'Bring the car to the front.'
John nodded to acknowledge James and he set off for the car park whilst James and Lawrence headed for the lifts up to their rooms. Once in their rooms James and Lawrence threw everything in to their bags including the weapons and left in about a minute, they were in the lobby another minute after that. Lawrence explained to the receptionist that they were checking out early, the receptionist said she would not be able to refund him for that night's stay, Lawrence said this was not a problem and handed the key cards over. James then asked the receptionist if they had a shredder, she said that they did. James handed the drilling permits to the receptionist and asked.
'Can you shred these for me please?’
'Si senor' she replied and began feeding the sheets into the shredder. James watched as the strands of paper dropped into the bin below.
'Thank you' he said and he and Lawrence picked their bags up and walked outside to where John was waiting in the Range Rover.
'I am driving' James said to John.
'Suits me' John replied and got out of the driver's seat and climbed in the back.
'Have you got a flight booked?' James asked John.
'Not today.'
'Book one now, from Malaga.’
John looked on his phone, as did James but he was typing, he sent a text to Delinda saying.
Call me when you get this message please.
John leaned on both of the headrests and said 'Malaga to Liverpool at nine o'clock tonight, I will call in on mum and dad, the Colonel can wait until next week.'
'You got lucky there, seatbelts on let's go' James said.
The two Argentine special forces soldiers that had been sent ahead of Javier Ramos were walking around the corridors upstairs at the time of Ramos's arrest and had only just been informed by their commanding officer that Ramos had been arrested. They had seen James Shaw and Lawrence Sharif getting in to the Range Rover at the main entrance, unfortunately their own VW Polo was parked at the Prado de San Sebastian bus station, as they decided it would be easier to park up and get the tram the rest of the way than trying to park in the small hotel carpark or risk a ticket on the street. The two men ran down Calle de San Fernando in the hope of being able to catch the Range Rover as they hoped it would get stuck in traffic along the river.
FORTY-THREE
Held up in traffic was exactly where they were, having barely moved two hundred yards since turning onto the Paseo de las Delicias. At a junction three hundred yards up the road, a blue VW Polo joined the queue of traffic from Avenida Maria Luisa, which led from the Prado de San Sebastian to the river front. One of the advantages of being in a high car was that the Shaw brothers and Sharif were able to see over the smaller cars and they spotted the VW Polo joining the traffic up ahead.
'Did you see that?' Lawrence asked.
'Yep, got them, they will be able to see us also but not to worry' James replied.
As the traffic slowly moved forward, James noticed the Argentines VW Polo had stopped at the kerb and put its hazard lights on.
'Nice try' he said aloud.
'What are you going to do?' John asked.
'On the next light change watch.’
They were about fifty yards from the lights which at the moment showed red. James Shaw waited patiently. As soon as the traffic lights changed to amber, James pulled the Range Rover out of the traffic and sped past the waiting cars along the opposite side of the road and pulled a hard left onto Avenida Maria Luisa, where the Argentines had just come from, he did not slow down until he reached the next set of lights, which were at the far end of the road, near the Prado de San Sebastian bus station.
The Argentines seen this happen and tried to pull out of the traffic, but as they had pulled into the kerb the other drivers were not so willing to let them through again, they eventually forced their way through and were speeding back the way they had originally come from. However, they could not see the Range Rover with James, Lawrence and John in.
James kept his foot on the accelerator when he could, he could not see the VW Polo in his rear-view mirror and was not helped by the sun, which was reflecting off all the cars so he couldn’t really tell what type of car they were. The Argentinians had spotted them however.
James Shaw pulled up at the Hotel Ayre and his brother John jumped out and ran inside to collect his things and check out. James tapped the top of the steering wheel whilst waiting for John to come back out. Three hundred yards back the VW Polo that had caught up with them pulled over behind another parked car and the soldiers waited for James's next move.
The hotel doors opened and outstepped Lyndon Powell, Chris Hampshire, Mike Williams and Jack Reuben wheeling their luggage behind them. Lawrence Sharif lay with his head back and eyes closed until he was brought to by James beeping the horn.
'What's going on?' he said.
'Look who it is.'
Lyndon Powell walked over to James's window and motioned for him to wind it down which he did.
'I jumped out of my skin then, are you here for us?' he asked.
'No, just waiting for my brother then we are off, what about you, are you heading back home?' James asked.
'Yes, we are going to get the train to Madrid then fly out in the morning, back home to Liverpool.’
'Listen, be careful there are people that work for Ramos dressed in some kind of mock uniform, grey jackets, grey pants, they are dangerous and I am sure Ramos has said to keep an eye out for you.'
'Thank you, I thought you said that you didn’t want to see us again, anyway we best be going.'
'I didn't think I would that’s why, be careful and have a safe trip, if you ever see me in Liverpool buy me a pint won't you.'
'You got it' Lyndon said and he held his hand out, which James shook and Lawrence reached over and shook with Lyndon.
'Be careful' he said.
The other three waved at James and Lawrence who waved back and they set off for Santa Justa station on the opposite side of the road, as they crossed over and walked up the hill John emerged from the hotel and opened the boot; he threw his bag on top of James and Lawrence’s luggage.
'Right, are we ready?' John asked.
'Yes, let's get on the motorway.' Lawrence said.
James pulled the car back into traffic and followed the signs for the A92 which they would follow until coming off onto the A45 which would take them the rest of the way to Malaga, as they pulled off in to the traffic the Argentines followed suit and keeping their distance.
Javier Ramos had been sent back to his cell after being formally charged with the murder of Vicente Garcia, he would appear in court the next morning to enter his plea. Ramos protested this, as he had only been arrested an hour ago and had yet to speak to his lawyer. He was told you can have your say when your solicitor arrives, Ramos knew that once his Lawyer got there, he would be bailed and he would be granted further bail after his hearing with the judge tomorrow. He had been arrested before and a bribe to the officers usually had him released pretty quickly, but these officers could not be persuaded and he had been told if he offered one again that it would go on his charge sheet. Ramos decided he would now sit quietly in his cell until his lawyer arrived, as he did not want to give the officers any reason to add bribery to his charge sheet if he wanted to be released as soon as he had been interviewed.
James Shaw kept the Range Rover at a steady seventy miles per hour, as they passed a town called Osuna Lawrence Sharif called the British consulate in Malaga to inform them that they would be stopping by in a few hours with some items that needed to be sent back to the UK in diplomatic bags, the person he spoke to said only the Consul could arrange that and Sharif would have to speak to him in person, Lawrence agreed and said to the others that they will go before dropping John at the airport.
James noticed about five car lengths back a blue VW Polo, with what he could just make out in the mirror contained two people. They still had about fifty miles before they reached t
he turn off for the A45 which would then take them to Malaga. James kept checking his mirror and there was no change, the VW stayed at a steady five lengths behind. James checked his nearside mirror and could only see a large goods vehicle which he guessed to be about six hundred yards behind him.
James made a sharp turn with the wheel to the right and slowed the car down to forty miles per hour, which allowed the two cars behind him to speed past, followed by the VW Polo whose driver could not react quick enough to James Shaw's sudden turn.
‘What are you doing Jim?’ Lawrence asked.
‘Trying to avoid our friends there’ James answered whilst pointing out the Polo up the road which had pulled into the outside lane about three hundred yards in front of the Range Rover, which in turn was three hundred yards ahead of the truck.
‘They aren't giving this up, are they?’ John said.
‘No, what are you going to do James, we don't want to draw to much attention to ourselves, pull in at the next services.’
‘I have a plan, wait and see’ James said.
James carried on driving until they were within five kilometres of the junction with the A45, this was where James sped up to eighty miles per hour, which closed the gap on the Argentines, who in turn sped up but James kept increasing the speed and at ninety he could see the Polo struggling to keep up with the big V8 engine in the Range Rover, two kilometres to go, James increased to one hundred miles per hour, the VW increased slowly which brought the front of the big Range Rover to within five yards of the VW Polo and James maintained that speed and distance, he could see the soldier in the passenger seat looking behind every few seconds. The turn off was now two hundred yards away and James Shaw maintained his speed and distance.
The turn off was now fifty yards in front of them, thirty, twenty, ten, the Argentines carried on along the A92 but James pulled the wheel to the right at the very last second causing him to go over the rumble strips and some grass which kicked up a cloud of dust as he straightened the car up and powered along the slip road and joined the A45, the driver of the VW Polo slammed his brakes on and cut across to the other side of the road heading back to Seville to try and join the A45, but by the time he did, the Range Rover with James Shaw, Lawrence Sharif and John Shaw was long out of sight.
‘I told you I had a plan’ James said.
‘It worked; I can’t see them’ John said as he looked out of the rear window.
‘How did they not see that coming?’ Lawrence asked.
‘They never expected the unexpected did they, did they think we were going to Granada to see the Alhambra or something’ James said laughing and the other two started laughing along with him.
‘Time for some music’ James said as he turned the radio on and tuned a station in. It was an English expat station playing Runnin’ down a dream by Tom Petty, the three of them were singing along and James tapped his hands on the wheel, he began to speed up to the music. A huge sense of relief passed over the three them, as they could now drive the rest of the way to Malaga without having to worry about being followed.
As Malaga was now less than ten kilometres away, Lawrence began looking for the British Consulate on his phone navigation system so that he could direct James there. As he did that, James’s phone started to ring his pocket, he could see on his watch that is was Delinda calling.
‘Can you get that, it's in my front right pocket’ he said to Lawrence.
Lawrence reached into James’s pocket and pulled the phone out and said.
‘Hello.’
‘It is Delinda, she is asking what you wanted her to call for?’ Lawrence asked.
‘Tell her and Ally to get their stuff together and we will pick them up in about half an hour.’
‘OK, see you soon bye now’ Lawrence said as he ended the call.
‘They said OK, nothing else.’
‘We are going away today, we will get tickets in the airport if we have to, see if you can book something now on your phone. I need to call Nadine too before we go’ James said.
‘OK mate, I have found flights, changing in Lisbon then on to New York, leaving at ten tonight, are you sure you don’t want to wait until Thursday, we have hotels booked as well you know.’
‘Call them, ask to change the dates, book those flights, we are leaving Spain today.’
‘Are you OK mate’ John asked James.
‘Yeah fine, just that it is hitting home now about Will, I just need a break to recharge before going back to Britain.’
‘OK mate, as long as you are sure.’
They arrived at the British Consulate and Lawrence told James and John to stay in the car whilst he went inside. James opened his door and stepped out of the car and lit a cigarette, he opened his phone and dialled the number that had tried to call him two nights ago, as he now realised who it was that was trying to contact him. The call was picked up after five rings and a female voice said ‘Hello.’
James paused a second before saying ‘Nadine, it is James Shaw, I am so sorry, Will told me your news a couple of days ago, I am so sorry, if you need anything just ask.’
‘You can’t bring him back, can you, this is your fault you bastard, if he wasn’t helping you with whatever it was you were doing, he would still be here now, he would have done anything for you and now it has cost him his life.’
James dropped his head as he did not know what to say, he took another drag of his cigarette before saying.
‘I am so sorry, call me for anything you need’ he then ended the call.
He finished his smoke then he got back in to the car, just as Lawrence was coming back out of the Consulate, the consul agreed to send the confiscated weapons back to the UK in diplomatic bags, he noticed the look on James’s face and asked.
‘Did you speak to Nadine?’
‘Yes, she blames me for Wills death and she is right it is my fault, he should have been taking it easy, not putting his life on the line with us.’
‘Will would have helped no matter what, he would have done anything for you and you for him and he knew that.’
John put a hand on James shoulder and said.
‘Don’t blame yourself, we were dealing with some nasty fuckers up there, they will get what's coming to them, enjoy your time away and come back fresh. Get in the back I will drive.’
James climbed out of the driver's seat and jumped in to the back of the car. John drove off to pick Delinda and Ally up from their accommodation. Lawrence was guiding him using his phone, not one of them had bothered to try and work out how the Sat-Nav in the car worked, even though had had it for a few days now.
John pulled up at a backpacker's hostel and waiting outside of the main entrance stood with their bags at their feet was Delinda and Ally, James got out of the car to help them, he put the bags in the boot and the three of them got into the back of the car. Both Delinda and Ally had on matching Denim jackets with a white t-shirt underneath and denim shorts, the only difference being Delinda had converse trainers on whilst Ally had flip flops on.
‘What is going on?’ they both asked in unison.
‘Why hang around, let's get stateside, we leave here at ten p.m., with a change in Lisbon, then straight to New York JFK’ James said.
‘What about the hotel?’ Delinda asked.
‘All taken care off, me and you will still be staying at the Plaza as planned.’
‘I can’t wait, I will have a sleep on the flight that’s for sure’ Delinda said.
Ten minutes later John was parking up in a space in the rental lot at Malaga airport, they got out of the car and grabbed their bags from the boot, they headed for the covered walk way that would take them inside the terminal, the sun was slowly setting as the time approached 1830. James took the keys back to the rental desk and completed some forms, he had to pay extra to drop it at a different location. They then headed for departures, which was on the upper floors. All sorts of things were going on, cars and taxis' dropping people off, families waving off love
d ones and coachloads of holiday makers ready to go home to Northern Europe.
They had spotted them pulling in to the car park, but did not want to attract attention by giving chase in such a public place, the two Argentines, who had given chase earlier decided that the airport was as good a choice as any to wait for them and it had proved to be a wise choice. Except for the fact that they had no idea where they were headed as they watched the five of them walk through the entrance to the big glass terminal, they followed on foot regardless.
James had to check his bag, as he had packed for four months in the Falklands and the bag had various bits of RAF uniform inside putting it overweight for carry-on luggage. Delinda and Ally would have to check their backpacks too as they were too big to go on the aircraft.
Javier Ramos was taken back to his cell after his interview with the police, this time with his lawyer present. The lawyer had been unable to get him released, as the police were adamant that they would not let him get away with murder. Ramos had been told his bail hearing was with the judge the next morning, Ramos smiled to himself as he knew the judge would grant him bail, as his lawyer had told him who it was and that he could be paid off. Ramos hoped once bailed that would be the end of it and there would be no need for a trial. He hoped anyway as he lay down on the stone bed and tried to get some sleep.
The Argentine soldiers spotted James, Delinda and Ally at the check in desk for the next TAP airlines flight to Lisbon, so they went to the TAP ticket office and asked for two tickets to Lisbon. They were told the flight was sold out. Iberia was the same. They decided that they would drive, it would take about eight hours. However, they had three in hand to begin with as the flight did not leave until 2200. Once in Lisbon they would find Shaw and Sharif easy enough as they had in Seville, once they checked in to a hotel, they would be able to trace their passports. They left the terminal and set off for their car in the car park outside.
James, Lawrence, John, Ally and Delinda walked through to the security checkpoint and after a few minutes were airside and they went to get a drink in the bar before leaving on their respective flights.
One Last Time Page 20
