‘What?’
‘We’ve done the 360 and we’ve seen nothing, no signs of life. Are the signals still up?’
‘Yes. I want you in there just as soon—’
I cut him short. Once the op started
We were heading back up towards the ship’s bow. ‘I’ll call back soon.’ I closed down. It felt good to have the final word now and again.
Suzy was on my arm again and checking over her shoulder in case of any follow-up. She was like a dog with a bone. ‘Have you got a connection loose or something? You shouldn’t have done that, it could jeopardize the whole job.’
‘No, it couldn’t. I did us a favour. If he goes to the police they’ll be concentrating on the block back there, so that makes it even better for us when we try to make entry here. That’s if he even goes to the police.’
‘Fucking hell, that’s the thickest thing I’ve ever heard.’
I held her as we dodged the puddles and double-timed it over King’s Cross Bridge. ‘OK, MOE girl, next phase – the locks.’
She nodded and changed sides so that she had her left arm through my right. MOE girl wanted to be nearer the locks. As we started to walk along the target, a group of black kids in baggy jeans with hoodies up over ball caps fell in behind us, eating chips and swigging from Coke cans.
A can was shaken and sprayed over one of the crew behind us and they all had a good laugh, apart from the victim who was pissed off that his new trainers were not only wet from rain but had now got the good news with Coca-Cola. Suzy and I slowed down to give them time to pass and get some distance; this was good for us, it gave us a natural reason for stalling, and time to have a look about before we carried on slowly behind the boys.
Four derelict shopfronts and adjacent doors made up the ground floor of the target building.
The first looked as if it had once been an Indian restaurant. Did the grime about the door or the locks have handmarks? Had they been pulled open lately? These places looked as if they’d been closed down for ages, so any recent disturbance should be easy to detect.
It was boarded up with chipboard and a dirty, rusting padlock that hadn’t been touched for years.
Next along was Mole Jazz, which had either been a club or a record shop – it was hard to tell from what was left of the sign. The padlock on the door was in the same state, grimy and virtually rusted solid, with a bit of old chewing gum stuck in its keyhole by a bored passer-by.
Dress Wright, next up, was covered with heavily locked shutters, which someone had pissed over months ago and taken off the first couple of layers of grime. It was highly unlikely to be an entry- or escape-point: shutters make too much noise and take too long to open and close.
The Eastern Eye had definitely once been an Indian restaurant, and was the last premises before Jim’s burger bar. There was a door to the right of the boarded-up shopfront: its padlock wasn’t new, but had definitely seen some action. Suzy saw it too and we stopped, held each other and smiled, me with my back to the entrance to afford her a better look. Her wet hair brushed against my face as she confirmed what I’d seen. ‘The dirt’s been disturbed – the lock’s been opened, and very recently. Can’t see any telltales, but it could have been the girl, locking her mates in before heading back to King’s Lynn.’ Suzy started to run a hand over the top of the door frame.
‘But she didn’t have another key with her.’
‘What do you think I’m doing this for, dickhead?’ She brought her hand back down and her eyes switched into excited mode. ‘Got it, she must have been coming back. Bet these fuckers have an escape route if she’s locked them in.’
Our faces were just inches apart, and I could feel her breath on my face. ‘Better still check, MOE girl. You still might have to work your magic.’
I smiled as I put my arms round her once more as she tested the key. She wouldn’t have turned it in case she couldn’t close it again, or the key broke. All seemed well. A police car screamed past us on Gray’s Inn Road. Sirens were as common as cuddling couples round here; no one took any notice of it or us.
She pulled away from me a little, smiled, and planted a kiss on my lips. ‘Third-party awareness.’
‘I wish that gum was mint flavour, you stink like your ready bag.’
‘Bet you still liked it, though.’
We moved back to the bow of the ship and carried on round to the other side to start a closer walk-past of the Pentonville side. The MTC was number 297. Suzy linked arms and pulled herself into me. ‘Two nine seven – you see it? No locks. Escape route?’
‘Could be – maybe bolted inside, or just locked then boarded up.’
‘I guess we’ll find out soon enough.’
We carried on down Pentonville and crossed over King’s Cross Bridge before turning left and left again, so we could get back to the car yet keep a healthy distance from the target area. Eventually we found ourselves under some railway bridges that led from the station: it was quiet, very few vehicles, hardly any foot traffic. I got on the phone to the Yes Man and detailed what we’d seen.
‘How long before you get in and clear the building?’
‘That’s difficult to say. Could be an hour, maybe two. We need to go through things first.’
‘Be quick. Remember, take control of Dark Winter at all costs.’ I heard him take a breath as if to launch into a speech.
There wasn’t enough time for that shit. ‘I’ll call you when I’m ready.’ My second chance to close down on him, and why should I care if I pissed him off? I might be dead soon.
‘What do you think, then, MOE girl? With that camera down on us, we’ll just have to brass it out and make it look as natural as we can. I can’t see any other way out. Assuming you turn a key, of course.’
She ignored the dig. ‘What about the NBC kit? We can’t go in there already rigged up.’
‘If we’re not compromised on entry, we can get into it as soon as we’re inside, then clear the building until it goes noisy.’
She nodded, and started to look excited again, I didn’t know why: we were probably going to be walking into an absolute nightmare.
41
Suzy ran her fingers through her soaking hair as we skirted the pools of light around the construction area. I slowed down a little: we weren’t that far from the car but I didn’t want us to be sitting in it longer than we had to. We might get some unwelcome attention from the police in these times of high terrorist alert or, round here, the Vice Squad. The last thing we needed was someone in a uniform inviting us to step out of the vehicle and give him a guided tour of the boot.
‘OK, MOE girl, how about this for a plan? We take the ready bags, we get to the door. We cuddle just like before, and you turn that key, yeah? What sort is it?’
I knew she’d have her MOE kit on her body just in case.
‘Ward. Shouldn’t be too bad.’
‘So, you open the lock, I’ll move inside and cover you while you bring in the ready bags and close the door. Once you get in, we jam it.’
Suzy glanced across at the world’s biggest construction site. ‘There’s got to be something we could use lying around here.’ We needed to stop the entry door from being opened again and block the possible escape route if it went noisy. We had to contain the ASU like pigs in a poke if we were to have a chance of dealing with them.
‘Then we get the NBC kit on. I’m not going to put my hood up – it was making too much noise. I’ll get my respirator on but keep the hood down until the last possible moment.’ This was hardly brain surgery, but we both had to have a clear idea of what was going to happen. ‘Once we’re ready, we’ll clear the place from the bottom up. Unless we hear them, we’ll have to go through room by room.’
‘What if we’ve got the wrong door and no one’s in that part of the building? We can’t walk outside in the NBC kit.’
