Chapter 5

[chilly658]

5 Albion Road, Hounslow, London
Saturday 22nd January 2011

The time was six minutes past three on a wet morning but at least it had finally stopped raining in London for the time being and the house which had been boarded up in Albion road in Hounslow for over a year was in total darkness.

The original owner of the property had died some time back and as far as anybody knew had no living relatives which meant that the property remained unoccupied until the squatters had moved in some four months ago and it was they who lived temporarily in it now until such time as an eviction order could be processed and they could be forcibly removed which was scheduled for three weeks and one day from now, an eviction order which would never be carried out.

The Silver transit van rolled into the drive silently as the driver had turned off his engine and allowed it to slide into the drive with complete stealth and out of the passenger side stepped out a tall figure dressed completely in black with a black balaclava with just two holes for his eyes to see.

His name was Manuel Bonitez from Spain and he was the leader of this team of  four, two of whom stepped out of the double doors at the back of the silver transit dressed identically to him, the fourth, the driver remained inside the vehicle at his wheel in case a quick departure was required.

Manuel and his two colleagues very quietly made their way to the green front door where he used a key to open it effortlessly and then pointed so that one of his colleagues could produce a small pair of bolt croppers to cut the two security chains inside which the squatters had installed themselves and then the two chains quietly fell.

Manuel pushed the door open and quickly surveyed the area of the hall inside before indicating with his left hand for the other two to proceed inside which of course they did immediately upon his signal as the front door quietly 'creaked' as he held it open and he thought to himself how noise was so accentuated and enhanced in the dead of night as he shook his head to himself.

Once inside with the front door ajar he pointed to a room on the left.  "Dos en el primero hay."   He whispered to the other two in his native Spanish tongue.  "Two in here first."   As they all stepped up very silently to the door where he had indicated.

Manuel Bonitez pushed down on the brass handle and very quietly the dirty white wooden panelled door swung open to reveal a man and a woman asleep on a double sized mattress on the floor which was surrounded by food cans, clothing and other waste which was yet to be discarded and he then motioned his two former Spanish Army colleagues inside.

One of his colleagues made his way to the left of the mattress where the woman was facing away from the man next to her while his other colleague, the taller one made his way to the right to where the man was facing his girlfriend's back and both were unconsciously oblivious to the fact that they were no longer alone.

Manuel produced one paper mask which he then doused with chloroform and then handed to his friend on the left before pulling out the second white mask from his pocket which he also doused and handed to the tall man on the right.

They both watched him in the darkened room as he looked down at the unwitting sleeping squatters. "Ohara."  He whispered in Spanish.  "Now."

Both men knelt down simultaneously, the one on the left gently pushed the paper mask in his hand toward the sleeping woman's face without actually touching it whilst covering his own so that the rising vapours didn't have any effect on him, allowing her lungs to fill with chloroform and hopefully she wouldn't even rouse from her slumber.

The tall Spaniard did the same to the man while kneeling very carefully on the mattress behind him before he was able to slip the two white elastic bands attached to the mask around the sleeping man's head and he knew nothing ever of what had just happened to him.

Suddenly however on the other side of the mattress the woman's eyes opened as her lungs filled and stared into the Spaniards eyes.

Quickly and without even thinking about it he strapped the mask to her face and she gave out a muffled plea as he pulled back the duvet, took her wrists in both of his hands and crossed them, and held them onto her own chest as she stared up at him, her eyes bulging as the chloroform finally took effect.

Manuel looked at his watch and knew that since they had arrived up to this point had taken them seven minutes and he pointed his finger.  "Upstars."   He whispered.  "Upstairs."

they soon reached the landing of the upper floor while Manuel doused three more masks this time and handed one to each of his colleagues. "Coaccion de la nariz."  He told the shorter colleague.  "Cover your nose."  So that he didn't accidentally render himself unconscious too.

The other two entered a room while Manuel took on one by himself this time, a young man who was fast asleep facing away from him.  "Perfecto."

Manuel moved closer and knelt down beside the mattress and held the white paper mask next to the man's face and allowed him to breath in until he slipped the white elastic over his head, attaching the mask to his face, this one never regained consciousness thanks to Manuel Bonitez and his ruthless efficiency.

The other two came out of the other room where they had subdued two more women and Manuel pointed to the next room.  "Una mujer que."  He told them "One woman there." And pointed to himself indicating that he would deal with her. 

He then pointed to the room at the end of the the long hallway.  "Hombre y la mujer no."  He whispered to them.  "Man and woman there."   And with a finger indicated that they would be dealing with them, so they entered that room.

They waited while he doused two more masks for them to take with them and then they headed into the end room and Manuel waited this time for them to re-emerge some five minutes later before he stepped inside the last room where a single woman slept soundly and was facing him.

Manuel was confident as always and his arrogance allowed him to open the door and walk straight over to her where he quite nonchalantly placed the mask directly over her face and of course she immediately woke up.

His brown Spanish eyes stared down into her eyes as she muffled pleas and tried to scream to her friends for help but of course none would be coming and Manuel knew that, they had already been dealt with of course.

As her focus drifted with her state of consciousness he smiled down at her as she tried one last time to free the mask from her face as her eyes became heavier and heavier.  "Shh."   He told her with a smile and her eyes finally closed, allowing him to wrap the white elastic around her head.

They immediately began to carry their unconscious victims out of the house where they were loaded into the van one at a time while the driver stood watch and as his two colleagues laid the last man inside and climbed in behind him, Manuel looked at his wrist watch, the time was 3:39am and he knew they needed to improve on their times, that took thirty three minutes.

But at ?2000 a head, they had just earned ?16,000 which in his eyes was a good night's work.

The van pulled away and headed out of Albion road where it turned left onto Hibernia road and headed to the A314 Hanworth road where it could now travel the back roads east toward London's docklands area where they would offload their cargo.

It had gone completely unnoticed for months by the police because as far as the other residents of Albion road were aware was that finally the squatters had moved on and had probably gained entry into somebody else's property.

A neighbour next to the house had told his friend.  ?Good riddance to them.?  But unbeknown to him and everybody else, they had all been sold into slavery.

It would take the authorities weeks, even months to realise that they were not just taking the roaming homeless from the streets, Indigo concentrate their efforts on anybody who would not attract immediate attention.