Catch as Catch Can (The Merseyside Crime Series Book 1), Malcolm Hollingdrake [best large ereader .TXT] 📗

was a computer expert, working on computer sciences at an Albanian university before coming here. I looked up the term as I was unsure what computer science involves. I discovered that it was the study of the processes that interact with data. It’s about the use of algorithms to manipulate, store and communicate digital information.’

Moving to the nearest whiteboard she wrote down the words, manipulate, store and communicate.

‘I feel these words may be a key, a possible code for us to decipher. He also worked with something called ASCII. This too may be a link. It’s an abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. To me that suggests passing something from one to another, part of his code? As we sit here, better brains than mine are correlating this data with the information we have. Whilst with this criminal group we know that Abid specialised in their planning and dealt with certain accounts. We also know he worked with the mules, our cruisers, the Brinkman, who are now in custody. His role, according to their dealings with him, was setting up their cover and the feeding of information. Now, according to Kelly, she was aware of a change in Abid’s personality after he took a risk. He purchased crypto currency. This would’ve been fine had the money been his. It wasn’t. It was purchased through a website called Clickfolio. He’d purchased a considerable amount of a specific currency called Zil and he’d initially done well.’

Brad tapped his pen on the desk as he looked at his mobile. April stopped. Brad looked up, realised his error and mouthed an apology. She raised an eyebrow and continued.

‘If you recall, a few years back this form of investment crashed after meteoric increases. Millions were made and lost overnight. Since then, things have stabilised, but there are still peaks and serious troughs. We identified his password. Can you believe the word 6eck0? You see the connection was key. It was their matching tattoos. We could track his transactions. Initially, he did well, however, a month ago, his whole investment dropped off the cliff reducing it to a pittance. We know from Kelly that he was given time to recoup as the majority of the investment was not his. It was then he had the tattoos done and bought the medal. I strongly believe these may well be part of his escape plan.’

Skeeter looked at the words April had written and then back to the report. She scribbled some notes. It was like the penny had finally dropped.

‘You’ll read why the Perspex disc is relevant. I have a hunch as to how it came to be found at his burial site. You may, too, when you’ve digested Paula’s report. We couldn’t get into certain parts of the hard drives as the tech people believe they are mined. If they get it wrong a set number of times, the disc will either be wiped clean or it will destroy itself. We’ll have to be patient before we discover anything else. It’s the same with the memory stick we recovered. It seems he wanted us to find only certain things and not others. It’s as if we’re being drawn along. Now, whether that’s safe is for us to decide but time is ticking and it’s my hunch we don’t have too long.’

The phone in front of Alex pinged. April and Tony stood as they looked across at him. ‘Go! Firearms are on their way. Road and area’s secured. You’re expected.’

Chapter 31

Don finished a second cigarette and lay back in the van, his eyes closed. His feet dangled over the edge, just touching the ground, as he clasped his hands across his stomach. He inhaled and a smile came to his lips.

‘This is the life. Heigh bloody ho, it’s off to work we don’t bloody go.’ He opened an eye momentarily and chuckled.

Flamur looked at Asif and smiled before running a finger across his throat. Asif moved sideways and studied the prostrate and slightly rotund figure. He focused on the exposed throat. Feeling the bone on his wrist, he turned his palm and made a rigid, karate-type hand pose before lifting it. The first blow had to be accurate. He brought it crashing with full force onto Don’s Adam’s apple and the dull crack of the thyroid bone disintegrating echoed within the thin, metal van walls. Immediately, a sharp and desperate gurgling and gasping noise erupted from Don’s mouth. Snot exploded from his nose as the air was forced outward. His bulging eyes neither focused nor blinked as his hands moved towards the damage.

With another swift action, Asif slipped his arms behind Don’s bent knees and lifted, pushing sideways until his body was shoved into the van. He followed. Dropping onto the victim he forced his hands across both his mouth and nose. Don struggled but not like a man fighting for his life. He was too busy trying to get air into his lungs. Only seconds later the backs of his shoes kicked feebly at the van’s floor like diminishing cymbal strikes. On hearing the last one register, Asif rolled off his victim and began to breathe deeply.

Flamur turned and looked inside. ‘Well done, Bully.’ He always used his nickname. ‘Neat, very, very neat. Now we need the boxes out.’ Picking up his phone he sent a message before scanning the road. Sadiq should be joining them shortly. They would burn the van. Down here it would be ash before it was discovered.

Chapter 32

The meeting continued. Skeeter looked across at Brad as he watched them leave. His phone was now on his knee. Occasionally the screen lit, illuminating the area beneath as he checked it. He did not seem to learn. She returned to Kelly’s file, scrutinising the images of the tattoos on her fingers and then the drawings she had recovered from the girl who had tattooed Abid. Arabic numbers. The similarity between the two was apparent but one was of a higher