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‘What’d it say?’ said Ross.
‘Just “Lochinver. Now.” To which he replied, “I know. We’re travelling up. Will update when objective completed.”’
There was silence in the van.
‘So, let me get this straight. He already knew Lochinver was the destination,’ said Janie.
‘Yes. He knew because he was tracking the solicitor, but he hadn’t told The Ace.’
‘So, who told The Ace?’ said Ross.
‘That’d be nice to know. There’s our bent man on the inside. How well was the location locked down?’ asked Max.
‘Fairly tight. Obviously NCA PPU operational head knew, as he had to deploy his staff for the escort, but they didn’t even know final destination until they were almost there.’ Ross sipped his tea, and grimaced. ‘Any biscuits?’
‘Who else?’
‘Well, I was basically forced to tell Miles and the DCC when I was getting my arse chewed a few hours ago.’
‘Miles again? His name keeps cropping up all the bloody time,’ said Janie.
‘What, Miles? You can’t think it’s Miles Wakefield? He’s a bit of a stuffed shirt, but shit, he’s a decent bloke. I’ve known him my whole service.’ Ross shook his head, but there was hesitancy in his movements.
Max just shrugged. ‘Who would have thought some of the bent cops we’ve brought down were actually bent before we got the evidence? Not like we’ve never been surprised, is it?’
‘There’s another message in here. A standard SMS message that was delivered a few hours ago. New number I’ve not encountered before,’ said Barney, looking up from the laptop.
‘Go on,’ said Ross.
‘“It’s a small one-man station with police house attached. Public entrance leads to small office. Corridor off the office at the end of which is a shower and a small cell. Hard wooden door with spyhole, steel key on main station bunch, normally on desk or on a hook. Fire exit to the rear.”’
The silence in the van was overpowering.
‘Get both those numbers to Norma, now. Urgent search required, including live-trace cell sites, okay?’ said Ross, rubbing his face with his hands.
‘Droopy had someone else on the inside, and it seems that neither The Ace or the contact know about each other. Droopy was playing them off against each other,’ said Max.
‘What next then? Can we use Droopy’s phone, put a call or a text in to The Ace and flush him out?’
‘Phone’s still locked, and if I try and bypass it, it may cause a problem, but we know the number and I’ve an idea,’ said Barney.
‘Sure, you have, old timer, but we still have to brief Miles, and we still have a lot of shit to deal with up here.’
‘I know, but we have a live phone for The Ace, who is currently waiting for dead Droopy’s call. Surely, we can do something with that?’ said Max.
‘There is, but we also have another problem, we have a bent cop close enough to cause problems. We need to sort that first,’ said Janie.
‘Okay, Miles will be here imminently, so we can sort the strategy for the press. We need The Ace to think that the operation was successful, he can’t know that Droopy is no longer with us, okay?’ Ross picked up his phone from the desk which was buzzing like a demented bee. ‘Speak of the devil. Miles, my dear boss, what’s happening?’ He paused for a moment. ‘Fine, we’ll join you, there in a jiffy.’
‘Jiffy?’ said Barney, his face incredulous.
‘Aye, jiffy. Come on. Miles is here and he wants a chat.’
62
Breaking news: Shooting in remote Highland village
There are early reports of a fatal shooting after an attack on a police station in northwest Scotland. A Police Scotland spokesperson said, ‘An incident is ongoing in Lochinver in Sutherland during which firearms were discharged and an individual was sadly killed. The public are strongly advised to stay away from the area, and local officers will be engaging with residents for reassurance purposes.
