THE RAIDS/ THE COLD ROOM
Tank looked at the huge white doors of the cold room. They stood open, and were held in place by a red fire extinguisher. There were long strips of clear plastic that hung from the ceiling to the floor keeping the cold air inside the huge refrigerator, and small man in a white coat was standing next to Tank. He was shaking with fear. Ten minutes earlier Tank had arrived at the factory with forty armed agents who were dressed like Robo-cop.
“Could someone tell me what this is all about? We just pack and distribute sandwiches. Is there any need for all these guns?” said the little man.
“Shut up and get in the cold room with everyone else. If you are in charge here one of my agents will come and speak to you shortly.” Tank gestured to an armed police marksman to take the man away. The officer pushed the supervisor through the clear plastic curtain into the cold room.
Tank followed them through the clear strips into the refrigerator and quickly assessed the situation that was in front of him. There were approximately sixty men dressed in heavy thermal jackets, gloves and hats, and they were lined up along one of the walls with their hands above their heads. The armed response team stood menacingly in front of the frightened men with their guns pointed toward them. The brave one or two that questioned them about what was happening were silenced quickly.
“Anyone of white European appearance can be taken outside. The officers outside will take your details and then you can leave. You will not be working tonight so go home.” Tank waited for a reaction from the men but none came.
“Most of them are Polish,” said the supervisor. “They don’t understand English very well.” The little man repeated what Tank had just said in Polish and the men started to file through the doors still looking frightened until they got outside. A heavily built man from Estonia stopped beside Tank.
“You are a fascist pig. Police officers in my country are like you also. They are fascist pigs too.”
Tank took half a step forward and drove his knee into the man`s groin. The Estonian man crumpled at the knees and grabbed at his injured testicles, groaning in agony. Tank stepped closer to the man and swung his elbow into the bridge of his nose, and the Estonian man crashed onto the floor backwards, his face was covered in blood. An armed agent moved over the injured man and pointed his machine gun at his head. The injured Estonian raised his hands in surrender, pain and shock making him less confrontational.
“Has anyone else got any comments to pass on to me? Any feedback you can give, no matter how negative, is always welcome.” The room stayed silent apart from the noise from the big condenser fans and the man groaning on the floor.
The Eastern Europeans were escorted from the room, leaving the workers that were of Asian or Middle Eastern persuasion behind. The long slow process of checking the identities of everyone in the refrigerator began. Many of the men in the room shared identities. False passports and duplicate national insurance numbers were commonplace amongst illegal immigrants. This did not mean that all illegal immigrants were terrorists, or that all terrorists were illegal immigrants but it was a start.
The lessons learned by the British security services from the 7/7 London Bombs indicated that the opposite was true. All the bombers were well integrated into the British community. Most had employment, wives and children. Their conviction, however was strong enough for them to leave their families behind and become suicide bombers, never the less all the evidence that Tank had, was pointing to this Muslim community. The TTF agents interviewed the men thoroughly one at a time, and if any of them had incorrect documentation, or if they could not be found on the electoral role, were handcuffed and taken into custody for further questioning. There was only half a dozen left to be spoken to when Chen arrived.
“The house is wired completely. I am concerned about the Scuba gear that we found; it has definitely been used recently. I can`t tell if it was used in salt water or fresh water yet. We have taken a sample to indicate which but we will not know until tomorrow.” Chen noticed two of the suspects that were waiting to be spoken to, were arguing, their voices were hushed but tempers were fraying.
An armed response member moved toward the two men. He directed them to be quiet. The two Egyptian men moved as if they were one. One of them tackled the armed officer around the legs while the other grabbed his machine gun, a Panther AP4 Carbine and he fired a volley of shots into the refrigerator ceiling. Then he pointed the gun at the head of the disarmed officer.
“Please point your guns at the floor and your colleague will not be hurt.” The two men pulled the officer close to them and slowly made toward the doorway. No one moved. Tank gestured to his team to stay cool; he did not want to lose a man during an operation, ever.
The two men walked through the plastic thermal curtain and headed outside toward the car park. They kept the officer as a human shield between them and any potential sniper. The gunman handed a set of keys to his accomplice and he climbed onto a blue Yamaha motorbike. The gunman climbed behind him, the gun still pointed at the head of the policeman.
Tank and Chen edged slowly toward the men knowing that there was nothing that they could do without risking their officer`s life. The motorbike roared to life and the driver kicked the pedal, engaging first gear. As the bike pulled quickly away the gunman squeezed the trigger. The hostage toppled forward as the bullets ripped through his chest. He lay very still on the floor as the people around him sprang into action. Two men rushed to the aid of their injured colleague, but the close proximity from which the high velocity bullets were fired had rendered the Kevlar vest almost useless.
Bullets crashed off the road all around the escaping Yamaha, blasting chunks of concrete and hot metal all over the two Eygptian men as the racing bike screamed away from the scene. Tank and Chen sprinted toward Chen`s car, both men were shouting angry instructions as they opened the doors and jumped into the vehicle.
The motorbike skidded onto the Kingsland Grange at high speed; a rolling barricade of police vehicles with the blue lights flashing and sirens blaring, followed it closely. The remote spy drone helicopter moved from its position above the cold room, and joined in the chase. Chen drove the car in pursuit of the two men as fast as the traffic would allow. Tank wound down the window and pointed his gun at the speeding Yamaha. He fired twice but the oncoming traffic made the risk of innocent casualties too great. He banged his fist on the dashboard in frustration.
The motorbike increased its speed as it hit the wide lanes of the Birchwood expressway, heading toward Hilden traffic island at over a hundred miles an hour, and it doubled the gap between the Egyptian men and the taskforce officers in just seconds. The unmanned drone was directly above the motorbike; it was the only pursuit vehicle that was fast enough to keep up with the machine, and the slower police vehicles were losing ground as the bike approached Orford Park.
The entrance to the park was only wide enough for pedal bikes and push chairs to access the wooded area beyond. The perimeter of the park was ringed with spiked metal railings. The Yamaha screamed through the narrow entrance without slowing and disappeared into the dark. Only the tail lights could be seen.
“We can`t follow them through there, we are going to have to go around.” Chen took the vehicle around the corner on two wheels as they tried to stay parallel with the speeding motorbike. They were two hundred yards from the park`s exit when the motorbike emerged from the dark tree line and banked sharply back onto the highway heading toward the town centre down the main Winwick Road. The bike screamed by the railway station as it neared the town centre, and took a sharp bend heading into the market multi-storey car park. The driver killed the motorcycle`s headlights and took the bike up the concrete ramp to the second level. It was late and so the car park was empty.
The pillion rider jumped off the bike and headed for the concrete stairwell. He opened the door and turned to his accomplice.
“Get to the safe house in Liverpool. I will meet you there if God will allow it to be so,” he shouted as he disappeared into the darkness of the stairs.
Tank and Chen had lost sight of the racing bike minutes before they rounded the bend outside the multi-storey. They did not see it turn into to the dark building.
“Where is that drone? Don`t tell me we have lost these two bastards,” Tank said into the radio. It was broadcasting on an open channel. A static voice came back.
“The drone has lost them completely. There is no body heat or engine registering on the instruments. The only way this can happen is if they have gone underground. Could they have entered a tunnel?”
“The multi-storey car park, they must have turned into that. The layers of concrete will have the same effect as being underground. They must be in there.”
Chen slammed the car into reverse and spun the vehicle around to face the dark car park entrance. Tank opened the door and got out. He ran across the road and vaulted the low wall into the empty car park. He peered into the gloom trying to adjust his vision to the dark. He could see only a few abandoned vehicles, their owners probably drunk in the nearby pubs and clubs. Tank could hear the bass lines of a dozen music systems coming from the town centre bars.
Police cars screeched to halt forming a semi-circle of steel and coloured lights around the building. The officers exited their vehicles and drew down their weapons onto the multi-storey.
The Egyptian pillion rider had dropped the automatic weapon when he dismounted the bike. He had entered the dark concrete stairwell and headed down. The fire door at the bottom of the stairs, which exited the rear of the building, had resisted him only briefly. The door splintered and burst open with the third kick. The Egyptian removed his thermal jacket and crossed the road slowly, trying not to attract any attention. He walked toward the sound of music and laughter that was coming from nearby. He walked down a narrow alleyway and found himself on Bridge St. He laughed as he stepped into the bright lights of the town`s drinking area. He mingled into the crowds of drunken revellers that staggered up and down the street going from pub to pub. The street was packed with people. There was no way he would be found now. He was free.
The motorbike rider looked from the gloom at the armed police presence that was assembled around the building. He had little choice, surrender or die. He picked up the discarded weapon that his friend had left behind and then kicked the engine into life again.
Tank was halfway up the first ramp when he heard the motorbike start its engine. He heard the tyres screech but the noise seemed to be becoming more distant. The targets were heading up the ramps higher into the building. He saw Chen in the gloom at the far side of the second level. He was standing next to the down ramps. Tank indicated to Chen that they would move simultaneously up both sets of ramps, a level at a time.
Tank saw the bulking shapes of the Armed Response Team members climbing over the low walls, to join in the pursuit. They were out for blood having lost one of their men. They split up, half joined Tank, the others followed Chen. They cleared the third level quickly, hugging the concrete walls in the darkness, trying to stay invisible.
The upper levels were quiet, but for the sound of the Yamaha engine idling. The acoustics of the concrete structure made it impossible to distinguish how far away the engine was. The music from the high street was causing echoes around the building.
Tank held his hand up and the teams stood motionless. They were approaching the fourth level. Tank indicated to Chen to copy him. He pointed to his eyes then to himself, watch me, it meant. Tank put his Glock in its holster and took a Panther machine pistol from the agent next to him. He raised his head and shoulders above the ramp, allowing him to see the fourth level without giving his quarry a clear target. Tank took the safety off the weapon and sprayed bullets into the darkness, starting from his left in a wide deadly arc to his right. Chen immediately understood the tactic and followed suit at his end of the huge car park. Sparks flew in all directions as the machineguns released their deadly loads, the bullets slammed into the thick concrete walls. Ricochet bullets glowed red in the dark as they bounced around the cavernous concrete void.
Suddenly the Yamaha engine roared, and the noise of screeching tyres combined with the deafening machinegun blasts filled the air. Tank saw Chen move up the ramp onto the fourth level and take up a shooting stance, and he heard Chen`s gun fired three times, the gun flash glowing white as he shot at a target in the gloom. The motorbike raced toward Chen and there was a blinding flash as a machine gun was fired from the bike, toward them. Chen`s three bullets hit the Egyptian man in the face, and his bone structure disintegrated beneath the force of the dum-dum shells. The bike continued rider less for a few yards before crashing to halt in a shower of sparks.
The volley from the Yamaha rider had caught Chen in the shoulder and the chest. Chen span round as the bullets pounded into him, taking him off his feet before he crashed to the ground.