Chapter 58

 

April watched the Transit van approach that contained the paintings she was meant to transport. She was already waiting at the front door with a rucksack on her shoulder. She needed to move quickly. Time was of the essence. Joey would be asking Dylan for her address right now. Everything was meticulously in place. She couldn’t allow anything to go wrong.

She took a deep breath, held it, and slowly exhaled. Her heart was racing as she approached Lee, the driver. He had the window down and his elbow was casually leaning out.

“Hi,” she smiled.

“Hi,” he nodded, “you all set?”

“Sure.” She turned her head towards the back of the van and frowned, “Is that tyre alright?”

Lee leant his head out of the window towards the back tyre. “What’s wrong with it?”

She moved towards it kicking it gently with her foot. “It’s almost flat.”

“What?” He opened the door, stepped out of the van and walked towards the back tyre.

Within seconds, two men in plain clothes appeared. One grabbed his arm and pushed him towards the van, kicking his legs apart and grabbing his hands, pulling both his arms behind his back.

“Jesus Christ,” Lee yelped, “what the hell’s going on?”

April cuffed him. “You’re under arrest for possession of stolen goods. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say will be taken down and may be used as evidence against you . . .”

She reached in his trouser pocket and removed his phone.

“What the fuck . . .”

“You’ll get it back at the station.”

He shook his head incredulously, “Stolen goods. These are paintings we’re transporting to France.”

She ignored him, “Take him away.”

“You’ve got this all wrong,” he shouted as she watched him being led towards the waiting van, “I don’t know anything about stolen goods.”

One down.

One to go.

 

April got into the driver’s seat of the van and tossed Lee’s phone on the passenger seat. It was ringing. The caller id was Jit Monks. The answer phone clicked in, but Jit Monks whoever he was, wouldn’t speak into an answer phone. He’d be trying to tell the driver to abort.

She turned on the ignition. Her intention wasn’t to go far, she just wanted to make sure the van wasn’t outside her flat. She was banking on Dylan arriving in the next few minutes.

She glanced at her watch, needing to get a move on as he should be there very shortly if Joey had done as she’d asked. She moved the van along the road and turned right. Earlier she’d cordoned off an area with police cones so she had somewhere to put the van out of Dylan’s sight. It would be a disaster if he made straight for the van and took off with it. She had no idea if he had another set of keys.

 

She secured the van and ran back to her flat, making her way up the endless stairs. She had simultaneously had the tailing car pulled up and the driver arrested. He’d be in the van alongside Lee right now heading away. Both drivers would be incensed knowing the plan had been thwarted and there’d be no pay-out for them now. They’d know their future most probably meant a period of time behind bars. The bloke driving the tail car would be calculating how he might be able to escape a prison sentence. He’d be thinking a good brief could get him off that, but Lee would be shitting himself. He was in possession of stolen goods and was looking at a long stretch. Was he completely innocent, or did he really know what he was transporting? Dylan had implied he didn’t, but she wasn’t so sure.

She entered her flat and the four uniforms were sat where she’d left them having a coffee.

“It’s time. Remember, it’s most likely there’ll only be Dylan Rider, but if his brother comes, we want both of them. Don’t, whatever you do, allow either of them to make a run for it.”

They nodded and moved towards the kitchen adjacent to the lounge. The last uniform closed the door behind him. They’d struggle in the kitchen as it was so tiny, but it would only be for minutes.

Now all she had to do was wait.

Dylan should be here any minute now.

She was confident of that if nothing else. All the months of planning had been for this moment. But now it was time for the execution of the plan, her tummy was doing somersaults.

Thank Christ for adrenaline.

Lee’s phone rang. And again Jit came up on the screen. She let the answer phone kick in, but he hung up. They’d be desperately trying to abort the whole operation.

Please let him come.

The whole plan depended on Dylan entering her flat. Surely his bruised ego would bring him?

Everything depended on it.

 

April waited.

Each second was painful. Even though she was an experienced police officer, she was on edge. She was so close now. Nothing could get in the way.

Five – long – minutes.

Where was he? The bay window gave her a panoramic view of the street, which was why this particular flat had been chosen.

There was movement outside. Victor Rider was on foot, making his way towards her flat.

He must have left his car further down the road.

Her heart rate accelerated.

What a bonus getting him too.

Seconds later, Dylan’s black Bentley mounted the pavement and screeched to a halt. Victor turned towards the car and opened the door to let Dylan get out. Both brothers visually scanned the immediate area. It was obvious from their body language they were arguing.

Dylan shook his head and made a move towards her flat. Victor grabbed his arm. She hardly dared breathe. So much was depending on Dylan’s rage.

Come on. Come on.

Dylan shrugged Victor’s arm away and headed through the entrance gate to her flat. Victor hesitated for only a second, then followed.

She held her breath. That’s it. Come to Mummy.

Her heart-rate accelerated even further, if that was possible, as she pictured the brothers climbing the endless stairs. She opened the kitchen door, the uniforms had been well-briefed, but now Victor had arrived, it was a new ball game.

“The brother is on his way up as well, so, two of you for Dylan, two for the brother.”

 

She positioned herself as far away from the lounge door as she could, but facing it so they’d see her when they came in. The front door was locked but it could easily be forced. Dylan had complained it wasn’t secure. Stupid bugger, she’d purposely had it set up that way.

Minutes later, she heard one of them kick the front door open and within seconds they both appeared in the lounge doorway.

“You fucking bitch!” Dylan yelled and lunged for her, closely followed by his brother.

April stood her ground.

The kitchen door burst open and the uniforms rushed out. Two of them grabbed Dylan and the other two his brother. They held onto them just as she’d instructed and cuffed their hands behind their backs. As they did so, she repeated the arrest spiel.

“Dylan and Victor Rider, you are both under arrest on suspicion of theft and attempting to move stolen goods out of the country. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court.  Anything you do say may be given in evidence . . .”

Dylan stared in disbelief, “You’re a fucking cop?”

The question didn’t need an answer.

Victor was shaking his head furiously.

She indicated with her head towards the door. “Take them away.”

Dylan snarled. “Do you really think any of this is going to stick when I tell them a police officer opened her legs to get justice? Not a fucking chance. We’ll be out before the end of the day.”

“Whatever.” She nodded to the uniforms, “Now.”

“You’ll be fucking sorry. You can’t hide. Remember that.”

She turned her back on them as they were led away.

 

The flat was eerily empty. She moved towards the window and waited until the brothers came into view. They were unceremoniously chucked into the back of the waiting van and the door secured behind them. Only when it moved away did she allow herself to breathe out.

It was over.

She’d done it.

Well . . . almost.