Impeding Justice (24 page)

‘
If you think I’ll believe that bullshit, then you’re a
bigger fool than I first took you for. Does
daddy
know that
you were involved in the rally today?’

‘
Of course he does. I never
do anything without him knowing.’

‘
Just who the fuck do you
think you’re trying to kid, eh, so you’re telling me he knows about
all the visits you’ve made to prostitutes recently, you and that
little gang of toffs you hang around with? Oh, and don’t waste your
breath denying it either, I have the proof. I’ve got it all on
tape.’

He laughed at the sound of Simon swallowing
hard, but then admired his attempt at bluffing his way out.

‘
He’s not concerned about me
and what I get up to. All he’s worried about is destroying this
country.’

‘
At least that’s one thing
we agree on, although, I can’t see him not caring about his son
cavorting with whores. Anyway, we’ll find out soon enough! Should
be fun, hey boys?’ his faithful followers began to
laugh.

‘
Where are you taking
me?’

‘
Inquisitive little shit,
aren’t you? You’ll find out soon enough. Now shut the fuck up.’ He
landed a slap across the covered head, and then smiled at the
frightened whimpering noise, which followed. ‘A word of warning,
we’re not the snivelling little gang who took you last time.
There’s no good outcome for you unless we have co-operation, get
it?’

Pleased he’d managed to shut the annoying
little fuck up, he turned his attention to how much longer they had
to travel and asked his driver for an ETA as he looked out of the
window; the urban landscape had turned into widespread green Kent
countryside.

‘
Another thirty minutes or
so, boss,’ Ramon told him in answer to his question. ‘Why don’t you
grab forty winks, I’ll wake you up when we get there.’

Ramon’s manner smacked of someone trying to get into his
good books, he hated creeps. He locked his eyes with Ramon’s in the
driving mirror, glaring at him as if he were the enemy. ‘Let’s get
one thing straight shall we, and this goes for you both, I’m
the
boss
. I sleep when
I
want to sleep, I eat
when
I
want to eat, I shag when
I
want to shag. I
don’t have to remind you how Gary ended up, do I? Right, and
another thing, don’t think any of you are going to be promoted any
time soon either. You all work for me and
I’m
in charge.
I’ve decided I don’t need a head honcho anymore. If anyone wants to
leave, let me know now and I’ll personally see to it that you get a
good send off, if you know what I mean!’ He liked that, yes, quite
funny. His laughter filled the car and reverberated back to him
sounding sinister and unreal.

Chapter Forty-Nine.

Sam replaced the phone, put his elbows on to
his daughter’s desk and let his head drop into his hands in a
gesture of despair.

‘
Everything all right,
sir?’

‘
Not exactly, DS Fox, my
daughter and granddaughter are in danger of losing their lives at
any second and I can do nothing about it. I’ve just come off the
phone with Lorne and try as I might to get her at least to safety I
couldn’t persuade her. Not that I expected to…Or if the truth be
known want her to, in fact, I don’t want her to obey me, Charlie
needs her, am I making sense?’

‘
No, sir, as I don’t know what it is you were trying to get
Lorne to do. I do know though, Pete always said it was her
determination
he admired most, God rest his soul. That’s why he
loved being her partner.’

‘
In this case it isn’t her
determination she is displaying but her courage and her love for
her child, no man can talk sense into a woman in that mode.’ Sam
explained to Fox where Lorne was and why.

‘
All I can say, sir, is put
yourself in her shoes. Wouldn’t you be reacting the same
way?’

‘
Yes, I would, but it still
doesn’t make it right, does it? One life at risk is bad enough, now
we have two and both of them are very dear to me.’

‘
I’m sorry, sir.’

‘
Thanks, look, give me some
good news, has anything else come to light, yet?’

‘
There is something, sir. One of the uniformed guys let it
slip, pretending not to know who was in earshot, that
Abromovski’s
body
has been discovered at his
house.’

‘
And who
was
within earshot?’

‘
Mark Reynolds, Abromovski’s
brief. Apparently, the look on his face was priceless. Running
round like an excited puppy he was, demanding they lock him in a
cell and give him police protection. Reckons he’ll be next on The
Unicorn’s to kill list. Anyway, Sergeant Harris pulled a blinder
and asked him what it was worth; he said he’d tell us everything he
knows about The Unicorn, warts and all, if only we save
him.’

‘
Good work. I’d better let
the Chief know right away. Thanks, John, this could be the
breakthrough we’ve been waiting for. Oh, by the way, who discovered
the Russian’s body and how?’

‘
MI5 still had cameras in
his house, you know, from the party. They caught everything on
film. He suffered a long drawn out death and the result is far from
pretty. The word barbaric even cropped up in the
description.’

‘
Right, Fox, tell them
downstairs, no interview until the all clear to do so comes from
the Chief. Keep Reynolds guessing as to whether or not we can grant
his request and to what extent… You know, depending on the quality
of his info, that sort of thing and I’ll contact the
Chief.

‘
Hi, Sean. On the Lorne
front, no go, but I can’t be angry with her, though I am
desperately afraid for them both. It’s just that I wouldn’t expect
anything less of Lorne and in the end realised we have to ride this
out her way. It’s agony to do so, but you know, if I was there, I
would be behind the cordon too.’

‘
I know, Sam, but we had to
try.’

‘
Have you made any
progress?’

Roberts slammed the heel of his hand into the
steering wheel of his Lexus for the umpteenth time that day, ‘No, I
lost his tail when I pulled up to ring you, not that it mattered,
the snatch car turned into a fucking red herring! The helicopter
surveillance reported they had it in sight, but when the squad
picked up the trail and stopped the vehicle the only occupant was,
a well-known, always up for petty crime, on the biggest earner of
his life, without a clue he’d been set up. It appears after the
snatch the kidnappers drove the vehicle inside the back of a
waiting lorry with ramps and everything in place. We’ve probably
caught the manoeuvre on camera, when we can get hold of the CCTV of
the area concerned. The lorry then drove off and dropped the car,
minus the PM’s son and his kidnappers and with our petty driving
it. He had a good wad of notes on him and thought he had to deliver
the car, which he believed stolen, to a garage just off the M25.
His instructions were to avoid the police at all costs, but a
stinger got him as soon as he left the motorway. The officers
attending said they almost felt sorry for him. He knew nothing
about what was going on, or who had hired him and thought the lad
he’d seen with the heavies had taken drugs as he seemed out of it.
In the meantime, the kidnap gang could have gone miles in the lorry
or, most likely, just picked up another car a few miles away and
went on their merry way undetected.’

‘
Whew, a pretty elaborate
plan, but one that was used before, you remember, the Ferry gang?
That lot we busted before your promotion?’

‘
Yes, I thought of them
straight away, they got away with a lot of high class cars by using
the lorry method and shipping them over to Ireland within a couple
of hours of the theft and all by driving them into a lorry and
getting them off the streets in minutes so they couldn’t be tailed.
In fact, I might rake over the case again see if there could be a
link with the organisers, most will be out of jail by now, not that
it would help us much if we did establish a link. I tell you, Sam,
the bastard’s like a fucking slippery eel! How I’m going to tell
Lorne we’ve lost him, I don’t know. Anyhow, as soon as I heard we’d
been duped, I thought about going back to the scene, but there’s
enough officers there to take care of things, so I’ve decided to
come back in.’

‘
Well, when you hear what I
have for you, you’d have made that decision anyway…’ He recounted
what DS Fox had just told him.

‘
Right, there in five, by
the way, the bomb squad’s on scene and given the all clear to
proceed. I’m sure Lorne and Charlie will be okay, Sam.’

Sam sat back and thought through what Sean
had said and knew a sinking feeling in his heart. The bomb squad on
scene didn’t mean they were home and dry, much as he wanted to hope
it did. Any number of things could go wrong and what if the sniper
still had his sites trained ready for the mad man’s orders.

Chapter Fifty.

The disposal team officer stood next to Lorne. Relief eased
through her. She surveyed the scene. She was surrounded by members
of the bomb squad, looking like aliens dressed in their protective
gear. Two paramedics stood waiting a few yards beyond them, not
able to attend to Charlie until they received the all clear. A sea
of flashing lights, blue and red to her left, and ahead Tom, still
sitting, his look one of despair and by his side another medic from
one of the ambulances. The other girls had stopped screaming and
stood as if turned to stone looking at her. She gave them both an
encouraging smile. ‘Everything will be okay now, girls. These men
are experts, they will decommission the bombs and you will be safe.
Just hang in there.’ She heard Sasha, her voice strong once more,
relate in her own language what was happening,
what a nice girl, always thinking of
others.

‘
Ma’am, I’m going to have to
ask you to leave now.’ The Sergeant said.

She shook her head, ‘I can’t leave her,
please don’t ask that of me, this is my child, how can I leave
her?’

‘
I’m not asking, ma’am. I’m
ordering
you. Your
presence is hindering our work, if you refuse to leave you will be
putting your daughter’s life in further danger, do you
understand?’

‘
Oh, God… Make her safe,
please…’

‘
We will do all we can,
ma-am. The best thing you can do to help us and to help your
daughter is the hardest thing of all, I know, and believe me; I
wouldn’t order you to do it if it wasn’t necessary.’

‘
How far must I
go?’

‘
Our duty is to protect all
members of the public, we can only protect you fully if you are far
enough away from the scene, so I have to ask you to go back behind
the cordon, ma-am.’

Lorne knew she had to obey, though it tore
her jagged to do so. Delaying further would not help Charlie. As
carefully as she could she eased Charlie’s body off her lap and
stood up. Looking towards the other girls she told them to stay
still and have faith. ‘Look, I so believe in these guys I’m leaving
my own daughter to their care, you have nothing to worry about
now.’ Both girls rewarded her with a smile.

From behind the cordon and in the comfort of
Tom’s arms, Lorne watched the activity, prayers like mantras on her
lips.

She saw the officer she’d spoken with examine
Charlie’s vest. The man had instilled faith in her with his calm
insistence and caring attitude. Seconds seemed like hours as she
waited, unable to speak, giving comfort and taking it, her whole
life out there, just yards away from her. Knowing, if she lost
Charlie her world would end.

The bomb disposal squad consisted of four
men. Whilst two of them concentrated their efforts getting Charlie
out of her vest, the other two men crouched down beside the dead
girl, Toni. She imagined they proceeded this way for two reasons,
one it must be easier to release the vests from unresisting bodies
and two, once they had achieved it the other two girls would be
reassured it was possible without setting off the explosives and
would co-operate more.

A strange silence born out of fear and
trepidation covered the area. The two teams worked in
synchronisation. The officer in charge issued instructions and the
other team followed his lead. A 3-2-1 countdown completed the
task.

Lorne and Tom clung to each other, breaths
sucked in as they watched the teams intricate rescue plan unfurl.
The whole procedure took no more than two minutes to complete, but
to Lorne and Tom it felt like a lifetime had passed them by. They
gulped down simultaneous doses of air the second Charlie, and the
dead girl was disrobed of their explosive garments.

With the first two jackets safely disabled,
the teams placed the vests on the ground and moved on to the last
two girls. The officer talked to them all through it, asking their
names and telling them how important is was to remain calm and
still at all times.

The girls nodded. Lorne knew the tactic of
releasing the others first had worked.

Five minutes later and all four girls were
free of their wretched garments. The team carried the vests over to
their specially adapted vehicle and disposed of them one by one. As
the vehicle rocked violently on its wheels, the crowd gasped in
awe. After the last vest had blown, a rapturous applause rifled
through the once silent air. The team did a thorough final sweep of
the area, after which, the paramedics moved in to attend to the
victims.