Sharpe grabbed him by the back of the neck and gave him a good-natured shake. ‘He was wearing his school blazer the first time we met.’
‘We were in a pub,’ said Fenby. ‘And the way I remember it, you didn’t even buy a round.’ Fenby glanced shamefacedly at the uniformed superintendent. ‘Sorry, sir.’
The superintendent smiled amiably. ‘Take a seat, Ray,’ he said. Fenby shook hands with Shepherd and introduced himself.
‘Ray was one of a group of officers in training who were pulled out of Hendon and seconded to the Football Intelligence Unit,’ Hargrove explained to Shepherd. ‘We’ve drafted him into the Covert Operations Group and he’s been part of Operation Excalibur from the start.’ Hargrove smiled at the uniformed superintendent. ‘Over to you, Superintendent.’
Superintendent Warner nodded and reached for an open laptop that was connected to a projector. He launched a PowerPoint presentation and clicked on the first slide. Two surveillance photographs filled the screen. ‘Simon Kettering and Paul Thompson. They were big wheels in the EDL, especially on the fundraising side. They’re not your usual right-wing extremist thug. They wear suits, they drive nice cars, they’re well spoken, they have no criminal records. In fact if it wasn’t for Ray here they wouldn’t even be on our radar. They always maintained a low profile when they were with the EDL but they now appear to be heading up their own splinter group. And before anyone asks, it doesn’t seem to have a name. It’s just a group of like-minded people who get together from time to time. Ray has spent some time penetrating this group, and it looks as if he has been accepted. And last week he came to us with the news that two of the men want to buy weapons. Serious weapons. They have been talking about AK-47s and Uzis.’
He tapped the keypad and another picture flashed on to the screen. Kettering and Thompson sitting outside a wine bar with a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket. Both men were smoking large cigars.
‘To any outside observer the two of them seem to be nothing more than a couple of yuppies.’
He clicked the mouse several times and they looked at a succession of photographs, mostly taken with a long lens. Kettering getting into a Porsche. Thompson getting out of a Mini Cooper. The two of them at a football match, shouting and punching the air.
‘But there is a darker side to them,’ said the superintendent. He clicked the mouse again and a photograph that had been taken from CCTV footage popped up. It was grey and grainy, almost as if it had been taken in thick fog. It showed two men in suits kicking a man on the ground. ‘We are fairly sure that this is the two of them attacking an Asian teenager three months ago. The CPS say the footage we have isn’t good enough for a positive identification but they were heard boasting about the attack.’
Another click of the mouse brought up a montage of sixteen photographs of young men — all of them white and aged between twenty and forty. More than half had shaved heads.
‘We have identified these sixteen men as being close to Kettering and Thompson. Between them they have more than fifty convictions for assault, racial abuse and threatening behaviour, mainly against members of the Asian community. Most have been photographed at BNP and EDL demonstrations and are regular posters on anti-Islamic and anti-Asian internet forums. I should make it clear at this point that neither Kettering nor Thompson has ever been charged or convicted of any offence and so we don’t have fingerprints or DNA on file. We think that’s because they’re smarter than the average right-wing thug.’
He clicked the mouse for a final time. The logo of West Midlands Police filled the screen along with the motto, ‘Serving our communities, protecting them from harm.’
Sharpe put a hand up to scratch his cheek as he attempted to suppress a grin and Shepherd turned away so that he didn’t have eye contact because he was sure that Sharpe was about to wink at him. Shepherd knew that Sharpe had nothing but contempt for cops who thought that their job was to serve. In Sharpe’s view, the police were there to catch criminals and everything else should be left to Social Services.
‘So as of today we have a total of eighteen suspects under investigation here in the West Midlands. As regards the sixteen faces I showed you, the CPS is satisfied that we have enough evidence to charge them with conspiracy to commit various illegal acts, including assault and arson. But we don’t have anything yet to pin on Kettering and Thompson and until we do I’m reluctant to charge anybody. Once we start making arrests they’re going to realise that we’ve had a man on the inside so the investigation will have to come to an end. So we need to make sure that we have enough to convict Kettering and Thompson.’ He smiled at Hargrove. ‘Which is hopefully where your team comes in.’
Hargrove nodded. ‘Happy to help,’ he said.
‘On several occasions Kettering and Thompson have talked about buying a high-powered weapon and if we can get them in possession then we can put them behind bars for a few years at least. And once we have them in custody we hope to turn one of their friends and get evidence of their involvement in the racial attack.’ The superintendent gestured at Fenby. ‘Ray has let them know that he has contacts in London who have access to guns. Kettering and Thompson have expressed interest but want a good look at any weapons on offer. But let the man himself do the talking.’ He nodded at Fenby.
The undercover officer cleared his throat nervously. ‘They want big stuff, AK-47s, and they keep talking about the guns that the armed cops use, the Heckler amp; Koch MP5.’
‘And have they said what they want to do with the weapons?’ asked Hargrove.
‘They keep their cards close to their chest,’ said Fenby. ‘Kettering and Thompson are tight. They might even be partners, in a sexual sense. They’re not overtly gay and I’ve seen them with girls but there’s something weird about the two of them when they’re together. They finish each other’s sentences; they mimic each other’s body language.’ He shrugged. ‘Like I said, it’s weird. It’s taken me months to get close to them but they’re still cagey when I’m around. Those faces you saw represent most of the group that they hang around with, but there’s a lot of coming and going. I’m in pretty tight with three guys I met through football but they’re not much closer to Kettering and Thompson than I am. They seem to keep everyone at a distance.’
‘How did Kettering and Thompson come to know that you had arms-dealer connections?’ asked Hargrove.
‘The guys I was hanging with started talking about guns. They wanted to know how to get their hands on some and I thought they meant handguns so I began to tell them a few stories about south London, how you could go into a pub and buy a gun for a century, and their ears pricked up. A couple of days later I was in a club and Kettering pulls me to one side and asks me if I know anyone who can supply guns and I took it from there.’
‘And where do you stand at the moment?’
‘I’ve said I know a couple of guys in London and that I’ll see if I can get some prices.’
‘You’re okay with that?’ asked Shepherd. ‘Might be safer if you make us friends of friends, that way you don’t have to know our shoe sizes and dates of birth.’
‘I don’t think they’ll go with complete outsiders,’ said Fenby. ‘I’ll have to vouch for you personally.’
‘They’ll trust you with this?’ asked Shepherd.
Fenby shrugged again. ‘They’ve no reason to doubt me. I’ve proved myself often enough.’
The superintendent tapped a pen on the table and flashed Fenby a warning look.
Fenby looked pained. ‘You know what it’s like undercover. I’m one of the lads. We talk the same language, walk the same walk. I haven’t put a foot wrong so far.’
‘The problem is that we don’t have a large undercover squad,’ said the superintendent. ‘And those that we do have are more used to drugs work than weapons.’
Hargrove nodded. ‘I think we can put something together,’ he said.