The time passed quickly; Colin was back in harness, doing what he did best, planning in minute detail the manner in which he would carry out the removal of a bad apple from the barrel. One bad apple can ruin the whole crop as we all know; the police service had several such poisonous articles in their midst. Colin in his guise as ‘The Phoenix’ would help them clean up their act; an improvement was long overdue and Colin could find only scant evidence that they were capable of doing the job for themselves.
He glanced at his watch; it was close to midnight! Food would have to wait; sleep was the next thing on the agenda. Tomorrow was another day and he needed to check his itinerary with Erebus. If he got the all clear then he could get kitted up with the items needed for the trip and arrange for the transport section to run him into the city. He saved his work on the laptop, closed everything down and crashed out on his bunk. Sweet dreams.
Colin had been awake since six o’clock. He had showered and got dressed, then had trotted over to the canteen for a hearty breakfast. After reading through his proposed programme for the direct action against DCI Armitage and satisfying himself everything was in order, he had contacted the main house and asked for a meeting with Erebus. It was now the appointed hour and he was sat with his boss in the orangery.
“It’s good to see you have grasped the urgency of the situation Phoenix” enthused Erebus “this looks waterproof to me; when would you like to proceed?”
“I just need some clothes and the right weapon from the armoury” said Colin “plus a lift to the station early tomorrow morning; once the job is complete do I contact the transport section for a mini cab ride back here?”
“On this occasion, yes old chap, please do” said Erebus. “We’ll review the mission once you get back and take account of any wrinkles in the planning process that need ironing out. As soon as we’re happy that you can operate in the field without your true identity being uncovered, then you can be deployed in London or one of the major provincial cities for other assignments. Lengthy stays back at Larcombe Manor will be less frequent the more successful you are; naturally if there were to be any fall out from a mission that left you exposed out there in the field, we’d carefully spirit you back here for safe keeping until the heat died down.”
Colin’s meeting with the old man was soon at an end. Erebus returned to the main house and Colin made his way to the ice house and the armoury.
“Morning guys!” he said to the two who had been with him when they played ‘Three Men in a Boat’ in July, who he now knew were Sgt. Pete ‘Thommo’ Thomas and Sgt. Barry ‘Bazza’ Longdon; both men were ex SAS.
“What do you recommend for this scenario?” Colin asked them.
He unfolded a couple of sheets of paper with a diagram of the ‘kill zone’ and his proposed clothing, plus a complete itinerary of his journey to and from Larcombe Manor.
“We’ve got a Russian PSS” said Thommo.
“What’s that when it’s at home?” asked Colin.
“A fairly simple double action pistol Phoenix” replied Thommo “their special forces used them on covert ops when they need a completely silent option. It’s lightweight, weighing in at less than a bag of sugar when loaded and it’s got some serious stopping power.”
“Looking at this spec” his mate Bazza added “ you’ll be up close and personal; if you need to make the hit at distance this thing will do the business up to twenty five maybe fifty metres at a push.”
“How does it work?” asked Colin holding the pistol Thommo had fetched from one of his well stocked drawers.
“When you fire, the piston delivers enough oomph to get the cartridge out of the barrel then it seals the cartridge neck; you don’t get any noise, smoke or blast with this baby.”
“Impressive! Does it kick back much?” asked Colin.
“A little” smiled Bazza “why don’t you try it for half an hour on the range? I’ll sort you out some ammo — blanks for now and the real thing for when you leave us.”
“Great idea” said Colin “this feels good; let’s try it out!”
Forty minutes later Colin left the armourers with his weapon of choice; fully cleaned and with a six round detachable box.
Erebus had sorted his financials; when he dropped by his quarters to lock the weapon away he found a money clip by his laptop. He had more than enough for a day trip to Lewes. Erebus had also left a note scribbled on a sheet from Colin’s notepad.
‘Bon voyage. Receipts are traceable, always use cash. Good hunting.’
Next stop was the clothing store; a bit of a misnomer really, the crew members had a wide range of clothing available and it was stored in a large trunk in the stable block. His trainer Rusty used to call it their ‘dressing up box’ and operators would dive in to see what was available, find the right size, check it out, wear it, get it cleaned and throw it back in the box.
Colin had a good rummage around and found exactly what he was looking for; a reversible zip up windcheater. It was baggy enough to enable him to conceal his PSS and gave him the option of wearing it in navy blue or maroon. He already had a pair of jeans and some sturdy walking shoes. He grabbed a red bobble hat and a white baseball cap and stuffed them into the jacket pockets. He was good to go!
CHAPTER 13
Colin was out of bed with the first buzz of his alarm. He showered; but didn’t shave. He took his underwear, socks, jeans and shirt from the neat ironed pile by his laptop on the table and carefully put them on, one by one. He looked in the mirror. It would do.
He had a full English breakfast at the canteen and returned to his quarters. He put on the navy blue jacket, slipped the PSS pistol and ammunition into the left inside pocket and zipped it up. He checked the way the jacket looked; with his hands in the side pockets or in his jeans. Only a genius would guess he was carrying.
He spotted the IT whiz kid Giles on his way in to start work.
He called out “Where can I grab a rucksack mate?”
“Your best bet is Rusty; he’s got a stock of most things. It’ll cost you though!”
“Yeah, yeah” said Colin “I can hear him already, remember the six P’s Phoenix!
Piss poor planning and so on. Where is he?”
“He’ll probably be in the pool doing hundreds of lengths.”
Colin wasn’t going to undertake a mission with his hands or pockets full of odds and ends; he needed the bag to carry some necessary items and keep his hands totally free. He ran across to the pool. Sure enough Rusty was swimming length after length; the guy was a fitness freak. Colin looked around. There were a couple of other keen beggars around. Nobody took a lot of notice of him. He spotted a rucksack on a chair at the end of the pool. He tipped the contents onto the chair and made to walk off.
“Phoenix!” shouted Rusty as he touched the wall at the far end and took a breather “that’ll be a tenner pal. My kit had better not be missing when I get out either.”
Colin waved a tenner he had pulled from his money clip and called down the pool “Already done Rusty, hope I haven’t made you lose count on the number of lengths you’ve done!”
“Bastard!” cursed Rusty “I’ll have to start over now.”
Colin shook his head. Some people couldn’t seem to work out that you only need to get fit; it wasn’t compulsory to get fit enough to drop. Back inside his quarters he dropped his two pieces of headwear, a travel shaver, and a pair of binoculars and an Ordnance Survey map of East Sussex into the rucksack and checked his watch. It was just after seven fifteen.