“Yes, we are aware of that, which is why I’m asking you to hand over to Cousins and his team. You’ll meet tomorrow and brief him. How long do you need? One day or two?”
Jago could see that the commander was serious, and that this must be something big. The commander wouldn’t be involved otherwise.
“Cousins? Oh well, if I have to give up the case, at least the arms dealer won’t get away. With Cousins he’ll be lucky to come out of it alive. I’ll need two days, maybe three. Rob is out in the field, in Istanbul to be exact, and I’ll need to get a message to him to come in.”
Jago paused as if waiting for a response but there was none forthcoming. “I can use all of my team, can’t I?”
“Oh yes, you’ll need a good team, and maybe one or two extras. All of your choosing, of course. While I think about it, you may want to revise how many days you’ll need for a briefing.”
“Oh, really? Right, are you going to tell me what this is all about now?”
The commander reached inside his duffle coat and drew out a large manila envelope.
“Well, they say that there is no time like the present. So, here goes. Sorry about the envelope. I know that’s pretty old hat these days. But I’m a dinosaur. You know that.”
He opened the envelope and took out a bunch of papers and photographs. He drew one from the top of the deck.
“This first image shows the effects of a blast on an old people’s home last Christmas in a small place called Upper Fronton, in the north-east. It killed two outright and maimed eleven residents and staff.”
He handed Jago the photograph.
“I wasn’t expecting that. Who would bomb an old folks home, especially at Christmas? They must be hacked off or trying to get some serious attention. What type of blast was it?”
“Good question. Everyone initially thought that it must have been a gas leak of some sort, but that has been ruled out.”
“Then, what?”
“Well, all the usual avenues have been explored: propane, fuel on site, all sorts. However, there are indications that ammonium nitrate has been used. You know the stuff that was used in the Oklahoma, Bali and Oslo bombings? Regarding forensics, there have been a few bits, but nothing to speak of. Oh, and the device may have been placed on an exterior wall near to gas or the propane store. They’re still investigating.”
“Did you say last Christmas? How come we haven’t heard it in the news? It’s a primetime news story.”
“Indeed, it occurred on the 24th of December. We needed confirmation and couldn’t afford any mistakes. So, we slapped a ‘D’ notice on it.”
“Confirmation of what? Why was the home a target? Were they trying to get at a resident, or a member of staff for that matter?”
“My dear fellow, that’s the point. We don’t know, and that’s where you come in. I mean, after a comprehensive regional investigation, save for the type of blast, we are still none the wiser. Who else would we turn to?”
“And you want me to drop everything for this?”
“No Jago, not just for this. Hear me out.” He handed him a set of six photos and continued. “The following month, on the 25th to be precise, a letter bomb was sent to a small hospital in Hampshire. The secretary that opened it lost a hand and suffered severe injuries from fish hooks and razor blades. You can see the sort of stuff in the first three photographs. Again, after another thorough investigation, there appears to be no apparent motive or perpetrator.”
“So, there was no accompanying letter or phone message then?” Jago asked.
“No, nothing. And on February 24th, a group of school kids were on a trip visiting an old steam train in Devon when it was struck by a great ruddy tree that fell and crashed into the carriage behind theirs. Thankfully, nobody was badly hurt. An investigation revealed that there had been no wind, the tree was healthy, and it had been felled by an expertly-placed explosive charge that would have been remotely detonated. Forensics report that it was detonated via a mobile phone signal. These photographs show the damage to the train, the base of the tree site, and surrounding area.”
He handed Jago more photographs.
“Okay, three bombings so far. Where is the link? Is it the type of explosive?”
“No, I’m afraid not. They’re all different, as is their application. Although, there is clearly expertise here and that is probably military.”
“Is there a link between locations or individuals in those locations?”
“Not that we are aware of.”
“Are any demands being made?”
“No, none whatsoever. In fact, we have had no contact with anyone. No claims, no demands, absolutely nothing, and more worryingly, no one out there seems to know anything either. In March—”
“Don’t tell me — the 25th.”
“Oh, how astute of you,” replied the commander sarcastically, “Now you see why we have called upon your services. Yes, the 25th. Now, this is where it starts to get interesting. London-based Orenid Finance, a major government contractor for payments, suppliers, pensions et cetera were hacked, and payments made to pensioners and civil servants were severely disrupted.”
“Disrupted how?”
“Well, the IT boys tell me that it was quite a sophisticated attack, involving the usual re-routing across numerous continents, and it specifically targeted groups or clusters of payment receivers. They were in and out in fifteen minutes, but not before they had diverted over twenty-four million pounds and left a trail of damage that will take weeks, if not months, and millions more pounds to retrieve and repair. And that’s not all.”
“What do you mean, ‘not all’?”
“Shortly after the incident was detected, they detonated an explosive device in the server area of the building. It left three dead and seven with life-changing injuries.”
“Orenid Finance, why do I know that name? Have they had problems recently?”
Jago paced around in a small circle; he thought better that way. It generated energy for him.
“The hospital, what type of hospital was it?”
“Type of hospital? I’ll be blown if I know what type it was. It was a hospital. What’s the type got to do with it?”
“Was it an emergency unit, dementia care, geriatric, orthopaedic? I need to know what type it is.”
“Hang on, it must be in this file somewhere. Ah, here it is. It was a dementia hospital. Next to babies, probably the most vulnerable in our society.”
“Okay, the payments. I want profiles of who was paid and who wasn’t.”
“But … there are thousands.”
“So what? You do want this solved and stopped, don’t you?”
“Well, yes, of course. But it will take huge amounts of staff resources. I don’t know if I can—”
Jago cut him short.
“Commander, I don’t want to be rude, but I couldn’t care less how many staff it takes to get the job done, I just want it done. The resources are your problem. You want me to take this on, this is how I work. We get results, don’t we? That’s why you want my team, am I right?”
“Yes, of course you’re right. But remember, Jago. This has a political dimension to it.”
“Politics. I might have known. Isn’t there always?”
“No, not like this. This time it’s different.”
Jago had always been aware of the political ramifications arising from his work. In the main, he ignored them and got on with the job. After all, his political masters changed with the wind, but the real bosses remained in power and continued to pull the strings.
“What makes it different?”
“The politicians in the regions of each of these incidents are very twitchy. In fact, they are breathing down their respective police commissioners’ necks at every opportunity. They want results and quickly. Typically, they have no idea. They wouldn’t know a criminal or a terrorist if they came up behind them and bit them on the backside.”
“But each of them has only experie
nced one incident. What’s the big deal for them? Are they all from one political party or something?”
The commander’s tone softened. “Now, strangely they’re not. I just think it’s that the vulnerable have been targeted in their constituency. It is the fear of the unknown. You must consider this with whatever you need to do. Oh, and for the record … between us, I don’t care how you get your results, I just want a stop to this and quickly.”
“I understand, but today’s the 17th of May and you’re only giving me what, seven days at best, until they’re likely to strike again? And we don’t know when, where, why or who they are? I’ll call in my team and get working straight away. I’ll need all the appropriate and unrestricted access though. I don’t want any pathways blocked by any bureaucrats.”
“You’ll have what you need when you need it. If you do experience any problems, call this number and they will be sorted immediately.”
The commander handed Jago a card with a single phone number on it.
Jago thought for a moment. How come the commander came in person? And, why me? There would be others he could choose from.
“Jago, I know what you’re thinking. The truth is — I trust you. And I don’t know who else I can trust with this. It may be too close to home, and I can’t afford that. I know where your allegiances lie, what makes you tick, and that you will do whatever it takes. Jago, you know, I rather think that this may be one of your ultimate challenges.”
Jago made a mental note of the comment before responding. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?” He walked towards the end of the slalom course with the commander at his side.
“When you say ‘close to home’, how close do you mean? There is the obvious possibility of military knowledge in all this, but just how close?”
The commander removed the pipe from his mouth for the first time in their conversation and looked Jago in the eye.
“Let’s just say, nothing would surprise me these days. I have a hunch but that’s all. It’s based on nothing more than my intuition.”
“Would you care to share your hunch with me?”
The commander puffed on his pipe a couple of times before answering.
“At this juncture, I’d rather not. I don’t think that the unsubstantiated witterings of an old man are reason enough to break down what could be a number of false doors. Let’s just see what you chaps turn up, shall we?”
“I have one final question. What’s the significance of the dates and the value of the transaction? It’s a consistent message. So, what do you think it means?”
“I’m afraid that I haven’t the foggiest idea, but if anything comes to mind, I’ll be sure to let you know. Oh, and before I forget, there’s an outlier.”
“What kind of outlier are we talking about?”
“It may or may not be connected, nevertheless, it might be worth investigating a little. A Russian was drowned in shallow water on a beach in Spain. The details are in the file. Once again, there are no known connections.”
“Thanks for that, Commander. It was most enlightening. I’ll take a look at it. Anything else you’d care to share with me?”
“No, no, I don’t think so,” replied the commander who turned and started walking away while puffing on his pipe.
They walked the length of the slalom course, arriving at the bridge, and parted without a word.
Chapter 4 – The Briefing
10:30 hours 18th May
“Right, that’s Cousins and his team well briefed. Let’s hope that they don’t cock it up after all the time we’ve put in,” said Jago.
“Don’t worry, Boss,” Dom piped up in his northern accent. “I’ve worked with Cousins a few times in the past, and I know from experience that he hates gun runners. He’s served in a few hot spots and seen the effects first hand. They’ll never see him coming, and he holds no prisoners. He’d shoot them rather than deal with the paperwork.”
“Dom, you’ve been around forever. Is there anyone that you haven’t worked with?” said Abi, the youngest member of the team, yet with arguably the most crucial role of operations controller.
“Watch it, baby. Don’t get lippy. I might have to smack you.”
“Oh Dom, I’m scared. Mind you, there’s no chance of that happening, except in your dreams. I mean, how is an old man like you going to catch someone like me who can use her wheels to outrun anyone?”
Dom threw her a look and smiled.
“Do you two ever stop with the banter?” asked Fi, the newest member of the team and top-notch field operative.
“Fi, you know that’s the way we are. We’re made for each other. Right, Dom?”
“Yeah, right. It’s all in good fun and breaks the monotony, that’s for sure. It’s just a good crack.”
“Ladies and gents, shall we get on with it?” Jago said. He paused, waiting for their attention. “Right, you should have all seen the brief by now. Let’s get down to the details.”
The group sat attentively, brief in hand.
“We’ll start with the Willows Nursing Home. I want to know what kind of nursing home it was. Was it run-of-the-mill? Was it luxury? If so, how much were the bills? And who was paying them? I want a full profile of the home’s owners, staff and residents. And when I say ‘a full profile’ I mean full. I want complete backgrounds, family and extended family. Any name changes? Any criminal convictions? You name it, I want to know. While we’re at it, pay attention to the area. What was the specific meaning in targeting this particular place? The same goes for any significant date or time. I know the local boys have been very thorough, but they have yet to draw any conclusions. Abi, pull all of the files in the case and let Bernie have them.”
“Okay, Boss.”
“Bernie, I want you to know everything there is to know about the Willows Nursing Home, and I want you to know it like it was yesterday.”
“That’s fine, Boss, I’m already on to it,” said Bernie in his well-educated voice. Bernie’s intelligence analysis expertise was gained while working at the National Crime Agency. He retired early and became bored, resulting in him joining Jago’s team.
“Fi, I want you to get yourself down to Devon and speak to the local boys about the train incident. From what I’ve read so far, it’s one of those restored steam engine centres. A group of volunteers normally run the group and train rides to keep the pennies coming in. Find out what you can about the group and see if there is anyone we know. Oh, on the way down, do the same over at Little Coxford Hospital in Hampshire. Abi will give you the directions and a contact.”
“Will do, Boss.”
“In the meantime, I’ll get Abi to give the weapons intelligence a look over. There’s bound to be some signature in there somewhere.”
Jago looked over to Abi.
“It’s okay, Boss, I’ve got that covered.”
“Thanks, Abi.”
“I’m going to head over to Orenid Finance. I want to see what they do and how they do it exactly. I also want to get a better perspective on what was hacked and how. I’m also going to try to obtain some more CCTV footage and hope that we have better luck than the local boys.” Jago looked around the room at his team. They were the best for the job in hand. “As you know, Rob is still out in the field, and I’m going to reroute him on his way home.”
“Is he going anywhere lovely and cold, Boss?” Abi asked. “After all, he’s been soaking up the sun in Turkey for a good while now. He must be as brown as a berry.”
“No, Abi. Rob will be detouring to Spain to find out more about our dearly departed Russian friend. Where there’s help, there must be a paper trail of money and information, and we need to find it quickly.” He added, “Oh, and if they didn’t have help, we have other avenues of pursuit, don’t we? What about communications, known players et cetera?”
For the next hour, Jago and his team discussed the individual cases, examined scenarios and then attempted to hypothesise as to what the links could be. A central-hanging omnidire
ctional microphone recorded the meeting, after which it was encrypted by Abi.
“And I want to remind you that this is a Priority One classified case. It is not to be shared outside of this group with anyone. I repeat, anyone, and that is regardless of their position.” He paused again, this time for emphasis. He continued, “Fi, have you started getting the forensics from the bomb sites?”
Dom interrupted.
“Excuse me, Boss, when you say, ‘anyone’, does that include the likes of any member of the Joint Intelligence Committee? I mean, they have some clout when it comes to funding security ops et cetera.”
“Like I said, Dom, we do not speak to anyone. Besides that, they don’t fund our activities. That would mean acknowledging that we exist.”
The group fell silent. They knew from experience that this meant that it was highly probable that there was someone on the inside at work here.
Jago continued. “Well Fi, have you started getting forensics from the bomb sites yet?”
“Surprisingly, yes. How did you manage to get such easy access? Normally, I have to call in a few favours to get stuff this quick.”
“What can I say?”
“It will take some time to piece together some intel, but I’m on it. How long have I got?”
“I’d like some good weapons in three days or less. We need leads, and we need them fast.”
“Bloody hell. When do I sleep?”
“You don’t. Next?”
“I’ll do what I can today before I head off into the Devon sun. But I’ll continue with it when I return.”
“I’ve got all the files from each constabulary now,” Abi said. “And I’ve got the latest watch list from MI5. From what I’ve seen so far, the regions have done a thorough job, but they’ve all drawn blanks. Are we sure that these are all linked?”
“The truth is, we don’t know, Abi. But we do need to find out. What I need you to do with that marvellous detective brain of yours and your trusty computers is to sift out the finest detail that someone may have overlooked or missed. We need to join up the dots here.”
“Yes, I know, and I’ve got less than three days.”
Shades of Loyalty Page 3