
It was 22:30 when he set off for home, it would be another three hours until he was in his bed. He sent a message to Sally saying how late he would be, she replied saying she loved him and to take care. Dave used the drive to try to figure out a plan, as he pulled onto the drive in Loughborough, he thought he had it, tomorrow, or rather today was going to be busy.
The alarm went off at 08:00, he was up first, Sally wasn’t at the university, she would be helping Dave as much as she could. With a coffee, he opened his laptop and switched it on ready, he found his notepad and was writing furiously, no one other than himself could read the scrawl, once the plan was on paper, he rewrote it again, this time taking more care, Sally would type it up later. It gave him the basis of the jobs he had to do. There were only three days to get everything in place.
At 08:30 he rang the Brigadier’s office. He wasn’t in yet, he left a message for him to call back. Next he rang Olivia’s husband, “Michael, it’s Dave Stretton,” once the pleasantries were over, Michael asked him if there was anything he could do for him. “Yes, do you know of anywhere on the same industrial estate as you are, or in Leicester, that I could rent or borrow this weekend, I will pay whatever it costs, it needs to be large enough to fit three articulated lorries in.” “There are a couple of empty units to let on this estate, I’ll make a phone call and come back to you soon.”
Sally had been standing listening to the conversation. “What’s that all about, why were you calling Michael?” “I need some place to store three lorries over the weekend.” She gave him a puzzled look, “I’ll explain everything over breakfast, if you haven’t anything planned, I could do with a bit of assistance.” He gave her the notes from Taff to read as they ate breakfast. “I only have three days to get everything in place, a lot has to happen. One of the days will be taken up in London.” His phone was ringing, he put down his piece of toast and spoke to the Brigadier, “sir, the job is on for Friday, we will have the weapons in our custody by Saturday morning. I need some MOD equipment to assist with the job, there is a system that will block phone signals in a given area, it is about four hundred by four hundred metres. I must have it by Thursday at the latest, can you also supply me with an SA80, spare magazines and plenty of ammunition.” The Brigadier wasn’t sure, he would have to make phone calls, but would contact him as soon as he had an update. When his breakfast was finished, he had to phone Jane Goodley, it was never a call he liked making. He told her the same as he had said to the Brigadier. She was more insistent about where the weapons were. He refused to tell her, “Do not tell anyone anything, certainly not Merseyside Police, I will be in London hopefully on Thursday, probably late afternoon to give you and the Brigadier a briefing. Can you arrange a meeting time and place, hopefully it will fit in with my plans, send me a message with the details. Oh, one last thing, my contact says there are drugs on site as well, we may kill two birds with one stone.”
Dave and Sally moved upstairs, “Can you check the registration number of the Range Rover from Taff’s notes, I think I know who it belongs to, I hope you will give me confirmation.” His phone was ringing again, “Hi Michael, any news?” “For £500 the local agent will lend me the keys to have a look at a vacant unit, I just have to forget to give them back to him. I can pick them up today when I am out and about.” “I can be with you around 15:00 if that is any good.” The time was agreed, He called Trevor, the private detective, “Can you drive an HGV?” “Yes, the police paid for me to do it when I was in traffic for a time, it allowed me to drive seized vehicles.” “Good, do you know anyone discrete who also has a licence, I have a job on Friday night to drive three lorries from the North East to Leicester. £750 to you, £500 to the other driver. I will be driving the third. I have to know by the end of today.” Trevor said he would call when he had another driver. Sally waited for him to finish before pushing a slip of paper across to him, it was the owner of the black Range Rover, Peter Farrell. Everything was slipping in to place. He went back to his list to check what was next. There was nothing more to do at this stage, he asked Sally if she wanted to come with him when he went to meet Michael. After lunch, they set off, Dave only had an address, Sally had been there before and guided Dave, Michael had to drop off a sewing machine at a factory on the way, his mechanic was waiting to connect it up and test it. With the key collected and the money Dave had put in an envelope passed over, Michael headed back, his van was parked out side his warehouse, Dave and Sally followed him diagonally across from his warehouse to another with a ‘To Let’ sign outside. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, the lights were switched on, it was vast inside, Dave looked at the roller shutter door, “It’s tall enough, they used to reverse half way in with artics.” The only other door was a fire exit at the rear, this had steel bars and was padlocked. Dave said it would be perfect, he asked Michael to hang on to the key for now. The building was locked up and having shaken hands, Michael went back to work, Dave and Sally sat in the car, “I thought he might ask you what you wanted the warehouse for,” “he won’t, we have spoken about my work before, he said he would never ask me any questions.” His phone was ringing again, Trevor confirmed he had another driver. The final call was from the Brigadier, the equipment he wanted would be ready tomorrow, it was in Hereford, he would send over a letter of authorisation as soon as the call was over. Sally was driving back, Dave phoned Taff, “I have some equipment for Friday, I would like to deliver it tomorrow if that is convenient, it won’t be until the afternoon, I am picking it up from your old base.” Taff said to phone him when he was near Cardiff and he would say where to meet.
That evening he booked a hire van for the morning, using a different identity. He emailed Jane Goodley saying the meeting could be earlier on Thursday as it was now clear.
It was a straight forward collection, he was escorted on the base by an armed guard, once he had signed for everything, he was allowed to leave. On the M4, he called Taff, Dave was given the name of a pub, Taff was inside waiting, when he had a drink, Taff said they could talk outside. “What have you got for me,” “mobile phone signal blocking equipment, good for half a kilometre. We will set it up round the farmhouse to stop any calls or messages being sent. There is also an SA80 for me. I have to involve two outsiders,” Taff looked at him, “they are drivers for the lorries, your driver needs to pick them up from Ormskirk train station after we have been dropped off. They won’t be anywhere near the farmhouse, they will remain in the van at the bottom of the drive until the lorries are driven out. One of the drivers I trust, the other may be expendable.” Taff wasn’t happy but accepted the change. “I will give you a more detailed plan when we meet on Friday, anything you don’t like we can change. Are we doing the transfer here? “Taff nodded, “people round these parts don’t see anything.” “I have a meeting in London tomorrow, I will phone you afterwards with a time, I will take a train to Cardiff and join you there. We will go over the final plans then.
Dave’s train journey down to London was uneventful, the meeting was at 11:30, at the MOD, he checked at reception where the meeting was to be held. Through the barriers and down to the second underground level, Meeting Room 218. The Brigadier and Jane Goodley were already there, having said hello, he poured himself a coffee and picked up a plate of biscuits, before sitting down. “Tomorrow, we will wrap this job up, by 23:00 the weapons will be back in our possession, I understand there may also be a large quantity of drugs and money on site, we will do our best to recover as much additional items as we can, but our time is limited.” “Where is all this taking place and what about collateral damage?” It was the Brigadier who wanted to know. “There will be no one outside the gang involved, the site is isolated, from my intelligence, the people there are heavily armed. Two guards are outside with SA80’s, anyone outside carries a Glock or an SA80. There will be casualties, I can’t just walk in and take three articulated lorries full of weapons.” “I don’t like this, you can’t roam around the country with your own private army, I think this should be passed to the police to handle from here on in.” “Do that and there won’t be any secrecy, word will leak out, the papers will have a field day, can you imagine the headlines, ‘Army loses three truckloads of weapons,’ the MOD would be a laughing stock. My men are highly trained, experts at their job, they won’t leave any trace behind them.” “Ex SAS or similar?” “Sir, you should know better than to ask, the less information you have, the more you can deny. This whole operation is deniable, there is nothing to tie this to MOD or MI5.” “What are you doing with the weapons once you have them?” “Jane, this is where I will need your assistance, I will give you the three registration numbers of the lorries. They need to be circulated to all the police forces between Greater Manchester and Leicestershire, we will be travelling down the M6, the A50 and the M1, I don’t want them stopped for any checks.” He passed over a sheet with the registration numbers. “I understand the trailers are ex supermarket. I will keep them secure overnight, I have a secure base, you both need to have teams ready on Saturday morning, to take the weapons and collect the drugs and money we recover. Sir, you will need three HGV drivers, armed MP’s as an escort and a base to take them to. Jane, not sure what you will require, I will send you images as soon as I can. There is more to discuss, but I need another coffee.”
He poured three fresh cups, handed them round then sat down. “How many casualties do you expect?” Dave said to Jane, that anyone who came out with a weapon would be eliminated, any with their hands up would be bound and gagged. “We expect the head of the gang to be there, that is why we have planned it for Friday night, his name is Peter Farrell, he is a businessman from Liverpool, his number two was behind my beating. Once the operation is over, several things need to happen, his house, head office and accountant’s need to be raided to collect any information, before it is destroyed. Do not under any circumstances, involve Merseyside police, there are people inside the force on his payroll. Put together a press release saying there has been a gang related incident in which a leading Liverpool businessman has been caught up in. When I have left the site, I will call, giving you the location, let the police know then.” The Brigadier wanted to know about the equipment Dave had picked up, “that will be in the back of one of the lorries together with the SA80.” He asked if either of them had any questions. Jane Goodley said it looked like everything had been covered, the Brigadier said nothing. “The last item is to set up a password, for whoever arrives on Saturday. ‘Balmoral Castle’, write it down please, anyone who doesn’t have it, is likely to be shot.” As they were leaving, Dave said he wanted receipts for the lorries and their contents, and anything he had in the way of money and drugs. “I will have taken photographs of everything and uploaded them to my secure cloud facility, just to keep me safe.” The meeting was over, they shook hands and parted in reception. Dave and Jane walked towards the tube station together. As they parted, she said to him to take care.
Dinner that night was a quiet affair, Sally had a good idea what was to take place the following day, Dave had to be gone by 12:00 at the latest. She didn’t know if he would be injured or possibly never walk through the door again. In bed her head was on his chest, he could feel the tears running down her face. “I’ll be OK he whispered, I’ll be away from the action, I’m there to direct everything.” She moved her head to look at him, “liar,” was all she said.
In the morning, Sally put on a brave face, Dave had his backpack, she didn’t ask what was in it. Had she done so, he would have said money and two Glocks. There was the £70k to pay Taff, another £1250 for Trevor and his driver, plus another £500 for himself, he carried nothing that would identify him.
Sally hugged and kissed him before they left the house, at the station she kissed him again, she said the same as Jane Goodley, take care. She was sobbing as she drove to Olivia’s. The plan was to stay there until Dave phoned Michael to say they were forty five minutes away. It was only supposed to be him who went to open the warehouse, but Sally and Olivia were going as well.
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