A Day at the Races (17 page)

Mike looked at Moxie; he felt this bugger probably knew more than he was admitting to.

Frank Bishop was the next to speak, and it seemed to calm everyone a bit.

“When you read the press reports that have been leaked, they are even saying they found some of the cash from the Wetherby robbery, as well as a large amount of cash at Millers home. They seem to say that the police have got the main culprits in this robbery, as well as a shitload of currency in the forgery scam. They are now concentrating their efforts on tracing the drug dealers that Miller was selling to. They have arrested two guys in Bolton after a shootout and another one in Bury, from a gang called Mc Alpines Fusiliers, as well as Dermot Mc Alpine himself, with more arrests imminent.

Obviously, if Miller is connected to the race course robbery, and it is reported that they got away with close on a million quid, then a large part of that will probably be in forged notes, so I think you can safely say, that is how he came into possession of so much cash. I don’t think they will be looking in our direction, they are confident the notes came from Klaus Beyer’s company in Germany, especially as they have found incriminating evidence in one of his plants, so I don’t think I would be too concerned Mike.

It would appear that Miller is involved with some real gangsters, they are even saying, he is the Mr Big behind this and a string of other high profile robberies, that have taken place over the last few years.”

“Ok Frank I hear what you are saying, and you are probably right, its just I am worried that at this stage when we have pulled it off, something might go wrong and implicate us, but what you say makes sense, but we should still be on our guard.

I feel sure they will pay Hurricane Press a visit, seeing as they always do when anyone pulls off this kind of thing, but we have sanitised the whole plant, and I am confident if we keep our heads down, we wont get caught.

Maybe I am being over cautious, but I don’t want things to come unstuck at this stage, not after all we have been through and the effort we have all put in to make this a success. Beside, they don’t think anyone in the UK has the ability to the do something like this. Only the Germans have the expertise to produce forgeries of this quality, and the organisation and business acumen, to implement such an elaborate scheme.”

“Cheeky bastards,” said Moxie “I think we should complain to the Police, that’s a slight on our technical expertise, anyway I am glad to let the Krauts get the blame, I never had a problem with them before, but after hearing what they have been up to, they deserve it.”

On that note, they decided to retire to the Old Duke for the last drinks.

Chapter 20

˜

Two days later, Mike had asked everyone to meet in the Duke as he had an important announcement; everyone was present when he got there.

“Well I hope everyone has been keeping their heads down, since all the news about Miller and company has broken.”

Moxie was the first to speak.

“Miller got what he deserved, that sick bastard should rot in hell for the rest of his days. I don’t know what has upset me most, the fact that he has been importing drugs for years, or that he has been involved with others in paedophile activity, they are a bunch of sick individuals.”

“Well at least it looks like case closed and they won’t be looking for anyone else, if you go by what the press are saying.” Said Fisher.

“I hope not, there is absolutely nothing that can lead them to us, everything has been destroyed, so as long as we don’t speak about it to anyone outside the group, we should be ok. Plus we haven’t had a visit from the Police at Hurricane Press, which is surprising, so it’s looking that way. Apparently they think they have arrested the main culprits in this drug operation, they are concentrating their efforts on tracking the dealers they have been selling the stuff to.

They also reckon that they were cutting the stuff and packaging it at the Steel Brick Works, when the place went up in smoke, they found evidence of packaging and weighing scales, that at the time didn’t make sense, but since this all broke the pieces are all fitting into place. They think a rival gang set fire to the place, in an effort to put them out of business.” said Mike.

Just then Maria came in.

“Sorry to interrupt guys, but I have some amazing news, Ken Colby from Livingstone’s Bank has called me, it seems a guy walked into one of their branches on Rochdale Road this afternoon, and deposited £500,000 into the Rachel Ireland fund.

He had read about her problem and said he wanted to help.

He said his name was Paul Vanderbilt, a US businessman, he handed over a small suitcase full of cash, he asked for a receipt, gave them the money and left, just like that.

The manager of Livingston’s Bank was gobsmacked and couldn’t believe what had happened. They checked the money it was all in twenty-pound notes, and its genuine and not stolen or anything like that.

They said he told them he was from Texas and in the oil business for over twenty-five years. He was a Multi Millionaire Oil Baron, who had been touched by Rachel’s plight after reading about the fund raising in the papers. He said it was a regular thing that he did in his country, because he could write it of against his US tax liability at the end of the year. Isn’t that great, it means that there is well over £650,000 in the fund now, so we have more than achieved our target, I think its fantastic?”

Mike was stunned, what was all that about, could someone really have donated that amount of money into the fund? A cold sweat came over him, and he felt like the whole thing was going to unravel at any minute, and just as it seemed everything was going ok.

He looked at each of the party one by one, and examined the expression on their faces to see if there was any reaction. Only a general “That’s great Maria.” Maybe it was a genuine donation, after all there had been some quite large corporate donations, perhaps he was just being paranoid.

Every possible scenario, suddenly started to run through his brain, from being arrested by the police, to Brenda finding out what he had been involved in. How could have he have been so stupid to get mixed up with something as hair brained as this? Even indirectly getting them involved, with such a murderous gang of thugs as Mc Alpines Fusiliers. This was not meant to happen, they did not want to be involved with such brutal people, they were from another world, totally alien to them and it had all got completely out of hand.

Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead, and he found it difficult to breath from the intense pressure he was feeling in his chest and the acute pain in the pit of his stomach. He took a couple of deep breaths and swallowed hard, he had to calm himself, it was too late to worry - there was no going back - Rachel was the reason he had set out on this mission, and she now was firmly on his mind and he had to see this through to a happy conclusion.

Mike stood up; whoever had put in the money had done so in a nick of time, he wasn’t going to question it now, besides it was too late.

“That’s great news Maria, I also have some good news as well and that’s really why I asked you all here tonight. Mr Mohammed called Brenda today, to say that we should get the family ready to go to America for Rachel’s liver transplant, as they have found a donor.

She is an eighteen year-old girl who was badly injured in a car crash.

She has been on a life support machine for thirteen weeks, but the Doctors treating her have told her parents she will not recover, because she is brain dead, so they have decided to turn off her life support machine. It is very tragic for the family but their magnificent gesture, means that the lives of an awful lot of people will be improved, as they have agreed to donate all her usable organs. They are waiting until all the recipients have been contacted, and can be assembled at the hospital, before they switch off her life support, but it will happen within the next two weeks.

Mr Mohammed insists on coming with us, as he wants to participate in the surgery, so Judge Farnham said the fund will gladly pay for his ticket, it’s the least we can do for everything he has made happen.

We are booked to fly into New Jersey next Tuesday evening, so its a mad rush to get everything ready in time, but the sooner the better, as Rachel isn’t very well and if it was much longer, she wouldn’t be well enough to travel. We are leaving our other daughter Susan with Brenda’s Mother, because we don’t think it would be right to take her out of school, nor see Rachel undergoing the surgery.

The fact they have found a matching donor is great news for us, and what we have all been working for, although it must be heartbreaking for the donor’s parents. But for us it brings a ray of hope, and I think that deserves another drink. Maria could you bring another round of whatever everyone is drinking?”

“Sure thing Mike.”

Maria left the room.

“That’s fantastic news Mike,” said Fisher “what are we going to do with the rest of the cash that’s in my safe, there is another £968,000?”

“Well I would suggest you share it out amongst you, because you have all put in so much effort, its only right that you should get something out of all this.”

No one agreed then Fisher intervened.

“I think the money should be put into Rachel’s fund, to help other children in the same situation. We all set out with this in mind, so lets expand it and keep it going. I think its great and something worthwhile, and we could have annual fund raising events to keep the fund topped up.”

“What about you Moxie, how do you feel about it?”

“I agree with Fisher, I say lets keep the fund going, my financial situation could improve soon, so I say put it into the fund.”

“Well if that’s what you all want, I will go along with it.” Said Mike.

They all agreed it should all go into the fund, and to make three or four more anonymous donations into Livingstone’s Bank when they would lodge all the money that had been raised. Fisher and Kenny Fitten and Linton, volunteered to deposit the money in some of the branches were they wouldn’t be recognised.

Chapter 21

˜

Miller and company were released on bail, to appear at Manchester Crown Court later in the year, but things started to go from bad to worse for the group.

Miller lost the Mercedes and Porsche franchises, as his whole operation had been closed down by the serious fraud squad and the crack drugs team.

Froyds Bank had sacked Neville Freely, the Conservative Party put so much pressure on MP Charles Rathbone, that he was forced to resign.

Of course they all protested their innocence, but the police in the UK and Germany had so much evidence against them, they were sure to be convicted.

They had to report to various Police stations each week, they had their passports confiscated, and they were all in shock, as to how this had all happened.

One of the most serious charges of counterfeiting, had them all incensed, and they were still trying figure out how this had happened.

There was also the large amount of money found in Millers premises that had been stolen from Wetherby racecourse, but he knew that it had probably come from the buyers of drugs, for Mc Alpines Fusiliers.

Miller new that Reichert was the culprit for the forged money, but he couldn’t trace him. He knew he should have had him checked out, but in his greed and haste he hadn’t bothered, now he was paying the price. This really upset him, especially as he had always prided himself on being a smart operator.

He had got away, with almost three quarters a million pounds in top of the range cars, and disappeared without a trace.

The Police didn’t buy his story, that he had taken the money for the cars from a guy called Richard Reichert, from a Seattle based Company called “Digital For All” based on the Trafford Park Industrial Estate. Also, that an Emanuel Odibodi, on behalf of a Company called “Mamba Freight”, had collected the cars.

Exhaustive Police checks nationwide, and in the US revealed, that neither of these companies or people existed. They couldn’t be located in the electoral roll or any database files as individuals, nor could they locate either of these companies in trade directories or that they were registered with the Companies Office. Police came to the conclusion that it was pure fiction by Miller, to confuse and mislead the police.

‘Who the bloody hell was he, why would he stitch him up, it just didn’t make sense?’

As part of his bail conditions, he wasn’t supposed to make contact with any of the others who had been charged, but he met up with Freely, at Greenmount golf course.

“You checked the money and said it was all kosher, how the hell could you make such a balls up?

I just cant believe what’s happened it’s almost like someone is out to set me up, seeing as I have been found with…. stolen money…. counterfeit money…. and drugs money…it’s a real stitch up, its like someone had inside knowledge and knew exactly how to drop me in it.

Could it all be because of Reichert, they say we can’t prove he exists, but they can’t prove he doesn’t but he is certainly involved one way or another?”

“Look John, they were such good forgeries, it took the forensic people in Preston a week to discover they weren’t the genuine article, so I don’t think you could blame that on me. I have lost my job, my wife has left me and filed for divorce, so you are not the only one with problems.

To be honest, I think we are looking at a long stretch inside, why the hell did you keep coke and those photographs at the bank? You told me only cash was in your safety deposit box. As a result I am linked into the whole bloody mess.

The police have offered me a deal if I cooperate fully, so I am going to be completely honest with them, and tell them all I know for a reduced sentence.”

When he heard this, Miller’s temper got the better of him and he flew into an absolute rage. He clenched his fist and punched Freely full in the face as hard as he could, sending him staggering backwards until he hit a parked car and slumped unconscious to the ground.