THE LONDON DRUG WARS (6 page)

Then he heard the squeak of a hinge as the door the
other side of the hut opened. The dog stirred and growled. There was the
scraping of boots on the rocky ground. Fraser stood with his rifle pointing at
the corner of the hut, waiting.

After a long moment he heard the sound of urine
striking the rocky soil and breathed a sigh of relief. A few moments later he
heard the sound of clothing being adjusted. A man’s voice say something
soothing; presumably to the dog. Then there was the squeak of the door’s hinge
again and the sound of the man moving about inside. Next there was the sound of
a boot on wood and a soft curse; in the darkness the man had stumbled into some
piece of furniture.

Fraser’s face began to itch as the sweat ran down it.
But he ignored it and remained absolutely still. He stayed rooted to the spot
for ten minutes
,
waiting for
those inside the hut to go back to sleep. Only then did he move.

Five minutes later he stood at the rear of the
lean-to. The two donkeys turned their heads towards him curiously, their
nostrils twitching. They seemed to accept his presence and their heads dropped
forwards again. There was no sound from the dog or from within the hut. It was
the dog he feared most; its senses were a hundred times more acute than those
of humans.

Slowly and gently
,
Fraser stooped
and laid his rifle flat on the ground. Rising again he pulled a small pouch
from a pocket. In it was the small disc containing a tiny battery and a minute
transmitter that would send out a beep discernible up to a kilomet
re
away. It was
state of the art according to the boffin who’d given it to him and the battery
would last a week. From the pouch he also took a small tube of glue. It was a
very special strong substance, 2
-O
ctyl cy
a
noacrylate that
had been tested for the job it must do.

Now for the ticklish part
,
Fraser thought. He could not be sure how the donkey would
react when he touched it. Choosing the smaller
,
more docile
-
looking
of the two animals, he laid his hand gently on its rump. It immediately turned
its head and sidestepped in the narrow space, bumping into the other donkey.

Fraser kept his hand on the animal’s rump and waited.
The donkey finally quietened down; clearly it was used to being handled. Fraser
gently stroked the rump
,
letting the animal get used to his touch. After a few moments he moved his hand
down the animal’s side
,
continuing the soft stroking motions
,
then onto the stomach
,
gently searching it for the thickest clump of hair. The donkey gave him a
curious look but didn’t move away.

Fraser had an irreverent thought that almost caused
him to giggle out loud. Perhaps the donkey was used to having its nether
regions fondled; you never knew what some of these lonely farmers got up to
with their animals.

Keeping a tight rein on his thoughts
,
Fraser slowly removed his hand. He
watched the donkey’s eyes as he did so. Was that disappointment he saw in them?
This time he had to muffle a snort. He carefully unscrewed the cap of the tube
of glue and dabbed a spot onto the disc. Then he counted to thirty under his breath
as he’d been told to.

The
donkey was still watching him as he put his hand back between its back legs. He
attached the disc to the rough hair that grew there. After checking that it was
firmly stuck he withdrew his hand. Giving the animal a parting pat on its rump
he carefully retrieved his rifle and withdrew
,
and made his way back to his observation point on the slope above.

“
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever
has.
”

The next morning Brookes woke with a clear mind. He
now had a mandate to go after Bronchi and the wherewithal to do it. Today he
would gather information on just how to go about the task. He already had a
strategy in his mind but knew it was essential to have his whole team fully in
the picture and with him. That was his first task
.

Brigid picked him up at seven-thirty a
.
m
.
and saw that he was in a good mood as soon as he got into
the car. Pulling away from the kerb
,
she asked, “What’s on for today sir?”

“Today we start the process of bringing the Russian
and his gang of thugs down. Once I’ve briefed the team on their tasks, we’re
off to
t
he Yard to see an old friend of mine.
I want to find out all I can about Bronchi and his strengths and weaknesses.”

They completed the rest of the journey in relative
silence, both busy with their own thoughts.

The team knew his reputation for punctuality and were
all in the ops room at eight
sharp
.
Brookes opened the briefing in his usual fashion. “We’ve been given an unusual
task. That of bringing one man to justice. That should give you an idea of the
importance of the task. The fact that one criminal has become so brazen that
the government have had enough of him shows how bad the situation is.”

After a brief pause he continued, “But we have to do
this properly. When we get this man to court he’ll have the most expensive
lawyers defending him. We need evidence of his wrongdoings
,
and the evidence and the manner in
which we got it must be impeccable. We all make mistakes and provided you have
been careful and they’re not too blameworthy you may be forgiven if you make
one.” He pa
u
sed
,
then added, “Then again you may not be forgiven so tread
carefully.” There were a few cackles around the room as all those present had
worked with him before and new he was a fair man.
“But I don’t want any mistakes brought to notice in court. This man has
committed crime after crime and yet has never been convicted of any of them.
Witnesses have disappeared or been threatened or even murdered and he’s got
away with it. He’s drawn a coat of armour around himself that we have to
penetrate. We need a strategy and I have one.

“But I don’t have the monopoly on good ideas. In my
mind I have a plan of how to go about the task. You may have a better one.
Don’t wait to be invited to contribute, interrupt if you think you should. And
even if you like my plan you may nevertheless have ideas that might improve it;
I want to hear them.”

He looked around the faces in front of him
.
H
e was not usually one to overdramati
s
e things but grabbing them now was
important. “Has anyone any questions before we start?”

There were none so he continued, “You all know why we
are here
–
to bring down Ivan Bronchi. This man
has a stranglehold on the trade in narcotics in the East End of London and he’s
willing to kill to keep that stranglehold. Not only that but he has a string of
prostitutes housed in at least four brothels. Apparently he also has one or two
legitimate businesses and an interest in a chain of nightclubs. And those are
just the things we know about; who knows what else he controls? That’s what we
are going to find out in the next few days.”

He paused to let his words sink in. Then he asked,
“Before I go on, does anyone have a problem with this?”

There were rumblings of assent around the room. A hand
was raised and Brookes called for silence. Detective Constable Liz Fraser
waited for the quiet
,
then
she said, “Haven’t the drug squad been after Bronchi for years
,
sir
?
W
hat can we do that they can’t?”

“Good question Liz. That’s precisely what I want for
us to discuss now. We need a new approach. But we only have one target and a
whole team of detectives and technicians to bring him down. I’ve been told by
the DAC that whatever else we need he will provide if at all possible. So let’s
talk about a strategy and you can come back to this question later if we
haven’t answered it.”

Fraser nodded. There were no more questions.

Brookes continued, ‘OK
,
a strategy. I’ve already given this some thought. How do we
go about bringing down a multi-millionaire who leads a gang of cut-throats who
will kill anyone who speaks out against him?”

He paused
,
giving the team a chance to make suggestions; none were forthcoming.

He smiled
.
“The first thing we do is find out everything there is to know about
him. And I mean every little detail of who he is, where he comes from, his
lifestyle, habits. And we are looking for weaknesses, areas where we can attack
him.”

He paused and looked at Fred Middlemiss
.
“As you would put it Fred, I even
want to know which hand he wipes his arse with.”

This earned him a laugh and he waited for it to
subside. Then he continued, “I’ve an appointment later this morning with a
friend who, hopefully
,
will
be able to tell me all about his past. The three teams we’ve split you into
will find out about the present. I’ll go through your tasks now.”

He turned to a tall man on his left with the build of
a rugby flank forward. “Some of you won’t know DI Dick Mann
,
seconded to us from the Fraud Squad,
he and his DC, Anne Drake, will look into the man’s finances, his banking and
how he disposes of his so-called earnings. Mr. Mann has contacts with Revenue
and Customs and, I understand, with the VAT people. Is that right Dick?”

Mann nodded and the faintest of grins creased his
face. “Yes, Revenue and Customs would love to get their hands on some of his
ill-gotten gains.”

Brookes continued, “DI Brown and his team will find
out about his legitimate businesses; anything you want to say Eric?”

Eric Brown was a seasoned detective in his
mid-thirties, he’d worked with Brookes for two years and was one of his most
trusted lieutenants. He nodded
.
“
We know he owns a couple of
nightclubs and has interests in one or two other things.” He smiled
.
“I understand he also has a few
racehorses in training. We’ll find out exactly what else and come back to you.”

“Good
.
” He
turned to a woman next to Eric Brown. She was tall and heavily built for a
woman and wore a trouser suit, white blouse, and a no-nonsense expression on
her face. “DI Betty Chard and DS Fred Middlemiss
,
with the biggest squad
,
will pay some attention to his criminal empire and will look
after the surveillance teams once we find something for them to watch.”
Turning to the DI he asked, “Anything you want to say Betty?”

She nodded, then spoke in a loud voice, “This pig
we’re after is no fool. In the past he’s spotted our surveillance teams every
time. But Fred Middlemiss here has got us a fleet of vehicles you’ve never seen
the like of. Even so we need to be careful. As a general rule, it’s better to
lose the man than show out. So the rule is covert with a capital
C
. And no lo
o
se tongues with our colleagues. We’re already being called
the hit squad
,
and if Bronchi’s got a mole in the
job it won’t be long before the news gets to him. So be damned careful who you
talk to.” She turned to Brookes and nodded.

He returned her nod
.
“Thanks Betty. Now the obvious area to look at is the drug
dealing itself. That’s where our friends from the
d
rug
s
quad
will be helping out. DCI Arthur Bolton here has his own team but they are
interested in all the London drug gangs
,
so are more than happy that we help with watching Bronchi’s
gang. Clearly we need to liaise closely with them especially when planning any
raids. In fact he’s taking our surveillance team with him this morning to fill
them in on the Russian gang’s drug distribution at street level.”

He turned to Bolton, a short
,
stocky man in his late forties who looked like what he was;
a hard-nosed detective who’d seen just about everything there was to see in the
job. Brookes added, “Anything you want to say at this stage, Arthur?”

Bolton nodded
.
“Only to reinforce what you said, you will have your work
cut out to find a weakness in this bloke’s armour; we’ve been trying for
years.”

Brookes inwardly flinched; the last thing he needed
was a division between the two units. But he let it pass, as he could only
deepen the rift if he got into that argument.

“OK, these things are not cast in stone, as I said at
the start, your ideas are welcome. Does anyone have anything they want to say
now?”

DC ‘Stumpy’ Gerrard said, “Yes boss, shouldn’t we be
looking for his chemist
?
If
we find him we just have to wait for the drugs to arrive and grab them and
him?”

Brookes turned to Bolton to answer this. The DCI
nodded and said, “What do you think we’ve been doing all this time, picking our
noses? It doesn’t have a label like a shop you know. And besides, if we do find
it and raid it, Ivan will just find a new chemist and set up shop somewhere
else, cutting the drugs is no rocket science. You won’t make a big dent in his
profits taking out just one load.”

Undeterred
,
Gerrard persisted
.
“What about his dealers then, shouldn’t we take them out?”

Bolton laughed
.
“We’ve tried that. You take out one and there’s ten waiting
to take their place. The profits even at their level are enormous. But of
course we take them out when we find them. The squad coming with me this
morning will soon see that for themselves.”

Brookes intervened
.
“There Stumpy, now you have an idea of what we’re taking on.
Has anyone else anything to add?”

There was a long silence. “OK
,
” Brookes said
.
“Let’s get all the info we can on the gang and its operations, then we’ll look
at how to tackle the task. We have a distinct advantage, one that police rarely
get. We have a single target and no distractions
,
so let’s find out all that we can about him and then we can
decide on the tactics that will bring him down.”

*

At five minutes to eleven, Brigid pulled the car to a
halt in the underground car park of New Scotland Yard. Brookes led the way up
the stairs to reception
,
where the two were met by a young DS from SO 15. Now called
t
he
Counter
Terrorist Branch, SO 15 was better known as Special Branch. Formed in 1883 to
combat
t
he Irish Republican Brotherhood, the branch had
quickly expanded to take in other duties. But its primary function remained
that of protecting the realm from terrorists and subversives
,
both from
within and without. Whilst based in London
,
its influence
went far beyond the UK’s capital city.

The
b
ranch
maintained watches at all ports, both sea and air; turning away or arresting
undesirables
.
It provided protection for VIPs both
British and visiting foreign. This did not include the Royal Family
,
who were looked after by the
separate Royalty Protection Group. SO 15 kept a close liaison with the other
less public security services
,
and
gathered intelligence on all who meant harm to the UK and its citizens. As a
consequence it monitored the activities of foreign gangs operating in this
country
,
many of whom had links to terrorist
organisations.

All its staff were recruited from the police rank and
file and all of its officers had done at least two years on the beat before
applying for selection to the branch. It was affectionately known by other
members of the force as the Met’s own secret squirrel branch.

The DS took them to a lift that whisked them up to the
sixth floor
,
where they were confronted by a
locked door simply bearing the title SO 15 in small, black lettering. Swiping a
card in the lock and entering a four letter code, she gained access to the
inner sanctum and led them into a large open office. Turning left
,
she headed for a smaller office
separated from the main one by a glass
-
pane
l
led
wall. The door to this office was open and she led them inside without
bothering to knock.