A Time For Justice by Nick Oldham Read Free Book Online Page A

in
anger?’
    ‘ Never even drawn it outside a range,’ McClure
whispered.
    ‘ Thought as much.’
    The men stood on either side of the door. They eyed each other
for a moment.
    Donaldson knocked loudly and shouted, ‘Good morning. Maid
service.’
    There was no response.
    Donaldson inserted the pass key, pulled the handle down and
pushed. The door swung gently open. There was nothing to see.
‘Armed police! Come on out with your hands up,’ McClure
barked.
    Nothing. He repeated the order. Still nothing.
    In one swift movement, gun held in the classic two-handed
shooting grip, he twisted into the short hallway, low, fast, his
breathing controlled, but heart beating like a demented drum
machine. Keeping low, he almost danced to where the short hallway
widened out into the bedroom proper - where he exposed himself
fully for the first time.
    He expected a bullet in the head. It never came. The room was
empty. He beckoned Donaldson in.
    The American sauntered up behind him. ‘Very good. You move
well.’
    ‘ Thank you. Let’s check out the bathroom before we get too
cocky,’ said McClure shakily.
    It was empty.
    ‘ He booked in and fucked off when he saw us, I guess,’
Donaldson mused.
    McClure reholstered his weapon. ‘I’ll tell the manager to seal
off this room until we can get Scenes of Crime to do
it.’
    Thirty minutes later they accosted Karen Wilde in the lift at
Preston police station.
    As they followed her down the corridor to her office,
Donaldson said, ‘What a bitch,’ under his breath.
    McClure merely raised his eyebrows.
    ‘ I’d like to fuck her though,’ he added without moving his
lips, eyes glued to her rear.
    ‘ Join the queue,’ McClure retorted.
    ‘ Right, what’ve you got for me?’ Karen said when they reached
her office. She sat at the desk.
    ‘ I’m Detective Chief Inspector McClure from Greater
Manchester’s Serious Crime Squad and-’
    ‘ I’m Special Agent Donaldson, Karl Donaldson,
FBI , based in
Miami, Florida, in the United States of America.’
    ‘ I’m fully aware of the location of Florida. It’s where Mickey
Mouse lives, I believe.’
    Both men shook her hand, Donaldson with a grave, piss-taking
formality. ‘And may I add what a pleasure it is to meet ya’ll,
ma’am?’
    ‘ You can add what you damn well like. Just get on with it -
I’m busy.’
    McClure opened his mouth but Donaldson cut in. ‘Allow me ...
I’ll try and sum it up in a nutshell.’
    ‘ Do try,’ said Karen thinly, resting her chin on her thumb and
forefinger.
    ‘ I work in the Organised Crime Department of the FBI and for
the last five years me and my partner have been trying to nail a
mobster called Corelli. Very rich guy, into anything illegal you
care to mention - drugs, prostitution, fraud... Anyway, we’ve been
pretty unsuccessful.
    ‘ This guy Corelli has loads of business partners. One of them
is a young punk called Danny Carver. Carver has been linked to
Corelli for about three years. Suspected of being involved in some
major stuff. I mean mega-shit - gun-running, drugs, massive
commodity frauds, the whole caboodle. Eventually, Carver gets
pissed because he does a lot of legwork but only gets a small
percentage of the profit. So what does he do?’
    ‘ Do tell,’ said Karen.
    ‘ Cuts loose and starts doin’ deals himself without the boss
but using his contacts. Cheeky, huh? Corelli ain’t happy but he
lives with it until Carver schmoozes into a deal that Corelli
himself is actually tryin’ to put together with a drug baron in
Manchester, guy called Brown. Corelli is that far’ - here Donaldson
laid his palms together - ‘from doin’ business when Carver steps in
and pulls the rug out from under him then sets up the same deal
with Brown but with bigger percentages all round.’
    ‘ What does this deal involve?’
    ‘ Importing crack into the UK. Basically taking over the
British market,’ intercut McClure. ‘Big money.’
    ‘ Millions,’ affirmed Donaldson.