’s get the fuck out of here!’
Danny remained still. The gun had stopped shaking in his grip. ‘She’s coming with us,’ he said calmly.
‘No! You can’t!’ came the cry of the staff member standing beside Candice. She lowered her hands and reached out for the gun, protecting Candice’s face. ‘Please, don’t—’
Before she finished, Danny spun on the spot, pointed the gun at the employee’s head and pulled the trigger. The deafening sound split Luke’s ears in two. His body jolted and he blinked, stepping backward as the bullet tore through the woman’s neck and buried itself in the wall at the back of the room. Blood sprayed against the shattered shards of glass and metal stands, sparkling in the fluorescent light overhead. Screams emanated from the booth in the corner of the room, and both the man and woman cowered underneath the table. But Candice did nothing. She remained perfectly still, her face freckled by flecks of the woman’s blood.
