“Okay, we’ll be back later.”
***
Thrasher had spent the afternoon dreaming about the decision he and Sophia had made. They had spoken to his father-in-law who had been delighted that he could help them and relieved that Thrasher was ‘leaving that objectionable woman.’
He was shaken out of his reverie by his mobile phone ringing. Without looking he knew who it was, it was her ringtone. The one he had assigned to her, Killer Queen by Queen.
He sat and stared at the phone and then with an air of resignation he answered it.
“Thrasher.”
The response was as he had expected.
“What kept you?” Without waiting for a reply she continued,
“Have your men finished with the vicar?”
“Yes, she’s locked in a side room off the main warehouse awaiting whoever it is you’re going to send. Why?” his tone was indifferent, bored.
Ignoring his insolence, she said,
“I need them to do an emergency job, a burglary.”
“I can try and get hold of them but the Ladrones are a law unto themselves. They’ll only take work these days if it interests and challenges them or as a personal favour to me.”
“If appealing to their creative sides doesn’t work then offer them lots of fucking money.” She screamed.
“A rush job?” His bored, weary attitude was starting to piss her off.
“Yes, a rush job, a very rush job. Gerald if you want to keep this overpaid employment then call me with good news. They need to break into the Home Secretaries safe in his private office in the Houses of Parliament. The office door has been left open and they will be able to work undisturbed until early morning. There is an envelope addressed to his Permanent Secretary that I need. Anything addressed to Neville Beauchamp, I want. okay?”
Thrasher wondered if he was overplaying his hand. A stressed Felicity was a very dangerous woman and he hadn’t heard her this frantic before.
“Okay, I’ll text you to confirm the job is accepted and I’ll call once I have the documents.”
The connection was broken without another word. A few more days he thought, just a few more days.
Chapter 40
William and Tiny were sitting in a Range Rover outside the warehouse they believed Annabel was in. Two of Tiny’s men were working on the padlocks and two more were watching the approach road. William called Ben and Jemima in the Range Rover that was at the back of the warehouse.
“Everyone ready?”
Ben and Jemima answered together and laugh at the garbled mess of sound. After a moment Jemima said,
“Yes, William. Ben, Eric and Ernie are ready for the call. I’m car bound.”
“How are you? Much pain?”
Jemima answered,
“It’s not too bad, a bit sore that’s all.” Ben interjected,
“Not quite true. She’s slugging Oramorph and smiling a lot. I don’t think she’s feeling anything including body parts.”
William laughed grateful to Ben for taking his mind off their situation, even if only for a moment.
As William ended the call on the iPhone, he felt the familiar sensation that indicated Ernest, Jonas and Juanita had arrived. He turned to Tiny and said,
“How much longer, can’t they blow the doors off or cut the padlocks off with bolt cutters?”
“Patience William. At the moment, we have the time to be careful. Annabel is fine and if we can leave the outside of the building looking as though it hasn’t been interfered with we have an element of surprise.” Tiny spoke into the collar microphone attached to his jacket.
“Josh?”
“Boss”
“How long?”
“One lock completed; the second almost there. Two minutes. All quiet?”
“All quiet.”
William got out of the car and stood by the side facing away from everyone. He said,
“Ernest, Juanita?”
They materialised by his side as he walked around the area adjacent to the Cortez warehouse.
“Jonathan Andrews the Home Secretary is dead, committed suicide.” Said Ernest.
William continued to stare into the gloom and shrugged.
“I’ve got a lot more to worry about than a politician I despise, dying.”
Juanita said,
“Felicity was blackmailing him to provide protection for her shipments. Helena has a lot on her mind and her security was sloppy. I overheard Felicity on the telephone to Thrasher. It seems Jonathan has left a package for his permanent secretary detailing all. This would put a huge hole in the Cortez bow. Thrasher has sent the two thugs he used to kidnap Annabel to burgle the Home Secretary’s office.”
William stared at the two smiling ghosts and said with exasperation,
“Can’t you do something? Stop them or something?”
Ernest shook his head and said sanctimoniously,
“As you know William, Juanita is not permitted to act on earth to harm living beings. That would be against all of the rules and she could find herself in very hot water from her boss. However; a safe and it’s contents…” His voice trailed off and his smile became even wider.
William was running out of time as he heard Tiny call from the inside of the Range Rover that they were going in thirty seconds.
“Juanita what?” he said with urgency looking around trying to see what the other teams were doing.
“When they open the safe, it will appear empty, nothing there. As soon as they re-lock the safe or they leave the building, the contents will reappear.”
***
Annabel had sat waiting for William to arrive with Tiny. Their plan terrified her, she was a woman of God and not a brawler. She’d had a few minor skirmishes at school and one more major dramatic fight at university, but she wasn’t the violent type. The thought of SAS guards protecting her from a violent kidnapper was comforting, nevertheless she was left with an overwhelming nausea and a desire to get it finished and over with.
“Hello Annabel.”
Annabel started at the sound of a voice in the confined room. Her head swivelled around looking for the danger she had thought wasn’t there. Ernest and Juanita materialised in front of her apologising.
“Sorry, sorry we didn’t mean to scare you. How are you doing?” Juanita asked concern showing on her face.
“Fine. I’ll be better when I can get out of here, but first I have to be rescued, locked back up and then rescued again, so we can get the bastard who’s doing this.”
Juanita brought Annabel up to speed in the few seconds they had before the SAS guards would enter and talking would become impossible.
“When Jonathan Andrews’s Permanent Secretary finds the paperwork in the safe and the recordings it’ll all be over for Felicity, Alexander, Freddie and anyone else involved.”
Juanita shook her head and said with regret,
“No. The paperwork is his work, nothing signed by Felicity or anyone from CHC. The recordings are just conversations he had with Alexander Cortez. A few references to the Home Secretary helping him, but nothing about drugs, payments, bank accounts or anything that would incriminate anyone. Without the Home Secretary available to be questioned and to fill in the gaps, nothing. I think the pressure he was under had affected his judgement and he hadn’t realised how little he had. I’ve disguised the contents of the safe so it appears the safe is empty, that’ll pile pressure onto Felicity, Helena and Charles as they think the Home Secretary had more than he did.”
The bolts of the door were pulled back and the door opened. Juanita disappeared as a very large man in dark clothing and a balaclava came into the room. He inspected the room and then when he was satisfied he rolled the balaclava up to his forehead and grinned at Annabel.
“Ms Anderson I presume.” Annabel smiled back with relief and replied,
“Mr SAS to the rescue?”
“John,” he said and held out his hand in greeting. Before she had chance to take it he
touched the ear piece in his ear, listened and then said,
“Understood. Five minutes.” He pushed the door shut and the bolts and padlocks were slid back into place.
“Ok, Ms Anderson …”
“Annabel.” She interrupted.
“Annabel, a vehicle is approaching this warehouse complex and will be here in about five minutes. It might not be our man but we need to be ready. My colleagues outside along with William, Ben and Jemima have hidden a short distance away. I will be behind the door as they enter. You will be on your chair looking terrified and submissive. Please do not do anything. Stay absolutely still. Once they are in the room I will disarm and immobilise them and then Tiny and the rest will come in behind. Ok? Very easy and straight forward.”
The sound of tyres could be heard through the door, then the gentle click as a car door was closed. The padlocks were unlocked and removed. Then they heard the sound of the top bolt sliding back, followed by the bottom bolt. John looked at Annabel sat rigid on the chair and nodded at her, pulled his balaclava down and tensed, his pistol in a double handed grip pointing at the floor.
The door opened and a large fleshy man eased himself into the room. He looked at Annabel and said,
“Hello Annabel.”
“Hello Uncle Freddie, fancy seeing you here.”
Freddie Aldhelm appeared nonplussed by Annabel’s calmness, but continued as he had planned.
“We need to have a chat about William, Ben, and Jemima. As they say in the cornier ‘B’ movies, we can do it the easy way or the hard way. Easy is when you tell me what I want to know and then I kill you with very little pain. Hard is a lot more painful, though, more fun for me. Please Annabel, don’t be under any illusions; I have had many years helping Charles and others, achieve everything they have wanted to achieve. Jonas Sanderson got in the way.” He held his hand up and waved his fingers.
“Bye bye Jonas. Then Ernest had begun to get closer than it was deemed appropriate, so I arranged another cocaine induced heart attack. Now Annabel, you have the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, which would you prefer?”
Freddie turned to close the door to the storage room and came face to face with John, his pistol outstretched. He motioned for him to go to the back of the room and kneel with his back against the wall.
“Annabel, could you do the honours?” He handed her a pair of plastic speed cuffs saying,
“Hands behind his back, not too tight.” Annabel cuffed him, ignoring his looks of pure venom. As she walked back to John the door opened and Tiny, William, Ben and three more of the SAS guards walked in.
William looked at Tiny and said with disgust,
“Let me introduce my bishop, The Right Reverend the Bishop of Salisbury, Frederic Aldhelm née Cortez.” William walked across the room to Freddie and squatted down next to him.
“You know I recorded all of your conversation with Annabel. Murders and drugs, the Cortez enforcer. If I have anything to do with it you’ll spend the rest of your life in a maximum-security prison. There’s no one to help you Bishop, no one.” Freddie paled and then snarled back at William,
“Fuck off.”
William hugged Annabel and said to Tiny
“Can we leave him here?”
“Not by himself, John’s staying with him until the police arrive, then will join us.”
***
Felicity felt the situation was spiralling out of her control. She needed to
re-establish command or risk humiliation. That was not going to happen. Thrasher needed to be brought to heel, so she would deal with him first. She punched in his number and waited for him to answer.
“Yes?”
“The Ladrones?”
“Ah, yes,” he said and then fell silent.
Felicity screamed,
“Ah, yes? Ah, fucking, YES? What does that mean? Have your baboons done as they were paid to do or not?”
Thrasher waited in silence for a long moment before answering with indifference.
“No. I have just finished a telephone conversation with them. They are trapped in the palace of Westminster and very unhappy. The safe was empty. Already cleared by persons unknown.”
Felicity felt her chest tighten with rage and needed a minute of deep breathing to bring back a semblance of control.
“Shit. Jonathan Andrews is dead, committed suicide. He left documents that implicate CHC in bribing him and collusion in the importation of cocaine. I don’t know how damaging the documents he had were to us. Ideas?”
Thrasher’s reply was one of studied indifference.
“I don’t see how this affects me. I’m a solicitor, not a drug runner or a criminal. I think now would be a good time to tender my resignation with immediate effect. I will have completed clearing my desk in a short while and will use my outstanding holiday as my notice period. Good luck, I think you might be needing it.”
Before he could hang up Felicity said with venom,
“Do you think crossing me is a wise move Thrasher? Do you think you’ll ever work again? Please believe when I say that I will take great pleasure in ruining you and turning your fat wife against you. You know I can.”
Thrasher summoned up the remainder of his courage and answered with unfeigned disdain.
“My father-in-law has set up a practice doing commercial work for his city pals that I will be heading up. He won’t require a reference. I have told Sophia of your threats and lies she didn’t seem too interested. Her exact words were: ‘Tell the skinny bitch to bring it on.’ Goodbye Felicity.”
***
“Helena.” Charles Cortez said as he watched the débâcle at the companies warehouse unfold.
“Yes, what?”
“Freddie has just been caught by Bacchus and his security team.”
Helena swore under her breath and then said to Charles,
“I’m at The Palace of Westminster. Thrasher’s thugs have broken in, found the safe empty and left. Except it’s not empty. Juanita is ingenious and cunning. She’s put a false front onto the safe’s interior so that with a cursory inspection it appears empty. No matter, I’ve looked at the ‘evidence’ Jonathan Andrews claims to have and it amounts to nothing. You need to let Felicity know that.”
Charles continued to watch what was happening at the warehouse, listening with half an ear to Helena.
“Freddie is out of the game for good. Bacchus has some ex-military types helping him. They look good though.”
“Hello Charles.”
“Hello,” he answered without thinking and then stopped. He looked around trying to see where the voice had come from.
“Helena? Where are you? We haven’t got time for this”
The voice spoke to him again, closer than before and it was a voice he thought he ought to know. As the first word was uttered a body materialised in front of him.
“Hello Charles. I’m afraid you’re out of the game now as well.”
Ernest motioned to Juanita to join him and then he said to Charles,
“This is Juanita; my guide.”
Before Ernest could continue Charles vanished and he heard a voice say to him.
”I’m Helena, Charles’s guide. You’re going to need to be a lot slicker to pull off a snatch.”
The voice continued, but talking to Juanita and ignoring Ernest.
“In life he was a nobody, in limbo he’s still an amateur. I know you can’t choose who you guide on your side of the fence; come over to mine and you could have whoever you wanted.”
Juanita smiled, amused by the clumsy offer.
“You chose Charles Cortez? If he’s the quality of choice on offer, I’ll stay where I am.”
***
“This is bigger than can be handled by a few enthusiastic soldiers and a car load of cripples and geeks.” Tiny’s brutal assertion was accurate if not complimentary.
“We need the drug squad, armed police, NDRT. To stop these drugs, we need help. I know the head of the Nati
onal Deep Rummage Team here in Southampton. We were in the army together many years ago. Can I call him?” The question was directed at Jemima and not William.
“Do we have any choice? No. Felicity has to be stopped. CHC is a company developing new fuel technology and producing biofuel. It is not a criminal enterprise run by a Mr or Ms Big to earn money for themselves and risk the futures of everyone who works there. Ben where are the ships now?”
Ben opened his MacBook Pro and clicked on the browser.
“They’ve split up. It happened as they approached the west coast of Ireland. The ship bound for Felixstowe sped up by twenty per cent as it has the largest distance to travel and is passing Margate. The Liverpool ship skirted the tip of Ireland and is heading up the Irish Sea passing Holyhead as of two minutes ago. The ship bound for Southampton is steaming up the English Channel off Portland Bill. Estimated arrival time for each of these ships is identical. They will all dock at three o’clock this afternoon; six hours time. The container vessels will also be docking at three o'clock this afternoon and looking at the map they seem to be shadowing the cargo ships. According to the manifests each container vessel will dock at the same ports, but at different container handling facilities. I still haven't managed to get any concrete information on the contents of the containers. So I guess we go with the timber vessels.”
Tiny looked at Jemima again and cocked his head. The look said it all. She hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
“One proviso,” Jemima said. Tiny stopped dialling the number into his phone and waited.
“Here in Southampton, we’re all involved. I had a call from Thrasher while you were releasing Annabel and stopping Freddie doing any further damage. He’s seen the light and quit. Felicity was Felicity once too often. He says he had a message from Pablo’s office in Colombia. Pablo has flown to Paris and will join Felicity here in Southampton. He wants to meet his biggest customer in person so they can, ‘plan their world domination.’ Pablo has no idea what Felicity looks like now, he hasn’t seen her in twenty years, not since they were teenagers. He’s never met me. Felicity has no idea Pablo is arriving this afternoon. Thrasher forgot to tell her.”
Bacchus and Sanderson (Deceased) Page 33
