Action, Reaction and Consequences Ch. 09

The unnamed man spoke.

"Matt, Mark came to me a while back. It was a surprise because, he was determined to leave that part of his life we shared with him, behind. Some of us were indebted to him for life so, of course, we offered to help. I think you know what he asked us for Matt but, let's start at the beginning, tell us your story."

The man looked at Ann, she felt his eyes were asking her to leave so she started to walk away. As she walked away, Matt spoke up;

"Ann, I'd like you to stay please. A lot has happened since we've parted and you may not feel the same about me, once you've listened to what I have to say. This way I can get it all out in one sitting, some of it's still painful for me".

The four guests remained and Matt told his tale from the point where Lance had turned his world upside down, right the way around to being in hospital right now. He was aware that Mark had died in the explosion. Some of his colleagues had been in to see him over the last couple of days. They were torn and damaged men born out of the tragedy.

"Ok Matt, this isn't common knowledge and never will be but, you were set up. You were lured there but, we don't know if it was Mark, you or the pair of you they wanted dead, as a minimum. The basement area had been carefully sealed with thick polythene sheeting, glued together to make a simple, but effective, gas storage container, according to the fragments we found. The gas mains had been reconnected and had been feeding gas into this large area. We found pieces of a detonator and believe it was triggered remotely. Checking records against the nearest mobile mast shows a call being made, that we think was the signal, to trigger the device. From what you've told us, it looks likely that either this Mr. Smith, Mr Jones and Mickey were behind this in some way".

Ann interrupted the conversation.

"There were three people who came to see Matt after the initial Police protection was lifted, I saw them leave his room. When I checked at the nurse's station on how they had been allowed inside one of the men produced a Government ID card with a phone number. It went through to a Mr. Smith."

The unnamed man opened his case and retrieved his iPad. Several seconds later he handed it to Ann.

"Yes, that's one of the men, he was holding the arm of the woman."

She handed it back and brought up a picture of Tammi, who Ann identified as the woman. When he showed her another picture Ann said she didn't recognise the man. He pulled up a different picture and she said yes, it was him and she remembered the nurse on the desk describing how the guy had given her 'the chills'.

He turned the tablet and showed Matt the image;

"Mr. Jones by chance?" Matt nodded. Swiping to the photograph Ann didn't recognise, he showed Matt again. "And Mr. Smith?" Matt nodded again.

"Ok gentlemen, we now know who we are dealing with but, what we don't know is, why they are involved in a straightforward gangland boss? I'll do some more work and see what I can uncover. Matt, the Police will be coming tomorrow, you need to play dumb...tell them you have no idea."

Matt nodded. The three men shook Matt's hand once again and said goodbye, they'd be in touch and left Ann with Matt.

Over the coming days, Ann and Matt reconnected. Ann had an outline of Matt's life, how he'd tried to seek her out but, had to give up. Ann told how she thought about him every day and eventually, plucked up the courage to return to Bournemouth, to his gran's house, to find out she had died and he'd moved on. Every avenue she explored drew a blank so, she too, had given up. Whereas Matt had married Tanya, she had several fleeting relationships over the few years but, they fizzled out. She scratched her itch with some one-night stands, here and there and a healthy selection of vibrators.

Ann was part of Matt's physiotherapy recovery team and helped him so he was mobile and adapting to having a limp. Matt was conscious of his slight deformity, where he had a plate fitted in his skull but, as his hair grew longer, it became less visible, bar some scarring to his face. Ann told him she didn't care.

Matt thought he'd ring Graham but, found the number was disconnected. He rang his home number to be greeted by a few seconds of silence and then, Graham's wife burst into tears. Matt then heard how Graham had been taking time off work and she hadn't known. He'd taken a day off work then, committed suicide on a railway crossing, leaving a note apologising. Matt told her he was sorry and would come to see her, once he was able to.

Matt had no doubt that Lance and his friends were looking for revenge over Mark's death. He could see it in their eyes when they had visited. Whatever they were going to do, he wanted in. If they didn't let him in, he would do whatever he could to rain hell down on Mickey, Mr. Jones, Tanya and Mr. Smith, if he could track him down.

When Matt left hospital, he moved in with Ann as, they felt it provided a sort of "safe house" for Matt in case Smith, Jones or Mickey looked to visit him. On the first night, they made love together as if it was something natural and part of their life. As they lay together in the afterglow of their coupling, Ann swore that she'd never let him go again. Matt leant in and kissed her gently, promising that they would move forward in life together, as a couple.

Matt was still signed off sick so, the Fire Brigade would take no steps to move forward until he was signed as fit to return to work, in some manner and then they would look at how best to facilitate him. They waited until late one night, before Matt and Ann went to his official address, to collect some personal belongings and pick up any mail. Back at Ann's he started to open the mail, what was unbelievable, he was still receiving the fifty-thousand-pound tax rebates every quarter. He told Ann that they were payments to buy him off whilst Tanya was undercover. In their conversations, Ann knew that Matt's dislike for Tanya went as far as hatred. She held no fears that he would go back to her. That was, until a few minutes later.

There was an A4, plain, brown envelope that had no address and had been hand delivered. Matt opened it and it contained two photographs. The first one was of Graham, sat on the railway crossing in what Matt assumed, was the last minutes of his life. He stared at it full of hatred. In big black handwritten letters was a simple statement. 'This was on you.' He truly wished he'd not been stopped that night when he ambushed Mr. Jones. He would have happily beaten him to death. Matt felt responsible for Graham's death.

He looked at the second photograph and froze. It was a CT scan, with two hand drawn arrows, circling what seemed to be two fetuses. There was a simple piece of handwritten text. Someone had written, 'who's the daddy?' with a smiley emoji. The image had the small printed piece of information showing it was a recent scan and although he didn't recognize the surname, he knew who the Christian name Tammi was, the current name assumed by Tanya. He started to hyperventilate, as Ann walked in from the kitchen smiling. Her face quickly turned to horror as she rushed across to Matt. She asked him what was wrong and he handed her the photo. She immediately saw the connection. She didn't know what to say to Matt, she sat next to him and put her arm around him.

"Whatever happens, I'm here for you and I mean that. Whatever happens."

Matt found it incomprehensible to try and imagine how this would finally play out. He remembered the clause in the document he had been made to sign. The government would take responsibility. He had no idea if this was a sick joke but, working back from the scan dates, there was a possibility that the last time Tanya had imprisoned him, was when she had conceived these children. Why was she so fucked up to even comprehend doing this to him? Was this her logic to bind them back together? No, he would fight this to the bitter end. He tried to put this out of his mind over the coming weeks but, struggled to find a way to deal with it.

He contacted Kevin and Lance and told them about Graham. There was now a small band of ex-SAS personnel working to come up with a plan. Matt travelled down to their offices, with Ann, for a further meeting and they informed Matt that further digging hadn't identified the true reason for Tanya being embedded so deep in Mickey's life. There were now whispers he was trying to evolve into a high-end weapons dealer, as a middle man for the Russians and this allowed for a semi-official plan to be made.

The unknown man, who had been at the hospital with Lance and Kevin, produced a bogus history for a mercenary military company. A dialogue was started on the dark web, searching for high quality weapons. It didn't take long before Mickey became aware and thus the introductions were made and a deal struck. Within weeks, a large consignment of weapons would be in the UK and a deal was struck for six million pounds at a venue, to be revealed on the date of the exchange.

Once Mickey had most of the truth, Tammi was now a prisoner. She was either with Mickey or one of his bodyguards, on a continuous basis. She had no personal phones and Mickey had sat with her when he called Tony T, who remotely accessed her laptop, so Mickey would see all that she did online, including email exchanges. Mickey opened any letters sent to Tammi and vetted them - any catalogues or advertising was disposed of and never made its way to Tammi. Tammi was now completely isolated.

As the two babies developed inside her and she felt these two new lives moving around, she hated herself for what she'd done. Mickey was not supposed to be their father. But she knew that there was a fair chance that the children weren't Mickeys. She desperately wanted to be away from Mickey before the children were born. She suspected that, if they were obviously not his, a quick DNA test would crucify Mickey and she dreaded to think how far he would take his retribution. She thought it wouldn't stop at her and that he would eradicate the children and Matt. She needed to contact Graham or find a way to get hold of Mr. Smith, with whom she had lost contact. Lucas now avoided her as much as he could. Of course, she was unaware that Graham was dead.

Mickey had spent weeks deliberating on the doctor's analysis of Tanya. After talking to Tony T., he did come up with evidence to support that she was, Tanya. He traced Graham, back through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, to locate a picture of Tanya. She was in the background of an old news article where Graham had received an award. She was dressed in Police clothing. Where she had discussed the undercover case centred around Sophistidates with the doctor, Tony T. managed to find adequate evidence that Graham was most definitely involved and therefore likely, this woman Tanya too. Even more damning, he managed to find a picture on the Dorset Fire Brigade site, that had disappeared a year back, showing Tanya and Matt at their wedding.

Mickey walked from his house, took a sledgehammer from the garage and took it to the Porsche he'd brought for the woman in his house, whose real name was Tanya. She watched from the window as Mickey wrecked the car, knowing that something catastrophically bad had happened.

She cooked dinner for her and Mickey and almost tip-toed around him, waiting for either a verbal or physical assault to start but, he remained quiet and remarkably placid after the earlier outburst she had witnessed. After dinner, they retreated to the living room where he turned on the TV as they sat on two of the armchairs. Very unlike a few months back, where they'd have snuggled up on the sofa. After a while of sitting in silence, Mickey briefly went out of the room and came back in and walked over to the TV. He inserted a SD card into the slot on the side.

"I think we need to talk, Tanya."

She froze on the chair, not daring to look away from the TV screen, even though it was currently blank. He had called her Tanya.

"I honestly thought you loved me but, I guess that's not true, is it? I can see now why Matt was so strung up when he saw you and why he came back. Are you still married or are you divorced?"

She kept looking at the TV screen as she whispered the answer.

"It was annulled by a special decree."

"What about the first question?"

I did fall in love with you at the start but now I'm not sure. I wasn't supposed to love you, I was supposed to go back to Matt. I'm supposed to have a family with him, after..."

"Mickey started laughing. Not a small laugh but a full-on belly laugh that brought tears to his eyes. Tanya slowly turned her head to look at him with tears in her eyes."

"Ooh Tanya, you and Matt need to get a TV show. The last time I laughed so much was when I realised that tattoo was your sign of love between the two of you. What's happened to that tattoo Tanya?"

"It's gone Mickey, you replaced it."

"Yes, I did. Now, watch the screen, think of erasing that tattoo as the first step of shifting love for Matt from your heart. This will either kick him out, or you'll be a dead woman walking and not at my hands Tanya."

Mickey changed the channel on the TV and a phone movie clip started to play. Tanya quickly realised she was looking at the content of the SD card she had been looking for. It was a short clip of around five minutes but, she fully understood why the Government was so desperate to get their hands on it. As she was watching it, Mickey moved behind her and took a picture on his phone which clearly showed the back of Tanya in the foreground and part of the movie playing in the background. He opened WhatsApp and scrolled to an entry called 'King Leech'. He had been given the number in a text, suggesting to use it, if he wanted to sell or bargain the SD card, in some way.

He sent the photo with a short message. 'Tanya knows the truth. Come after me or her, it goes public.' The only time he had ever responded to the number was after the first Government plant had been dealt with ruthlessly. Mickey had sent a single message saying the SD card would never see the light of day if they left him to quietly run his business. Interfere or harm him or his family and the SD card goes public. Since that day they had left him be. He sat and looked at Tanya. She sat in a state of shock.

"You see Tanya, unless I retain this SD card, I'm a dead man walking. They now know that you've seen the clip. They can't let you live if they recover the card and it has not been made public. The only way you'll survive is, to stick by me. Have those babies and we'll raise them together. As much as a part of me hates you, I have grown to love you. We can find that love through our children. That's your only chance Tanya, if you want to escape death."

He left Tanya staring blankly at the black TV screen, retrieved the SD card, then walked off to his bedroom. Tanya sat for over an hour, staring at the blank screen. She couldn't see any way to escape the nightmare. As she went to bed, she moved across and nuzzled up against Mickey's back.

"You're right Mickey, for the sake of our babies, we will make this work."

She wasn't sure she believed herself but, it was currently, the only way forward she could see. The crunch would come when the babies were born.

Smith was surprised, he hadn't heard that message tone in a long time. He opened his phone and read the message and his heart sank before he even looked at the image. He now knew that Tanya had the knowledge to see why they needed the SD card or, as a minimum, destroy it. He had no choice. He messaged Mr. Jones and told him Tanya's cover appeared blown, he needed to watch his step. There was no response and it didn't surprise him, Jones was now considered a serious risk. It didn't matter there were now two plans in place, Doomsday 1 and Doomsday 2. Option 1 could see Jones and Tanya saved but, option 2 was to simply implement a scorched earth policy for everybody and anything associated with Mickey. Time was now ticking down fast.

Lucas read the message; it didn't surprise him. He knew Mickey had other resources and he was well aware that Tony T., given enough information, was tenacious enough to find the truth. He went to the safe in his apartment, opened it and pulled a folder out. He shuffled through the file and removed several sheets of paper and put them back in the safe. He would see Mickey tomorrow with this "new" information, he had managed to glean from his illegal sources.

The next day Mickey welcomed Lucas to his home. There was nothing unusual about that except, Mickey didn't usually have a handgun tucked into the waistband, at the back of his trousers. Lucas had also come prepared with a gun, in his shoulder holster, under his jacket. They went into Mickey's home office.

"I've spent several weeks probing Mickey. something didn't add up with that Graham guy. I put some pressure on in the right places and I have managed to obtain this - it's looks like a large-scale Operation against you, Mickey."

He passed Mickey the file and he looked at the classified information inside it. Things dropped into place. There was information about her previous role under Graham and that the doctor supposedly treating the mother was her contact. Then there was a picture of her and Matt on the day they were married. It all aligned to the information that Tony T. had located plus, the doctor's notes from his time analysing Tanya. The two men looked at each other.

"I'm sorry Mickey, she's played us both. She got to you through me. I have to admit, I've never seen anyone go to the depths she's gone, to get to you. What I don't understand is why, Mickey? Now you know what she is, what do you want to do with her?"

Mickey was going to play this as delicately as he could. It seemed too convenient that Lucas brought this to him now, on the day after he lifted the lid on Tanya. But then, Lucas did find the first Government mole and that now started to bother him when he questioned Luca's loyalty to him. Did Lucas waste a colleague to form a bond with him?

"It's in hand Lucas. I spoke to her last night and she now knows I know exactly what and who she is. She has my babies inside her and I'm not giving them up. My children will need a mother and I've shown her something which, has left her with a Hobson's choice. For her, it's simply going to be live with me...or die."

Both men were wary of each other but, Lucas had latched onto his comment. Tanya had seen something significant. The risk was too great to attempt to pursue it today but, he would find a way to find out what it was from Tanya. For the remainder of the day, they discussed the arms shipment that was close to being ready to bring over to the UK. Mickey shared the information on the group that were keen to buy it and it looked like it was going to be the deal.

They needed Tony T. to hack the Customs & Excise staff roster for Dover port to ensure that the shipment would pass, unhindered, into the UK. Once they identified the staff on duty, the old-fashioned threat of selling of loved ones to the Columbians had never failed, especially with a few photographs to show the risk was real. To top it off, they would deposit ten thousand pounds into the Border Force staff members' accounts to basically implicate them. If it all dropped into place, it would happen within the next six to eight weeks.

Tanya struggled with her predicament but, vowed to herself to fall into line with Mickey's proposal and tried her hardest to play the loving partner. Mickey made a point to ensure that she had little contact with anyone except his family or close trusted friends. One thing she did note, he appeared to make sure that Lucas and herself were never left alone. She did wonder if he knew that Lucas was as deep into trying to get the SD card as she was. She kept thinking about the SD card too. There was something about that night that he showed her the contents that was bugging her. It's like there was a significant thing that occurred but, she couldn't quite draw it from her memory.