Chapter 18

Drew MacIntosh sat opposite his Chief Inspector and prepared himself to argue his case. After another frustrating day where the Spanish police hadn't turned up anything new on MacGovern, Drew was determined to have another try at convincing his boss that he should be allowed to go to Spain.

"Chief, I'm convinced that nicking MacGovern this time will blow the lid off this whole case. I've got enough to make the statutory rape charges stick now - the statement from Kim Park puts that beyond doubt.

"I know there's far more to this than some underage sex though. The purchase of the two casinos cost upwards of seven million alone and I've seen the bank account statements for this 'Church'. We're talking about a lot of money, a good percentage of it coming from the city's gangs. Shutting this down would be a major blow to organised crime in Glasgow.

"My people are also still working through the names of all those who are making donations to MacGovern - it reads like a list of whose-who! If we break this it will be all over the news for weeks!"

"Is there any evidence that the people on this list have committed any crime?" asked Chief Graham.

"Not yet and it's possible they're all clean but MacGovern must have something on them if they're paying him off every month.

"Please, sir. Just let me have a week over in Spain. A week. That's all I'm asking for. If I don't go soon I know MacGovern is going to use the dirty money he has to simply disappear. I don't have to tell you how easy that would be from the Mediterranean Coast," pleaded Drew.

The detective's pitch had looked to touch all the right buttons for his senior officer. The scale of the operation, the money involved, the possible impact on the crime statistics and perhaps most of all, the publicity - all of these were the buttons to push to get Chief Inspector Graham's juices flowing.

"Drew, the Spanish might not agree. They might not want you trampling all over their turf," Graham suggested.

"Ahem. I've already checked that out, Chief. They couldn't care less about MacGovern. That's the problem."

Drew glanced at the Chief's face to see how he took the news that Drew had already make enquires with the Spanish authorities. That could be considered going just a little too far without having been given authority. He relaxed when he saw the glimmer of a smile play over the Chief's lips. Graham admired officers who showed initiative - but only if they delivered results. If the ends didn't justify the means, then Drew knew Graham would just as happily hammer him later for not following procedures.

"Okay, you've convinced me. A week. No more than that. Make sure you deliver on this Drew, you've got a week starting now."

Drew cursed. Just sorting out the arrangements for liaison with the Spanish and practical issues such as flights and accommodation would eat up a good bit of the week he had just been granted. He didn't waste any more time thinking about problems but instead thanked the Chief and hurried out to make his first calls.

Mark and Felicity were sitting on the sofa in the cabin's family room, discussing Kenny MacGovern's latest e-mail.

"So what do you think? Do we believe him?" asked Flick.

"I'm not sure that's the important question here. It's a bit like what he says in his e-mail - it doesn't really matter if we believe him or not. There's no real risk in us having a look at this Luke MacNab. No, the real question is do we tell DI MacIntosh?"

"Why wouldn't we tell Drew?

"Think about it. He's got a warrant out for MacGovern's arrest. If we pass this on to him we'll lose all control over it. We won't even know what's going on. Past form tells me that Drew might fill us in on the story but only after he's brought charges and that could be months, even years from now," said Mark.

"Aren't we taking a chance not telling him? What if this lead is the key to the whole case?"

"Look, if we take a few days to snoop round MacNab and find out there really is some truth in what MacGovern's claiming, then we can share it with Drew then. At least that way we'll know what MacNab is up to and Drew won't be able to tell us only half of the story later on. A couple of days aren't going to make that much difference to the police investigation. It would probably take them more than two days to find the resources to check out MacNab for themselves anyway - you know how slow the police are!"

Felicity wasn't completely convinced by Mark's argument but the prospect of being proactive, the opportunity to do something positive, was appealing she had to admit to herself. They had been cooped up in the log cabin for five days now and she was ready to stretch her legs and look for some excitement.

"Okay. I'm in. What did you have in mind?" she asked, the twinkle in her eyes telling Mark she was already looking forward to it.

"It'll be just like old times. The first thing we need to do is actually track this MacNab down. That shouldn't be too difficult, as MacGovern has given us an address. We'll need to follow him around for a few days and see where he goes and who he meets.

"Meanwhile I'll give some of my contacts a call and see whether we can't dig up anything about his finances - that's always a good indication of whether somebody's up to something or not. Do they have more money that they should have? Alternatively, are they badly in debt? You know, the usual basic stuff," said Mark.

"So, it's back to hours of sitting in the car then?" Flick asked.

"Well, if I have to sit around for hours, I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather do it with. In any event, we haven't tried out the back seat in ages," Mark laughed, as Flick slapped his arm playfully.

"You start packing and I'll go down to the site office and settle up our bill," Flick suggested.

MacNab checked for e-mail responses from the people on the database. The fact that there were only a handful of replies confirmed that Kenny must have sent out his own message to change the trigger phrase. In all likelihood the only reason there were any replies at all was because some people hadn't read their e-mails for several days.

MacNab knew that most people couldn't help but read their messages from the top of their in-box rather than in the strict order they were received. That would mean they would have reached the e-mail sent from this computer before Kenny's and Kenny's new trigger phrase wouldn't have worked.

Sudden realisation caused a look of utter dismay to appear on MacNab's face and a few minutes of frantic typing at the keyboard was enough to confirm that Kenny had also changed the access details for the offshore bank account.

"Shit!! Fuck, fuck and double-fuck! That's it, no more games, Kenny. You're just causing too much trouble now. It's time to say goodbye for good - but you'll have to cough up the new bank details before you go of course!"

MacNab considered the few remaining former pupils that were still available for controlling. Selecting the most likely of them was easy enough and e-mail messages were soon zipping across the ether with new orders to be followed.

Drew was pleasantly surprised at how easy it had been to book a flight to Spain's Malaga airport. He had underestimated the amount of holiday traffic there was from Glasgow to the Spanish holiday resorts and found that there were more than twenty planes heading out every day.

He gambled that he would be able to find somewhere to stay when he arrived on the Spanish coast and simply threw a few items of clothing and toiletries into a small bag before calling a cab to take him to the airport.

The flight was everything he had expected - nearly two hundred Glasgwegians psyching themselves up for their annual two weeks in the sun. Many had already had a few too many in the airport lounge, determined to squeeze every last drop out of their annual vacation time. The drunks were now topping things up with more alcohol from the trolley and they were really getting into a party mood. Most of the passengers were in family groups and Drew could see the kids were every bit as excited as their parents were. He tried to shut out the noise and use the three-hour flight as an opportunity to think about how he was going to use his week to find and deal with MacGovern.

Occasional glances out of the small cabin window allowed him to keep a vague idea of where he was - passing over the Bay of Biscay and eventually flying high over the arid Spanish countryside. It seemed like no time at all before the plane crossed the Sierra Nevada hills and he could see the turquoise water of the Med glittering in the afternoon sun. The FlyGlobespan airbus banked as the pilot lined up with the runway at Malaga airport and Drew's ears popped as they lost altitude.

Drew swallowed one last time and his ears popped again, returning his hearing to normal. The airbus' wheels hit the tarmac with a jolt and quickly he could hear the engines roaring as the pilot engaged reverse thrust to slow their speed. Looking out of the window, everything looked as foreign as Drew expected it to. Long, squat vehicles rushed around the airport apron, moving baggage and pushing planes back from their departure gates.

He couldn't help but smile to himself at the impatience of the majority of the passengers. The plane hadn't yet come to a halt and already most of them had unbuckled their seatbelts and they were opening overhead lockers to pull out their hand luggage. Drew knew that it would be quite a while yet before they would be able to disembark and he remained seated.

The two passengers on his inside weren't happy with his lack of movement - clearly intent on joining in the rush to go nowhere fast, just like everybody else. Drew turned to look at the man closest to him.

"What's the rush? We're going to get off in strict seat order, so you might as well take the weight off of your feet. It'll be another ten minutes probably before you can go anywhere, he advised.

Neither the man nor his wife seemed to believe him but as he was blocking their way there was nothing they could do but take his advice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Murdoch. Welcome to Malaga. Local time is 15:00 so you might want to adjust your watches from UK time. The temperature outside is 37 degrees and as you can all see it's a beautiful sunny day here in Spain. We'll be leaving the aircraft on the port side and you will be bussed to the terminal to complete your journey. Please take care when leaving the aircraft.

"Can I take this opportunity of thanking you for flying with FlyGlobespan and wishing you all a very enjoyable holiday?"

Drew's estimate of the time it would take before the passengers crowding into the narrow centre aisle cleared was pretty accurate. He waited until the masses in front of him thinned out as they snaked forward before standing and retrieving his small bag from the locker. The couple on the inside seats were still agitated about being made to wait but he simply ignored them as he made his way up towards the front exit.

Two of the uniformed and heavily made-up cabin crew flashed him their painted on smiles and wished him a good day as he left the plane. He moved down the steps that had been pushed up against the airbus. The heat outside the plane hit him like a solid force and he squinted at the glare from the sun.

An articulated bus sat on the tarmac waiting for the passengers and it wasn't long before Drew was heading towards the Malaga terminal building. It was a relief to step inside the air-conditioned building and escape the blistering heat. He took his time winding his way up a number of ramps as he followed the signs proclaiming Arrivals.

The walk through the terminal was quite a long one and it took almost five minutes before Drew was approaching the little booths that housed the security personnel who were checking passports. His passport was given only a cursory glance and he moved through into the cavernous arrivals hall. Two local Spanish policemen were waiting, one of them holding a small sign with Drew's name on it.

"I'm DI MacIntosh," he said, introducing himself.

"I am Juan and this is Ignacio. We have been sent to meet you Senor Maceentosh. Do you have any other bags to pick up? No? Okay, come, we have a car outside and my superiors want to meet you to tell you about the rules for your visit."

Another of the passengers from the FlyGlobespan airbus hurried to follow the three policemen as they headed for the exit to the terminal building. The arrivals hall was full of excited holidaymakers, all either searching for their baggage or intent on forcing their way through the crowds to find a taxi.

Drew's shadow was a Dundee doctor by the name of Wilson Bankier. Bankier had been watching Drew for over a week having been ordered to do so by MacNab, using the trigger phrase to take control of the doctor. Bankier had been virtually living out of his car since then for fear he might miss Drew doing something important. That meant he hadn't returned to his house and hadn't received Kenny's e-mail that would have overridden the Church of Cyberscience trigger phrase.

He forced his way through he crowds now, nothing else in the world mattered other than keeping DI MacIntosh in sight so that he could report where he went and if he contacted the headteacher. That was what the Church expected of him and he wouldn't, couldn't let the Church down.

Juan indicated a white police car with a broad dark green stripe going up over its hood, roof and trunk. An impressive golden coat of arms was picked out on the front door.

"This will not take long and then I will drop you wherever you are staying while you are our guest," said Juan.

Drew slid into the rear seat of the police car. He turned his head when he heard angry shouts behind him. There was a queue of travellers waiting for taxis outside the airport and he smiled as he realised somebody had obviously taken a cab before it was their turn.

In the taxi behind the police car, Wilson Bankier ignored the angry words and gestures from the people who weren't happy that he had just walked to the head of the queue. Wilson had spotted the detective getting into the police car and he couldn't afford to lose him. He tried to explain to the taxi driver that he wanted him to follow the police car. The driver looked at the angry people outside his cab and then at the police car in front. When he spoke it was in broken English.

"One hundred Euros up front, Senor. You pay one hundred Euros or we no go anywhere."

The taxi driver had correctly weighed up Wilson's urgency and he was unashamedly taking advantage of it by demanding money before he would even start the car's engine. Wilson glanced anxiously ahead at the police car and then hurriedly pulled two fifty Euro notes from his wallet and handed them over.

"Why you follow policia?" the driver asked.

"Look, I've paid you what you asked. Can't you just drive? Alright, alright. I'm interested in where the man with the police is going, okay? Satisfied?"

The taxi driver shrugged and turned to face the front. The police car pulled away from the kerb and the taxi swung into traffic to follow.