In Treacherous Waters
Page 9
***
In London the following morning Lieutenant Heathcote received a call from the Web Surveillance Team, “WST, Cooper, here. You asked us to put a flag on the Free Zone site that posted that spy list.”
“Yes, I did, is it making any more stupid claims?”
“No, it is just that I noticed that the list had got shorter and on checking saw that the names Bowden, Langhorn and Patterson no longer appear.”
“Interesting, thank you very much. Can you keep the flag in place, I would like to hear of any other little gems of farce that that little creep is being fed,” replied Heathcote with an edge of venom in her voice.
At that moment Lorna Parker-Davis, DELCO’s receptionist-cum-gatekeeper entered the office.
“Yes, Lieutenant, of course I will. How about dinner tonight?” asked Cooper, hopefully.
“Sorry, my boyfriend is taking me out.”
“Damn, jammy sod.”
Heathcote put the phone down, shaking her head.
“When did I have the sex change?” asked Lorna, frowning.
“Twenty seconds ago, when spotty faced Vernon Cooper from WST invited me to dinner.”
“Ah, right. You’re still on for this evening though, I’ve got the tickets.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
“Unless that God of a boss you worship wants you to work late.”
“Hark who’s talking, you’re just as bad,” Heathcote replied picking up the phone and dialling the Commodore’s number. “Just to let you know, Sir, Mrs Patterson’s name no longer appears on the Free Zone website list.”
When Heathcote had put down the phone Lorna said, “Six-thirty then and don’t stand me up.”
“As if I would, Larry.” The buzzer sounded. “Got to go, our God is calling for me.”
“I’m not too sure I want to take you now,” Lorna said, feigning hurt pride.
Heathcote giggled and getting up, made for her office door.
As Heathcote entered the Commodore’s office she found him staring out of the window, “You wanted me, Sir?”
“Yes, Penny, I’ve arranged a meeting with Sir Andrew and will be going across the river shortly. While I’m away I would be grateful if you could quietly enquire about the recent movements of Senior Agent Leonard Staunton. Vaughan has seen him recently in Funchal and I would like to learn about what he was doing there and I don’t think that Sir Andrew will want to tell me.”
“Are you lunching together, Sir?”
“No, apparently he is meeting the Home Secretary at twelve.”
“At the Home Office, Sir?”
“I believe so, why?”
“That would be the best time for me to have a chat with Celia Marsh.”
“Ah yes, good thinking, Penny.”
“Is there anything else, Sir?”
“Yes, I estimate that Vaughan will have Mrs Patterson delivered to Gibraltar in about ten to twelve days’ time. What I would like is for you to arrange with the RAF to get her from there to our safe house in Chislehurst. You had better act as her escort for the journey, especially as you knew her late husband.”
“It will be interesting to see who he dumped me for.”
“Pardon?”
“I said that it will be interesting to see who it was he dumped me for,” repeated Heathcote. “Is that the safe house that the Vaughans were put in after his initial run-in with Murata and his mob?”
“Yes that’s the place, she will be well protected there and well feed if I know Ruby Finch,” replied Campbell, “I didn’t know that you and David Patterson were a, oh what is the term?”
“An item?”
“Yes, an item. I thought it was purely platonic. ”
“No, it was the big thing, for me anyway, but that was, oh, over five years ago now. Lorna said it would never work out and she was right.”
“I’ll send someone else, if you can just sort out the RAF side of things.”
“No, Sir, I’ll go, it’s perfectly all right, I was over it a long time ago.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, Sir, I’m sure,” Heathcote replied in an emphatic tone. “As I said I was over it a long time ago.”
“Okay, Penny, that’s all for now I think.”
“Oh I almost forgot, Sir, our check on the Binter Canarias flight from Nouakchott to Las Palma had Pieter Scheepers and Karl van Rooyen as being on board.”
“No Henri Vanderkloof or Jan Vermeulen?”
“No, Sir.”
“Interesting. I’ll send a message to Cecil Boyd, it shouldn’t upset his plans. Oh by the way Lorna Parker-Davis is going on leave soon if my memory is correct. Do you know where she is going?”
“I think she is off to the family’s chalet somewhere near the Stubai Glacier in Austria.”
“Excellent, would you go and sit at her desk while I have a few words with her.”
When Lorna entered Campbell’s office he offered her a seat then said, “You are going on leave this coming weekend I understand.”
“Yes, Sir, do you need me to change it?”
“No, no, gosh no. It is just that I am anticipating the suspension of DELCO activities at some point in the near future but hopefully not before you go on holiday as I will need you to act as co-ordinator. The trigger will be a call from me using my best Cockney accent. Your main task will be to get Vaughan back to the UK, but there may be other work. You are not to return here until I tell you that it is safe to do so.”
Lorna turned a little pale and though wanting to know more knew that this was not the time to ask questions, she trusted Campbell, he was the straightest man she had ever known and like Heathcote, she would walk through fire for him if he asked her to.
“Right, Sir. Is there anything else, Sir?”
“Yes, here’s two hundred pounds, go out and buy yourself a new mobile phone and let me, and only me, have the number.”
***
At MI6 headquarters Celia March looked up and smiled as Alex Campbell entered her office.
“Good morning, Alex, how are you today?”
“Very well thank you, Celia, and yourself?”
“I’m fine thank you. How is Caroline?”
“She’s very well, I left her this morning getting ready to meet her ladies group at the gym. She has been trying to get me to sign up.”
Celia March chuckled, “A beanpole like you should stay well away from gyms.”
Campbell leaned his head in the direction of Sir Andrew’s office door.
“I understand that Sir Andrew is expecting you, so go straight in, Alex.”
As Campbell entered Sir Andrew’s office he saw the head of the service loading his briefcase with files.
“That looks as if the meeting with the Home Secretary is going to be hard work, Sir Andrew.”
“It is to assess the true number of potential Jihadists likely to return from Syria, and you will appreciate how hard it has been to get that put together in twelve hours. You can bet when I get there all he actually wants is a headline grabbing number to make it look as if the Government really knows the problem,” replied Sir Andrew Averrille sourly. “But what can I do for you, Alex?”
“You will recall our last conversation, the one in connection with Agent Vaughan.”
“Ah, you’re going to tell me he is back and out the door, good show.”
“No, Sir Andrew, I am afraid I’m not, in fact I am here to tell you that circumstances have arisen that required me to send Vaughan on a recovery mission.”
“What?”
“Some months ago I visited Angola in response to intelligence received and made contact with David Patterson’s widow. The intelligence clearly indicated that Patterson was executed by either an illegal arms trader by the name of Vermeulen, or his employees. Vermeulen is Mrs Patterson’s stepfather.”
“There we are, Alex, that’s the link, Leonard Staunton was right, David Patterson had been turned then tried to swindle this Vermeulen character.”
“And you are using Vaughan to get this woman to safety? Why, what makes her so damned important, she was part of that bloody business.”
“No, she wasn’t, Sir Andrew, she was completely unaware of the murky side of her stepfather’s business activities.”
“I find that very hard to believe, Alex.”
“We now know that in a gunfight in Rosso on the border between Senegal and Mauritania, Mrs Patterson escaped from her stepfather and managed to take with her his coded notebook, which, I am very anxious to read.”
“Can’t the RAF or Navy help?”
“We have exhausted those avenues, Sir Andrew. What it does mean is that I was forced into extending Agent Vaughan’s employment with us.”
“How long for?”
“Probably another month, maybe two.”
Sir Andrew sighed, “Well I suppose we will just have to put up with it. I’ll let Leonard Staunton know.”
“No, Sir Andrew, this is a very very delicate operation. If the least whisper gets out before we can act on the information in that notebook, years of work between ourselves and the CIA could be destroyed.”
“And you are trusting Vaughan with this?”
“I have no choice, he is the only person in reach and with the skills to do this and get Mrs Patterson and that notebook back here. Success will be a major feather in our cap, not only with the States, but also in the European Intelligence world if he succeeds.”
“I still think Staunton should be in the loop, Alex.”
“No, Sir Andrew, if he were to inadvertently make a move thinking to assist Vaughan it may well bring failure. You really must trust me on this one.”
There was a long pause before Sir Andrew answered.
“All right, Alex, but on your head be it.”
As Campbell left Sir Andrew’s office he heard Celia March announce the arrival of Sir Andrew’s car and point out that it would be at least a twenty minutes drive to the Home Office.
Needing time to think, Campbell chose to walk back to the DELCO offices. Had he done the right thing in informing Sir Andrew and by so doing risk losing the notebook and placing Vaughan and Mrs Patterson in danger. Where was the leak and why was Vaughan’s outstanding achievements in Madeira being so roundly criticised.
When he finally got back to his desk, Campbell saw that there was a message waiting for him. Signing in on his computer he read Cecil Boyd’s report on the Rosso incident and learnt that in addition to Anna-Maria’s mother being killed, Karl van Rooyen had also been shot dead. He lifted the phone and tapped in Heathcote’s extension.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Cecil Boyd informs that Karl van Rooyen was killed in the shoot-out at Rosso.”
“So Vermeulen used his passport for the trip to Las Palma, neat.”
“Neat, as you say, Penny, very neat. On that other matter did you have a chance to speak to Celia March?”
“Yes, Sir. She obviously dislikes Senior Agent Staunton but it appears that he has had very regular face to face with Sir Andrew recently. Currently Staunton is in Madeira assessing the impact of the attempted coup among some of his civil service contacts there.”
“Thank you, Penny, I had no idea that he also worked for our Foreign Office, but I suspect that it is connected with Sir Andrew’s concerns about Vaughan’s actions.”
CHAPTER 4
It was early evening the following day when Staunton saw Sonia again, entering the bar; on this occasion she appeared to be meeting a young girl whom Staunton took to be another of her escorts and seating himself behind a group of tourists was able, by moving slightly from side to side, to watch the women’s meeting without being seen. Finishing their drinks both women got up and left, Sonia getting into her car and the other woman walking off towards the old town restaurant area.
Leaping into his own car, Staunton managed to pull out into the traffic only three cars behind Sonia, who, after weaving through side streets, took the most direct route onto the expressway to Ribeira Brava. Arriving there, Staunton had expected her to turn left into the town but instead she turned right, driving across the island to São Vicente where she left her car parked at the side of the road, walked up the hill, and along a short broad walkway to a Mercedes four-by-four parked at the end of a cul-de-sac. As Staunton drove past the end of the walkway he caught a glimpse of her getting into the passenger side of the vehicle and turning his car round at the next junction, he headed back to the main road, arriving in time to see the Mercedes turning towards the sea and the road that ran along the north of the island to Porto do Moniz. There were two cars between him and the Mercedes, and by the speed that they were travelling, Staunton felt relaxed and confident that neither Sonia nor her driver were aware that they were being followed. At Porto do Moniz the Mercedes threaded its way down to the waterfront before turning left and stopping outside the Esmeralda Brilhante supermarket on the Rua do Lugar, a one way street.
Sonia was being chauffeured by a tall strongly built man, who Staunton guessed to be one of Reshetnikov’s minders. Getting out of their car the man hurried into the supermarket only to emerge again two minutes later to look up and down the street carefully before indicating to Sonia that it was safe for her to leave the vehicle and go into the shop. Waiting outside, the man employed his time using a chamois leather and duster to clean imagined blemishes from the vehicle’s immaculate paintwork; every now and again looking up and taking professional sweeping glances of the surroundings, searching for any potential threat. Staunton was impressed, Sonia’s minder knew his job and was doing it very well, therefore would have to be dealt with first for his original plan to work. Staunton’s basic idea had been to execute Reshetnikov in order to clinch the arms deal, but the sight of a professional minder, and maybe others, required a new plan which would be to divulge Reshetnikov’s location to the authorities.
After half an hour Sonia emerged from the shop and indicated that she needed assistance; Staunton settled himself ready to tail the Mercedes.
This time it was the minder that got into the passenger seat after opening the driver’s door for Sonia, and to Staunton’s surprise, fondly patting her bottom as she went to step up into the vehicle. Staunton waited for her to reverse out into the road before he started the engine. Seeing Sonia indicate that she was making a right turn at the crossroads beyond the shop Staunton guessed that she would be taking the road that ran along the top of the high ground above the north-west coast of the island. Pulling out from the kerb he accelerated hard before slowing quickly at the crossroads to confirm that the Mercedes was going straight across the next junction. Again harsh acceleration was required to get him in a position to see his quarry’s direction of travel along the main road. Reaching the junction he was pleased to find only one car between him and the Mercedes and the driver of it going quickly enough for him to stay in touch through the series of steep climbs and hairpin bends that led away from the town. They had continued in convoy for a few kilometres when the car in front slowed for some distance before taking a left turn, a manoeuvre that opened the gap between him and Sonia’s car considerably. Foot hard on the accelerator and doing his best at racing gear changes, Staunton made the junction with the ER110 just in time to spot the Mercedes’ tail-lights far ahead on the road that led to Achadas do Cruz. The road ran down the side of a very deep valley before turning sharply right to climb again onto high ground. Keeping a safe distance along the winding road required patience and for a moment he feared that the Mercedes had got too far ahead, before seeing it stopped in a driveway waiting for heavy iron gat
es to open. Driving past, Staunton kept his eyes on the road ahead, satisfied that he had found the Russian’s hideout. Taking the second turning on the right he drove around the upper part of Achadas do Cruz eventually finding a snack bar where he bought something to eat and drink, then drove north-west away from the village centre to the cliff top cable car built to enable farmers to reach their fields far below near the shoreline.
To his surprise he found that he had a mobile phone signal and taking advantage of the opportunity made a call. “Hi, sweetie, any news?”
“Nothing certain, Lenny, but there is something going on as Commodore Campbell has been having lots of face to face with Sir Andrew today.”
“See if you can look at the DELCO mobile phone log, there should be a subject title against the call identifier, ‘Yachtsman’.”
“I’m on at 0400 tomorrow and there aren’t many people about at that time so I’ll have a better chance but if I get caught I could be in a lot of trouble, Lenny.”
“Well, make sure you are not caught, sweetie,” said Staunton in a tone that made fun of her fears. “Oh, and I will be flying back via Amsterdam in a couple of days or so and you know what that could mean.”
At the other end Alice giggled. “Oh, Lenny, will it be like the one you showed me before?”
“Wait and see, sweetie.”
Having set the delightfully obedient Alice Morgan a task that might reveal Vaughan’s current objective, Staunton eased the back of the car seat and enjoyed the snack and fizzy drink. The day was working out well, Vaughan was no longer someone to risk bumping into, and he had found the Reshetnikov hideout with amazing ease. A self-satisfied grin spread across his face, now all he had to do was confirm that Reshetnikov was at the property and get a message to the authorities. The arrest of Reshetnikov would not only remove the immediate competition but present the possibility of him revealing the existence of the arms cache. Faced with those chances, Boris would have no option other than to do an immediate deal at a lower price before the police or army came knocking on his door. Staunton’s smile widened.