Missing

by Charlie Gallagher

  Jess was still laughing, ‘I know what you mean. So, yeah.’

  ‘So, we get nearly to the top and then suddenly we stop and there’s an announcement over the speakers that someone wants to ask a special question.’

  ‘Oh wow! He really did the business, didn’t he?’

  ‘Well, yes and no.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The next pod along. Some fella had obviously booked out the whole thing. I suddenly see everyone was gawping over at the pod at the very top, and it was just this couple and another fella who was dressed like a fancy waiter. He had some champagne and he poured it into two glasses while the bloke was down on one knee. It was all very lovely.’

  ‘Oh. So that wasn’t Dean’s plan.’

  Alice started laughing and took a few moments to compose herself again. ‘Well, yeah it was, but he didn’t know you could do the book out the whole pod thing. At least that’s what he said. Anyway, I said how lovely it was and when I turned to speak to him he was down on one knee too. He said that they had kind of stolen his thunder a little bit, but he wanted to ask a very similar question.’

  ‘Oh no! Oh poor Dean! So he had the top of the London Eye all planned out and then you watch a better version of it just as he’s about to do it!’

  ‘Yeah! And he was well nervous!” Both girls laughed hard.

  ‘Great recovery though!’ Jess managed. Her laughter fell away a little and she gripped the ring while it was still on Alice’s finger. ‘And this is beautiful.’

  ‘Isn’t it. I couldn’t have chosen a better one and he didn’t ask me at all. I really didn’t have any idea.’

  ‘Must be a goodun, see? Well, after all that, you still said yes.’

  ‘Exactly. So he got his happy ending.’

  ‘Well, I guess a happy ending is the least you could give him after he’d spent all of that money!’ Jess laughed so hard she had to cover her mouth.

  ‘You dirty bitch!’

  ‘Well, you did though didn’t you?’

  ‘It was a special occasion! Anyway, never mind me . . . When is your man going to pop the question? Your turn next. Maybe we could do a joint hen!’

  ‘Ah, well you see this is the benefit of maturity. We’ve only been together nine months and, while I appreciate that is a lifetime for you teenagers, with age comes a bit of a measured approach.’

  ‘Fuck measured. And I’m twenty now — me and Dean both are. We’re not kids anymore.’

  ‘You’re certainly old enough to make your own decisions. I hope it works out perfectly for you, Alice. I’m sure it will.’

  ‘You’re sure, maybe. We spoke to my parents last night. My mum said something similar, except she said we were old enough to make our own mistakes.’

  ‘Well, that’s true too. It’s natural for parents to be cautious.’

  ‘Well, she doesn’t have to worry about me. I think she sees all the world’s men as being like Jake.’

  ‘Is he still giving your sister issues?’

  ‘He gives her hell more like. I’ve given up trying to see her now. I’ve started going to the supermarket near her a lot, just to try and bump into her. It’s the only place he lets her go alone.’

  ‘Has it worked?’

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘It’s all down to him that you don’t see each other is it? I remember you said she was upset with you after your talk.’

  ‘Ah yeah. We never really sorted that. The Becks I once knew, you could sit down with. Tell her that her new boyfriend was a shitbag who tried to get in her sister’s pants and she would listen. Then she’d get angry, but she would be angry at him. She would know that I wouldn’t just make shit up like that. She’d know that I was telling the truth, no question, and by the end we’d probably be plotting his slow death together. And having a right laugh doing it.’

  Jess nodded. ‘Blokes can change a girl. I’ve seen it happen.’

  ‘I never thought anyone would change Becks though. I don’t recognise her anymore. I can’t see how she got mixed up with someone like Jake.’

  ‘You really don’t like him do you?’

  ‘No. But it seems the world does. He’s got his claws in my beautiful sister. He flashes his money about. A nice car. He thinks he’s a footballer or a pop star or something.’

  ‘What does he do for money?’

  ‘Who knows? Not much from what I’ve seen. He’s got contacts though. He got me here — I owe him for that. And he makes sure he tells me enough.’

  ‘He got you an intel admin role with customs and excise! It’s not like he got you a part in Holby City! This is the booby prize surely?’

  ‘Hey! Don’t go mugging off my lack of importance or I’ll tell him that what I really want is my boss’s job!’

  ‘Do it,’ Jess smiled. ‘I’m bored of it anyway. Speaking of which I’d better go do it. At least show some willing.’

  They walked through to where the building opened up into a large office space. The early shift had now vacated completely with the exception of Jess’s opposite number, who was waiting to give a handover before he could leave his station. Sunday afternoon was an anomaly in the shift pattern as there was no overlap, just the late team taking over from the early. Her early turn counterpart stood ready to greet her just as her pocket buzzed. She recognised Shaun’s ring tone.

  ‘Shit! Anything I need to know?’ She still held the ringing phone.

  ‘Nah, standard Sunday.’

  ‘You get off then, I don’t need you. No offence,’ she grinned.

  ‘None taken!’

  Jess waved cheerily as she answered her phone. ‘Sorry, Shaun, just starting here. You okay?’ He never called her when she was at work.

  ‘I got called in. A negotiator job.’

  ‘Oh right. Nothing serious I hope.’ Jess felt ruffled; his tone was straight-to-business.

  ‘Nah. One of those that should resolve itself. I’m not calling about this job, Jess. I’ve got wind of some intelligence that’s linked to the port.’

  ‘Oh really? So what do you know?’

  ‘I know what you’re like, Jess . . . please don’t go off half-cocked.’

  ‘Stop being a dick, Shaun.’ Jess chuckled. ‘What’s going on.’ She had made her way across the floor to a side room. She pushed the door shut behind her with her elbow.

  ‘I’m not being a dick. I know what you’re like for a job, Jess, and I know you’re going to want all the answers. I don’t have much detail. There is a ferry due to dock at three forty-five this afternoon. There is a lorry on there and I need you to make sure that it gets through without being stopped. I’m sure it would anyway — there shouldn’t be anything conspicuous or unusual about it — but I need you to be sure.’

  ‘Why would I do that?’ This was starting to irritate her. ‘You know we’ve had this before with police operations. Your lot calling through and talking to me like you’re in charge of my port. Well, you’re not. We have total jurisdiction down here and we stop what we want.’

  ‘I know that, Jess. Jesus . . . I know that. I wouldn’t even make this call unless it was critically important. This isn’t pre-planned. This isn’t us leaving you out of the loop and throwing our weight around. This is my reaction to live intelligence. There aren’t the resources to assist you with the stop down there and, trust me, if you try and stop this vehicle you’ll need a lot more people.’

  ‘Why? What do you know?’

  ‘I can’t go into it, Jess. You know I’d—’

  ‘There you are, just like the rest. We’re not important enough to know what the police are planning. Tell me what you know or you get no promises from me.’

  ‘I shouldn’t even be calling you at all. This isn’t about a police operation — I don’t give a shit about that — this is about you not putting yourself or your people at risk. We don’t know enough. You need to let them run so we can have a little bit of time to do something further up the line. And I promise I will tell you everything I
know when I can.’

  ‘The best way for me to keep my people safe is for me to be aware of everything you are.’

  ‘Look, Jess, take the details of the lorry. Check that they’re not on any list to be stopped and I’ll try and find out some more information for you. You know about as much as I know and we don’t have time to be discussing it. Do you want these details or not?’

  ‘Fine. Give me the details. But I’ll be running my own checks down here. I don’t like not knowing.’

  ‘Nor do I, Jess. Do what you can on the quiet. Just make sure that vehicle gets through.’

  ‘Look, I got to go. Text the details through.’ Jess didn’t give Shaun the opportunity to reply before she pressed to end the call. She opened the door and peered out onto the floor. She had four customs officers, six immigration officers and Alice, her civilian intelligence officer. Hardly a SWAT team, but she wasn’t one to walk away from anything.

  Chapter 5

  Alice was smiling at something on her smartphone as Jess approached her desk.

  ‘Alice? Have you reviewed the manifest for the 15.45?’

  Alice jumped at Jess’s urgent tone. ‘I had a look. It was reviewed by early turn and there was nothing highlighted.’

  ‘Is there a stop list?’

  ‘There’s always a stop list, Jess. If your question was is there anything interesting on the stop list? I would be able to give you a very definite no. What are you after?’

  ‘Can you send it to me please?’

  ‘What do you want that for?’

  ‘Can you just send it please, Alice!’ Jess snapped, and then took a breath. ‘Sorry, Alice. I just want to run my eyes over it is all.’

  The document was attached to an email by the time she got back to her own desk. The HGV quota wasn’t full: the Spirit of Britain could hold 180 full-size lorries before the health and safety people got twitchy. On this Sunday afternoon in late March, they were running with just under ninety. Ten lorries were marked with a stop. These were auto-generated using a computer algorithm, but they would sometimes have manual marks against them if there was specific intelligence. The algorithm usually picked out a sample of around 10% of the vehicles and the team were expected to stop and report on each of these. Jess also knew that they could pick different ones if they wanted to; sometimes her officers would stop something based on the driving style or a reaction to their uniform. She ran her eyes down the list. She could see that someone had manually marked one lorry for a run through the X-Ray machine, but none for a full stop and search.

  Jess’s phone beeped to announce an incoming text. It was from Shaun, and it carried the details of the lorry that needed to roll through.

  ‘Tomatoes,’ she said out loud. Well, it wasn’t going to be carrying tomatoes. She went back to her list. The details from Shaun were for a Spanish registered lorry, it was the same vehicle that had been marked up for a run through the X-Ray. She made her way back over to Alice’s desk.

  ‘Hey, Alice.’

  ‘Everything okay?’ Alice looked up from her monitor.

  ‘Yeah, of course. Did you mark a Spanish registered lorry up to be ran through the X-Ray or was it the early turn? It’s the only one with a manual mark. I was just wondering if there is any specific intel?’

  Alice shrugged. ‘That was me yeah. I had a quick look. Tomatoes, right? No specific intel — I keep an eye on the stats and patterns. That company always come through in a convoy, never less than four lorries. It just stood out being on its own. Pretty thin I know, but I gotta justify my existence somehow!’ Alice chuckled,

  Jess smiled back. ‘Understood. I don’t think it warrants it. We’re just generating work. I’m not saying you’re wrong, Alice, but it’s a Sunday afternoon, you know. Let’s not over stretch.’

  Alice still smiled. ‘Sure thing, boss. They’ve printed the list though. There’s no point taking it off. I’ll go out and tell them.’

  Jess checked her watch. It was 15:35. She took in the office and saw that most of her staff had already slipped on their hi-vis jackets and headed out to their stations. They would have the printed list with them.

  ‘Don’t worry. I fancy the fresh air anyway.’ Jess pushed her way out of the door and startled two uniformed police officers on their way in.

  PC Alan Hayward and PC Matt Eaves both fixed wide grins and held their ground. They wore the navy-blue uniform of firearms patrols and were regulars at the office. A spotless police SUV dripped water from its panels onto the double yellow lines directly outside of the office block.

  ‘Ah! The lovely Jess!’ Alan said. ‘How are you this fine evening?’

  ‘Suspicious,’ Jess replied immediately.

  ‘Good to hear. Everyone should be more suspicious in my opinion. The ABC of policing . . . Assume nothing, believe no one, check everything.’

  ‘So I shouldn’t assume your visit coincides with the phone call I just took two minutes ago then?’

  The men exchanged looks. Jess couldn’t tell if it was surprise, perplexity or the fear of being caught out.

  ‘Our visit, Jess, is nothing more than a quick go on your jet-wash and in the hope of a lovely cup of sunshine,’ Matt said. ‘And with even lovelier company!’

  Jess still eye-balled them. Dropping in for a cup of tea was not at all unusual. This was a natural tea stop for firearms patrols who gathered in the middle of the county and were then sent to each compass point to ensure coverage. The southern patrol would sometimes base itself at the port for an entire shift. But their timing today seemed too much of a coincidence.

  ‘Well, you’ll have to wait for your tea if you want your tomato lorry to get through my port. Don’t ask me to be happy about it though. I guess I could do without the bother on a Sunday afternoon.’

  There was an awkward pause. Alan stepped forward to puncture it. ‘The people of the UK are in your debt, Jess. We are a nation of tomato lovers after all!’

  ‘Yeah. So you don’t have to be here to check on me.’

  ‘Deal! Can we be here to drink your tea though?’

  ‘After I watch it through. And if you give me an inkling as to what this is all about then I might just think about it.’

  Matt’s smile dropped away as his attention was caught by his radio. He spoke into it. ‘Foxtrot One, go ahead.’

  Jess held her ground, stood still with her arms crossed.

  ‘Received that, we’ll make a start towards that location.’ Matt let go of the radio on his chest. ‘Sorry, Jess. Seems like the tea’s going to have to wait. We’ll try and drop back in later in the shift. Duty calls!’

  Jess huffed as she pulled the door closed behind her and stepped into the dull roar of one of Europe’s busiest ports. Her team were already in position. The ferry was finishing its docking procedure. Soon the huge doors would drop to form a bridge over the water for the steady exit of cars and lorries. She made her way towards the front two officers who would be directing the traffic.

  * * *

  Alan waited until Matt pulled the door shut on their police SUV before he spoke. ‘What was all that about? The tomato thing?’

  ‘I know! No idea, mate, it must be them intel boys holding back the juicy stuff again.’

  ‘This shout’s probably a load of nothing. I’ve a good mind to sit up and give one of the lorries a tug. Routine traffic stop.’

  ‘That’s because you don’t care who you piss off!’

  Alan guided the SUV onto the one-way system that led from the port. He pushed the screen on the phone suckered to the windscreen in front of him. ‘I’ll at least give Rachel the heads up. I don’t think she’s being pulled away for this job and she’s in the unmarked. She might be able to keep tabs on the lorry and we can get involved a bit later.’

  Matt shook his head. ‘We don’t even know what lorry she’s talking about!’

  ‘Tomatoes. You can spot them a mile off, right?’

  Both men shared a chuckle.

  Chapter 6

 
; ‘That was risky, Sarge.’ Bobby looked genuinely worried.

  ‘What else was I supposed to tell her? I can’t tell her the truth.’

  ‘You’ve stoked her interest. We need to hope that she doesn’t go too far in her investigations.’

  Shaun shrugged. ‘She isn’t the sort of woman you can tell what to do. Not without a damned good reason why.’

  Bobby checked his watch. ‘I guess in ten minutes or so we will find out just what sort of a woman she is.’

  ‘So this happens, the lorries get away from the port, and what? My kid just gets released?’

  ‘Your kid, your ex. Like I said, these people don’t want no mess around them and snatching kids — that’s some messy shit right there.’

  ‘It’s a lot of risk just to be sure some lorry doesn’t get stopped. What’s on that lorry?’

  Bobby swigged back at his flask. His eyes were glazing over, his pupils losing their focus a little. Shaun could tell the liquid was starting to have some effect. Then Bobby shrugged. ‘Tomatoes.’

  ‘It’s not going to be something wholesome, now is it? Someone went to a lot of trouble to get it through and you expect me to believe that you’re just going to release your only assets as soon as they are in the country? What’s to stop me going after that lorry the second they hit the road network?’

  ‘Common sense, Sarge. Think about it, man . . . Do you really need all this shit? It’s no skin off your nose, is it? So some bad man gets a lorry into the country carrying some contraband. He might get richer on it or whatever, but it happens every day, right? I see it in the news. You hear about a load of coke washing up on the coast down at Dungeness, right? And you people talk about how it’s a big hit against the criminals. But that isn’t the first time they’ve tried it now is it, Sarge? You and me both know they’ve landed a hundred loads before they fuck up and lose one. Pocket change. They might even give you one every now and then just to keep you sweet or to get you patrolling the wrong area.’