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There was an almost simultaneous intake of breath from the group, followed by a brief pause where the only sound was the wind and the distant thrum of the generator that the underwater search teams were using.
‘Malky, make the call to Shotts now. Have Frankie Hardie informed about his brother’s death, and then get him safe.’
29
MAX, JANIE ANDRoss were all standing by the open door of Barney’s van whilst he fiddled with the screen of his laptop. Within a few moments it was showing the footage that they’d seen earlier of the police van driving down to the ambush point.
‘Shite, I know I gave you a row about putting the bloody drone up, but this is red-hot imagery. Kudos, Barney,’ Ross congratulated.
‘Thanks, I’m honoured and surprised at the positive feedback,’ said Barney, adjusting the image on the screen with the trackpad.
‘Aye well, don’t get bloody used to it. Spin on, I want to watch it at normal speed.’
On screen, the van screeched to a halt, the dust and smoke puffing up from the front tyre and the uniformed cop driver exiting the vehicle to look at the shredded tyre before returning to the driver’s seat.
‘What did they use?’ said Ross.
‘I’m hearing caltrops. You know, like four-edged nails that always land spike up however you throw them. PolSA team have recovered a load on their fingertip search of the approach,’ said Janie.
‘Properly planned then. Here we go,’ said Ross as the BMW swept into the picture and the masked raiders exited the vehicle. One of them dragged the shackled Hardie and DS Maxwell out of the car. They watched wordlessly as the cuffs were cropped, before Max interrupted the silence.
‘Pause there, Barney,’ a sense of urgency in his voice.
‘What, the action is just happening now?’ said Ross.
‘Back up slowly, frame by frame.’ Max stared intently at the screen, his face rapt with concentration, as the scene went into reverse, and Hardie and Maxwell disappeared back into the van. ‘Stop,’ said Max, his voice tight.
‘What are you looking at, you dafty?’ said Ross, his voice exasperated.
‘There.’ Max pointed to a point in the field beyond the road.
‘What, for fuck’s sake?’ said Ross.
‘A point of light, in that copse of trees, probably at least five hundred metres away.’
‘Craigie, I’m gonna bloody swing for you in a minute, what is it?’
‘Scope glint. I’m sure of it.’
‘Ah, right. That makes sense then. Shit, he must be a bastard good shot.’
‘Not that good, or we wouldn’t see the glint. A real pro wouldn’t have been in that location where glint was likely,’ said Max, looking up from the screen.
‘Anyone want to interpret this conversation for me, chaps?’ said Janie, a touch of frustration in her voice.
‘Any sniper shooting from that range would need an optical zoom sight to make the shots that killed Davie and Leo. I reckon that’s where the shot came from, but I need to get down to the scene to make sure it’s a viable location. Come on, let’s get down there.’
‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to remind you all as to who is in bloody charge, and I’d like to see the rest of the footage if that’s nottoomuch trouble,’ said Ross, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
‘Rolling.’ Barney activated the footage again.
Ross stood and watched impassively, with rapt attention until the screen went blank. ‘Is that all?’ he said.
‘That’s all we have. Battery life is limited, and it was in limp home mode. Don’t want to lose the bugger, it’s not mine and it’s worth a packet.’
‘Aye, and we know what your financial situation is, don’t we?’ Ross gave Barney a sideways look.
‘Harsh,’ said Janie.
