Soft Target (Major Crimes Unit Book 2) (23 page)

“
One second.
”
  Bennett zipped a file onto the large television screen.

“
What
we looking at?
”
Mattock
asked.

“
Bradley
managed to compile a list of all properties registered to Hamil Hamidi.
”

They all took a moment to
examine the list.  Sarah spotted the Oxfordshire newsagent as well as multiple
other businesses, ranging from a florists to a Halal slaughterhouse.  Whoever
Hamil Hamidi was, he was well-heeled with a seemingly endless list of
investments.  One item on the list particularly caught Sarah
’
s attention: a listed building, described
as derelict.  It wasn
’
t so much
the building that caught piqued her interest, so much as the address: Thornton
Cross Station House (Derelict, Class 2 listed building), 1 Station Road,
Redditch.

“
He owns a property next to a train station,
”
said Sarah. 
“
The videos all had an unstable light source, like a bulb swinging.
”

Howard looked at her
knowingly. 
“
Caused by the
vibrations of trains coming in and out of the station.
”

Sarah nodded. 
“
It
’
s likely where Hesbani is making the videos.
”

“
Then
that
’
s where we
’
ll find him,
”
Mattock said. 
“
And
we can finally kick his bloody arse.
”

“
That
’
s going to be all me,
”
Sarah said. 
“
And God help anybody who gets in my way.
”
 
The truth was that she was scared shitless, but she knew that the only way she
would ever get any peace was by finally facing Hesbani, and then taking the
son-of-a-bitch down.

Palu folded his arms and moved
back in his chair. 
“
So you
’
re back with us then, Captain?
”

“
You
’
re damn right I am, and it
’
s Sarah.
”

Palu smiled. 
“
Glad to have you with us, Sarah.
”

“
Well,
”
Mattock said,
“
guess that
’
s the
team talk over.  Shall we make a move?
”

Sarah stood up.
“
I
’
m driving.
”

NEW HOPE

D
espite the town of
Redditch being close to her flat in Moseley, Sarah hadn
’
t visited before.  It was just another Birmingham satellite town,
patches of parkland shoved up against industrial sections to disguise them, and
residential estates built around small shopping hubs called
‘
centres,
’
but despite the annoying amount of roundabouts and ring roads, the
town was actually quite pretty.  Sarah spotted signs for both a lake and an
abbey, and they passed several playing fields full of children.

It was now Wednesday morning
and Sarah couldn
’
t believe how
little sleep she was able to operate on.  It was like having cotton wool inside
her skull, but somehow she felt more alert and focused than ever.

She pulled off the highway and
onto the ring road that would take them into Redditch
’
s town centre.  There were signs indicating that the rail station
was ahead.  Sarah took the opportunity to report in, fiddling with the steering
wheel
’
s controls to get Palu. 
“
We
’
re in Redditch,
”
she
told him. 
“
Just heading to the
station now.
”

“
I
’
ve put the local police on alert,
”
Palu informed her. 
“
They
’
ll be nearby if
you need backup.  They
’
ve been informed that you
’
re an anti-terrorist task force working under the purview of the
Met.
”

“
Roger
that,
”
Howard said from the passenger seat. 
“
Permission to use force if necessary?
”

“
Lethal
force granted, but be aware that you will be operating in the centre of a
civilian area.  There can be absolutely no collateral damage.  I want every
bullet accounted for at the end of the day.
”

“
I
’
ll beat Hesbani to death with his own shoes
if I have to,
”
said Sarah. 
“
No need for bullets.
”

“
Keep
me updated.
”
  Palu signed off.

Mattock was chuckling to
himself. 
“
You know, Sarah, you
have quite the sick sense of humour.  Reminds me of someone I know.
”

Sarah clenched the wheel. 
“
If you mean my father, I don
’
t want to hear it.
”

“
Fair
enough.
”

Howard looked at her, but she
refused to make eye-contact. 
“
You
okay?
”

“
I
’
m fine.  I just can
’
t get into
…
that.
”

They came up by a courthouse
and a glass-fronted college, and continued following signs for the rail
station.  Eventually they found it, opposite an open-air bus depot.

“
That
must be it,
”
Mattock said,
pointing to a large Georgian house right next to the station. 
“
It
’
s a derelict building, right?  That place looks pretty derelict to
me.
”

Sarah pulled into the station
’
s car park, and they got out the moment the
engine died.  The station was practically empty, no doubt because of the
terrorism alert.

Sarah, Mattock, and Howard
were all wearing the luminous yellow jackets of workmen.  People paid workmen
no mind, especially when it came to derelict buildings. 

The new rail station had been
placed directly in front of the old one.  They couldn
’
t enter the fenced-off area of the derelict station without crossing
over the tracks.  The front of the building was blocked by the elevated ring
road.

Howard cleared his throat. 
“
Any ideas on how we get in?
”

Sarah looked around. 
“
If Hesbani is using this place, there must be a way in and out.  He
wouldn
’
t climb the fence in front of a station full of people.
”

“
What about there?
”
Mattock pointed at an office block adjacent to the rear of the
derelict station house.

Sarah nodded. 
“
Let
’
s check it out.
”

They found a footpath and
headed around the new train station towards the old.  Eventually they came out
around the opposite side and were heading towards the office block.  When they
got there, they found that it was abandoned also.  Not derelict, but vacant and
FOR RENT.  The office block was empty and private.

“
This
must be it,
”
Sarah said. 
“
Let
’
s keep our heads low and find a way through.
”

They crept up to the office
building, looking about themselves for the slightest movement.  There were
people working in other offices across the road, and there was a driving test
centre nearby, but nobody was paying any attention to them.  The yellow workmen
jackets were doing their job.

“
What
about here?
”
Mattock said.  He was
standing by a gated alleyway at the side of the vacant office building.

“
Is
the gate unlocked?
”
Sarah
asked.

Mattock grabbed the lock and
twisted it.  The metal gate creaked open. 

Sarah and Howard looked at one
another as Mattock slipped into the alleyway and disappeared.  Things were
going more smoothly than expected. 

They kept their heads down and
followed the pathway lead into a yard.  A chain link fence separated the office
plot from the derelict station house.  There was a wide tear in the bottom of
the steel mesh.

Sarah was sure no one on the
platform would be able to see them. 
“
Okay,
”
she
said,
“
guns out.
”

Mattock took point.  His gun
was the biggest and he looked the least likely of them to die from a gunshot
wound to the face.  He stepped through the gap in the fence and moved into the
grounds of the old station house.  Sarah went through after him, followed by
Howard.  They all watching the boarded windows, wary of anything lurking behind
them. 

Was Hesbani inside?  Sarah
wasn
’
t sure how she would react
if he was.  The man had haunted her dreams for six years.  The thought of
meeting him face to face was like meeting the bogeyman.

The derelict station
’
s doorframe was rotten, brown, and
splintered.  When Mattock shoved up against it, the door swung aside easily,
scarping across the stone floor as it hung from warped hinges.

There was nothing inside but
darkness.

 Sarah stepped inside and
flinched as fallen masonry crunched underfoot.  There were old fare tickets and
route maps fading against the stone floor, almost like carpet.

“
Looks
like it
’
s ready to fall down
any minute,
”
Howard whispered. 
“
Why haven
’
t they demolished it already?
”

“
Because
somebody owns it,
”
Sarah
said. 
“
Whoever this Hamil
Hamidi is, he obviously wants the place standing.
”
 

They checked out all of the
side rooms, but found nothing.  Now they needed to check the upper floors. 
They congregated in front of the house
’
s grand staircase and looked upwards.

“
I
’
m not sure trying to climb that thing is a
sound idea,
”
Mattock said. 
“
Bloody thing
’
s falling apart.
”

Sarah shook her head. 
“
It
’
s just a bit of peeling paint.
”
 

She took the first step, SIG pointed
up the stairs.  Howard and Mattock followed closely behind.  Dust puffed out
from beneath their boots as they disturbed thick piles.  It looked like nobody
had come through here in years, but there were tell-tale signs that that wasn
’
t true.  Sarah noticed a few places on each
step where the stone showed through the dust.  Recent footsteps.

At the top, the rooms on each
side were open-fronted and wide.  The interiors had been gutted and there was
no way to tell what had once stood inside them.

Mattock tutted. 
“
This floor is a bust.
”

Sarah ground her teeth.  They
couldn
’
t afford not to find anything here.  It was the only solid lead they
had.

She made for the next set of
stairs and started upwards.  Howard and Mattock hissed at her to be cautious, but
she left them with no option but to follow.

When they reached the third
and final floor, Sarah grinned. 
“
Found you.
”

The entire third floor was
open-plan.  It
’
d been
completely cleared of debris, and in its place was a line of desks and
wall-mounted corkboards.  The corkboards were covered with detailed drawings of
bombs, maps, and letters.  It was an empty hive, left behind by its evacuating
worker bees.
 

In the centre of the room was
a video camera, perched atop a tripod and pointing at a bare desk with a single
lamp plugged into a double power outlet.  As a train departed the nearby
station, Sarah looked up and saw a bare bulb swinging back and forth.

“
You
were right,
”
said Howard, coming
up behind Sarah. 
“
Hesbani was
here.
”

Sarah went to the nearest desk
and plucked a photograph from the corkboard.  It was a psychiatric report on
Caroline Pugh, with Dr Cartwright
’
s signature on the bottom.  Paper-clipped to the back was a flyer
for the pub she blew up.  Sarah found similar files for Jeffrey Blanchfield and
the people responsible for blowing up Dartmouth and Aborfield.

Howard examined the files as
well. 
“
We should get these to
the local police,
”
he
said. 
“
They
’
re still trying to identify the other
bombers.
”

The Dartmouth bomber had
detonated on the ferry and sunk beneath the waves.  The police couldn
’
t distinguish between the bomber and the
victims. 
“
We
’
ll call it all in once we
’
re done,
”
she said. 
“
First I
want to
—”
Her eyes settled on the far end of the corkboard. 
“
Oh no.
”
 
She ripped four pages off the board and held them up for Howard and
Mattock. 
“
These places haven
’
t been hit yet.
”
  She leafed through the papers quickly.  Four more medical
histories of seemingly normal people, four more villages yet to be devastated.

Howard grabbed the papers from
her and took a look. 
“
I
’
ll call Palu.  We need to move.
”

Blam!

Everyone hit the ground at the
sound of the gunshot.  Sarah ducked beneath one of the desks and aimed her SIG,
but couldn
’
t find a target.

Blam!

The desk above Sarah
’
s head splintered.  She dove out from
beneath it and rolled to her feet.