To Kill Or Be Killed (33 page)

“Yes.”

“Davey it’s
just as well you shot that man Wheeler. He’s an evil man and no
doubt.”

“Who’s evil
mummy?” Conor had come into the room.

“The Hamburglar
at MacDonald’s wee man. Want to go to the Harbour today and get Old
MacDonald’s?”

“Yay. Please
dada, can we sit and watch the boats?”

“Sure
sweetie.”

“I’ve to take
him out this afternoon. Mona and Terri asked me over for a coffee
and their boys will be there. You want to play with Leighton and
Hadley this morning Conor?”

“Yay. Can I
watch Teevee mummy.”

David rose.

“I’ll get
breakfast. Log on and check my mail, do my CCTV survey for a bit
and then I’ll take wee man down the harbour.”

“It’d do you
good. Bit of father son bonding, red meat, fries and fresh
air.”

“Perfect.”

David went to
the kitchen and got out the cereal boxes.

“What do you
want for breakfast Conor?” McKie felt relieved, more in his comfort
zone. Talking to Mary had helped and his role as family man was a
‘suit’ of clothes he felt safe in, the traumas of the past days
faded to the back of his mind. He went to the fridge and got the
milk out.

Chapter
86

Claridge’s Hotel
Mayfair London

7 a.m.

April 19th

Cobb had asked
for an alarm call and breakfast in his room. He showered, dressed
neatly but comfortably and whilst waiting for breakfast he took out
the police issue Heckler Koch MP5, stripped it, cleaned it and
armed it. He did the same for his PSS and tucked that in his waist
band at the back of his trousers.

Breakfast
arrived and he sat down to enjoy ‘ham and eggs’ British style. The
coffee was strong and the kind he liked. Betty still hadn’t stirred
and he wondered how he was going to deal with her.

Across the city
Tony Deany had risen from his duty team stopover room’s single bed,
washed, dressed and after eating a good breakfast and gone down to
the office assigned for him for the two weeks. He was surprised to
find Ellie already there.

“Early
riser?”

Not usually,
it’s hard to sleep knowing these men are out there. I mean twelve
dead, the mayhem at Gatwick, sorry to remind you, then the mayhem
at that club.” Ellie paused and looked up from her screen.

“It’s not so
hard to sleep when you need to. I always rise early, did whilst I
was a cop and always do now, no matter how much sleep I’ve had. I
suppose I don’t like to waste a day knowing how short life could
be.” Tony sat down and logged on. Ellie turned back to her screen
and then cast him a sideways glance.

“You know that
sounds good to start with and then becomes really quite grim at the
end.”

Ellie looked at
him. Tony looked back and took in her face. It was a clear skinned,
pale oval, set with a wide mouth, a small neat nose and heavy
lashed pale blue eyes. Her hair was black and cut in a long ‘bob’.
She smiled and he smiled back

“What’s the
news from the network?”

She watched him
turn to the screen, slightly flushed with embarrassment. He was
sweet, especially for a man about six feet tall, muscular, with
short, untidy half curled hair. She liked his eyes, slightly hooded
looking, almost sleepy and a warm brown colour.

“No sign of
Mason. They found the motorbike at the Bickenhall Hotel, well near
it. They had an armed team go in softly, softly. You know rang up,
woke manager, did a walk in opened door with a key. He was gone. I
don’t think they expected to find him."

“News on
Stanton? “

“Nothing
really. Daylight will mean the search can get under way, but he’ll
know that so they’ll have to search harbours. DIC teams are doing
West Coast Harbour checks to see if he put in. There’s a negative
response there. As for Cobb, no sign at all. There were a couple of
false leads off the CCTV checks, he’s fairly average looking Cobb,
especially from black and white footage.”

“So that’s it.
You might as well go back to bed.” Deany smiled at her.

“No way. When
the call comes in I want to be ready.”

“You’re a bit
gung ho aren’t you?”

“I knew Wally
Tyson. When I started some years back I was duty team partner to
Wally for a year. He was a great guy and a real brain man.” Ellie
blinked holding back her tears.

Deany nodded,
the word ‘brain’ bringing back the mental picture of open shattered
skulls and leaking brain matter on the jetty at the Liverpool
Marina.

“So I want to
be the one to either bring him in or shoot him.” Ellie said in a
lighter tone than she intended.

“I was at the
Marina and his house, with his wife and daughter. It was a shocking
thing to do to anyone, so I’m keen to get the scum too; just so you
know.”

“Good, then he
won’t have chance will he.” Ellie looked firmly into mid distance,
in her mind’s eye seeing Wally as he was when she met him. Deany
stared into his computer screen, but saw Wally’s shattered face and
head, dripping with Mersey water, and then he thought of Ginny and
Tara. In a moment he’d relit the torch of revenge he swore to
himself he’d carry for them.

Across the city
the Paddington Green Police Station desk sergeant took the call
with some cynicism.

“Right thank
you sir. I’ll have that looked into.”

He called the
special branch office who in turn called the DIC centre, where the
information was passed to Diane.

When the phone
rang at seven thirty in Tony and Ellie’s office neither were
expecting anything vital.

“Tony, it’s
Diane, listen there’s a report of a sighting of Cobb at Claridge’s
Hotel in Mayfair. It’s unlikely, but take a photo and trek along to
reception there and see whether it’s true. If there’s a positive
identification then called armed police, oh and both of you follow
weapon check procedures before you go. I had Magda call down for a
car.”

“Thanks Diane.
You sound tired shouldn’t you sleep?" Tony had a soft spot for
Diane and Ellie gave him a knowing smile, Tony acknowledged her
intuition and ‘waved her away’ with his free hand, he liked Diane,
but not in that kind of way, more like a favourite aunt. Whilst
talking to Diane he looked at Ellie, who on reflection he felt was
more his kind of woman.

“Not until
Jack’s back from Liverpool, he’ll be here by 9am sharp, he said,
I’ll sleep then.” Diane said and she hung up.

Tony told Ellie
and five minutes later they were in the DIC pool car, a black VW
Polo, ideal for the London streets. They went along Marylebone
Road, into Portland place, then Wigmore street and Ellie found a
parking space for the car on Vere Street. They walked down New Bond
Street, into Brook Street and were at the hotel within ten minutes
of leaving.

Up in his room
Cobb had woken Betty. She was rather hung over and he called down
for Alka Seltzer and more coffee. Betty groaned and made for the
shower. She hardly remembered what had happened. It was always the
same. Her husband had been a stock broker and since his death she
lived well, but the kids were grown up, living in America and
generally didn’t want to see her when she did fly over. She’d taken
to getting bored and going out to get drunk. The hot water brought
life into her body and she did remember bits of the night. She knew
she was at Claridge’s, she recognised the art deco style from when
she’d stayed here before, with her husband. She felt really sore,
above and below and wished she hadn’t got so drunk.

The room
service had arrived and freshly showered and dressed in a hotel
dressing gown she sat in the plush lounge, downed the Alka Seltzer
and took the proffered cup of coffee.

“I don’t know
your name.”

“Charlie,
you’re Betty right?”

“Right. I feel
a bit roughed up Charlie, we didn’t do anything weird did we?”

“No it was
straight and a lot of fun, you’re a passionate woman.”

She blushed and
Charlie, in spite of his harsh life, laid on the charm, it couldn’t
hurt to lie a little to ease her discomfort.

“Nice place,
you must be doing well.”

“Yeah I’m
hoping to close a million pound deal today.”

“Hey that’s
nice, my husband was a stock broker he made a real killing in the
nineties.”

“Yeah I hope to
make a real killing today. You said you were a widow I wasn’t sure
if it was true.”

“It is. I bet
you’re thinking sad old broad going out and getting drunk and laid
like a tart.”

“No Betty,
you’re a sweet looking woman can’t be easy being a widow in your
thirties.”

“Now you’re
being silly.” She smiled nonetheless. She added suddenly, “Charlie
I can’t walk out in the evening dress I was wearing. Could you do
me favour. If I gave you my keys you could go to my flat in Chelsea
and get me some day clothes?”

“Sure Betty.”
Cobb wasn’t happy, but he wanted to make things smooth. He didn’t
want her getting hysterical, crying rape or calling anyone up. He
was hidden and he wanted to stay that way. He called for a taxi,
took the address and was about to leave Betty in the room, when he
thought about the MP5 in the bag under the bed. Whilst she was in
the lounge he took the bag with the weapon in and all his
incriminating items from under the bed.

“What’s with
the bag. If that’s cash in there I wouldn’t trust me with that
much.”

“I wish it was
cash, but it’s… the prototype of my new product, secret stuff and
all that, patent pending so ….”

“It’s okay
Charlie, I understand, I wouldn’t trust me either. You’re close to
your fortune, take no chances eh?”

“Sure. I’ll be
back in half an hour. You sure the alarm’s not on at your
house?”

“Yeah I never
switch it on.”

“No, most
people don’t, everyone tends to think they’re safer than they are,
always complacent about their safety and then sometimes the worst
happens and they’re not ready, silly really.” Cobb said and closed
the door behind him.

Ellie and Tony
were greeted with sniffing disdain at reception in the beautiful
opulence of Claridge’s entrance foyer. The revolving door led into
the grand reception, floor in polished black and white checks, gilt
and glass everywhere and imposing square pillars supporting an
ornate and powerful place.

The
receptionist was unhappy at first at the thought of divulging
information about guests and unimpressed by any official badge, but
was ultimately moved to action by Cobb’s photo thrust under her
nose.

‘Yes she did
recognise the man, he had a suite and were they sure this man was a
wanted killer?’

The answer
shocked her. A copy of The Daily Express and Cobb’s picture,
amongst the others, inside, page four, yielded a sharp gasp. There
was an even greater gasp from the attractive girl and her bright
face blanched as she looked behind them. Both of them turned
reaching for their Sig 220’s knowing what it meant.

Cobb was
crossing the foyer when looking to reception he looked at the girl
and saw the fear in her eyes; the man and the woman there on his
side of the desk reached into their jackets. Cobb shouldered the
nylon bag reached into his waist band, pulled the pistol out and
started to run, pointing the weapon behind him spending his last
four rounds in a self cover escape blast. It worked.

Tony, Ellie and
the receptionist threw themselves for cover as the PSS spat the
rounds in their direction, glass shattered on a huge gilt edged
mirror and wood splinters flew up from the frame of a free standing
screen. One round chipped the plaster on a square column as it
ricocheted into a beautiful art deco lamp on a table above Ellie’s
head, dropping bulb glass into her hair.

When they
looked up Cobb was just on the other side of the ornate revolving
door. Unhesitating in spite of the door’s expense and beauty Tony,
up on one knee, took careful aim and slammed three close grouped
shots at the shadow of Cobb’s departing head as the door turned on
its pivot. The glass in the door was toughened safety glass and the
shots made a three centre spider web and did no more.

Ellie and Tony
were on their feet and running, but as Ellie went to thrust herself
full force into the segment and push her way out Tony, running just
behind, encircled her with his arms and pulled her to the ground,
slamming her right shoulder which made her squeeze the trigger. A
spider web appeared a foot off the ground in the glass panel of the
revolving door dead opposite their position. Then the door began to
disintegrate under a close quarter barrage of sub machine gun
rounds. The wood splintered and glass flew in all directions, into
the foyer, onto the check floor and over the two prone DIC officers
sheltering with arms over heads from the onslaught.

Cobb had simply
got through the door, thrown away the PSS pistol and ripped the MP5
from the Nylon bag. It was cocked and ready to go and he simply
clicked it from safe to automatic and in less than a second,
knowing they’d pursue him out the door, turned and fired, he saw
them fall to the right, saw the round hit the glass as they fell
just as he opened up. He couldn’t be sure if he’d killed them or
not, but he pocketed one of the other magazines, unclipped the
spent one and locked the third into the MP5, set it to single shot
and ran off down Brook Street towards Grovesnor Square.

Tony rolled
across the floor ignoring the glass and lay on the floor dead
centre of the shattered doorway, pointing his Sig at where the
gunman had been, seeing nothing he got up, motioned Ellie to take
the left and taking the right, stepping through the now empty
revolving door frames they emerged onto the street, sweeping the
clock with their Sig barrels.

“There he goes,
down Brook Street. You take the left pavement I’ll take the right.”
She was off running and Tony ran across to the left side of the
road and began chasing.