Chapter 14
Winter 2035/36
Major General Keatson was now feeling his age. He had done all that was asked of him for nearly fifteen years. From helping set up the Conpens and protecting the police to providing covert protection for Garside’s business partners, gambling casinos and factories that were constantly under threat. He was tired and it showed. He was summoned to Garside’s office once again. He had a good idea what was coming.
‘What on earth is going on General? I thought you had crack troops under your command and now I’m told they not only did not take Judge and his men out. Some of your men deserted including one of your Officers.’ Garside was speaking through clenched teeth, his face red with anger. ‘Do you have an explanation for this grossly negligent failure?’
Keatson reached inside his jacket and pulled out an envelope. ‘Mr Garside, here is my letter of resignation to take effect immediately. When any of my troops desert and especially an officer, I can no longer claim to have the trust of the men under my command. For them to take such drastic steps indicates to me that I have badly misread the course that I have followed. So, Sir, you can stop your bullyboy tactics with me as I am no longer under your command and personally, I am too old to continue listening to your ranting. My second in command will no doubt provide all that you require. He has been instructed to make himself known to you today.’ The General stood up slowly and standing to attention saluted the Union flag that was draped in the corner of the room, turned and left.
Later that night Major General Keatson was found dead at his home; he had shot himself.
Meanwhile, Garside was furious about how his power base was being challenged. Henry Mason was asked for his assessment of the situation.
‘Well, Tony it’s not good. We have intelligence that Slattery is changing his policing policy. His intention is to get them back to being coppers on the street, community servers and general good guys in the public eye. As for Keatson, we can forget about him, he’s harmless now. His successor is a General Carsforth, who is a much younger man and very ambitious. I’m sure we can bring him on board.’
Garside spluttered ‘just a minute, Henry, who gave Slattery permission to change the Policing policy?’
‘He decided to do so himself and has declared that he will only inform you when the new policy is well under way to being implemented. He also said that he would not provide the support above ground for the army that he agreed to when they were to go underground, but I don’t think it would have made any difference to the outcome. His plan is to remove all weapons and reissue them to a select few as an armed response squad. Tony, he is attempting to turn the clock back and there are a few who agree with him.’
‘How dare he do that without consulting me’ Garside fumed. ‘I take back what I said about dealing with Slattery. Discrediting him will take too long; deal with him anyway you want Henry but get him out of our hair quickly. As for the Army, get this Carsforth in to see me today. We cannot lose the support of the Police or the Army if we do then we will return to the anarchy we had 15 years ago. I’m already receiving flak from the Americans and the UN about so-called human rights issues. Fortunately, we still have some support from one or two Eastern Bloc countries. We must continue to lay the blame at the terrorists’ door for any “control measures” we take.’
Garside and his right-hand man greeted General Carsforth’s arrival warmly. He was a tall, well-built man and quite young for his level of rank. And ambition was evident in his confident demeanour.
‘So, General, may I, first of all, congratulate you on your promotion.’
Thank you First Minister I’m sure I can provide the sort of support you require and I’m equally sure that my efforts in that regard will be suitably rewarded.’
Garside subtly raised an eyebrow ‘of course General any exceptional endeavours in support of my long term plans will be recognised appropriately. So, let’s get down to business. What are you going to do about the terrorists causing so much disruption and how will you deal with the obvious disquiet amongst the ranks?’
‘The terrorists will be dealt with, I promise you. I will present my plan on how I will deal with them in due course. As for the deserters, under military regulations the maximum sentence is death by firing squad. This punishment has not been carried out by any tribunal for many years, but I intend to change that. Any deserter who is caught will face the ultimate sanction.’
‘Excellent General, thank you; I’ll leave you to get on with your planning. I will expect you to attend my weekly Cabinet meetings but please keep me informed privately of any delicate developments.’
The General acknowledged and left the office.
Mason got up to leave saying ‘I will get on with arranging Mr Slattery’s departure. Good day, First Minister.’
During the following week, Mark Slattery and General Carsforth were both busy formulating their plans for change albeit in very different directions. Meanwhile, Adam French met with John as he was now back on duty having been discharged from the hospital. He explained that he had been thoroughly debriefed by Winterton and was told he would be part of another “special duties” squad who were based in a disused office opposite the old police station in Spitalfields. It was decided not to use the station for security reasons given that Judge and his men have already taken two units down from within Police stations.
‘Adam I need to know when you next meet with Winterton. Can you get that information to me quickly?’
‘It will be the squad leader who will be contacted as soon as a target is identified. I will get out to the Spitalfields office and see if I can get close to whoever that is.’
‘Good. When you know a meeting time and place for them, go to the Aldgate East tube station entrance. You will find a concealed entrance at the side of the station and inside near the old ticket office there will be a transceiver. Call me; the frequencies we use are well protected so no need to disguise the information. I also need to know who the target is. Good luck Adam and be careful.’
2 days later John’s radio crackled into life ‘They are meeting tonight at 7 pm at the South East corner of Finsbury Square. The target won’t be known until after that meeting.’
John acknowledged and the radio clicked off. He now had to move quickly. Studying the map, he decided that the jump off point would be Moorgate Station. His team was brought together. ‘Mal, we will need a fast moving vehicle with a side entrance sliding door big enough to shove one person in together with the snatch squad of four. Can you get one before 7 pm tonight?’
‘I’ve got the very thing stashed away for such an event John. What are we doing tonight?’
‘We are going to lift the kill squad’s handler who we believe works for Mason of MI5. We will also take out the squad leader who will be there to receive his next target. We want to know who that is and at the same time get what we can from Winterton the handler. Terry, I want a backup section in support that will merge with us from Liverpool Street because I know that he will have back up with him. That backup may be on foot or in a blacked out car. They need to be identified and taken out before they can react to their boss being lifted. I believe we have a job for you here JD. Your night viewing equipment will be invaluable.’
‘That’ll be right up our street. If it is ok with Terry, I and my section will be happy to be under his command.’
John interrupted ‘JD, are you certain your men are ready for this?’
‘I’m absolutely certain John. They made a decision when they joined up with you and fully realised what would be expected of them. They became aware that they, for the first time in their military careers, would be fighting for a cause they could believe in. I have no doubt whatsoever that they will serve you well.’
John looked to his second in command ‘Ok, Terry it’s your call.’
‘I’m more than happy to have such an experienced crew, welcome on board JD. Shall we get down to some planning?’
That evening Terry and JD together with the section of soldiers moved out towards Liverpool Street from Bank Underground. John and his section of four men with Mal driving set out for Moorgate. They would sit at Moorgate until Terry and JD had assessed the surrounding area of Finsbury Square. It was clear. JD and his men were covertly spread out and continued to observe through their night vision sights. A man, dressed in Police uniform, was spotted standing at the South East corner. This was relayed to John.
At precisely 7 pm, a blacked out car approached the corner of Finsbury Square, stopped, and a passenger got out. The car moved on and parked about fifty yards further on. John knew that this was Winterton on schedule for his meeting. He said ‘go, Mal. Terry, take out the car and its occupants.’ Suddenly Finsbury Square was alive with uniformed soldiers firing shots into the blacked out windowed car, only now there were no windows and two men in the rear seats with a driver still behind the wheel lay dead. Simultaneously, Mal had accelerated towards their target. The van screeched to a halt alongside the two dazed individuals. The side door slid open as the van stopped and John and his team leapt out. Four of the section picked Winterton up off his feet and unceremoniously threw him into the van. As the side door slid closed, John fired one shot instantly killing the assassination squad leader. He extracted the envelope the man was clutching as he fell to the ground and jumped on the passenger side of the now moving van. By the time, John settled into the passenger seat the men had bound, hooded and gagged their captive who had now ceased to struggle.
Winterton was manhandled all the way back to base through the various tunnels to Chancery Lane deep shelter. He fell several times and was dragged back up to his feet. On arrival, John instructed the team to lock Winterton in the small alcove that was already prepared. There was no light and it was damp and cold. The teams were debriefed ‘well done to you all it went off as planned. I intend to speak to Mr Winterton in a couple of hours. In the meantime, he must be kept isolated. He is probably well trained in how to handle such a situation but nevertheless, I’m sure he will sweat a bit. I am going to visit our injured people now. Get yourselves some rest. Terry, JD after the men have dispersed I would like you to help me examine the contents of the envelope I extracted. One of us may know the individual who was their intended target.’
John opened the brown envelope and slipped the contents out. There were a photograph and a slip of paper with the words “this target must be eliminated quickly, do it tonight”. He turned the photograph over ‘well, well, well I’m not at all surprised.’
‘Who is it?’ Terry asked.
‘It’s our new Police Commissioner Mr Slattery. Having assassinated the last one, I didn’t think they’d have the bottle to do it again so soon. He must have really pissed them off.’
JD was staggered ‘are you seriously saying that this establishment is systematically eliminating any opposition? I can’t believe it.’
‘I suggest you start believing JD, Garside will do anything to keep in power and will exercise whatever control he thinks necessary to do that. I would like you to come with us when we talk to Mr Winterton, who I believe is just the messenger, but I’m hoping he will confirm what we already know.’
The cell door swung open and was suddenly illuminated. The now un-hooded captive squinted and squirmed against the bright light that invaded his darkness. He could only see the vague outline of three figures standing in front of him. He was strapped to a chair with his hands tightly bound. His gag was removed.
‘Hello, Mr Winterton. I guess you know who we are so I won’t bother with introductions. To avoid any unnecessary unpleasantness, I suggest you answer my questions quickly and truthfully. If you do that, I promise you that I will let you go.’
Winterton sneered ‘and if I don’t?’
‘Then you will die’ John replied in a quite matter of fact way.’
‘How do I know I can trust you Mr Judge?’
‘You don’t Mr Winterton, but I don’t think you should chance to call my bluff.’
For the next hour, the prisoner answered John’s questions. Who gives you your orders? Who selects the target? How many ‘special duty’ squads are there? Where are they based? The questions came thick and fast, the answers almost as quickly. John already knew the answers to all but the last. He was pleased to know there was now only one unit left in addition to what remained at Spitalfields and that was housed in a Police Station on Earls Court Road.
‘Thank you for being so candid with me, there is just one more question, the address of Mr Mason, where does he live?’
Winterton stammered ‘I don’t know where he lives.’
‘Now that is a shame Mr Winterton because I don’t believe you. I think you have been to his home on more than one occasion so would you like to reconsider your answer?’
‘I don’t know, really, I don’t know.’
‘Terry take him to the execution cell then dump his body outside Mason’s office’ John turned and started to walk out of the door.
‘Stop, no, you promised you would let me go if I cooperated.’ Winterton pleaded.
John continued to leave the room as Terry started to release the prisoner from his chair. ‘Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. The prisoner gave up Henry Mason’s address.
Apart from Garside of all the people John wanted to face it was Mason. ‘Mr Winterton, because you did not live up completely to your side of the agreement I am not going to let you go.’ The colour in Winterton’s face drained. ‘But don’t worry you will not meet your maker yet. You will be escorted to one of our units in the North of the country and will be held there until I believe our immediate business is complete. I cannot risk you warning your bosses of our probable intentions given what we now know.’ He nodded to Terry, who understood what he had to do.
John and JD left Terry and a section of men to deal with the prisoner who would be secretly dispatched to a unit in Manchester and handed over to them for safe keeping until further notice
John now needed to speak to Graham to warn him of the possible threat to the Commissioner.
Graham Johns knew as soon as he saw the signal that an urgent meeting was called, he made his way to Waterloo Station using as many diversionary tactics as he could without delaying his arrival too much. The two men greeted each other warmly. John started by passing the brown envelope to Graham, who slid the contents out and read the typewritten note, he then looked at the photograph. Graham blew a puff of air from the side of his mouth. ‘I had an idea this might happen but not this quick.’
‘We have stopped it this time Graham by taking out the squad leader and lifting his handler, a guy called Winterton who was the provider of their target details. He works for Mason at MI5 and is now being transported to one of our units in the North. He will be kept out of the way while we deal with some issues he was able to tell us about. You need to find a way of warning Slattery that he is in grave danger but how you will do that without exposing your connection with me is a difficult one.’
‘I’ll find a way John, but I seriously don’t think Slattery’s plans are going to get off the ground. There are too many vested interests and particularly for those who are used to being armed and having the power that that brings. They do not want to become street coppers again so there are a lot of people dragging their feet behind the policy. There is also a new army commander in charge, Keatson was found dead at his home two nights ago.’
‘What! Was that Garside, Mason?’ John asked with raised eyebrows.
‘It is not thought so. The view is that it was suicide brought about by the pressure he was under. The new guy is a General Carsforth, younger and very ambitious. He and Garside will get on like a house on fire. Be careful John, word on the street is he is after you and the army deserters especially the officer. He wants to impress his new paymaster.’
Graham returned to his duties while John went about the task of planning what he would do about Mr Mason. As he was Garside’s right-hand man Garsi
de would be weakened by the loss of this support. He asked Derek Farson to take on the responsibility for taking out the kill squad that was housed in Earls Court Road Police-station. Over the next two weeks, that job was completed and easier than usual. The ‘special duties’ squad had become sloppy and undisciplined mainly due to inactivity and lack of direction So Derek completed the task with minimal fuss. Adam French moved underground and became a valued member of Paul Cobb’s team.