Becca XXX: Dangerous Cargo Ch. 14

"Feed's live," I said to Lexa.

"Roger that. We see it."

I imagined her back at The Facility with her team, watching the meeting on the large screens. The team would be using facial recognition software to see who these people were.

Tony and I lay down on the cold earth, hidden from view by overhanging branches. We had the perfect vantage point, looking down onto the meeting site as the four vehicles arrived. They were four-wheel drive pickup trucks with twin cabs. Two of them were Nissan Navaras, one was a Mitsubishi Barbarian and the last one was a Toyota Hilux. All of them looked like they'd seen some off-road action as they were covered in mud before they even entered the quarry.

"Vehicles approaching the meeting point," I said. "It's on."

We were viewing the exchange from a hundred metres up and two hundred metres away. The convoy was sideways on to us. I zoomed in on Ryan's car as the door opened and he got out. Tony adjusted the directional microphone slightly and I heard the crunch of gravel as the last vehicle stopped.

"Hearing it loud and clear," said Lexa. "Now let's see who he's trading with."

The vehicle at the rear was the first to open its doors. The truck had barely stopped moving when the doors flew open and three people got out with pistols. They were all wearing jeans and black tactical vests, but they weren't interested in Ryan. They were defending the rear from a potential ambush.

The two trucks in the middle did the same, covering left and right.

Finally, the lead vehicle opened its doors and four people got out. Two of them pointed their pistols at Ryan while the other two stayed behind the doors.

"They've got good drills," said Tony. "These are trained men."

"Agreed," said Lexa. "Can you zoom in a bit more? We need to see faces."

"Roger that."

I zoomed in on the lead car, keeping Ryan in the frame.

"Are you alone?" said one of the men pointing a pistol at him.

"Yes. Have you got the rest of my money?" he replied.

He seemed more confident than he had when The Mancs had shown up. Maybe he had a rapport with these guys.

"Do you have the merchandise?" said the lead guy.

"It's right here in the boot," he replied.

"Zoom in on the lead man," said Lexa.

I pressed the zoom button and got a side-on picture of him.

"Running it through facial recognition now," she said.

As the guy turned towards us and glanced around, I knew it was Shaw, without having to use Lexa's software. I recognised him from the news report.

"It's him. Positive I.D. on Shaw," I said.

"Roger that. Keep filming."

Shaw nodded at the people around him and they moved forward cautiously. Anyone trading weapons in a remote quarry wasn't to be trusted so I understood their concerns. One of them looked smaller than the others as they approached Ryan.

It was a woman for sure. I could tell by her figure and by the way she moved. She too had a tactical vest on, but had long blond hair tied up in a pony tail.

I closed in on her with the camera and felt the relief wash over me.

It was Natalie. I'd recognise her anywhere.

"Positive I.D. on Nat," I said.

"Roger that. We see her."

Ryan opened the boot of his car as the three of them approached. Nat kept her weapon trained on Ryan as the other two examined the merchandise. They pulled out a couple of duffel bags and unzipped them to reveal MP7's.

"It's all here boss," said one of them, holding up a sub machine gun.

"How many?" asked Shaw.

"Twenty, as agreed, plus spare mags and a shit load of ammo," he smiled. "Where's the money?"

"What about the rocket launchers?" said Shaw.

"Did he just say rocket launchers?" murmured Tony.

"It sounded like it. I thought I saw some in his boot when I traded with him on Saturday night, but I couldn't be sure."

The other guy near the boot pulled out a long black bag and undid the strapping. He then pulled out a green tube and held it up to Shaw.

"Jesus Christ, that's an M72 LAW," gasped Tony.

"Fuck me," said Lexa. "What do they need them for?"

"It's used as an anti-tank weapon," said Tony. "But you could blow up anything you like with one of those."

"It's all there," said Ryan. "Pay me and you can start loading them into your vehicles. I need to get going."

The two men with Shaw nodded at the driver of the lead vehicle. He did a three-point-turn and reversed the four-by four up to Ryan's boot. I guessed that the money was in there and they were about to exchange.

"We can't let this happen," said Tony, picking up his MP5 and looking down the sights.

He glanced up to check the sway of the trees as he assessed the wind conditions. He then clicked the top dial on his scope twice and then pulled the weapon into his shoulder.

"I have a shot on Shaw," he said. "We should take him now. This has just gotten way more serious. Permission to fire."

"Negative," said a new voice on the comms network. "Do not fire."

It was Ethan.

"They are now a credible threat," said Tony, as cool as ice. "We need to take him out now."

"There's too many of them. Killing Shaw won't solve the problem. He has deputies among his group who will take over," said Ethan. "Do not take that shot."

Ethan was right. If Tony dropped Shaw, the rest of them would scatter and regroup. Our cover would be blown and they may escalate their mission early before we had a chance to react with a larger force. I picked up my MP7 in case Tony took the shot.

The tension could be cut with a knife as Tony lay rock steady in the dirt with Shaw's head filling his sight picture.

"Stand down, Sergeant Fox. That's an order," said Ethan. "Confirm."

"Negative. I can take out Shaw and Ryan and shoot out the tyres on the rear vehicle. It will slow them down long enough for Becca and I to carry out an assault."

My heart beat increased exponentially at the thought of taking on twenty well-trained men. This wasn't a bunch of amateur drug dealers, the way they'd arrived was slick and well rehearsed. I'd say they were ex military or at least trained by military personnel.

"Stand down," Ethan said again. "Confirm."

There was a brief pause as the tension increased. Finally, Tony took his finger off the trigger, but kept staring down his sights.

"Affirmative. Standing down," he replied.

I let out a sigh of relief as I continued to watch the show below us on the video screen. Shaw moved over to Nat, who still had her pistol trained on Ryan. He whispered something into her ear which we couldn't hear and she lowered her weapon.

Shaw wrapped his hand around the back of her head and they kissed while Ryan and the others looked on. Natalie reciprocated and actually appeared to be enjoying it. She had definitely won Shaw's trust and her cover was still intact.

As they parted Shaw glanced at Ryan and then back at Natalie.

"Fucking drop him," he said to her.

Without hesitation she raised her weapon again and shot Ryan in the face before he even knew what had happened.

Thud--thud.

Two gunshots echoed through the night and bounced off the quarry walls as Ryan fell backwards into the gravel. Nat lowered her weapon and stuffed it back into her jeans.

"What the fuck just happened?" Ethan shouted into my ear.

"Ryan is down. I repeat Ryan is down. Nat's taken him out," I said.

"For Christ's sake," Ethan sighed.

"She's done well. That's one less asshole to worry about," said Tony. "He had it coming."

"It's also one less person to interrogate about Hamilton," snapped Ethan. "What's she playing at?"

"She had no choice. Shaw told her to do it. It must have been their plan all along," I said. "Leave no witnesses."

The two guys started loading the weapons from Ryan's boot into the back of the truck at a lightening pace. The other men stayed in all round defence in case Ryan wasn't working alone.

"I guess you're right," said Ethan. "At least this proves that Nat is still alive. If that little stunt didn't show Shaw where her loyalty lies, nothing will."

Shaw walked back to the car as the weapons were loaded in. Natalie followed him, but he stopped her in her tracks.

"Make sure he's sterile," he said, nodding back to the body. "Remove all I.D. and his phone. They'll find out who he is eventually, but let's not make it easy for them."

"Ok, I doubt he's carrying anything that will incriminate him, but I'll make sure," she replied.

Shaw gave her another kiss as she turned back and walked over to Ryan. She glanced in our direction and widened her eyes at us. There was no way she could see us, but somehow, she knew we were there.

I put myself in her position. She couldn't blow her cover, but she would assume someone had followed Ryan to the meeting. The most logical place we could be was on the cliff edge, hiding in the trees and observing.

Her gaze shifted back to the body as she squatted down and started to search him. She pulled out a phone and threw it to Shaw.

"That needs destroying," she said. "Chances are it's already been tracked. We need to get out of here quickly before anyone shows up."

Shaw got busy dismantling the phone and taking the SIM card out. While he was distracted, Natalie slipped her hand into her back pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. She kept it in the palm of her hand, making sure it was visible to us, before slipping it into Ryan's jacket.

She then checked his other pockets before standing back up and rejoining Shaw. It was a risky move, but she looked like she was leaving us some intel.

"He's clean," she said. "We need to get out of here. All this excitement is making me horny."

Shaw smiled and threw Ryan's phone into the quarry. The SIM card had been snapped in half and he stamped it into the ground.

"I remember why I hired you now," he laughed, putting his hand on her ass and guiding her back into the pick-up.

"All loaded boss," said one of his men.

"Good. Torch the car and the body and let's get out of here," he said it like it was nothing.

"Nat's planted some intel on Ryan's body," I said in a panicked voice. "We need to get down there before it goes up in smoke."

"Roger that," said Lexa. "We've seen enough. The tracker on the weapons will give us his location. Pack up and get down there as soon as they're gone."

"Roger that. Moving," said Tony.

I packed the surveillance equipment back in the bag as I saw one of Shaw's men dousing the car and Ryan's body in petrol. Fire destroys almost everything and they were going to have to use dental records to identify Ryan.

We turned and ran back through the trees to our vehicle to get ready to move. I heard a whoosh as the car was lit on fire and I knew we'd have to act fast.

The four vehicles screamed out of the quarry to distance themselves from the scene of the crime. As they flew past us, we hid behind a grass verge and waited for them to get out of sight.

"Four vehicles leaving the quarry now," I said to Lexa.

"Roger that. The tracker is now on them. We can see them moving."

We jumped in the Kia and sped down the hill towards the burning vehicle. Tony drove like a madman, slewing the car sideways as we hit the hairpin bend. All that mattered was getting to that piece of paper before it went up in smoke.

We rocketed into the car park as Ryan's car exploded about fifty metres away, showering the area in burning fuel and debris.

Kaboom.

"Get the fire extinguisher," shouted Tony. "I'll drag the body clear of the wreckage."

"Roger that."

We both jumped out of the car and Tony sprinted through the burning debris towards Ryan. His body was well alight by now, but I hoped that it was the fuel burning rather than his clothing. We could still get to Natalie's note if we were quick.

I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the boot as Tony grabbed Ryan's feet, shielding himself from the intense heat.

I sprinted over to join him as he dragged the flaming body to a safe distance so that I could spray the CO2 fog all over him. He was extinguished in seconds and Tony ripped Ryan's coat open to retrieve the charred piece of paper. It was smoking and the edges were still glowing, but Tony waved it about to stub it out.

"What does it say?" I asked in a panicked voice.

"Get to the car, we need some light to see it properly," he replied.

We ran back to the SUV and he opened the piece of paper under the beam of the headlights.

Some of the note was badly burnt and had letters missing, but we could make out enough.

It read:

INCKLEY A -- SELLAFIE

Despite the beginning of the first word and the end of the second word being missing, I knew what it meant. I'd been seeing the same thing on the news for weeks.

"Do you have the intel?" asked Lexa. "What does it say?"

"We have it. It says Hinckley A to Sellafield."

There was a stunned silence from her end of the line. Maybe they didn't understand the significance.

"They're going after the nuclear waste from Hinckley Point A," I gasped. "They must be hitting the convoy on its way to Sellafield. It's been all over the news for weeks about the decommissioned nuclear power station."

The silence remained as the seriousness of it sank in with us and everybody back at the Facility.

"This now starts to make sense. The bombs themselves wouldn't be enough to cause any lasting damage," said Tony. "But if they add radioactive material to them the consequences of contamination will be devastating."

"Mother of god," gasped Ethan. "They're manufacturing dirty bombs."