BLOOD DRAGON by Freddie Peters (books to get back into reading .TXT) 📕

Cora sank back into the settee.

Pole had appeared with two mugs of tea whilst Charlie carried three more in both hands. The two men offered the drinks around and took a seat.

Johnny raised a quizzical eyebrow. Who was the newcomer?

“Jonathan Pole … Very nice to meet you.” Pole extended a hand to Johnny, who half stood up to shake it. “Likewise.”

“Why would they come back after setting fire to the place?” Cora had already drunk half her cup of tea.

“Perhaps fresh information came their way and they decided they needed to take a second look.”

“Did you see them arrive?” Pole asked.

“No … Beth had already gone out to an appointment.” Johnny pursed his lips as he took a sip of tea, not to Charlie’s usual standard.

“And Nat left quickly too.” Charlie added. He moved as quickly as he could towards Johnny, knowing what would come next … but too late.

Johnny knelt on the carpet to reach the large biscuit tin that lived permanently on the coffee table. He opened it and offered the contents round to the circle of friends. Charlie’s face froze, but Johnny thought nothing of it. Pole hesitated but said no.

“Something might come back to you later. If it does, give me a call.” Pole finished his cup of tea, fishing something out from his jacket pocket.

Nancy bent forward to put her cup on the table and winced.

“You need something to ease the pain.” Johnny looked genuinely concerned. “I’ve got just what you need.” He stood up and moved swiftly towards a long piece of furniture that decorated the far end of the lounge.

Cora opened her eyes wide and was about to make a comment.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Pole managed a grin. He laid a couple of police business cards on the table. “If what I smell in the air is what is lurking in one of those drawers … I don’t really want to know.”

Nancy chuckled and winced again.

Johnny stopped dead, spun on his heels and cocked his head. “Just as well you didn’t take a biscuit then … the stuff in the cupboard makes a very good flavouring ingredient.”

* * *

“The one issue that is bothering me more than the identity of the people themselves is the timing.” Nancy had changed to a more casual winter shirt and black jeans.

“Agreed.” Pole tossed his phone on the bed. He was surveying her with concern. Her face had recovered some of its spark but a small crease at the corner of her mouth told him pain was troubling her significantly.

“How is Ollie?” She sat next to him on the bed adjusting her shirt gingerly around her waist.

“The hospital is telling me there is no change. Police surveillance has been reinforced.”

“Do you buy the drug connection?”

“I’m not sure. Rob at the NCA has not made any progress either. Andy and my team are looking into it.”

“To be that serious it would have to be something to do with trafficking … a reprisal of some kind.”

Pole nodded. He glanced at his watch quickly. He had a little more time to spare but soon would have to make a move. He had not yet spoken to her about the Ferguson enquiry.

Ferguson was due to visit Pole at Scotland Yard the following day, a meeting he was not looking forward to.

“Won’t you talk to me?”

“I am talking to you.”

Pole cocked his head.

Nancy flopped back onto the bed and yelped. “Goddamn shoulder.”

Pole waited patiently.

Nancy turned her head towards him. “I have to think about what I just remembered … it’s … terrifying.”

“I can’t imagine you escaping China’s Cultural Revolution reprisals without having gone through some terrifying moments … you were only seven years old.”

“I know and yet, the mix of helplessness and anger at myself is almost overwhelming.”

Pole’s mobile rang. “Andy … wait … I’ll put you on speaker. Nancy is here with me.”

“Good afternoon, Ma’am.”

“Good afternoon, Andy … I thought we had agreed you could call me Nancy.”

Andy cleared his throat to hide his shyness.

“So, what have you got?”

“The SOCO team … I mean the real SOCO team was delayed because someone on a motorbike slid in front of their van. He wasn’t hurt and legged it, but it took a good hour to get the van back on the road.”

“Stolen bike I presume.”

“Correct.” Andy rolled the rs with satisfaction.

“Do we know how they found out about who we were using as SOCOs? They would have had to know it was Yvonne Butler’s team that had been appointed.”

I thought about that, Guv … and it’s not all that difficult.”

“Really?”

“You’re the DCI on the case and you almost always request Yvonne’s … I mean Ms Butler’s lab when the cases are complex. There are two other labs that the Met works with on high profile cases. If I wanted to know which one was going to Ollie Wilson’s flat, I’d get the van of each lab followed when they came out and see whether they were going towards the target location. If they were … bang, I create an incident that slows them down without arousing too much suspicion to start with.”

“And I get a van that looks similar to wait near Hoxton Docks, ready,” Nancy added.

“Exactly.”

“Damn … are you telling me I’m too predictable?” Pole grumbled.

“Never … you simply like working with the best.”

“Maybe … how about CCTV cameras?”

“On it … I’ve called the London Underground control centre and have been granted access to the CCTV cameras of all underground stations in the vicinity of the flat. One of the men disappeared into Holborn underground station. I’ve tracked him going south. He changed at Green Park, then Stockwell … But I lost him when he left the tube at Balham.”

“But you are still going through the footage from the other Overground cameras?”

Andy confirmed. “Although I’m less hopeful. There are quite a few blind spots near that particular tube station.”

“And whoever is employing the man knows that.”

“Or else he is a pro,