Unholy Crusade, part sixteen

Jeremy Pellier pulled up behind the deep blue Mercedes and climbed out, turning up the collar on his jacket and wishing the rain would ease up for a while, give everyone a break and a chance to dry off a little. He hated weather like this. Why he had ever come back from France was a mystery right now. Better weather, cheaper food, good drink. Oh, how he wished he was back there instead of being here in this cold, wet, miserable country.

The rear door on the Mercedes opened with a clunk. He rushed over and climbed inside.

‘Jesus, it’s wet out there,’ he said. He could feel himself shaking and tried to convince himself that it was just because of the cold. An attack of the nerves would not be a good thing right now.

The man in the driver’s seat passed a plastic bag over his shoulder to Jeremy. ‘You’ll be needing this.’

Jeremy looked in the bag. Inside was a 9mm Glock; several rounds of ammunition in standard black clips; and one tarnished silver clip.

‘Remember our agreement,’ said the driver.

‘Yeah.’ Jeremy’s voice was flat, betraying no emotion. ‘I remember.’

He slipped the bag under his jacket, stepped out of the Mercedes and headed back to his Toyota.

By the time he had fastened his seat belt, the other car was gone.

Gretl had set herself up in the video room of the factory whose yard was to be the meeting place for that night’s deal. Getting in had not been a problem. She vaulted the rear wall of the warehouse next door, climbed its fire escape and jumped onto the factory roof, then let herself in through an access point put there to make maintenance of the factory’s flat roof easier. Now the guards were unconscious in a corner and she was sat in front of a bank of monitors. She pulled the bluetooth earpiece out of her pocket and fastened it to her ear. It felt uncomfortable; she imagined people would get used to them if they used them enough but she hated it, always would.

‘I’m in,’ she said.

‘Good,’ said Seth through the earpiece. His voice was crackled with a little static but the message came through clearly. ‘We’re almost in position. Keep this channel open.’

‘Will do.’

She sat back in the chair and waited. It was up to the enemy to make their move now. All she could do was wait.