on and on and on. Some in government think the problems they’re causing should be a
greater priority than the climate. And after the riots, the police and army abandoned the snatch policy in Torquay.’
‘So he just gets to carry on? Like they all do. No one goes looking for them. The precedents have already been set. Jesus.’
‘Not quite. He’ll be investigated for sure. Eventually. When the resources and timings are right, they’ll look for him. But you don’t set the pace here. And neither do
I.’
‘But how long? When will this Rory be investigated? Are we talking weeks, months . . . or longer?’
‘I don’t know. King Death is a very nasty organization. Probably the worst gang now, in most parts of the country. They go back decades, as long ago as the fall of communism in
Russia. Trans-national crooks to start with, smuggling imports with high rates of tax. They evolved into kidnap and ransom specialists years ago. You might even remember the kidnapped children of
the solar field industry executives in 2036. That was them. There’s rumours of dozens of other high-profile targets kept out of the news, who paid significant ransoms to get their executives
back, and their executives’ children back. That’s how they made their biggest paydays until drugs, arms, food and medicine expanded the franchise. But trafficking has been the most
lucrative business for them yet, in combo with where it bleeds into the sex trade.
‘They’ve forged links with all the local elements that came in with the refugees, the Kurds, Serbs, North Africans. You name it. There is no single ethnic bias any more. When
cross-border intelligence folded, it’s anyone’s guess how many of the hard core came here from eastern Europe. But Interpol believe they’ve upwards of eighty thousand foot
soldiers in the UK alone now. These outfits are one of the few success stories from the last twenty years.’
The father, like everyone else, had seen gang members around the coastal places where he’d drifted, and watched them strutting about the better harbours, often outside the large homes he
had driven past, beyond the towns; buildings they took possession of with huge sums of cash combined with intimidation. Lots of fat men, foreign and home-grown, taking ownership of the lifeboat
island of Europe, shouting communications at screens, or admiring their own clothes and cars. Standing on long driveways, opening and shutting boots, or playing with dogs, seemingly laconic men,
lazy in expensive clothes, drinking wine in the better hotels sealed behind high fences, their feet spread too far apart in arrogant contentment; men on loungers beside swimming pools. Swine
dressed in whatever the French and Italian mills could still produce and sell at grotesque prices. The wealthiest and most important were never even seen; they had private grounds, penthouses,
subterranean mansions and compounds with walls the father would never scale.
‘I don’t get it. Why would they kidnap my girl? We didn’t have any money. Not real money. We didn’t count. I was a regional manager. This doesn’t make sense. For
them to target us, we’d have to have something they wanted.’
‘You’re right, it doesn’t make sense. And your guess is as good as mine. But look, let’s not get carried away with hearsay from Murray Bowles. He probably only told you
so he could intimidate you with his affiliations. If she was taken by a gang then she was taken for . . .’
‘What?’
‘Something we probably don’t want to talk about. But that seems unlikely. It would be near-unprecedented for a gang to snatch a middle-class child from a middle-class area, with no
prospect of a significant ransom. Your family does not fit the profile to lose a child to sex traffickers. It’s not impossible, but it is unlikely with far easier catches in the refugee and
substance-addicted populations around the fronts.’
Trafficked
. She’d mentioned sex
greater priority than the climate. And after the riots, the police and army abandoned the snatch policy in Torquay.’
‘So he just gets to carry on? Like they all do. No one goes looking for them. The precedents have already been set. Jesus.’
‘Not quite. He’ll be investigated for sure. Eventually. When the resources and timings are right, they’ll look for him. But you don’t set the pace here. And neither do
I.’
‘But how long? When will this Rory be investigated? Are we talking weeks, months . . . or longer?’
‘I don’t know. King Death is a very nasty organization. Probably the worst gang now, in most parts of the country. They go back decades, as long ago as the fall of communism in
Russia. Trans-national crooks to start with, smuggling imports with high rates of tax. They evolved into kidnap and ransom specialists years ago. You might even remember the kidnapped children of
the solar field industry executives in 2036. That was them. There’s rumours of dozens of other high-profile targets kept out of the news, who paid significant ransoms to get their executives
back, and their executives’ children back. That’s how they made their biggest paydays until drugs, arms, food and medicine expanded the franchise. But trafficking has been the most
lucrative business for them yet, in combo with where it bleeds into the sex trade.
‘They’ve forged links with all the local elements that came in with the refugees, the Kurds, Serbs, North Africans. You name it. There is no single ethnic bias any more. When
cross-border intelligence folded, it’s anyone’s guess how many of the hard core came here from eastern Europe. But Interpol believe they’ve upwards of eighty thousand foot
soldiers in the UK alone now. These outfits are one of the few success stories from the last twenty years.’
The father, like everyone else, had seen gang members around the coastal places where he’d drifted, and watched them strutting about the better harbours, often outside the large homes he
had driven past, beyond the towns; buildings they took possession of with huge sums of cash combined with intimidation. Lots of fat men, foreign and home-grown, taking ownership of the lifeboat
island of Europe, shouting communications at screens, or admiring their own clothes and cars. Standing on long driveways, opening and shutting boots, or playing with dogs, seemingly laconic men,
lazy in expensive clothes, drinking wine in the better hotels sealed behind high fences, their feet spread too far apart in arrogant contentment; men on loungers beside swimming pools. Swine
dressed in whatever the French and Italian mills could still produce and sell at grotesque prices. The wealthiest and most important were never even seen; they had private grounds, penthouses,
subterranean mansions and compounds with walls the father would never scale.
‘I don’t get it. Why would they kidnap my girl? We didn’t have any money. Not real money. We didn’t count. I was a regional manager. This doesn’t make sense. For
them to target us, we’d have to have something they wanted.’
‘You’re right, it doesn’t make sense. And your guess is as good as mine. But look, let’s not get carried away with hearsay from Murray Bowles. He probably only told you
so he could intimidate you with his affiliations. If she was taken by a gang then she was taken for . . .’
‘What?’
‘Something we probably don’t want to talk about. But that seems unlikely. It would be near-unprecedented for a gang to snatch a middle-class child from a middle-class area, with no
prospect of a significant ransom. Your family does not fit the profile to lose a child to sex traffickers. It’s not impossible, but it is unlikely with far easier catches in the refugee and
substance-addicted populations around the fronts.’
Trafficked
. She’d mentioned sex
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