Remote Control (19 page)
Authors: Andy McNab
Kids Have Fun is a franchised playcentre operation. The idea is that you drop your kids off for a few hours while you go off on your big shopping frenzy. I’d once gone with Marsha to pick up Kelly and Aida from one. The child gets a name tag on their wrist that they can’t remove, and the adult is given an ID card that means they’re the only person who can collect the child. The girls had been playing up the morning I went, and I remembered that, as we approached the centre, Marsha had grinned at the travel agent’s opposite and said, ‘I always think that’s brilliant positioning; the number of times I’ve been tempted to drop off the kids and pop in for a one-way ticket to Rio!’
The mall was shaped like a large cross, with a different department store – Sears, Hecht’s, JCPenney, Nordstrom – at the end of each spur. There were three storeys, with escalators moving people up and down from the central hub. The food hall was on the third floor. It was as busy as it was massive, and the heat was nearly tropical – probably on purpose, to send you to the drinks counters.
I spotted Kids Have Fun on the Hecht’s spur. I turned to Kelly. ‘Hey, do you want to go in there later on? There’s videos and all sorts of stuff.’
‘I know. But I want to stay with you.’
‘Let’s go in and have a look anyway.’ I didn’t want to put her in there yet because I didn’t even know if we were going to get the phone call or not, but I’d still have to do the recce and prepare the ground.
I went up to the desk. ‘Do we have to book to come in?’
Apparently not, we just turned up and filled in a form. I worked out that, if I did get a phone call at 4 p.m., I’d only have half an hour at the most to hide her. I had to assume the worst-case scenario, which was that they knew Kev’s mobile number and were waiting to intercept it and listen to me giving Pat directions. I wanted her away from that area and safe. Also, I couldn’t be sure about Pat. He might be part of a trap. I had to be careful, but at the same time I was desperate to see him.
I could see her looking round. It didn’t look that bad. We walked out.
‘You can come with me now, but I have to go on my own later, OK?’
She looked pissed off. ‘Whyyy?’
‘Because I have to do stuff, OK? You can help me now, though.’
At last I got a smile. ‘Oh, OK, but you won’t be long, will you?’
‘I’ll be back before you know it.’
Kelly and I started walking around, doing recces without her realizing it.
‘What are we looking for, Nick?’
‘A shop with cameras and telephones.’
We walked the whole mall, eventually finding one on the ground floor. I bought a battery charger for the mobile phone. She decided not to buy another present for Melissa after all, announcing that she’d just pick up the friendship bracelets from home. I didn’t comment.
At five minutes to four I took the phone from my pocket and turned on the power. The battery and signal strength were fine. I was ready.
At ten past four it started ringing. I pressed receive. ‘Hello?’
‘It’s me.’
‘Where are you?’
‘In a call box.’
‘At five o’clock, I want you to come to the Landside Mall in Alexandria. I want you to enter via JCPenney, go to the centre hub, take the escalator to the third floor, go straight towards Sears. OK so far?’
There was a pause as it was sinking in. ‘OK.’
‘On the left-hand side there’s a restaurant called the Roadhouse. Go into the Roadhouse and get two coffees. I’ll see you there.’
‘See yer.’
I turned the power off.
Kelly said, ‘Who was that?’
‘Remember I talked about Pat? I’m going to see him later on – that’s good, isn’t it? Anyway, are you ready for Kids Have Fun?’
She was going whether she liked it or not. If Pat stitched me up, this place would soon be swamped with police.
I filled in the form with the names we were using at the hotel. Kelly was studying the assault course with padding and plastic balls to break your fall. There were video areas where a huge variety of films were being shown, a juice dispenser, toilets. It looked really well organized and the place was packed. I could see the hosts, who were playing games with the kids and doing magic tricks. Seeing as she’d been doing nothing but watch children’s TV for the last God knows how many hours, Kelly should be into all that. The downside was the danger of her talking, but I had no choice. I paid my money, plus $20 deposit for the magic key to reclaim my child.
I asked her, ‘Do you want me to stay for a while?’
She was dismissive. ‘You can’t stay, this is just for children.’ She pointed at a warning sign that said. ‘Be careful, parents, don’t go near the playthings because you might trip over and hurt yourselves.’
I squatted, looking into her eyes. ‘Remember, your name’s Josie today, not Kelly. It’s a big secret, OK?’
‘Yeah, OK.’ She was too busy looking into the play area.
‘I’ll be back soon. You know I’ll always be back, don’t you?’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ she was dragging herself away. Her face was towards me, but her eyes were looking the other way. A good sign, I thought as I headed off.
I took the escalator to the third floor. I got myself tucked into the corner table of a café and ordered an espresso and a Danish.
I knew that, if he was late, he wouldn’t move into the RV. The SOP was that he’d wait an hour. If that didn’t happen, it would be the same routine tomorrow. That’s the great thing about working with people you know.
I looked at my watch. It was two minutes to five – or two minutes to eight in the morning in Baghdad. Looking down the escalators I could see the JCPenney spur joining the hub. On my floor I could also see the entrance to Sears and the Roadhouse.
At about two minutes past I saw Pat below me, walking in from the direction of JCPenney. He was sauntering along, casual and unhurried, wearing a brown leather bomber jacket, jeans and trainers. From this distance he looked unchanged, just a bit thinner on top. I looked forward to taking the piss out of him for that.
I knew he’d be at JCPenney dead on five; I knew he would have been putting in his own anti-surveillance drills
en route
, driving into the car park early to check it out, even sitting in his car to time it right. Pat might have his head in the clouds, but when he had to perform he was shithot. At the moment, however, my only worry was not so much about what was in his head as about what might be up his nose.
en route
, driving into the car park early to check it out, even sitting in his car to time it right. Pat might have his head in the clouds, but when he had to perform he was shithot. At the moment, however, my only worry was not so much about what was in his head as about what might be up his nose.
He walked onto the escalator and I looked away. I wasn’t interested in him now, I was watching everywhere else, checking to see if he was being followed. By covering his back I was protecting my own. I had the easy part, being the third party and aware. The biggest problem would be for the surveillance operators who were following him and trying not to get pinged by people like me.
In an urban environment it’s always best to meet people where there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic. It looks normal, people meeting people. The downside is that, if there is any surveillance on you, they can blend in a lot easier too. However, it is chaos for them, because you can walk in and out of shops, stop at a counter, then move on, then turn round and go back to another counter; so, if you’re going to RV with somebody to talk, go shopping.
Pat came up the last escalator, standing ahead of a group of teenage girls. They got off and turned left to the Baskin Robbins. Pat went right. There were only four escalators, two up, two down. I couldn’t see anyone who looked like an operator.
I watched him go into the Roadhouse. I gave it another five minutes, checked again, made sure the girl saw me throw my couple of dollars on the table, and left. Once on the Sears spur I got on the right-hand side of the walkway, which gave me a better view of the Roadhouse on the left, and that in turn gave me more time to tune in and look about to see if there were any men in Victoria’s Secret looking out of place as they flicked through the ladies’ lingerie.
I still couldn’t be sure about Pat. But I didn’t get nervous about that sort of thing; it was a drill, I’d done it so many times. I looked at it technically, in terms of what-ifs? What if they lift me from the direction of Sears? What if they come out from the shops each side of me? ‘What if’ stops you freezing like a rabbit in the middle of the road when the headlights hit you. It gets you out of that initial danger. In this particular case, I’d draw my weapon, move out of the danger area, through Sears or the escalators, and make a run for it.
I entered the Roadhouse and saw Pat closer up. Age was getting to him. He was only forty, but he looked eligible for some kind of pension.
He was sitting at a twin table on the far left-hand side, with two cappuccinos in front of him. There were about a dozen other people talking, eating and telling off their kids. I went over, pulled out the $5 bill that I had ready in my pocket, put it on the table and said, with a big flashy smile of greeting, ‘Follow me, mate.’
If he was intending to stitch me up, I was just about to find out.
I was sponsoring the RV, so he didn’t say anything, he just came with me. We went over to the far wall, where the toilet sign was; as we went through the door we came into a long corridor, with the toilets down the bottom on the left-hand side. I’d recce’d this on the walkabout with Kelly. To the right was another door, which led into Sears. These were shared toilets and that was why I’d chosen them. I opened the door, let Pat through and followed him into the babywear department. We took the escalators to the ground, putting in angles and distance. It might not work all the time, but it was the best I could do.
From the perfume counter on the ground floor it was straight out into the car park, and we started to walk along the sidewalk towards a run of smaller shops and snack bars.
Not a word had been said. No need; Pat knew what was happening.
We walked into a SubZone, a very clinical, spotlessly clean franchise place selling baguettes with the world’s supply of hot fillings. I told Pat to order me a drink and a cheese and meat special. The place was full. That was good; it made life more complicated for anybody looking.
I said, ‘Sit over there at that table, mate, facing the toilets, and I’ll be back in a minute.’
He stood in line to order.
I went through the door to the toilets and on to the far end, where there was a fire escape. I wanted to be sure it hadn’t been obstructed by a rubbish bin or anything since I’d last checked. The fire-escape door was alarmed, so I wasn’t going to test it to make sure it would open. I’d done my recce, so I knew what was on the other side and where to run.
Pat was already sitting down with two coffees and an order ticket. I was getting caffeine overload. I was also starting to feel like shit; the heat of the shopping mall and now this place, and the energy expended in this last two days were taking their toll. But I had to keep on top of that because this was an operation.
I sat down opposite him in the booth, looking beyond him at the glass frontage of the shop. I could see everybody coming in and out, and had a pillar and Pat as cover. I wanted to dominate the area because I needed to see what was going on.
I looked at Pat and decided not to take the piss out of his hair. He looked wrecked and wasted. His eyes were no longer clear and sharp, but red and clouded. He’d put on weight and there was an overhang pulling at his T-shirt and flopping over his belt. His face looked puffy and I could only just make out his Adam’s apple.
I said, ‘The reason we’re here is that I’ve come over to see you on holiday and we’re shopping.’
‘Fine.’
I still had to test him, in case he was rigged up with a listening device.
‘If there’s a drama, I’m going to go through there.’ I pointed towards the toilets. I was waiting for him to say, ‘Oh what, you’re going to go to the toilets?’ for the benefit of anybody who might be listening in. But he didn’t. He just said, ‘OK.’ I was as sure as I could be that I was safe. There was no more time to mess around.
I said, ‘You OK, mate?’
‘So so. Put it this way, a bit fucking better than you. How did you find me?’
‘Sherry, at Good Fellas.’ I looked at him and he smiled. ‘Yeah, good stitch, Pat!’
His smile got bigger. ‘Anyway, what’s the score?’
‘I’ve got every man and his dog after me.’
‘So it seems.’ His red eyes twinkled.
I started explaining and was still in full flow when the girl brought over the subs. They were huge, big enough to feed a family.
‘What the fuck did you order?’ I said. ‘We’re going to be here all day!’
Pat was hungry, fighting with the hot cheese as it stranded between his mouth and the sub. It made me wonder when he’d last eaten.
I was too busy gobbing off to eat. I said, ‘Look, mate, to tell you the truth, all I want to do is fuck off and get back to the UK – but that’s going to be a pain in the arse. I need to know what’s going on, I need to know why this is happening. Do you remember Simmonds?’
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