Chapter 3: On A Mission

Clegg and I discussed it. I always like to get a feeling for the business overall before I jump to any conclusions. Clegg agreed and promised to set things up. "You'd better start at the sharp end," he said. "I'll get you out with one of the snatch teams."

To say I was surprised was putting it mildly. I'd never thought of myself as a law breaker, well not apart from illegal parking and speeding. Still Clegg wasn't the sort to beat around the bush and I guessed he'd want to discover if I could stomach this stuff fairly quickly. Actually I was more worried about what would happen if I found out I couldn't — or strictly speaking if he found out that I found out...

Not surprisingly the snatch team wasn't keen on having a stranger, and a beginner at that, along but Clegg had been pretty insistent when he called them and told them I'd be joining them.

A week later I was sitting in the passenger seat of a non-descript van as we pulled up at a garage. It was a quarter to midnight, it was dark; we were the only vehicle on the forecourt.

The driver turned to me. "Just don't fucking foul this up, we've been setting this one up for ages," he said conversationally. I tried to look unimpressed. He climbed out and went to the diesel pump. I heard him call into the microphone on the side of the pump. "Hey, can someone give me a hand this pump's not working."

The speaker crackled back. "It should be fine." A girl's voice. "Try again"

My companion, Harry, spoke again. "No, not a thing."

More crackles. "Hang on I'll come and have a look." That was my cue, I shuffled across to the driver's seat. I watched as the girl locked the shop behind her and then half walked, half ran towards us, walking round the van to where Harry was standing by the pump. I just heard a muffled squeak, a thump and the sound of the rear doors opening and closing. Then there was a slap on the other side of the panel behind my back and Harry's voice calling, "Go!"

I drove off, slowly and carefully as we'd agreed. We'd gone about five miles I guess when there was another thump on the panel behind me. We were out of town by then. I pulled over into a lay-by. As the van stopped I heard Harry get out of the back. A moment later he was climbing in and off we went again. "That seemed pretty easy," I said.

"It is if you prepare enough." Harry's response was terse.

"I mean, it could have been difficult. What if she hadn't come out?"

"She always does. There wasn't any doubt." He pointed to a side road. "Turn down there." The road was dark. I almost missed the gateway on the left hand side. "In here," said Harry. "Over there," he waved, "into the barn." I drove in through the open doors and stopped the van. "Come and look at what we caught," said Harry, getting out. He was more relaxed now, but he still had his hand on the butt of the pistol in his waistband as he pulled open the van's doors.

He needn't have worried. Our captive — well I felt I'd helped a bit — was lying, face down, on the floor of the van. I climbed in. Harry had done a thorough job on her with duct tape. Several turns were wrapped around her ankles and above her knees. There was more on her wrists and he'd even taped her hands together wrapping tape around her fingers as well. She was quite slightly built, she'd obviously given Harry no trouble He turned her over. The tape had been used to good effect to gag and blindfold her as well. Her face was almost covered with the grey, shiny tape, bulges beneath it made clear that he'd packed her mouth and covered her eyes with pads before using the tape. All that could be seen of the girls face was her nose. She was breathing, slowly, quietly, apparently trying to listen for clues of where she might be but unable to hear much because of the tape that covered her ears.

"Well, what do you think?" asked Harry.

I looked her over. She was slim, wearing a pair of tight, low cut jeans. Her pink sweat top was stretched tight across small breasts by the way the tape was wrapped around her chest and arms. The top stopped inches short of the waist band of her trousers showing off a taught belly that you could bounce a coin off and a silver ring through a piercing in her navel. She'd evidently tried to struggle a bit during her ride - one of her trainers had got kicked off - but she'd made no impact on her bonds. With all the tape on her head it was difficult to tell anything much apart from the fact that her short, spikey, blonde hair wasn't naturally that colour. The tabard she wore as her one concession to a fuel company uniform was a dull, brown, nylon material that clashed with the pink top. A badge on her lapel said ""E6 Fuel Stops — Happy To Help" and her name, I assumed, "Jackie".

"She seems safe and sound. Is there much call for fuel pump attendants?"

Harry grunted, bent down over the girl and dragged her to the tail of the van. She squealed and tried to kick out. Without much effort he hoisted her over his shoulder. "Don't be fooled by appearances. Let's get her stowed, we'll have a drink and I'll fill you in." As Harry stood up Jackie was struggling ineffectually and trying to kick with her bound legs. A door opened at the back of the barn.