STAB PROOF SCARECROWS

By Lance Manley

Chapter 37

THE MACC LADS vs. THE BRONX WARRIORS

"One morning me and Jacob were out in the ERV and had set up by the side of the road to see if we could catch anyone using a mobile phone while driving. Jacob's Job mobile was in the hands-free cradle and at about 10am we got an unexpected call.

“Hello this is Chief Inspector Nutall are you 10/8?”

“Hello Sir, yes I am” Jacob replies.

“Is Lance with you Jacob?”

“Yes Sir, he's next to me, do you want to speak to him?”

“No, it's ok. Can you get him to come and see me at 12pm please in my office”.

“No problem, will do Sir”.

The CI rings off and I look at Jacob. “What's that about?” feeling a little nervous.

“It's OK, he probably wants to just meet you to say hi. They do that sometimes with probationers. It's probably just a 'handshake' to welcome you to the Nick”.

I think on this. Doesn't quite gel. “But we've already had that with the Super' a few months ago. Who is he anyway?”

“Joined same intake as me. SUPER Fast Track that one. He's OK...look don't worry. If it was important they'd have requested it in writing”.

Half an hour later and we both end up nicking two blokes on suspicion of Theft after one was caught with money hidden in his shoe and the other dropped £200 in twenties on the floor during a search by his firm's security guard which I was overseeing. Jacob calls the CI back who tells me to come tomorrow instead at 11am.

At this point in my career I was not yet used to the underhanded ways of my PDU Sergeant, Kerwan and his deputy PC Esobé and of being lied to or deceived about what to expect. This time I trusted Jacob's reassurance that it was probably only a chat and although nervous to be heading up to the SMT floor, was confident it wasn't anything to get worked up about. As I left the Writing Room Jacob called after me “don't worry it'll be fine. Meet you back here later”.

I approached the SMT secretary, a serious woman who told me that they were all in their daily meeting and to take a seat. After about 20 minutes an Indian CI entered the room. He looked about late 20s early 30s and was tall and thin. I got to my feet as he entered, as per etiquette and he smiled and then said “hello Lance, I've just got some things to take care of and then I'll be with you OK?”.

Friendly and no trace of any annoyance so maybe this is just a chat. Jacob had told me to carry my cap under my arm as I entered the office and wait to be offered a seat before sitting down, just to give a good impression. The brim had practically worn a groove in my the soft skin of my upper arm when he returned a few minutes later and told me to follow him.

As we entered his office I was surprised to find PDU Ma'am sitting on the other side of the desk.

“Ma'am” I nod to her and she nods back.

“PC Manley”.

The CI takes his seat and motions me to sit. I put the cap on my lap and they both look at me.

He begins. “Now Lance the reason we've brought you in here today is that we understand that you're involved in a couple of websites. The Macc Lads and the Bronx Warriors”.

“Yes Sir, that’s right” I answer nodding. Jesus! Why the hell are Senior Management bothered about this?

“We're not sure what they are, we wondered if you could explain it”.

“Well they're just a couple of fan sites. They've been on the Net for years”.

After a pause he opens a cardboard folder and takes out two photocopied sheets of A4. I've always believed since then that he wanted to see if I'd deny involvement so he could pull them out and go “WELL, WHAT'S THIS THEN?”.

One is the main page of the Bronx Warriors website, with the ad line from the first film about the Bronx being No Man's Land, below are two images from the German DVD covers that I sold to Enzo and at the bottom is a photo of me and Enzo outside his office in Rome plus a counter to monitor how many people have visited the site.

The other is a page from the The Bear's Head and is a list of contributors to the site with photos.

“Can you explain your involvement please?”

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