Chapter Twenty Three
Bridger had made the decision to send Grant and Jo back to the office with the two computer geeks. He had asked that he and Becky ride along with the surveillance team to provide evidential support. Whatever Jonas did between leaving the university and getting to the warehouse could be of value to proving the eventual case against him He and Becky would be there to see it all.
A serious looking man, who had introduced himself as Sticky, then had not said much after that, appearing to concentrate on his driving, had picked him up from outside the headquarters of Revenge.com. That suited Bridger as he had time to think through the next steps of the operation. He phoned the officer in charge of the armed offender’s squad, told him that the target was where he was supposed to be, and that the surveillance team had him contained. The team leader promised him that they would be assembling at the safe point as soon as he heard that the target was on the move.
He had just cut the connection on his phone when Sticky slowed and then stopped at a set of lights. Bridger was gazing out of the window absently when he caught a glimpse of a couple sitting inside a Cafe beside the intersection. It was an everyday sight, people getting on with their lives, enjoying one another's company, not a care in the world.
He continued to watch as the female rose from her seat with her back to him and touched her male companion on the arm. He watched as the male companion rose as well, then she kissed him on the cheek. The male smiled at her and said something that made her laugh. He saw her tuck her laptop under her arm and turn towards the door. It was then that Bridger realised he was watching his own wife.
As Sticky pulled away from the lights, he lost sight of the Cafe and Laura. Suddenly he could not breathe, he felt winded, as if someone had kicked him in the stomach. What in the hell was that, his mind started racing. He knew Laura was a tactile person and touched people a lot while talking to them, he had seen it often enough and it was harmless. He had never seen her kiss another person though, and to kiss another man. The thought warped in his brain, he was imagining where it all went after that. Was Laura having an affair? Was that why she left him really?
He thought back to the flowers the previous night. She had said they were from her boss, he had believed her. What about the card she had tucked into her pocket when she thought he had not seen it, how could he have been so stupid? How could she have been so stupid? Why had she not said anything? Bridger's mouth was dry; he swallowed but could not get any relief.
There must be an explanation, he thought. He had been so tied up with his own guilt he could not see it in her.
He looked at his cell phone, tempted to ring her and demand the explanation that was due him. The cell phone was such an impersonal thing, he realised he needed to confront her in person, to see her face when she started telling the lies that she thought would extricate her from the situation. The feeling of hurt deepened when he imaged her lying to him. Making excuses, turning it back onto him, and blaming him for the fact that she was screwing some other guy. Images started to screen in his mind, Laura and some young guy with a Photoshop abdominal area, sweating and grinding against each other, her face twisted in pleasure. He pictured the guy bringing Laura to climax, then both of them turning to look directly at him. Except it was not Laura, it was Jane.
Bridger looked down at his hands and realised his sweaty fist was clamped tightly around his cell phone, the whites of his knuckles showing vividly on his fingers. Turning to Sticky he was about to tell him to turn around and go back so he could confront her. He saw that Sticky’s mouth was moving but his speech sounded muffled, he appeared to be talking to himself. He realised sticky had been talking to someone on his radio.
"He's on the move Sergeant, Sloth has him walking west on St David Street".
Shit, not now, thought Bridger, torn between the need to nail Jonas and the need to see his wife.
He felt Stickys driving became more urgent, which took the decision from him, he realised something had happened. Sticky turned on the main radio speaker so Bridger could hear what was happening. The chatter of the radio was just gibberish to Bridger, the surveillance boys might just have well been speaking in a foreign language. Everyone in the team seemed to have a nickname; either that or their parents name choices were very strange. That was about all he understood. Sticky though, new exactly what was going on as he moved himself closer to Jonas's location.
"He's getting into a vehicle Sergeant, just around the corner..., He's on the move, should be coming into sight over there in a few seconds".
Sticky was pointing in the direction of the next road coming up. Bridger looked over at the intersection and sure enough, Jonas drove by in front of them in an unassuming blue sedan. He did not look to be in any hurry and certainly did not look to Bridger to be about to commit any crimes.
You’re one cold bastard, Bridger said to himself.
The gibberish continued on the radio as Jonas drove through the streets. Bridger could not help but be impressed with the skill of the surveillance team. They did not lose sight of Jonas or his vehicle for any period.
He did not stand a chance, he thought to himself.
The pace was fast, the radio chatter constant. Bridger found himself caught up in the adrenalin as the car he listened to the progress of his quarry. The route he was taking made it appear that he was heading in the direction of his temporary address in the university apartments.
Unexpectedly, Jonas made a stop, swerving into a parallel park on the side of the road. He quickly got out of the vehicle and started walking away in a bit of a hurry. Bridger heard Stan Walton on the radio, "Make sure you don’t lose him", he was saying, "Keep him in sight at all times, we need to know where he goes".
Bridger's phone rang in his hand; he could see it was Becky’s number. He knew she would be sitting in Stan’s car somewhere in the area.
"Mike, Stan thinks Jonas may have been spooked".
"Hopefully Jonas is not that switched on Becky. He shouldn't have any reason to think he was being followed, but then I guess he would be a bit paranoid if he had snatched a girl and had her locked up somewhere".
From the commentary that was still coming over the radio it sounded as if Stan's boys still had Jonas in their sights.
"Let's just hope he hasn't been spooked, for Marion's sake", Bridger said before cutting the connection.
If he had been spooked, he was sure Stan would have words with that member. Bridger did not know much about how the team operated, but he knew Stan was aware how crucial this operation was. He also knew that he was not one to tolerate simple mistakes like that.
A team member named Smurf reported over the radio that Jonas had cut through an alleyway and into the next street over from them. He had come out onto the street beside his place of residence and then gone inside.
So he is acting a bit suspicious after all, Bridger thought.
Sloth came on the radio and reported that Jonas's vehicle had parked in a five-minute zone, so was likely he would be returning to it soon. Bridger looked at his watch, still plenty of time. He sat back in the car seat and waited for Jonas to reappear. Less than five minutes went by and Smurf reported Jonas coming out of the apartment and retracing his steps towards his car. He was carrying a blue backpack over one shoulder that appeared to be relatively full.
After a few minutes, Sloth reported Jonas getting back into his car. Things got more frantic again as the surveillance team scrambled to get into position as he drove away.
Sticky was behind the vehicle Jonas was driving as he pulled away from the curb. Bridger saw Jonas turn his car into a side street with 'No Exit' displayed on the street sign. "This must be it", Bridger said, "There is no other way out of that street".
Sticky pulled his car in behind another a short distance from the corner.
"We better wait a minute before we go in, give him time to settle", Sticky said as he informed the rest of the team what had happened.
r /> A few moments later Jonas's car reappeared, pulled out of the side street and drove in the opposite direction. Bridger watched him as they passed each other nose to nose. Jonas looked oblivious to the fact that he had just been a few feet from a police surveillance team.
"Classic anti surveillance move that was", Sticky said, handing control to the next team member who had managed to get in behind Jonas.
Bridger looked at the width of the street in which they were in currently.
It could be that it was just an easy way to turn around though, he thought.
Bridger found his sense of direction tested to its limits as he struggled to understand what the surveillance team was saying. Sticky was driving all over the place, but knew exactly what was going on. However, he did get the sense they were nearing the wharf area where Beth had said his building was.
The radio crackled “Target has turned into Fryatt Street” Bridger knew it ran parallel with the Otago harbor; he listened to the commentary tell them that Jonas had made another right and stopped outside a wooden warehouse building. This time, Bridger thought. It must be his building.
There were a large number of cars parked in the street but Sticky had no trouble parking in amongst them, hidden from Jonas's direct view, but enabling Bridger to see him quite clearly through the car in front. As Bridger watched, he saw Jonas get out of his car and unlock the double doors in the front of the building. He was in no hurry, he got the impression he was actually whistling to himself.
"You won't be whistling soon arsehole", Bridger said aloud, Sticky appeared not to notice the comment.
He watched as Jonas slid the big wooden doors open one after the other. He got back into his car and drove inside the building out of view to Bridger. Another vehicle drove by the entrance to the warehouse and then went into a side street. Immediately his phone rang, Becky’s name was on the caller display.
"We went past the front of the building when he drove inside but the interior was to dark to see much of what was there", she was saying, "He looked as if he was closing the doors behind himself when we went around the corner".
"Thanks Becky, looks like this is it, I'll let the AOS team leader know that I'm going to give the go ahead for his squad to move in. Once they are inside I want you to come in with me to make the arrest. I'll get Grant and Jo to come down and deal with Marion".
Bridger pushed the off button on the cell phone and took a deep breath, he realised he was feeling a lot better, his head no longer felt like it had a steel wrecking ball bouncing around inside it. All thoughts of Laura and the unknown male pushed to the back of his mind. He pushed send on the text message that gave the order to move in. He watched the screen as the little envelope disappeared indicating that he had sent the message successfully.
Bridger looked over at Sticky who was sitting still in the driver’s seat. He just looked relaxed; like it was just another day at the office.
I guess that comes with his job description, thought Bridger, but you could to relaxed sometimes.
That was not his concern though as he looked back towards the warehouse. Similar looking buildings lined the street they were in; all had padlocked front doors on them. There were plenty of cars parked in the street but not much pedestrian traffic. The vehicles must belong to the employees that worked in the area. He wondered what those workers would think if they knew what was happening just inside the wooden walls of the building a short way up the street from them.
"Things are about to get loud", Sticky said, pointing towards a figure dressed all in black who was walking slowly around the corner with his back to the wall. He was followed by three more figures dressed the same, all of them wearing black helmets and had something covering their faces.
They were certainly a foreboding sight, thought Bridger. They moved with the precision of a military unit. All of them had semi automatic weapons in their hands and more items strapped to their black body armor.
The Armed Offender Squad was only a part time job, all its members undertaking normal police duties until needed. A unit called in after an incident had occurred required specialist intervention. Their primary role was to cordon and contain an offender until he gave himself up or they had explored all other avenues to resolve a situation. Sometimes they were required to be the first port of call when undertaking jobs that required more caution. Bridger knew many of its members, and they would all tell him that they enjoyed these types of jobs better. Today was certainly one of those jobs.
The lead member had approached the door and was standing with one hand on the handle. Another team of four had materialized from the other side. Altogether, there were eight figures all clad in black, bristling with weaponry, standing on an otherwise empty street. The lead member held his free hand in the air, when it came down he pulled the sliding door open. The figure standing beside him appeared to throw something into the open doorway. A very loud bang followed the movement, the noise waves vibrating out of the opening. It had made Bridger and Sticky both jump in their seats. Anyone inside that building was going to be temporarily stunned and deafened.
That would have been the point though, Bridger thought, as the black clad figures moved into the building with their weapons raised.