Текст книги "Just Another Day"

Автор книги: Steven Clark

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

Chapter 18

Chief Superintendent McKay was as stunned as everyone else in the control room. He was thankful for the hot sweet tea put in front of him by one of the civilian support staff. He looked up and smiled at her. She smiled nervously back and turned away.

‘Tell me Paul, what the fuck went on back there. I don’t understand how I got it so badly wrong. Why did the driver of the van go haring off at such a speed from the petrol station, why was he driving round the car park at Stafford looking so guilty? It just doesn’t make sense. What on earth was the guy playing at?’

‘Lee Evans has just reported back Boss; they couldn’t get much sense out of the driver at first. Poor bloke was scared shitless. When he got nearly blinded by the lights and heard the chopper shouting to throw out his guns, he thought he was about to be shot. He couldn’t speak properly. Turns out, our man is just a normal delivery driver. He drove away from the petrol station like a bat out of hell because he was supposed to be meeting his opposite number at Stafford services to swap over some delivery boxes and paperwork. The company has a couple of vans and the Service’s is the central meeting point. One van, the one driven by our guy, does the North part of the run while the other one does all the stuff from Stafford down South of the country.

He thought he was running late and so shot off quick from Keele, likewise, he thought he had missed him when he got to Stafford, hence his suspicious run around the car park. In fact, his oppo phoned him a few minutes after he got to the meeting point, told him he was running late and that’s why he settled over in the corner of the lorry park out of the way to get a bit of shut eye. He told his mate on the phone where he would be and so settled down for a bit of a bit of shut eye until Skip Lee and boys introduced themselves to him.’

‘Well, Johnson stitched us up good style Paul. God help our lads now.’ He took a gulp of the hot tea and looked into the distance. ‘It sounded like Dave Watkins was in a bit of a mess. He won’t be much use to John even if they do get an opportunity to do something themselves. Oh sweet Jesus Paul, why couldn’t I have seen something coming?’

‘Don’t go beating yourself up about this cock up Andrew. Remember, none of us saw it coming either. We all got taken in by the screaming and shouting from Johnson as they were getting out of the police car. The clever bastard used our own technology to fuck us over. No one sussed him. We all just thought he was ranting and panicking a bit. As soon as he mentioned the transit, we all got sucked into his plan. There’s not a lot we can do at the moment other than ask the surrounding forces for assistance in trying to identify the whereabouts of the BMW. They’ve got their choppers up and are trying to locate it. I know it’s a bit of a needle in a haystack job but it’s the best we can do at the moment.

The guys have punched the details of the motor into the ANPR system and we just have to sit back and hope we get a hit quickly. He might not be that far ahead of us.’

Paul Wilson was trying his best to put a brave face on things. He knew it was a fucking disaster, but, he reasoned that Johnson would at least have had to travel south on the M6 in the same direction as the transit van for about fifteen miles before he could come off at the first available junction and drive up north again.

The woman driver of the BMW had been found a few miles North of the services at Keele so there was a good chance that he was still on the motorway somewhere. He was thankful that Johnson had let the woman go, even if he didn’t understand why. A female hostage would be quite an asset in many ways if it came to using her as a bargaining chip, not to mention the fact that he had given away his direction of travel. Maybe the fatigue and the situation was clouding his judgement as well as everyone else’s.

He prayed that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras would pick them up somewhere.

Originally, the cameras had been conceived and used for terrorism purposes in locating and tracking suspicious vehicles, latterly, they had been used for many other purposes, not least of which was for more mundane police work. They weren’t sited solely on motorways any more. Lots of strategic points had been identified for their use. Ports and Airports were now equipped with the cameras as well as many trunk roads up and down the country. Still, all they could do now was sit and wait. Every minute seemed like five as the clock ticked slowly on.

He sipped slowly from his tea as he eyed his boss and thought to himself. If there is a God, for Christ’s sake give us a break. If ever we needed one, now is the time.

John was horrified. He silently screamed as the realisation hit him like a brick in the face. They weren’t getting into the transit van at all. He had seen the driver of the van walking back across the forecourt of the petrol station with the newspaper under his arm and studying the receipt for his petrol.

The delivery man didn’t take much notice of the bloke in the green overalls and trainers staring at him, nor of the other two men huddled close together with their backs to him. He just nodded slightly and climbed into the drivers’ seat and drove away. He thought it a little strange that they were stood near to the back of his van, but otherwise, not much else to concern him. The back doors had been padlocked and were still closed and he never gave it much of a second thought as he shot off quickly to meet his mate at Stafford.

‘Don’t say a fuckin word’ hissed Johnson as he fingered the knife in his belt. He had seen his next victim.

‘When I say so, turn round and move quickly in front of me. You will see a silver coloured BMW with its door open. Right, move it, go.’

John stumbled forward as he was pushed forcefully, the tip of the knife pricking into the small of his back. Dave was on autopilot and just went in whatever direction he was shoved. Johnson had loosened the noose by a turn and had taken his finger off the trigger. He knew he would get no resistance from his captive, but he didn’t want any unintended bloodshed either.

John saw her leaning into the car about five yards away. She was stretching across the drivers’ seat to the front passenger seat as though searching for something in a shopping bag or a handbag of some kind. He caught a side on glance of her face and thought she was about thirty years of age, smartly dressed in a beige coloured pin stripe type jacket and matching knee length skirt. Short heeled beige coloured shoes completed her outfit and with her collar length well cut hair and top of the range motor, he rightly figured that she was a comfortably well off young woman.

She never heard a thing as the trio closed upon her quickly. Johnson whispered in John’s ear.

‘I’m going to give you this knife. Don’t fuck about or try anything stupid or the last thing you will see is his head rolling on the ground. Make sure you impress upon her that she is to do and say nothing. Push her across into the passenger seat and then you get into the drivers seat. If she starts screaming and shouting or makes any kind of a fuss, that’ll be down to you. Is that clear?’

‘Crystal.’

John knew that his best course of action was to get up very close behind the woman and stop her from turning round. If she was in a position to move or manoeuvre in some way, she might well start screaming and there would be a bloodbath of that he was certain. For her own good, and that of himself and Dave, he had to act quickly, decisively and above all, aggressively.

She had her legs slightly apart and was reaching into a shopping bag on the passenger seat next to the steering wheel as John forcefully pushed his thigh between her legs and pressed hard against her buttocks. She was obviously startled and tried to move back. John stopped her with his left hand and brought the knife in front of her with his right hand. he was almost distraught himself as in those few seconds he realised that this was a classic rape position with his hand on the back of his ‘victims’ neck, pushing her forward into a bent position.

‘Do exactly as I say and you won’t get hurt. Do you understand?’

When she saw the large blade of the kitchen knife just a few inches from her face, she let out a quiet anguished groan. Her knees sagged and she began to crumple. She didn’t faint, but there wasn’t much in it as she tried to hold herself up. She was almost sat on John’s thigh and he suddenly felt the right knee of his overalls become wet and warm. He instantly realised that in her shock, his victim had urinated uncontrollably. He felt so disgusted with himself that for a split second, he wanted to take the knife and shove it in Johnson up to the hilt and twist it viciously.

Johnson saw the spreading stain on John’s leg and almost laughed.

‘Get her in the fucking car before she shits all over you. We haven’t got time for this.’

John desperately wanted to, but couldn’t offer any kind of apologies or explanation. He pushed her hard with his left hand and she began to move onto the drivers’ seat. She hadn’t said a word. She couldn’t speak. Her mouth was opening and closing but no words would come. The suddenness of the attack, the violation of her body with the forceful thigh between her legs had struck her dumb. She clambered forward on her knees and john could clearly see the large wet patch. The fact that the skirt was light coloured had made the wetness stand out even more and the tell tale streaks of urine as it traced a pattern down her tan coloured tights just served to revile John even more knowing that he was responsible for her fear and humiliation. She continued to climb forward on her knees to the front passenger seat. She still never uttered a word.

Johnson had opened the rear drivers’ side passenger door and pushed his captive ahead of him. All four were now in the vehicle and the whole operation had taken less than a minute.

‘Quiet; sit still; Nobody say a fucking word.’

He looked around at the scene alongside the petrol pumps. There was no commotion of any kind, no one looking or pointing in their direction. Everybody was just going about their normal business of pulling up at the pumps, filling up and paying their money at the kiosk. Nobody could see easily into the back of the car with its dark tinted windows and Johnson smiled as he realised that it was the perfect vehicle.

‘Right John boy, nice and slowly, we’re going to drive out the petrol station and back onto the motorway. Don’t be drawing any attention to the car, nice and easy does it. With your left hand, take hold of the blade of the knife loosely between your finger and thumb and pass it back to me. Nothing sudden. Understand?’

John didn’t reply. He just passed the knife behind him. Although he was disgusted at himself for having treated this poor woman in this way, he knew he had no choice. Had she resisted in any way, Johnson would as likely as not have taken great pleasure in causing her real pain.

She still hadn’t said a word.

‘Where’s the keys’ said john quietly. She still said nothing.

‘Just give me the keys and we’ll get going. I’m not going to hurt you.’

The passenger seat was moving as John saw her shaking, her right hand clenched in a fist. Still she said nothing. Where before her mouth had been flapping open and closed. Now, it was locked shut in abject terror. He could see the veins on her face and jaw standing out as she clenched her teeth together. Johnson leaned close behind her left ear and in a deeply menacing voice said,

‘give him the fucking keys or I’ll stick you here.’

She could see the glint of the blade out of the corner of her right eye but she was powerless to do or say anything. The tears streamed down her cheeks but still she could not act. John saw that her clenched fist was holding a key fob and he said to Johnson,

‘it’s all right, she’s got the keys in her hand, don’t hurt her, she can’t do anything. She’s not being obstructive, she can’t help it.’

He took hold of her right hand in both his hands. He tried to be gentle; he knew she was absolutely traumatised. Her hands were closed so tightly around the keys that he had to force her fingers apart. As he opened her fingers one by one, he saw that the key had cut into the palm of her hand. Now that her hand was open, the blood began to freely flow. He shook her gently. No response. He took her face in his hand and turned it towards him and she looked in his direction. She still didn’t speak. Her eyes were screaming at him. She tried to open her mouth but it was as though someone had put a tight band around her chin.

‘Have you got a handkerchief or something in your bag?’

She nodded.

‘Roll it up and put it in the palm of your hand and close your hand again like a fist. Okay?’ At the same time as quietly telling her what to do, he was demonstrating the same using his own hand as a guide.

Again she nodded and began to move. He took the keys from her and started the car. He was hoping that she hadn’t filled up and that they had got her car empty. That way, her ordeal would be over sooner rather than later as they would probably ditch the car for another. No such luck. She had just filled up and had also bought a few sandwiches and bottles of pop for the kids, along with some bags of sweets. Johnson, either by good fortune or good judgement had chosen his new victim well. They had plenty of petrol and food to do them for quite a few hours; John’s heart sank once more as he headed back onto the motorway.

He was trying desperately to think of some way that he could let this poor terrified woman know that he was as much a victim as she was. He couldn’t let her believe that he was part of this evil unfolding before her. He had to make Johnson believe that she was more of a liability by keeping her than by letting her go.

‘Don’t you think it would be better if we dump her?’

Johnson was surprised by the venom in his drivers’ voice. The new captive was shocked and even more terrified than a few moments before. She shrank back in her seat clutching the blood stained handkerchief ever more tightly. The quietly spoken words of a few minutes before were now replaced by an anger and aggression that she heard when her terror first began; she couldn’t come to terms with the split personality. She was completely confused. She had started to think that the man alongside her might not be as evil as the one behind.

‘What, do her and dump her?’ came the voice from the back.

John didn’t want this to get out of hand as he sensed that Johnson, leaning forward to speak to him, was becoming interested in John’s thoughts.

‘No. Just dump her at the side of the road. She’s going to be more of a pain in the arse the state she’s in.’

Johnson sat back in his seat once more as his initial excitement subsided. He thought quietly for a few minutes mulling over his thoughts and options. He could keep her in the car as extra insurance but with the two coppers already, didn’t make much sense to keep her. Yeah, probably better to dump her but where?

‘What did you have in mind?’

They were now passing the Services again at Stafford, going back up North towards Liverpool.

John was grateful that his initial idea hadn’t been dismissed out of hand and might even have whetted Johnson’s appetite for getting shut of his latest hostage and continued.

‘I was thinking that if we dumped her on the hard shoulder somewhere in between a couple of the emergency telephone boxes, it would take her at least half an hour to get to one of them and make any phone calls. We could even tape her mouth and tie her hands behind her back and that would give us even more time to get up the road.’

He couldn’t believe that he was talking in such a way. This was Jonson’s way of treating people not his. He had sworn on oath many years ago to carry out his duty without fear or favour and here he was now talking and acting like the scumbag sat behind him. He knew he was playing out the part, but he still had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.

The woman sat next to him began to cry quietly. Her jaw was loosening and she was able to open her mouth slightly. Her chin was slumped forward on her chest as the tears fell onto the front of her skirt causing another wet patch to form. The words came in short sharp emotional bursts.

‘Please don’t hurt me. My two children, my two kids,  are, are at, are at the nursery, ww, waiting for me. PP’Please let me see them again.’

John hated himself as he looked out of his drivers’ window to his right. He hated being the cause of such anguish and pain.

Johnson began to laugh in the back seat.

‘Shut the fuck up lady, you should be grateful that John boy here wants to let you live. The last woman he had in a car like this, he shagged senseless before stickin her didn’t you mate?’

John couldn’t look in the direction of the woman as she cringed and tried to squeeze further away from the monster in the driver’s seat. Johnson was relishing the humiliation of both the front seat occupants as Dave groaned in semi consciousness alongside him.

‘Yeah, fucked her brains out before slicing her like a kipper. One evil bastard he is. Don’t wanna mess with him love.’

As he looked out the side window, John fought hard to stop the bile rising in his throat. If I get the chance to do you Johnson, he thought to himself, I’ll fucking do it, oath or not.

‘Is this your car?’ john forced his head back to the front and spoke to his passenger.

‘It’s our car, my husband and me.’

‘Is there a toolkit or something in the boot?’

‘I’m not sure, my husband has something in the back with stuff in, but I’m not sure what he keeps.’

‘What d’you reckon, pull over and look for something to tie her with?

Johns eyes burned with hate as he looked in the mirror to see eyes filled with amusement and contempt staring back.

‘Good idea Mr Walsh. Be gentle with her now, I know you’d like to hurt her but when alls said and done, we’re not savages are we?’

John quickly pulled onto the hard shoulder and opened the back of the car. He was raging within himself for allowing Johnson’s taunts to get the better of him.

He opened a plastic box that was typical of a handyman’s and rummaged about. He quickly found the cable ties and gaffer tape that would serve his purpose. He moved to the front passenger side of the car and opened the door. He pulled the woman out roughly to keep up the pretence.

‘Face the car’ he barked at her ‘and put your hands behind your back.’

She was trembling once more and John leaned close to her left ear as he was fastening her hands with the black plastic tie. He felt her revulsion and fear as he whispered in her ear.

‘The other man in the back and me are police officers. We’ve been kidnapped.’

She began to push back and tried to turn round but he shoved her roughly forward again and said in a louder voice,

‘stop fucking struggling or you will get hurt.’ He whispered again, ‘I’m trying to save your life. Be quiet and listen. When you get found, tell them we’re heading back towards Liverpool. Okay?’

He roughly twisted her round so her face was looking towards him. She looked at him with bewilderment as he placed a large piece of tape over her mouth.

‘There, that will keep you quiet’ he said for the benefit of Johnson.

He took her by the arm and walked her several feet away from the car as Johnson watched intently from the back seat. The knee length skirt was a hindrance as he half lifted her and told her to climb over the Armco barrier to the relative safety of the grass verge beyond.

‘I’m so sorry I’ve had to treat you like this but believe me, it’s for your own good. You probably couldn’t see, but he’s holding a shotgun to my colleagues’ neck. Sit down on the grass and wait till we’ve gone okay?’

She couldn’t speak with the tape in place but she nodded and John thought he had gotten through to her that, although she was still completely shocked and frightened, he wasn’t such a bastard after all. He shoved her once more for the benefit of the watching psycho and moved quickly to the drivers’ seat and closed the door. He was trembling somewhat himself at the thought of how he had treated the woman and even though it was for her own good, it didn’t make him feel any better. He gripped the steering wheel hard to try and prevent his hands from shaking.

Their eyes met once more in the mirror as Johnson said, ‘Okay Mr Walsh, no point in hanging around.’

John’s foot was on the accelerator even before he had finished speaking. The wheels screeched and spun on the tarmac as he gathered speed and eased back into the traffic flow.