Sian
Sian walked around the black Mercedes Benz. She indicated to the driver to lower the window of the vehicle.
“Turn off the engine and step out of the car please, Sir,” she said with authority. The large customs shed echoed and boomed with the noise of the engines from passing cars and trucks. The ferry from Dun Laoghaire in southern Ireland had just docked. Its cargo of passengers and vehicles had started their journeys away from the port by driving down the ramp of the huge catamaran ferryboat, and through the customs sheds that belonged to the port authorities.
The port of Holyhead was the main thoroughfare for haulage goods to pass from the UK mainland across to Ireland. The journey from the Welsh town to the cities of Liverpool and Manchester, by road, would take less than two hours, London only an hour on top of that.
In the times of the troubles between Britain and Ireland, the port`s customs officers were always on the lookout for Irish Republican Army members. Weapons and explosives had arrived on the British mainland many times through this large port and had been used with devastating effect. Now that the terrorist threat from the Emerald Isle had ceased, drug smugglers were the new enemies.
Sian had been born and raised in the town, which despite being a busy European port was a very small tight knit community. The population of about eleven thousand people rarely set eyes on the two million passengers that travelled through the port each year. Holyhead was a place most people passed through, on the way to or from Ireland.
Small towns such as Holyhead are awash with tales and stories of generations gone by. Stories that became exaggerated as they are passed from person to person; eventually they become urban legend in local folklore. Sian had heard many a tale from her family and friends over the years of how the shores of Anglesey were dangerous for passing ships. Stories of pirates and smugglers had fascinated her as a child. In the 1980`s as she grew up, several large black plastic containers had been washed up on a part of Anglesey called Treaddur Bay. They had contained hundreds of kilos of cannabis. The general consensus of opinion was that the drugs had been dropped into the ocean from a smugglers boat with the intention of it being picked up by a second craft, and brought ashore at a later date. The unpredictable tides and rough seas had scuppered the plan before the contraband could be retrieved. Of course, the tales of how much of the drugs had been salvaged for personal use, by a friend of a friend, of a friend, still echoed down the years even now becoming urban legend.
She often wondered if that’s why she had joined the police force. After joining the police force, she had selected to become one of Her Majesty’s Customs squad. That way she could remain in the community that she had grown up in and still realise her ambition of a career in law enforcement.
Everyone in the town knew everyone else`s business. Sian had gained a lot of valuable information over the years from listening to idle gossip. The people of Holyhead knew her as Sian `Coch`; `Coch` in the Welsh language meaning red, which applied to her hair colour. The name also distinguished her from any other Sian that lived in the town. Her father Joe called her Sian `Bach`. `Bach` being an affectionate term for small or young.
The man in the black Mercedes wound the window down and said, “are you having a laugh, luv, we`re in an awful hurry here now?” The accent was a harsh Irish tone; she identified it as being from Belfast, which is in the north of the country.
Sian pressed the red button on her remote control and the huge custom shed roller shutters descended in seconds. They were a precaution to stop any possible escape from the customs sheds and were activated at the first sign of aggression. It was standard procedure to close the shutter doors immediately if there was sign of a problem, especially if the engine of the suspect vehicle was still running. The Belfast man`s face reddened as he turned off the engine and opened the car door. He stepped out of the black Mercedes and slammed the door shut; he looked down at his feet and leaned against the rear door.
“Your face has gone red. What’s the matter have I made you mad, or have you done something wrong?” Sian was well aware that she had annoyed him, but she liked to use her female sexuality to unnerve suspects. Many men did not react kindly to being told what to do by a woman in uniform, especially men that patronized females in general.
“We’ve done nothing wrong my dear woman. We are in a rush you see. My mother`s very ill in hospital and we need to get there quickly my darling,” he spluttered trying to lie as convincingly as he could. His strong Irish accent had a somewhat charming effect.
“Best not keep you here too long then had we? Can you step out of the car too please, Sir. I mean right now.” Sian opened the passenger door as she spoke and signalled to her nearby colleagues to move toward the trunk of the vehicle. The passenger was an Asian man. He stepped out of the car and looked at her and she sensed his fear immediately. He looked stressed, his eyes darting around looking for an exit.
“He doesn’t speak English very well, so he doesn’t,” said the Belfast man. He pointed at his Asian passenger and moved around the car away from the customs men.
“Your English isn’t great to be honest. Now both of you stand still put your hands on the car and shut up.”
Sian and the other customs officers knew these men were not clean. The fear and panic in the voice of the Belfast man, combined with the silence of his Asian friend, were clearly signs that they were carrying something that they shouldn’t be. Both men complied and put their hands onto the roof of the black Mercedes. There was sweat running down the Asian man`s face as the officers opened the trunk of the car. Sian walked toward the trunk and looked into it as it opened. It was empty.
One officer patted down the Irish man looking for a weapon or illegal substances. Two more of Sian`s men opened the rear doors of the Mercedes and searched beneath the seats.
“Nothing here, Ma’am, it looks clean.” A voice from inside the vehicle said. Sian looked into the trunk again. Something wasn’t right. The back of the rear seats appeared to be too close to her. There was too much space unaccounted for between the trunk and the rear passenger seats.
“Cuff them and read them their rights, suspicion of drug smuggling will do for now. Let`s get this thing ripped to pieces starting with the rear seat. I don’t think that you are going to make visiting hours at the hospital, Gentlemen. In fact I think you’ll be about ten years too late!”Sian stared at the men looking for a reaction as she spoke. The Asian man bolted in a vain attempt to escape. Sian took a step back and pointed her Guardian Angel at his face as he approached her. The Guardian Angel can stop a man at a distance, before he does any harm to anyone. It looks like a small handgun. It has a powerful pyrotechnic charge that accurately fires two concentrated blasts of a potent liquid irritant into the face and eyes of an attacker. The effect is like a pepper spray on steroids. It sprays the liquid at 90mph, way too fast to avoid. The effect on the Asian man as it struck him in the face was instant. He collapsed in a heap at Sian`s feet screaming. The solution caused an incredibly painful burning to the eyes, nose and throat. He writhed on the floor screaming and choking.
“You fucking bitch! You fucking bitch, I can`t breathe,” he said pausing to vomit.
“There doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with his English now, does there?” she said to the Belfast man, as he was led away in handcuffs. The two men were taken and placed in the holding cells. The result of the vehicle search would determine how long they stayed there, and which agency they would ultimately be handed over to. The Asian man moaned and wailed for about an hour in his cell but sympathy was not forthcoming.
Sian called the local drugs squad and told them that they had a suspect vehicle that was being searched in the customs sheds. She knew from experience that there was a false panel that had been placed between the seats and the trunks storage space. The majority of secret compartments were used for the transportation of drugs. Sian was sat talking to the drug squads leading officer, the Detective Inspector, when the results of the preliminary search came in. A customs officer handed Sian a clipboard across the desk.
“We`ve evacuated the customs shed, Ma`am and the bomb squad are on their way to remove the substance,” the officer said as he handed Sian the results of the preliminary search.
“Oh, my God!” Sian said almost whispering.
“What have we got, Sian, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, crack?” the DI said alarmed by the concern on her face, she was one tough woman but she looked visibly shaken.
“I wish it was. I really do, it would be your problem then. The car is packed with what looks like Semtex explosive. It`s not assembled so it looks like they were just transporting it somewhere else. We have always been concerned what the IRA would do with its arms once the troubles ended. It looks like some of them are up for sale. We need to get the bomb squad to check it over though. The IRA always booby-trapped their weapons piles, in case they were discovered. We have to be certain that it’s been made safe before we move it. ”
Sian thanked the DI as he was leaving and he left her in the office alone. This was beyond his remit; he was in charge of drug crimes only. She locked the door behind as he left and switched on the videophone. She picked up her cell phone and checked the screen; she had received a text message from Mustapha. `I could do with a chat, what time do you finish? ` The message read. She placed the mobile phone back onto her desk. She would answer it later. She turned back to the videophone and dialled the number of the Terrorist Task Force in Liverpool.
The digital image of Tank`s head appeared on the screen. Sian had been recruited by the TTF six years ago when the troubles in Ireland were still very much alive. She was one of their undercover team, her position at the customs office required that she was permanently undercover. The government had never really believed the Irish terrorists would actually stop their terror campaign on the mainland of Britain. They also believed rogue elements would turn the use of their weapons toward crime, or sell them on the British mainland. Sian was in the ideal position to relay any sighting of the now redundant Republicans, or their surplus weapons directly to her bosses at the TTF.
“Hello, Sian, I need you to set the phone to receive a digital picture of a suspect that we need to catch very quickly. I don`t think it`s likely that he`ll come your way but could you please distribute his picture amongst your men.”
“I`ll do it now, Boss.” She switched the receive button to the on position.
“Tank, I have two men in custody here, one is definitely Irish, and he is from Belfast we think. The other is a young male of Middle Eastern appearance. They have no identification on them, or their vehicle, which just happens to be packed full of Semtex explosives.”
Semtex had been used successfully by the Irish Republican Army for many years. Originally from a factory in a Czech Republic province called Semtim, which is where the plastic explosive gets its name from. Sian had learned during her taskforce training that the popularity of Semtex explosives with terrorists was due to the fact that it is extremely difficult to detect. Recent international pressure had lead to the manufactures adding ethylene glycol dinitrate, which gives it a distinct vapour signature. This had made it easier for security services to detect its presence.
“Fucking hell, Sian when did this happen? Why haven’t you called it in?” Tank sounded angry and his face darkened on the small digital screen.
“I am calling it in right now, Tank. Five minutes ago I was handed the results of the preliminary search of a black Mercedes. That’s why I have called you now to inform you of what`s happened.”Sian replied feeling the anger rise in her.
“I see. I thought you were contacting me in response to the e-mail I’ve sent you about this suspect Yasser Ahmed. His picture is on the way to you now. Is this Asian man that you have arrested talking yet?” Tank seemed flustered.
“I haven’t checked any e-mail yet, Tank my hands have been full with these two jokers and their car full of explosives; and no he’s not said a Dickie Bird since we pulled them in.”Sian downloaded the e-picture as they spoke.
“Sian, I want you instruct your guys to interview them all night long if necessary. No sleep, no cups of tea, make sure that they get nothing until we get there. Then I will want you and myself with the Asian, Faz and Chen with the Irish man.” Tank suspected that there could be link between Yasser Ahmed`s arrival in Britain and this attempt to smuggle Semtex into the country.
“We think that the brain behind the Disney bomb is here in the UK, and we think that he has plans for us. If your arrests are linked to Yasser Ahmed, and I believe that they are, then this is the first mistake that these people seem to have made. How did you rumble them, Sian? Was it just a random check?” Tank seemed more animated than she had ever seen him before.
“No we got an anonymous tip last night. We received no detailed information just that two men in a dark Mercedes were carrying contraband. The caller didn’t even say what they were smuggling. We have pulled every dark Mercedes that was travelling on the midnight, three o’clock and six o’clock ferries throughout the night. Then we have searched the nine o’clock and midday boats today. We knew from the two men`s reaction when we stopped them that they were dirty. Tank, we were expecting to intercept a shipment of drugs, that’s why I didn’t call it in any earlier. Are you connecting these people to your suspect?”
“Not until you called me, before that we had nothing. Now I am getting a very bad feeling about your anonymous caller. It’s the oldest trick in the book, Sian. I think that the two men that you have in custody were sacrificed. I am thinking that they were sent as decoys to cover an even larger shipment. It could have been a diversion to get your attention. You were busy looking for the dark Mercedes while a lorry load of Semtex was driving by you. I want every articulated truck, van, container and suitcase traced to his or her destinations. Get on to the local uniform guys and get them to set up a roadblock on both the bridges off the Island. We might be able to intercept them before they get to the mainland.” Tank was speaking faster than his rational could think.
“The last truck off that ferry left here two hours ago. They could be in Manchester by now, Tank; it`s too late for road blocks.”Sian knew it was useless. The road across Anglesey was a two-lane dual carriageway. She could reach the first town on the Welsh mainland, Bangor, in twenty minutes.
“What time are you going to arrive here with the others?” she added.
“I want your guys to soften them up for a while so we will be there about six a.m. tomorrow. Sian, I want you to instruct your forensic boys to take that car to pieces, before I get there in the morning. I`ll see you tomorrow. If you get anything at all from them beforehand then please call me.” The picture of Tank turned to gray as the call ended and a digital image of the suspect that Tank had sent started to download. Sian looked at the picture and received her second nasty shock of the day. Although older, the man in the picture could have been her boyfriend Mustapha`s twin brother.