Skinner's Mission by Quintin Jardine

Author:Quintin Jardine [Jardine, Quintin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General
ISBN: 9780755353583
Google: e8g3AgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00GVG144S
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2008-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

40

‘I want these people taken completely by surprise, gentlemen. ’ Andy Martin tapped the street map of Edinburgh spread out on the conference table in the Head of CID’s office.

Dave Donaldson leaned across to follow his pointing finger. Alongside him stood Skinner, with Pamela Masters, who was doing her best not to be overawed.

‘The entrance to Jackie’s house is here,’ said Martin. ‘The visitors are coming from the south, so it’s odds that they’ll approach from the east, from the city end of Ravelston Dykes Road.

‘I want a car here, waiting in this gateway just beyond Jackie’s place, and another in position in Murrayfield Road. You, Dave, plus Mackie, McGuire and McIlhenney, will be across the road, out of sight in the bushes. I will be hidden in Jackie’s garden, with night-glasses, at a point from which I can see the approach of the car, whichever direction it comes from.

‘We’ll have spotters parked here,’ he tapped the map twice, ‘and here too, just in case we’re wrong about the direction of the approach. Their job will be to give the alert as soon as the Birmingham car appears.’

He leaned back. ‘The road narrows at the entrance to Jackie’s place. As soon as the target vehicle gets into that area, our two cars will move out, on my command, and block it in, front and rear. They’ll have high-powered wide-beam floodlights, two mounted on each vehicle. As soon as the Brummies are blocked in, we’ll hit their car with light, blinding them but letting us see what we’re doing.

‘We will all be carrying, and wearing protective gear, and there will be armed officers in the two police cars. I want a very heavy show of force, to discourage any thought by these guys of shooting their way out.

‘It’s very important that we take these men alive. However, if anyone inside that car points a gun at any officer, then he goes down, no question. If the others are hit in the process, that’ll be just too bad.’ He looked across the table.

‘You clear about all that, Dave?’

Donaldson nodded. ‘It’s understood. Do you want me to brief Mackie and McGuire?’

‘No, I’ll do that when they report at eight. Meanwhile you ensure that the people in the support cars are our very best shots. I don’t want any Wild West stuff.’

‘Okay, I’ll get on with that now. I’ll see you back here at eight.’

‘Fine.’

Donaldson nodded to Skinner, with an informal salute, and left the room.

‘Ever seen him under fire?’ the DCC asked, after the door had closed.

‘No,’ said Martin, ‘but he’s well qualified. When he was a DS he took on two armed bank robbers in bad light, and bluffed them into dropping their weapons by aiming a truncheon at them.’

‘Mmm. Yes, I recall that. Still, when you have your team meeting tonight, you’d be well-advised to order that if it comes to shooting, everyone follows Mackie’s lead, or yours. You two are the best shots we’ve got and you don’t hesitate, either of you.

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