Blood Money Read Free Page A

cathedrals.
    And so, the City’s resident population of 8,000 swells to 320,000 during office hours as commuters working in the financial services sector swarm into the Square Mile from every conceivable direction.
    The Mercedes engine and transmission are almost inaudible during normal driving; Eddie finds the variable suspension and luxurious interior make it an extremely comfortable car to drive and in streets where Porsche’s, Maserati’s, Bentley’s and Aston Martins are commonplace its looks are pretty anonymous. Their journey is now almost at its end as they pass by iconic buildings like ‘The Gherkin’ and ‘Tower 42’. They drive a short way down Cornhill before Eddie smoothly slows the car and indicating left he turns down a narrow side-street called Birchin Lane.
    Birchin Lane is only 200 yards long and Eddie sees straight away that there’s a large white truck blocking the far end, right outside the side entrance to Alexis’s office building. A quiet, cautionary voice inside his head tells him to slow down and stop before he gets too close. With the black limousine now motionless he finds himself exactly half-way down the narrow lane. Alexis notices that there’s maybe a problem and strains to see what seems to be blocking their way. There’s nothing about this situation that Eddie likes, it feels set-up just like a training operation. As the seconds elapse, he feels increasing levels of adrenaline entering his bloodstream and he decides sitting still is no longer an option.
    As Eddie puts the car into reverse gear a white BMW enters the lane behind them, blocking their exit. Eddie starts reversing slowly, showing the car behind the need for the blocked route to be circumvented. But it ignores the fact and continues to slowly move forwards, closing the gap between them all the while. With the aid of the rear view mirror, Eddie’s sharp eyes see that the two men inside the BMW are pulling down balaclavas to cover their faces. Now glancing forwards, it’s even more worrying to see that the driver of the truck in front has just raised its roller shutter door to reveal a 2nd man who’s holding a pair of Kalashnikovs. Immediately jumping down from the back of the truck he hands the driver one of the assault rifles. They raise them to their shoulders and turn in unison to point them directly at the slowly retreating black Mercedes.
    Being totally out-gunned there’s no point in reaching for the unlicensed SIG Sauer P226 semi-automatic pistol he keeps hidden in the glove box. Needing to extricate himself from this situation as quickly as possible Eddie decides to target the weakest part of the ambush, -the white BMW still blocking their exit back out onto Cornhill.
    â€œDOWN ON THE FLOOR!!”
Alexis hears the urgency and authority in his bodyguard’s voice and complies immediately. Already in reverse gear, Eddie stamps on the accelerator so that the powerful AMG V12 engine snarls back at him. Releasing the clutch there’s an enormous thump through the transmission as power is sent to all four of the extra-wide tyres, accelerating the vehicle backwards. What had seemed only moments before to have been a large and placid limousine has just been transformed into a very angry four tonne battering ram.
    Until now, the men in balaclavas had believed themselves to be in total control of the situation. Their ‘mark’, Alexis Vasilakos was to have been bundled into the truck, where he would have been bound and gagged. After switching vehicles on the outskirts of London, he was to have been taken to a waiting safe-house in the middle of nowhere until their demands were met in full. If the chauffeur was smart and didn’t get in their way, he’d simply be dragged from the car, knocked unconscious, hooded and left handcuffed to the railings. If he tried to be a hero then they’d shoot him dead. The kidnapping had been meticulously planned