Chapter 10

"First we need to draw Ali and his gang into a place where they think they'll have the advantage," I started as the family, including Nancy whom I now regarded as family, gathered around. "It also needs to be in an area where there is no network coverage for mobiles as I do not want them to be able to call for help once they stick their heads in the noose. This won't be easy in an urban area unless we can get them into some sort of underground facility."

"An abandoned warehouse slightly out of town would suit, so long as it's in a dead zone," Gwen added.

"That it would, but we'll need to recce it first as there are other criteria beyond isolation and lack of communication that we'll need too," I said.

"Choke points," said Nancy.

"Yes, if there are a lot of them we need to make sure they can't all come at us at once," I said.

"Us?" asked Laurel.

"Yes, you're invited to guard our backs along with Mike and Andy, assuming they want to," I replied.

"We get to shoot someone?" she asked, looking a little too keen.

"Only if things go wrong," I sighed. "Trust me; taking a life is a burden I hope you never have to bear."

"Yes, Dad," she replied, looking rather chastened.

"On the other hand I do not want you ill prepared if something does go wrong, which is why I want you to practice with the crossbows," I said relenting slightly.

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst?" asked Jenny.

"Yes little one, precisely that," I replied.

"So what about Gwen and I?" asked Nancy.

"Up to you," I replied. "But I think you at least could hold your own at a distance."

"So if I could get a position where they can't easily approach me I might be of some use?" she asked.

"Yes, but bullets don't care about physical approaches," I replied. "So you'd still have to be careful."

"Only if they know where I'm sniping from," she replied defiantly.

"Sooner or later they'll know, but I'll take you through target of opportunity counselling later, as in who to go for first," I said.

"I'm not sure if I can," said Gwen.

"I won't make you, my Lady," I replied.

"I'm prepared to be bait again though," she confirmed.

"Depends on what the circumstances are," I said. "But I won't endanger you needlessly, my love."

"I'd be better bait anyway," said Jenny.

"Can you run faster than your Mum?" I asked.

"Depends on who's chasing me," she replied with a grin.

"Not good enough Jenny," I said seriously.

"OK, Mum's better at running than me," she sighed.

"Essentially what's going to happen is that Sam, Emma and I will take care of the problem. Nancy, so far, is the only other I can trust in the building. She's a natural shot, so if you want in, you'll all have to improve quite a bit," I stated.

"Can't we tempt them to come up here again?" asked Gwen.

"That would be nice, but I suspect they'd not be so stupid," I replied.

"Not even Ali's that stupid. He has to be wondering what happened to them, but he won't come here unless he's sure he'll win," said Jenny.

"Yes, he'll only go where he's sure he has the upper hand; plus he can't go too far afield because of his bail conditions, I suspect," I replied.

"True," murmured Gwen.

"As it is, Sam and I will scout out a few places where we think we can get at him and those he'll no doubt bring along, but we will need to use you ladies as bait as there's no way we'll get him in the open otherwise," I said.

"Then it will have to be just before the trial and a slip up giving him a likely location for Jenny," put in Gwen.

"Yes, I can't see him breaking cover unless he thinks he'll be going down," I replied. "Otherwise we'll have to wait till he gets out."

"The prosecution service think he's looking at about five years," said Gwen. "Jenny's testimony will almost assure it will."

"Then if he thinks he can get at Jenny, he will. You mentioned that he's gone after other witnesses," I mused.

"Apparently so, but Jenny is the one that will cause him the most damage," Gwen replied.

"It's because I'm a minor," Jenny added.

"I know," I chuckled. "Which is why you should have avoided him like the plague in the first place."

"I know, but I was young and foolish then," she mockingly giggled.

"Not much has changed," giggled Gwen in return.

"Aw, Mum!" Jenny objected.

"Well, he's my problem now, but you're welcome to help," I added.

"Just need to know where and when," said Nancy.

After the meeting we all relaxed, the girls playing around on their laptops with Nancy and Gwen playing about on my office PC whilst I read and enjoyed a little banter with the girls. Eventually Laurel dragged me off to my room and had me 'see to her needs' before I dropped off in a heavy slumber to be awoken by the dawn.

The morning routine was now well established and various members of the family now joined me on the porch to watch the otters at play and then assisted me making breakfast for all including Colin and Melanie.

Afterwards Laurel and I walked with Colin and Melanie to the Pithouse Crags and up the easy-ish walk to the top where we set up our gear to abseil down to the monitoring station which was perched precariously on a ledge about ten meters down from the top. Setting the ropes was easy enough; the piton we'd used on previous occasions was still in place and still solidly wedged in the crack. Colin decided he was going first followed by Laurel who was keen to try real abseiling I figured. I was planning a drop down myself whilst Melanie held the fort but she clearly wanted a word.

"Why are you training Nancy in lethal force?" she asked.

"To rebuild her confidence, same as with the Krav Maga," I replied.

"There's more to it though, I think I know my sister ... even if it's been a while," she responded.

"What happened to Nancy shouldn't happen to any woman," I replied carefully. "I doubt she'll ever be really comfortable around groups of men any more, but I believe I can help her get used to some men, which is a major point of progress for her."

"And the trouble your daughter is in doesn't figure in teaching them all target practice with crossbows?" she asked.

"Not really, I just want them self-confident enough to kick the shit out of anyone who won't take no for an answer," I said with a grin.

"I believe you, but you aren't telling me everything. I can tell," she answered, frowning.

"That's true, but what I'm not telling you, you can't help with anyway," I finished.

"You're going after this Ali guy?" she questioned.

"I am."

"You realise you'll be right in the spotlight if anything happens to him?"

"Not if I was never there in the first place," I replied.

"Can you be sure?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I know police procedure, I know how they think and operate, I know gang culture and I know the pride that drives it ... or rather the dangers of a loss of face associated with an enemy getting the better of them," I replied.

"Good, rid the world of them for Jenny ... and Nancy, for me please, David," she finished before kissing my lips and dropping off the edge to join Colin and Laurel leaving me to play anchor-man.

'God save me from smart women', I thought with a mental sigh.

I could see Colin below me showing Laurel the monitoring station and going over what was inside and what it did. Laurel seemed fascinated and was asking a good few questions of both Colin and Melanie as Melanie downloaded data onto a memory stick and uploaded any mods to the programs involved, from what previous conversations had told me. I had asked in the past why they simply didn't get close enough to do it via wireless, but apparently they needed to do a physical check too, not simply assume the stations were working properly.

A tug on the rope told me that they were returning and I applied my strength and weight to assist Laurel, then Melanie and finally Colin to ascend back onto the top of the crags.

"Whoo, brisk down there," Colin chuckled.

"Well at least you had ropes this time," I chuckled in return.

"True and it's a lot colder too," he replied.

"That it, other than collating the results?" I asked.

"Till the next time, yes. Though I'd appreciate using your work's PC's direct connection to stream the data back to Durham. Apparently last time the wireless connection got corrupted and they had to wait till we got back," Colin remarked.

"No problem, we'll probably have guests around though," I replied.

"Ah yes, the Krav Maga class your good lady was telling me about," he confirmed.

"That's the one," I replied and led the way back to the cabin.

The walk back took the same amount of time, but seemed to pass quicker in my perception as I was still going over my options with dealing with Ali. My biggest temptation was simply to go down and kill the little shit and hope I wasn't recognised. Though the furore over the murder of a non-white in the UK would probably trigger a greater police response initially as it would be considered possibly racially motivated and there was no way in hell I was going in 'blacked up' as I do have some standards when it comes to the elegance of a planned assassination.

As we approached the clearing where my cabin was I could hear voices and laughter and a loud 'HELLO!' as we entered it. The greeter was Emma and I could see Andy further away standing with Jenny, showing her how to hold a crossbow properly, or rather taking an opportunity to hold her close I guessed, judging by his rather red face when I saw him spot me. Over by the range I could hear Gwen and Nancy both cheerfully laughing at their respective efforts. I relaxed, having not realised just how tense my thoughts had been making me. Laurel gave my hand a quick squeeze before darting past me to join her Mum at the range and I led Colin and Melanie to the cabin to send off their data and prepare lunch, giving Emma a friendly hug on the way past.

As it was, Emma joined me in helping prepare lunch along with Melanie who seemed to get along famously with her. Soon we were all sitting around a table eating sandwiches and guzzling down soft drinks and going over our respective morning's work. Afterwards Colin and I got landed with the washing up as the ladies, including Melanie, went out to their first Krav Maga lesson with Emma.

"Quite the army you have, David," Colin chuckled.

"It's a beginning," I laughed in return. "I'd hate to be a man who annoyed them in a few months' time."

"Too true, by the way if Laurel wants to move into an environmental career, let me know, she's got a keen mind and understood the equipment and what it does far better than I expected," Colin added.

"I'll let her know," I replied not worried at all by Colin's reputation. I knew he'd be damned careful not to upset me, besides it would be at least three years before Laurel considered university.

"I'll also let Jim know you were a great host too, this has been a pretty good visit, my friend," he said with a smile.

"Thanks, but a lot of it's down to my family being back in my life," I replied.

"Yes, they were just the thing you needed," he chuckled.

"Aye, that they were," I said with a wry smile.

"Wimbledon Common," he said.

"Pardon?" I replied thinking I'd misheard.

"Place in South London, lot of trees too but a notorious mobile phone black spot," he expanded for me.

"I'm not sure what you mean," I replied a cold sweat breaking out on me.

"Oh sorry, just thinking out loud about a weird conversation Melanie and I had last night, nothing to worry about," he said.

"Oh that's alright then, thought I had missed something obvious," I replied taking the message and not pressing any further.

"Anyway, I'll grab Melanie and we'll pack, after that we'll say our goodbyes," he said cheerily.

"Oh yes, great to have had you here. Hopefully it'll be won't be too long for your next one," I said.

"Expect things will be a lot more relaxed," he replied.

"Certainly hope so," I said.

Colin prepared to leave and a slight smile came to my lips at just how good a friend he really was. Clearly both he and Melanie had figured things out and decided to support the family and me. That he'd come up with a place for an ambush was just what we needed. All we had to have now was a plan.

The farewell between Nancy and Melanie was tearful, but they both promised to keep in touch and also to seek reconciliation with their parents for Nancy. I promised Melanie to bring the family down to Durham to see her for a day out and to accompany Nancy if or when she visited her parents.

"Keep an eye on the news next week," I said quietly to Colin as we shook hands in farewell.

"Oh, I will, and good luck ... though I suspect luck won't even enter into it," he chuckled.

He got hugs from all my ladies before they got into their 4 X 4 and followed mine down the trail and back to civilisation.

When I returned I noted Sam's vehicle parked next to the Cabin as well as Mike lurking around Laurel and smiled. We'd be able to have a full conference of war with all the team members present and go over a few ideas I had, along with a location I could bring up on Google Maps.

We all clustered around the monitor in the office as I brought up the woodland in Wimbledon Common.

"Not a great deal of cover," Sam opined.

"No, but the bushes and trees will mask the sounds pretty well if we can pull them into the area," I replied.

"People are still going to hear gunfire and we'll need to retrieve our arrows and bolts," said Emma.

"Dog walkers will be out too, along with possibly doggers so there could be witnesses," said Gwen with a grin.

"Was thinking of drawing them into the middle of it late at night and using that to keep people unaware, at least till morning," I said.

"OK, but how do we get out?" asked Sam. "London's got more bloody snoop cameras than North Korea."

"Well if the police haven't grabbed the other squad's minibus I thought we might use that," I chuckled.

"Hmmm, it's a thought, if not we can still grab that cop's vehicle up near Catcleugh," Emma added.

"Not going to get everyone in that though," I replied.

"Still, it's a good start and that minibus might still be there and we can swap plates too," said Gwen.

"Did you leave it in a pay-as-you-go car park?" I asked.

"No, we left it in a free car park near Acomb," said Emma.

"Local plod might have noticed it, but I reckon we might just have the perfect vehicles if we can abandon them somewhere en-route on our way back," I said with a fierce grin.

"I have a couple of days off, so I can pop down and recce the site for us," said Sam.

"Good, because we don't move until we know what we're doing," I replied.

The girls meanwhile were googling pictures of Wimbledon Common and checking out other buildings in the area.

"If we can get the vehicles I suggest parking them on the other side of the A3 near Stag Lodge Stables and simply abandon them whilst parking our getaway vehicles in the Roehampton 24 hour Asda," said Jenny, showing us the locations.