Dark Secrets

by Doug Pountain

  Graham was more than pleased that the team were all safe and well, and so now he entered the Hotel looking forward to the reunion with everyone. This Hotel was the favourite place of heads of states and so called “A” list Celebrities and now it was a temporary home to the best hackers in the world, and all at no cost to themselves. Graham approached the desk and told the receptionist that he was booking into the Rupert Castle Suite.

  “Just one moment please sir, replied the receptionist, I just need to confirm your reservation”.

  A brief telephone conversation confirmed that all was satisfactory and Graham was given a large envelope from the safe behind the desk.

  “Everything you need for your stay is confirmed inside, and there will be no need to check in any further details, please enjoy your stay with us and use elevator number four, the key is in the envelope. Have a nice day sir”.

  As Graham turned around he was greeted by the welcome sight of his friends just entering the lobby, he put his finger to his mouth and everyone understood his meaning as to say nothing, he then made his way as instructed to the elevator closely followed by the team, and as the doors opened and they were greeted by the elegantly dressed bellboy.

  “Good morning sir, please enter, what floor would you like”?

  Graham ripped the seal from the envelope he had been given and showed the bellboy the special key.

  “I will step out sir, please place the key in the slot on the main panel and turn it fully clockwise, this elevator is now your personal property for the length of your stay, and please have a nice day.” The comment brought a large smile to a very tired Graham.

  Everyone got in and the doors closed silently behind them, Graham inserted the key and turned it and the lift rose quickly and quietly to the Penthouse Suite, and as the doors opened it revealed just how the other half live. This was the suite that certain Government Departments used for their very special guests who needed to remain completely anonymous and expected nothing but the best, and the sumptuous fittings of the suite said it all. There was gold leaf everywhere including the bathrooms, this was sheer opulence at its best, this was certainly no two up and two down terrace.

  But regardless of the luxury that confronted them, more importantly they were all safe and for the moment that was all that mattered. Carol couldn’t wait to greet her Husband with a kiss and she was the first to stamp her mark by claiming the biggest bed room leaving the others to fight it out. Carl and Roger decided on a large room with two enormous single beds, leaving Joyce and David to share another double room.

  Carl turned to David “None of that funny stuff with Joyce just because you have to share a king size bed, she doesn’t fancy you anyway. She is saving herself for me not you, or the wop here with me”.

  “Little do you know”? Thought Joyce to herself.

  “Right, unpack and let’s get down to business, said Graham, but first I need to tell you what happened on my magical mystery tour with the FBI”. Graham went on to explain the full details of his meeting and also that Sir Richard had confirmed the identity of Director Colby who is also going to give us his full co-operation.

  “Do you trust him”? Asked Roger.

  “The problem is that at the moment I don’t have a lot of option, but let’s play that by ear shall we? I am going to call him now to arrange a visit to Fermi’s apartment ASAP as he was smelling a little the other night so it’s bound to be much worse now”.

  With that said, Graham made the call and it was agreed that they would meet there at 12pm which gave everyone a little time for a shower and something to eat, and they ordered breakfast which would be delivered to their room in thirty minutes, so the group went to their separate rooms to get ready.

  “Are you alright Joyce”? Asked David,

  “I think so, she replied. Truthfully I am still a little shell shocked by the speed this is all happening, it seems so surreal that after such a short space of time the things I have done and are doing, it is like a story from a film, but this is real life”.

  “We are all so pleased with you Joyce, your performance has been incredible, remember it is not always like this”.

  “It may not be, but I am finding it very exciting and I just want to play my part and not let anyone down”.

  David smiled at her and gave her a large hug. “You have already proved yourself and now you will only get better”.

  The group were now all showered and dressed just as the phone rang, “Good morning sir we have your breakfasts here, will you send the elevator down please”? The room had a direct feed of the CCTV and so Graham sent the lift down and watched as the trollies were put in to the elevator and the Hotel staff stepped out and smiled at the camera above the lift door, before a few seconds later the doors opened in the suite with everything that was ordered, full breakfasts for the men and cereal and fruit for the girls. Even though they were all very tired, the food was a most welcome distraction from the immense pressure they were all under, they realised their lives were still very much at risk.

  “When we have been to Fermi’s apartment I am going contact Aslanov, I am hoping that in the cold light of day that we will discover some more information that will help us”.

  David asked “What happens if Colby gets there before us and searches Firmi’s rooms”.

  “I thought about that, so I didn’t give him the address, I said I would call him as we were leaving here. I am happy at the moment to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I still don’t want to give him everything, let him prove himself first. I know it is very early but I am going to call Sir Richard and keep him in the loop, remember he is the only Brit who knows we are here, and that’s our only safe guard”.

  Graham had a brief discussion with Sir Richard who confirmed “that they had now picked up the American Liaison Officer who was working at GCHQ and that he was downstairs, but he hadn’t been interviewed yet and even the Americans don’t know we have him.

  “Graham, there is one other thing you should be aware of, I was informed a short time ago that Herr Bloche’s wife is booked onto the late flight to New York so that may be a complication”.

  This wasn’t news that Graham had wanted to hear, what was she coming for? She obviously didn’t know her Father was dead, and so her arrival could definitely throw a spanner in the works, Graham kept everyone up to speed on the latest development.

  “Look Roger, if it comes to the worst I think you should meet her flight and tell her about her Father and guide her away from causing any problems, but I think that’s what she’s here for anyway, she wants retribution for her husband”.

  About 11am Graham and the others made their way down to the lobby and ordered two cabs which were there in seconds and the group set off for Greenwich Village and Fermi’s apartment. Graham made sure they were close to the address before contacting Director Colby. The team arrived only a few minutes before the FBI who turned up as Graham had expected in force, their lead main man was well over 6 feet tall and obviously wanted to be in control.

  “My men will go in first as protection for you”.

  To which Graham quickly replied. “Don’t be fucking stupid, the man’s dead, just open the door”.

  They went into the building and it was very obvious that the smell was now indeed much worse, “This is the apartment” Said Graham, as the FBI team drew their guns.

  “Look, relax a little, I can assure you he won’t fight back”.

  Two large men now stepped forward and kicked their way in, and one of them was immediately sick and the other had to go out for some fresh air, Graham turned to Carol and Joyce “Look it stinks in here why don’t you go outside and wait”?

  “Not on your life, the more eyes in here the better”. Came the reply. As they entered the very elegant apartment and started to look around, Carl whispered to everyone “If you see something, tell me but not the Gorillas”.

  With the FBI team now partially recovered from their sickness, they examined the body wh
ereas Graham’s team were more interested in the contents of the rooms and especially the books.

  “Please don’t remove anything without checking with me first”. Said Gorilla 1.

  “As if we would”. Roger found an “Italians Guide to New York” on the book case and he flicked through it before turning his back and quickly putting it in his pocket. There were many personal items in the apartment but no reference to anything out of the ordinary, and after about an hour of searching and stepping over the body and congealed blood, Graham’s team had had enough. “It’s all yours now”. He said and the group left everything else to Gorilla 1, I will speak to your boss shortly, and they left.

  Back at the Hotel and in the relative safety of their room, Roger took out the book from his pocket.

  “I know Fermi was not a local, but he does have contacts here and so this book appears to be a little out of place and a strange item to have”. He flicked through the pages again and noticed that every so often words were highlighted, but they appeared to be completely random, but the group all knew that there must have some sort of connection or ulterior motive. Fermi wasn’t the sort of man who would go sightseeing anyway. They all took it in turns trying to make some kind of sense of it all, but to no avail.

  “Your turn Joyce”. Said Carol as she handed her the book.

  She looked and agreed with everyone that the words were indeed very random, but she was a very logical person by nature and also very determined and bloody minded. But after an hour she was no further forward and starting to feel a little frustrated, that was until she noticed that the first two letters of the underlined words were all simple vowels, no xyz or anything like that. She turned to the back page which was a large street plan of the City and suddenly she had a revelation. She realised that the pages with marked words had two per page, she then counted down from the top of the page the line number and realised that if you looked at the first two letters and then the line number then it gave a grid reference for the map. The others were sat discussing their next move which was really only contacting Aslanov and then playing it by ear, that was until Joyce put her hand in the air.

  “Excuse me but I think I may have something”. She quickly went on to show them what she may have discovered. “You Clever Cow”. Said Carol. The map was laid on the table and the grid references obtained from the book were marked on the map.

  “We must assume these are the targets. Good God, look what they have chosen. Ellis Island, Grand Central Station, City Hall and the Natural History Museum, if those buildings have got the same sort of device in them as the one we found in the warehouse then the whole of New York could disappear, but surely you wouldn’t need that many to do the job would you? David you’re the whizz kid on explosives, what do you think”?

  “Your right, that’s far too much, but what if they are not dirty bombs as such”.

  “What do you mean”?

  “Well, we know that the one we discovered in the warehouse certainly contained radioactive material but that doesn’t necessarily make it a bomb that goes bang as I said before. I personally think the device was never designed to go nuclear, but we won’t know all the details until Colby’s men have examined it fully. But I am still certain that I am right in saying that it was far too small to contain a trigger mechanism. I still believe that the explosive would only burst the flask and contaminate the local area making it radioactive. The more I think about it the more convinced I am now that my original idea that the Russians are not involved may be wrong, but whoever is responsible we know that they would be blamed for this sort of attack and we all realise the consequences of that with this President”.

  “I believe the only way we can be certain of anything is to find whatever has been placed at these addresses, but our biggest problem is that we have no idea of the time scale involved, for all we know it could be today. Fermi was killed for a reason and now he is out of the way that’s one less source of a leak for Aslanov, we need to monitor his every move and the only person who can do that is Colby”.

  Everyone agreed that David’s analysis of the situation was correct and it was now time to make a move. Graham made an immediate call to Colby and requested a meeting.

  “A car will pick you up from your hotel in 10 minutes and I will meet you in Central Park”. Said Colby.

  It was starting to rain as they made their way out of the hotel and into the waiting car, everywhere the Christmas decorations on the streets were twinkling and people were going about their everyday lives with no idea of the threat that could be facing them at any time, but that’s the way it should be, if they were to found out then utter panic would ensue with many casualties, the pressure on this small group was tremendous, but this job was one that had to be finished.

  Now at the Park, Director Colby joined them in the car.

  “We are now firmly convinced that the threat to the City is viable and possibly imminent, and we have a target that is the key to everything”. Explained Graham.

  “Alright what do you need from me”? Replied Colby.

  “We need a dedicated satellite above the Russian Embassy”.

  “That’s not a problem, we already have one in place permanently”.

  “That’s as maybe, but do you have a picture of a Russian man by the name of Aslanov? He is in the Russian Mafia and lives in St Petersburg and truthfully he has no right to be here in the first place”.

  Colby took out his phone and spent a few seconds gaining access to FBI files, he sat looking at the screen before he said. “I think this is him”. But Graham’s team couldn’t help as they had never met him or seen any pictures of him.

  “You think this man is in the Russian Embassy”?

  “Yes we do, we know his Daughter is there because we have already seen her”.

  “Alright, what else do you know”?

  “We believe we may have identified possible targets, and this is where we will need your help, if we work together we can possibly eliminate the threat without the opposition knowing about it before it is too late. I assume by that you wish to keep this activity very low profile Director? My own opinion is that we have no choice because if they find out then they may do whatever they have planned much earlier. Having said that I don’t think that time is very far away, the key could be the whereabouts of Senator Dixon and the others we believe are involved in this possible conspiracy, and I also think we need to keep a very careful watch on the CIA. It appears very strange to me that they know nothing or you would have thought they would have acted by now”.

  The look on Colby’s face said it all, he was in a position where he had no control over the situation and he was now totally dependent on this small group of Brits, the American Nations fate now lay in their hands.

  “I have been aware for some time of certain individuals who were possibly bordering on treason, but I must admit that Dixon was never one of them. I think you are right about the CIA, I don’t trust those bastards anyway. Right let’s make a start, I will go back to my office and speak to a few people and set things in motion, is there anything else can I do for you”?

  Graham looked at Colby, still with a little suspicion in his eyes. “Alright we will break into two teams, but we will need one of your men with each team with the authority to get us into the Natural History Museum, Ellis Island, Grand Central Station, and City Hall”.

  “Alright, take Devlin and Micheck”.

  “Thank you for the offer, but they will stand out like a sore thumb, we need people who look like tourists”.

  Colby again made a call. “Right they will be here in 10 minutes, also my men have confirmed that the device you found could not possibly have gone nuclear, the explosives were just designed to burst the flask and release the radioactive material. But they are also of the opinion now they have examined them in greater detail, that there was so little material contained within the package it would have caused hardly any noticeable damage or effect on any person. Maybe we are chasing
our own tails here, the problem is we cannot take that chance. Look, you take a cab and do what you have to do, but I want to know everything as it happens as I may need to put the President on standby”.

  “Thank you Director Colby for your assistance and most of all your trust”.

  “No, it is me who should be thanking you, now let’s get these bastards”. And Colby returned to his own car and the group waited in the park by the bridge over the lake.

  “Can I have at least one photo of our visit as there may be very little of us to return home”? Asked Joyce as if she hadn’t a care in the world, tell you what let’s stop someone and get them to take a picture of us all for posterity”.

  “What a good Idea replied” Carol.

  They all stood on the bridge and Graham stopped a young lady who was jogging and asked her if she would mind taking the photograph and she was only too willing to oblige. “Say Cheese”. And with the picture taken the girl handed back Graham’s phone. They all gathered around. “God, I look really tired and old”. Said Carol, “Oh look at my hair”. Retorted Joyce, but the men just looked at each other. Within a few minutes two cabs arrived with two of Colby’s agents inside, and to be fair they still looked a little like Gorillas on holiday, but they would have to do.

  “I just need to speak to Sir Richard first before we do anything just in case he has spoken to our friend”. Said Graham.

  Carl whispered to Joyce, “He means the American and our ex MI5 operative they have downstairs, God help them if they bring in a special interrogator”.

  Graham stood to one side as he contacted Sir Richard and asked if he had any further information,

  “Yes I do, and it is not good, our American friend has told us with a bit of persuasion that the event whatever it is, is to take place on Saturday, so that only gives you two days, but our ex officer is proving a little more difficult, but we will help him loosen his tongue. Have you identified any possible targets yet”?

  “Well there we have been a little more successful, but I will send you a text and keep you up to date.