“The only alternative for Clarkson and the Acropolis to regain its foothold in the Middle East,” surmised Paddy, “would be to create an all-out war between East and West. Dunlop realising what was happening separated himself from the board and in the process fell out with Jackson. As a result, Jackson ordered Aamir Machete to kill Dunlop. When that failed, Jackson pulled as many strings as possible within MI5 and eventually he succeeded having Dunlop killed.”
“Interesting theory. How do we prove it?” asked McGregor.
“We need to speak to the Mechanic. He did business with the Keepers. It’s quite convenient that this plane is flying to Holland, because that’s where he’s being held,” said Paddy.
McGregor smiled.
“And what of this war, how will it begin?” asked Scott.
“Jackson mentioned that there would be an appropriate trigger which would unite the West behind Israel in a military counterstrike against a specific target,” replied Paddy.
“Whatever the trigger is, it will have to be pretty earth shattering,” said Craig.
“The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was enough to start World War I,” observed Scott.
Chapter 14
The Netherlands
THE FLIGHT FROM HOUSTON to the Netherlands allowed Paddy and the rest of the team to get some sleep. The one exception was Jeff Bowers, who wanted to make as many enquiries as he could in relation to the Acropolis and the Keepers of the Persian Gate. Jeff also wanted to get to the bottom of who was pulling the strings within MI5.
His enquiries led him to discover that the Keepers of the Persian Gate had come to the UK within the last two weeks to investigate the main players in the Clarkson network and were primed, if necessary, to prevent a terrorist attack from occurring. They had their eyes on a number of local players within the UK who had links to extremist Islamic organisations and who may have been receiving indirect funding from the Acropolis. The Keepers had allegedly based themselves in the Pakistani embassy in London and were using it as their headquarters for surveillance.
In terms of MI5, Jeff’s enquiries were met with a wall of silence. Nevertheless, when Jeff made some unofficial enquiries with former colleagues, he managed to get somewhere. He learned that the Managing Partner of Sefton & Grey, Thompson Gellar, was actually a founding member of the Acropolis, and had significant links to MI5. In fact, his brother, Marcus Baldwin, was Director of Training there.
Jeff woke Paddy. “Paddy, how did the Keepers know you were going to be on Gigha?”
“I’ve been asking myself the same question for the last twenty-four hours,” replied Paddy.
“Did anything strange happen before Cromwell, and before William Dunlop was killed? I’m thinking way back when you didn’t have any suspicions about anything,” said Jeff.
Paddy thought for a moment. “The night before the murder in Dunlop & McLaine, and before I went to meet William Dunlop in Reading, my apartment was broken into. But nothing seemed to have been taken.” said Paddy.
Jeff looked at Paddy and stared him up and down. “Take off your shoes.”
“What?”
“Take them off!” said Jeff.
Paddy duly obliged and Jeff used a pocket-knife to cut off the heel on each of Paddy’s shoes. However, there was nothing suspicious to be found.
“What about that watch, Paddy?” asked Jeff.
“What about it?” replied Paddy.
“Was that watch in your apartment the night it was broken into?” asked Jeff.
“I… It wasn’t! But…” replied Paddy.
“But what?” asked Jeff.
“Mark Glover at Dunlop & McLaine, he noticed it was broken. He said he would give it to the Head of Security at the firm. Said he was an artisan that repaired watches in his spare time. He gave it back to me the morning William Dunlop was killed,” said Paddy.
“Give it to me,” said Jeff.
Jeff smashed it with the handle of his knife and pulled off the clock face. Underneath, attached to the battery, was a device that he instantly recognised. He pulled it out. It looked like a bit like a fairy light, only without the light.
“This is what they have been tracking you with! These have been cropping up quite a lot recently. It works off mobile phone masts to send a signal by text message every couple of hours to a phone designated to receive your coordinates. Your Head of Security would be getting live updates of your location periodically. But as far as I know, it would not be tri-band, so the second you left the UK, it ceased to operate,” explained Jeff.
“One moment,” said Paddy. He marched over to Adam Scott who was still asleep. “Scott!” He slapped him across the head.
“What the bloody hell!” said Scott.
“I need to have a word with you,” said Paddy.
“What the bloody hell for?” replied Scott.
“Jeff here found a tracking device in my watch. It was put there by Major Howard. Care to shed any light?” aked Paddy.
Scott carefully explained, that due to the sensitive nature of the work carried at Dunlop & McLaine, occasionally staff came under threat. There had been a series of attempted kidnappings in the past, and as a result, Mark Glover asked Major Howard to commence putting tracking devices in either the watches or mobile phones of new employees.
“I appreciate it’s a bit of a shock to you.”
By this stage McGregor, Craig and Williamson had awoken and come over to listen to the conversation. Jeff explained that whoever leaked the information about the CIA and Paddy on the Island of Gigha had access to Paddy’s position via the tracking device in the watch.
“Who would receive the information about my position?” asked Paddy.
“There are only two men who would have access to that sort of information. One is Major Howard,” said Scott.
“And the other…?” asked Paddy.
Scott hesitated for a moment. “The other would be Sir Mark Glover, Managing Partner at Dunlop & McLaine. Your Master.”
Paddy was absolutely fuming with this information. Although he had only known Mark for an instant, he felt betrayed. It was either Howard or Mark.
“So one of them works for the Keepers of the Persian Gate?” Pondered Jeff.
“We don’t know that,” replied Paddy.
Howard himself seemed as unlikely a candidate as Mark to be working with the Keepers of the Persian Gate. However, stranger things had happened in the last few days. The real debate amongst the group was who stood to benefit the most from erasing any evidence that William Dunlop was murdered. There was only one answer, and that was Mark, who had recently been elected the new Managing Partner.
“I should state that he was highly reluctant to take on the post. Myself and the rest of the Partners didn’t really give him a choice in the matter,” said Scott.
“Yes, but was there really any other candidate?” replied Paddy.
“No, you’re right. There wasn’t,” replied Scott.
Paddy thought back to his encounter with Vera on the afternoon prior to the meeting with Mark. He found it odd that his key had disappeared after Vera had left and then magically reappeared after his dinner with Mark. After all, it was Mark who had sent her to Paddy’s apartment in the first place. Moreover, whoever had broken into his apartment had done so through the front door, and there were no signs that the door had been forced open. Paddy began to wonder whether his afternoon with Vera had all been designed by Mark in order for someone to break in to his apartment that evening.
***
Thursday 11th July, 2011
The next day, Paddy and his compatriots had landed at Schippol airport and were making the journey to the city of Den Hague where the International Criminal Court was based. On route, Paddy made several phone calls to old colleagues he had worked with during his stint with the ICC to try to set up a meeting with the Mechanic. After hitting a few dead ends, he managed to speak to his former brother-in-arms Marco Montpellier, who had himself been working on another
INTERPOL assignment with the ICC.
The ICC prison was based in Schenevingen and Paddy had been there before, during the previous year, when he had interviewed several other inmates in his investigation of the Mechanic. The facility itself resembled a castle more than a prison. It had hugely dramatic perimeter walls and a deep moat. As they approached the main gate they had to wait for the portcullis to lift. Fifty-plus guards lined the inner walls. There were also numerous watch towers with snipers observing the comings and goings at the gate.
After going through a lengthy security check at the main door, the group were required to surrender any weapons they had on their persons to the prison staff. After that they were led into an underground corridor by the prison’s Governor, Johann Kluivert, who had come to greet them.
“We have arranged for the Mechanic to be put into the secure interview room. We haven’t informed him who it is that is coming to see him. Would you like me to?” asked Johan.
“No! I think it will be a nice surprise for him,” said Paddy.
“Very well. How many of you will be going in?” asked Johann.
Paddy conferred with his colleagues and explained that he would prefer to go in on his own. The rest were led into a room with a mirrored window so they could view the interview. The Mechanic was sitting handcuffed to his chair and there did not appear to be any other furniture in the room.
“Good luck, Mr. Trimble. I hear if it weren’t for you then this prisoner wouldn’t be here,” said Johann as he waked away down the corridor.
A guard unlocked the door into the interview room and Paddy walked in. He stood for a moment, looking the Mechanic directly in the eyes, as the door behind him was locked. It was just the two of them in the interview room now. The Mechanic looked thinner than the last time the pair had met. His time in prison had obviously aged him greatly. He was an old man at the time of his capture, but now he looked ancient and decrepid. He would be completely bald if it weren’t for the bizarre sandy grey comb-over which protruded oddly across his forehead. The Mechanic began to smile, and then he broke into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” asked Paddy.
“Oh, you know. I never thought I’d get to meet you again, Mr. Trimble. What was your first name…Paddy the Irishman, wasn’t it?” said the Mechanic.
“You can continue to refer to me as Mr. Trimble,” said Paddy.
“Ok Paddy Irishman. So, tell me what has brought you all this way to come and see me. I’m sure it’s not to see how I am doing?” asked the Mechanic.
“Why didn’t you ever mention that you worked with an organisation called the Keepers of the Persian Gate?” asked Paddy.
The Mechanics face went from jovial to severe in an instant. Paddy slowly paced toward the Mechanic, who said nothing in response.
“I said, why didn’t you tell me? Are you deaf?” asked Paddy.
The Mechanic took a sharp intake of breath and then smiled again. “You know what, I will answer your question with my own and we’ll see if we can narrow the issues so to speak. What do you know of my involvement with the Keepers of the Persian Gate?”
“I know that you worked with them, and I know that they have parted company with the Acropolis in order to prevent an all-out war in the Middle East,” said Paddy.
“Do you now Paddy Irishman? Now I understand why you have come to see me,” replied the Mechanic.
“Stop messing around. You know all of this, don’t you?” fumed Paddy.
“Now, now, temper, temper Paddy Irishman. It is true; I did work for The Keepers of the Persian Gate. The Keepers stand for peace and freedom above all other things,” replied the Mechanic.
“Why? I mean, you were an arms dealer and a rogue scientist. You sold your expertise and materials for dirty bombs the world over. Why would you be part of an organisation that stood for peace?” asked Paddy.
The Mechanic explained that after the loss of his first wife Maheeha during childbirth in 1970 he went off the radar for a number of years. “It became clear to me that by helping Pakistan achieve the bomb, I had contributed to the stand-off, rather than minimising it. The Middle East would never be a free place if it was constantly at loggerheads with the West,” said the Mechanic.
In early 1972, the Mechanic went to work in the Gaza Strip, and in 1975, the Mechanic married his second wife. Her name was Esharaq.
“She was most unique, she was half Israeli, half Palestinian. Her mother was Jewish, making her Jewish. We lived happily together for several years as I stayed out of trouble. However, in 1979 following a brief period of civil unrest in the Gaza Strip the Israeli army were ordered to quell the unrest with a short sharp attack on various enclaves in Gaza. I can remember the night as though it were yesterday. I was travelling home from work at around 7pm when I approached the house to find it burnt out. When I found her she was barely alive. With her last dying breath, she told me how a soldier in the Israeli Army had attacked and ravaged her,” said the Mechanic.
Shortly after the burial of Esharaq, the Mechanic was visited by an Egyptian man by the name of Rafi Bashir. He was a senior case officer in GID or Egyptian Intelligence.
“He knew that I would be seeking revenge against the West, and he realised the potential I had to create a monumental blow to it.” Said the Mechanic.
Bashir explained why peace was more important than revenge. The West and Israel would never back down in controlling the region unless they could control its people.
“He made me realise that the problem was the region was controlled by Western-backed tyrants. He explained to me that it was my duty to Allah to help him and his organisation prevent those Western-backed tyrants from provoking the war that elements in the West and Israel truly wanted, that being total war in the Middle East.
He asked me to come to a meeting of his organisation in Riyadh. At that meeting, the members described themselves as the guardians of peace in the Middle East. They were ministers of governments; religious leaders, both Muslim and non-Muslim; military leaders; and businessmen from the world over. Their cause was called the Keepers of the Persian Gate. It was transnational,” said the Mechanic.
Paddy looked over to the mirrored glass and gave the group standing behind it a look as if to say “well that was unexpected”. He gathered his composure as he remembered that the Mechanic was well known for being a master manipulator, and continued his line of questioning. “And where does selling uranium to terrorists in Afghanistan come into your grand plan for peace?”
“The charges are false,” replied the Mechanic.
“There is overwhelming evidence,” replied Paddy.
“Evidence of what? That I was talking to terrorists, and that I gave them materials? Well, if that makes me guilty, then yes, I am a War Criminal. However, ask yourself, was it ever considered by the prosecutor that I might have been on my own intelligence mission?” said the Mechanic.
“What type of intelligence mission?” asked Paddy.
The Mechanic claimed that the Keepers of the Persian Gate had sent him to infiltrate terrorist networks which they suspected were planning attacks in the West. He learned as much as he could about any terrorist networks which he encountered, and reported back to the Keepers.
“That way we could track their movements from a military perspective. When they went to make their move, we were there to intercept them. Don’t you find it exceptionally odd that in the ten years since 9/11 there have only been a handful of significant terrorist attacks in the West?” asked the Mechanic.
“No,” replied Paddy.
“Well, you should. Because if it weren’t for the Keepers of the Persian Gate there would have been plenty more, and I can assure you of that fact,” replied the Mechanic.
“And you sold them Uranium to gain their trust?” asked Paddy.
“No. I fooled them,” replied the Mechanic. “What I sold them was barely enough to destroy an office block. Time after time, when they tried an attack, more often than not the materials were pr
epared to explode before they made their target or they were intercepted by our military and police colleagues. Evidence is only worth the weight that is attached to it, Mr. Trimble. You’ll learn that as your legal career develops.”
“Oh, and you’re a lawyer now,” replied Paddy.
“No, but I know you are only a trainee. With Dunlop & McLaine, I hear. Well done. They’re quite the outfit,” said the Mechanic.
“How do you know that?” replied Paddy.
“Oh, you know. One just hears these things. How is Mark Glover doing these days anyway?” asked the Mechanic.
“What do you know about Mark?” asked Paddy.
“He’s a close advisor to Robert Jackson. I thought you would know,” replied the Mechanic.
“No! You’re confused. That was William Dunlop.”
“Oh, no, I’m not. William Dunlop was a member of the Keepers of the Persian Gate,” replied the Mechanic.
This was earth-shaking news. The statement that William Dunlop was a member of the Keepers of the Persian Gate was the one piece of information which Paddy did not expect to hear. He needed to proceed carefully, and he was conscious that the Mechanic had a reputation for getting inside the heads of people talking to him.
The Mechanic noticed that Paddy was a little lost. “What’s wrong, Paddy Irishman?”
As Paddy was about to speak, the door into the interview room opened. Standing at the door was Jeff Bowers, who gestured for Paddy to leave the room.
“Hello. I don’t believe we have met, Mr. Spook,” said the Mechanic.
Paddy followed Jeff; the door slammed shut and Paddy was taken into the viewing room. All the while, the Mechanic sat in his chair staring at the window and smiling - occasionally laughing.
“What’s his problem?” asked McGregor.
The Keepers of the Persian Gate Page 18