Car Bomb
Blinding white light with the sight of a silver car rising high, ten feet, no fifteen feet into the air and crashing down in flying bits, a ear-splitting boom that shook me through my steel capped boots, a blast of acrid hot air hitting me in my face and wrinkling my nose, a shruuum and a tinkle of avalanching glass hitting the pavement on either side of the road ahead, a feeling of distinct discomfort in my bowels, of fear, a great desire to run away, a holding interest, a distinct desire not to get involved. I looked at the parcel in my hand and turned into the doorway pressing the entry button, hoping Alice would quickly buzz the door open for my escape.
Newspaper headlines:-
June 1st……Terrorist car bomb in Southwark
Police puzzled …only occupants of car killed.
Huge peripheral damage…. Buildings unsafe and are being checked out by structural engineers. Water pipes burst and main sewer collapsed leaving a huge crater in the road. Area sealed off by police.
June 2nd …Police No Further Forward …Police spokesman reports that fortunately the bomb went off in a quiet street near Southwark Cathedral. Anywhere else in London there would have been massive casualties.
Forensics determine four occupants in bombed car….. leaked information from police sources suggests that occupants may have been criminal gang members. Forensics are trying to identify bodies through DNA.
June 3rd… Road in Southwark Closed….. The police have removed the remnants of bodies and car. Repair to buildings, road, sewer will take four weeks said a Council spokesman.
June 5th Bodies in Southwark Bomb identified Police spokesman stated that DNA evidence has helped Interpol to identify the bodies belonging to a Russian criminal cartel working in London. One of the gang was currently under surveillance by the Security Forces. Car used was found to be stolen from a day parking facility in Richmond. Police still investigating and asking for any witnesses to come forward. The force of the blast was recorded on a University seismic machine and said to be equivalent to a minor earthquake.
June 7thOne Eye Witness comes forward to the bombing …. A courier witnessed the explosion as he was delivering a parcel in the area. He is helping Police in their enquiries. Police no further forward in their investigation but rule out a terrorist threat.
“Joan, I’m in the middle of a bloody important sales meeting. I can’t be disturbed.”
“But Harry, sorry Mr. Henderson, the police are insistent that you join them in your office. I just managed to stop them crashing into your meeting. Please come immediately. They are very insistent.”
“OK, OK but come in and take coffee orders. I’ll break the meeting for five minutes…err comfort break.”
“Now how can I help you officers? I’ve got five minutes grace from my meeting. I’ve got a Turkish delegation in there ready to spend millions to improve our balance of payments so be quick.”
“Sorry Mr. Henderson this may take longer than five. We suggest you reschedule you meeting for another day. You see, your car has been stolen and used for criminal purposes we believe. We need to question you thoroughly about the matter since you are the key figure in our case.”
“What? My car stolen? Silver BMW, 7 series, stolen from a secure parking lot? I don’t believe it. You’re joking?”
“Not only has it been stolen but involved in an explosion and totally wrecked.”
“What? A total write-off? Please sit and give me the details.”
“Excuse me Mr. Henderson but we are the ones here to do the questioning. You obviously haven’t heard the local news.”
“Sorry, hang on a minute, I just want to call my secretary. Joan, reschedule the meeting for another day. I’m helping in police enquiries and bring in some strong coffee, tea and that bottle of brandy pronto. I need a pick me up. My car’s been wrecked.”
“Sorry guys, tell me what’s going on here!”
“OK Mr. Henderson let’s just calm down and we need to ask you some questions. We traced you from the car number plates to this office and you as the owner. Where was the car parked this morning? In fact, tell us your sequence of events from waking up this morning.”
“Showered, dressed, jumped into the car at five to seven at my Egham house to beat the traffic to Richmond. I parked the car at quarter to eight just off London Road, at eight, Selby Drive, at Mrs. Wakefield’s secure parking lot. Just a space on her front garden with room for six cars. I pay her ten pounds a day for the privilege and have a fob for the electronic gates. I’m here by ten to eight and Joan brings me my breakfast of strong coffee and bacon butty. That’s my daily routine. I live alone. Divorced, married to my job.”
“OK, that sums up your daily routine nicely for us. Did you notice anything unusual, particularly when you parked?”
“No, not really. The journey was no faster or slower than usual. Someone had parked in my usual spot but that’s a frequent occurrence since I’m the last in the park. I ensure that the gates have fully closed before I depart. Takes a minute or so, though seems too bloody long when it’s raining. The gates are prone to jam so I make sure the locking mechanism is engaged before I leave. Bit of WD40 generally does the trick. There was nobody suspicious lurking on Selby Drive. It’s quiet but at that time there is a stream of commuters hurrying off to the station or local offices. I know many by sight only since I see them daily. Some even say ‘Hello’ but most just nod and scurry on.”
“Does Mrs. Wakefield check on the cars during the day?”
“Oh no, she’s off into London on an earlier train and not back till seven or later. I push the money through the door on Fridays after work. I don’t think I would even recognise her. The house is empty during the day. Her car is parked in a garage at the back I believe. I know that because I wrote to her asking if I could park my new BMW in her garage, even for an increased fee. She declined saying she had a lot of household junk in there.”
“So, we are left with a problem Mr. Henderson. How did the thieves get hold of your car?”
“That’s what worries me too. Firstly, they would have had to have the correct fob for the electronic gate. It’s wired into the house alarm which is wired into the local police station which has the names and addresses of all the park users. We used to have problems with the alarm going off in the past and we were called out. That hasn’t happened for a while now but the alarm is still activated. It flashes rapidly whilst anyone is in the vicinity, when I’m parking. Next, they would have to have a fob for my car. The alarm would go off and I would get a call on my mobile. I got Joan, my secretary to check this out. She took my car keys and used the key instead of the fob to open it. All hell was let loose. The system worked as on the tin, as they say.”
“How old is the car Mr. Henderson? How long have you had it?”
“Thirteen months from new. I upgraded last year. It’s got all the bells and whistles.”
“Have you lost your keys or mislaid them at anytime.”
“Nope. They go in my desk draw here, locked. The office is locked from the inside for security reasons. I have important papers in here. Only my secretary, Joan can get in. I’m very rarely out of my office. Most meeting are held in here. Plenty of room as you see. Now tell me what’s happened to my car?”
“Patience Mr. Henderson, we will come to that but firstly can you go through your routine this morning at the office.”
“I prepared for the lunch meeting this morning and Joan brought me some files and coffee as usual at ten. Sometime after that I popped out for a smoke but since the weather was too inclement, I popped into town to the chemist for some supplies, toothpaste, paracetamols and tissues. They are on the side there, ready for home.”
“Would your security system here pick up your comings and goings?”
“Er… no. You see us smokers use the back entrance and we decided some time ago that we didn’t like being watched. We trust all of our staff so we had it taken out after gossip spread that someone who should be nameless was being watched on the screens at the front desk kissing somebody else’s wife.”
“So, we have no way of verifying that you were in your office all that morning?”
“I’m afraid not. You see when I don’t want to be disturbed, I flip this switch on the phone alerting Joan to leave me in peace. This is a regular occurrence and woe be tide those who break the rule.”
“So, we have no real verification that you were at your desk all morning whilst you were on your shopping trip?”
“Well, I suppose not. You will have to take my word for it. Now tell me about my car!”
“Your car was taken or stolen some short time after you left it and was driven into central London. We are still trying to piece together its journey via CCTV cameras but it was driven into Southwark and there it was totally destroyed in an explosion. We are still trying to tie up the pieces. We are here to find out what the owner knows and can help with the detail.”
“Shit! I loved that car. I’ll have to arrange a lift home or better still hire a car. I need to get to work. Hang on a minute. Joan arrange a hire car for me for tonight for say a week and get onto the company insurances. My car has been written off totally it seems. That’s why the police are here. Oh, you know already, been on the local news, oh from front desk. Thanks. Sorry, it seems everybody else knows about my car. Ah, by the way, I forgotten to tell you that I have a tracker device on the car and it will tell you its exact movements for the last month or so, maybe longer. Here is the detail info on this car. I did check it in the early days but gave up soon after. You can check up on my use of it or the thieves’ use of it. By the way, was the car empty when it was blown up?”
“We are still investigating and shall follow up on this tracker evidence. Our initial findings are that there were at least two people in the car other than the driver. The scene as you can imagine is quite a mess.”
“Oh Lord and my car involved. Am I a suspect? Are you going to arrest me now? Who were the thieves who stole my car? Is this a criminal investigation?”
“At this moment in time everybody associated with the car is on our suspect list until cleared. Unfortunately, you don’t have a foolproof alibi for this morning therefore you will understand that you remain on our suspect list but as yet we don’t have grounds to arrest you. We have other officers in the building who are questioning your staff largely to verify your whereabouts this morning. Sergeant Scully is our explosives expert and would like to pose some further questions.”
“Look Steve, it’s been two weeks since the incident and we still haven’t the faintest who set the bomb, other than our main suspect Harry Henderson. We have plenty on the gang. They have been using the car on and off for the past six months without Henderson knowing. I just don’t believe he didn’t suspect. His staff call him a petrol head. He must have noticed the mileage differences, fuel levels, the setup of the seats, mirrors etc, etc.”
“Seats and mirrors readjust as the driver opens the car with a fob and by the time he had reached it he wouldn’t have noticed the change. The fuel and mileage is a different matter. I’m sure there are ways to readjust that. Tyres are a different matter.”
“Look Steve, we have enough info on the gang and their associates, mostly provided by the tracker info. Many are now behind bars waiting for trial or deportation. We have bust a gang but even they are puzzled by who would have assassinated their foremost members. That leaves us with Mr. Harry Henderson, our only suspect and he had the means, knowledge and desire to do it. No one messes with his car!”
“I agree Frank, but it’s a bit harsh thing to do. Yes, we know he’s a bastard at work but everybody down to the cleaners respect him. It appears he’s an exceptional salesman and has grown the business fivefold since he was taken on two years ago. We have had some glowing reports about his acumen, loyalty, honesty, morals and the only weakness is cars which isn’t that exceptional with salesmen in general. Now listen to this interview with him with our explosive expert.”
“Can I ask you Mr. Henderson, could you construct a car bomb?”
“What, personally?”
“Yes, go through it methodically.”
“This sounds like a party game where you have to ask questions about who or what you are, plastered on your forehead. The usual questions are…am I male? And the following usual stupid question is.. am I female?”
“Please Mr. Henderson, bear with me.”
“OK, you know we manufacture precision military control equipment, remote control equipment of the highest order. Much of it utilised in blowing things up. This device I have in my hand, as you well know, is a very sophisticated detonator. I keep a selection of these in my drawer as visual aids in my sales chat. This device here looks like a mobile phone and is a special mobile phone associated with the detonator. You are familiar with these aren’t you?”
“Yes, with the detonator but not so much with the phone device.”
“You should come for a masterclass and bring yourself up to date. Anyway, I would scan the detonator to record its specific identity with the mobile. Stick the detonator in some plastic explosive and conceal it in a car.”
“Where would you conceal it?”
“Probably under the driver’s seat, neatly packaged and not displaying wires, ticking clocks, switches as seen on most criminal films. Give me a break! I would also conceal a tracker so that I could follow the car sitting here in the comfort of my cosy office. At an appropriate time or position of the car I would arm the mobile device here, enter the command code plus my personal operator code and press this red button a specified number of times. The signal would then go into the ether, to a military satellite, maybe be passed onto another satellite then to this detonator and boom. Our sophisticated devices never fail. There’s not much going for an unexploded bomb.”
“So, you are telling me that you could have blown up your own car from this locked office?”
“I could have but there is one critical element missing here?”
“What?”
“The explosive!”
“Yes, but in your business, you must be able to get hold of some quite easily!”
“You don’t get it do you, my man! I have no access to explosive here. The Company doesn’t handle explosive. All the real testing is done by our customers in the field. I don’t know a thing about explosive other than what you read about or see on TV. I couldn’t tell you the difference between TNT, gelignite or semtex. I could possibly recognise the smell of spent cordite. I was in the cadets at school and we frequently were on the range.”
“But your suppliers or customers could let you have some… for testing?”
“Oh yeah, ‘Johnny boy, let me have some left over explosive you have. I want to do a big bang or even blow up my car. No one will notice.’ Can you imagine me doing that? Secondly, who in the right mind would supply me? I don’t deal with mines or quarries, just big military outfits and the men who come to me are probably just as clueless about actual explosives.”
“See, the bastard is playing with us. He’s told us how to do it, he’s told us that he’s clueless about explosives and he hates anyone playing around with his beloved car. The amount of explosive used suggests an amateur. A fraction would have done and since he didn’t want any collateral casualties only the occupants of the car just a squidgin of the stuff he used would have done the job. The question is where did he get the high-grade military Semtex? Our boys tell us that the Semtex was secreted under the car, in the transmission tunnel not under the seat to avoid any chance of detection I presume. Since he didn’t want to kill any bystanders, he must have followed the car not done it by remote from his office. We still haven’t confirmed his alibi but we can’t prove he did it. It’s all circumstantial evidence, how the hell did he get to Southwark? Did he have an accomplice? Bugger if I know!”
“Ah Simon, welcome, may I introduce you to Frank who is leading this investigation. Since you are the new boy to the team, I have a job for you. I want you to go through this file with a toothcomb, no, an electron microscope and question every element there is. You know the drill, what, why, where, when and so on. We are not getting anywhere fast so take your time and have a look at this case with a fresh pair of eyes and bloody well come up with something or we are all in deep yoghurt. Even the PM is pressing for answers and the press are lambasting us as usual. Hey ho, I want to get off this merry-go-round. Now bugger off and save us all.”
“Hey Sergeant, how goes it? You’ve been at it for a week now.”
“Yes Sir and most of my results confirm what you guys have come up with. There is definitely no link between Henderson and the Russian mob. In fact, we have had to increase the protective surveillance on him since the mob have got wind that he’s our chief suspect.”
“OK. What’s your gut feel about this?”
“In by-gone days I would have sent him to the scaffold after cutting his balls off and maximum use of a cattle prod. He’s guilty and laughing at us. A perfect crime and his moral stance is that he got rid of some nasty people and broke up an even nastier band of cronies. We should be grateful to our nice Mr. Henderson but we are going to clap him in jail eventually, for a lifetime. I wish we could just deport him somewhere nice. There is no justice in this world.”
“You’ll harden up my son. Keep at it.”
“Excuse me Sir but I have found an inconsistency that the lads are following up as we speak. He hired a car, or his secretary did when his went AWOL. I followed that up and at the time I didn’t have the file with me, so I got the Thomson’s local directory and phoned up the list of hirers one by one. A Mr. Henderson hired the car on that day personally.”
“Yes, we know that already sonny!”
“But this was at ten-thirty that morning, booked for the day but it was returned by midday and this Mr. Henderson also paid the London Congestion Charge as an extra. Do you know the gang had paid a year’s Congestion Charge on his car without him knowing? They used his car quite a lot. Sir, Sir, let me continue. This is early stages and I’ve got people interviewing at the hire company and someone is tracking the hire car through the CCTV cameras in London to get his exact movements but so far, we know he drove into the Congestion Zone at Tooley Street near Tower Bridge about the same time as his own car driven by the gang members. Give me a few hours to consolidate and double check.”
“Sure, but good work, bloody good work Simon. You’ve come up with the killer blow.”
“Thanks Sir.”
“I shall be in my office gloating.”
“But Sir we still haven’t solved the explosive supplier.”
“No need. This was well planned and over a number of days or weeks. He wanted to get his own back on the bastards and having suspected something he reactivated the tracker and followed them for some time is my guess, from his office. This Russian gang were all ex Russian military and we know they peddled explosives to the underworld. Lately the supply has run dry and the robberies on quarries and mines has significantly gone up. I reckon the gang got a bit careless and left a box of Semtex in the boot. Our nice Mr. Henderson helped himself to some… too much since he didn’t know how to use it and he put it under the car not under the seat.”
“But how are we going to pin it on him?”
“You gave me an idea earlier Simon. We’ll arrest him, leave him in a cell awhile to contemplate and then use a bit of your cattle prod up his what’s-it. Hey, you should see your face, a picture. No, we just threaten to remove the surveillance on him and feed the media about our hero getting rid of some bad-uns. That will do the trick. Bring me the report when you’ve finished.”
“But Sir, what will happen to him when he goes down?”
“The full force of the law will bear down on him. We can’t have any Tom, Dick or Harry doing our job, getting rid of vermin, excuse the Harry pun. Don’t worry, we will have a quiet word with his jailers and he’ll be taken off the rock pile onto a cushy number. We might even say it went off by accident. He only meant to scare the shit out of them. He did that alright. There wasn’t much left of that on the scene when he had finished, ha, ha. We might even have a whip round at the Met. for a lifetime subscription to some car mags.”
