Siggerty then missed the last of Kamal’s men with his last shot. With bullets once again slamming into the concrete floor about him, Siggerty scrambled towards where his first adversary had fallen seeking that man’s gun.
With the two men focused on each other the police poured into the space, guns raised yelling “On the ground now!” but the words had no impact. Siggerty and his final adversary were oblivious. They had desperate, hateful eyes only for each other.
As if in slow motion, Gurning watched in disbelief as Siggerty grabbed the fallen handgun from the floor. Both men raised their guns almost simultaneously and started squeezing their triggers time after time. Both men’s bodies rocked as bullet after bullet thudded into their chests. Their gun arms drooped before the guns slipped from their hands to clatter on to the floor. In the sudden quiet, the two men stared at each other before falling forwards, face down on the floor.
“Bugger it!” Gurning cursed. “Check Siggerty and get medical attention in there now!”
* * *
“Well, that’s a relief,” Gurning commented twenty minutes later with a deep sigh once Kamal’s spotters had been arrested without incident. “I will leave the debrief and clear-up to you, Will.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Not at all – my thanks to you and everyone involved. It’s a shame about Siggerty, but not unexpected. How soon can those arrested be transferred to London for questioning?”
“As we speak sir. Transport was already in place.”
“Good. I dread the headlines in tomorrow’s tabloids, but that’s for the media team to address. I’d better inform the DG.”
33
While Gurning had been watching events in Leicester, Laura, Rob and Nat were at the SRI’s command centre in Arad, a hastily erected group of inter-linked mobile cabins stuffed with technology and collaborative briefing areas. Pleasantly surprised at the intelligence obtained and the preparations that were going on around them, optimism grew that the evening’s intended raid would be a success.
“There is one thing that still concerns me,” Rob commented as they nibbled at some sandwiches over lunch.
“What’s that?” queried Nat looking up from a site plan marking where the SRI believed the perimeter security and security office were positioned.
“Lots of heavily laden vans are still leaving. By my reckoning, it’s a three-day drive from here to where the chemicals were found in the UK. Absolutely dozens of deliveries could have occurred by now.”
“Rob, we cannot do anything about departures from before we arrived. But my colleagues have been collecting details of all vehicles leaving since late yesterday. Two hours before the raid starts, details of those vehicles will be passed to all police forces,” Cezar remarked. “I forgot to tell you, sorry.”
“That’s great,” Laura said enthusiastically. “What will be said when the details are issued?”
“That the vehicles are suspected of carrying illegal and dangerous substances. Extreme care is to be taken. Our recommendation will be to identify and follow the vehicles and then when we next signal, to stop and hold all vehicles and occupants.”
“Why’s that?” Nat asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to track them so we can find out their destination.”
“If we weren’t going to raid, I’d agree. But the raid will be all over the public news, we cannot avoid that, and the drivers will then know. We do not want them doing things that are not good when they hear.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Nat grudgingly conceded. “I just hate it when we don’t know what we are up against and can’t take the time to find out!”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Laura said with feeling. “I am impressed at how calm you are; I was expecting you to be pacing around!” she added teasingly.
“Ha ha!” Nat smiled. Then, taking on a serious tone, “But you are right on one thing, I do want this over and done so we can get inside that place to take a look around. We need to find out how these chemicals will be used.”
* * *
“You look stressed and haven’t been your usual self,” Cameron was saying over lunch to Nikki. They were, once again, eating in her hotel room. “Are you okay?”
Nikki knew that she hadn’t been very responsive in bed some fifteen minutes earlier. “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry, it’s just that I’m waiting for news about some friends who were involved in an accident. It sounded serious.”
“Oh, Nikki, I’m sorry,” he replied gently, placing a hand on hers. “I won’t pry.”
“Thank you.” Nikki was relieved to hear those words; she wasn’t at all comfortable with the cover story she had concocted to deal with the shootings and arrests of Kamal’s team in Leicester. She was concerned about how Kamal would react; Arroz had painted a picture of an unpredictable man. She still did not know how the two had met, and knew not to ask. Arroz had become entwined with a number of unpleasant characters, and Nikki knew that each had a dangerous hold on him that he wasn’t admitting to. But she didn’t mind; Arroz enthralled and fascinated her, and she was besotted. Ever since the failed attempt to bring the world’s financial markets to their knees by highjacking her now estranged husband’s technology, Nikki had thrown herself at Arroz in every possible way and dedicated herself to his cause – whatever that was. She had never fully understood his motivations, but that didn’t matter, her own ambitions and desires were being met, and that’s all she cared for.
“How are the deliveries going?” she asked, trying to deflect the conversation.
“Oh, as usual. It’s really working well, just as you predicted. Once the barrels arrive, I arrange for their storage in the pre-agreed place, and by my next shift they’ve gone and nothing is registered in the stock control.”
“Good, I am pleased,” Nikki said, cheering-up slightly. The chemicals were, as with many other locations, being delivered on a regular basis, three times a day.
“I just find it confusing that…”
“Oh, Cameron, not now. Please,” Nikki interrupted. “I really don’t feel like going through the reasons again.” Nikki forced a tear and wiped it away, having made sure that Cameron had noticed. He stood and walked round the small table to give her a hug and a kiss.
“Sorry, Nikki. Maybe in a few days?”
“Yes, I promise.” If I’m still here, she thought sadly. He had been good in bed and it was nearly time for her to leave. “How about next weekend? If you’re free, you could show me some more of the New Forest.”
“Great idea,” Cameron enthused.
* * *
“Oh, you remember the people smuggling ring that we uncovered in Giurgiu?” Cezar asked, looking up from his laptop computer. They were all sitting around a table in a side room of the command centre. The space was bright, white and sparse, but the table was strewn with papers and numerous disposable coffee mugs.
“Of course,” Laura responded, her tone of voice questioning.
“Well, it’s most peculiar, and a bit disturbing. I’m just reading a report which has come in. It appears that many of those we freed had been promised good jobs here in Romania and because of that quite a few of them have simply walked out of the immigration centre where they were staying.”
