to you and your colleagues, there isn't much local action in Edinburgh. So the DG decided that my section should create some, in the hope of flushing them out. We set Bell up to create a small drugs operation in your friend's club and in other sites around the city that he considered vulnerable. Sean, who is a member of my section, was his handling officer. The mistake the assistant DG and I made, for which we do apologise, was in interpreting the Home Secretary's order too strictly. We should have told you, or DCI McIlhenney, what was going on.'
Skinner stared at her. 'You're telling us that two of your guys were pushing hard drugs on our patch?'
'I'm afraid so.'
'Does your statutory remit cover that sort of activity?'
'That's grey, but it's another reason for our not involving you… to avoid compromising you, so to speak.' She sighed. 'The whole thing was a misjudgement. Again, all I can do is apologise.'
The DCC frowned. 'Apology accepted, as long as there's no blame attached to my people for doing their job properly.'
'None at all; in fact we compliment them on it.'
'Speak for yourself, Mandy,' Sean Green muttered, fingering the plaster on his nose, and breaking the tension with a grin. 'I'm sorry about the blade, by the way. At first I thought your guy might have been an Albanian, but I could tell by the look of him that he wasn't, so I didn't try to stick him, honest. If I had been trying…'
Skinner's eyes fell on him like two blocks of ice. 'You wouldn't be here today, boy,' he said, slowly, in a voice not much above a whisper. He turned back to Dennis. 'They're out of the picture now, you know that. Too many people in the club saw him being filled in and Jingle being lifted.'
'Absolutely. I accept that we can't put them back in. That's why we're here.'
'Cap in bloody hand, eh.'
She nodded, and smiled, wryly. 'I have to accept that description.'
Bandit Mackenzie raised a hand. 'Permission to speak, sir?' he asked.
The DCC chuckled. 'Aye, go on then, as long as it's constructive.'
'It's a question really, sir, for Sean. After you and Bell were done, when we had you in the interview room, why the hell did you keep stringing us along? You must have known that it would all end up at a meeting like this and that I'd find out about you in the end. So why didn't you just switch off the tape and spill it?'
Green looked at him, through his puffy eyes. 'If it had been just you and me, I probably would have, but your sergeant was there. All due respect, but Mandy would have crucified me if I'd talked in front of her.'
'On a barbed-wire cross,' his section head confirmed.
'So,' Skinner exclaimed, 'with your team out of the picture, what are you asking of us?'
'That you take over from them: find the Albanians, determine what it is they're up to, and remove them as a threat.'
'By any means necessary?'
Dennis looked at him, but said nothing. In the silence, Rudolph Sewell leaned forward. 'It may be,' he murmured smoothly, 'that once you have secured them you would prefer to hand them over to us.'
'And it may not,' the big policeman retorted. 'I've just lost a terrorist gang, identified and arrested by my people, to the Americans; that's not going to happen again. Let's cross that one when we reach it, though. Meantime, how much scope do we have?'
'You operate under the same legislation and codes of practice that we do,' Dennis replied.
'What about electronic surveillance? We'll need legal authority for wiretaps.'
'You have it: you'll be our agents in this operation and the Home Secretary has given us blanket authorisation already.'
'How wide is the loop? Has the Home Secretary changed his mind and advised our First Minister, or his own opposite number in Scotland, our Justice Minister?'
'No, and I'm told by my director general that he doesn't plan to.'
Skinner stared across the table, 'I've got to have discretion to do that if I think it's necessary, without reference to you.'
Sewell drew in a deep
Skinner stared at her. 'You're telling us that two of your guys were pushing hard drugs on our patch?'
'I'm afraid so.'
'Does your statutory remit cover that sort of activity?'
'That's grey, but it's another reason for our not involving you… to avoid compromising you, so to speak.' She sighed. 'The whole thing was a misjudgement. Again, all I can do is apologise.'
The DCC frowned. 'Apology accepted, as long as there's no blame attached to my people for doing their job properly.'
'None at all; in fact we compliment them on it.'
'Speak for yourself, Mandy,' Sean Green muttered, fingering the plaster on his nose, and breaking the tension with a grin. 'I'm sorry about the blade, by the way. At first I thought your guy might have been an Albanian, but I could tell by the look of him that he wasn't, so I didn't try to stick him, honest. If I had been trying…'
Skinner's eyes fell on him like two blocks of ice. 'You wouldn't be here today, boy,' he said, slowly, in a voice not much above a whisper. He turned back to Dennis. 'They're out of the picture now, you know that. Too many people in the club saw him being filled in and Jingle being lifted.'
'Absolutely. I accept that we can't put them back in. That's why we're here.'
'Cap in bloody hand, eh.'
She nodded, and smiled, wryly. 'I have to accept that description.'
Bandit Mackenzie raised a hand. 'Permission to speak, sir?' he asked.
The DCC chuckled. 'Aye, go on then, as long as it's constructive.'
'It's a question really, sir, for Sean. After you and Bell were done, when we had you in the interview room, why the hell did you keep stringing us along? You must have known that it would all end up at a meeting like this and that I'd find out about you in the end. So why didn't you just switch off the tape and spill it?'
Green looked at him, through his puffy eyes. 'If it had been just you and me, I probably would have, but your sergeant was there. All due respect, but Mandy would have crucified me if I'd talked in front of her.'
'On a barbed-wire cross,' his section head confirmed.
'So,' Skinner exclaimed, 'with your team out of the picture, what are you asking of us?'
'That you take over from them: find the Albanians, determine what it is they're up to, and remove them as a threat.'
'By any means necessary?'
Dennis looked at him, but said nothing. In the silence, Rudolph Sewell leaned forward. 'It may be,' he murmured smoothly, 'that once you have secured them you would prefer to hand them over to us.'
'And it may not,' the big policeman retorted. 'I've just lost a terrorist gang, identified and arrested by my people, to the Americans; that's not going to happen again. Let's cross that one when we reach it, though. Meantime, how much scope do we have?'
'You operate under the same legislation and codes of practice that we do,' Dennis replied.
'What about electronic surveillance? We'll need legal authority for wiretaps.'
'You have it: you'll be our agents in this operation and the Home Secretary has given us blanket authorisation already.'
'How wide is the loop? Has the Home Secretary changed his mind and advised our First Minister, or his own opposite number in Scotland, our Justice Minister?'
'No, and I'm told by my director general that he doesn't plan to.'
Skinner stared across the table, 'I've got to have discretion to do that if I think it's necessary, without reference to you.'
Sewell drew in a deep
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