Beach held up a tentative hand. He’d thought the address sounded familiar when he’d heard it, but hadn’t realised why until Tyler mentioned that the TSG had recently searched it.
“Excuse me boss, but it was my carrier that spun that address last November. We nicked an Asian prossie called Lola for possession with intent to supply. I don’t know the layout of the whole house, as we only searched the prisoner’s room and the communal areas, but think I can just about remember what they looked like if you want me to draw it.”
Jack considered the offer. “I think it’ll be sufficient for you to just describe the layout as best you can to us, although it might be worth doing a rough sketch for your TSG colleagues when you sit down to go through who’s doing what during the rapid entry.”
“Fair enough,” Beach said. He cleared his throat, aware that everyone was staring at him expectantly. “Feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong,” he said to his crew, who were sitting in a line beside him.
“So, from memory, all the windows and the street door are boarded up. The door is bolted from inside, so to gain entry you have to be let in by someone who’s already there.”
“I take it that means the premises is never empty?” Dillon asked.
“That’s right boss,” Beach confirmed. “This lot are pretty clued in on squatter’s rights and they make sure the house is never vacant so it can’t be repossessed.”
“You wouldn’t think a bunch of drug-addicted hookers would be that well organised,” Carol said, impressed.
“The street door opens up onto a large hallway,” Beach continued. “There are four rooms on the ground floor, two on each side of the hall, and a big kitchen at the rear. The downstairs rooms contain a mix of beds and armchairs, and I get the feeling that this is where the girls bring their punters when they entertain at home. Upstairs, there are seven –”
“Eight,” PC Jay Smith corrected him.
“Upstairs, there are eight bedrooms. Some of these are little more than broom cupboards in which random girls can doss down on a scabby mattress for a night or two whenever they want. Others have been taken over by permanent residents, who have turned them into half-decent bedrooms. Lola, the girl we nicked, had a room at the rear of the house overlooking the garden.”
“That’s very useful,” Jack said. “Am I right in saying that the only way in or out is via the front door?”
Beach shook his head. “Actually, no. The garden backs onto a house in Evesham Road, and there are fence panels missing between the two, so egress into Evesham Road is easily achieved by cutting through the back gardens.”
Jack’s face hardened. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” Beach said. “When we went in, a punter saw us and had it on his toes. He went straight out the back, through the missing panels and out into Evesham Road. PC Smith caught him after he’d made a hundred-yard dash. The bloke cried his eyes out when he was dragged back. Turned out he had only run because he was convinced that we would tell his wife what he’d been up to.”
Jack turned to Dillon. “When you’re dishing out the postings, can you make sure we’ve got the back well and truly covered.”
Dillon nodded and made a note in his daybook.
Tyler looked around for Steve Bull. “Stevie, can you just nip out and phone Dick Jarvis for me. Give him the update about there being a back way out.”
Bull raised his thumb in confirmation and slipped out the door.
“Right, as far as the risk assessment goes, the latest update from the officers watching the address is that, in addition to Angela Marley, there are at least two other working girls and four men, presumably punters, inside. They were very boisterous when they arrived. There may be more people inside, but we have no way of knowing. We know Angela’s a heroin addict so there may be exposed needles. There’s nothing to suggest that anyone inside will be carrying weapons, but there may be kitchen knives and other sharps around the place that some idiot might be stupid enough to pick up and use against the officers trying to effect entry, especially if they’re spaced out on booze or drugs.”
Beach said, “Last time we went inside we found a baseball bat hidden behind the door and a kitchen knife concealed under the pillow in Lola’s room.”
“Thank, you,” Tyler said. “Taking into account that Angela Marley is now wanted for murder, I think the unknown risks are high enough that the TSG should make entry in full public order kit, and this has been agreed by PS Brent.”
Tyler looked up as the door opened and Bull reappeared. He shot him a questioning look and was rewarded by a nod that confirmed he had spoken to Jarvis.
PC Stedman raised a hand. “Any suggestion that there will be firearms present?” he asked. It was a reasonable question, bearing in mind guns had been used during the escape.
Jack shook his head, emphatically. He needed to quell this idea fast, before they started giving themselves the jitters. “We’re confident that only the male suspects were carrying guns and there is absolutely no intelligence to suggest
