The Sister(116)

Wharton hadn’t moved. He was lighting a cigarette. Holding the pack up, he raised his eyebrows and offered them.

‘No, thanks, mate. Are you coming?’

Strange, it’s not like the Terry I know to turn a smoke down. He must’ve given it up in the nick. Putting the cigarettes away, he started after him.





Behind a boarded up window, armed police watched the two men through a slot cut into the sheeting.

Tanner arrived back from the toilet, holding his stomach. ‘I had a bad feeling about that kebab I had earlier, and I was right.’ He pressed his lips together at each new griping pain.

He peered through the opening. ‘Where are they going?’

‘Oh, shit! They’re heading up towards the corner.’

‘Is it just those two, no one else here?’

‘No, but that’s where our backup is. Shall I tell them to hide?’

The two suspects still had fifty yards to cover before they'd reach the corner.

‘Christ! Who told them to plot up there? They’ll have to shift – and fast! No wait, they’ve stopped. What are they doing?’





At the point where the semi-circular arc of brightness gave way to the darkness of the alley; Wharton stopped suddenly. He licked his lips anxiously, eyes filled with trepidation.

‘What are you doing, Bill?’

‘Where have they parked, mate? Why haven’t they parked where we did?’ he said, searching Bishop’s face for an answer. ‘What’s going on, mate?’

‘Bill, that alleyway leads through to the street the other side. That’s where the others are, just up there. See, if anything happened, there’s only the one way out round this side. What’s the problem?’

‘You know I can’t go down a dark alley so close to the fence, not with my claustrophobia. I’m going to get the car. I’ll meet you round there.’

He turned around and headed back.

‘Shit.’ Bishop breathed. He hadn’t wanted to do it out there in the light, didn’t want to have to drag the body out of sight, get covered in blood. He didn’t even really want to kill him, but if he didn’t, someone else would and he’d be as good as dead himself. He probably would have been dead already if he’d refused. Something had happened with Lynch’s state of mind and it wasn’t just the coke. I’ll do this job, get the twenty-five grand and then put some distance between him and me. Might even go straight. The unlikelihood of the last thought had him grinning.

He produced a gun and screwed a silencer onto the end.

‘Bill?’ He couldn’t bring himself to shoot him in the back.

Wharton turned and saw the gun. It all suddenly made sense to him. They'd found out about his arrest somehow. They thought he’d talked. He raised both hands in the air. ‘Terry. Don’t. I—’

‘Sorry, Bill.’ He sounded genuinely sad as he fired a single shot into his head.





All hell broke loose. Portable arc lights switched on. The team hiding around the corner raced out. Heckler and Koch carbines at shoulders, they advanced on him. Caught in the dazzling light, centre stage, he couldn’t see. Someone shouted, ‘Armed Police, drop your weapon!’ Shutters rolled up. The sound of approaching heavy boots drummed on the ground.

‘What just happened?’ Tanner shouted, and threw open the door to join the melee.

‘He’s just shot Wharton!’

‘Oh, shit!’

In the light of recent criticism on the shooting of an innocent man in London and police failure to warn the suspect, Bishop received the benefit of an extra warning.

‘Armed police, drop your weapon!’

He couldn’t see beyond the dazzling brightness. He lost his sense of direction and perspective. His head spun.

He faced a lifetime in prison if he surrendered.

If I can just get away.

Faced with hard choices, he hesitated a moment longer. Fingers were jittery on triggers. He made a wrong move. Turning quickly in the direction of where he thought he’d left the van, he broke into a sprint. Straight towards the armed officers, the gun was still in his hand.

Two simultaneous shots cut him down. One passed through his head, the other his heart.





At the subsequent inquest, held weeks later, the Specialist Firearms Officer’s would testify they'd shouted two clear warnings before the suspect raised his gun and ran towards them. Faced with the clear and imminent threat of further loss of life, they'd shot him.

The coroner’s court would record a verdict of lawful killing by the police.





Chapter 101



Monday, 2 April





Knowing Kennedy was under increasing pressure from all directions; the caller cranked it up.

‘I’ve got you stitched up tighter than a duck’s arse, Jack, and even if you think you can still get out of it, mate, I gotta tell you, you can’t. So from now on, whatever I tell you I want done, you do it. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

‘You can’t blackmail a police officer and think you’re going to get away with it,’ he said, but his voice lacked conviction. He’s been ahead of you all the way, Johnny.

‘Get away with it? Jack, what I’ve done to you is irreversible, incontrovertible.’ A cigarette lighter clicked at the other end of the line, followed by the sounds of exaggerated puffing on his cigarette.