Chapter 1: Hidden Strength

The following day he did the same trip twice, once to each shop. That made three trips to each shop before the next delivery of drugs arrived. So, each trip from abroad must bring in at least nine lots of drugs.

MEANWHILE ACROSS THE CHANNEL...

Len Davis had flown into Calais and hired a car. Driving over towards the port, he had parked just off the A26 and switched on his monitor. It had been several hours before the monitor alerted him to the transporter leaving the hold of the ferry. An hour later he saw it go past. Driving after it, he followed it from a mile behind.

By early evening they had reached Reims where the transporter pulled into a lorry park for the night. Len found a nearby hotel, had a meal then turned in. Waking at six, he had a quick shower and a breakfast, then returned to the lorry park. The transporter had gone, but he wasn’t unduly worried. He followed the A4 and by the time he reached Verdun it was showing on his monitor once more.

When it pulled in for lunch at a service’s, Len pulled into the same one. Being in the car park he was well away from it. After something to eat, he returned to his car and waited until the drivers rest time finished.

Five minutes after it had left, he joined the road and followed once more. By six o’clock the transporter pulled into another lorry park on the E35. It was just past Milan and was evidently a stop for the night.

Len did the same as last night but set his alarm an hour earlier. The next day he arrived half an hour before the transporter left. Following it at his usual discrete distance, they arrived at Arezzo in Italy at lunchtime.

Turning off the main road, they arrived at an industrial estate where the transporter drove into a large yard. Driving across the yard it parked with its front touching a wall. As Len drove past, he could see there was a ramp from the top of the wall sloping down at the back.

He parked up further into the estate and watched his monitor. After about ten minutes, he saw the trace on the car moving independently off the transporter. As it moved away, the transporter moved and left the yard. Driving back past the yard, there was no sign of the car although the red dot showed it was still in the yard.

The transporter, now only showing one red dot on the screen, carried on to the outskirts of Rome. There it unloaded the rest of its load before driving across to the outskirts of San Moreno. Pulling into a large vehicle storage yard, he parked up and went into a building at the side of the yard which turned out to be sleeping accommodation.

For the next hour or so, staff in the yard loaded the transporter with nine new looking cars. The space over the cab was left empty. Once loaded, the transporter was turned round to face the gate, then everywhere closed down for the night.

The next morning Len was on the estate by six o’clock. As he drove past, the transporter was still in the same place. It was seven o’clock before it moved off. Late morning it arrived back at the same yard in Arezzo. Driving into the yard, it drove right up to the wall as before. The same car came out of one of the buildings, reversing up the ramp and onto the transporter directly over the cab.

Len moved away to the main road and waited. Twenty minutes later the transporter drove past and joined the E35 once more heading towards Calais. This time the monitor had its two red dots on again. Fairly certain now that it was on its way home, Len overtook it and headed for the next services.

Pulling in, he rang Brian and put him in the picture. ‘I expect there will be two overnight stops, so we should arrive at Calais mid-day the day after tomorrow,’ he told him. Brian thanked him, telling him to see it back to the port just in case, then fly home.

Brian got busy on the phone to Calais and Dover to ensure that there would be no hold ups as it passed through the ports. So now they had two full days to plan. Before heading over to Widnes, Brian called up three more of the Supers group to help.

He also called on Inspector Terry Dalton and Inspector Alfie Connor, neither of whom had been involved so far. They would each hire a small van to transport bodies over to the garage as they were collected. He notified the special number that the other terminator would be required and also asked for the disposal number to be alerted to the possibility of six or more in quick succession.

Search warrants were applied for. They were for the three dealer’s houses, the transport yard, Russell’s house and the three shops. Brian had seen Reg’s plan and with a few very minor alterations to suit the removals, it would form the basis of the operation. It did cross his mind that Reg’s plan matched surprisingly well anything he would have put together with disposals in mind.

Brian sent Glenda down to Dover to follow the transporter back just in case it had other drops they didn’t know about. He told her to go down early so she could stay overnight before the ferry docked. Then she wouldn’t have to drive both ways in one day.

Just before they all knocked off the next day, Glenda rang to say the transporter had just cleared the docks and was heading north. If it kept going, it would arrive back at its depot in about four hours. But if the driver took his proper breaks and stopped for the night, it would be mid to late morning. Instructing her to ring him once she knew for sure, Brian told everyone to pack up for the night. ‘If there are any changes, I’ll ring you,’ he told them.

Reg made sure he was the last to leave. Once everyone had left, he turned to Brian and said, ‘I’ve had a better idea regarding the raids plan,’ he said. ‘Sit down and go ahead,’ Brian told him. ‘It would spread things out over a longer period of at least three days which might make things easier all around.’ Reg began.

‘The drugs will be safe at the transport depot until Russell starts doing pickups. So, we let him pick up his first order. Then after he has dropped them off at the first shop, we raid the shop. The shop will have enough drugs on the premises to prove they’re major dealers. Then we raid the owner.’

‘After that, we wait and do the same with his next drop. When he makes his third collection, it must be for the third shop, so we nab him after he leaves the yard. He will have drugs on him so that will prove for certain what we already know.’

‘Then we raid the yard. At the yard we make up a briefcase to match the one Russell had and drop it off into the metal box at the back of the shop using Russell’s keys. Then we raid the shop followed by the owner.’

‘You realise you are suggesting planting evidence,’ Brian said looking serious. ‘No sir,’ Reg replied. ‘I would be totally against anything like that.’ ‘We are in no doubt that if we didn’t arrest Russell before he made his delivery, he would drop it off at that particular shop. But if we let him do that, he would have no incriminating evidence on him.’

‘We are simply making his delivery for him as he will be otherwise engaged. After all, the shop would not have the drugs in the shop if they hadn’t been expecting a delivery and taken it out of the safe in the outside wall.’

Brian grinned. ‘I like it he said, it could work. Let me think it over.’ As Reg headed for the door, he said, ‘How did you know I wouldn’t suspend you for what you just suggested?’ ‘I didn’t,’ Reg said honestly, ‘But you have always struck me as someone who would do things his own way within reasonable limits. Plus, I don’t want to risk Russell getting off because we had too many er, bodies, to cope with at once.’

He looked Brian straight in the eye as he said bodies. ‘I think you and me will have a good chat after we’ve sorted all this lot out,’ Brian said. ‘That would be good,’ Reg replied, ‘I have a theory I’d like to run past you.’ He nodded and went out.

Several days earlier knowing they would be waiting a couple of days for the transporter to return from abroad, Peter had asked Brian if he could go back home one night and return in the morning.

Once the transporter left Arezzo and started its return journey, Brian readily agreed as Peter felt sure he would. At four o’clock he headed back home. A few days earlier he had sent Lewis a text.