Cold Killers (44 page)

She stamped again, jumped this time, landing hard on the hatch.

‘If you stamp any harder you’ll drop through,’ a voice said behind her. She turned and saw Carter.

‘Dan . . . where did you come from?’ She hurried across and stood looking him up and down.

‘From under your feet.’ He leaned on her as she helped him to her car.

‘I’ll drive you to the hospital.’

‘It can wait, Eb. I need to help Della and Maxi.’

Willis called Robbo.

‘I have Carter.’

‘Is he okay?’

She looked him over. He nodded at her. ‘He says he’s all right but he hasn’t seen himself in a mirror.’

‘Tell him Della got away. She sent me a message describing where the laboratory is. It’s a place we’ve been looking at,’ said Robbo, ‘a farm premises in
Sevenoaks.’

Willis handed Carter her phone.

‘What about Maxi?’ asked Carter.

‘We know nothing about Maxi, I’m sorry.’

‘We’ll head out there now, Robbo.’

‘Okay, I’ll let Ross know and you can liaise with him. I’ll get a rendezvous point for you.’

‘Thanks, Robbo. You need to get a forensic team and a body bag down to the cellar in the derelict pub by the church. I couldn’t help him. A man bled to death down there. I’ll
write it in my report.’

Carter dozed in pain on the way to the rendezvous with Ross. His left shoulder was dislocated and made his arm useless. His right had some strength returning.

‘What about Della?’ Willis asked when Carter came to and sat up.

‘She’s incredibly brave, incredibly strong. I don’t know many people who would be able to hold it together enough to escape from their captors who had burned her with a
blowtorch and raped her.’

‘Survival.’

‘Yes. I just can’t tell you how much I admire her.’

‘She got away.’

‘Yes, and, if Bowie asked me whether we should chase her, I would say no. She risked everything to deliver Tony to us and she came through with her promise. It’s up to us to take it
from here now.’

After thirty minutes of driving, Della reached Gatwick Airport. She got the bag out of the boot and changed into her outfit inside the car, then she kept her head down as she
slipped inside the airport into the ladies’ toilets. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hands were shaking as she applied her mask. It didn’t want to stick to the seeping wounds
on her face, but it settled after a few attempts and then it felt good to have the burns protected. She looked at herself in the mirror and adjusted the wig so that it fell over her forehead a
little, and pencilled her eyebrows to make them darker.

She texted Robbo and left a message for Carter, before removing the SIM, wrapping it in tissue paper and flushing it down the toilet. Then she dropped the phone into the sanitary disposal unit
before going to buy her ticket.

Ross set the helicopter down several miles away from the farm premises and waited in a Land Rover. He flashed the lights as he saw Willis’s car in the lay-by. He pulled
over for them to get in and looked at Carter.

‘Jesus, are you okay? You need stitches.’

‘Yes, I know. I’m okay. I have a mate in there, Maxi Seymour, he’s pretending to be Roland de Soir, the diamonds expert.’

‘Shit. I was hoping we could change tactics now Della was out and safe. We also have Tony and Harold to try and get out alive to prosecute.’

‘Did he strike a deal?’ asked Willis from the seat in the back.

‘He’s been in touch,’ answered Ross with a smile.

‘How far away are we from the farm?’ asked Carter.

‘Twenty minutes; the shipment’s going to be there any minute now. They switched lorries on us before but we found it again after we knew where it was headed.’

‘What’s the latest?’ asked Carter.

‘We have thirty officers in the fields surrounding the bungalow. We know there are two men inside the bungalow and four men in and around the barn. We estimate there will be one more
person accompanying the shipment when it arrives.’

‘The snipers are in position on the neighbouring fields but they’re not able to get the best view. They can’t get on high ground. They are going to get onto the roof of the
bungalow once the operation starts.’

‘We know Marco and the Butchers will have automatic weapons. Harold has told us he won’t arm himself and he’ll try and duck out when the shooting starts.’

‘Maxi has to come first,’ said Carter. Ross nodded. ‘And we need them to take acceptance of the shipment,’ continued Carter. ‘We need them to open the boxes and
take receipt of the cocaine to test it; otherwise they will claim they had no idea what it was. Once the diamonds are handed over, we move in.’

‘I know, and we need Tony alive,’ added Ross.

They came to a stop in the gateway of a field. A unit of officers was waiting for them.

‘Okay,’ Ross whispered as they stopped the car and killed the lights, ‘we’re a mile away, on the other side of the barn. We’ll cross over on foot now. You
ready?’ He looked questioningly at Carter.

‘You can be more help to us if you stay here on standby.’

‘Don’t worry about me.’

‘You all right, guv?’ Willis asked as she watched Carter trying not to wince when he put his body armour on.

‘Can you shoot?’ Ross asked him.

Carter nodded. He was keeping an eye on Willis and smiled reassuringly at her.

He was handed a Glock .27 gun and two spare cartridges by one of the officers. Ross had already started walking.

Carter inserted a magazine, and then tucked the gun into his jacket pocket and followed.

Willis walked alongside Ross as they crossed the dew-laden field.

They reached the edge of the property, clipped the wire fencing and climbed through. Ross signalled to Willis to stay close to him as they crept towards the back of the barn.

Carter stayed back. He knew his limitations. He wanted to make sure he was there for Maxi.

Maxi had had his hands tied ever since they’d picked up the diamonds. He wasn’t trusted not to run. He stayed shut inside the Transit van. He’d been in there
all day. He was working through as many scenarios of escape as he could come up with. His eyes were drifting back to the motorbike all the time. He’d been a good rider in his time. He’d
loved his old bike. It had all stopped when he got married. The bike had to go, to get a sensible car for the kids. The big snag in his plan was that he had to find some way of cutting the ties on
his wrists and he had to get the keys for the bike out of Marco’s pocket. He wished he’d had the guts to get in the car with Della when he’d had the chance. She’d seized her
moment and now he must find his, but he had a feeling this wasn’t going to happen, as the lights of a lorry came down the lane towards the farm.

‘It’s here,’ said Tony, giggling, excited.

‘Are you going to help me move him, then?’ Harold called him again. ‘Or are we going to leave him here?’ Harold was standing over Laurence’s body.

‘Just drag him out of the way for now. He’s not bothered, is he?’

Tony still had the blanket wrapped around his head and shoulders but he had borrowed some shoes from the younger of the cocaine cooks.

The lorry came to a standstill in front of the barn. Marco went round to the driver’s window and spoke to him in Spanish.

‘What’s he saying?’ asked Tony.

‘He’s telling me how he didn’t bring the shipment from the docks. It was switched along the way. He doesn’t think he was followed. This is Justino. He’s a
cousin.’

‘Welcome. Welcome,’ Tony said as he shuffled around to stand beside Marco. Marco grinned and said something about Tony.

Justino laughed. ‘Hello, Mr Butcher.’ Justino smiled, flashing a gold tooth at the front of his mouth. He jumped down from the cab. He was a better-looking side of the family. He was
taller and slimmer but with the same confident swagger and the same love of expensive clothes.

‘Let’s get a look at it and get the cooks out to test it,’ said Harold.

Marco went around the back of the lorry with Justino to help him.

‘What are you looking at?’ asked Tony as he turned and caught Harold staring off into the darkness and the trees.

Harold shook his head.

‘Hey . . .’ Tony hissed across at Marco. ‘Harold has seen something. Stop doing that and go and look.’

Ross’s team froze. Willis didn’t dare breathe. Carter leaned against the back of a tree so as not to risk moving or losing his balance.

Justino reached inside the passenger seat of the driver’s cab and took out an AK-47 automatic rifle and Marco got his.

‘It’s nothing, let’s get on with this,’ said Harold. ‘Open up, let’s get this done and we can all get out of here.’

Harold began unlocking the door. The metal ramp lowered. Marco started walking back. The cooks came out of the bungalow and walked over to the lorry ready to start testing.

Harold stepped inside the lorry with Tony. Justino and Marco followed and Marco proceeded to open one of the boxes. The older of the cooks stepped forward to take a scraping of the contents and
then handed it out of the back of the lorry and down to his colleague.

‘Five minutes,’ he said, holding up his splayed hand in the air to emphasise the number.

‘Okay. Let’s start shifting this gear.’ Harold began to slide one of the boxes out.

‘It’s pure.’ The cook returned with his approval. Then he went back inside the barn.

‘Get the diamonds and bring Roland,’ said Tony.

Harold went to get the suitcase from inside the bungalow.

‘All right to do it here?’ asked Harold, walking up into the back of the lorry.

Justino shrugged. ‘Marco says it’s good, just need the expert to okay it too, then I’m happy.’

Maxi was led out of the Transit by Marco. Ross signalled for his team to start fanning out and to be ready. The deal was about to be done.

As Maxi walked towards Justino the talk in Spanish began and grew in volume as Justino kept his eyes on Maxi.

Ross whispered, ‘He knows that’s not Roland de Soir. He’s met him once before. Stand by.’

‘I told you he knew Della. He’s a cop,’ said Marco. ‘It’s a set-up.’

Maxi stopped in his tracks and then held up his tied hands as if he was about to remonstrate. Justino began firing. His body twisted as he was hit several times by marksmen and his gun carried
on firing as he went down. The sound of shots cracked in the air and Maxi went down. Marco dragged him towards the barn entrance.

Tony scrabbled forward and picked up Justino’s weapon. He carried on firing indiscriminately around him. A police officer tumbled off the roof of the bungalow. He hit another one in the
fields beyond the Transit. Harold hid inside the van. Ross signalled to the main group of his snipers to stop firing. He singled out one officer. Everyone knew that Tony had to be taken alive. Tony
stood in the lights of the farmyard and the residual light from the barn and he kept firing randomly into the dark beyond. A single shot stopped him. The officer hit him in his shoulder and he
dropped the gun.

Officers ran in fast to arrest Tony and Harold. The cooks were handcuffed and then led to safety.

Marco called out from just inside the barn. ‘I have your man and we’re coming out. We will get in the van and leave. If you try and stop me I will kill him.’ He walked out with
one arm around Maxi’s neck and another holding his sub-machine gun.

Maxi was limping; his right leg was bleeding badly. Marco had been shot in his side.

Carter crawled along the ground to get closer. He could see Maxi clearly now. Maxi was walking towards the Transit like a man on the way to his execution. His eyes locked onto Carter and Carter
knew that there was just enough light for him to attempt a shot.

Maxi’s eyes were fixed on the barrel of Carter’s gun. He was just a few feet away now. Years ago they had been good friends and they had understood the way one another thought. A
long time had passed since then.

Carter shouted, ‘Now!’ and Maxi dropped like a stone as Carter shot four bullets into Marco and he stumbled backwards with the impact. Two of the bullets went straight through him.
Maxi picked up Marco’s gun and made sure he stayed where he was.

‘Just like old times, Maxi.’ Carter smiled as he walked across.

Maxi shook his head, relieved.

‘Christ, I need a drink.’

20 December

Carter looked at his watch: it was half seven. He was in early for the debriefing which was starting at eight. He had to be at the airport at ten to pick up Cabrina and Archie.
He hadn’t seen them for two weeks. It seemed as if a lifetime had passed during that time. He’d told Cabrina not to be shocked when she saw his face. He had been stitched up; his broken
nose was taped; the burn on his cheek was covered with a piece of gauze. His body was one big bruise and his left shoulder had been reset and taped up to keep it stable, but it was still in danger
of dislocating again with any sharp movements or pulls.

Carter sat in the car park in his car. He wanted to listen to Della’s message one more time. He called his voicemail and listened to her voice.

‘I’m about to get on a plane, Dan. I hope and pray you made it too. I killed Laurence in self-defence’ – he heard the pause in her voice – ‘but I’m not
coming back to make a statement, not now, maybe not ever. I loved being with you again. I just wanted to say that. If ever you need me, tell Connie and she’ll pass the message on. I have to
go now. Take care, Dan.’

Carter closed his eyes for a few seconds and smiled as he pressed the button to erase the message. He had loved being with her again, too, but now he understood why they broke up. They were
chasing different forms of happiness. What brought Carter contentment would never be enough for Della, and her life wasn’t real to him. It wasn’t what mattered, the wealth, the
trappings. It made him lonely thinking about it. He parked up and went into Fletcher House.

At eight, Carter stood and addressed the assembled team. The whole of MIT 17 were gathered to hear the outcome of the previous day’s events. David Ross was also present. Bowie was hovering
by the door with a big smile on his face.