“Sit down!!! I’m watching you!!!” He said sternly as he went to pick up a telephone that was connected on the other wall. Not keeping his eyes off his captive he picked up the receiver in preparation to dial through to others, as Jack looked on. He needed to do something before such a phone call was made, or he could alert others. With one hand busy dialling a number on the keypad, and the other raising, shotgun in hand, West had almost run out of time as the guard just noticed something small and black stood out on the floor,
“What’s that?” He asked as he stopped dialling. The gun still pointed at Jack, he dropped the receiver to bend down and examine what it was. Looking down himself, Jack instantly recognised the object as his earpiece, it must have come out when the guard bundled him on the table, but he dare not move, he was still staring into the blackness of a twin gun barrel. The guard bent quickly bent down just at the crucial moment; the glass shattered as a large chunk of plaster flew out of the far wall near the telephone. It was a split second action, but it was clear it was a sniper bullet, a bullet that had just missed its intended target,
“Shit!!! Control, target missed.” Said the sniper who had just taken the shot, a victim of cruel mistiming. That did not matter inside the building; the guard reacted by ducking to avoid the line of fire as he looked up to the window to see the bullet hole of shattered glass in the window pane. What he did not see instantly was West taking his chance. Getting out of his chair he lunged for the guard with the intent if disarming him. Immediately he backed up to give himself some space as both they faced off before the guard finally attacked. Swinging his shotgun violently like a club straight at Jack’s head, it caused him to duck for his life as the wooden shoulder butt smashed into the plaster wall with a sickening thud. Using the opportunity of the exposed body, West hit back full force with his fists into the stomach of the guard forcing him back and then again, a full punch to the face. Stunned but not out, the guard throws himself at West, pinning him against the wall. Furniture, bumped into and thrown during the struggle continues to be disturbed as both men fight for control turning the area into a wreck. Using the sawn off, the guard slams it against the throat of Jack in a serious attempt to strangulate him, the whole scene visible but only just through the scope of the snipers,
“Control, your man appears to be fighting with the guard.”
“Can you shoot him?” Asked Harvey,
“Negative, too risky, the bullet may pass through the guard’s body and into the other. We may have two dead men instead of one.”
West, now totally paralysed gasped for each painful breath as the barrel of the gun pressed against his throat, compressing it to a point where he was about to lose consciousness. He had to do something, he kicked out, his heavy duty boots contacting directly into the shin bond of the left leg of the guard. It was enough, in releasing the gun sufficiently in the grip of sharp pain just as West grabbed the phone receiver and swung it at his head. Blowing at full force, the hard plastic smashed against the skull of his attacker causing him to drop to the floor, knocked out. Pausing briefly to catch his breath, the moved fast while he had the upper hand. Taking off the guard’s jacket, he searched the pockets to swiftly retrieve his Walther complete with silencer. Knotting it up, he quickly improvised an impromptu restraint, as he proceeded to use it to tie us the arms of the guard behind his back severely impairing his movements. Picking up his earpiece he refitted it to re-establish contact with his support,
“Alpha 1 to control, reporting, over.”
Relieved Harvey speaks, “Alpha 1 report on your situation.”
“I’m fine, had a bit of trouble, but I’m OK. Proceeding as planned, over” He said as he dragged the body into the dog kennels. Once done so he pulled out his Walther and refitted the silencer on it,
“Now that you know of my presence, I cannot let you go.” He said as he moved back out again. In the corner was a small sink with some paper towels beside it; grabbing a few he quickly rang them under the tap, drenching them in cold water,
“You see I cannot run the risk of you blowing the operation. I need to work uninterrupted.” He said as he approached the semi-conscious guard, stuffing the towels into his mouth,
“Who I work for are not petty criminals. We do not steal unless we need to.” He stood up and pointed his weapon at the guard’s leg. Firing it, the guard flinched in searing pain as the fleshy part of his leg trickled blood from the small wound. Looking his attacker straight in the eye after he had done the deed, he sought to reassure in a rather cynical way,
“You should be lucky. I have authorisation to kill. You may very well be dead.”
The guard, now fully awake, eyes bloodshot and moist with in intense pain understood what he was being told. Unable to move and not daring to either, he lay in the caged kennel, now locked as West walked out. Kicking the dropped sawn off under the table, Jack made for the door without looking back. He had an assignment to complete.
Chapter 23:
Opening the door, West crept out of the dog kennels, making his way toward the main compound,
“Alpha 1, conform your status, are you alright?” Asked Harvey,
“Control, Yes I’m fine. Nothing more here, I’m making my way to join Alpha 2”
“Agreed Alpha 1. Proceed.”
He made his way to the nearest fence which luckily was not too far away. There seemed to be no other guards around, but Jack was taking absolutely no chances. Climbing over the fence into the main docklands compound he paused once more, this time crouched ready to get his bearings. However this pausing was short lived, quietly he heard a noise, a rustling that sounded very close chilled him, sending him into a panic freeze. Jack listened intently, the sounds were not loud at all, but defiantly there, and getting closer. Only the thumping of his heartbeat echoing, pulsating his eardrums got louder and louder, drowning out even the sounds of the breeze of the night air. He turned his gun, ready this time for anything that might approach, and it did; a figure, out of the shadows,
“Jack?” Whispered a familiar voice,
“John.” Replied West in a relieved tone,
“You OK?”
“I’m fine.” West reassured his partner, “What did you find?”
“The warehouse over there, it’s a poison factory, definitely the real thing. What they are doing is mixing all the ingredients that we discovered to manufacture the poison.”
“Is everything there?” Asked West,
“Everything, the Scopolamine, Arsine, Chlorine, even the quantities of arsenic shipped in from China. Jack that’s the hub of this whole operation.”
“And I presume they have the facilities for mixing the whole lot.”
“Yes.” Said Hudson, “They must have converted it somehow, at some point in the past; right under everyone’s noses. They are producing quantities of the stuff on an almost industrial scale.”
“And those carts, the same as the ones in Lewisham…” Jack finished off much to John’s surprise,
“You knew about that?”
“I heard it over the radio, when you reported.”
Everything was now falling into place, the poisons, the shipment from China found in Bellmarsh Prison, and the tar laying carts,
“So the poisons mixed here are then loaded onto those carts ready for distribution. I’m guessing the places chosen would be rather strategic to maximise the effect.”
“And they have vans round the back to deploy them as soon as possible.” Added John,
“Naturally.” Replied Jack, “Sabotaging those vehicles is an option, but that could warn them too early.”
“And there’s something else too.”
“What?”
John had been anxious to tell his partner, but he had to know, “Remember our three Russian friends back in Colchester?”
“The Chechyens…yes I remember.”
“Well they’re here.” John revealed. Jack looked surprised but was not stunned,
“Here, at the docks
? So they were released?”
“Yes, probably engineered by Waterson somehow in case they were caught at some stage before he met us back in Colchester.”
With the Russians now in the equation, it was clear what they needed to do,
“They need to be taken care of John.”
“I agree. What about the poison factory though? Clearly that should be the priority.”
“What do you propose?” Asked Jack,
“That much poison cannot be seized straight away, for all we know they may have more stockpiled somewhere else…no, that needs to be destroyed. An explosion might do it.”
“An explosion it is.” Replied Jack as Harvey as the team from Thames House listened in. The destruction option seemed attractive to those back at headquarters, although they were not sure if it was the prudent way forward,
“Is that the only option?” Asked Harvey concerned, as he turned toward Clive, who was pensive,
“It depends. A mixture of the concentration that we are talking about for an operation this size would require a pretty big explosion. The explosive yield would need to vaporize any trace of the poison that is released before it can disperse into the atmosphere. It’s hard to say precisely without knowing just how much is on site. I have to admit its high risk.”
The warning was dire to Harvey, and he was right, it was a high risk strategy, but where would the explosion come from? And would such a one be powerful enough to destroy the stockpile once the assault started,
“Who’s to say they won’t release it anyway once they know they are under attack.” Harvey said grimly.
In the compound, both Jack and John, fully aware of the situation around them were thinking the exact same thing,
“If we were to take the whole operation down by an explosion, it would have to be something pretty spectacular.” Said Jack,
“Well let’s try and search for some explosives. I haven’t seen any yet.” Replied John,
Jack thought for a second, before hitting a quite obvious snag, “But to destroy that we’d need a powerful device.”
“Then we’ll just have to hope there is something somewhere.”
Moving forward, both frantically tried to determine where any potential explosives could be found. Jack had searched most of the outbuildings in the compound, but not all of them,
“I found a weapons cache over there, but I have not found any explosives devices. Then again I have not searched every building, so we might be in luck.” Noted Jack. They searched, now with added stress knowing the clock was definitely ticking. Surely there was not much time left before the deployment would begin,
“Alpha 1 and 2, report.” Their earpiece radios cackled; the airwaves filled with Harvey’s voice.
“Control, we are searching for an explosive device to take out the stockpile of poison. It looks like the only way to neutralise this operation.” Replied Jack,
“Agreed, but the problem is it has to be enough to completely vaporise the mixture. If only a small amount gets into the atmosphere…”
“I understand.” Said Jack cutting him off, “What about collateral damage?”
“We’ll deal with that later. Right now the priority is to cease the production of that concoction now.”
The instructions from Thames House were very clear, and the plan of action seemed like a go-ahead when suddenly there was an urgent call,
“Sir there’s a signal.” Said a junior officer while excitedly bursting into the room. Harvey approached him, “What kind of signal?”
“We’ve been monitoring communications traffic, text messages, phone calls, email taps-‘
“Yes, I’m aware. What have you got?”
The junior was definitely exited, “There are definitive communications coming, from the area, not within the docks themselves but just outside.”
“Can you determine the location?”
“We’ve pinpointed it to a tower block development next to the docklands.”
One of the other operatives at one of the computers who had been listening in had managed to pinpoint the source, “Got it, a tower block still under construction called River View, things seem to be happening from there.”
Now Harvey, faced with a choice, had to instruct accordingly. Turning to Aazim he tried to get the facts,
“Aazim, is there any indication that there’s increased activity at the poison factory site?”
“No, none, just what we have picked up already.” He replied.
Harvey, pausing for just a split second, his mind constantly thinking about the bigger picture, then turned to the radio to issue his orders to his men on the ground,
“Alphas 1 and 2, look around, you should see a construction site close to the docks.”
Both Jack and John searched frantically, if not slightly confused, around for a development, spotting one back further down the river, only a few hundred yards away,
“There, look.” Said John as they saw a series of half completed structures,
“Control, there’s a few buildings.” Said Jack into his earpiece,
“Can you see a tower?” Radioed Harvey,
“Yes.”
“There’s intense communication traffic coming from that tower. It’s called River View, get over there and investigate. It may be possible that Bruenstein and Grey are there; if so, you have permission to neutralise both of them, by any means.”
“But what about the poison? Surely that must be the priority!” Asked John, Harvey answered in typical strategic fashion,
“Bu if we assault the poison factory first, then both targets may get away once alerted. If we know where they are, the special forces can close them down.”
“Understood.” Replied John.
It made sense as both men made their way down the river bank as stealthily as possible toward the development, guided all the way by the team in Thames House who were working frantically behind the scenes as an integral part of the mass coordinated operation,
“Sir,” Said one of the operatives to Harvey, “I’ve managed to hack into River View’s communication mainframe.”
“It has a computer mainframe installed?”
“Yes.”
“But the thing is only half built.”
The operative continued to explain, “Something must have been installed previously. I’ve managed to perform the hack via a Wi-Fi network. I’m attempting to gain access to the computer files.” His fingers rapidly working the keyboard bringing up files across his screen. It prompted Harvey to act,
“Alphas 1 and 2, standby.”
Both Jack and John paused still some yards away from the tower. By now they were on the building site, apart from the dirty and dusty ground, the whole development was a maze of steel girders, concrete columns and metallic building frames, surrounding the two men. Impatience set in very quickly in these tense times, so much so that Jack was eager to get started one way or the other. Waiting ion a pause from headquarters was never his strong point, he always preferred to act on impulse. He decided on a course of action,
“Listen, I’m going back to the docks.” Said Jack,
“What about this tower?” Asked John,
“Time is of the essence. Thames House should know what they’re doing but I’m not waiting around while they play at computer nerds. OK yes our targets may or may not be in that tower, but the poison phase of the operation needs to be checked. And if those things are distributed in the meantime-‘
“I know, I know.” Said John, “OK, so we turn back, but if this goes wrong I want it on the record that this was your decision not mine.”
“Fine.”
Moving silently back through the compound, quietly dodging guards as they went, cautiously avoiding confrontation if they could help it. Looking for a potential stash of explosives was not easy as they moved from building to building,
“This is useless.” Said Jack,
“Wait, get down!!!!” Said John pulling both them both down into the shad
ows close to a small cabin. It seemed occupied but the warning came suddenly,
“Do you hear that?” Said John,
“What?”
“Voices.”
Jack listened in; indeed he could hear voices, three of them,
“Hang on, they don’t sound English.” He noted,
“No, they sound Russian.” Said John.
From the darkness they could see three men approach, speaking in their native tongue, clearly it was the three Russians originally encountered in Colchester. Here they were, free and actively part of this whole operation, observed all the way as they entered into a nearby parked trailer,
“Come on, let go.” Said Jack was they sneaked past, being doubly careful not to make noises. To the guards here, they were ordinary intruders, but they had dealt with the Russians before, it they knew they were on site it may very well blow the entire operation.
Getting about 30 yards past, their earpieces cackled into life once more,
“Alphas 1 and 2, the police say they have a positive ID on someone entering the tower block, definitely into River View.” Said Harvey,
“Do we know who it is?” Asked Jack,
“Checking…It’s the Health Secretary!”
Both West and Hudson looked at each other in astonishment. Another piece of the puzzle had just been revealed,
“So he’s here.” Said Jack,
“He must be in on this.” Replied John, “Think about it, who and how someone else could get a hold of one of the ingredients used in this poison plot.”
An idea flashed into West’s mind, “The scopolamine! Remember back in the lab a while ago, when we first came across it? From the Datura Plant! You said it was a medical drug, used to treat motion sickness!”
“Yes, and that it also a deliriant! A vital part of the concoction!”
“And who else would be in a powerful and perfect enough position to procure and deliver such quantities without arousing too much suspicion?” Asked West, already knowing the answer,
“The Health Secretary.” Said West, “Corruption, power and greed would be the personal motivation.”
“And he’s here to watch the fireworks.”
Three Faces of West (2013) Page 27
