A Blast from the
Past
Monday
1 pm
West Ealing
Police Station
The blonde haired woman looked up from her desk as she
heard the knock on the door. “Come in,”
she called out, smiling as a young man, wearing a light blue shirt and dark tie
with black trousers came in.
“Perkins – what’s up?”
“Sorry to disturb you Boss,” he said as he closed the
door, “but we were called out to a robbery at a local business this morning,
and I thought I should brief you on it.”
He looked at her supervisor, the collar of her blue blouse over her grey
jacket.
Sitting back, she placed her pen on the table and said
“now why would you want to do that?”
“Because a name was mentioned during the robbery.”
“And that name was?”
“George Simpson.”
DCI Jennifer Wayne suddenly sat forward, and said
“tell me more…”
Monday
8 am
Ealing Broadway
“Another day at the coal face,” Joey Blake said as she
searched in her handbag for the front door keys to the boutique, the noise of
the traffic on the busy high street as it passed by distracting her.
“Tell me about it,” Kay Davis said. Her colleague was wearing a black leather
jacket fastened up the front, her long black hair falling over the shoulders,
her legs bare between the hem of her knee length skirt and her long black suede
boots. Joey was also wearing a black
leather jacket, hers open at the front so that her black vest top was visible,
the thin spaghetti strands over her shoulders.
Her skirt was blue, and slightly shorter with zip pockets, and instead
of boots she was wearing a pair of black block sandals.
“There they are,” she finally said as she fished out
the keys, and unlocked the front door, letting Kay in first so that she could
go and disable the alarm as she closed the door to again. When the beeping sound ended, she turned on
the lights and looked round the clothing racks.
“Coffee?”
“Please,” Joey called back as she heard the front door
open and close. “I’m sorry,” she said as
she turned round, “we’re…”
“There we go,” Kay said as she came back in, having
hung her jacket up and revealing her black lace crop top, her modesty preserved
by the black bra underneath, “a nice cup of…”
“Very slowly,” the masked man holding the gun that was
pointing at her said, “put that mug down, and put your hands on your head.”
Kay stared at him and the other man, who was standing
behind Joey as she heard a harsh, rasping sound. They were wearing black boiler suits, and
each had a black balaclava pulled down over their heads, allowing only their
thin lips and their blue eyes to be seen.
“Walk very slowly over here,” the man said, “and stand
beside your friend here.”
“Joey, what the hell is going on,” Kay said, walking
forward as she had been commanded.
“I’ve no idea,” the other woman said as she watched
the second intruder take a thin white plastic strip, and feed the end through
the hasp, pulling Key’s hands behind her back and using the strip to secure
them together. “I turned round, and
there they were.”
Kay nodded as she heard the rasping sound again, and
then the thin strip biting into her wrists as they were forced together. “What on earth do they think is of value here
anyway,” she whispered to Joey.
“Get them in the back,” the armed man said as he
looked at his partner, “and make sure they stay there.
“And stay quiet.”
“Move,” he said in a West Country accent to Joey and
Kay as he pushed them towards the storeroom.
“Hey – you in the back Joey,” Amanda Blake said as she
came into the store. As she closed the
door, she slipped off her own leather jacket to reveal a short sleeved black
knee length dress, covered with astrological symbols. The black choker round her throat had a gold
metal clasp at the front, and she was wearing a pair of open toed and laced
ankle boots.
“Joey?
Kay? Where are you,” she said as
she looked round through her black rimmed glasses – and then her eyes opened
wide in shock as she felt the leather gloved hand over her mouth, and heard the
man say “don’t do anything or say anything – we are in charge, understand?”
As Amanda nodded, the voice said “good – take your
jacket, drop it on the floor, and then put your hands behind your back.”
“What’s going on,” she whispered as she felt the man
pull her arms back, and then felt the zip tie as her wrists were suddenly
forced together.
“You’ll find out – take her to join the others,” the
voice said as she was pushed towards a second masked man, who took her by the
arm and frog marched her into the storeroom at the back of the boutique. As she was pushed in, she saw Joey and Kay,
and whispered “oh my god…”
“Msreee,” Joey mumbled through the thick knot of silk
that filled her mouth, the rolled up scarf tied tightly round her head, the
ends tickling the back of her neck. She
and Kay were seated on the floor, their ankles secured together with a second
zip tie, and another tie holding their legs and arms together. The man pushed Amanda over and ordered her
to sit on the other side of Kay, the dark haired girl watching as her friend’s
ankles were forced together, and then her leg and arm secured to Amanda’s.
“No – no you don’t have to do thsssmmgdd” she mumbled
as the man rolled up a black scarf, tied a knot in it, and then pushed it into
her mouth, tying the band tightly round her head and then securing the ends
together at the back of her own neck.
She could only blink as he removed her glasses, folded them and put them
on a high shelf, all three hearing the front door open again…
“Put the sign to ‘Closed’, lock the door, and walk
over here.”
April nodded as she turned – the gun pointing at her
was reason enough to do so. She, unlike
the other three, was not wearing a jacket, but was wearing a black vest top
with thin straps. She was also the only
one not wearing a skirt, preferring instead to wear a pair of dark grey jeans
and black fabric ankle boots.
As she turned the sign, and locked the door, she
nodded, and walked over, seeing the gun in one of his gloved hands and a
plastic zip tie in the other. He turned
her round, pulled her wrists behind her back, and secured them together before
picking up a large brown shawl/scarf from a counter, rolling it up and pulling
it between her lips, the thick band pressing her tongue down as he secured the
ends at the base of her neck.
As he pushed her into the storeroom, she groaned as
she saw her colleagues siting on the floor, a second masked man taking her by
the arm and making her side beside Joey before her ankles were secured to each
other with another strip, and then her arms and legs secured to those of Joey.
“Is that the lot,” the second man said as he stood up.
“Yeah – the front is locked, the closed sign in
place. We’ve got all the time we need.”
“So where do we start?”
“According to the plan George Simpson made, we clear
that wall, and then knock it through.”
The first man looked at the wall, nodding as he said “let’s do it then –
we don’t have much time.
The four girls could only watch as the two masked men
started to clear boxes and packing crates from the far wall of the storeroom –
the wall that connected to the business next door. That was a betting shop – but why would they
try and get in that way…
Twenty minutes later, the wall was cleared, as one of
the men took a crowbar and started to hit the wall. To the surprise of all four, the ‘wall’ broke
easily as the plasterboard came away, and they saw the space behind.
“There it is,” the man said as he reached in and
removed an old ammo box, before the two men looked at their captives. “So long ladies,” were the only other words
they heard before the intruders left, leaving them struggling in the back room,
as Joey tried to reach for the nail file in her back pocket…
1.45 pm
West Ealing
Police Station
“That was a name I never thought I would hear again,”
Jennifer Wayne said as she looked at the young DC.
“Who was George Simpson?”
“Not was – is.
He and I crossed paths when I was a DS, working with Jack Grayson. He escaped from a court hearing, spent months
going round the country, and then – disappeared to the continent.”
“So he’s still alive?”
“We got occasional reports, but nothing for at least
two years… Maybe he never got everything
resolved…”
“Do you want to be kept informed?”
“Yeah – the girls had no idea that wall was a false
one. But what would be in that box?”
“I have no idea – see if you can find the ownership
records for that building. Thank you
Perkins.” Jennifer stood up and grabbed
her coat.
“Where will you be Boss?”
“Visiting an old friend…”
3 pm
The Aldwych
The building stood proudly, the clean sandstone walls
and large windows projecting the image of the prosperous insurance and shipping
company it housed. The words “Xavier
International” were in large silver letters on the outside wall.
If you were to go inside, you would see the
comfortable reception area, smell the coffee, and wait to be escorted through
the security gates to the lifts, and then to the floor you had business
with. On the top floor were the
executive offices – and in one of them, a tall, thin auburn haired woman was
sitting at her desk, reading some papers when there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” she said in a deep voice that was like hot
butter on toast, as the door opened and brunette came in. Unlike the other women, in her blouse and
skirt, she wore a jacket over a red jumper, and a matching pair of trousers.
“My apologies, Madame, for the interruption?”
“My door is always open, Penelope,” Madame X said,
“what is it?”
“I would normally leave this for the morning report,”
her number two said, “but this cannot wait.
We were alerted to a raid on a clothes store in Ealing this morning?”
“A minor crime surely?”
“Not this one – we had a flag on the premises.”
Putting down her pen, Madame X said “was it under our
protection?”
“No – but George asked us to keep an eye for any
actions?”
“George Simpson?
Where is Lilian?”
“Gone home for a couple of days?”
Nodding, Madame X said “contact Dominique…”
“Should we be worried, Madame?”
“I do not know…”
6 pm
Canterbury
Jack Grayson was sitting, watching the news when his
wife went to answer the ringing doorbell.
“Who is it Delores,” he said as he heard her say
“well, this is a surprise – come in, come in!”
He turned, then stood up and smiled as Jennifer Grayson came in.
“Sorry Boss – am I disturbing you?”
“Of course not – what brings you to my retirement?”
“Two words – George Simpson. Can I sit down?”
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