A Real Job

by David Lowe

  Alec Harvey stood up from the bench and slowly walked over to the door. Bending down slightly, he looked through the hatch at the custody officer and with a resigned tone in his voice said, ‘There’s no need to call me sir any longer and I understand what that means. Thanks for passing the message on. I’m grateful.’

  ‘Is there anything I can get you? A cup of tea?’

  ‘No thanks sergeant. I’ll get some sleep. Hopefully you won’t be too busy and if I get any neighbours tonight, I hope they’ll be quiet so I can get some rest.’

  ‘I’ll see you later on the next hourly visit. If you change your mind and you want a drink, use the buzzer.’

  ‘Thank you sergeant,’ Alec said with a wry smile. Flinching at the heavy clunking sound of the hatch being put back in position, it reinforced in his mind this was the life he was to expect in the next few years. He listened as the custody officer left the cell area. Slowly, but steadily, the custody officer’s footsteps faded away followed by the slamming of the cell passageway gate shutting. Alec Harvey heard the clanging of the heavy keys as the custody officer locked the cell passageway gate. Being the only detainee, it added to the eerie silence that befell the cell area. The message the custody officer passed on to him confirmed his fears. Even though Edge flatly declined the offer he suggested, he knew George would make a call to the CPS without Edge’s knowledge. He hoped the CPS would allow him to do that one last thing as a police officer before it would all be over. Knowing stealing from the public purse would result in a lengthy prison sentence, he trudged back to the bench in his cell and sat down, reflecting on what would happen to him.

  Up to his arrest he commanded a degree of respect from officers of all ranks in a number of forces. He knew he could not defend his case and would have to plead guilty. Running through his mind was the fact he would need protecting from other prisoners He knew that meant the prison authorities keeping him on rule forty-three and that meant sharing a wing with the likes of sex-offenders. That was bad enough, but the thought of other prisoners finding out he was an ex-police officer frightened him. He knew other inmates would enjoy taking some form of retribution out against an ex-police officer, especially a high ranking one. The thought of having to spend years in the company of paedophiles and other forms of the lowest of the low in prison society while on rule forty-three began to fill him with dread. Thinking of his future life in prison, he stood up and took off his trousers. He walked over to the cell door and tied a noose with one of the trouser legs, attaching it to the hatch of his cell door. Placing the noose around his neck, he slid down onto the floor. As he did so, the noose tightened around his neck. As he started to gasp for breath, he felt a pain as the pressure of the noose forced his adam’s apple back into his throat. He tried not to panic. He wanted to be as dignified as he could, right to the end. It began to go dark and all he could see were speckled bright white lights. He could still hear sounds but it was as though his head was in water. Suddenly there was no pain, only serenity as his body went limp and lifeless.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Diamonds night club,

  Albert Dock, Liverpool,

  00.40 hours, Sunday, 7th July

  Sitting with Siobhan, Mary and a few of Siobhan’s friends, Debbie was surrounded by empty and half full glasses on the table as she looked around the night club David’s sister had decided to go to celebrate her birthday. The bright flashing lights reflecting on the chrome work decorating the club along with the continual pounding of the bass line of the dance music was giving her a headache. As she was not drinking, it seemed to affect Debbie all the more. Because of what happened to David the weekend before Debbie wanted to stay alert. As a result, she only had the one glass of wine earlier when they went for a meal at Siobhan’s favourite restaurant, an Argentinean steakhouse in the business centre of Liverpool. Although she dearly wanted to join Siobhan and her friends in drinking more wine, Debbie stayed on soft drinks telling Siobhan and her friends she needed to have a clear head due to her having to be back at work early in the morning. ‘What’s this place called again?’ Debbie asked in a raised voice to Siobhan so she could be heard over the loud music.

  ‘Diamonds, nice isn’t it,’ Siobhan said slurring her words. She took a slurp of her drink and said, ‘Lots of footballers and local celeb’s come here. It’s a bit pricey, but it keeps the dickheads out. Are you having a good time?’

  Seeing Siobhan drunk, Debbie smiled as it was clear Siobhan was making the most of her birthday celebrations. ‘It’s been great fun. More importantly are you enjoying your birthday?’

  ‘I always enjoy myself on a night out,’ Siobhan said finishing her drink, slamming the empty glass hard, her drunken state affecting her hand and eye co-ordination.

  ‘Your Mum makes me laugh. She’s quite a mover on the dance floor. She knows how to have a good time.’

  ‘That’s the way it should be. If you work hard, you should play hard,’ Siobhan said looking at the table examining the glasses on the table. Getting up suddenly, Siobhan swayed a little and shouted, ‘It’s my shout. Same again everyone?’

  ‘Yes please,’ Debbie said.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want anything stronger?’ Siobhan asked.

  ‘No thanks, I really do need to have a clear head as I have a lot to do at work tomorrow,’ Debbie said.

  Seeing that Mary had not heard her, to catch the attention of her mother, Siobhan leaned into her face and shouted, ‘Mum, I said same again?’

  Mary looked at her daughter, raised her empty glass and shouted back, ‘Another port and lemon please.’

  With a slight stagger, Siobhan walked over to the bar. Mary leaned over, took hold of Debbie’s hand and shouted, ‘You’re such a lovely girl. I can see why David loves you.’

  While Mary was talking to her, Debbie wasn’t listening. Nodding intermittently as Mary spoke, she kept watching Siobhan. Standing at the bar, a man walked up to Siobhan and stood close to her. Even though the lowly lit bar area made it hard for Debbie to make out the man’s features, she noticed something familiar about him.

  ‘Are you going to be working with David tomorrow?’ Mary shouted in a drunken slur down Debbie’s ear.

  ‘Yes,’ Debbie replied abruptly, not taking her eyes off the man next to Siobhan. She turned to Mary and said, ‘I’m sorry Mary, I don’t want to appear rude. I’ll go and give Siobhan a hand with the drinks.’ Debbie picked up her handbag and as she stood up to walk to the bar, the man turned to one side to talk to Siobhan. Recognising his profile, she could see it was O’Byrne. Pausing for a moment, she looked around the club. Two tables from the right of the bar she saw what she presumed to be two Special Branch officers being confronted by McElvaney and Pickup. Quickly, she looked back at O’Byrne who, with an unlit cigarette in his hand, was now talking to Siobhan.

  Switching onto the possible danger, it looked to Debbie that McElvaney and Pickup were blocking the Special Branch officers’ view of the bar. Quickening her pace, she was a few feet from the bar when Siobhan, with her packet of cigarettes in her hand, began to leave the bar area and walk off with O’Byrne towards the club entrance. Debbie assumed O’Byrne asked Siobhan for a light, knowing they would have to go outside the club to smoke. Walking so fast she was nearly breaking out into a run, she caught up with O’Byrne in the entrance hall of the club.

  In sight of the club’s door security and other customers entering the club, she screamed at the top of her voice, ‘You fucking two timing bastard.’ Everyone in the entrance hall stopped momentarily as all eyes turned on Debbie and O’Byrne. Siobhan turned around. Seeing it was Debbie, she began wondering what was making Debbie scream at O’Byrne. ‘So you’ve fucking two timed me for this bitch,’ Debbie said pointing at Siobhan. ‘What about our baby you bastard? So this is how you treat your women. I’d leave him now love. He’s nothing but a fucking bastard.’

  Walking up
to this woman he had never seen before in his life, O’Byrne shouted back, ‘You’re a fucking crazy woman. What the fuck are you on about.’ Pointing to his right temple with his index finger, he added, ‘You’re fucking mad.’

  As O’Byrne stood face-to-face with Debbie, she brought her right heel behind O’Byrne’s right leg just below the calf muscle, while punching him in the throat with the heel of her right palm. Unable to gather his balance, the force of the blow made him reel backwards. Hitting his head hard on the marble tiled floor, he lost consciousness. Debbie knelt down by O’Byrne. Before anyone could react, she produced her MI5 identity card and said, ‘Security services, get back.’ Pointing to one of the door security men, she said, ‘You, phone the police right now.’ The commotion in the entrance hall was loud enough to be heard over the DJ’s talking in the main room of the club. Knowing O’Byrne had gone out of the club with Hurst’s sister, McElvaney and Pickup ran towards the entrance hall to see the prone O’Byrne and a woman kneeling beside him. Seeing the two men approach, Debbie reached into her handbag and took out a 0.22 automatic pistol. Pointing it at both of them, she shouted, ‘One more step and I’ll blow your fucking heads off.’

  Debbie stood up keeping her pistol pointed at the two men. ‘Stop where you are. Kneel down slowly with your hands behind your heads.’ McElvaney stood still and looked at Pickup. Before he could say anything, Debbie shouted, ‘Don’t think I won’t shoot.’ Fighting to contain her anger, Debbie was trying to keep a clear head. As she looked at McElvaney and Pickup she realised they were trying to kidnap and possibly kill David’s sister. Although not married to him, she felt Siobhan was family, her family. Ignoring her instructions the two men continued to look at each other. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ Debbie barked out to the men, ‘I’m an MI5 officer and we think nothing of killing bastards like you. Get down on your fucking knees. Now!’

  As McElvaney and Pickup slowly went down onto their knees, the two Special Branch officers ran into the entrance hall to see Debbie pointing a pistol at McElvaney and Pickup. One of them drew his pistol, pointed it at Debbie and said, ‘Armed Police. Put the gun down.’

  Not taking her eyes off McElvaney and Pickup, Debbie said, ‘And I’m an MI5 officer! Train your gun on these two bastards and I’ll show you my ID. They’re Real IRA and were about to kidnap this woman here,’ Debbie said nodding her head towards Siobhan. ‘She’s DS David Hurst’s sister. He’s in GMP’s Special Branch and received death threats from these two. The one on the left is Daniel McElvaney and the other one is Michael Pickup. Cuff them and get an ambulance for O’Byrne here. He’s the one unconscious on the floor.’

  While one of the officers trained his pistol on McElvaney and Pickup, the other walked over and checked Debbie’s identity card. As he was reading her card, she asked him, ‘Have you anyone else outside?’

  ‘We’ve got two more in a car outside by the entrance.’

  ‘Ask one of them to come in. The other can take Hurst’s sister and mother away from here. First we should find out if they’ve got anyone outside waiting for them,’ Debbie said walking over to O’Byrne and Pickup,’ Well? Have you got someone waiting for you outside?’

  The two men looked down towards the floor, not saying a word. ‘I haven’t got all fucking day,’ Debbie said. Cocking her pistol and assessing he might be the weak link out of the three, she put the end of the barrel against Pickup’s head and said, ‘I’ll ask you both again, have you got someone waiting outside. Don’t piss me off with your silence, I’d be more than fucking happy to end it for one of you here.’

  Through fear Pickup involuntary urinated in his trousers and spluttered out in a high pitched Liverpool accent, ‘No, no, there’s no one else. We were going to get her into my car that’s parked just outside and . . .’

  ‘Shut the fuck up,’ O’Byrne growled at Pickup.

  ‘It’s rude to interrupt,’ Debbie said to O’Byrne, ‘Michael, you were saying?’

  ‘We were going to use my car and find somewhere to hide her,’ Pickup said, his voice trembling through fear.

  Looking at the Special Branch officers, Debbie said, ‘Contact DC Steve Adams from GMP. He’s here in Liverpool assisting your Branch office. Tell him what happened and I’ll ring David Hurst when the family are safe.’

  ‘You know Steve?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘We’re on the same job. The DI sent us to keep an eye on these three after he got a tip off they would be doing some sort of diversionary move.’

  ‘Because of the threats, I’m looking after his family. You and your mate here get these two cuffed and I’ll go out to your two officers outside and sort out getting DS Hurst’s family away from here.’

  * * *

  Carrying a tray with four mugs of tea into the front room of his and Mary’s house, James Hurst placed it on the coffee table. Handing out the drinks to Debbie, Siobhan and Mary, he said, ‘It sounds like a lively birthday celebration.’

  Taking the mug from her father’s hand, Siobhan said, ‘You can say that again Dad. Half an hour ago I was quite pissed. After what just happened, I’m as sober as a judge.’ Looking at Debbie, she said, ‘One thing’s for certain, you’re no admin manager at a police station. After what I saw dad, no wonder our David doesn’t back chat her! You can’t work with David if you’re MI5? How did you get to know him?’ Siobhan suddenly burst into hysterical laughter that quickly turned to tears and uncontrollable sobbing.

  As James put a comforting arm around his daughter, Debbie could see the seriousness of the situation had just hit Siobhan as she said, ‘Of course, you don’t know what it is he does in the police do you?’

  ‘I do,’ James said, ‘I found that out for myself this afternoon. David told me he’s in Special Branch investigating terrorists.’

  Mary looked in horror at James as Debbie said, ‘That’s how we met. I was on that last investigation into Al Qaeda when David got injured. It wasn’t drug traffickers that caused him to get injured, it was Al Qaeda’

  On learning her son was dealing with terrorists Mary’s hands trembled even more. Not wanting to spill its contents, she put her mug of tea back onto the tray on the coffee table. ‘Are we in danger?’

  ‘I don’t think you’re in any immediate danger,’ Debbie said seeing how the incident and learning what her son really does in the police had shaken Mary. Trying to reassure her, Debbie added in a soft tone, ‘As I said on the way here, you’re not likely to be in great danger, but just to be on the safe side, I think the three of you should pack a few things and come with me to an MI5 safe-house. It’ll only be for a few days until this operation’s over.’

  ‘Thanks for the offer love,’ James said, ‘but no Irish terrorist is going to frighten me and Mary out of our home. We’ll be alright. Think about it. They’ve had all week to get us in this house since our David hit those two buggers in the pub. They didn’t, they waited until you went out into town for a night out. You know why they didn’t get us here don’t you?’

  Debbie put her mug of tea on the coffee table, and with her hands pleaded for the three of them to listen to sense, ‘Do you think this Mick Callaghan can protect you all the time?’

  ‘It’s not just Mickey,’ James said, ‘this area is a strong Irish Catholic community. We knew when the Provisional’s were at it over here, there were a quite a few sympathisers to their cause living around here. There’s no way they’d shit on their own doorstep.’

  ‘James! Language! We’ve got guests,’ Mary said.

  James lent across and placed his hand on Mary’s arm and gave a reassuring gentle tap. ‘Sorry love,’ he said, ‘but I’m sure our Debbie here’s heard much worse and I think saying S, H, one, T is nothing in comparison to with what happened tonight.’

  ‘I can vouch for that,’ Siobhan said, ‘I heard for myself our Debbie knows when to use the F word alright.


  ‘Let’s stop nit picking over swearing,’ said an exasperated Debbie, ‘I can see where you’re coming from James, but even when the Provisional’s were active, they still entered houses in nationalist areas and shot and killed those they thought were grassing on them. These bastards are the same, if not worse.’ Debbie looked at Mary and before Mary could say anything, ‘I’m sorry Mary. I know you don’t like bad language, but it’s the best word to use to describe what they are. You must move out and do it tonight. I can have an MI5 safe-house arranged within the hour.’

  ‘I can see you’re concerned, but they’re under arrest. They can’t harm us now,’ Siobhan said.

  ‘Don’t be so sure, we think there are more of them in the area,’ Debbie said, ‘What did O’Byrne say to you at the bar in the club?’

  ‘He asked me if I had a light and I said that once I’d ordered the drinks, I would come outside for a smoke and he could have a light then,’ Siobhan said.

  ‘Once outside, he and the other two would have bundled you into Pickup’s car and taken you somewhere and shot you. Trust me, and I can’t tell you how I know at the moment, but they would have killed you and dumped your body.’

  Mary put her hand to her mouth, ‘Oh my god James, we’ve got to go.’

  ‘I think if they targeted me, I have a right to know what’s going on,’ Siobhan said.

  ‘Please don’t press me on it, I can’t tell you anything right at this moment. Once it’s over, David and I will tell you the full story.’

  ‘Were they going to use me to get at him?’ Siobhan asked.

  ‘We believe they were. You’ve got to trust me, to be on the safe side Siobhan go to your house and tell your husband so he and the children can come with us. Now are you going to come with me to an MI5 safe-house?’

  * * *