To Kill a Grey Man (19 page)

“Sounds simple,” said Collins.

“In effect it is.
 
Get in, sow
disruption and death,
kill
the mark and escape.
 
Okay?” said The Grey Man.

Collins and Surge nodded.
 
“Then
we leave Saturday night.”

Chapter 25

The Raid

John Sea and his enforcer, Keith Poole sat by the window drinking
brandy in two large adjacent sofas in the glass room that had become John Sea’s
office.
 
The light was beginning to go
down and through the shafts of the evening sun they could see the eighteenth
hole off to the right and the beautifully manicured fairway sweeping off into
the trees.
 
The golf course was empty and
the hotel felt quiet without the
clamour
of the golfers.
 
Every ten minutes or so two guards would pass
each other as they circled the manor house clumsily holding AK 47s, obviously not
used to this kind of work.

“I have not heard anything in the past few days.
 
How are we doing?” said John Sea.

“Fine,” said Keith.
 
“We have
some great guys here, all trustworthy.
 
I
have set up a firing range in the basement so they have all had some basic firearms
training at least and they are ready for anything.”

“How are we set up?” asked John Sea.

“I have all CCTV being monitored twenty four seven, plus I have set
up some infrared beams in the grounds.
 
We
have guards at every window and patrolling the corridors.
 
Lighting in the grounds is on non-stop so
even a rabbit could not get through.
 
As
soon as we see anyone, we will blow them away.
 
I have offered a ten grand bonus to any man who drops one of these
bastards.
 
No way can they get in here
without us knowing,” said Keith.

“Great,” said John Sea.
 
“Just
remember these guys are assassins.
 
They
are going to want to sneak in here with the minimum of fuss and kill me then
escape before anyone notices.
 
They have
no idea how many men we have so keep as many out of sight as possible and
create a net wrapped around me so no one can get through.
 
I do not think they will keep us waiting long.
 
Make sure you are armed at all times as I
will be.
 
I think it will be tonight or
tomorrow.”

“Let them come,” said Keith.
 
“It
will be the last place they ever visit.”

Surge and Collins went to pack their specialized equipment, filling
a
holdall
each.
 
They both changed into their working gear.
 
Collins wore a black, three piece
suit
complete with waistcoat, black soft shoes and a black
shirt and Surge wore black jeans, a black
hoodie
and
black soft shoes.

The Grey Man also packed from his stores, two laptop computers and back-up
batteries and a number of explosives with timers.

All this went into the boot of the seven series BMW and with
Jonathan
driving,
they set off up the motorway to
Manchester.

Three hours later they had reached the golf course and Jonathan
slowly drove round the perimeter until The Grey Man told him to pull into a lay-by.
 
There was a small track leading off this
which he had spotted from overhead surveillance pictures.
 
Jonathan drove slowly up the track until they
could not be seen from the main road.
 
They
were now in a thick woodland area backing onto one of the fairways.
 
They checked their watches, it was 11.30 pm.
 
The night was cold but dry with a mild wind and
there was a half moon which was obscured most of the time by clouds which
scurried across the sky.

Collins opened the boot and took off his jacket.
 
He folded it carefully and put it in the
boot.
 
He unzipped his
holdall
.
 
First he
took out a waist holster for the 9 mm
Glock
which he
strapped on with the Glock sitting high on his left hip.
 
Then he selected a large belt for the Uzi
submachine gun.
 
This crossed over the
first belt with the oversized holster sitting on his right hip.
 
Next to the holster were loops for the spare
magazines.
 
He fitted four of these in
and then settled both guns so they rode smoothly.
 
He then took out the old black leather shoulder
holster which he fitted over his waistcoat until it sat under his left armpit.
 
From the bag he took out the huge elephant
pistol which he fitted into the holster and filled his pockets with the large
caliber ammunition.

Lastly he brought out a Sig 226, 9mm pistol from which he screwed on
a custom made silencer.
 
A powerful hand
gun it held nineteen bullets in the magazine and he pushed another magazine
through his belt.
 
This gun he carried
loosely in his left hand leaving his right hand free.

Burdened down with weapons this little old man should have looked
ridiculous but he had changed, no longer the family man, here was The Assassin
and he looked poised, purposeful and completely in balance.

Surge also reached into his bag.
 
He took out a belt with six loops evenly spaced which he strapped on
round his waist.
 
Then he picked up a
number of long steel throwing knives, these were just shaped lumps of metal,
flat and heavy, sharpened to a razor edge at one end with a balancing lump of
steel at the other.
 
He placed each one
carefully into the loops.

Both men connected their mikes and tested they were working.
 
Then from a small box The Grey Man had brought
from the safe house, they put on monocular night display glasses.
 
These were state of the art, fitting over the
head with a long lens that fitted over one eye.
 
Both Surge and The Assassin had practiced with this device or similar ones
for years and they had become completely natural for them to use.

Surge looked at each of them in turn nodded and then jogged off into
the woods.
 
The Grey Man got back into
the car and fired up the computers.
 
Thirty
seconds later Collins reached across and patted Jonathan’s arm.
 
Then The Assassin disappeared into the trees.

The Grey Man let the computers start to boot up.
 
He got out of the car and he and Jonathan
grabbed the explosives from the boot.
 
Locking
the car, they both walked a few hundred yards across the forest to the edge of
the green.
 
The Grey Man primed
each bomb and hid them under leaves and by various trees spread out over a wide
distance.
 
They both raced back to the
car as quickly as The Grey Man could go.

Surge did not need the night sight.
 
The large spotlights lit up the building.
 
As he watched he could see the lights close
to his entry point start to dim throwing up more shadows to hide in.
 
The Grey Man obviously had complete control
and must also be rolling the tape.
 
He
moved swiftly, hugging the walls.
 
As he
got close to the security door he heard a click as the door latch opened automatically
and The Grey Man’s voice sounded in his ear, “No one behind the door,” he said.
 
“You can go in now but there are two at the
top of the stairs.”

He pushed open the door and crept inside.
 
The hallway was dark and he flipped down the
night sight.
 
He now viewed the whole
staircase in a green hue and as he looked to the top, two men had their backs to
him and were chatting.
 
They both had
automatic weapons carelessly slung over their arms.
 
Surge drew two knives and reversed them so
the blades lay against his forearms and only the heavy weighted ends protruded
through his fingers.
 
“Are these two
alone?” he whispered into his mike.
 
“Completely,”
came back the answer and Surge moved quickly but silently up the carpeted
stairs.

He struck one man in the side of the head near the temple, the other
directly above the neck along the line of the spine connecting directly into
the central nervous system.
 
They both
dropped heavily.
 
Surge did his best to
break their fall to minimize the noise.
 
He
then dragged and half carried them down the stairs to get them out of the way
before checking how they were.
 
One was
obviously dead and the other was in a coma like state and would not be coming
round for some time, if ever.
 
As always,
he felt no remorse.
 
These men had hunted
him and his friends.
 
There was no mercy
in the world they lived in.

He carried on up the stairs now moving to the right.
 
In his ear he heard The Grey Man say,
“Careful, one man coming six seconds away.”

Surge moved into an alcove.
 
He flicked down the night sight, counted five until he could just hear
the man and whispered, “Kill the lights”.
 
As the man rounded the corner the hallway went pitch black.
 
The man tried to bring his gun up and shout an
alarm but Surge was beside him now and had pushed the knife fully into his
throat finally snapping his neck.
 
He
pushed him under a small table.
 
“Keep
these lights off,” he said into the mike and then moved forward keeping his
body flat against the wall angling again to the right.

Outside The Assassin hugged the bushes until he came to the security
door which had been darkened by The Grey Man.
 
Getting the ‘all clear’ he moved in and up the staircase.

The Grey Man’s voice came again in his ear, “Door to the left, three
men in a guest bedroom covering the two windows.
 
I have no control of the lights in that room.”

The Assassin gently pushed the door open and slipped in quietly.
 
The men were facing outwards looking across
the long green lawn.
 
He shot all three
very quickly from the hip with the Sig, hardly appearing to aim.
 
The noise was loud even with the silencer but
the hotel was five star and the room walls were thick brick, lined and well
insulated.

He checked with The Grey Man that the hall was free and moved out to
the left.
 
Surge moved quietly but quickly.
 
The Grey Man suddenly said, “Behind you, door
to the left.”
 
Surge spun round and his knife
flashed as a large man came out of a room, the knife slid into his right eye
socket and through to his brain.
 
His
hands shot up as if to pull the knife out but he fell back into the room, dead.
 
Surge dragged him further into the room.
 
So far, so good but their luck could not last.

The Assassin understood as well that it was only a matter of time
before either he or Surge was discovered.
 
“Where are the main congregation of people?” he asked The Grey Man.

“In a room downstairs there are at least fifteen of them.
 
I assume this is the meeting room,” said The
Grey Man.

Collins asked for directions and then made his way carefully down until
he was standing outside the door.
 
He
slipped the Sig into his belt and then drew the Uzi which he held in both hands.
 
He counted to three, took a deep breath, feeling
alive, age and time slipped away.
 
He
then kicked the door open and walked forward immediately taking in where
everyone was and adjusted his aim accordingly.

This was just like training in the killing house.
 
After what seemed like an age he opened up.
 
Some tried to run away, a few tried to bring
their guns to bear but such is the speed and power of the Uzi that was designed
to clear rooms and in the hands of a master, everyone died in seconds.
 
The Assassin appeared to have control on
every round as they scythed through the bodies, not one bullet missed.
 
The Assassin dropped the clip and with one
smooth motion reloaded and kept on firing.
 
The noise echoed around the room and out the open door.
 
On the other side of the hotel Surge heard it
clearly.
 
He stood up, walked into the
centre of the hallway and filled his hands with the knives.

“All hell will now break loose,” said The Assassin into the mike.
 
“Let me know what you have.”