Devil's Crossroads: No-one said it would be easy. Page 4

  “How is Jaime now that you have mentioned him?”

  “I haven’t seen much of him other than at the briefings.” She paused, “He is living with a woman now, apparently a former model and Miss Panama, Caribbean and loads of other countries, by all accounts she is very nice as well as very beautiful, according to Gloria anyway.”

  Steve punched the air in delight, then calmly said “I’m really pleased for him, it’s great he is settling down with someone.”

  “I’m meeting the crew tomorrow night, looking forward to seeing them all again. I’m going now, Gloria is driving me back to the Hilton, we’ll have a couple of drinks on the roof top bar then I might have an early night, it has been tiring.”

  “Thanks for the call, excellent news, give my regards to them all, give me a ring tomorrow if it’s not too late. Great result. Sleep well, see you when you get back.

  “I can’ wait to see you, sleep well.”

  Chapter 3

  Gloria filed the interview documents and stored the recordings at HQ in the secure storage facility, then together with Jessica walked to her car for the journey to the Hilton.

  It was a short journey into the city centre, the traffic was flowing easy along the dual carriageway as they chatted with the radio playing soft music in the background. After a short distance they were overtaken by a prison van and an escort vehicle with four guards, which they presumed would be returning Gabriella to La Joyita. Gloria and Jessica were in no hurry and travelled at a steady 80kph, Paco rang and was on the car speaker, they were chatting when they heard a loud explosion and looking down the carriageway, they could see the prison van was being attacked and had stopped on the hard shoulder of the dual carriageway, there was a dark cloud of dust covering both carriageways. The officers were getting out of the escort vehicle some twenty metres behind and were returning fire at as yet unseen attackers. The traffic had stopped but Gloria manoeuvred into the hard shoulder and made ground towards the incident and stopped 50 metres behind the escort vehicle which was now under heavy gun fire. The noise of the automatic gunfire was deafening and frightening, the occupants of the other vehicles, some carrying children were abandoning their vehicles and running away from the area in a panic. Jessica used Gloria’s mobile phone to contact police control, there was no police radio in the car, they watched as they saw a dark, round device had been placed onto the rear door of the prison van by one of the attackers, it was difficult to count how many were involved, there was a constant movement, by persons in black overalls with head and face coverings. Within seconds there was only one escort officer returning fire from behind the concrete wall at the edge of the carriageway. Gloria took her issued handgun from the glove compartment and went to get out of the car, when a second explosion blew the rear doors of the van. There were four men in boilersuits attacking the new door entrance, they all had automatic weapons strapped over their shoulders, one was carrying heavy duty bolt cutters, when the dust cloud cleared a prison officer was visible in the doorway, he was holding his arms in the air, he was unarmed and holding keys clearly visible in his right hand, he was shot with rapid fire on numerous occasions in the body and immediately fell out of the door and dropped the metre onto the tarmac road. One of the attackers picked up the bloodied keys from the ground and dropped the bolt cutters then two of the attackers jumped into the rear of the van. Gloria got out of the car, Jessica tried to stop her, shouting, “No, no, no” this was being recorded on the phone call, Gloria jumped the concrete wall and was making her way towards the escort officer when she was spotted by one of the attackers who opened fire in quick succession in her direction. The escort officer was hit by a bullet and fell backwards behind the wall, as Gloria made her way to his location, Jessica was relaying information of the attack and watching helpless when she saw Gloria hit and fall to the ground. The gun fire stopped, there was an eerily silence, Jessica, acting against her better judgement but for concern of her friend got out of the car, jumping the concrete wall and crouching down she made her way towards Gloria, she could see her friend moving on the ground and covered in blood.

  The attacker used the keys to open the cage door then remove the handcuffs from Gabriella and pulled her off the bench seat, she was still stunned from the blast on the rear door as he pulled her towards the opening.

  Just twenty metres to go to reach Gloria, Jessica looked up, towards the raised location of the rear open doorway and saw Gabriella being held by two men in boiler suits at the rear opening of the van, she was forty metres distance but Jessica could see she was dazed and unable to walk unassisted. Gabriella, from her position in the door, saw Jessica at the same time as her rescuers did, she was the only person moving towards the carnage and a threat, one raised his CZ Scorpion EVO 3 assault weapon and aimed in her direction, Gabriella screamed “No” and attempted to pull on the arm of the man taking aim, she was sharply pulled away by the other supporting man. Instantaneously the loud sound of rapid fire behind her was directed in the direction of Jessica, before she could react the first 9mm parabellum bullet entered below her left shoulder, thumping hard through the flesh and bones of the joint and lifting her upwards and backwards, a second bullet from the rapid fire entered her stomach to the left of her naval and exited at the back below her ribs. She fell heavily backwards on to the dusty ground; she was still conscious but seriously shocked and losing blood which was flowing around her back spreading and coagulating in the dust. She could hear the sounds of sirens approaching the killing zone, she had to stay awake. Looking towards Gloria, she could see that her left arm was hanging down by her side with blood from a wound in the area of her bicep running down to her fingers and onto the ground, she had tears in her eyes but she was alive.

  The attackers were joined by riders on cross country motor bikes from the wooded area over the safety wall of the motorway. The cars that had been used by the attackers were remotely exploded to cause more distraction, fear and smoke cover for their escape route. Gabriella was put onto the back of a motorcycle, which was ridden off at speed weaving along the defined woodland pathway, after half a kilometre she was transferred into the rear of a parcel delivery van and was heading North East towards Colon and the Caribbean coast. The attack had taken less than one minute and had left seven guards dead, two friends seriously injured and a serial killer was now free.

  Some of the sirens had stopped nearby but some could still be heard in the distance getting closer, suddenly she was aware of a police officer in uniform standing over her and his radio message for urgent medical assistance, she was starting to fall asleep, losing her resilience. She was being lifted firmly and hastily onto a stretcher and could feel it being wheeled quickly as it bumped along the tarmac surface. Her eyes opened and she saw the roof of the ambulance, medical staff were inserting drips into her arms, they had placed an oxygen mask over her face, she could hear the siren start and could feel the vehicle was travelling at speed.

  Chapter 4

  Friday 20th January 2017

  It was late afternoon and Steve was sat at his desk which had a selection of birthday cards taking up most of the work space, which was no problem as it was almost home time. He already had a birthday cake presentation which had been shared with everyone in the office with several cups of coffee. His phone rang, “Hi Steve are you finished yet, I am?”

  “Hi Sarah just about, I’ve just got to clear my desk with all my cards.”

  “I’ll come down then.”

  Steve cleared away the cards, putting them into his drawer, he would recycle them next week when no one was looking. A few minutes later, Sarah walked into the office and walked up to Steve, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and handed him a sealed envelope. He opened the envelope and there were two tickets for the football match on Saturday afternoon. He pretended to be excited, “Thanks for the tickets, who am I supposed to take, I don’t know too many people in Madrid.”

  Sarah twisted her face, “Happy birthday to me then.” she smiled and
gave him a hug and another kiss on the cheek. Steve was getting used to this kissing thing now but he had only been in Spain for two weeks and he was sure to learn a lot more in the coming weeks, months and maybe years in this country. He definitely was not used to the Spanish socialising hours, they would go out to eat when he was ready for bed and he still enjoyed a drink after work, especially on Friday’s and even more so on his birthday.

  They both put on their warm top coats, as Madrid was very cold this winter and made their way to the bar used by the office, which was handily nearby and close to the Begona metro station for the journey home.

  They had both been posted to the NCA office in Madrid after completing their training in England. Sarah had started in December, Steve had been given time off from his initial course and was put back four weeks, whilst dealing with the trauma of Jessica having being killed in Panama. Steve was initially considered for the liaison officer post in Panama but due to the recent circumstances of Jessica’s death and the Lopez murder enquiry, an assessment had been made that it would be too dangerous for Steve to return in an active capacity to Panama.

  They were both living in the same apartment block, again near to the metro line, which was on the same line, line 10, which handily enough also went to the Santiago Bernabeu, the historic football stadium of Real Madrid.

  Steve was slowly recovering from the loss of Jess, he had spoken to Jaime on a few occasions, there was no progress on the murder of Jess and the other prison officers or the whereabouts of Gabriella Mariana Higuita. There had been similar incidents over the years in Panama with violent escapes from transportation or in the prisons, usually organised by the major drug cartels. Gloria would phone him and they could now speak in Spanish, even if it was slow, she blamed herself for the death of Jessica and was suffering psychologically more than from the physical scars she had, as a result of gunshot wound and surgery, she would never return to an active role in policing.

  The death of Jess had brought back the bad memories of his own experience, when three of his marine mates had died in a troop transport when an improvised explosive device was detonated all those years ago. He still felt guilty that he survived by the luck of a seating position in the vehicle, the restless, sleepless nights had resumed, at least he didn’t want to kill himself anymore, he had been convinced by his friends that it would be a bad idea.

  Sarah had helped Steve throughout the last few months, she was supportive, loving and an absolute pain in the arse at times, making him work at his Spanish or anything to take his mind from the incident.

  They both linked arms as they walked into the Covent Garden bar, a British styled pub popular with the local area British workers and tourists in central Madrid. Quite a few of the embassy staff had made the effort to celebrate Steve’s birthday with him, it was a good excuse not to go back to the lonely apartments and they sang the celebratory song to him to him as he walked in. It was an expensive first round. Three hours later they both left and walked the short distance to the Annapurna restaurant. After feasting on the Indian banquet, they took a taxi back to the apartment block and both entered Steve’s apartment.

  Steve was first to rise and was making coffee in his new coffee machine, another birthday present from Sarah, his mobile was ringing. He flipped the leather case and saw that it was an unrecognised Spanish number, 08:48 on a Saturday morning. The immediate thought was it is a Spanish cold caller, then he realised it was his British mobile, he pressed the green button and answered quizzingly, “Hello.”

  A male voice with a cockney accent spoke, “I know where you live”

  Steve answered in surprise, “Fucking hell Trigger, how did you get my number. Last time I saw you, you were legless?”

  “I thought you would have shot yourself by now, you probably tried but missed. (the sound of laughing) I hear you’re okay Geordie boy.”

  “Ok mate, now, how about you?”

  “Still going mate, shit sometimes but hey, still here, better than some eh.”

  “Yeah, really shit sometimes, how did you get my number?”

  “I was talking to Rocky at the reunion, he told me about Panama mate, I didn’t know, don’t watch English news much. I phoned your office in Newcastle, which was shut, eventually got put in touch with Alan, he remembered me, obviously once met never forgotten, he gave me your number then told me you were working in Spain.”

  “I’m going to the Real, Malaga game today are you still living down that way?”

  “Mate, I’m in Madrid for the game, wondering if you wanted a reunion and a few cervezas?”

  “There’s a bar the Covent Garden, not too far from the stadium, meet you there at one, I will be with my mate, just get a taxi from the metro.”

  After a little catch up chat the call ended, Steve took Sarah a lukewarm cup of coffee and told her about the planned meeting. After the coffee and breakfast of tostada and tomatoes with olive oil, Sarah left to go to her apartment and make herself ready for the day ahead, she was feeling excited to meet one of Steve’s army mates.

  At 12:30 precisely, Steve knocked on the door of Sarah’s apartment, she opened the door and was putting on her black heavy quilted coat over her brilliant white Real football shirt. She was dressed for the cold weather, shiny black leather knee-length boots, dark blue denim jeans. Her black hair was hanging loose around her shoulders with just the slightest touch of makeup on her face. Steve was wearing his old faithful Barbour jacket and had a grey woollen scarf hanging around his neck. She picked up her new Real scarf, gloves and ensuring she had the tickets they made their way to the road outside. They took a taxi to The Covent Garden pub, Sarah paid the fare, this was Steve’s birthday present, whether he wanted it or not, she was going to enjoy the day. They entered the bar, which was quiet at this early time and took a table well away from the door and the cold air that entered every time it opened. They were quickly served two pints of Estrella and a bowl of olive tapas. Just a mere three hours before kick-off, this was going to be a good day Sarah thought, as she took off her coat and placed it around her chair, she heard the cockney voice, “Hey Geordie, I’m dying of thirst here.”

  Sarah turned towards the door and saw who she believed to be Trigger, wearing a blue and white striped Malaga shirt under his opened blue quilted jacket standing with his legs open and arms outstretched. Steve was on his feet and without hesitation the two men were in a strong body hug. After a few seconds they stepped back from each other, Sarah was sure she could see tears in their eyes, she stepped forward, “Hiya, I take it you’re Trigger, I’m Sarah, Steve’s mate.” She then gave him a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. Stepping back, she continued, “It’s great to meet you Trigger, Steve’s told me nowt about you mind.” and gave him a smile, a third pint was placed on the table, she then noticed that Trigger walked with a limp as he walked to the table and took his seat.

  “You’ve got a bad limp Trigger, what you done?”

  He pulled up both of his jeans legs and revealed that both were metal prosthetic legs.

  “Bloody hell, no wonder your limping, you must save a fortune in socks.”

  The ice had been broken, the chat flowed as quickly as the beer, nothing was said of the incident that caused their injuries and the death of their mates. It was nearing the time to leave for the stadium, Trigger suggested that they could meet on Sunday, he wanted to discuss a problem with both of them that he was sure they would be interested in. They made the plans and then took a taxi to the stadium where they hugged and separated.

  Steve and Sarah had an enjoyable day in so many ways, meeting a friend, watching Real win, birthday drinks and a tremendous steak with wine to finish the evening. On return to the apartments Steve suggested that he wanted to sleep alone, Sarah didn’t need to ask questions, they kissed and separated.

  At 11:30 on Sunday, Steve and Sarah left their apartment block and took the Metro the short distance to the city, they were headed for The Covent Garden pub. On entering, they took the same tabl
e as the previous day and ordered two coffees, the pub was empty. Sarah had carried a small shoulder bag containing a note pad and pens, they made themselves comfortable and waited for Trigger. It was forty minutes later when Trigger entered, smiling but looking a bit worse for the wear, he took his seat and another coffee was ordered. The initial conversation was about the match, he thought Real were lucky to beat Malaga, the number of bars he had been in with the supporters’ group and he was suffering from the drink. After a bacon sandwich and another coffee Trigger started to talk about the problem. Sarah took out the notepad and a pen and started writing, non-stop, names, places, drugs, cocaine, hashish, heroin, firearms, cars, boats, Russians, Swedish, British, Irish, Romanian, Polish, Montenegrins, Bosnians, Dutch, Belgium, South Africans, Moroccan’s and Colombians. There was so much information, one thought was going through Steve’s mind.

  Steve, “Trigger, how the fuck do you know all of this?”

  “I had a cash flow problem and I did something, nothing serious, just a delivery. I didn’t know what it was and I got a decent lump”