Beyond Doubt: the ULTIMATE vigilante (legal thrillers)

by Stuart Mills (ex military)

  He was quickly lifted into Stuart’s car which had been driven up close to the parked Scorpio, both hands banded with plastic ties, blindfolded, and bundled into the boot. Both Steve and Geoff jumped in, and the car drove off with a squeal of tyres, heading through the city streets, and onwards toward their new location after firstly stopping off at a roadside B.T. Telephone kiosk where Steve rang the local Police.

  “Hello. There is a Ford Scorpio parked up in the central underground car par on the second floor near the Bullring. The driver is drugged up and you’ll find some samples under the rear seat of the Scorpio. You’ll also find a considerable amount of drug related money in this vehicle”. With that short conversation, Steve replaced the receiver, and got back into the car with the others.

  “I’ve just telephoned the Police about the Scorpio and its location. When the driver wakes up, he is in for a very bad shock, poor shit”!

  EIGHT

  Leaving Birmingham city centre far behind, the car pulled into the café car park at Stourbridge, and Stuart selected to park it away from sight from the customers in the café. Peter Dougherty was quickly checked over, the nylon ties which held both his wrists firmly behind his back were checked, and also his black hood and a strip of black masking tape which covered his mouth.

  Dougherty was still asleep, still suffering from the forced administration of the chloroform pad during the ‘snatch’ back at the Bullring. Out of sight, the team lifted his body into the boot of Stuart’s car, shut the boot firmly which was then locked. They all proceeded to their own vehicles, and left at one minute intervals, quietly, without causing any attention to themselves, heading down the M40 to their next destination, London.

  Entering the suburbs of London, all three vehicles kept close sight of each other, and wound their way through central London finally reaching their destination, 127, Vauxhall Bridge Road. Stuart drove into a quiet cul-de-sac, stopped and got out of his vehicle, scanning the whole area for any signs of movement or passing strangers. He furtively glanced up at a few windows of overlooking houses, but the curtains and blinds were all closed. He nodded toward the lane where the other two vehicles had stopped, and they drove quietly in.

  Stuart had now opened up the garage door, number 127, and reversed his car into the area. Steve and Geoff parked their vehicles under one of the trees, secured them, and followed Stuart into the garage. The ‘up and over’ door was quickly closed, and the internal light was switched on. A single door led from the garage into the house which was opened using the keys contained in an envelope which was posted to them by `306`.

  The team quickly entered to familiarise to their new surroundings, and after a brief examination, they removed Peter Dougherty from the boot of the car, and carried his still sleeping form, into one of the upstairs rooms. The kitchen had been already stocked with ample food and drink, enough to last them all for a fortnight. Both the large sitting room and the three bedrooms had all been recently cleaned, as were the bathroom and toilet. All the windows in this house had their curtains drawn, protecting the residents from any would be prying eyes.

  Quickly, the team began to sort themselves out. Allocation of tasks to each member in which to provide a twenty four hour security upon their ‘guest’ until such time as they were contacted again. Steve had noticed that a telephone had been recently installed and lifted up the receiver to see if it was connected. The continuous purring of the line verified it was, although there was no indication of their number on the set, someone had gone to extreme lengths to ensure that this number was secret.

  “Right then”, said Steve. “We are now organised, and all of us know what each other has to do and when to do it. We all now have to be patient until Mr. ‘X’ contacts us. At no time must our guest know what is going on. No names must ever be mentioned, or any other information be discussed in his presence. We wait here now until we receive our call. Until then, we just carry on as normal as can be expected under these circumstances. Each of us will be personally responsible for Dougherty on a three hour shift. That will include feeding, toilet and ensuring that he does not get near any windows. He must be secured in between times”.

  Both Geoff and Stuart agreed, and proceeded to apply full security of the house. A meal was being prepared by Steve, and Dougherty was checked every ten minutes. After being unconscious for nearly an hour, coming to in the back of a vehicle, your head covered over with a hood, your hands tied behind your back, Dougherty’s mind started to work into overdrive. Who had kidnapped him? Why? Was it some other drug gang who felt that he had encroached onto their territory? What had happened to Phil his driver? God, had they already killed Phil, and now was he the next to be executed to be shown as an example to others who thought that they could peddle drugs anywhere and get away with it?

  Dougherty’s head was hurting, and he began to call out, his muffled shouts heard by the team who were in the other room. Geoff entered the room and told Dougherty to be quiet. Dougherty told him that he wanted to have a shit and that he felt sick, which is quite a normal reaction by anyone’s standard who have just been drugged, kidnapped, tied up, blindfolded and gagged.

  These are some of the effects that all the team had undergone during some part of their training back in Hereford. Dougherty was lifted to his feet, the nylon tie upon his feet was removed, and he was led toward the bathroom. His hands were also released, and Geoff spoke to him in a very serious, and threatening voice.

  “Do not, at any time, attempt to remove your hood from your head, but I will remove the tape in which to enable you to breathe and talk more easily. Do not attempt to shout out or try to draw unwanted attention to yourself. At the moment, I have a 9mm Browning automatic pistol with a silencer that is just six inches from your head with the safety off. Go to the toilet that is right in front of you, and do what you have to do. I will be one foot away with the door open. I will untie your hands, and when you have finished, place both your hands behind your back, and you will be re-tied, and then escorted back to your room. Don’t try to be a hero, or you’ll just be a dead piece of shit”.

  “Who are you, and what have I done”? inquired Dougherty. “Look, I have quite a lot of money stashed away. Maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement. Whoever is paying you to do this to me, I can pay higher. Come on, what do you say”?

  Dougherty felt a slight push and felt the toilet seat in front of him. He quickly got down to business, desperately wanting to remove this black hood from his head and maybe get a glimpse of his captor, but then he remembered the warning about the 9mm pistol. He hadn’t heard anyone else speaking. Maybe there was only one of them, but there again, maybe there were others, and the one that spoke to him sounded a right hard bastard.

  After his visit to the toilet, Dougherty did as he was told, and replaced both his hands behind his back which were quickly and expertly secured once again. He was pushed back into a room and onto a bed where his feet were also secured.

  No words were spoken by his captor and Dougherty heard the door shut and locked. Silence.

  Darkness once again.

  NINE

  Steve had now prepared a ready meal for the four of them, and Geoff had taken a plate of food into Dougherty. He slid the black hood up high enough to enable food to pass into Dougherty’s mouth, and taped the hood tight just above the nostrils. Geoff fed spoonful after spoonful into Dougherty’s mouth, allowing time enough for him to chew and swallow until it had all been consumed, then placed a beaker full of water for him to drink. When he had finished, a strip of black masking tape was replaced over Dougherty’s mouth once again, but ensuring that his nostrils were clear of obstruction. The black hood was once again pulled fully down over his head, and he was gently placed to sit upon the bed.

  “No noise or interruption. Keep very quiet and be a good boy”, said Geoff. His voice quiet but seemingly authoritative. The door was shut and locked once again.

  Dinner over, the team began to discuss various situations and even
ts that were likely to occur, but after a few hours, their discussion was interrupted by the quiet ring of the telephone. For a few moments, they all looked at each other, and Stuart approached and picked up the receiver but did not speak, and listened to the disguised voice at the other end.

  “Code name 306. If you have been successful in achieving your objective answer yes”.

  “Yes”, replied Stuart.

  “Excellent. At 2359 hrs this evening, your are to report to your new destination with your ‘friend’ to a location which will be delivered to you by courier within thirty minutes. Ensure that your friend has his full faculities available. Good luck”. The short instructions ended.

  Stuart quickly divulged the contents of the short telephone message, and they sat to await the details of their next location. Dougherty was checked every ten minutes to ensure that he would fit enough to travel to the next location which would be very shortly. Twenty five minutes after their telephone call, the front doorbell rang. Steve looked through the curtain and saw a motorcycle courier standing outside with an envelope in his gloved hand.

  “Courier”, said Steve, and then proceeded to go to the front door and collected the envelope.

  Once back inside, Steve opened up the envelope and placed the contents upon the table so all of them to see a small note which read.

  “From 306. Proceed to Savernake Forest, grid reference…………E.T.A. 2359 hrs”.

  The team worked out the actual grid reference, and the time it would take them to get there. Plans were quickly discussed and formulated. It would take them one hour and forty-five minutes to get to this location, depending upon the volume of traffic leaving London. It would take them a further twenty minutes to get Dougherty into a vehicle and to ‘clean’ all evidence and re-secure the house without causing any attention to themselves. They would take all their vehicles, and leave two of them in the Somerfield car park at Pewsey, which is only six miles from Savernake forest and Marlborough. Dougherty would be placed into the boot of Stuart’s car once again, but not drugged this time as he was required to have his full facilities ready for his ‘trial’.

  The team commenced to ‘clean’ the house, washing all items and removing any fingerprints or evidence.

  At precisely 1000 pm, Dougherty was escorted to the garage, his captors checking his bondage was secure, and he was placed into the boot of Stuart’s car once again. No word was spoken during this whole operation, just hand signals given by the team to each other. A final check of the house was completed, which was then declared to be clear, and all three vehicles departed en-route to Savernake forest via Pewsey.

  TEN

  The journey from London along the M4 toward Swindon was uneventful, and the three vehicles turned off the M4 at junction 15 onto the A345 Marlborough/Pewsey road. It was a peaceful and pleasant journey after leaving the M4, driving through the beautiful Wiltshire countryside, passing the quaint old thatched cottages which lined the road.

  The three vehicles entered Marlborough, quietly passing through the high street where the Saturday country market stalls could be found, turning sharp left at the end of the road signed Pewsey /Salisbury, heading up the steep hill toward Oare.

  There was very little traffic on this road at this time of night, and soon the vehicles entered the quaint village of Pewsey after passing underneath an old railway bridge. They noticed the Wiltshire Police station on their left closed, as most Police stations are in the country after 2 pm each afternoon, with the obligatory emergency telephone outside should you need urgent assistance, in this case it would be Salisbury, which is about twenty miles away.

  The statue of King Alfred placed on the road junction next to the un-manned Police station, stood forlorn and weather worn, badly in need of a power wash. Here, they all turned left, over the bridge and first right into Summerfield’s supermarket car park which was deserted save two old dumped vehicles and four or five other vehicles belonging to local residents who used this car park each evening to park their own cars when they finished work. The absence of CCTV in this car park was a good sign.

  Their cars were quickly parked without any noise, and both Steve and Geoff got into the other vehicle which moved off the car park, but then turned right through Bridge street, heading for the A338 to Savernake forest. They soon arrived at the forest, and took one of the many trails which are used by picnickers and campers alike. Using the moonlight, and dispensing with any lights, they proceeded slowly until they came across a barrier which had been made by the Forestry Commission to prevent any caravans from entering this special part of the forest. The vehicle was carefully parked up into the trees, Dougherty removed from the boot, and led deeper into the forest itself, Stuart going on ahead to check the area.

  After a period of ten minutes or so, they came across a small log cabin. The only door was open, and a small light basically lit up the interior. Inside, there had been placed one chair in the centre of the room, and another chair behind a six foot wooden table. The only two small windows had been covered over with black Hessian material.

  All four entered the room, sat Dougherty down on the chair in the centre, again, not one word had been spoken by the team amongst themselves. Stuart checked his watch. 2355 hrs!

  A door suddenly opened, and in entered a large, tall gentleman wearing a black hood, over which he wore a Justice wig and accompanying gown, carrying a thick folder tied with a red ribbon. He gestured to the team by placing his index finger onto his lips, a sign of quietness, sat down at the table, opened up the file and addressed Dougherty.

  “Mr. Dougherty. You have been brought here to this place this evening, to answer in defence of yourself, relating to charges of various crimes that were brought against you which you have supposedly to have committed over these past eleven years or so. You are not to speak until I have read out all these charges against you. Do you understand”?

  Dougherty, who had the black masking tape removed, said, “Fuck you. I don’t know who you are or what this is all about, but I have been to court and have been found not guilty of all the charges that were brought against me, so you can all piss off and you had better let me go. This is like the fucking Klu-Klux-Clan, so you can all sod off and let me go now, or I will tell the Police”!

  “Mr. Dougherty. You obviously do not care about justice or the legal system in general, and your personal criminal record, which I have read in great depth over and over, shows that you exhibit nothing but contempt for law or justice. You have also shown great disrespect toward your fellow humans by supplying them with drugs and other illegal substances, blackmail, forcing young innocent females into having sex and becoming prostitutes, and using other younger children to act as couriers to carry your evil trade in which to spread your ongoing empire further afield. What have you to finally say to all these accusations and charges against you”?

  Dougherty was sweating profusely now. Shaking with fear and anxiety. What the fuck was happening? Who are these people? What right had they to kidnap him and to ask him all these questions and to treat him like this? His nerve had broke, and he let fly at the voice.

  “I don’t give a fucking hell whoever you are or where you come from. I don’t give a shit about this set up here, and I demand to be released immediately, and I can promise you, all you fuckers will be sorry one way or another. I have got very important friends in Birmingham, and you’ll all get your comeuppance when this is over, believe me”.

  “I can see, by your vicious outburst, that you are not the sort of person who will take advice from anyone in authority, nor is it likely that you will ever change your ways. Having deliberated upon your case for quite sometime, and also, owing to the extreme seriousness of your crimes where you have destroyed the lives of many people, and are still continuing to destroy even the younger ones, I sentence you to the same fate as you have dealt others. I therefore, find you guilty of all charges against you”.

  The Judge stood up, opened up his small attaché case, removed
a small narrow box and a pair of surgical rubber gloves from within, and quietly walked over to the team where Dougherty sat. He gestured to the team to tape up Dougherty’s mouth once again with the black tape which they did, pulled down the black hood, and placed a hypodermic syringe containing a brown coloured liquid, surgical gloves and three cards, face down in front of them.

  Dougherty’s nerve gave way to fear, and hot urine escaped down his trouser leg, over his designer shoes, and onto the floor.

  The hooded Judge spoke quietly. “True justice gentlemen, is the Ace of Spades”. Each member of the team picked up a card and stared at the picture, which they then turned face up onto the table before them.

  Steve quickly turned over the Ace of Hearts. Stuart quickly turned over the Ace of Diamonds, and Geoff, holding his card last, then turned over the Ace of Spades. No words were spoken, but suddenly, both Steve and Stuart grabbed Dougherty’s arms tightly, and Geoff, after placing the surgical gloves upon his hands, slowly and expertly injected all the brown coloured liquid directly into Dougherty’s right arm and replaced the syringe, now empty and the surgical gloves, back into the box.

  The Judge waited in silence while Dougherty struggled and kicked to get free, which, had he known, would only speed up the deadly injection of pure heroin throughout his bloodstream. Within minutes, the deadly heroin began its ghastly effect as Dougherty became lifeless and pallor in colour, sweating profusely and slumping forward over the table in front of him.

  One of the team placed his forefinger onto the neck artery belonging to Dougherty, held it there for a few seconds, and pronounced him dead.

  The Judge collected all the items, and placed a letter on the table in front of Dougherty which simply read,