Tested by Fire by David Costa (the little red hen read aloud TXT) 📗

As you would expect at this time of the morning it’s all quiet, nothing moving, and only one or two with interior lights on. I’m thinking that although the satnav shows Kings Road, if they’re in a house here then it could be any of about one hundred. The good thing is that if they’re in there, they’re going to have to come out of the top of the Kings Road. If we cover the road, we should get them coming out. We decide what to do next depending on what we see,’ Reece said.

‘Roger that. We’ve taken a drive down the full length of the main street and it’s all quiet. We’re on the Manchester side of the street away from Kings Road. On the other side of the Railway Bridge, can you see it from your side?’

Reece could see the bridge over the main street in the rear-view mirror.

‘Yes, I see it.’

‘Just as you drive under the bridge there’s a side road up to the Irlam train station. We took a drive up to look and I must say the station looks in better nick than most of the buildings on the main road. It looks Victorian and has two lines going between Manchester and Liverpool. There’s a tunnel walkway that goes under the lines for access to the two platforms then on down to the main road coming out at the traffic lights beside the overhead bridge. It would be ideal for anyone using the trains in and out of Manchester and staying near the Kings Road.’

Reece was having the same thoughts his memory went quickly back to his foot surveillance training with an MI5 officer who was one of the famous ‘watchers’ team who followed the Russian spies during the Cold War. This day one of the other instructors had been following Reece and his instructor when they’d gone down a walkway under the main road outside Madame Tussaud’s in London. As they went down the subway steps and turned the corner to go down further the instructor in front of Reece just managed to avoid stepping on a Tramp sitting at the top of the steps with a large glass sitting on the step beside him. Stepping over the glass he told Reece to listen as they walked along the long tunnel. He knew that as there was a number of exits from the tunnel the instructor following would be following close behind concentrating on where they were and what exit they were taking. Suddenly there was a loud crash and smashing of glass with a burst of profanities. They had both looked around able to identify their following watcher as he picked himself up off the ground.

There was more than one way to get caught out when following someone and that was the point being made by his instructor.

‘OK, we need eyes on the end of Kings Road to cover foot and vehicle surveillance. We will take another run around the Kings Road and make sure we have all the vehicle registrations, then we can all meet up in the station carpark for a quick chat.’

‘Roger that,’ said Grey.

Reece drove around the streets once more slowly this time to try to identify the driveways without vehicles on them. This was easy as only Henley Avenue had driveways and garages and only two houses had no vehicles. The first on the left number two as you entered and one at the end of the street number ten, both could have a car in the garage.

Mary had been sitting quietly in the back but now she spoke.

‘If you find them in one of these houses, what then, Joseph?’

‘Then we decide what to do. That’s what I want to chat to everyone about.’

He drove to the Irlam Station carpark where the second BMW was parked in a corner that avoided the span of the security cameras covering the station.

Everyone stood by the cars, the rain had subsided for a change.

‘I’m happy where we are,’ said Reece.

‘We now know the basic lay of the land and I have to believe they’re somewhere in the Kings Road area. The problem is, we don’t know exactly where, or if they’re together, or how many of them there are. We could call in a big squad of police and soldiers, seal off the area, and wait for them to show their hand, but there may be people we’re not aware of, and again they might not even be there. We would be showing our hand what they don’t know right now works in our favour. They don’t know we’re here. Now’s the time to be patient and wait them out wait for them to make their move. It’s three in the morning. I’m going to drop Mary off at the hotel, then Joe and I’ll get back to the hanger for a little shut-eye. April and Steve, you park up on the main road with a view of the entrance to Kings Road anything coming out, especially on foot, make a note of it. If it looks like anyone we’re interested in, follow them. Joe and I’ll be back at 7 a.m. to let you get back for some rest. We know the target for these guys will most likely be Wednesday, so we still have time, let’s use it. Any questions?’

‘What if we think there’s a danger to the public?’ asked Harrison.

‘We have a green light. We’re here for one reason and one reason only: to find these bastards and take them out of the picture. If that means permanently, then so be it. This area has been put out of bounds to local police so if they need to come in here for any reason, they’ll let us know for clearance purposes. That’s the reason we don’t carry handcuffs, that’s not our job. The one thing we don’t need is a