by Alec Peche
“I remember your thick red vinyl raincoat not only keeping you dry but repelling poisonous darts,” Jill added.
“I remember Nick using a police siren ringtone to scare off the man shooting darts off at us,” Jo added with a grin. “He was inventive in our protection, but wide-eyed at our boldness.”
They all held out water bottles and jointly cheered, “To Nick”.
After a pleasurable tour of the museum, they debated their next move.
“Should we ride to Caerphilly Castle? My GPS says it’s ten miles to walk, so that would take us perhaps an hour to get there by bike,” Jill suggested.
“That’s not a far ride; it should take us less than an hour to get there. Our other choice would be to return to the hotel and get a taxi there,” Jo said.
“Let’s ride! When will we ever have another chance to see some of this country?” Angela stated.
“We might get lost,” cautioned Marie.
“I’m okay with that,” Jill mused, and with nods from Angela and Jo, they set off on the adventure of finding Caerphilly. It was an adventure as their instincts were wrong on the road since the United Kingdom drove on the opposite side of the road from America. Despite Marie’s concern, they rolled up to the castle about an hour later. They had enough time to tour the medieval castle before their bike ride back to Cardiff.
Throughout the afternoon, Jill had checked her phone for new emails, but none were forthcoming. She was glad they spent their time outdoors rather than banging their heads against a lack of new information. They had enough time to reach their bike rental before it closed and the dim light of dusk began.
Chapter 11
The remaining fifteen members of Operation Gladio were seated on chairs or the floor lining the small apartment. The building was composed of reinforced concrete as many were in Le Havre; built since WWII. Long ago an earlier generation had purchased the apartment where it remained behind a curtain of shell companies that had since dissolved. It was utterly soundproof, so the men could raise their voices and not fear being overheard. As happened for the past fifty years, the conversation was conducted in Guernésiais while members represented Italy, France, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Other European countries had once belonged too, but they had died out with their members. Today was the first meeting with every member present in over five years. That previous meeting had been far more crowded. Jean-Louis Agnes looked around the room waiting for all conversations to end. He’d been their leader for the past fifteen years. He was in his early seventies and had joined Gladio almost fifty years ago. Thinking back to the mood when he joined the group, he couldn’t have imagined the conversation they were about to have – how to end it.
As silence reigned, Jean-Louis began with the incantation that every meeting began with since their first meeting. The men joined him in saying the words in Latin “By being silent, I protect liberty.”
Looking around the room, he said with a weary voice, “I remember when women belonged to this group. Perhaps they have shown more wisdom than us men as we haven’t recruited one in some thirty years.”
The men were silent both acknowledging his comment and waiting for him to move on to the purpose of the meeting.
“As you all know I called this meeting to discuss the resolution of Operation Gladio. We have had many discussions over the past decade but have been unable to reach a consensus. I am ready to mandate a consensus if we can’t reach one today.”
Several men looked surprised at his comment and frowned. Never in the history of the group had the commander said he would reach a decision if the men failed to do so. Opinions were deeply divided, and Jean-Louis wondered if the man that killed Nick Brouwer and those who opposed dissolution of the group were ill? How they could fail to see the changing landscape of the world was beyond them, but like Nick, he saw no future for this group other than killing each other. Nicholas had voiced that very comment at their last meeting.
“What do you mean, you will decide for us? That is wrong,” said a man who Jean-Louis knew to be opposed to the group’s end. “You’re just an old man, and you lack the energy to be our leader.”
With a sigh, he replied, “Yes I am an old man, but as we have discussed before there appears to be no purpose for this group.”
“What about ISIS? We need to protect our countries from them,” said another man.
“What have we done in the past five years to protect our countries from the Islamic State?” Jean-Louis asked. “We lack the intelligence gathering abilities to contribute to that battle. Have we had a role in preventing any of the terrorist bombings of our homes? No, because we lack the sophisticated technologies that the major spy agencies have to source those bastards’ actions.”
“Abandoning the cause is an insult to all the men that went before us. I’m sure they’re rolling in their graves over our discussion today.”
Jean-Louis looked directly at Girard and said, “They’ve been rolling in their graves the past ten years over the lack of action by this group and for us falling behind in technology. You don’t even know how to turn on the latest in smartphones. ISIS can’t be bothered spying on us because we are so ineffective at sussing them out. We were created to prevent the spread of communism, and that’s not the threat in the world at the moment, nor has it been since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. We are irrelevant, and today we either vote to dissolve the group peacefully, or we’ll begin an internal war and kill each other. Either way, we’ll embarrass our forefathers, but at least we’ll be alive to enjoy our freedoms.”
“And our role in discovering hidden Nazi treasures?”
“Again, we haven’t found a treasure to return to its rightful owner in the past two years,” Jean-Louis replied.
“We haven’t completed our mission of finding the Nazi gold train; that was one of our founding tasks,” Girard said.
“Girard, when have you spent weeks at a time looking for the train? I think we can leave that to experienced treasure hunters. The most recent exploration of the train’s location was in Poland, a country we haven’t looked in for at least three decades. Perhaps we’ve been chasing a myth on that one.”
“What about the women snooping around Cardiff over Nick’s death. Shouldn’t we have a plan to eliminate them? We don’t want to be publicly exposed.”
“We’ve survived government hearings in Italy, if the Operation is truly dissolved this time, we’ll survive any public exposure merely by the fact we will no longer exist, and there is no record of our members.”
Jean-Louis looked around the room and silently counted votes in his head. He thought he perhaps had a 70-30 vote to dissolve the group, but the unknown was whether the thirty percent would turnaround and murder the seventy percent. If that were indeed the case, then he and the rest of that larger group would need to take precautions to survive the coming internal war. He knew he had no desire to kill a fellow member.
“Is there any more discussion?” he asked looking around the room. No one raised their hand. It appeared that no more discussion or compromise was on the tip of any tongue in the room.
“Please raise your hand if you think that Operation Gladio should cease at the end of this meeting,” Jean-Louis said and raised his hand in the air.
Counting the raised hands, he announced, “Thirteen ayes to end the Operation.” Then he said, “Raise your hand if you want the Operation to continue.”
“Two votes to continue Operation. As I noted earlier, as the leader of this group, I’m going to move us beyond the impasse and dissolve this group effective immediately.” Looking over at the two that voted to continue the Operation, he said, “Gentlemen, our Operation has ceased. Should you wish to continue searching for the Nazi gold train on your own or any other past task of this group, I’ll make available to you access to all informants and information that we have. Is there anything else I can do?”
Girard gave him a hateful stare, looked at the other man that had voted with him and stood up t
o leave the room. He muttered on the way out, “Watch your back.”
Jean-Louis sighed for the final time and said, “Gentlemen, I do believe we have a problem. I think Girard sees our vote as a violation of our Founders’ creed, but it’s a different world than sixty years ago. I think that Girard probably killed Nick Brouwer for his views on dissolving this group and now I believe the rest of us are at risk as well. Suggestions on how to defend ourselves?”
“There are thirteen of us and two of them; it seems like we shouldn’t have let them leave this room,” said another member. “We should have taken care of our problem here and now.”
"I think we’re all hopeful that our dissenters will find cooler heads after their journey to the U.K., or perhaps the police there will capture them, but the thought of shedding blood in this apartment was not on my agenda today,” Jean Louis said. “Let’s do a daily call-in among the thirteen of us to make sure that any of us that die, do so of natural causes over the next several months. I would advise that you decline all invitations to meet another member of Operation Gladio for fear that our two dissidents are trying to catch you alone. If we notice any further killing of any of us by the two of them, I will do a roll call invite for a meeting of all of us at this apartment forthwith.”
After a pause, he added, "I do believe that our only problem is Girard. Giovanni has enjoyed our companionship over the past fifteen years, but he's never killed to my knowledge, and I don't think he has it in him."
There was agreement with his comments and plan as they all wanted to get on with their lives and the idea of constantly watching their backs was unappealing. However, the alternative of killing the two members that day was equally unappealing as no one had killed anyone in nearly two or three decades. They could only hope that as they dispersed far and wide to their respective countries and cities, that Girard and Giovanni would be unable to target them all at once, or instead might be distracted by the women investigating Nick’s death.
Chapter 12
It was time to head north to other beautiful sites in the United Kingdom. They had rearranged their hotel and train schedule to spend extra time in Cardiff. They felt that they had completed any on-site investigation into Nick’s death and now could assist the police in solely an Internet manner. With that in mind, they informed Detective Inspector Jones of their future travel plans. He didn’t appear to be sad to see them go. They took two taxis to the train station and set out for Manchester. After spending a day there, they would board the train for Edinburgh, Scotland. Jill had been watching people as was her habit and she was frowning at two groups of people that she could swear she’d seen in Cardiff.
The four friends were sitting across from each other in a four-passenger grouping when Jill whispered “I think I’ve seen two groups of people on the train with us before in Cardiff. One group consists of a man and woman, and the other contains two men.”
“I think I know who you’re talking about,” Marie agreed. “Angela, you didn’t by chance catch them on camera?”
“I might have; describe them for me.”
“The one group is trying to act like they’re a couple, but in my mind they’re lousy actors. He’s about six feet tall, pale skinned, unremarkable brown hair, in his late thirties to early forties, slightly on the slender side wearing jeans and a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows. His ‘spouse’ has black trousers, a frumpy sweater, and a tweed jacket as well. They've been too busy giving us furtive looks to give each other lover like glances,” Jill described.
Jo shook her head and in a low voice said, “Once again I missed that we were being followed let alone a single description of anyone in our immediate vicinity. Now that you’ve tickled my imagination, I’ll watch for that group.”
Her three friends just smiled at her in indulgence. Jo could walk around the same block when on vacation in Europe and not recognize it. She floated on their travels and missed sights, sounds, and people that the other three women saw as she was distracted by contentment.
Angela had her camera out and was skimming through her recent pictures for people in the background that met Jill’s description, but since she hadn’t been aware of the two pairs, she focused on getting pictures without people in them.
“I don’t have them on my camera; do you remember their clothing so I can be sure to snap them going forward?”
Jill and Marie described the two couples for Angela, and then they discussed what to do next.
“We could get off the train and then get back on the next one coming through the station. If we did it close to our destination, it wouldn’t be much of a fare difference,” Jill suggested.
“We could get off in Glasgow and spend overnight in that town,” Jo suggested. “Is it easier or harder to shake our followers in a small city or a big city?”
“We’ve never had luck in either type,” Marie said.
“How about if we transfer to a local bus in Glasgow and see if they follow us on the bus to Edinburgh. Then we could hop off the local bus one stop short of the main bus depot,” Jill suggested.
“We’re not exactly inconspicuous with our large American luggage,” Angela noted.
“If we do the bus scheme, maybe we could look out the back window to see if we’re being followed and if they get on the bus with us we could confront them and see where that takes us,” Jo suggested.
The women all privately shuddered at the thought of causing a scene in their own country let alone one in a foreign country.
“How about if we split up with two staying on the train and two heading for the bus in Glasgow. Then both groups will leave our prospective transportation at the last stop before Edinburgh and take Uber to the hotel and meet?” Angela suggested.
Everyone thought for a moment and agreed to Angela’s idea. Angela and Jill would take the bus route. That way, Maria and Jill who thought they had each seen their followers would be paired with someone that hadn’t noticed. It would take Angela and Jill longer to reach their destination, and they would need Uber to get from Glasgow Central to Buchanan Street for the bus, but Angela looked at it as having an additional opportunity to take pictures. They were thankful that they had Wi-Fi on the train to plan these spur of the moment changes. They would all head to Haymarket, and then take a car service to the hotel in the Charlotte Square area. Making their plans, they gave a unified fist pump while Jill added, “One for all and all for one.”
“We sure have adventures whenever we’re together now,” Marie noted. “Do you think it’s karma?”
“I don’t know,” Jill replied. “Our adventures have brought closure for people wondering about their loved ones. So while it may seem that we attract murder and mayhem, perhaps we’re just thrown into the mix to give other people answers.”
“I like that explanation,” Jo agreed. “We were put here to bring people answers. It helps to be reminded of that; that our lives together have a higher meaning.”
“Just think we could be having a boring train ride, but instead we’re trying to outsmart some people perhaps wishing to do us harm, I’m looking forward to our adventure in Glasgow,” Marie said. “I think Jo and I should get off the train and stretch our legs and then jump back on, just to cause confusion.”
“How about our luggage?” asked Jo.
“I think it’s safe for the few minutes we’re off the train, and if someone takes these seats, we’ll move elsewhere in the car. That should help muddy the waters while Jill and Angela actually get off with their luggage.”
With the plan in place and Glasgow coming up in ten minutes, Jill and Angela set about taking down their luggage at the same time as the other passengers planning on getting off at that station. Once the train came to a halt, the four got off, with Angela and Jill heading for the exit while Marie and Jo scampered back aboard to resume their seats. Jill and Marie were looking for their four suspects to see what happened. Both carried their iPhone to grab a picture if the opportunity presented itself.
&
nbsp; Fifteen minutes later two women were on the train heading for Edinburgh, and the other two were purchasing tickets at Buchanan Bus station for their ride. Jill and Marie had managed to capture pictures of the people following them to share with Angela and Jo. They didn’t know if the two men got back on the train, but they lost the other two thanks to their Uber ride. Taxis were in a different area, so they’d been unable to get a ride. If the people tailing them were smart, they'd figure out Uber by Haymarket and have it ready. Angela and Jill high fived each other at their loss of the tail.
Marie showed Jo a picture of the people tailing them, and they watched as people passed through their car but didn’t see a match. They debated whether one of them should check one of the other cars for the men, but decided there was no sense alerting them if they were on board. If they weren’t on board the train, they were pretty incompetent followers.
“I’m going to send these pictures to Henrik to see if he can identify these people,” Marie said. “I can’t believe that someone has reason to tail us. Surely they know that we didn’t have contact with Nick before his death.”
“Just assume they’re crazy and then everything makes sense,” Jo said with a smile. “What else could we do to lose them?”
“Did you see if the female followed Jill and Angela?”
“No. Why?”
“I thought we could ditch them in the bathroom at Haymarket. Go and pull some clothing out of suitcases so that we’re wearing something different. We’ve both got ponchos and scarfs. Maybe we can make the poncho hood into a hijab with the help of the scarf. Maybe we could add pounds to our frames by putting more clothes on and change from sneakers to boots so that we’re taller,” Marie suggested.
“You've been watching too many spy movies, but I’m game,” Jo replied. “I hope I don’t pass out from the heat with all that clothing or freak out with all that stuff around my neck,” Jo said mentioning one of her quirks; she couldn’t stand to have jewelry or clothing around her neck.