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John Judge

Page 16

by Michael G Franks


  ***

  At 2300 hours on the third day, Paul and Derek had disabled the CCTV in the immediate vicinity of Kings Cross Police station. Within minutes two vehicles approached one from the North, the other from the South each carrying six armed and black-clad masked men. John led one of the groups and Terry the other. The two vehicles slipped quietly away to their waiting area. Terry with his group entered the side entrance and took up concealed positions in the darkness of the building walls. They were to deal with the driver of the transportation squad’s vehicle and any others who were left outside. Alan Walker meanwhile was instructed to take one man and enter the station through the side door. Once any transportation squad personnel were ‘despatched’ he and his group were to join John and his team inside the station.

  Inside, the duty staff were relaxed and very casual. Two were watching TV, one was asleep and the other two were playing cards. Weapons were casually strewn about the tables Sergeant Cranson was not there. That concerned John. He needed to act quickly and quietly; wherever Cranson was, he must not be allowed to raise the alarm.

  John and his team burst into the station offices. The police officers were stunned. One reached for his weapon but with a stride Alan had entered from the rear and placed his gun muzzle against the officer’s head.

  John held his finger to his mouth and quietly said, ‘place your hands on your heads were they can be seen and do not make a sound or a movement. If you do as I say you will not be harmed.’ He nodded to his team to bind, gag and hood the five policemen. They went about their task with quiet efficiency.

  John knelt down in front of one officer before he was to be bound, held his gun barrel under the man’s chin and asked ‘where is Cranson and answer me quickly and very quietly?’

  The officer was trembling and sweating profusely ‘he’s downstairs seeing to the prisoner.’ John gave the nod for this last one to be trussed up.

  He signalled to two of his men to follow him and for the rest to stay. He found the stairway and quietly descended to a cellar leading to the station holding cells. He could hear Cranson saying something about ‘don’t worry; you’ll soon be out of here, for good.’ He was walking backwards as he started to lock the cell door. John was up to him in a flash and slammed him against the heavy metal door. He slumped to his knees completely stunned. John wrapped one forearm around Cranson’s neck, cupping his chin in his hand. He used the other forearm to grasp the man’s head that was now held in a vice-like grip. With both hands, John violently and very quickly snapped it from one side to the other. There was a loud crack and Cranson’s lifeless body was allowed to fall to the floor.

  The cell door key was still in the door lock and John quickly opened it to find their target, Ted Watson, laying unconscious on the floor; he had been badly beaten. John instructed his two team members to stay with him and administer some first aid to try and bring him around.

  Time was running out and the rest of Garside’s kill squad would be here soon. John and the rest of his team had placed the tied up policemen out of site and concealed themselves to wait for the arrival of the assassination gang.

  Terry watched the dark coloured armoured vehicle slowly reverse into the side entrance to the Police station and pull up to the side door. Three armed men in combat attire jumped out of the vehicle. The leader said, ‘Jack, you wait here with the wagon, we’ll pick up the package and Cranson and be back with you in a Jif.’

  ‘Ok boss.’ The driver replied. He took out a pack of cigarettes, extracted one and lit it. The rest of his crew disappeared into the station.

  Terry had to act quickly; he stealthily approached the smoker from behind, muffled his cries with one gloved hand across his mouth then slashed his throat with one swift swipe of his razor sharp commando knife. He and the rest of his team quietly entered the station.

  ‘Come on you wasters I’ve come to pick up my prisoner where the hell are you?’ The leader of the three men sent to collect Ted Watson shouted in his usual brash way. Before it registered with him that something wasn’t quite right John and his team emerged from various concealment places. Three shots were fired, three would be assassins dropped to the floor, dead

  John didn’t waste any time, ‘get the men together and help the men in the cells with our package number two.’

  Terry nodded his acknowledgement.

  John went to one of the bound Policemen and lifted his head. The man was trembling and had involuntarily wet himself. ‘Don’t worry officer I am not going to harm you. I want you to pass on a message to your bosses. Tell them this, stop the murder squads now, if you do not we will seek them out and stop them just as we have done tonight. We will not allow innocents to be slaughtered. Nod your head if you understand what you have to tell them.’

  The quivering officer vigorously nodded his head.

  John looked at his watch, 0050 hours. They were slightly ahead of schedule, but John knew his transport would be waiting. ‘Number Two check we’re good to go then move everyone out.’

  Two men helped Ted Watson to stand; he was now semi-conscious and was able to walk with some assistance. He had no idea what was going on but was grateful that these black-clad masked men appeared to be helping him.

  The two attack sections boarded their vehicles as planned, one headed North with their passenger and the other South. After the drop off both groups disappeared underground and made their way to their base at Goodge Street. The drivers offloaded the vehicles as instructed and entered the underground at different points.

  The journey underground back to the rendezvous at Goodge Street was slow for John’s team because of the condition of Ted Watson, who needed a lot of attention. Terry and his group reached the meeting point first and alerted Marie to the condition of the injured man, although he was surprised to see that John and his men had not got there first. It had seemed like an age before Alan Walker emerged out of the gloom.

  Alan was breathing heavily as the air wasn’t too good in that part of the tunnel, ‘I’ve been asked to come on ahead and clear the way for the main party. It’s very slow going with our passenger who’s been badly banged up. The boss should be here in about 10 minutes.’

  ‘Well done Alan, sit down and get a cold drink.’ Terry was impressed with the way Alan had handled himself in the operation.

  Alan spotted Janice and eagerly went over to her. She was equally pleased to see him. ‘How did it go?’She asked.

  ‘Like clockwork but I learnt one thing, I would never want to get on the wrong side of the boss.’

  ‘Why’s that.’

  ‘Sorry, Janice but you really don’t want to know so if you don’t mind let’s just leave it there.’ Alan was still trying to absorb what he had witnessed and was concerned by his own lack of sympathy for those they had just killed.

  ‘When we’ve finished the debrief tonight why don’t you come and join me at Bank tunnel, and keep me company, I’ve got a small stove and could make us something to eat? What do you think?’ Alan said with a twinkle in his eye.

  ‘I would love to Alan but you need to get some rest and I have to show up at the hospital tomorrow as normal so another time, perhaps? Janice replied affectionately.

  Alan put on an over exaggerated look of disappointment and promised to remind her frequently.

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