He made it downstairs, with the clothes he’d worn that evening, a black pair of joggers and polo shirt to match, tucked under his arm. He went into the kitchen and quickly changed. Going out of the front door and closing it ever so slowly behind him he ran to his car, which he had parked on the drive as normal. He took the packages out of the boot, stacking them on the driveway, wincing at the noise of the boot closing.
He raised the garage door as quickly as he could with the minimum of noise. But still the clanking of metal and screeching of pulleys echoed around the street like rumbles of thunder. It was just his luck that he didn’t have a door in the back of the garage that would have been easier and quieter to open. Not wanting to put the garage light on and alert his neighbours to his presence, he took a small torch out of his trouser pocket.
John’s idea had certainly worked so far, he had to admit. Every nook and cranny aboard the jeeps being repatriated had been packed full of stores and then driven onto the Hercules cargo plane. Part of the payload aboard the vehicles was a contingent of ration packs, which were used for those soldiers who were on operations away from base and not able to return for food. Individual ration packs were put into larger boxes, each holding 12 ration packs. This full box weighed 12 kilos and 6 ration boxes had been packed into each land rover. Davis had simply taken the ration packs from these larger boxes and replaced the contents with 12 kilos of drugs. Therefore, one of the Land Rovers contained 6 tampered boxes of ration packs. 72 kilos of heroin that was destined for Josip Anic, to be poured into his distribution chain throughout the South East of England, with a street value of millions of pounds sterling.
Bob Wainwright’s job was simple. Being in charge of unloading and packing away the stores, he had just said (and noted on the manifest) that the bloody idiots over there in Afghanistan had packed 6 large boxes of rations which were out of date. Wainwright therefore had no choice but to destroy them as they were no longer fit for human consumption. But instead of destroying them, Bob had kept them locked in a cupboard at work and moved them to his car a couple of boxes at a time and from there into his garage. This was the last of them. All he had to do was to stash these two boxes safely in his garage, undetected.
***
Crane had been messaged a few minutes ago by Billy telling him that Wainwright appeared to be moving the drugs. He’d taken to sleeping in his clothes for the last couple of nights as he wanted to be there when Wainwright was seen moving the last of the shipment from work to his home. The night was cloudy, as though there were a lid on the sky and Crane hoped it would help muffle the noise of his arrival. He crouched down as he approached the car in which Billy was watching Bob Wainwright’s house. After he settled himself in the passenger seat, Crane looked through the eye piece of the camera set up on the car dashboard, careful not to touch it with his hands and dislodge the stand.
“I followed him with the camera as soon as he came outside, boss,” Billy whispered. “Damn shame we can’t arrest him now while he’s putting the packages in his garage. Get the thieving, dealing, bastard, red handed.”
“Now, now, Billy. You know we can’t. We have to get Anic as well, on the hand over. Anderson deserves that.”
“As long as nothing goes wrong, boss. What if this turns out have been our only chance of catching him and we’ve let him go? How are we going to feel then?”
“It’s not going to happen, Billy. Stop worrying. We have to trust the police on this one. They’ll make sure there are no mistakes. Anderson’s trusted us enough in the past, now it’s time for us to pay back that trust.”
Crane understood Billy’s frustration, indeed felt a bit of it himself. But agreements were agreements and he wasn’t about to double cross Anderson.
By now Wainwright had finished putting his packages in the garage. They hadn’t been able to see anything inside the garage itself, just the wavering of his torch as he moved around the space. Once all the boxes were in the garage, Wainwright appeared outside again and cautiously closed the large up and over door before slipping back into his house. As there was nothing more to see, Crane left Billy mumbling away to himself about wasted opportunities and all the things that could go wrong with the plan to arrest everyone involved at precisely the same time.
Crane wondered if the stupid bastard, Wainwright, realised he was getting away with this just a bit too easily. Wondered if he had any notion that he was being allowed, by the military police, to retrieve his drugs and sell them on, so they could build a water tight case against him. The thought of the co-ordinated arrests to come made Crane smile as he reached the end of the street and hurried around the corner to where he had parked his car.
Delivery
Kerry was dozing on the settee when her mobile rang. Her eyes blinked in time with the merry tune that had disturbed her, as she fought to clear her head of the miasma that had been enveloping her for the past few days. Alan hadn’t been around whilst she’d been getting ready for Molly’s arrival and that had been the problem. She’d missed him terribly, his absence stirring up those awful yet familiar feelings. She was bereft, unloved and lonely. Kerry considered not answering the phone as she couldn’t imagine who would possibly want to call her. She had no siblings, nor any real friends. She had acquaintances, she supposed, other mothers from the mother and baby group for instance, but none of them had her number. And she hadn’t seen any of them since Molly died. Well she couldn’t go there with an empty pram, could she?
That was it - Molly - Kerry realised, as the fog in her brain slowly cleared. It must be about Molly! Kerry grabbed at the phone, but merely succeeded in knocking it off the low table. Rolling off the settee and dropping onto the floor, she found it next to one of the legs and frantically opened it, desperate to answer the call before it stopped ringing and went to voicemail.
“Hello,” she said, her hand trembling in anticipation of the news she hoped the caller would be bringing.
“Mrs Chandler?” a male voice called. “Express Deliveries here. You’re expecting a package?”
“Yes, yes, that’s me. Where are you? Are you here? Are you downstairs?”
The male voice laughed. “You seem keen,” he said. “Yes, love, I’m here at the entrance to the flats. Can you come down? You see I’ve got a bad leg and…”
“Yes, yes, stay there, I’m coming, don’t leave, wait for me,” Kerry said as she grabbed her keys off the kitchen worktop and opened the door.
“Right-oh, love, thanks,” he replied and ended the call.
Oh my God, oh my God, Kerry thought, as she flew along the landing. She ignored the lift, preferring to brave the stairs. It would be quicker than waiting for that old cranky thing, she decided. She ran down the six floors without incident, her slippered feet slapping against the steps, the shirt she was wearing over a tee-shirt billowing behind her. No one was there to see her frantic flight as not many people tended to be around mid-morning. Those who could get out, generally went out and those who couldn’t were engrossed in morning television. There wasn’t much on the TV in the afternoons though, so that’s when the housebound took up their posts at their windows. Or opened their flat doors, pulling up a chair and sitting in the doorway, in the hope of seeing something or someone worth watching, just to break up the monotony of their day.
The cheerful driver called to her as she pushed through the entrance door and beckoned her over to his van, holding out a large rectangular package. She grabbed at it greedily, scribbling something on his electronic pad that looked nothing like her signature and then held the package protectively to her chest. She nodded her thanks to the driver as she wasn’t sure she could manage a civil conversation and breathing hard, carried her package back to the entrance to the flats. Not wanting to do any damage to Molly, she decided to use the lift on the way back up and as she waited, after pushing the button to call the lift, she tapped her foot in frustration at the slowness of the contraption.
While she was waiting she looked more closely at the
box. It was wrapped in brown paper, with her name and address written on a piece of notepaper torn off a pad and stuck down with tape. There were also several ‘fragile’ stickers in red on it and the plastic covered delivery label of the courier service. Once inside the lift, Kerry held the box to her ear, to see if she could hear Molly inside and then chastised herself for being so stupid. Molly would be fast asleep, she reasoned, needing to be woken by her mother, like Sleeping Beauty waiting for her Prince.
The obnoxious journey up six floors was over at last and she breathed in the cleaner air as she stepped outside. Not that the air was much better up on her floor, as there was a light mist curling around the blocks of flats that morning. She opened the door with her key and stepped carefully through, not wanting to jolt Molly and give her a fright. As she looked up, she saw Alan waiting for her in his chair.
“I knew you’d come back,” she said excitement bubbling in her voice. “Knew you wouldn’t miss Molly’s arrival. Now just wait there, while I carefully unwrap her.”
Kerry placed the box on the low coffee table between them and went into the kitchen, rooting around in several drawers before she found a pair of scissors. She eyed the mess of unwashed crockery, some of it covered in half eaten food and vowed to clean it up later, when Molly was asleep in her cot. Now the baby was back, she couldn’t risk her coming into contact with germs.
She cut the paper off the box with unsteady hands, worried that she might inadvertently pierce the box and harm Molly. Once the paper was off, she lifted the lid on the cardboard box. Inside were mounds of polystyrene chips, which she scooped out and piled on the floor around her, slowly revealing the sweetest sight she had ever seen. There was Molly, eyes closed, dressed in the most gorgeous pair of pink pyjamas, nestled in a blanket. With trembling hands, she scooped her up, putting one hand under her body and the other under her head. As she placed Molly in the crook of her arm and supported the weight of the baby and her head, she immediately felt her tense body relax. All the horror and worry of the past few weeks seemed to fly out of her as the maternal yearning for her child was sated.
She was captivated by the reality of the baby girl, who was truly a marvel. Kerry brushed her finger across the baby’s exquisite face and then caressed her delicate wisps of hair. She touched Molly’s hand and moved the tiny supple fingers and finally ended her examination at her tiny wrinkled feet. Molly was, at last, back, snuggled happily in her mother’s arms and holding her protectively, Kerry walked over to Alan.
“Look, Alan,” she whispered, “Molly’s home.”
As she held Molly up, the baby’s eyes opened and looked directly at her father. Kerry swore she saw his eyes glint and widen in pleasure at the sight of his child, before the light faded from them and they turned opaque once again.
16
Julie dragged herself off the settee in the lounge and went through the house towards the kitchen. She had to make a start on dinner, otherwise Bob would be home and there’d be nothing for him to eat. She wasn’t in the best of moods tonight. Tyler had been fractious all day. The baby was over the colic that had blighted the first few months of her life, but now she was grumbling and crying for no apparent reason. Julie wondered if she might be teething, as her bottom gum was a bit red. If it’s not one thing, it’s another, she thought.
As she walked past the mirror in the hall she stopped to look at her reflection, then wished she hadn’t. Her short dark hair was doing its own thing as usual and was just an unholy mess, her skin had lost its glow (if it had ever had any) and she had deep craters under her eyes. All signs of tiredness. But Julie didn’t need to look in the mirror to know how tired she was. She felt it in every movement of her body. A body that had all the speed of a sloth. And when she tried to read or watch the television, her eyes would close of their own accord and she would then be jolted awake by dropping her book, or starting at a loud noise on the television programme she had fallen asleep in front of.
Pawing at the kitchen wall, she found the light switch and flicked it. But instead of the light coming on in the room, she was startled by a large bang as the bulb failed. What else could go wrong today, she wondered and as her eyes filled with tears she slumped against the wall, giving in to her emotions for a moment. Then taking a deep breath she blinked away the stupid tears and tried to drag up some positivity from within. She’d just have to get a new bulb and put it in, she decided. She knew Bob had some in the garage.
The garage was Bob’s domain and Julie didn’t often go in there. It was his bolt hole and he had spent many hours putting up shelves, organising his tools and creating storage space for all those things they needed to keep but rarely used. He’d told her that the spare bulbs were in the grey metal cabinet against the back wall, so as she heaved at the up and over garage door, she knew exactly where she was going and strode confidently through the organised space. She grabbed at the handle of the cabinet and turned it. But the handle wouldn’t move. Not if she turned it to the left. Nor if she turned it to the right. Bloody hell, she thought. There are times when she wished Bob wasn’t so organised, careful and pedantic. She couldn’t imagine why he would lock a cabinet that just contained spare bulbs, batteries and boxes of screws she grumbled to herself as she went back indoors to grab her keys. At least he was organised enough to have given her a key for the cabinet.
Rushing back to the garage, for by now she was running very late and wanted to get the vegetables peeled before Tyler woke up or Bob got back, she picked through the keys until she found the small silver one that opened the cabinet. Slotting it into the lock she turned the key and then the handle, with a small sigh of relief, as it moved easily in her hand.
The bulbs were located on the top shelf and she found one easily enough. As she was about to close the door, she noticed the remaining shelves were not packed with the usual batteries, screws and nails, but with what looked like Army supply boxes. Frowning in confusion and reading the print on the boxes, she couldn’t imagine what on earth Bob wanted with what appeared to be out of date Army rations. Pulling a box off the shelf, she wondered if there was anything in them that was of any use, for surely not all the contents would be out of date.
Julie was surprised to find how heavy the boxes were and put her bulb back on the shelf so she could grab the nearest package with both hands and placed it on the floor. Kneeling beside it, she ripped off the tape sealing the two flaps closed. Inside were separate ration boxes and Julie picked up the nearest one. Once again ripping the tape off the top, she opened it, intrigued as to what was in the meal packages. But instead of the packets of dried food she was expecting, there was just a solid block wrapped in what appeared to be some sort of aluminium foil. Perhaps this was a new type of food? Maybe it contained strips of pepperoni or other such disgusting dried meats. She knew soldiers would eat anything whilst on exercise or on patrol. Picking at the piece of tape sealing the side, she managed to grasp the flaps of foil. As she prised them apart, instead of strips of food falling out, fine white powder peppered the floor.
She licked her finger and went to put it in the powder. Not sure why she was doing it, but she’d seen people do it in the movies, when testing the quality of illegal drugs. And that was what she strongly suspected this was.
As she stretched her wet finger towards the stuff on the floor, she was startled by Bob shouting, “What the fucking hell are you doing?”
Shopping
Kerry had spent the last couple of days enjoying her family time with Molly and Alan. She had concentrated on getting Molly into a routine. An early morning feed, change of nappy and clothes, followed by a short cuddle with her father, before going down for her morning nap. The afternoons were livelier. That’s when Molly would lie in her play pen between her parents, surrounded by her stuffed animals and rattles. Alan normally watched her then, so Kerry could do some housework. She was careful to keep the flat spotlessly clean now that the baby was back and Alan was encouraging her to do the chores by helping out
with looking after the baby.
Kerry wasn’t sure that Molly was up to a bath in the evenings, so she cleaned her with baby wipes, changed her nappy and put her in her sleep suit. Kerry brushed out her beautiful hair, gave her the last feed of the day and then it was time for bed, after a night-night kiss from Alan. Kerry was as happy as a princess in a castle, with a handsome prince by her side.
But today she had to leave her fairy-tale world, as she needed some shopping and after getting herself ready by changing into a clean jumper and leggings, she poured Molly into her outdoor jump suit and put her in the pram. Kerry changed her slippers for a pair of boots and then they were ready for the off. Kerry invited Alan to go with them, but as usual he preferred to stay at home. Stay sitting in his chair, where he would wait for them to come back.
Kerry chatted away to Molly on the short walk to the shops, enjoying the wind in her hair and sun on her skin even though it was chilly. She pointed out places they’d been before and described some lovely baby clothes she saw in a shop window, but couldn’t afford to buy. She wasn’t sure Molly was listening, though, as the motion of the pram seemed to have sent her to sleep again. Her lovely eyes were closed and the sight of her long dark lashes made Kerry proud that her baby was so beautiful. Molly still had that lovely bloom to her skin and her fine curly hair was just peeping through the hood of her jump suit.
The local supermarket was small by comparison to the big Asda in Farnborough and Tesco in Aldershot, but it stocked a wide enough range of basic supplies and the prices weren’t too bad. As she wandered through the aisles picking up staples such as tea, coffee and milk, other shoppers looked at the pram and then smiled up at Kerry as they walked past. The shop assistant manning the till, leaned over her counter and looked at the sleeping Molly.
A Soldier's Honour Box Set 2 (Sgt Major Crane crime thrillers Box Set) Page 29
