"Meltdown" - читать интересную книгу автора (McNab Andy)

9

The clock on the dashboard of Lee's Mondeo flickered as it moved on yet another minute to 8.47 p.m.

Danny sat low in the passenger seat as he pushed forward the on/off switch on the side of the Taser stun gun in his jacket pocket. A Taser would jolt 100,000 watts into a body when jammed against it, and that was enough to instantly drop a small horse.

Danny had got used to handling various longs and shorts during his training, but the Taser felt heavy and unfamiliar in his hand.

Drizzle had been falling for the past hour, dampening the road surfaces and the parked vehicles so that they gleamed in the streetlights. It was a light but constant rain, enough to keep most pedestrians off the streets.

Danny sighed. 'I think she fancies me.'

'Who?

'Storm, the blonde bombshell.'

Lee raised his eyebrows as he thought back to the surveillance photographs he had taken of Storm at the beginning of the operation. He was the one who had come up with the nickname of the 'blonde bombshell'. It fitted her perfectly.

'And what makes you think that?' said Lee, looking at Danny.

'I dunno. The way she looks at me. And smiles.'

'Yeah, I can imagine. But don't get too carried away – you've got a job to do, Danny boy.'

'I know, and I am. I'm just getting to know her, like my granddad said.'

'Listen, Danny,' said Lee, more seriously. 'A word of advice…'

'Yeah, I know: never mix business with pleasure. And I'm not going to.'

'Good to hear it,' said Lee. 'Start messing with women when you're on a job and it can mess with your head. Women are clever, you know.'

Danny laughed. 'Oh, so you're the expert on women, are you?'

'Not me, mate. You should talk to Phil – he's been married three times.'

'Yeah?'

Lee nodded. 'Mind you, the last one walked out on him a few years ago, so he obviously hasn't got the hang of it yet, either.'

'How d'you know all this?'

'I've spent a lot of time with Phil since you got your cushy office job. You get to chat up the girlfriend, sit in a warm office shuffling the occasional bit of paper, drinking poncy coffee four times a day and we do the routine surveillance stuff. How fair is that?'

Danny smiled. He was glad to be back at work with Lee. But tonight wasn't routine. Tonight they expected Mr Siddie Richards to pay a visit to the Headingham residence.

It was a Wednesday, and Wednesday night was one of the few occasions when the Headingham twins were regularly apart. They took it in turns to visit their widowed mother. When they were not off on one of their foreign trips, she liked to see them separately, on alternate weeks, so that she could devote herself to one of her beloved sons on his own.

Fergus had tipped off Siddie about the weekly outings and he reckoned that the gang leader would pick that Wednesday to make the home-alone twin an offer he dare not refuse.

Lee peered out through the blurry windscreen, then glanced over at Danny. 'So what you gonna do when this is over?'

Danny shrugged. 'Dunno. Haven't thought about it much.'

'You could come in with us, you know, the Security Service. I might even give you a reference. Or maybe you'd prefer to go over to the dark side and do all that army SAS stuff like Phil and your granddad.'

Danny looked at Lee: he had asked him about his life at MI5, and while Lee hadn't told him much, he got the impression that he loved the work. He started to reply, then glanced up at the street ahead and suddenly broke off to hit the pressel on the Mondeo's gear stick.

'Stand by! Stand by! That's a grey Jaguar, four up, approaching apartment building. Fergus acknowledge.'

Fergus's voice came back immediately.

'Roger, that.'

'Phil acknowledge.'

Phil was just as quick with his response.

'Roger, that.'

The Jaguar slid to a standstill at the kerbside just past the building as Danny and Lee sank lower into their seats.

Lee was impressed. 'Well done, mate. I'll give you that reference.'

Danny didn't even have time to nod his thanks.

'That's the vehicle static outside the building. Wait… wait… engine still on, lights on… wait…'

For a couple of minutes the Jaguar driver kept the engine running.

'No change… wait…'

Then two doors opened, one front and one rear.

'Stand by, stand by. That's two possible x-rays out of the car. One fat, one just massive. Both black leather on jeans. No sign of x-ray one. Both foxtrot towards apartment building. Engine and lights still on.'

Danny swore silently. He knew that his grandfather needed Siddie Richards himself in the apartment. But he also knew that Fergus wouldn't panic. Fergus never panicked. He improvised.

Danny went back on the net.

That's two possibles complete in apartment building. What we doing?'

A moment later Fergus's orders came through:

'Phil, move in closer to Jag. Lee and Danny, stay where you are. Listen in for more instructions once I find out what's happening. That's me foxtrot to service entrance at back of building.'