Operation Sting Read Online Free

dark, glittering globes. A thin smile split across his face.
    The man he was with remained in the shadows. He was known to the group only as “the Insider”. All they knew was that he had some kind of connection to the creation of Whiplash and that their operation depended on him.
    Williams walked slowly over to Bullman, his shoes tapping on the concrete floor. Bullman drew back a little as he approached. Finally, Williams came to a halt with his nose barely three centimetres from Bullman’s.
    “Bullman,” said Williams softly, in his Cockney accent, “I’d like you to reassure me.”
    Bullman blinked at him. “I d-don’t quite follow you, boss,” he stammered.
    Williams’s smile broadened. “I’d like you to reassure me. Put my mind at ease.”
    “W-what about, boss?”
    “Couple of things,” said Williams quietly. “Item one: you weren’t really trying to break that case open with a screwdriver, were you? I mean, we’ve planned this robbery carefully, we’ve carried it out and now we’ve got the case, and inside it is an item worth millions and millions. You weren’t really having a go at it with a screwdriver, were you, Bullman? If you were, then I’d separate your legs from your body using an assortment of garden tools. But you weren’t, were you?”
    “N-n-no, boss!” gabbled Bullman. “N-no way, boss, I w-was joking, boss, just mucking about.”
    Williams didn’t move a muscle. His smile remained creepily wide and his voice remained calm. “That is good news, Bullman. I’m reassured on that point, thank you very much indeed. Now, item two: as I understand it, during the robbery, one of your boys fell over. Or fainted. Or something. Had to be carried back into the car. Could have ruined the whole thing. Reassure me that this was all down to the guy with the case being armed with a weapon. Reassure me that it’s not a case of one of my squad being a wimp.”
    “I-i-it was Fraser!” cried Bullman, pointing toanother of the men dressed in combat gear. “Not me!”
    Williams slowly turned his attention to the other man. Fraser suddenly felt an icy sensation run down his spine. No way was he going to admit that he thought he’d been stung by an insect!
    “I was hit, Mr Williams!” cried Fraser. “Something hit me. Really hard. That guy must have stunned me with a Taser!”
    “Did he?” said Williams softly. “Aw, that’s all right, then.” He paused for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands together and let out a long, braying laugh. The tension in the room was broken. Everyone laughed and realized they’d barely taken a breath in the last couple of minutes.
    “Come on, ladies and gentlemen,” cried Williams, “we’ve got some celebrating to do!”
    He picked up the metal case with one hand, and extended the other towards the mysterious man who was still lurking in the shadows. The Insider stepped forward and placed a small plastic card in Williams’s outstretched hand.
    Williams placed the card close to the handleof the case. The card transmitted a code, and the case bleeped. It clicked and opened.
    With great care, Williams lifted the lid of the case and removed Whiplash from where it rested in a smooth pad of protective plastic. Slightly smaller than a mobile phone, it was a plain brushed metal box with a set of connecting ports at one end and some words stamped in small black letters along the side.
    “PROTOTYPE – copyright © Techna-Stik”
    “Here it is,” declared Williams, “the key to our future. This little box. We carry around a lot of little boxes, don’t we? We talk to each other with them, we store our music on them, we watch telly on them. But this one is very different. This one is unlike any other on this precious planet of ours. Who would ever have thought that something this small could contain such power? And it’s a power we now possess.”
    A murmured ripple of agreement went through the people standing around the table. In the pale light from