Part   Thirty Four   "Ludgate Lunacy"

 

Tammy's Tales Book 6
 

 
Friday 6th November
 

She asked the duty officer to give her some space before dialling a number.

"Tammy?"

"Yes, Dad. I'm safe."

"I saw the news reports, what the hell happened?"

"It's too early to say, and I don't think anyone wants me to say very much."

"Where are you?"

"I can't say, but I'm fine. Please don't let anyone other than mum know that you've spoken to me."

"We haven't heard a peep out of you for over a week, your mum fears the worst every day."

"I can't help that, they took away my phone and wouldn't let me near the secure line in the other place."

"Then, how ...?"

"It's a different protection team, they hadn't been told!"

"Don't take risks, Tammy."

"I won't, Dad."

She put the handset down, ending the secure call. Tammy knew where she was, she'd been here earlier in the year for some basic training. That knowledge was useful as the protection officers weren't telling her anything, and she'd been on the floor of a van for most of the journey here.

Tammy wandered into the small kitchen and filled up the kettle to make a coffee. "Coffee anyone?" She asked.

It seemed that none of the officers were relaxing after Tammy's sudden evacuation from the court.

"Miss, please stay in the common area."

"I know this building, I spent a week here earlier in the year. It's secure, but I'm thirsty and I'm tired. Coffee works for me." She paused. "But I'd best have a wee first, no I don't need to be shown where it is and I certainly don't want anyone in there with me."

Tammy walked away from the plain clothed grunt who was trying to control her. Once in the cubicle she tried to rationalise what had happened.

Today had been Tammy's second day at the Old Bailey, with an expectation that her cross-examination would last until Monday. On Thursday afternoon, however, the prosecution barrister, James Mortimer, took Tammy through the events involving Berisha and Kelmendi, starting with her trip to London the previous December.

"Why did you stop the defendant in Brent Cross shopping centre?"

"The police were chasing him, I simply obstructed his path and I didn't lay a finger on him. I'm a law abding citizen, even if that paints me as being somewhat naive. It was only after he was arrested that I realised who he was, even though I didn't know his name."

"How did you make the connection?"

"My mother had been in a car accident, she and her driver had been in Chase Farm Hospital. The arresting officer told me the defendant had absconded from the same hospital after being involved in a car accident. I simply joined the dots once I had that information."

"So you had no idea who he was when you were in the shopping centre?"

"None at all, at least not until he'd been arrested."

"Moving on, could you tell me about last Christmas?"

It was another half an hour before James Mortimer was finished and Tammy was allowed some water. Harriet Grover started cross-examining before Tammy had put the glass down.

"Miss Smart, you have painted a wonderful picture of yourself as a helpless girl, besieged by attackers, but it isn't so?"

"I'm neither helpless nor besieged, so I don't know what you mean."

"So how would you describe yourself?"

"Objection." James Mortimer wasn't happy, he looked at the judge.

"Sustained. Miss Grover, please withdraw that question."

"Certainly, your Honour, Miss Smart, you claimed you did not know who you stopped in Brent Cross shopping centre?"

"I didn't."

"So do you often stop people who are running?"

"No, but if they're being chased by the police I'll see if I can help."

"Isn't that reckless?"

"Perhaps, but I wasn't injured."

"No, but you still claim it was chance?"

"Indeed, I might have spent another five minutes in the stores or gone out through a different exit, so it was chance that brought me to that door at exactly the same time as your client approached, at speed." She turned to look at Alban Berisha in the dock, sat next to fellow Kosovan Duran Kelmendi.

"Were you shopping alone?"

"No, I was with a friend."

"Friend?"

"Angela Small."

"Is she now your step-sister?"

"Yes, but she wasn't at the time."

"Indeed, she wasn't even a girl at the time, and neither were you?"

"Objection!"

"Is this relevant, Miss Grover?" Asked Geraldine Brathwaite, the presiding judge.

"I believe so, your Honour."

"You may continue."

"Miss Smart, what was your legal name at this time?"

"Tamara Smart."

"Not Tom?"

"No, Tamara."

"And the legal name of your step-sister at the time?"

"Timothy Small. Your Honour, I believe my step-sister has submitted a statement explaining her circumstances?"

"She did indeed, Miss Grover I suggest you move on."

A variety of trickery was used by Berisha's barrister, Harriet Grover, to discredit Tammy, and it seemed that the judge had been warned. After a string of objections, she rankled the judge one last time.

"Miss Grover?"

"Yes, your Honour, I'm finished with this witness."

"Very well, we'll finish there today."

"ALL RISE!"

That was the end of Thursday's day in court for Tammy, Kelemendi's barrister, Hugh Lupo, was due to continue the cross-examination on Friday.

--

Tammy left the loo, finding an impatient protection officer waiting outside. "You're wanted on the phone."

She was escorted to the duty officer's desk and handed the phone.

"Hello?"

"Tammy, it's DI Edmunds."

"Hi Kevin, what's your involvement?"

"Because I was in charge of the investigation into Kelmendi, I've been asked to take care of the initial investigation into today's incident."

"So attempted assassination is just an incident, is it?"

"Tammy, don't jump like that."

"I was almost killed!"

"I know, look I'll be with you in an hour so we can do a debrief."

"Sure, but if you know where I am, who else does?"

"Only a select few."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'll see you shortly."

Tammy wandered back towards the small kitchen, an woman was busy in there.

"Would you like some lunch, Miss? I have a selection of sandwiches, crisps and drinks. It's the best I could do at short notice."

"Thanks, it looks fine, Marks & Spencers?"

"Yes, coffee?"

"Please."

"Help yourself to the food and take what you want, the guys won't leave enough for seconds."

Tammy took her food, and coffee, over to the soft seating area in the main room. A selection of Friday's newspapers were on a coffee table. The front page of the Daily Telegraph warned about MI5's monitoring of citizens for the previous few decades. The same story was in the Guardian and the Times, whilst the Daily Express was foretelling the worst winter on record and the Daily Mail was blaming the breakdown of society on .... on everything.

She nibbled as she read, sufficiently distracted.

"Tammy?"

She jumped, "oh, Kevin?"

"Have you finished lunch?"

"Yeah."

"Let's find a room."

She took a bottle of water with her, fearing it might be a long debriefing.

"Kevin, why couldn't one of the guys, or girls, do it?" She waved in direction of the team who had extracted her.

"They also need to be debriefed. I wasn't in court today as I gave my evidence on Monday and Tuesday, so I know all the players but I was not a part of it."

"Okay, where do you want to start?"

"From breakfast onwards?"

"Well, I was a bit late for breakfast but Kim was missing. She'd been replaced overnight and I wasn't told the names of my protective detail."

"Were you told why she was pulled off the job?"

"No."

"Did you speak to the officers during the ride into London?"

"Nope, they didn't look very talkative. I closed my eyes and tried to relax, it's quite stressful in court."

"I know, I've been there more times than I care to think. What happened on arrival?"

"The traffic was light, very unusual for central London, then we picked up a tail."

"How did you know?"

"The officers became agitated and I looked around but they shouted for me to put my head down."

"Right, where were you then?"

"I recognised Old Street roundabout, we went down Old Street and turned left at Clerkenwell, our tail was still there as we went past the Barbican. Things got hairy on Long Lane, our tail was trying to force us off the road. I think my driver was going to abort but it's not easy in the City of London. The driver wanted to go up Farringdon Road, to get out, but we had the tail alongside and we couldn't turn."

"Describe their vehicle?"

"A black transit van, a strange registration number, not British, no signwriting or anything."

"Keep going."

"We reached Ludgate Hill and the driver decided to try to get to the court where he knew there was support. We got to the turning into Old Bailey and we were hit, rammed, and span into the side of a building. I was ready to run but the doors were locked. Next, someone came at the car with a pistol but they were frightened off by armed uniformed officers. I was released from the car, put in a van and brought here. Did they get them?"

"I don't believe so, but can you remember anything else now that might be useful, what about the guy with the gun?"

"He had a balaclava but .... his eyes ..... he looked like my fake taxi driver on Christmas Eve, seen that morning with Kelmendi in the Castletown Hotel."

"Okay, that's good, but your taxi driver is awaiting deportation in an Immigration Detention Centre. Can you recall anything else?"

"Err, no. What happened to the others?"

"Your driver was badly injured and the other officer can't be found."

"Oh, was he involved"?

"We don't know, but we're actively looking for him. Unfortunately we found Kim today, she'd been murdered."

"Oh, shit, was I set up?"

"It looks that way."

"What about the trial?"

"Resume on Monday."

"Kidding?"

"No, they're looking to acquit the pair by any means possible, taking you out of the game is one step to their goal. You have to go back to court."

 
Saturday 7th November
 

Tammy wasn't happy to find herself on page 3 of the Times. There was no mention, however of the second officer and Tammy herself was only described as a 'court witness'. It wouldn't, however, take much to connect her non-appearance at the court with the article.

An overnight bag had arrived and her suit had been taken for cleaning, ready for Monday. Tammy guessed that she wasn't going anywhere before then.

Saturday morning was spent going through mugshots to identify the gunman, she found him just before 11, DI Edmunds arrived soon after.

"Durat Ibramovich, a Serb with Kosovan roots - well done Tammy. The driver also identified him."

"So what do we do on Monday?"

"You go to the court, but no-one is being told about your travel arrangements and a fresh escort team will be used."

"Am I stuck here?"

"For now, but your case is under constant review."

"By who?"

"That's a need-to-know, Tammy."

"Thanks, Kevin, I'm thoroughly reassured."

"Look, the fewer know know what's going on, the greater chance we have of keeping you safe or identifying where the leak is."

"Now I'm concerned."

"You be can assured that we're doing everything to keep you safe."

"Kevin, does that include putting a rogue officer in my car yesterday?"

"No, look, we need to find that officer as well as Durat Ibramovich. I'm heading back to NSY."

"Okay, Kevin, while I sit here bored."

"But safe."

"Perhaps."

Tammy didn't recognise the babysitting team who were with her until seven that evening, nor the team that replaced them. It was also plain that they knew very little about her.

"Excuse me Miss, there's a call for you on the special phone.

Tammy went to the duty officer's desk and accepted the handset."

"Tammy, it's Emily Keane."

"Hi Emily, is this a 'good news' call?"

"Unfortunately, no. We've found the body of the missing officer but something else has come up, your mother is missing."

"Joan?"

"No, your natural mother, Tara Simpson."

"She's gone missing before."

"I know, but she's been summonsed to appear in court on Monday for the prosecution."

"I thought that wasn't going to be necessary?"

"It seems the prosecution wan to clarify something in her own court testimony, earlier in the year, and that gives the defence a chance to cross examine."

"So has she just gone to ground?"

"She's supposed to let her handler know where she is, last contact was Friday afternoon."

"Well, I don't even think I have her latest mobile number and your lot have my phone."

"I've asked that it be returned to you, although we've checked the call lists as a precaution."

"Do I get anything else back?"

"Like?"

"My weapon?"

"Under the circumstances, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Actually, Emily, I thought these were the circumstances that justified the damn thing in the first place?"

"No, you were in rural Scotland with no nearby armed support and likely to be on your own. Here you're contained with an armed team. The potential for collateral damage in London is huge."

"So that's a 'no'?"

"Correct. Bye, Tammy."

 
Monday 9th November
 

It was an early start for Tammy, shortly after six, when they left the industrial unit near Gatwick for the drive into London. Tammy was a passenger in the rear of a blacked out van and it looked like she was in the hands of special forces owing to the black outfits they were all wearing.

She shifted in her seat, she wasn't comfortable, but she was certainly bored. She could see nothing through the van windows, and even if the windows were clear it was still very dark outside. She didn't think they were on the M23 judging by the constant turns.

Sat alongside Tammy was an officer who had identified herself as Corporal Straight.

"I'll be with you until we reach the Alpha site and then you're being handed over to a Met Police team. If there's a problem at the Alpha site we'll abort and head for the Beta site."

"Alpha, Beta?"

"Sorry, need-to-know."

"I have something for you." She reached into a bag and pulled out a pistol.

"My Glock?"

"No, but it's the same model 26 that I'm told you are qualified for?"

"It is, what about ammo?"

"There's a full clip, that should be adequate."

"I'd be happier with a spare clip, but why am I being issued this?"

"Because my commander was on a course with you a few months ago and knows that you can look after yourself."

Tammy checked the weapon, although some of the others in the van were a little perturbed, and dropped it into her shoulder bag. "Fine, do I get a Kevlar vest too?"

"That's not in my instructions."

Tammy did have her phone in her bag but was under instructions to leave it switched off so it couldn't be tracked. They'd been no calls from her mother during Sunday, once her phone had been delivered, nor anyone else. She had been told in a plainly worded instruction not to make any calls and to leave data disabled, just in case.

About forty-five minutes after they set off, the van finally stopped.

"Alpha!"

Tammy was left in her seat whilst the area around the van was secured. Cpl Straight called Tammy forward and they quickly went through a doorway into a building.

"Where are we?"

"Somewhere we can wait, and grab breakfast."

"Oh, I knew I'd forgotten to do something today. Where is this?"

"Snow Hill Police Station."

"Okay. I thought you said you were handing me over?"

"I'm a Territorial Royal Marine, Miss, my normal day job is with the Met Police."

They walked up a flight and found the canteen, The Cpl, now WPC Straight, left Tammy with another officer and went to change, it appeared this was her usual station. Tammy collected a plate of artery hardening food and a wishy washy coffee before finding a seat. She was less than surprised when DI Kevin Edmunds slid in next to her.

"Well, that's phase one completed, Tammy."