Human Frailty, a Detective Mike Bridger novel (23 page)

A serious looking man, who had
introduced himself as Sticky, then had not said much after that,
appearing to concentrate on his driving, had picked him up from
outside the headquarters of Revenge.com. That suited Bridger as he
had time to think through the next steps of the operation. He
phoned the officer in charge of the armed
offender
’
s
squad, told him that the target was where he was supposed to be,
and that the surveillance team had him contained. The team leader
promised him that they would be assembling at the safe point as
soon as he heard that the target was on the move.

He had just cut the connection on his phone
when Sticky slowed and then stopped at a set of lights. Bridger was
gazing out of the window absently when he caught a glimpse of a
couple sitting inside a Cafe beside the intersection. It was an
everyday sight, people getting on with their lives, enjoying one
another's company, not a care in the world.

He continued to watch as the female rose
from her seat with her back to him and touched her male companion
on the arm. He watched as the male companion rose as well, then she
kissed him on the cheek. The male smiled at her and said something
that made her laugh. He saw her tuck her laptop under her arm and
turn towards the door. It was then that Bridger realised he was
watching his own wife.

As Sticky pulled away from the lights, he
lost sight of the Cafe and Laura. Suddenly he could not breathe, he
felt winded, as if someone had kicked him in the stomach. What in
the hell was that, his mind started racing. He knew Laura was a
tactile person and touched people a lot while talking to them, he
had seen it often enough and it was harmless. He had never seen her
kiss another person though, and to kiss another man. The thought
warped in his brain, he was imagining where it all went after that.
Was Laura having an affair? Was that why she left him really?

He thought back to the flowers the previous
night. She had said they were from her boss, he had believed her.
What about the card she had tucked into her pocket when she thought
he had not seen it, how could he have been so stupid? How could she
have been so stupid? Why had she not said anything? Bridger's mouth
was dry; he swallowed but could not get any relief.

There must be an explanation, he thought. He
had been so tied up with his own guilt he could not see it in
her.

He looked at his cell phone, tempted to ring
her and demand the explanation that was due him. The cell phone was
such an impersonal thing, he realised he needed to confront her in
person, to see her face when she started telling the lies that she
thought would extricate her from the situation. The feeling of hurt
deepened when he imaged her lying to him. Making excuses, turning
it back onto him, and blaming him for the fact that she was
screwing some other guy. Images started to screen in his mind,
Laura and some young guy with a Photoshop abdominal area, sweating
and grinding against each other, her face twisted in pleasure. He
pictured the guy bringing Laura to climax, then both of them
turning to look directly at him. Except it was not Laura, it was
Jane.

Bridger looked down at his hands and
realised his sweaty fist was clamped tightly around his cell phone,
the whites of his knuckles showing vividly on his fingers. Turning
to Sticky he was about to tell him to turn around and go back so he
could confront her. He saw that Sticky
’
s mouth was moving but his speech
sounded muffled, he appeared to be talking to himself. He realised
sticky had been talking to someone on his radio.

"He's on the move Sergeant, Sloth has him
walking west on St David Street".

Shit, not now, thought Bridger, torn between
the need to nail Jonas and the need to see his wife.

He felt Stickys driving became more urgent,
which took the decision from him, he realised something had
happened. Sticky turned on the main radio speaker so Bridger could
hear what was happening. The chatter of the radio was just
gibberish to Bridger, the surveillance boys might just have well
been speaking in a foreign language. Everyone in the team seemed to
have a nickname; either that or their parents name choices were
very strange. That was about all he understood. Sticky though, new
exactly what was going on as he moved himself closer to Jonas's
location.

"He's getting into a vehicle Sergeant, just
around the corner..., He's on the move, should be coming into sight
over there in a few seconds".

Sticky was pointing in the direction of the
next road coming up. Bridger looked over at the intersection and
sure enough, Jonas drove by in front of them in an unassuming blue
sedan. He did not look to be in any hurry and certainly did not
look to Bridger to be about to commit any crimes.

You’re one cold bastard, Bridger said to
himself.

The gibberish continued on the radio as
Jonas drove through the streets. Bridger could not help but be
impressed with the skill of the surveillance team. They did not
lose sight of Jonas or his vehicle for any period.

He did not stand a chance, he thought to
himself.

The pace was fast, the radio chatter
constant. Bridger found himself caught up in the adrenalin as the
car he listened to the progress of his quarry. The route he was
taking made it appear that he was heading in the direction of his
temporary address in the university apartments.

Unexpectedly, Jonas made a stop, swerving
into a parallel park on the side of the road. He quickly got out of
the vehicle and started walking away in a bit of a hurry. Bridger
heard Stan Walton on the radio, "Make sure you don’t lose him", he
was saying, "Keep him in sight at all times, we need to know where
he goes".

Bridger's phone rang in his hand; he
could see it was Becky
’
s number. He knew she would be sitting in
Stan
’
s car
somewhere in the area.

"Mike, Stan thinks Jonas may have been
spooked".

"Hopefully Jonas is not that switched on
Becky. He shouldn't have any reason to think he was being followed,
but then I guess he would be a bit paranoid if he had snatched a
girl and had her locked up somewhere".

From the commentary that was still coming
over the radio it sounded as if Stan's boys still had Jonas in
their sights.

"Let's just hope he hasn't been spooked, for
Marion's sake", Bridger said before cutting the connection.

If he had been spooked, he was sure Stan
would have words with that member. Bridger did not know much about
how the team operated, but he knew Stan was aware how crucial this
operation was. He also knew that he was not one to tolerate simple
mistakes like that.

A team member named Smurf reported over the
radio that Jonas had cut through an alleyway and into the next
street over from them. He had come out onto the street beside his
place of residence and then gone inside.

So he is acting a bit suspicious after all,
Bridger thought.

Sloth came on the radio and reported that
Jonas's vehicle had parked in a five-minute zone, so was likely he
would be returning to it soon. Bridger looked at his watch, still
plenty of time. He sat back in the car seat and waited for Jonas to
reappear. Less than five minutes went by and Smurf reported Jonas
coming out of the apartment and retracing his steps towards his
car. He was carrying a blue backpack over one shoulder that
appeared to be relatively full.

After a few minutes, Sloth reported Jonas
getting back into his car. Things got more frantic again as the
surveillance team scrambled to get into position as he drove
away.

Sticky was behind the vehicle Jonas was
driving as he pulled away from the curb. Bridger saw Jonas turn his
car into a side street with 'No Exit' displayed on the street sign.
"This must be it", Bridger said, "There is no other way out of that
street".

Sticky pulled his car in behind another a
short distance from the corner.

"We better wait a minute before we go in,
give him time to settle", Sticky said as he informed the rest of
the team what had happened.

A few moments later Jonas's car reappeared,
pulled out of the side street and drove in the opposite direction.
Bridger watched him as they passed each other nose to nose. Jonas
looked oblivious to the fact that he had just been a few feet from
a police surveillance team.

"Classic anti surveillance move that was",
Sticky said, handing control to the next team member who had
managed to get in behind Jonas.

Bridger looked at the width of the street in
which they were in currently.

It could be that it was just an easy way to
turn around though, he thought.

Bridger found his sense of direction tested
to its limits as he struggled to understand what the surveillance
team was saying. Sticky was driving all over the place, but knew
exactly what was going on. However, he did get the sense they were
nearing the wharf area where Beth had said his building was.

The radio crackled
“Target has turned into Fryatt Street”
Bridger
knew it ran parallel with the Otago harbor; he listened to the
commentary tell them that Jonas had made another right and stopped
outside a wooden warehouse building. This time, Bridger thought. It
must be his building.

There were a large number of cars parked in
the street but Sticky had no trouble parking in amongst them,
hidden from Jonas's direct view, but enabling Bridger to see him
quite clearly through the car in front. As Bridger watched, he saw
Jonas get out of his car and unlock the double doors in the front
of the building. He was in no hurry, he got the impression he was
actually whistling to himself.

"You won't be whistling soon arsehole",
Bridger said aloud, Sticky appeared not to notice the comment.

He watched as Jonas slid the big
wooden doors open one after the other. He got back into his car and
drove inside the building out of view to Bridger. Another vehicle
drove by the entrance to the warehouse and then went into a side
street. Immediately his phone rang, Becky
’
s name was on the caller
display.

"We went past the front of the building when
he drove inside but the interior was to dark to see much of what
was there", she was saying, "He looked as if he was closing the
doors behind himself when we went around the corner".

"Thanks Becky, looks like this is it, I'll
let the AOS team leader know that I'm going to give the go ahead
for his squad to move in. Once they are inside I want you to come
in with me to make the arrest. I'll get Grant and Jo to come down
and deal with Marion".

Bridger pushed the off button on the cell
phone and took a deep breath, he realised he was feeling a lot
better, his head no longer felt like it had a steel wrecking ball
bouncing around inside it. All thoughts of Laura and the unknown
male pushed to the back of his mind. He pushed send on the text
message that gave the order to move in. He watched the screen as
the little envelope disappeared indicating that he had sent the
message successfully.

Bridger looked over at Sticky who was
sitting still in the driver
’
s seat. He just looked relaxed; like it was
just another day at the office.

I guess that comes with his job description,
thought Bridger, but you could to relaxed sometimes.

That was not his concern though as he looked
back towards the warehouse. Similar looking buildings lined the
street they were in; all had padlocked front doors on them. There
were plenty of cars parked in the street but not much pedestrian
traffic. The vehicles must belong to the employees that worked in
the area. He wondered what those workers would think if they knew
what was happening just inside the wooden walls of the building a
short way up the street from them.

"Things are about to get loud", Sticky said,
pointing towards a figure dressed all in black who was walking
slowly around the corner with his back to the wall. He was followed
by three more figures dressed the same, all of them wearing black
helmets and had something covering their faces.

They were certainly a foreboding sight,
thought Bridger. They moved with the precision of a military unit.
All of them had semi automatic weapons in their hands and more
items strapped to their black body armor.

The Armed Offender Squad was only a part
time job, all its members undertaking normal police duties until
needed. A unit called in after an incident had occurred required
specialist intervention. Their primary role was to cordon and
contain an offender until he gave himself up or they had explored
all other avenues to resolve a situation. Sometimes they were
required to be the first port of call when undertaking jobs that
required more caution. Bridger knew many of its members, and they
would all tell him that they enjoyed these types of jobs better.
Today was certainly one of those jobs.

The lead member had approached the door and
was standing with one hand on the handle. Another team of four had
materialized from the other side. Altogether, there were eight
figures all clad in black, bristling with weaponry, standing on an
otherwise empty street. The lead member held his free hand in the
air, when it came down he pulled the sliding door open. The figure
standing beside him appeared to throw something into the open
doorway. A very loud bang followed the movement, the noise waves
vibrating out of the opening. It had made Bridger and Sticky both
jump in their seats. Anyone inside that building was going to be
temporarily stunned and deafened.

That would have been the point though,
Bridger thought, as the black clad figures moved into the building
with their weapons raised.