by K W Frost
Child was thinking hard too.
How do you get into a room that’s almost 200 metres up in the air, cut off from below and with no way of landing from above?
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chief Inspector Thomson was contacted and a meeting was set up. Uniformed police arrived and took over the entire sixth floor of the grey office building. The two prisoners were handcuffed and removed. They almost looked relieved to be going to prison instead of staying with Ritson.
Gray stayed with Goody to keep working on the computers. Child got a quick patch-up job on his face from the first aid kit in the Toyota and changed into a clean t-shirt. Then he and the others retrieved their gear and headed into Auckland Central Police Station.
As they drove into the city centre, the sunset blazed a fiery red.
Once at the station, they entered via a side door and were escorted up to the conference room on the third floor. The walls were painted light blue and the carpet was a deep navy. Central to the room was the long conference table. It was lined with plastic seats and a single padded chair was placed at one end, beside the only landline phone.
A stocky, balding man in his early fifties entered from a side door. This was Chief Inspector Thomson. He strode to the head of the table with the confident, slightly arrogant bearing of a successful policeman.
Harrison made the introductions.
Nodding to each in turn, Thomson began the briefing.
‘Sit down and let’s get started,’ he commanded, promptly seating himself in the padded chair, resting his elbows on the table.
Child and Ritson looked around and took the seats at the far end of the table. The others took their seats on the sides.
‘Well, Harrison, tell me what happened?’ Thomson said gruffly.
‘Sir, we believe that attempts on one or more of our international leaders’ lives will take place at the Sky Tower tonight.’
‘You what?’ Thomson said, his stare sharp as bullets. ‘Explain.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Harrison nodded solemnly. ‘However, it would be better if Mr Child or Mr Smaille explained, if that’s alright.’
Thomson’s stare centred on Smaille.
‘Mr Smaille, you were the one who asked all the questions and then hung up on me,’ Thomson stated. He was a leader who got things done, and he didn’t like time wasters.
‘My apologies, Inspector,’ Smaille said plainly, not sounding a bit sorry, ‘but we did have an extreme situation going on.’
‘Tell me,’ Thompson asked in a tense voice.
‘Well, sir, it all started with…’
It took Smaille ten minutes to cover what had happened. Thomson looked steadily at Smaille the whole time, only breaking eye contract twice to glance over at Child. Child was relaxing back in his chair at the other end of the table. When Smaille had finished explaining how the events had unfolded, everyone waited on Thomson’s reply.
Thomson picked up the phone to his left and barked a command into the speaker without dialing.
‘Rita, prepare the situation room: code red. Yes, code one red. I want everything in and ready as of ten minutes ago. Also, have the information I requested earlier sent up as well.’
Thomson abruptly hung up the phone.
‘Mr Smaille,’ he continued, ‘the situation you’ve described cannot be ignored. I want you and your friends to accompany Harrison into the situation room. Your help could be invaluable.’
Thomson then turned to Child and Ritson.
‘Gentlemen, I realise that as citizens you are free to go, but I would like you to join us as well.’
Child looked steadily back at Thomson, a small smile playing on his lips. His respect for the man at the far end has suddenly increased, and Child wasn’t easily impressed. What Thomson didn’t say was, that if Child or Ritson walked out of that room, they would be arrested and held in a cell until the crisis was over. They would probably face a criminal charge, and Child himself could face murder. But Thomson hadn’t threatened them this time, he had asked politely.
‘Certainly, Inspector, we appreciate the invitation,’ Child replied.
‘I’d be honoured, Chief,’ Ritson agreed, showing that he too understood their position perfectly. ‘It would be nice to witness how you operate from the right side of the bars this time.’
‘Thank you, gentlemen,’ Thomson nodded, a brief flicker of a smile crossed his lips at Ritson’s words.
‘Let’s go,’ Thomson said, leading the way out of the door and down the corridor into the situation room.
The situation room was a hive of activity. Three computers down one side and four telephone operators were lined against the far wall. On another wall, a giant white board was set up with computer projection facilities. In the middle stood a large table, with files and boxes lined up. Child stepped back to take in the picture of the Sky Tower that had been projected onto the white screen. It glowed in a changing spectrum of light, moving from blue to red then green and all the colours in between. It was awe-inspiring. Child then realised that it was a live feed from a camera mounted on the roof of the police station.
No fewer than ten people were seated or moving about the room. Everything was dynamic and purposeful: this was an efficient team working together. Thomson was given an update from an uniformed female officer, who Child later found out was Rita.
Smaille, Stulz and Sam had a brief conversation before Stulz and Samantha began pouring over the files they had been provided with. These were the files on everyone who was up at the dinner in the Sky Tower that evening.
Harrison strolled over, took a seat at a phone and began making calls. Smaille joined Child and Ritson, where they stood out of the way of the commotion.
‘I’m going to have to report to my boss,’ Smaille explained. ‘He needs to know about a code red situation.’
‘Don’t pull the plug just yet,’ Child coaxed, ‘we can solve this thing and then nothing needs to get out.’
Smaille looked over at Child, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
‘What do you know that we don’t?’ he asked.
‘Nothing,’ said Child mildly, ‘I’m just a positive thinker.’
Irrationally, Smaille wondered what it would take to get Child rattled. He shook his head and pointed back to the image of the Sky Tower on the whiteboard.
‘We’re still left with the same problem though,’ Smaille said. ‘How do we get the dinner guests out of there before those maniacs kill them?’
Perturbed by the thought of this, Smaille turned and left the situation room for a moment.
‘There goes a troubled man,’ stated Ritson.
‘He has every reason to be worried,’ Child said, looking over at the image of the Sky Tower. ‘This case is a hard nut to crack. The dinner guests may as well be on the moon… unless…’
‘Unless what?’ Ritson encouraged, seeing that an idea was forming in Child’s mind.
‘Unless we can get inside,’ Child said quietly. ‘Come on, Steve, we need a phone and we need to get Gray over here now.’
Chapter Forty-Nine
Fifteen minutes later, Child knew what had to be done.
Looking out at the ever-darkening night sky, Child knew that they were running out of time. After checking the weather report and moon cycle, he was ready to take his idea to Thomson.
Calling the team together, Child stood at the head of the table. He knew Ritson would follow him no matter what. Samantha sat beside Ritson looking troubled and tense. Stulz had a grim determination sketched on his face, and Smaille looked tired but committed to seeing the next few hours through, no matter what they would bring.
Harrison’s right-hand fingers moved subconsciously, as he focused, preparing himself to accept the next disaster. To his right sat a tall, thin man everyone called Woody. Child didn’t know his real name but he knew was in charge of counter intelligence operations. Next in came a tall, broad Maori man named Detective Sergeant Hikinui. He was a leader of the armed defende
rs’ unit who co-coordinated and handled crisis situations.
Samantha held a pen in her hand and kept opening the folder in front of her to peer inside. Child found the constant checking of the folder rather irritating.
At the other end of the table, Thomson faced Child directly. He didn’t waste any time.
‘Well, Child, you asked us to stop trying to solve the case and called us all in here. Do you mind telling us why?’
Child met Thomson’s gaze, his eyes hard and his face tense.
‘We’re running out of time, Thomson,’ Child said coldly. ‘Unless we get cracking right away, those dinner guests will be dead before we know it.’
Thomson grudgingly conceded a little.
‘Okay, Child, what do you have in mind?’
‘First I want to hear your ideas, Thomson,’ Child stated. ‘My plan is risky and difficult —you might have a better solution.’
Thomson turned to face Woody with a sigh.
‘Well, Woody, what have we got?’
Woody cleared his throat before speaking, taking his time to reply.
‘Our best solution so far is to call in the Army helicopters and land some forces on the outdoor observatory platform. This would be difficult as the members would need to abseil down possibly a hundred metres of rope, maybe more. We’re discussing with Army liaison now and hope to get specifics soon.’
Woody cleared his throat again and shuffled the papers in front of him.
‘Or we can get four helicopters to arrange themselves around the restaurant with fifty calibre machine guns ready. We’ll then get all innocents down on the floor with a loud hailer until we can evacuate them.’
Even Thomson looked skeptical at the last proposal. Everyone glanced Child or looked down at the floor nervously.
Child looked at Thomson until their eyes met again.
‘First idea,’ Child said, revising the ideas. ‘What’s going to stop the assassins from seeing the Army approach and taking action? They would either kill as many innocents as possible there and then, or just take the whole lot hostage. That would make for a very interesting situation.’
Child had everyone’s attention again.
‘Second idea: we don’t know what type of weapons these people have. I was attacked with a high-powered rifle, and I wouldn’t like to be in a helicopter even twenty metres from a weapon like that, especially when I couldn’t fire back. The killers might simply hide in the kitchens and roll a few grenades out amongst the leaders,’ Child was cold, analytical and brutal in his evaluations.
‘I didn’t like those odds either but at present they’re the best options we have,’ Woody replied sheepishly.
‘There is one other way,’ stated Child. ‘I don’t like it much but with a bit of luck everyone comes out alive, and there will be no major international incident.’
‘Let’s hear it,’ said Smaille.
‘Well it’s quite simple really,’ Child explained. ‘I bungee jump down onto the tower, take out the killers and then sneak out of there, without anyone knowing.’
A stunned silence hit everyone.
Ritson smiled. Simon really knew how to drop a bombshell.
Then six different voices around the table exploded at once.
‘Simon, are you mad?’
‘Is that really your plan?’
‘Call that frigging simple!’
‘Ludicrous…’
‘You must be suicidal!’
Smaille and Thomson looked over at each other before returning their attention back to Child. Child was unmoved by the turmoil unfolding in front of him.
Thomson’s voice cut through others.
‘Mr Child has more to tell us,’ he commanded. ‘Could everyone please calm down. I think Child should at least be given the chance to explain himself.’
The others hushed their protesting and then fell silent as Thompson took control of the room.
Child stood straight as an arrow yet appeared completely relaxed. Streaks of dried blood could still be seen along his jawline. Slowly, he bent forward to place both hands on the table, his gaze sweeping the table.
‘In reality, it really is that simple. How else do you enter a room that’s over two hundred metres up in the air? I heard the report come in that the Sky Tower’s elevators can’t be opened. They’ve somehow jammed the doors from the inside. The only way in is from the top, and this can be achieved by bungee jumping out of a helicopter passing above the tower. I could be situated on top of the tower in a matter of seconds. Then the chopper flies away, and hopefully the killers are too busy following their schedule to notice the chopper’s brief pause. Child looked around at the group again. He could tell that some of them were now considering the idea more seriously.
‘I’ll then make my way down to the observation level. I will head into the kitchen and take the killers out before they have time to complete their fatal mission.’
‘My God, it might just work,’ uttered Inspector Hikinui.
‘Well, Woody, what do you think?’ Thomson asked briskly, looking over at Woody.
‘There’s a hell of a lot that we don’t know, and a hell of a lot that could go wrong…’ Woody said slowly. ‘That being said, it’s definitely possible…’
Woody gazed at the far wall, lost in thought. He was trying to work the logistics in his head. ‘Hang on,’ Woody spoke again, ‘there are no local bungees operating in this area? It would take too long to get one here, so I’m afraid your idea, which is rather creative I must admit, can’t happen logistically.’
‘I’ve contacted a friend of mine already — he operates a vertical bungee in South Auckland and he’ll be landing on top of this building in approximately half an hour,’ said Ritson.
‘Well in that case, it’s possible,’ Thomson stated.
Stulz looked directly at Hikinui, and then over at Smaille and Thomson.
‘I’ll go,’ Stulz volunteered.
Hikinui wasn’t about to be left out either.
‘This is a New Zealand police case — either myself or the most qualified person on my team will go.’
‘Thank you, gentlemen, but I must go,’ stated Child.
All eyes returned to look at the man who so calmly indicated that he would risk his life.
‘Why you?’ asked Hikinui sharply.
‘Two reasons,’ Child explained. ‘Firstly, I can recognise the killers.’
‘How?’ questioned Hikinui.
‘I’m the only one who’s seen them in person.’
‘Seen them where?’
’In the Lah Wah Restaurant today,’ answered Child. ‘Sam and I went for lunch there. I didn’t know at the time that these guys were assassins, but I was interested in what was going on and I had a look around. I soon worked out what was going on. So, yes, I’ve seen at least three of them before.’
The red symbol he had seen on Lee’s body surfaced in his mind. Child realised now that the other waiter at the restaurant bore the same markings.
‘Well, describe the men to us,’ prompted Hikinui, ‘and then we’ll know too.’
‘Can you tell the difference between Asian men, Sergeant? Most people can’t — they only see race,’ stated Child, choosing to keep quiet about the red identification mark.
‘Give us a way to identify the men then.’ grasped Hikinui.
‘We haven’t got the time,’ Child said, his eyes scanning the room. ‘Have we?’
‘No, we don’t have time,’ conceded Thomson. ‘But do tell us why it has to be you going into the action, Mr Child?’
‘Deniability.’
‘What?’
‘Deniability. I see Mr Smaille understands the ramifications. I can see he gets it.’
Child had seen comprehension dawn on Smaille’s face.
‘I’m afraid Child does have a point,’ Smaille said coldly. ‘You see, if Child gets accidentally caught or killed up there then he’s private citizen acting on his own, meaning we can claim justifiable deniability.
Thus, we prevent international repercussions if one of the leaders is killed too. New Zealand would have to face some humiliation, and Steve and Grey would be arrested and held under caution until they could be quietly released again. If either New Zealand or America has an official presence at the scene, then the roof would fall in.’
Everyone looked at Child. He seemed unconcerned about the prospect of his own death, but then he had thought of this possibility some time ago and it wasn’t a shock to him.
Thomson made his decision quickly without any more consultation.
‘All right, Mr Child, you bought yourself a party. Hikinui make sure you have everything you need.’
A bubble of noise burst in the room Thomson’s decision was made.
‘There is one other thing,’ Hikinui boomed, breaking up the loud chatter.
‘What’s that?’ asked Thomson,
Hikinui looked directly at Child as he answered Thomson’s question.
‘Have you got the skills, the guts, to kill someone and keep going? Because that is what you’ll have to do.’
‘If I need to, yes,’ Child replied, unblinkingly.
Smaille cleared his throat to break the heavy silence that had settled in the room.
‘To my knowledge, Sergeant Hikinui, Child has killed two people in the last 48 hours, as well as crippling one of these assassins just two hours ago.’
Hikinui sat unmoving, searching Child’s face. Then, as if finally convinced, he nodded firmly.
‘Okay, Child should go,’ he agreed.
‘Christ what are you? Some kind of Rambo?’ Woody muttered.
Woody’s comment caused Child to show some emotion at last.
‘Shit, no! Do you think I’m happy with this situation? If it made sense for anyone else to go, I would happily swap places. Unfortunately, I’m the best person for the job. I’m just a simple man who sees what has to be done. It has to be me up there, so I’ll do it.’
Silence settled in the room once again.
‘Well, that settles it then,’ Thomson stated, his face visibly tense. ‘Nothing that’s been discussed here today will ever leave this room, understood? Now, let’s get to work…’