London Euston Towers
5-30 p.m.
April 18th
The CCTV cameras on Baker Street picked up Mason’s image as he walked back to the hotel, but it was rush hour. The large number of Central London CCTV cameras was being watched by an unusually extensive team at Euston Towers and the recordings were being racked up and watched in detail by an extra team dedicated to the task.
It was half an hour after Mason had passed a camera looking at him fully that the DIC watcher at the tower matched him, looking now more like the picture of the morning before, to the image inset on his screen. He sent out a message and other watchers combed the areas CCTV cameras, whilst the roving team were alerted and the police called.
Along with two quickly assembled extra duty teams were Shadz and Jaz, Tony and Ellie, a thirty year old woman put with the team to replace Terry who was greeting Jack Fulton in Liverpool that night. When Mason’s location had come in they had readied themselves and were given lists of hotels in the Baker Street area.
Jack’s Deputy Diane Peters came down to brief the teams. Diane didn’t waste words.
“Be careful, tread softly and carry guns. Find him and get him alive, but if you have to shoot, shoot to kill. Remember how Spencer died, Wally’s murder, Jack Beaumont and what David McKie had to do.” She went to leave the room and suddenly turned. “Everyone to check their weapons.”
They all un-holstered their Sig 220’s, checked the magazines, pumped a round out, pulling back the casing and releasing, twice in succession, reloaded the magazines, pumped the action again and put them on safety. Tony was first to finish.
“Good off you go.” She turned on her heel and took the lift to Jack’s office. In the lift a shiver ran down her spine. To her mind it was all getting out of hand.
They left Euston tower in a three car convoy, each car with four DIC and each DIC pair with a list of hotels and the latest still image of Mason taken from the CCTV footage.