Angels & Shadows

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Corporal Robert Warner had spent the last two days driving his inconspicuous white panel van around the town and nearby countryside. He was looking for a particular green Lotus sports car. Since the destruction of her house, Grese had moved to an unknown location and Rob needed to know where that was in order manage the threat.

At the end of the second day, Rob had some unexpected good fortune. He had arrived coincidentally behind a green Lotus, driven by a woman, at the traffic lights in the centre of town. She had turned her head to make a manoeuver to pull out into the middle lane, giving him a clear view of her profile, it was Grese! Rob followed the car, heading south, until it turned into the drive of a small detached house on the outskirts of town.

Two other men were inside the van with Rob. They were wearing headsets and configuring some hi-tech surveillance equipment, both were dressed in overalls and fluorescent jackets. Rob pulled over. The men put on their hard hats, dragged some orange plastic barriers out of the van and placed them confidently around the nearest manhole. Rob jumped down from the cab with an A3 Ordnance Survey map in his hand and leaned against a tree as if orientating himself. He was actually looking to see if he had a clear line of sight from that tree to Grese's driveway, and he had. While his men continued to busy themselves preparing the decoy manhole, Rob got back in the van and re-parked it on the verge next to the selected tree.

The van was crammed with all the necessary equipment for sophisticated surveillance, both audio and visual. He took the miniature camera and solar power battery pack from the bench where his men had meticulously prepared it and exited from the side of the van furthest from Grese's house. In less than a minute Rob had the unit strapped to the tree and camouflaged. He walked over to his men with the open plan and pointed up the road shaking his head as if he had made a mistake. His men gave a brief show of annoyance, before loading the equipment back into panel van and they were gone.

They stopped a half a mile further up the road. One of the men got out and placed a dish on top of the roof, while the other switched on one of the monitors. In moments they had a perfect picture of Grese's drive. Her green Lotus was still parked where she had left it and they had a perfect view up to her front door. After agreeing a shift pattern between themselves, Rob and one of the men left the van and walked back towards the town centre. The first part of Rob's plan was in place.

At six o'clock that evening Rob returned to the van to relieve his man. Rob's squad of ex-SAS soldiers numbered four in total, two of which were under constant guard at the Robinson's house leaving two plus him to monitor Grese's movements 24/7. The plan was that Grese would eventually and unwittingly lead him to the other Shadows. 

C  

At seven o'clock the movement detection mode on the monitor alerted Rob, the miniature camera was picking up Grese leaving the house in his direction. Rob quickly left the van and removed the Snap-On dish, then turned the van around in readiness.

The green sports car passed his parked van. After allowing a reasonable distance, Rob pulled out and took up pursuit at the limit of his vision. Grese's route took her through the town and out into the country on the north side. At last she turned into a secluded drive under an avenue of trees that ended in a small courtyard with a ramshackle but expansive bungalow, nested in amongst the trees. Grese parked the Lotus alongside two other cars and entered the house.

Rob parked the van a few hundred yards away, picked up thfe laser audio surveillance equipment that he had prepared, and made his way along the hedges back to the bungalow. He set the equipment down at the corner of the garden at the furthest point from the house, then he worked himself round to the parked cars attaching a tracking device to each. After making a mental note of the registration numbers, he returned to the state of the art laser equipment.