Impeding Justice Read Online Free PDF Page B

name’s
Tony Warner, ma’am. That’s his extension number right
there.’
    Lorne took the post-it and noted the number
Storey pointed to among several scrawled on it.
    ‘ Sounds ominous, I’ll give
him a ring. I wonder what our Russian friend has been up
to.’
     
    * * *
     
    ‘ Is that, Tony
Warner?’
    ‘ It is. Who wants to
know?’
    ‘ Detective Inspector, Lorne
Simpkins.’
    ‘ Who?’
    ‘ Cut the crap, Mr. Warner,
you know damn well who I am and why I am ringing. Do you have a
problem?’ She suspected he had more than just the one.
    ‘ We should meet.’
    ‘ I haven’t got time. I’m on
a tight deadline.’
    ‘ I’m well aware of your
deadline, Inspector. You’re barking up the wrong tree with Sergei
Abromovski, he has nothing to do with this.’
    ‘ Oh. What makes you so sure
about that?’
    ‘ I’ve said enough over the
phone. Meet me in fifteen minutes in the White Swan car
park.’
    ‘ Right. I’m driving a
Vauxhall Vectra…’
    ‘ I know what you drive and
I’ll have no trouble recognising you so no need for the white rose
in your collar. Oh and, come alone.’
    Just who the hell does this guy think he is?
All this cloak and dagger bollocks!
    ‘ John, I’m going out. It
looks like our hands are tied on this investigation until I’ve
heard what this guy has to say.’
    ‘ I’ll just get my
jacket…’
    ‘ No. You’re not
needed…’
    ‘ You’re meeting this guy
alone, where?’
    ‘ The White Swan car park and
I’m sure I don’t need an escort or a bullet proof. He’s MI6 - a
supposed good guy.’
    Lorne arrived first. Not long after another
Vauxhall Vectra, not dissimilar to her own, pulled into the space
alongside. Out the corner of her eye, she observed, the
thirty-something, fit looking man staring straight ahead of him.
Warner, no doubt and sitting there with an arrogance that demanded
she join him. Sod that! You want to speak to me buddy; my car is
just as warm.
    Eventually the penny dropped. He got out of his car and
banged the door shut. He threw himself into the seat beside her
like a rebellious teenager. Jumped up little prick.
    ‘ Enough foreplay, let’s have
it, Warner. What have you got me here to tell me that couldn’t be
discussed over the ’phone?’
    ‘ We’ve had Trelgo oil and
Sergei Abromovski under observation for a while.’
    ‘ Why?’
    ‘ MI6 don’t need to give a
reason.’
    ‘ Bollocks. Stop wasting my
time, either you tell me now or I’ll take things
higher.’
    ‘ Ah, spoken like a woman who
always gets her own way, well, not this time,
Inspector.’
    ‘ We’ll see about that, what
is the point of our meeting? You may as well leave, I’ve more fish
to fry than to sit here bandying stupid words with you!’
    ‘ Okay, you win! Let’s just
say he’s been a naughty boy.’
    ‘ Not good
enough…’
    ‘ Christ, I’d hate to come up
against you down a fucking dark alley.’
    ‘ Don’t play games. I’m not
in the mood. You probably know why. Just give me the
details.’
    ‘ He surfaced at the end of
2004, started sniffing around a premiership football team and a
couple of our overseas agents asked us to keep an eye on him. He
has his fingers in many pies. Drugs, guns, people, you name it. His
name appears to crop up all the time.’
    ‘ What do you mean,
people?’
    ‘ Trafficking, but he’s
pretty shrewd, never leaves any kind of trail. Maybe he has friends
in high places we haven’t found out about yet. Anyway, roughly six
to eight months ago he started meeting up with this guy, can’t give
you a name I’m afraid, he’s a bit of a mystery. We’ve tried several
times to trail him, but he loses his tail every time. He’s more
slippery than a bar of lifebuoy. I’ve got a photo of him if it will
help.’
    He handed her a glossy ten by eight.
    ‘ Any ideas?’
    ‘ Can’t be sure, but it could
be the Unicorn… Can I keep this copy? The guy has been on my radar
for the past eight years. I’m not a hundred per cent