The Margin of Evil! (29 page)

At 10.57, the young couple, and they were foreigners because they spoke English with heavy accents, asked to see some diamonds. I laid out the trays on the counter. Two elegantly dre
ssed gentlemen entered the shop and the sales assistant was dealing with them. They asked to look at some red rubies.

Now I remember exactly as to when the robbery began. I could hear the fire engi
ne, so I looked up at the clock above the door. It was eleven o'clock exactly. As always, I was keeping an eye on Doris, so I was briefly distracted. By the time I realised what was happening, all four of them, including the woman, had pulled out firearms and were demanding that I hand over all of the precious stones. One of them had disappeared behind the counter, and had gone into the back of the shop then, he brought out my wife, she was being held at gunpoint. He stated that if I did not comply with their wishes – she would die – it was as simple as that.

I was left with no choice, but to hand everything over. When they had everything I watched them leave in disbelief. Then
, to my amazement, on their way out, they grabbed a young couple, pushing one of those new fangled perambulators. I shall never forget the horror on the couples face. They, including the young family, made their way off down the street. Satisfied that they were gone, and not likely to return, I raised the alarm. I sent my boy to look for a 'Copper'.

Staring towards the wall Detective Inspector Reg Twist took stock of the situation. It had only taken a week for 'Quicksilver' Gardiner, the slowest detective in the police force, to forward these reports onto the Met. But that was really of no consequence, something else was praying on his mind. Then he remembered what it was. The basic gist had been a conversation with an English speaking delegate, at a conference on 'International Crime'. The purpose of which was to try and draw the Police Forces of Europe closer together. Sadly the main aim of the conference had not been possible and this was largely down to the petty jealousies of the French and Germans. But it had served another purpose, as an informal talking shop. It had been very useful to talk-shop and make contacts with officers serving in other Police forces. One such contact had been a Russian, now what was the damn fellow's name? Reggie leafed through his notebook, found what he was looking for and then made a phone call.

An hour later, there was a knock on his office door.

A young constable said, 'Sir, there's, huh hmm, two foreign gentleman 'ere to see you.'

'
Show 'em, in,' Twist said. He stood up and addressed the two men, who had walked into his office,' Very good of you to come at such short notice,' he said.

'
Very good of you to see us,' the older man said.

Getting to the point Twist said,
'Now ... do you remember our conversation at the 'International Crime' conference?'

'
I do indeed, the one where you said that, it was easier now for Criminals to move around the continent than it ever had been before. Then if that was the case, sooner or later police forces would have to forge closer ties, share information and forget petty 'National' jealousies, in order to fight crime effectively. Wasn't that the one?'

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Yes, that was it; that was exactly the one? Now, just remind me, what was the example that you used? Twist asked.

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You mean the Latvian gang?'

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Yes! That's the one ...'

'
My friend the 'Russian Empire' is very large. It stretches from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean in the Far East. It is populated by many different speaking peoples. The 'Russian Empire' has, effortlessly, absorbed these countries. But, when you live in a country that is rich in cultural diversity; you find that the diversity extends into the criminal world. In the north the travelling nomad will steal furs from the estates of the absentee landlord, who lives all year round in distant St Petersburg. In the south, you have groups whom exact levies on shop owners and merchants. What you call, 'Protection' here. We might interpret these actions as criminal, but others, namely the perpetrators, see it as their birth right. They take just enough without getting too greedy. Do you see?'

'
Yes I see. Do carry on!'

'
That is one type of crime. You call it petty crime here. You catch the villain, he goes up before the magistrate, he is sentenced and the crime is duly solved. But there is another crime and this crime is driven, often, by a misguided loyalty and an erroneous sense of doing, what these perpetrators' see, is morally their right. Russia, as I have said before, is a large country; it is also governed by one man. By nature of the size and by the different peoples we dare not adopt the Westminster system of government. My people are not ready for it. But some of the peoples think that they are. The 'So called' intelligentsia look forward to the day when this power will all be theirs. Some of them are prepared to wait for that day when Russia will become a constitutional monarchy, just like you are, here in the United Kingdom. 'Others' want immediate change, and it is those 'Others' of which I will speak. Are you still with me?'

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Yes I am Mr Gerhardt. It's making perfect sense,' Twist said.

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Then I will let my young colleague, Georgii Radetzky speak.'

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When you have a system where one man is in charge, in Russia it is known as 'The Autocracy', invariably it is too much for one man to govern. You get corruption from the top downwards. It is not a nasty evil corruption, but there are some that would have it exactly like that; but, everyone, public officials, feel that they are entitled to their slice of the cake. Crime is also exactly like that. On the one level you get the members of the intelligentsia who plan 'unrest', and then on the other, you get the intellectual hot-head at university who makes a bomb and then throws it at the Tsar. He gets caught, his family strike a deal and a humane sentence of exile is served. In a few years the young revolutionary will be thoroughly repentant, and when he is released, he or she will be reintegrated back into society and the 'Former Revolutionary', will then get on with his life. His crime will eventually become the main topic of conversation at after dinner discussions. Then there is the poor down trodden peasant boy, relentlessly beaten by his master, who steals an apple, then gets caught and is hung by the district magistrate. He is hung, not because he dislikes the youth, but because he wants to be seen as a strong disciplinarian by his people and by his masters. But it is the first group Mr Twist that we shall focus on, I will let Monsieur Gerhardt continue with the story.'

Reg Twist sat at his desk and was fascinated by what these two Russians had to say.
He listened in awe.

'
Thank you Georgii. Now this brings me to the Latvian gang I mentioned earlier,' Gerhardt paused and delved into his briefcase.  He pulled out a file and passed it across to Twist. He carried on, 'I believe that these six individuals are the ones that you might be looking for. But don't read it just yet. Let us return to the conversation we had at the conference.  The example I used at the time was there was a Latvian gang of revolutionaries, O.K., these individuals played at being revolutionaries when it suited them, but they robbed, kidnapped and murdered at their leisure. They seldom stayed in one place for long and by the time the local police had become aware of the situation, they have already moved on. They my friend have already learned from and adapted to the shortcomings of nonexistent, international policing!' He looked Reg Twist purposefully in the eye, 'This group is led by a certain George Gardstein.  From our sources we know that he has been in London for quite some time. He is usually accompanied by a Sara Trassjohnsky and a Nina Milstein. Milstein is personally known to me.  There are three others; a Fritz Svaars, a Peter Piaktow, more about him later, and an occasional 'Georgian' associate that goes under several aliases, but is usually known as Joseph Djugashvilli. All of them are armed with Dreyse M1907 pistols, very deadly when in the wrong hands and all these men have killed, Gardsteins women are certainly capable of it. All of them profess firm opposition towards the 'Autocracy' and all of them, with the exception of Djugashvilli, have been tried in absentia. It would appear that the 'Georgian' comes along, from time to time, for the ride.  With the exception of Djugashvilli, who is a member of the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Revolutionaries; the others are members of the 'Sons and Daughters of Latvia. SADOL, as we tend to refer to them, seems to be the creation of Gardstein and Trassjohnsky, but it is also known to have links with other revolutionary groups.'

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Do you know why they are here in London? What is their purpose? Do you know,' the Scotland Yard detective said.

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I suppose that it was only a matter of time before they arrived here,' Gerhardt's young assistant said. 'But their Modus Operandi is always the same: they steal, extort and kill; so that they can live off the 'Fat of the Land'!'

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Since the 1905 revolution this group; though not always in the same configuration, has roamed across Europe, doing exactly as Monsieur Radetzky has said. The cornerstone of each crime is that it always involves some form of deception.'

Twist interrupted.
'Like the bogus abduction of a man woman and child outside the jewellers in Hatton Gardens?'

'
Exactly!  Other specialities have been elaborate frauds, and the men and the women too, have all cross-dressed in order to deceive their victims. But if I am to make myself clear, they commit all of their crimes without the slightest bit of conscience. They have consistently shown no compassion towards those they come into contact with. In fact they have always shown a cold callousness and a general disregard towards any kind of authority. The Americans would describe them as outlaws, we, and when I say we, my government, should we be lucky enough to catch them, would like you to liquidate all of them for us.'

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Well, I don't know if I can. This is not Russia, there is such a thing here as is called 'Due Process of Law.  Thing's have to be dealt with above board ere!'  Twist said.

'
Yes I appreciate that,' Gerhardt said,' but, with all due respect, I think that you miss the point. That is, it would be better for all concerned if they were dealt with firmly. Look at it another way, if this gang were to be caught, I doubt whether there's a single policeman that would lose a single night's sleep over them, especially if it were to be arranged that they all came to a sticky end!'

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Yes I see your point,' thinking pragmatically he went on, 'there maybe, and it's only a maybe, a way around this,' Twist said.

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You see, you can do this once and for all, because I know, Inspector Twist, where they are going to strike next,' Gerhardt said.

Reg leaned forwards and said. 
'And where might that be?'

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On a need to know, right now, you don't need to know my friend. But don't worry before it does, I'll let you know!'

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I want you to keep me informed, and don't think I don't know what you've been up to! So you'll keep me informed won't you? I want to be there when the dust starts to fly; if you don't, I will go out of my way,' Reg Twist said banging his fist on the desk, 'to make life very difficult for you and your Okhrana pals!  Is that clear?'

The Russian nodded in agreement
and then followed his colleague out of Reginald Twists office.

Once they had gone, the usually calm now irritated
, Reginald Twist, walked over to a large filing cabinet. He pulled out a large bottle of Scotch, poured himself a large measure and knocked it back in one. Sitting down again behind his desk, he then reflected on the meeting. Going with his gut feeling, he got the overall impression that the Russians knew a lot more than they were letting on. So much for international cooperation he thought!

All six of them were there.
All of them were in a near ecstatic mood, except 'The Georgian', and no one ever really knew what mood he was in. Nina, fully aware of some, if not all, of their personal differences, looked around her. But that, at the moment, was not the problem.  Moreover, if any pedestrian had been walking past number fifty nine Grove Street, they would have surmised that a family celebration was in progress. It was, so to speak!

Piaktow was talking to Trassjohnsky, his hands moved around in a most expressive way.
One minute his hands were outstretched, fingers stretching out into space, next they were cupped, and were carving out invisible sculptures in the emptiness of the living room in which they were all huddled. Svaars was busily tucking into the light buffet that Mrs Brown had made. Nina observed that he was eating with his usual 'Pig-like' finesse. Gardstein was moving around topping up their glasses with champagne, whilst playing the genial host. Even Djugashvilli seemed happy with the outcome of the Hatton Gardens robbery.

It was always the same she mused.
Everyone would line up in the 'Pecking order', with George Gardstein at the head. Nina decided to make her move on Djugashvilli.

'
Where are you supposed to be this time,' she said.

'
In Eastern Siberia!  I'm supposed to be in exile,' he replied.