by Mike Winter
Will Hamilton was a veteran of MI5 and up until recently, had an exemplary track record. However, recent results had been sloppy. He’d lost four agents in the field during the last twelve months, plus one captured by the Chinese, along with countless amounts of intelligence.
TEP was formed in early 2002, following the attacks in America on September 11th. The CIA had their own covert threat elimination team and TEP worked alongside them, sharing intelligence and working missions together. Unfortunately for Hamilton, the CIA was pushing for him to be replaced. He knew it was only a matter of time.
Another text message appeared on the phone. This one wasn’t from Tom Black. Hamilton’s heart sank as he read it.
The clock is ticking Mr Hamilton.
A knock at his office door distracted him from the grim realisation that his days at TEP were numbered.
“Come in.”
The door opened; Sarah Barnes stood in the doorway, a lever arch file in her hand.
“Sir, I have collated the details of our agents currently active in China. As you know, there are two…”
“Yes, Sarah, thank you, leave them on my desk.”
Sarah and Hamilton didn’t see eye to eye. She’d had a brief fling with Black a short time ago, despite there being strict rules against agency relationships. The situation now was that she was forbidden to have any communication with Black, although that was irrelevant, as Black had made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing more to do with her.
“Was there something else?” asked Hamilton, after noticing that Sarah was still stood in his office.
“Sir, there has been a call for you. I told them you were busy, whoever it was insisted you call him back.”
“Who was it?”
“I didn’t ask. It sounded pretty urgent. I’ve emailed you his telephone number.”
“Okay, Sarah. I’ll check on that now. Please, get back to work. I’m sure there is plenty you should be doing.”
“Yes, sir,” Sarah said quietly as she turned to leave Hamilton’s office.
The email was sat in the inbox. It had an American prefix code. There was a sick realisation in Hamilton’s stomach. The realisation that the end of his tenure at TEP was imminent.
Hamilton powered down his computer and picked up his mobile from his desk and grabbed his long black overcoat from the stand in the corner of the room; he looked around at the office with empty emotion. They probably already had his successor lined up.
There was a hive of activity in the open plan room outside Hamilton’s office. Analysts were busy working; heads glued to their twin monitors, communicating with various agents in the field. Sarah Barnes was sat at the far side of the room. She glanced over at Hamilton as he made his way over to a desk at the other end of the room.
Agent Stephen Jones was sat reading some paperwork; he was so engrossed that he didn’t notice Hamilton walking over.
“Agent Jones – could I borrow you for a moment?” Hamilton asked.
Jones peered up above his paperwork, his large blue eyes blinking to adjust. Stephen Jones was a lead agent within TEP, and one of the few agents who had been there since 2002. He was one of the best, if not the best.
“Erm, of course, sir. What’s the problem?”
Hamilton knelt down next to Jones and spoke softly. “I have to leave the office for a few hours. Nothing to worry about, but I need you to coordinate with Agent Black. He’s on the ground in Hong Kong.”
“Shouldn’t he be feeding into the analyst’s sir?” Jones asked, slightly confused.
“No, not for this. Everything has been coming through me, and I need someone senior to fill in while I’m away. It is a highly sensitive mission and will require real time comms.”
Jones paused for a moment. He was confused, as it was an unusual request. It wasn’t standard protocol to bypass the analysts. “Of course sir, I’ll look after things while you’re gone.”
“Thank you. You can access the mission files on the secure drive. The password is 28473910.”
“Okay, no problem,” Jones replied. He memorised the password and entered into his laptop.
“We will speak later.”
Hamilton got up and made his way to the exit door. Once in the elevator, he pressed the button for the ground floor and made his way out of the building. It was cold outside, so he buttoned up his overcoat and made his way to the DLR station.
5
December 15th, 2008 – Hong Kong – 01:00 (Local Time)
It had been difficult for Black to resist the urge for alcohol before he had left the Tequila Bar, although he was proud of himself for beating the temptation. Even twelve months on, the craving for alcohol was still strong.
It was late, and Black was tired, the jet lag had well and truly kicked in. The bag that Jerrard had given him laid on the bed unopened. Black sat down at the small desk which occupied a corner of the hotel room.
Before Black had the chance to open the bag, his mobile rang.
“Hello?”
“Black – this is Steve Jones. Sorry to call you so late – I just wanted to update you on a couple of things.”
“How can I help? This is quite unexpected.”
“I’m filling in for Hamilton for a few hours. He’s had to leave the office.”
Black took a moment to register what Jones was saying. “Leave? In the middle of an operation?”
“Don’t concern yourself with the detail, Black. I just want an update. Have you met with the source?”
“Yes. I’ll be moving on the diplomat tomorrow.” Black didn’t want to give too much away. He was perplexed at Hamilton’s sudden departure, even if it was temporary as Jones was suggesting.
“Good. I’m fully briefed on the mission. You’re to take the diplomat out once you have confirmed the identity of the rogue agent – understood?”
Black paused. He didn’t like the patronising tone in Jones’ voice. “Sir, I’m well aware of the mission objectives. Everything is in hand. Please, let me know once Hamilton has returned, I’d much prefer to communicate with him directly.”
“I don’t really care for what you prefer. I’m under orders just as much as you are, and I’ve been left in command while Hamilton is absent. You report to me until further notice, understood?”
Black knew it was pointless arguing, it wouldn’t get him anywhere. “Yes, sir.”He ended the call and opened the bag which Jerrard had given him earlier. Inside was a small file containing the location and brief details of the diplomat.
His name was Tang Li, a fifty-year-old government official. He spent three months a year in Stanley, a small town which was located a few miles to the South of Hong Kong Island. He stayed alone while visiting. His wife passed away ten years ago. He had no children.
After reading the file, Black came to the conclusion that he would give little resistance and he was fully confident he could extract the information he needed easily.
Black went back to the bag and looked in the bottom. There was a belt holster, complete with a Sig Sauer P225, two eight round magazines and a suppressor. He would have to be economic with the ammunition as he doubted there would be any extra given to him.
It was now almost one thirty. Black needed some rest. He showered and drank a bottle of the complimentary water which had been left on the table.
It took Black a while to take his mind away from the days events. The question of why Hamilton had left the office so early into a mission he was heading up was strange. Eventually, he decided there was no point worrying about it. He was thousands of miles away, and he needed to remain focused on the job in hand.
6
The seconds, minutes and eventually hours had passed slowly and the office was now virtually empty, apart from two or three analysts who were assisting agents in the field. Stephen Jones looked at his watch, then checked the time against the large clock hanging on the wall opposite him. It was now 9 pm. Hamilton hadn’t returned.
An uneasy feeling crept over Jone
s. It was completely out of character and irrational for Hamilton, or any agent, to go AWOL. Jones knew he would soon have to put a call into the hierarchy of MI5, but first, he wanted to see what he could uncover himself. If he could resolve whatever the situation was without getting those at the top involved then it would be a bonus.
Jones needed access to Hamilton’s files, although his IT skills weren’t accomplished enough to get around the elaborate security set up on the system; there several layers of encryption, and only certain TEP employees knew how to get around it. He looked around at the remaining analysts scattered around the office. Sarah Barnes was still sitting at her desk. As Jones walked over to her, he thought about the situation. Was he doing the right thing? Was he being overly concerned? Would Sarah Barnes help him? After all, she had been reprimanded a few weeks previous for accessing Hamilton’s files in order to help Tom Black on an earlier mission. It had almost cost her career.
“Working late tonight, Sarah?” Jones asked with a wry smile on his face.
“I hadn’t even checked the time. I should be getting off soon. I just need to send these situation reports to Hamilton.”
Jones paused for a moment. He didn’t want to sound overly concerned. “Sarah – I need you to do something for me.”
“As long as it doesn’t take long, I’ve been here thirteen hours.”
“The other week, when you accessed Hamilton’s call log and files…….could you, erm, do that again? You can do it from my machine so the ID tag flags up my name.”
An awkward silence filled the office as Sarah gave a perplexed and annoyed look. “Are you serious? I remember you telling me I was stupid for doing this, and now you want me to do it for you!”
The cautious approach hadn’t worked. It was time for Jones to lay his cards on the table.
“Sarah, I’ll be straight with you. Hamilton left several hours ago. Said he had something to sort out. He should have been back by now, especially with him running Agent Black’s mission. His phone is going straight to voicemail.”
Another silence lingered as Sarah carefully thought about her response. “What’s in it for me?” she asked flirtatiously.
“Look, Sarah, just help me with this, and I’ll make sure life here gets easier for you. I know you and Hamilton aren’t exactly on the best of terms at the moment. I can help fix that. You know he respects me.”
There was a moment of hesitation from Sarah as she thought about the proposition. Something was obviously wrong. There was no way Hamilton would disappear part way through a mission. His people skills may have been lacking, however, he always ensured that a job was done properly.
“Okay. I’ll do it, but only once. I mean it. I’ve had enough drama these past few weeks without adding to it. Now, what are we looking for?”
“Check his call logs. Landline and mobile. That would be a good starting point. Then move on to emails and accessed files.”
Sarah frantically tapped at her keyboard, entering in various passwords and encryption codes. After a few moments, one of her monitors displayed all the outgoing and incoming calls that had been registered on Hamilton’s office landline that day. She scanned and crossed referenced the numbers.
“There’s nothing unusual here. All internal numbers or numbers of TEP employees.”
“Check his mobile,” Jones replied.
Both Jones’ and Sarah’s eyes scanned the list of numbers.
“There! Just before he left. There’s a text message from an American prefix. Can you find the whole number?”
“I can try. Hang on a minute,” there was a sigh of frustration as Sarah typed furiously. “There is another layer of encryption on this number. It isn’t a TEP encryption, this is another level.”
“Can you get around it?”
“No. Whoever put this in place definitely doesn’t want the number to be found.” Sarah continued to search. “There’s nothing in his emails. Unless…… “
“Unless what?”
“I can get partial access to his personal email account. Yes, here. I can see the subject lines but not the email content. Look at this - this evening at 8pm, there is a flight booking confirmation email from British Airways.”
“Can you see where the flights are booked between?”
“I can see Heathrow, that’s all.”
Jones sat on the edge of the desk, deep in thought. “Put a watch on his passport. He’s running from something.”
“Running?”
“Just do it, Sarah, and get me his home address.”
7
December 15th, 2008 – Hong Kong – 10:00 (Local Time)
The Stanley area of Hong Kong Island was warm and pleasant in the unbroken winter sun. Tourists flocked to the town to enjoy the beaches and promenades. It was difficult to believe that you were only a few miles away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Black was still struggling with tiredness; the jet lag was in full swing and he needed to stay alert. He found a small coffee shop in Stanley Market and ordered a black coffee. From his table outside, Black observed the people walking past. The market was becoming busier with a mixture of locals, Chinese, and the odd western tourist looking to purchase a local rarity or fake designer clothing. He kept observing while he loaded up the map application on his phone; he was half a mile from the apartment.
It took a while for the caffeine to kick in, but eventually Black started to feel more alert. He left a ten dollar note on the table, checked his weapon was secure in the holster under his jacket and mingled with the crowd of market shoppers.
The Banoo Villa apartment block was situated on Tung Tau Wan Road. The street was lined with tall trees which the building hid neatly behind, completely out of sight. The entrance to the apartment block was at the rear of the building. Black checked his surroundings; the road was quiet, apart from the occasional red taxi slowly crawling by.
Black made his way up the steps to the rear entrance. The back of the apartment block sported a swimming pool and large paved area complete with sunbeds. Despite the pleasantly warm sun, the area was completely deserted. There was an intercom system on the rear door; however Black had no intention of using this as it would alert Tang Li. He would have to wait until someone else entered or exited the building. In an attempt not to look suspicious, Black took out his mobile phone and pretended to have a conversation in the rear forecourt, while remaining close to the entrance door.
It took at least five minutes for anyone to appear. A Chinese couple exited the building, laughing playfully and holding hands. They barely noticed Black as he made a sprint for the door, catching it before it fully closed.
The entrance hall to the apartment block was clean and minimalist. Grey mailboxes hung on the wall in front of him. The tiled floor had just been cleaned, the light shining brightly on the damp film covering the surface. There was a strong unwelcoming smell of disinfectant lingering in the air. Black looked up to the ceiling to check for any kind of CCTV. There wasn’t any.
Apartment 26 was on the second floor. Black made his way slowly up the staircase, treading softly to keep the sound of his footsteps to a minimum.
The door for number 26 was at the far end of the corridor. It blended in with the matching white walls. Black approached with caution, eventually leaning in closely to listen for any movement inside the apartment.
There was the sound of a television, and a voice speaking in Chinese. Li was on the telephone, although Black had no idea what was being said; he didn’t understand the language and the television made the conversation barely audible.
Eventually, the conversation ended. Black paused for a moment before knocking on the apartment door. The lock turned almost immediately and the door swung open. Li was smiling, but the expression on his face soon changed when he saw Black standing in the doorway. He had been expecting someone else.
Li said something in Chinese - probably asking Black who the hell he was and what he was doing there.
“Please,
sir, let me in. We need to talk. I have some important information for you.” Black was calm in his delivery. He was hoping the initial friendly approach would give him the leverage he needed to gain access to the apartment.
“You English? American?” he asked
“English. Sir, please, we don’t have much time.”
Li motioned for Black to enter. He followed him inside, closing the door and locking it behind him.
The apartment was sleek and clean. The walls were a brilliant white, with a simple array of Ikea furniture set out in the living area. A small flat screen television a hung on the wall, the volume now muted. Li sat on the modern blue fabric sofa. He checked his watch then looked at the door. He was definitely expecting someone.
“Your name. What is it?” he asked bluntly.
“Thomas,” Black replied.
“And why are you here? I have a visitor coming shortly, I need to prepare."
“Who is your visitor? Is he another Englishman?” Black was confident it would be the rogue TEP agent.
There was a brief pause. “Why are you taking such an interest in me? Why are you here? Get to the point; I’m a very busy man.”
Black remained stood up and moved closer to Li. “I want to know the name of the Englishman, the man from the Government that you have been meeting with. Tell me who he is and where I can find him, and I will make this as painless as possible.”
Li laughed. “What you talking about? I don’t deal with the English in my work. All Asian.”
“Look, I’m going to make this very simple for you,” Black removed his weapon from the holster hidden under his shirt on his belt. He took out the silencer from his back pocket and screwed it onto the end of the Sig Sauer. “Tell me what I need to know; otherwise, I’m putting a bullet in each of your kneecaps.”