Storm is Coming , livre ebook

Title Page
Storm is Coming
A Max Storm novel
M.W. Fletcher



Publisher Information
Published in 2015 by
AG Books
www.agbooks.co.uk
an imprint of
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
The right of M.W. Fletcher to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998
Copyright © 2015 M.W. Fletcher
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.



Quote
It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us.
Epicurus (341 BC - 270 BC)



1
Railton road
Brixton
London SE24 0LT
UK
Lat = 51 degrees, 27.5 minutes North
Long = 0 degrees 6.5 minutes West
Monday
1 st January 1990
Twenty-one eighteen hours GMT
His solitary figure silhouetted from the streetlights showed the distinct outline of the British bobby, the British Police uniform is deliberately unthreatening originally derived to clearly distinguish them from military enforcers, which had been the system of policing seen before the 1820’s.
The officer was wearing the traditional custodian helmet the usual name given to the helmet worn by male police officers in England and Wales and certain other places around the world. It is synonymous with the bobby on the beat image.
The original design was based on the Victorian British Army Home Service helmet, which itself was based on the Prussian helmet.
The London Metropolitan Police first adopted it in 1863 to replace the stovepipe top hat worn since 1829.
The day had been characteristically calm for a New Years day as the lone figure of PC LB-439 Tony Attlee walked along Railton road in the dark, it had been a brisk cold day with temperatures below freezing, he was dressed in his three quarter length overcoat, and his black leather gloves covered his hands.
His only personal protection was in the form of a 14 inch long traditional wooden truncheon carried within his right pocket of his black trousers that had a sewn in truncheon pocket.
His communication was via a personal radio system (PR) linking him directly to Brixton Police station.
He had been on the ‘L’ division since finishing his training at Hendon three years ago.
Now aged twenty-nine he had previously been a teacher of maths in a local primary school and had eventually left, when he felt he was becoming impotent at his career level.
Along with his shift, they had pulled the 2pm to 10pm shift for this New Years day Bank Holiday and twenty minutes ago, he had liaised with his patrol sergeant who had pulled up in a patrol car and given him ten minutes in the warmth of the vehicle.
His PR suddenly came to life, “Lima Bravo to 439 we have a report of a disturbance at number fifty-nine Railton road, neighbours reporting shouting and other noises from within the premises, take a look over?”
“Received Lime Bravo, thought it was too good to be true, I am a few minutes away, 439 out.”
He quickened his pace down to the address and as he neared the property he began hearing raised voices from within followed by the distinct sound of several gunshots.
He reached for his PR and spoke into it, “Lima Bravo from 439, I have just heard several gunshots fired from the premises of fifty-nine, request back up over.”
“Roger that 439, do not go in, back up is on its way, over.”
“Will do standing by for back up, 439 out!”
The sergeant in the control room at Brixton police station immediately placed the call, “Lime Bravo to all available units, we have a possible shooting at 59 Railton road, officer on scene requires assistance, over.”
The calls being put out for any officer requesting assistance becomes an immediate priority with a number of units replying and they were now making their way to the scene.
The sergeant then flicked a switch on his console and spoke into his Comms, “Lima Bravo to MP over.”
Back at New Scotland Yard’s information room one of the operators picked up the radio call, “MP to Lima Bravo go ahead over.”
The generic call sign for New Scotland Yard is MP for the Metropolitan Police Information room.
“MP we have a report from one of our officers attending a disturbance call of gunshots being fired from number 59 Railton road, requesting additional assistance over!”
“Standby Lima Bravo! MP to Alpha-1 location over?”
Alpha-1 is one of the Mets Armed Response Vehicles (ARV) and is crewed by three officers, the driver whose job is to get them as quickly and as safely to the incident scene, another in charge of communications and the third the observer whom plans the best route to the incident scene all are firearms trained.
The ARV crew were each armed with Glock 17 point 9mm pistols and one had a Remington pump action shotgun.
The ARV responded with “Alpha-1 to MP currently eastbound on the A3 and approaching Clapham Common, over.”
“Alpha-1 proceed, immediately to 59 Railton Road, Brixton the officer on scene is reporting gunshots fired, and division is requesting assistance, over.”
The reply back was immediate and positive, “Alpha-1 on route, ETA 60 seconds, out.”
Police constables Tony Wadsworth and Gerry Thaxton who were part of the Metropolitan Polices traffic OCU (operational command unit), were patrolling in their traffic patrol car travelling along the A-205 Dulwich Common towards Dulwich West, Tony Wadsworth was driving.
Their base location was out of the Southwest traffic garage in Hampton; their area of patrol was the Southwest area of London, although today being the bank holiday they were covering part of the southeastern side, their call sign Victor Tango-3.
They had also picked up the shout from MP and Gerry spoke into their radio, “MP from Victor Tango-3 we are less than sixty seconds away would you like us to assist, over?”
“Victor Tango-3, that’s affirmative, MP out.”
Gerry activated the blues and two’s and Tony accelerated the Ford Sierra V6 along the reasonably quiet road the V6 two point three engine came alive and the vehicle devoured the asphalt road surface below it.
Back in Railton Road Pc Attlee had stood near to the house and had heard a second set of gunshots; two men running out of the door into the street closely followed this a few moments later, both were Rastafarians with their dreadlocks dangling beneath their green, gold, red and black Rasta caps.
Pc Attlee immediately recognised the one, as he moved forward he spoke into his PR, “two men are leaving the house...” Before he could finish the man he recognised raised a handgun weapon, aimed it at him and fired two shots at him.
Both shots struck his chest area the kinetic energy within them propelling him backwards and onto the ground.
The one assailant shouted at his colleague, “Wah shoot Di bah-bee-lon mon?”
The man with the gun in his hand replied, “Im knows I an’ I, now run dread! Run!”
The sounds of the police sirens were now filling the air as both the men then sprinted from the scene.
This brutal killing of a British Police officer would eventually lead to Max Storm the operational leader of the OSC making good on his word when a friend calls in a favour!



2
Outside
59 Railton road
Brixton
London SE24
Lat = 51 degrees, 27.5 minutes North
Long = 0 degrees 6.5 minutes West
Monday
1 st January 1990 (same day)
Twenty-one thirty three hours GMT
Alpha-1 came voluble into a deserted Railton road from the south end the headlights quickly picking up a figure lying prone on the nearside pavement a hundred yards down the road.
The driver brought the vehicle to a screeching halt and the three-man crew quickly ejected from the vehicle, just as Victor Tango-3 emerged into the road from the northern end.
One of Alpha-1’s crew knelt down alongside their fallen comrade and quickly felt for a pulse on the neck, it was just barely registering.
He spoke into his PR, “Alpha-1 to MP, we have an officer down, believed gunshot wounds, request immediate Ambulance to and additional assistance to the scene, over!”
The controller at MP replied, “Ambulance on route Alpha-1, less than five minutes, out.”
“MP to all available units, we have an officer down in Railton Road Brixton, please respond!”
In the next thirty seconds, numerous units responded to the call, the call that all Police officers dreaded hearing on the radio; it meant one of their own was down!
Throughout this time, both the remaining two men from Alpha-1 had entered number 59 and one of them came out and said to his colleague still attending to Pc Attlee, “we have two dead bodies inside, how is he?”
“His pulse is very faint, ambulance is on route.”
Victor Tango-3 was now pulling up on the scene along with two more divisional vehicles.
The Alpha-1 officer whom had just come out of the house made a call on his PR, “MP from Alpha-1, we have two dead bodies in number 59, both with five bullet wounds. Four to the chest and one to the head, looks like a Yardie style killing ritual and we have no suspects, request additional units to set up a perimeter and enable search protocols, over.”
“Copy that