The Badge & the Pen Thrillers

by Roger A Price

  ‘Who told you this?’ Harry asked.

  But Sadiq ignored the question and continued. ‘You’ll see now that I’m not bothered if I only get a small reduction in sentence. Anything too big would set alarm bells ringing. I have to put Amal first. Then, when she’s safe, I’ll help you nail that bastard.’

  Vinnie could now see how they could make this work. Maybe, after Sadiq had given evidence down the road at Babik’s trial, he might even have grounds to appeal his sentence and get it reduced further. He voiced as much.

  ‘Look, if that happens, great, but my main worry now is Amal.’

  Harry repeated his question.

  ‘I know, because my fears about my brief were accurate.’

  ‘Go on,’ Vinnie said.

  ‘Because my solicitor, Mr Grant Fletcher, passed on the message.’

  Vinnie instinctively glanced at Harry and could see his arm start to move towards his head. He turned back to face Sadiq. ‘So, to be clear, you are telling us that your solicitor, a certain Grant Fletcher, told you that your wife had been kidnapped by Babik to ensure you kept your mouth shut?’

  ‘In one. That’s obviously why he was all over me when I first said I wanted to trade.’

  ‘And why you had to blank us in front of the screw,’ Vinnie said.

  Sadiq nodded, then Harry spoke. ‘Christ, bent screw, bent cop, bent brief; what the hell is going on?’

  ‘That’s why I didn’t want local officers to come and see me; I never thought my own brief was on the payroll, but it makes even more sense now,’ Sadiq said.

  ‘More sense?’ Vinnie asked.

  ‘He always was very well informed about just about everything.’

  ‘And you’ll give evidence against Fletcher, too?’ Harry asked.

  Sadiq didn’t answer, and Vinnie could see fear return in his eyes.

  ‘I’m sure that would help any appeal on sentence application,’ Harry added.

  Sadiq still didn’t answer, though he looked like he wanted to.

  ‘I’ve got an idea,’ Vinnie continued. ‘You give us three separate statements, one about Babik, one about Grady and one about Fletcher, but leave them all unsigned. You get sentenced as soon as we can arrange it, and once your wife is free, you can sign them then. We’ll also make sure the judge is made aware.’

  ‘I think I’d rather just get a normal sentence, unless you find Amal first. Then, I’ll write and sign everything.’

  ‘Any idea where she will be?’ Vinnie asked, but Sadiq said he didn’t know. He said it would obviously be somewhere he didn’t know about, now that he’d been told, but reckoned it would still be somewhere local. Vinnie asked him when he’d received the hard word from Fletcher.

  ‘Yesterday. About an hour prior to your visit I had an unscheduled legal visit from the bastard. I wanted to do him there and then, but knew I had to keep my cool. I’m just so glad you manged to produce me over here so quickly. And on that, the sooner you can get me back to prison, the better it will look.’

  ‘We can go one better that that,’ Vinnie said. ‘We can give you a fake charge sheet with a fake court date on it. One which is a long time into the future. When this current mess is sorted out we can say that “CPS have ceased proceedings due to fresh evidence” or something else that’s plausible.’

  ‘Deal,’ Sadiq said.

  *

  Thirty minutes later Vinnie had knocked up a fake charge sheet, saying that Sadiq had assaulted someone a while ago. Vinnie explained that it would be easier to have that sort of case ‘dropped’. They could say that the aggrieved, who had not been badly hurt, had decided to withdraw their complaint, and with no supporting evidence to prove the offence the CPS had been forced to drop charges. It would also help Sadiq enhance his own credibility inside, as he could claim that the aggrieved had been ‘got at’.

  That done, Vinnie arranged for Sadiq to be transferred back to HMP Preston as soon as was practicable, and they would arrange for him to be sentenced as soon as the courts could manage it. Harry was on with the latter. Vinnie walked back from the cells to the SIOs’ office as Harry was just ending a phone call.

  ‘All done downstairs?’ Harry asked.

  ‘All done, no problems. How have you got on?’

  ‘I’ve spoken to listings and we can get Sadiq in for sentence the day after tomorrow. The judge has left a note on the file that he wants an update from us first.’

  Vinnie expected this, but wondered just how much they should tell the judge, and said so.

  ‘We’ll have to tell CPS everything and take advice, I suspect we can get away with giving him a broad outline of what is being offered. After all, Sadiq’s not actually done or given anything yet.’

  ‘That might make it even easier for the judge,’ Vinnie said. Harry nodded. Then Vinnie added, ‘What about the bent brief bit?’

  ‘We’ll have to tell him so that he can instruct the defence barrister to treat Fletcher with the utmost caution. He’ll not be best pleased with that part of it,’ Harry said.

  Vinnie knew what he meant. It was one thing having the occasional bent cop or prison officer, but judges always liked to think that officers of the court such as solicitors and barristers were above corruption. It always jarred heavily with them when the exception occasionally ruled. ‘But look on the plus side,’ Vinnie said.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Harry asked.

  ‘It means I’ve not misled the judge at our earlier meeting with him, after all.’

  ‘That’s lied, not misled. You are one lucky sod,’ Harry said. ‘I think we should move on from that, don’t you?’

  Vinnie didn’t answer.

  ‘So next, where the hell is DS Susan Grady, and what the hell do we make of her now?’

  Vinnie didn’t answer. He’d absolutely no idea how to. Then his phone rang. It was Grady. He answered with, ‘Where the hell are you?’ before miming her surname to Harry, who nodded his understanding.

  ‘Back at home now, and on my own, but not for long,’ Grady answered.

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘It means Babik has dropped me off so I can have a shower and collect some clean clothes.’

  ‘Going anywhere nice?’ Vinnie said.

  ‘Look, I know how this can seem, but you’ve got to trust me.’

  ‘You don’t make that an easy thing to do. With or without a tracker.’

  ‘I know, and I’m sorry about that, but I’ve got Babik’s trust now so I can’t risk that. I don’t think I’d get another chance if his suspicions were raised.’

  ‘Not sure if you remember the operational objectives or not? Find and free the kidnapped woman, then arrest Babik.’ Vinnie nearly used the woman’s name, Amal, but managed to stop himself. He didn’t trust Grady and she would wonder how he knew.

  ‘You mean Amal Sadiq,’ Grady said. Vinnie was shocked.

  ‘If that’s her name? But how …’ he started to say.

  ‘Because I’ve seen her and she’s fit and well. A little frightened, obviously, but otherwise ok. Her husband is Mohammed Sadiq, who has just been convicted of running one of Babik’s brothels, and as soon as he is sentenced Babik will release her unharmed. As long as he keeps his mouth shut. I was wondering if you could check to see if anyone is talking to him from our side?’

  I bet you would love to know, Vinnie thought, and also wondered what ‘our side’ actually meant. ‘Harry and I were asked to have a word but he told us where to go. In fact, I think he is to face extra charges for not cooperating.’ He could see Harry’s eyebrows rise as he spoke. But working off the cuff, he reckoned whatever he said would get straight back to Babik through this bent bitch, and it gave him an opportunity to cement Sadiq’s cover story. ‘You’ve not answered my question,’ he added.

  ‘What about?’

  Vinnie had to dig deep to control his rising anger before he carried on. ‘If you’ve seen Amal, or whatever her name is, tell us where she is and we can free her. No need to await her husband’
s sentencing, then we can nab Babik too.’

  ‘Too dangerous, but she is local, and as I say, unharmed.’

  ‘Dangerous, why?’ Vinnie asked.

  ‘When Babik took me to see her, there was one of his goons there, but he has no idea who the woman he’s guarding is. If I give you the address and you send a team in, he’ll know it will have come from me.’

  ‘How will that matter, if we nick him straight after we have freed her? The first he’ll know about it is when we tell him, after we have jumped all over him,’ Vinnie said.

  Grady didn’t answer straight away. Vinnie could almost hear her thinking. He had her in a corner; she’d no plausible answer. Well, none if she was a genuine undercover officer, which he now knew beyond doubt that she was not. He was as sure as could be that she had simply rung in to try and find out if Sadiq was talking or not.

  ‘Well?’ Vinnie said, filling the silence.

  ‘How were you going to get your hands on him?’ she asked, ignoring the question.

  ‘Simple. You give me the address, we free the hostage and then you tell us when Babik turns up and we nick him.’

  ‘I can’t tell you where she is because I can’t let you nick Babik yet. I need to stay undercover with him a while longer.’

  ‘What the hell for?’ Vinnie’s anger exploded into his phone.

  ‘There are secondary objectives you are unaware of,’ she said.

  ‘Utter bollocks! If you want to prove to us that you are not some rotten rogue slime ball that has leapt into bed with Babik, then tell us where the woman is, now. That’s an order.’

  ‘I can’t. Look, I’ll make sure that Amal is well looked after, and if Babik doesn’t release her as soon as her husband is sentenced, I’ll find a way to let you know where she is. Irrespective of the secondary objectives. Sorry, got to go.’ Then the line went dead.

  Vinnie couldn’t help but notice the hypocrisy of her last remark. A point Harry picked up on after Vinnie quickly briefed him on what she had said.

  ‘So, it’s too dangerous to tell us where Amal is, but if Babik breaks his word it suddenly won’t be. As if?’ Harry said.

  Vinnie grabbed from his desk the keys to the CID car he’d borrowed, and said, ‘If we are quick, Harry, we can get to her address before Babik turns up, it’s only around the corner.’

  Harry nodded and followed Vinnie quickly out of their office. Vinnie could hear Harry on the radio as they rushed to their car, summoning up the nearest ARV to make to a street next to Grady’s address and to await further instructions. And to do so quickly, but quietly.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Cornel Babik had collected some spare clothes he had from the boarded-up riverside address. He had an emergency holdall in one of the front rooms. He told the man on the back door that he would be away for a couple of days and to let him know if there were any problems. There shouldn’t be, now.

  He’d also put a quick call in to his associate, who so far had taken everything Babik told him at face value. Babik knew the man had to trust him. Apart from trust being in his Roma DNA, the man never liked to show himself, and if he ever felt he needed to, then Babik knew he could be difficult. Babik considered himself an equal business associate to the man, really, but never forgot his associate’s legend. The last man to make such a mistake had been lucky to receive merely a fierce beating. Had he not also been Roma, Babik was sure he would now be dead. Babik had his heritage going for him; but didn’t fancy putting it to the test anytime soon.

  He waited a minute in the driver’s seat of his blue Vauxhall while he collected his thoughts, and his phone rang. It was Susan. ‘All ready?’ he asked.

  ‘Yep, all sorted,’ she replied.

  ‘How did you get on?’

  ‘Good and bad.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Well, it seems that it was Palmer and Delany themselves who spoke to Sadiq, but he told them to fuck off.’

  ‘That’s good, but how can you be so sure?’

  ‘Because Palmer told me, and he also said that they have charged him with extra offences for not co-operating.’

  ‘Excellent. So, what’s the bad?’

  ‘Because I won’t tell them where Amal is, or set you up, they think I’m bent.’

  ‘But you are.’

  ‘Not funny.’

  ‘Look, once Sadiq is sentenced, I won’t release her but I will let you tell them where she is. That should re-establish their faith in you,’ Babik said.

  ‘That’s what I was hoping you’d say. It fits in with what I’ve told them. Then, I can come up with another reason why I suddenly don’t know where you are.’

  ‘All good then. Look, I’ll be with you in 10.’

  ‘Good, but I’ll meet you at the end of the street, just in case I’ve got company,’ she said.

  Babik agreed, though he would have suggested as much himself. As long as he stayed away from her address there should be no problems. After all, he was in a clean car.

  *

  The CID car Vinnie was driving was just an enquiry vehicle, so only had a 1000 CC engine, which Vinnie was wringing to death as he careered around the local streets. These were mainly home to the increasing number of university buildings in this part of the city. They were in the Adelphi quarter, and as he manoeuvred right, into a narrow side street, he slowed to a crawl. He could see Grady’s rented address about 50 metres ahead on the right. There was a short garden front to the property, which had a red painted front door. He was about to pull up, but changed his mind. ‘I reckon we can risk one drive past without being obvious. I’ll park at the other end of the street near the bottom, if you can glimpse the property, Harry. It’ll look less suspicious than if I — the driver — look.’

  A minute later, Vinnie pulled over at the kerbside and turned to face Harry.

  ‘Downstairs curtains open, upstairs ones closed, no sign of life,’ Harry said. Closely followed by, ‘Vinnie, look!’

  Vinnie looked ahead and saw what Harry had. The back of someone resembling Grady, just turning the corner at the bottom of the road. ‘Sneaky bugger,’ Vinnie said, as he put the CID car into gear. Within seconds they were at the T-junction at the end of Grady’s street, and Vinnie pulled up and looked right. A hundred metres up ahead he could see the woman whom he took to be Grady, getting into the passenger seat of a waiting blue car. She was less clear from this distance, but it could only be her… Then the blue car set off.

  ‘Grady?’ Vinnie asked.

  ‘As sure as I can be, from behind.’

  Vinnie didn’t answer but set off after the blue car. Not in a pursuit, but following at a discreet distance. Harry was on the radio and told the ARV to follow, but from far behind and to remain out of their view. If they couldn’t see the ARV then Babik wouldn’t be able to, either. It would only take seconds for the armed car to join them when they needed it.

  ‘Decision time?’ Vinnie said.

  ‘We only have the word of a corrupt undercover officer that Babik will release Amal unharmed once her husband is sentenced,’ Harry said.

  ‘True.’

  ‘But if we strike too soon, he may not tell us where she is,’ Harry said.

  ‘Also true, but Grady will have to; irrespective of her corrupt relationship she’s not going to leave the woman to fate, surely?’

  ‘Agreed. And Babik is a murderer, wanted for two murders at least,’ Harry added.

  ‘Then we strike. And we do so while we are on this long straight road, before they turn off.’

  ‘Agreed,’ Harry said, and then reached for his radio.

  Vinnie maintained a discreet distance of about 20 metres at a constant speed of just under 30. There appeared just to be the driver and passenger in the blue car, and the driver’s behaviour suggested that he was oblivious to their presence; no looking behind or overuse of the vehicle’s mirrors. Traffic was light in the opposite direction, and there were no vehicles in front of the blue car or immediately behind theirs. No pedestrians
, either. Conditions were as good as they were likely to get.

  Seconds later, the liveried police ARV, in the form of a large SUV, flew past Vinnie and Harry with its blue lights flashing but no sirens.

  The force incident manager had taken control over the airwaves and had authorised a covert armed approach by the ARV’s crew. Vinnie knew that this meant the ARV would conduct an apparently routine stop, such as a traffic stop, but that both officers would be armed with their firearms hidden. They would react to whatever they saw, and could pull out their weapons and conduct an armed challenge within seconds if needed.

  Vinnie had no intel nor reason to suspect that Babik would be carrying a weapon at this time, which justified the lower-key approach. But if he was, he would be in for a surprise. Vinnie just wanted to see the man in handcuffs.

  Seconds later, the ARV was behind the blue car and blipped its air horns. Vinnie could see the blue car’s brake lights come on. The car came to a halt with the ARV behind it and Vinnie pulled his CID car in behind the ARV.

  The two armed officers were quickly out with one going to each side. Vinnie could see that each officer had one hand under his high viz jacket, by his hip.

  The male driver was out and had his hands on top of the car’s roof. The female passenger, a moment later, assumed the same position from the other side of the car. Each was searched, and Vinnie heard each officer shout ‘clear’ as he and Harry approached.

  Vinnie rounded the large SUV, which had partially obstructed their view, closely followed by Harry. They reached the rear of the blue car and Vinnie found himself staring into the faces of the driver, and then the passenger; neither of whom were Babik or Grady.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Babik picked Susan up near the T-junction and turned right into Adelphi Street, but two minutes later saw blue lights up ahead and put his right-hand side indicator on and turned off. It looked like a normal traffic pull, but there was no point in taking chances, even in a clean car.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Susan asked.

  ‘Away for a day or two, until the heat drops and Sadiq gets sentenced.’