part of an operation against organised car theft. A few days later, he was compromised; his body was dumped on the steps of the police headquarters building in Tirana, with some important parts missing.' She held up the last photograph. 'Amet Ramadani, brother of Fadil.' The features were identical, although the younger Ramadani had more hair and appeared to be bigger. Again, the shot had been posed. 'This was taken by the same unfortunate officer, at the same time as the other.'
She gathered the images together and replaced them in her folder. 'These are not nice people,' she said. 'They're typical of a hard core that exists in modern Albania, which the police and the military cannot control because they simply do not have the firepower.' She looked at McIlhenney and Mackenzie. 'Do you know much about Albania?'
'I'd an uncle who went on a package holiday there about fifteen years ago,' Bandit replied. He grinned. 'He was a bit tight: it was the cheapest deal he could find. He told me that when he was there, they had a bit of student unrest; nothing major, just disobedience. The army rounded them up and strung up the three ringleaders from lampposts. They weren't bothered about the tourists seeing it, either.'
Dennis nodded. 'That was fairly routine behaviour for the regime at that time. And the fact is that although the system may have changed the people haven't. I know about that incident you describe: it's in the files on Naim and Fadil. Although they were all masked, as was usual, it was said that Latifi was the officer in charge of the detail that executed those young people and Ramadani was one of his men.'
She took a document from her folder. 'This is a run-down on Albania. You'll find it in your envelope. To summarise it, the place has a pretty tragic history. It was ruled by the Turks for four hundred years, until it finally won independence in 1912. For about half of the time since, it lived under xenophobic Communist rule. Since that collapsed around twelve years ago, it's been trying to introduce multiparty democracy, but it's been a struggle. The early governments were corrupt, and allowed the gangsters to take effective control; that still exists, although there are signs of progress… it is said.' She raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
'The country's infrastructure is appalling. Paradoxically, it has decent mineral resources, and yet it's the poorest nation in Europe. It can't produce enough energy to sustain itself, there's one telephone to fifty people, and there's less than three and a half thousand miles of proper road in the entire place. The population is predominantly Muslim, but there is little sign of fundamentalism. As always, the gangsters' true religion is money. The black part of the Albanian economy is far and away the strongest. Another paradox is that proportionately there are more Mercedes owners there than anywhere else in the world; they're stolen in Germany by Albanian gangs and sold in Durres. That's why the unlucky German came to be where he was. They will traffic in anything: arms, cigarettes, general contraband, people, you name it. But, as always, drugs top the list. It's an active shipment point for Golden Triangle heroin, hashish and cannabis coming into Europe through the Balkan route. Some South American cocaine also makes landfall there.'
She continued, 'However, it is more than a staging post. It grows its own opium and cannabis, and in recent years ethnic Albanian narcotics organisations have expanded rapidly in mainland Europe. My gut feeling is that our four subjects have come to Scotland to extend that growth.'
'What about the arms-dealer in Rotterdam?'
'Oh, they may have used some of the proceeds of their robberies to buy modern weapons, but these people are criminals, not terrorists. We're guarding the airports as a precaution, that's all. I think they're here to move drugs. That was my bet when we sent Sean and Mr Bell in to flush them out'
'Then why aren't you talking to the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency?' asked Mackenzie.
'Because I was ordered not to: too many people would know and the operation would become too obvious. My director general sent me here to brief Mr Skinner and seek his co-operation; they've had dealings in the past.'
What she stopped short of saying was that he had had active involvement with MI5 in the past and continued to be consulted by them. 'Kind of him,' he growled. 'I'll co-operate on one condition, that when the situation is resolved, if this is a drugs operation, the DG explains to the commander of the SDEA why he cut him out.'
'He anticipated that, and he promises to do so.'
'Fine. Now tell us about these four guys.'
'I will. As the assistant DG said yesterday, they are at the heart of much of the criminality in Albania. They are not overlords, but they are powerful and feared, strong men among other strong men. As I indicated earlier, Latifi and the older Ramadani brother were officers in the army under the old regime. When it collapsed, they kept much of their unit together and went into business. Samir Bajram and Amet Ramadani weren't soldiers… they were too young when the Communists fell… but they were brought in as added muscle and to strengthen the family influence. They're all closely related: all four of them had the same grandfather, Shaban Latifi, who was the second most feared man in the country in his time, after the dictator Enver Hoxha himself.'
'Is it possible that these guys are just on the run from Albania?' asked McIlhenney. 'Maybe there's been some gang warfare and they're the losers.'
Amanda Dennis shook her head. 'Naim Latifi is not a loser. My information is that if there had been a gang war it's more likely that the other side would be dead or on the run than that he would. But there have been no such indications. The Latifi family operations are continuing unfettered in the boss's absence; there are other cousins.'
'Do we know if they're travelling under assumed names?'
'They didn't as far as Rotterdam, but they may have false papers now; in fact, I'd guess that they do. They hadn't changed their appearance when the trucker dropped them off, but they've had time to do it since. The Dutchman said that Samir had grown some hair, so don't go looking for a skinhead.'
'Do we have a description of the fifth man, the guy who met them when the trucker dropped them off?'
'Not much; he was the same height and stocky build as Naim, but that was all the driver told us. He couldn't get close enough. He said that when he stopped, he opened the back of the truck. Naim got out of the cab and went across the car park towards the man with the Transit. They hugged like long-lost friends, then Naim waved to the others and they joined him. The trucker said that he got out of there as fast as he could. He was afraid that they might not want any witnesses.'
'Why would he think that?' Skinner asked. 'Did he know something about them that put him in danger? Did they say anything in front of him?'
Dennis frowned. 'They spoke in Albanian among themselves in the little time he was with them. When they spoke to him it was in English… good English, incidentally. We certainly know that Naim is fluent. However, as we told you, the driver has a Kosovar Albanian girlfriend, so he understands a few words. When they spoke among themselves, the name 'Petrit' was used quite a lot; it's a common Albanian male forename. Apart from that, the one word he overheard that struck him as odd, was 'Saviour'. He said that Naim used it several times to the others, with emphasis.'
'Saviour,' McIlhenney repeated. 'What the hell can that mean?'
'Maybe they've converted,' said Mackenzie, cheerfully. 'Maybe they've come over to start a Christian mission. God knows, we could use it here.'
'If they have, it's a front,' Dennis replied, tersely. 'Don't take the communion wafer or you could be high for a week.'
'I don't suggest that you begin your search with the churches,' Skinner grunted.
'How about the Salvation Army hostel, sir?' asked Mackenzie. 'Could they have meant that?'
'Don't be bloody silly, man. There is only one thing these people will do, and that is to disappear into the local ethnic community. Agreed, Amanda?'
'Absolutely, and that is another reason why we should have been allowed to involve you from the start, and why we need you now. You have established links with that community. We don't: we only spy on them from time to time.'
'If I was an illegal Albanian immigrant,' Haggerty interposed, 'I'd go to Glasgow, not Edinburgh: there's more of them there, so it would be easier to hide.'
'Granted. But these people wanted to come here,' Dennis countered. 'The Dutch driver made several calls in Glasgow during the day. He could have dropped them off there, but he didn't, because they asked specifically to be brought to Edinburgh.'
'That's next to bugger all to go on,' said Skinner, 'but at least it's a start.' He turned to the ACC. 'Willie, we have established relationships with the ethnic communities, and we also work closely with voluntary organisations.
