Dave and Sally were down for breakfast at 07:30, He was sure the information he had discovered last night was the clue to the case, his plan was to go straight to Jane Goodley with the paperwork, go through it with her and let her make the decision on where to go from there. He had his ideas, but he wanted her input before he gave his opinion. Sally was going off for her training. They had everything they needed with them, Sally her backpack and Dave his briefcase and laptop.
Tony was in the front of the van, the car was parked around a hundred yards behind, they were waiting, it had taken almost an hour to drive from Acton. It was now after 06:40, hopefully they would be gone in an hour. No one took any notice of the two vehicles amongst the others parked nearby. It was a quiet side street, more importantly, it was one Jane Goodley would be driven along.
She was in the bathroom getting ready, Ruth was downstairs making breakfast. They had been sharing a bed since she came round to help the previous Friday. Unknown to each other, they had both decided tonight would be the night. Jane was as happy as she could be given what had happened, Ruth had been reluctant, having been hurt when they drifted apart before, the two of them had talked endlessly, they had both agreed to give their relationship another try. In the kitchen, Ruth had her breakfast ready, she didn’t work and was happy to look after Jane. Her parents had died many years ago, he had been a banker, everything he had was left to her mother when he died, later it passed to Ruth. A couple of days a week, she helped out in a charity shop. Jane phoned to say she would be ready at 07:30. The knock on the door signalled the car was here. She kissed Ruth on the cheek, said she would see her later and left. The door was open for her to get in. She said good morning to the driver and the guard. She took no notice of the car pulling out in front or the van which was now behind her. In her head she was going through her morning, meetings to host and reports to write. She thought about the evening, and how she hoped it would work out. Jane never saw the car in front stop sharply or the van draw up along side her car, she heard two shots, the driver slumped down in his seat, the guard was shot, but trying to pull his gun out, he was shot again and stopped moving. The side door of the van was now open, the window beside her was smashed, a hand reached in and opened the door from the inside, she was hauled out the car and thrown onto the floor of the van, her legs were pushed inside. The door was slid shut, a bag was but over her head and tied round her neck, she started to struggle, she lashed out with her feet, trying to kick anyone nearby. She felt herself being pulled up into a sitting position, what she thought was a fist hit her on the side of the face. With the moving of the van, she fell to one side, she couldn’t remember if she lost consciousness. One of the three in the back, now had her bag. He had pulled it off over her head, inside he found her phone, he tried to switch it off, but it was locked, he put it on the floor of the van and stamped on it. He found Jane’s gun, and took it from the bag, he tossed the bag and what was left inside towards the back of the van.
In the restaurant, it was just after 08:00, Dave and Sally were chatting over coffee, they were discussing what to do that evening, it would either be the theatre or they would dine out, Dave wanted to visit the Greek restaurant he had eaten in earlier in the week. He could hear raised voices near the entrance to the dining room, a uniformed police officer was arguing with the head waiter. Dave suspected the policeman was looking for him. “Grab your kit, something’s up.” He walked briskly towards the doorway. “Sir, this officer is demanding to see you, I said someone would ask you if you wanted to see him.” “Are you David Stretton?” Dave nodded, “I have an urgent message for you, I am not to leave without you,” By now, many people were looking. “Well, what is it?” “She’s gone, that’s it, I hope it makes sense to you.” “Come on, let’s move,” Dave and Sally were on their way to the door, there was a police car waiting outside. The policeman had to almost run to keep up. “MI5 Headquarters, blue lights, sirens, no time to waste.” Sally looked worried. Dave had his phone out and was calling Howard, “Meet us at the front door, we will need to go down to the armoury, are you tracking her? Contact the police, tell them not, I repeat not to intercept her. Which direction are they headed.” Dave was forming a plan as he listened to the replies. Sally was having to hang on as the car swerved round corners. It pulled up in Millbank outside the main entrance, Dave had to wait for the doors of the car to be opened from the outside. They were up the steps and inside, once through the barriers, Howard was waiting for them, in the lift going down, he explained what had taken place earlier, the details he had were only sketchy, but it was understood, she was in a van, “their heading west.” “They will be going to the Dawson Recycling plant in Acton, find out where it is and get me plans of the building.” “How do you know where they are going?” “We worked it out late last night, I was coming to see Jane first thing this morning.” The lift had stopped, waiting was one of Howards assistant’s. “Find out if there is anyone in the building who is firearms trained and has done fieldwork, no new recruits. “Howard phone for your other assistant, he can find the address and plans while you help us in the armoury. There were two doors to pass through to enter. Behind the counter was an ex-army officer, “I can’t issue anything without a signed order.” “Howard, we don’t have time to piss about with orders, tell him to give us the equipment we want and you will fill in the forms afterwards.” Howard smoothed the way, “I want overalls, one for me, one for Sally, Kevlar vests for us, three Glock 17’s, one silencer, two boxes of shells, two shoulder holsters, six flashbangs, two balaclavas, a hunting knife and sheath, and four headsets. We need the equipment now. Howard’s phone was ringing, “Dave there are three upstairs who are firearms trained and have been out in the field.” “Ask if any of them have shot at a person while on duty.” Dave could tell from Howard’s face, none of them had. His other assistant was now in the armoury. “Contact the police, I want a firearms officer who has pulled a trigger while on duty. If there is a problem, call the Home Secretary. I want him here pronto.” The equipment was beginning to appear, the overalls were first, Dave stripped off and put them on, he flexed his arms to make sure there was plenty of movement. Howard turned away while Sally did the same, “We need some socks and boots please.” Sally gave the sizes, a few minutes later they were on the counter. A huge, bigger than Dave, policeman came in, he was already wearing overalls. “Are you the firearms officer?” “Yes, what’s going on?” “Have you shot, or attempted to shoot anyone before?” “I’m not sure I’m allowed to answer a question like that.” “There is a situation, where two people have already been shot, the likelihood is there will be more shooting, if you haven’t fired a gun with the intention of killing someone, then you are no good to me.” “Yes I have,” do you have any children?” “No,” “good, are you familiar with a Glock?” “Yes, we have them in our cars.” “What’s your name?” “Everyone calls me ‘Brick’. Dave ordered one more Glock and another Kevlar vest, “I’m Dave, this is Sally, we will be a three man team going in to rescue a hostage, who it is isn’t important, one attempt on her life has already taken place, but it was foiled. This time, we should be less than an hour behind. Howard was standing, not knowing what to do. “Howard, order a black Range Rover with blue lights, have it ready in fifteen minutes. When you have done that, ask for four headsets with fully charged batteries.” Sally loaded three of the Glocks, she left the fourth for Brick to do himself. The plans and address had arrived, Sally, find it on street view, I want to see what the road outside looks like. Dave looked at the plans, “I suspect she will be on the first floor, similar to Dagenham, unfortunately, there is no basement this time.” Brick looked at Dave and Sally but said nothing. “I need to get in the front door, once we are in, we can take it from there.” Howard brought over the headsets, “ask if he has any used utility company Hi-Viz coats.” “Dave asked Brick if he knew what flashbangs were. “I’ve seen them but never seen one go off.” “If I use one, I will warn you, close your eyes and put your hands over your ears, the flash will be gone in a few seconds, your ears might ring for a while, it disorientates anyone nearby. Check the headphones, make sure we can talk to each other.” “Why is there a fourth set?” “For whoever is in charge of the cavalry.” A dirty ‘Thames Water’ Hi-Viz coat was given to him. “OK all set, Howard, one last final job, ring the Home Secretary, the police on the ground must be told I am in charge and they do nothing with out my authority. When we start, no one speaks unless it is necessary, Brick you will be in charge of anyone we capture, shoot anyone who tries to resist.” Neither Dave nor Sally bothered with the holsters, there was a pocket in the Kevlar vest. Brick had his police holster. “You drive, you will be more familiar with the roads than I will be.” As they left, Dave asked for one more item, a packet of heavy duty long cable ties.
The car was waiting for them, the location was entered in the satnav and they set off, blue lights flashing. It was now over ninety minutes since she had been taken, by the time they would arrive, she would probably have been inside for almost an hour. They could see the police cars as they approached, the road was blocked. Dave announced who he was when he was out the car. “I’m the senior officer, I have been told to take instructions from you.” Dave gave him the fourth headset, “This is for listening only, do not speak unless you are asked a question. Where have you tracked her to?” “The tag has placed her in an old scrapyard.” “Dawson Recycling.” “Yes, how did you know?” “It’s my job to know. Do you have a local car here?” He pointed to one across the road, “I want a drive round, have them take me past the building.” They both walked over to the car. “I want to go past the building twice, once each way, with a couple of minutes between each pass. I will be in the back.” On the first pass he didn’t see much, the one in the other direction was much better. Returning to Brick and Sally he confirmed the solid fence he had seen on street view was still round the site. “The windows have all been painted black, if we can’t see in, they can’t see out.” Dave asked if anyone had a clipboard or folder, one was brought out from a traffic car. “Open the road, I want it to look normal outside. There wasn’t much traffic about, but no vehicles might have alerted anyone looking. Dave explained to Sally and Brick what was about to happen. They both understood. “Get ready, no talking unless it is necessary. Check your weapons, you two will go up in an unmarked car, I will walk up from here, stop a little way past the building. I will say when it is time to get out, come in the gateway and hide round the corner, hopefully I can gain us entry.” He put on the old Hi-Viz coat zipping it up to conceal his weapons.
A short distance away, Jane Goodley had been taped into the barber’s chair. She had said nothing as she had tried to keep upright in the van, there was nothing to brace herself against, there was no light coming through the bag over her head. Her hands were tied together with what she thought must be rope. She listened to see if the people who had taken her were talking, other than the creaks and bangs as the van travelled through London, she heard nothing. The van slowed down, turned sharply, went over a huge bump she thought must be some sort of traffic calming measure, turned again and then stopped. The side door was slid open, a hand on each arm pulled her sideways, they held her as she was dragged out, her feet dropped off the van and hit the ground. The hands pulled her upright, as soon as she was steady, she lashed out with her feet, trying to kick the person to her left, one of her kicks connected, she heard a yelp, the fist that hit, knocked her senseless. Jane Goodley was aware of being carried upstairs. She tried to stop her arms being taped to the chair, her shoes were pulled off, the legs of the trousers she was wearing were pushed up and her legs taped to the sides of the chair. Whatever she was sitting in, couldn’t be moved, she had tried to rock it from side to side, but nothing moved. Finally, someone spoke, “relax, you will be in that chair for some time.” It was a northern voice, she couldn’t place where from exactly. “Why are you doing this?” She knew there wasn’t any point in pleading to be released, if someone had done this to capture her, they weren’t going to let her go if she begged. There was no reply, Jane screamed, this resulted in a hard slap across her face, it didn’t hurt as much as the punch earlier. The bag over her head was untied and pulled up, only enough for her mouth to be taped over, it went round the back of her head and over her mouth for a second time. She found it difficult to breathe, the hood was pulled back down again, it wasn’t tightened this time, she could see some light out the bottom. The arm on her suit jacket was pulled tight, the material was being cut. Enough cuts were made to allow the jacket to be pulled off, she heard what was left of it being dropped on the floor. The same happened to the blouse and then the trousers, the scissors had cut her several times, she felt blood run down her arm and leg. Now sitting in her bra and knickers, they were cut off leaving her naked. She was trying to work out how many were in the room, she thought there were two, but there could be others not moving. The bag was pulled off her head, she blinked several times and looked round, in front of her, fixed on a wall was a large TV. The walls were painted white, there was black paint on the windows. She tried to look behind her to see who else was there, nobody was in her line of site. “You must be wondering why you are here, strapped to a chair, I will come to why you are naked later. There were footsteps, a large man in a suit walked from behind and stood facing her. “I am Sir George Dawson, I’m not bothered about you knowing my name, you won’t be telling anyone afterwards. My son was Peter Dawson. Does that name mean anything to you? I will let you think about it for a minute.” Jane thought, she thought hard, there was a vague recollection of the name, but nothing else. She shook her head, “to you, he is probably just a name in a file somewhere on a shelf, long forgotten about. I think about him every single day, you murdered him, it wasn’t you who pulled the trigger, but you sent armed men to kill a boy.” Jane tried to remember a case where she had been involved and a child had been killed, there wasn’t one, something like this would have resulted in an inquiry, she wouldn’t have had the promotions if she had messed up. “He was twenty five when you ordered his killing.” The TV in front of her lit up. On the screen were pictures of a new born baby, further images followed. A video of a toddler pushing a toy lawn mower round a large garden was next. Someone else must have taken the following clip, Peter Dawson was now slightly older, he was building sandcastles with his father on Blackpool beach, a woman who Jane assumed was the mother was sitting on a deck chair, the tower was in the background. There followed more pictures and videos culminating in his graduation from Cambridge University. Jane had no idea how long this took, when it stopped she wondered what would be next. Sir George Dawson walked round to face her, in his hand was a black permanent marker. He drew a circle on her left shoulder, he pushed her right breast out of the way and drew another circle underneath it. The third circle was about two inches below her breastbone. Each one was around a half inch in diameter. “Each circle is a mark where Peter was shot, I will shoot you in exactly the same places. Do you want to know why you are naked? The last time I saw my son was on a mortuary trolley, he was naked and under a sheet. You will die the same way as he did and be found the way I last saw my son. He was led astray while at university, he fell in with the wrong people, he didn’t know what he was doing.” Details of the case came back to Jane, her operatives had been fired on first. There were two ways she could go, either do nothing and accept her fate with fear in her eyes, or die staring at her killer. She chose the latter, although her mouth was taped over and dry, Sir George could understand what she was trying to say, “Fuck you, you ignorant bastard.” He slapped her again, she stared at him defiantly. This shook him slightly, he pressed a button on the laptop to repeat the film while he steadied himself. He wasn’t used to women speaking back to him.
© 10210ken 2025
