Luke Delaney - The Network

‘I think maybe you’ve had enough,’ Chopra told him.

‘No,’ Sean snapped, looking around the pub in case he’d turned any heads. ‘We give up now we may never get another chance to get close to The Sanctum.’

‘The Sanctum?’ Sheenan asked. ‘What the fuck is The Sanctum? I’ve not heard that name before.’

‘It was mentioned in the pre-operational reports,’ Chopra told him, ‘but just rumours — nothing solid.’

‘The name they use for the inner circle,’ Sean explained. ‘The ones we’re really after — the ones doing the abusing and distributing. Conway’s the kingpin.’

‘And they’re going to let you into this Sanctum?’ Sheenan asked.

‘I think so, yes.’

‘You think so?’ Chopra questioned, increasingly keen to find a reason to pull Sean out.

‘It’ll happen,’ Sean insisted.

‘Let’s give it another week,’ Sheenan suggested, looking at Chopra, the man with whom the ultimate decision to carry on or quit rested — his concerns for Sean the deciding factor.

‘Alright,’ Chopra eventually agreed, ‘but I want a daily phone call from you, Sean and your agreement to see the psychiatrist as soon as your deployment is over.’

‘I don’t need to see the Head Doctor,’ he argued, memories of the psychiatrists of his childhood spinning in his mind. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me.’

‘It’s standard procedure after a long and difficult deployment — you know that.’

‘Yeah, but a shrink messing with my head?’

‘Just do what everyone else does, Sean and humour me,’ Chopra told him. ‘Answer their questions and smile politely so I can finish the paperwork and keep you on our register — alright?’

‘Whatever,’ Sean agreed, already thinking of his excuses to miss any appointments with the psychiatrist.

‘Good,’ Chopra told him. ‘Now back to the question — is there anything in his lifestyle we can use?’

Sean sat silently for a while, recalling everything he’d seen and heard about Conway, looking for something they could use he wouldn’t suspect — something Conway would have no reason to be suspicious of. ‘He likes nice cars,’ Sean suddenly told them, causing Chopra to look at Sheenan.

‘He drives a Jaguar,’ Sheenan told him. ‘It’s an old one, but a nice one.’ Sean nodded his agreement.

‘He seems to keep it clean — I mean spotless,’ Sean chipped in.

‘That’s not much to work with,’ Chopra dismissed.

‘Yeah it is,’ Sean disagreed. ‘It’s not just the car itself — it’s the status he believes it gives him, the status he believes he’s owed.’

‘Go on,’ Chopra encouraged.

‘When they eventually take me to a meeting, the arrest team won’t be able to track me — they’ll search me again and if I’m wearing any sort of tracker they’ll find it.’

‘So?’ Chopra asked.

‘So you’ll have to track my car.’

‘But you don’t have a car on this deployment. Justin Cramer doesn’t have a car,’ Chopra reminded him.

‘Then you’ll have to get me one — a nice one. One Conway won’t mind being seen in.’

‘If,’ Chopra continued, ‘and it’s still a big if — if Conway takes you to a meet he’ll use his car, surely?’

‘Not if we disable it,’ Sheenan said. ‘As soon as you suspect you’re going to be taken to a place where serious offences are going to be committed, you call me. If we’ve got enough time I’ll send one of my technical bods to immobilize Conway’s motor.’

‘And I’ll get you something nice that Conway’ll want to be seen in,’ Chopra added. ‘We’ll get the techies to rig the tracker so it’s armed at the same time as the alarm gets switched on. When you get to the venue where the kids are waiting just press the key fob as if you’re arming the alarm. Nobody should suspect anything. Happy?’

‘As happy as I can be,’ Sean answered.

‘Good,’ Sheenan said. ‘Now all we need is for him to contact you.’

‘He will,’ Sean assured them.

‘Really? Sheenan asked. ‘How come you’re so sure?’

‘Because I promised him what I know he really wants.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘Runaways,’ he told them. ‘Kids no one cares about.’

‘Jesus,’ Chopra told him. ‘Whatever you do, Sean, make sure that bit’s missing from your evidence when you finally write it up. If the CPS see anything like agent provocateur , this case is over before it begins.’

‘Don’t worry,’ he assured them sipping his drink, ‘it never happened.’

Alone in the ever-shrinking flat, Sean felt the walls crushing in on him. It had been four days since the meeting in the pub and still no word from Conway or The Sanctum. He tried to calculate the amount of days he’d been on the deployment for — feeling a little more like Justin Cramer with each passing day. He stared out of the small kitchen window waiting for the September sunset to arrive. After dark he planned to take a long walk to clear his head and remind himself of who he was. He’d phone Kate from a pay-phone if he could find one that was still working.

The mobile phone Conway had given him suddenly started vibrating on the kitchen table, not a call but a text message. He watched the phone suspiciously, unsure now if he’d really seen it jumping around, until it vibrated once more, demanding to be read. He grabbed the phone before it could escape and read the one and only message it had ever received. Meet me tomorrow. 4pm. At the sports ground at the end of Wetheral Drive, Belmont. Come alone. JC. He stared at the message for an age, dozens of scenarios dancing in his mind like some kind of kaleidoscopic nightmare until at last his thoughts cleared. ‘Belmont? Where the fuck is Belmont?’ he asked the empty room.

Within a few seconds he was heading for the bedroom, lying on the floor and sliding under the unmade single bed, searching for the slit in its underside and pushing his hand inside the mattress base, fishing blindly and impatiently until he touched hard, cold plastic. He pulled out the mobile phone that Chopra had concealed inside the flat when the operation first went live — only to be used when Sean absolutely had to check in with SO10 or relay important new information. This was one of those times. Having first checked the phone’s ringer was still on silent mode he punched the number for Chopra’s mobile into the keypad and waited for an answer.

‘Hello,’ Chopra answered cautiously.

‘It’s me.’

‘Contact?’

‘Yeah — just now — a text message with a meeting place and time.’

‘Where and when?’

‘Wetheral Drive in some place called Belmont at 4pm tomorrow.’

‘Belmont — it’s in North London, near Wealdstone.’

‘I’m a South London boy — remember?’

‘Buy an A to Z.’

‘Thanks — I already have one. Listen, I think this could be what we’ve been waiting for.’

‘I hope you’re right.’

‘I need the car with the tracker.’

‘I’ll send it around tonight with a techie to explain the finer points. Meet him at the main gates to Highgate Cemetery in a couple of hours. He’ll be driving a big old Ford Zodiac in pristine condition. Should appeal to Conway.’

‘Christ, where did you get that from?’

‘I have my ways.’

‘I’m sure you do. And don’t forget to make sure Conway’s car’s crippled.’

‘I’ll call Sheenan and get his people to take care of it. By morning Conway’s car won’t be an issue.’

‘Good,’ Sean said. ‘Now all we need is about a hundred other things to fall perfectly into place and we’ll be fine.’

‘Just play it by ear, Sean,’ Chopra advised. ‘Use your instincts and use them well. I’ll keep my phone close. Call if you need to — understand?’