Deadly Diversions: Two

By Ronald Bullock

This follow up book to DEADLY DIVERSIONS charts the progress of Detective Chief Inspector Bob Reeves in a revenge quest to avenge the bestial treatment of his daughter captured whilst serving as a British Secret Service agent at the hands of a deadly, cunning conniving Russian and British double agent who organizes a world organization dedicated to creating a Third world war
The deadly insane cruel Lesbian who delights in torturing beautiful young women and finally murdering them, but one young policewoman captured while trying to infiltrate undercover the organization kidnapping those young women to first use them as prostitutes to get top secret information then torturing them is captured by the evil Kristina Lubyanka and then tortured before finally being murdered and dumped on a deserted wharf in the old London Dock area
But Detective Chief Inspector Reeves brings In Jenny Sylvester from Deadly Diversions and Operation Incidental Freight and her husband Mack; she in turn brings in the Trevelons, John and Carol, Macks Boss and his wife, and work colleagues
They also employ the services of a Spirit Medium from Birmingham Mrs. Laing and the services of the spirit of the murdered policewoman Jean Hollis so troubled is she in spirit she returns to try and help with the capture or disposal of evil Kristina Lubyanka
and her organization but will they succeed in beating the evil and cunning of Lubyanka and her organization and her murderous colleagues.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Sep 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504987745

Ronald Bullock

When working as heavy goods driver class 1 in 1972, Ronald Bullock began writing the first book of his series, Deadly Diversions. But having little spare time to write, it was 1999 before it was published. The publisher turned out to be a vanity publisher. The same thing happened again when the book was published in New York in 2009. He cancelled the contract in 2013. Finally, Ronald self-published with PageTurner Press and Media and has also had his second and third books in the series published in 2020. Ronald has just completed book 4 in the series Deadly Diversions. All of the books are fast moving, action thrillers.

Book preview

AuthorHouse™ UK

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403  USA

www.authorhouse.co.uk

Phone: [phone]

© 2015 Ronald Bullock. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   09/10/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8772-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8773-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8774-5 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful summers evening, in Leicestershire, central England in the late70’s, the sun was setting and a beautiful red glow lit up the early evening sky, the barley in the fields swayed as the light breeze caused ripples like small waves on the surface of a pool. Only the rustle of the breeze in the foliage of the trees and the barley could be heard disturbing the stillness of the countryside as the sun settled lower in the sky and the birds began settling down for the night The silence that had descended on this quiet part of Leicestershire was broken only by the occasional passing car or van as their drivers made their way home from work.

As the last remnants of light disappeared from the sky the silence of the surrounding countryside was broken only by the sound of a vehicle pulling hard up the hill towards the lay by at the edge of the barley field. Moments later over the brow of the hill came a van, its engine working hard and as it neared the lay by it slowed down and pulled into the lay by coming to a halt close to the wooden fence bordering the barley field, the driver switched off the engine and sat there for the next few minutes. Listening and occasionally looking around to see if anyone was near or within sight or sound of where he sat, there were none

Sitting there for a few moments more, then he got out of the van his eyes darting all around, then he wrenched open the rear doors and reaching inside he grabbed hold of a roll of carpet with something bulky inside. The roll of carpet was tied up with thick cord and the weight of the roll made the driver grunt with all the weight of lifting the roll onto his shoulder He then walked quickly over to the fence bordering the field and as he got to the fence he looked over and smiled as he saw that there was a four or five foot drop down into the barley then he used his shoulder to slew the heavy roll off his shoulder down into the barley, it hit the soft soil with a dull thud.

Looking down he could see that the roll was well hidden from other drivers using the road, smiling and nodding he turned and quickly made his way back to the van, got in, started the engine and a few moments later the van pulled out of the lay by and once again peace and quiet returned to the countryside surrounding the lay by and the birds settled down once again for the night.

Early the next morning it was a beautiful scene around the lay by, the sun was shining and there was not a cloud to be seen anywhere in the sky, the birds were singing and people driving past on their way to work through that part of Leicestershire felt good and happy to be alive. It was about 0730 that a group of men with combine harvesters and tractors and trailers entered the far edge of the field, it was harvest time and they set about the huge task of harvesting the barley singing and whistling as they went about their work

People each year often pulled into the lay by to watch the barley being harvested and this day was no different and the first to arrive were an old couple in an old Morris Minor Traveller about an hour after the men had started work in the field, the men knew the couple and waved to them, the couple waved back.

The couple chatted as the work gathered momentum and a little while later the farmer’s wife arrived in a Land Rover with refreshments for the men, as she got out of the Land Rover she was greeted by the couple and the men in the field seeing her arrive stopped their harvesters and tractors and switched them off, they got down from their machines and began to make their way over to where the couple and the farmers wife were chatting as they stood by the fence. As they chatted the farmers wife leaned on the fence waiting for the men to reach her, she loved this time of year the harvesting was always a joyful experience for her. The old lady she too leaned on the fence watching the men making their way towards them then something at the bottom of the fence caught her attention, looking down with a smile on her face for a moment or so, and then a look of sheer horror appeared on her face.

She screamed out loudly, the scream rang out over the countryside, birds startled, took to the air and the old lady backed away from the fence pointing as she did so at the spot below the fence. The men in the field hearing her scream froze in their tracks, the farmers wife looked down to where the old lady was pointing then muttering, Oh my God! she too moved back from the fence and called out to the men, Quick there’s a dead girl down here…!

The men leaving their machines, started running through the barley towards her seeing the look of horror on both of the women’s faces, she turned to the old couple and told them to go and sit in their car until the men got there, the old lady’s husband puzzled asked what was wrong the farmers wife explained to him what was wrong and he too had a look of horror on his face as he leaned over and saw what was below the fence, then visibly shaken and horrified backed away to his wife’s side.

What they had seen was the roll of carpet which during the night had been disturbed by an animal probably a fox looking for its next meal, the cord had been chewed through and the carpet lay open exposing the battered body of a once beautiful young blonde woman possibly in her early twenties.

The men reached where the three were standing and the farmers wife pointed to the dead girl, her husband stared at the body, Oh my dear God no…! as he stared down at the girl seeing the blood oozing from the dead girls head he felt a wave of nausea coming over him. He looked at his wife for a moment forcing him self not to be sick for a moment, then gaining his self control he turned to his son, Jimmy have you got a mobile with you?

His son shook his head he had forgot to put it in his pocket as he left the house that morning, the farmer asked the old couple and his wife but none of them had one, turning to his son again he told him, Jimmy, the Landrover, quick, go get the police, quickly now lad! the Land rover shot out of the lay by moments later. The farmer made his wife and the old couple go and sit in the car until the police arrived, all three were extremely distraught, the two women sobbing as they sat in the car and no one spoke as they waited for the police to arrive, the shock of what they had seen below the fence was visible for all approaching them to see.

Minutes passed by then about twenty minutes or so after discovering the body far away in the distance could be heard the wailing of sirens, a few more minutes and led by the Landrover, police cars, headlights and blue lights flashing and sirens blaring came roaring into the lay by, skidding to a halt and spraying gravel from under the wheels of the hard braking vehicles

As the vehicles skidded to a halt, two plain clothes officers hurriedly got out of the first car, a DCI, and a sergeant, and from the other two cars uniformed officers got out and ran towards the farmer and the other men gathered around the Morris Minor traveler.

The farmer led them to the fence pointing to where the dead girl lay and That poor girl what kind of monster could do that?

The DCI replied, You’d be surprised Sir, you really would be surprised, now then sir if you could stay with the others one of my officers will be with you in a moment to take statements from you all. Now then I will have to leave you and get on with the investigation, but no moving away from the car otherwise you could be destroying vital evidence, ok all of you?

As he went to walk away he stopped and looked back at the group, saying I’ll want to ask you all some questions later ok?, then he slowly climbed over the fence down into the barley a little further up the lay by and very slowly made his way to the dead girl. Kneeling down by the side of the dead girl he slowly untied the cord wrapped around the carpet, it had been bitten through at one part, probably by a fox looking at the carpet roll he slowly undid the rest of the cord with gloved hands.

As he slowly pulled aside the carpet he winced as he looked at the injuries and cigarette burns all over the dead girl. Dark blue bruises were visible all over her, he knew that here was another girl tortured then beaten almost to death but the cause of death were two knife wounds to the chest.

He looked up at the Sergeant leaning over the fence, Dave get over just down there he pointed to where he had got over the fence, And slowly make your way up here, he waited as the sergeant got over the fence and made his way to his side, then he held the carpet open so that the sergeant could see the dead girl’s injuries, the sergeant, he too winced at the girls injuries and shook his head, muttering, Bloody hell how many more girls are we going to find like this, another one the same as the others sir, same age, same hair coloring and exactly the same injuries, looks as though she’s been dead quite a while same as the others…"

The farmer overheard him even though he was standing by the Morris Traveller, he called to the sergeant, Others!… what others… you mean there have been other girls murdered around here?…

The Inspector stopped him there saying, Just be patient sir and I’ll explain what is going on meanwhile let us get on with the investigation if you will sir?

The farmer nodded and went back to his wife’s side muttering as he did so

The Inspector took a small knife from his pocket and cut the remaining cord around the carpet roll and pulled it wide open, even though he was a hardened detective, even he was horrified at what he saw. Oh my God, this poor lass has really been through it Dave, just look at all the burn marks and the knife cuts, they were deliberately cut in such a way as to cause untold agony, I’d like to get my hands on the filth that did all of this, she’s got deep knife wounds too just below the chest and as well as the burns and torture marks she’s taken a hell of a beating, get phorensic up here on the double Dave and tell the uniformed officers to keep everyone off the lay by and I also want an Incident room set up quick as you can Dave tell the uniforms to block the lay by off to everyone else ok?

The sergeant went back to the police car and got on the radio to HQ for back up, a phorensic team and an Incident room arrived about twenty minutes later and a Chief Superintendent arrived with another senior officer, the Chief Constable.

The Inspector peered up and over the fence saying, Hello sir, its another one I’m afraid sir, same as the others, young, beautiful, burn marks all over the body, knife cuts applied to cause untold agony and two knife wounds to the lower chest, I believe were the cause of death but the coroner will let me know the score on that one He looked at the Chief Constable who just grunted a reply that was hardly audible and who just looked around at the officers carrying out a search of the lay by area

The Chief Constable before he left grunted, Huh! Bright lights eh, she won’t be seeing anymore of those will she?

He and the Superintendent stayed a few more minutes then they were in their vehicle and heading out of the lay by in a cloud of gravel dust rising into the air

The Inspector watched them go from by the fence sneering sarcastically to the sergeant, As usual Dave quick look then, off to their bit of social climbing probably a dinner engagement, it sickens me how they get the credit for the hard work we and all of the others here have done, bleedin parasites that’s what they are

The sergeant nodded his head in agreement with him

It was late afternoon before the body was taken away but the lay by remained cordoned off so that any remaining evidence would not be disturbed or destroyed by curious and morbid members of the public, and officers were guarding each end of the lay by

In the weeks that followed the discovery of the girl’s body, enquiries were extensive and covered different counties in an effort to come up with a good lead on the killer or killers of the girls. But the enquiries came to a dead end so a joint operation between all forces in England was organized and a briefing conference before the operation got underway was held at an HQ in Northampton in a recently built conference centre

On the morning of the conference people from all over England began to arrive and the air in the conference room soon filled with cigarette smoke, windows were opened to disperse the smoke and to enable the speakers to breathe without coughing their insides up

The conversation between all of those present centered on the murdered girls then at exactly 10am senior officers made their way onto the stage and took their seats, conversation ceased as all were called to order by an officer dressed in civilian clothes and the atmosphere was now one of curiosity and expectancy

The officer addressed the gathering, Right ladies and gentlemen can we have a bit of quiet please whilst speakers are talking, and will someone please switch on the fans? its like early morning at the steam loco sheds on a foggy night in the middle of winter Laughter echoed around the room as an officer got up and switched on the fans, after a couple of minutes the air was clear enough for the speaker to see the gathering clearly

The officer on stage carried on, introducing himself then the others seated behind him, Right let’s get on with it then shall we? There are lots to do and a hell of a lot of ground to cover. I am Detective Chief Inspector Howard of New Scotland Yard, seated behind me are some very prominent members of the force of whom some of you will know. Ladies first … he turned and looked back at those seated onstage, On my left we have Detective Inspector Janice Winters from the Vice Squad, and on my right is Detective Inspector Wendy Lane

He took a drink from a glass of water on the table in front of him, cleared his throat then he carried on, Inspector Lane is from the drug squad both of them from Special Branch at the Yard. Both ladies and their squads are deeply involved in this operation. The gentlemen on my right and left are, on my right is Sergeant Wills and on my left is Detective Chief Inspector Bob Reeves. Now that the intros are over we can get on with the business that brings us all here this morning…

The room was silent except for whispering by one person who was quickly told to zip it, the Chief took a sip of water from his glass, cleared his throat then carried on talking In recent months there have been a series of brutal and sadistic murders of young women carried out and their bodies dumped all over the Midlands countryside. All of the women were beautiful, either in their late teens or in their early twenties, all were blondes and all bearing the signs of being brutally tortured before their deaths. Burns were all over their bodies, knife wounds too and other injuries, details of which will be given to you later on. At first we thought it was the work of a psycho, but now we believe that evidence gained from each victim that the victims were coldly, coolly, calculatedly and systematically tortured by an evil and systematic series of torture killings carried out by an organized gang…! a buzz of excited muttering around the room halted his talking he asked for order

When the muttering had gone he carried on speaking, Now then I’ll leave it to Detective Chief Inspector Bob Reeves to explain, he sat down and Inspector Reeves stepped up to the mike

"He turned and pointed to a large board on which there were the photographs of the dead girls at the same time saying All of those girls were murdered in the same fashion and their bodies disposed of in the same way, the only difference was that three of the girls were murdered long before being dumped in remote and quiet locations in the English countryside. They were dumped, some near Leicester and the rest within 40 or fifty miles of London We think that all of the deaths were connected, they take the same pattern as each other, as will be described in a few moments. The victim’s injuries are the same and we believe that this was done to throw us off the killers track.

Certain information obtained from different sources lead us to believe that this is something far more sinister and evil just to be the work of a sex attacker, your average sex attacker that is, normally encountered in our investigations of sex murders…!"

Now the murmur of excitement grew to loud conversation and Howard had to intervene in order for Reeves to carry on and when the noise had abated Reeves carried on. "From the moment the first victim was found, then the second and then the third and so on a pattern began to emerge, multiple stab wounds to the body, most of which were not done or used to incite death but to incite terrible and agonizing pain for a long time to the victim, the killer or killers we believe getting a perverted pleasure from causing this much pain to young girls.

Also mutilation of sexual parts of the bodies, also burns some by cigarettes or cigars others by what looked like white hot metal rods held against the skin…" a further loud buzz of excitement brought his conversation to a halt.

Again Howard had to call for order so that Reeves could carry on. Reeves just stood there waiting for everyone to quieten down, and when they had done so he carried on.

Evidence showed that all the girls had been either shackled or bound by the wrists and ankles for long periods of time, almost certainly during their time of being tortured. It has been established that each girl must have at some time or other have been in the same building or area and have had contact with the same person or persons before their deaths. The implications of the evidence began to show a couple of weeks ago when all of the cases were studied individually in intense detail in London…

Reeves paused to take another drink from his glass, everyone in the room was spellbound by what he had told them so far, but what would he say next? they were wondering, he carried on again We now have other evidence that each of the girls consumed large amounts of alcohol and indulged in sexual intercourse more than once and possibly may have done so every day and night long before their death and indeed right up to about a couple of days before their deaths. You may think they were into prostitution; well we think they were but not as you may think, you’re every day ordinary prostitute we think not. We believe they were very highly paid, high class call girls, their clothes were expensive, designer styled and so was their makeup and perfume. Phorensic tells us that in each case the victim had shortly before her death had eaten expensive food that is before they were tortured and murdered

Reeves then turned to Detective Inspector Janice Winters, Janice would you please carry on?

He sat down and Janice stepped up to the mike, she poured herself a glass of water, a very attractive woman she got a few wolf whistles before she started speaking, smiling she looked up and around the gathering then she began to speak, As you will have gathered by now these girls were no ordinary call girls but very high class girls meant to only give their services to punters who were wealthy and having wealthy material means. One major factor or common denominator stands out in all of this investigation and in all of our enquiries was that each of the young girls were that they were young and beautiful and all of them more importantly they were from the West Midlands. As she took a drink from her glass everyone was wondering what she was going to come up with next?

Chapter 2

Carrying on she told them, All had come or I should say went to London on the promise of a good and well paid job. Each also looking for the bright lights of London and the streets paved with gold. As each girl arrived in London contact with boyfriends and families especially parents, were cut off and after a while each girl was placed on the missing persons file at their local nick in the Midlands.

She paused for a while to study some papers given to her by Bob Reeves and as she did so a buzz went around the room

Reeves stepped forward, whispered something in her ear and pointed to one of the papers then he returned to his seat, the murmurs died down as she looked up from the papers and began to speak again. During questioning of the dead girls parents and families and friends one thing became common, all the girls met someone at a disco or dance who had given them the promise of a well paid job with the promise of further advancement to a good and long lasting career. At the dances and discos women introduced their selves to the girls in each case also in the area where each girl lived. Ask yourselves this, why would a bunch of women organizing a vice ring get the girls to travel to London when the Midlands and London vice rings are pretty well organized already?

She had the members of the meeting in the palm of her hands now and they were hanging on her every word now, she went on So, why go to the trouble and expense of luring the girls to the Smoke and at the risk of bringing the wrath of the local vice rings down on their necks it didn’t make sense at first. But after the seventh girl was murdered we received information via an informant well in with the big crime syndicates in London that girls were being procured in the Midlands and once in London were being used purely for the purpose of sexual pleasure of business men of all nationalities connected with Defense projects of nations all over the world and also including our country…

A buzz went around the room a man stepped onto the stage and gave a folder to Bob Reeves, he looked at it for a couple of minutes the he gave it to Janice, for a minute or two she studied the papers in the folder then with a serious expression on her face she told the gathering, At this point everyone I must insist on this conversation being regarded as Top Secret information and any conversation regarding this investigation to be kept within the confines of your workplace namely your station and more so your office… She looked around as a loud muttering once again went around the room she waited for the talking to die down she proceeded again, what she said next really shocked those present.

Some of the information will be held back today until a meeting between all heads of departments will have taken place. However I will give you what I am allowed to now, this is a very delicate matter and of national importance and a threat to national security as you will find out shortly after this meeting from your own departmental heads she went on It wasn’t until the eighth girl was murdered that we received info on what and who, was really involved in all of this so judge for your selves after this next lot has been given to you she opened up the folder again and turned to the fourth page and then she read out something which really sent a murmur around the room

"A few days ago my squad received info that a syndicate we suspected of being involved in these murders is also involved in a slave trade of beautiful young girls in their late teens for being shipped abroad to harems in the Far East probably in the desert so no one will find them. Worse still we have been informed that they are involved in the filthy and vile trade of procuring very young children and I mean very young children for their perverted clients who are well heeled and will pay any amount of money to get their filthy hands on young children. Until yesterday afternoon our enquiries had almost ground to a halt, then we were notified that a girl was seen being dragged from one room to another on the top floor of a top class London hotel screaming and terrified

She was being dragged along the corridor by two Arab businessmen naked and being taken to these businessmen’s friends for sexual pleasure and perverted gratification, she was screaming at the top of her voice which alerted the manager of the hotel and also other guests who phoned the police as did the manager. The police arrived within minutes and rescued the girl who by then was absolutely hysterical, and then they arrested the two Arabs, she was asked to press charges, she agreed after she was taken to the police station to make a statement.

But then something happened that really shook us, upon further enquiries the officers dealing with case found that to their horror the Arabs were not who they claimed to be, they were actually diplomats and they were able to get charges against them dropped by claiming diplomatic immunity then they headed for their embassy and took refuge there…"

The room was really buzzing now and again Howard had to call for order.

After the room had quietened down she continued, At the moment the girl who was rescued from those perverts is in protective custody and has been most helpful in giving us valuable info on these scum. The info she has given us has, to say the least, horrified us and for good reason too, she has told us that many high ranking and influential people in our society are involved in all of this but until we can get definite proof against these people please keep any talk of what you have heard here today confined to your station or your office. I cannot emphasize this more vigorously than I do now, not one word of this to anyone not even your own colleagues not involved in the case when in the pub or in the confines of your own back garden you do not know who may be listening she looked around the room for signs of agreement, when she was satisfied she began her final part of the meeting.

Said to be really involved in all of this by the girl rescued at the hotel are we suspect, Judges, bankers and people a lot higher in society than we originally suspected and so to close my part in these proceedings I say that now you can see just what we are up against, remember…make sure any info you get is substantiated totally and make damn sure it is totally error free. Otherwise we could have one hell of an explosion of wrath from the high society on this one and heads could roll if you do not get it right first time, and I mean your heads. So!, be cool, calm and collected, no matter what happens or what you see or hear, keep your emotions in check and on a tight reign on this one, now I’ll ask my colleague to take over she turned and asked Wendy Lane to take it on where she left off

Wendy Lane got off her seat and walked to the microphone, "For a while now my squad has been trying to catch this syndicate at its filthy games but leads and informants were few, those informants that did usually supply us with info on anything going on are now living in fear of losing their lives if found out by the syndicate to be giving info on them or even thinking about giving info on them they would not live 24hours, of that we are certain. Finally though one informant so shocked and horrified at what he found out about these scum did pluck up courage to tip us off that a deal was being foreclosed in the back room of a club well known to us. We put the club under 24 hours surveillance hoping we catch them in the act, and last Wednesday night at 2025hours two known villains were seen to enter the club followed shortly afterwards by two known drug traffickers. We waited for about ten minutes then we hit the club, it turned out to be quite a successful raid, inside we found heroin worth at least three quarters of a million pounds and we collared some of the most powerful drug barons. But what we found as well were some of the most prominent members of our society indulging in sickening and perverted practices with young boys. But what sickens me most is that those young boys were aged ten years and less, enquiries are under way to find out where these young boys were procured and where their parents are.

The implication of what and who we had caught did not become clear until the adults involved were questioned, what we found out as we questioned the boys was even more horrifying so we ask you once again be careful what you say, where you say it and who you say it too, remember secrecy is absolutely vital and we still have a lot to do before we can begin to bring criminal charges against the filth we caught at the club. Inspector would you like to finish off; I think I have covered my part in the proceedings?"

The room was really buzzing with excitement now and Detective Chief Inspector Reeves had to wait for Inspector Howard to restore order before he too could proceed, then he walked to the mike and spoke to the enthralled gathering, Well everyone we have given you some idea of who, what, where and how prominent members of society are involved here in this investigation, there is something far bigger and more complicated than anything some of you may have handled before so keep your traps shut, if any of you are seen to be drinking too much or mouthing too much you will be immediately removed from the investigation and to somewhere where you can lie low until the investigation is closed. Now then I’ll give you half an hour to ask questions, but do so one at a time please so let’s have your questions then?

A sergeant at the front was first with his hand in the air, Reeves took his question, Sir, you’ve explained that the informants are now in fear of their lives so that means the word is out and that means it is known by the crims that we are onto the people who are organizing this so that means that getting any leads will be almost impossible and all you have to go on is the info about and from the people you arrested at the club and what about the girl and those young boys told you. So how are we going to move any further on this? he sat waiting for Reeves to answer

Reeves though carefully for a moment before answering, what he said surprised the questioner and everyone else in the room, It became clear to us that as we questioned those that we arrested Wednesday night that they had no knowledge of the people at the top of the syndicate, in other words the people with the brains and the money to organize such a huge operation. Those we caught at the club were small fishes in a big big lake so advancement in our enquiries would be limited but I got an idea that might help us get further in this matter. I and others leading this investigation got our heads together trying to work out what to do next but all the time we kept coming against a solid wall with no way through it. So we decided to take a break of a couple of days and see what each of us on our own could come up with… the sergeant interrupted him again

Did you come up with anything Sir?

Reeves held up his hand as a loud murmur began to circulate around the room All right settle down and give me time to answer the question, until last night we all drew a blank then a friend of mine living in the Midlands rang my office and asked me to go up and have dinner and an evening at a night club with him in Birmingham, it was his wedding anniversary and being really close friends I agreed… again he was interrupted by the sergeant at the front of the gathering

But what bearing does this have on this investigation Sir?

Reeves fixed him with a stare that would have melted the door to the main safe in the Bank of England, Sergeant!, If you will give me time to explain you will see what it has to do with our investigations?… still fixing the sergeant with the stare he began to outline what he had in mind and where he got the idea. As I was saying before I was so bloody well rudely interrupted. I got this idea when having dinner with a close friend at a Birmingham night club and it’s a wonder I didn’t think of it before now, anyway to carry on… everyone in the room sat spellbound and hardly able to withstand the suspense as Reeves carried on

No one dared to make a sound or even cough as Reeves outlined his idea to his spellbound listeners, It was as we were having dinner near the dance floor of the club that I saw two people who had worked with us before, two people who had put their lives in danger, great danger I may add and they came through it admirably. They didn’t see me and I didn’t want them too for the moment, I should have realized that they could help us before now… again the sergeant interrupted him

Who the hell are these two people sir, the suspense is killing us?… a murmur of agreement echoed around the room again as Reeves, his face as evil as an Halloween mask glared at the sergeant as if he was trying to bore holes through the sergeants forehead

If you interrupt me once more it won’t be the suspense that will kill you it’ll be my hands round you bloody scrawny neck, Do you hear sergeant?…

The sergeant went red in the face as titters rang out in the room and those on stage including Howard, Wendy and Janice had to put their hands across their faces to hide their smiles and hold back their laughter

Reeves looked long and hard at the sergeant then after a while he began again. The two people in question are a truck driver and his wife; both may I say dedicated to each other and are prepared to risk their lives to help the other if they are in danger. The husband is Mack Sylvester a continental truck driver his wife is a very petite and very attractive woman but don’t let that fool you into thinking she is weak in any way, she can outshoot most of you here today and both she and her husband were members of a gun club and believe me she is a damned good shot… He paused and turned and looked at Sergeant Wills behind him, She can also swing a really mean punch as Sergeant Wills here can testify can’t you sergeant?

Wills shifted uncomfortably in his seat saying, Leave it out sir? with a scowl on his face as more titters echoed around the room

Reeves turned and faced the audience again saying, I thought to myself what better people to have on this operation than continental truckers, every day on their journeys you can see them giving lifts to girls who are hitchhiking to and from London. Some of the decent ones that is, trying to chat to the girls and talk them out of going to London some even resort to taking them back home rather than leave them alone in London. His wife Jenny told me he has done that more than once because they have two daughters and they would not like to know that their daughters have run away to London. Drivers know only to well what, and who lies in wait for these girls some as young as 13 and 15 alone and vulnerable in the Smoke Also what better surveillance can you have than a driver and his wife frequenting discos and dance halls when they are off duty. It’s the most natural thing in the world to see people like these two at a disco or a dance in the Midlands or down the Smoke when they are parked up and go for a bit of entertainment and a pint after a day in the cab of a truck. His face froze when somebody at the back of the room said out loud, That isn’t the only thing they’re after when they park up for the night?"

His face still a scowl on it carried on speaking, I would not be taking the foolish step of saying anything like that in front of his wife if I were you, she would probably rip your throat out for a comment like that

A voice from the second row called out She sounds like one hell of a woman Sir?

Wills answered that one, You’d better believe it mate, I caught the wrong end of one of her uppercuts I can tell you, she’s bloody deadly and a proper wild cat when she’s got her temper up and afraid of neither men or women…

Reeves called a halt to the conversation, Hold it a minute will you lot? It’s becoming more of an Alley cats Hogmonay than a meeting of police forces so let’s get on with it shall we?

A voice asked, When are going to meet this wonder woman and her old man Sir?

Reeves answered, Well first I’ve got to talk them into it…

Murmurs of concern filled the room again the voice asked again, How do you know they will do it sir?

Reeves smiling said, I know they’ll do it; their emotions about young people will make them do it especially when I tell them young girls are involved and also very young boys as well. They hate sex perverts of any kind all I have to do is to approach them in a right and proper manner

But sir supposing they don’t want to do it, can you be sure they will? a woman asked from the front row

Reeves smiled and said, Living only a short distance away from the Sylvester’s is a sergeant from the local nick, I’ve arranged for his teenage daughter to go missing with his approval and that of his wife and daughter too of course. The daughter will be holed up in one of our safe houses until this investigation is brought to a satisfactory conclusion then it will be arranged for the sergeant’s wife to meet Jenny Sylvester by what looks like pure chance at the local supermarket, and she will get into conversation with Jenny bringing into the conversation the fact that her teenage daughter has gone missing in the Smoke or to be accurate, London. And knowing Jenny as I do if Mack is in or going to the Smoke she will ask him to make enquiries about the girl wherever he goes in the Smoke and then the other drivers will get roped in too. Then I shall contact them a little later inviting them to dinner and I shall gradually bring this case into the conversation letting them know just enough to wet their appetites and I’ll make sure it tugs at their heart strings because they’ll be thinking of their own girls and would not want these perverts on the loose just in case they get hold of their girls…

A voice called out, "You