“Sergeant where have you positioned your men?”
“Sir, two are around the back in the alleyway with the two ARV officers. I have two that have just gone through the neighbour’s house to their rear garden, one on the right side in that alley and three here at the front.”
Just at that moment, the ARV officers PR came to life, “MP to Alpha-1 receiving over?”
“Go ahead MP.”
“Records show a single occupant named at that address, Shamus O’Malley, we have cross referenced him on our system and he has a CRO.”
Chief Superintendent Attlee beckoned to the officer to use his PR and spoke into it, “MP this is Chief Superintendent Attlee, what have you got on him over?”
“Sir, he has convictions for theft, burglary, possession of a firearm. He has been in the past subject to surveillance by SO-13, his known associates include suspected members of the IRA. The file shows nothing for the past eighteen months, MP over.”
Chief Superintendent Attlee replied, “Roger that MP, out.”
He turned to the sergeant and said, “Have you a loudhailer in the van?”
“Yes sir,” replied the sergeant.
Inside the house, Shamus was upstairs peering through the front bedroom window at all the activity below in the street.
He was pretty sure Patrick had made good his escape, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice, “Shamus O’Malley this is Chief Superintendent Attlee, if you are in the house come out the front door in the next sixty seconds, do not force us to come in for you!”
Shamus thought for a few moments, they really had nothing on him; there were no munitions left in the shed and they had probably not had a good look to identify Patrick leaving out the back.
He walked down the stairs, opened the front door and stepped outside.
A different voice greeted him from the loudhailer, “down on your knees and both hands clasped behind your head.”
Shamus complied and the voice then said, “okay lay down in the prone position and spread eagle your arms and legs, do not try anything you have weapons trained on you.”
Again, he complied and as he lay face down, he heard a sound from his left and felt pressure in the middle of his back.
He felt a hand frisking his body and then his left arm being pulled behind him and he felt the familiar feel of the steel of a handcuff followed by the sound of the ratchet and the biting sting as it bit into his wrist, this was repeated with his other arm.
He was roughly pulled up onto his feet and walked to the footpath by the road; a man came over and said, “You Shamus O’Malley?”
“That I am sir and who might you be?”
“My name is Chief Superintendent Attlee; you are under arrest on suspicion of harbouring a terrorist,” he turned to the sergeant and said, “caution him and have him taken to Paddington green.”
The sergeant said to O’Malley, “you do not have say anything unless you wish to do so, anything you do say will be taken down in writing and may be used in evidence, do you understand?”
Shamus had heard this many times before and just nodded.
Thirty minutes later, he was at Paddington Green police station, back at his house SOCO were searching for evidence and lifting fingerprint from various areas.
O’Rourke had made it back to the tube station and he was now heading south along the Bakerloo line. As he sat there he realised that it would be fruitless to go to any of his other associates, the Police were obviously trawling every known address of known IRA sympathisers
No! He had nowhere to go except the rendezvous with Jamie at ten tonight, so what would his target be?
47
Warehouse on
Nicholson Street
Off
Williamsburg Avenue
Richmond
Virginia
USA
Lat = 37 degrees, 31.2 minutes North
Long = 77 degrees, 24.7 minutes West
Tuesday 19th September 1989 (same day)
Nineteen fifty-five hours EDT
Along with Tracy and his team, Roy had been staking the warehouse out for the past two hours, they had confirmed the number of guards on the ground and on the rooftop, but there had been no change over up to now.
His six-man team had paired up and found discreet OP’s to keep eyes on the building with twenty minute SITREPS to Roy, they had also confirmed that the men guarding the premises were armed with Soviet design weapons.
Roy looked at his watch nineteen fifty-eight hours; he was just about to call the team back to his location when his Codetta came to life.
“Eagle 4 from OP-2 over.”
“Go ahead OP-2.”
“I have movement from the side door; several men are emerging, over.”
Roy replied, “Stand by.”
Roy had to move several yards to his left to bring him into line with the side of the building OP-2 had flagged up, he raised his binoculars and eyed the location and could see the men moving out of a large roller shutter style door.
The interior of the warehouse was lit up and as the last man came out of the door, there was no attempt made to bring the shutter down.
Roy had an excellent view into the building, he clocked several other men wandering around, and a handful were watching a television screen at the far end and a large dark blue semi eighteen-wheeler truck.
But what caught his eye was a chamber made of glass that he estimated was fifteen foot square, that appeared to have been erected within the warehouse and within it a container about six feet by two feet by one foot.
There was what appeared to be a glass tunnel leading from this room to a single door that opened into a smaller room and then another door leading into another identically sized room.
Roy immediately noticed the shower systems in both rooms with a light blue coloured Hazmat-suit hanging up in the last shower room with a final exit door that allowed access into the warehouse area.
He picked up his Codetta and said, “Eagle-4 to OP-2, do you see what I see inside the warehouse, over?”
The reply came back quick, “I see it eagle-4, looks like a decontamination facility and a container in the large room, over.”
Roy said, “Eagle-4 to all units remain at your respective OP’s until further instructions from me, out.”
Tracy had made her way alongside him and said, “what is it Roy?”
Roy handed her the binoculars and said, “Take a look, inside the warehouse.”
Tracy adjusted the binoculars to her eye frame and aimed them at the warehouse open door; she made a slight adjustment for focus and looked at the structure inside for several moments.
She removed the binoculars, looked at Roy, and said, “Is that what I think it is Roy?”
Roy said, “Looks like a sterile area with decontamination facilities and a container that probably has the Red Mercury in it and if I am not mistaken that’s the truck that hijacked the cargo at the docks.”
Roy spoke into his Codetta, “all OP’s SITREP?”
“OP-1 looks like they are changing the guards, over.”
“OP-2, we can confirm that, over.”
“Op-3 we have a vehicle turning from Nicholson Street into Williamsburg Avenue, over.”
Tracy handed the binoculars back to Roy and he adjusted them to look at the car coming down the road.
It was a dark coloured Ford SUV as it came closer he could make out the licence plate, G21. 33111 with the words U.S Government across the top of the plate.
He watched as the car turned in through the open gate that had just been opened and then into the open warehouse, two men and a woman climbed out of the vehicle.
The two guys were in suits typical of any of the American enforcement agencies, th
e woman however was a different entity.
Roy zoomed in on her and noticed she was of Asian origin; his view was obliterated as she moved out of view.
He removed the binoculars and handed them to Tracy as he thought for a moment before speaking into his Codetta, “eagle 4 to eagle 3 over.”
Max was back at the safe house and picked up his Codetta and replied, “Eagle 4 go ahead over.”
Roy said, “We have some visitors at the location, I am staying onsite to keep eyes on them, over.”
“Copy that eagle 4, keep me posted, eagle 3 out.”
Tracy handed the binoculars back to Roy and said, the two men are Sydney Carter and Sean McFaul, the CIA agents whom were at the docks when the cargo went missing.”
Roy replied, “what about the woman?”
“Never seen her before Roy!”
Roy scoped the warehouse and could see that the guards had finished relieving their comrades and the relieved guards were re-entering the warehouse via the roller shutter door that was now slowly descending to close. He checked his watch; twenty zero six hours.
He quickly did the maths change over time eight minutes.
Roy re trained the binoculars back inside the warehouse and observed the Asian female putting on the blue coloured Hazmat-suit and then watched as she walked through the tunnel area to the main area carrying a rucksack, this was when the roller shutter door came completely back down and blanked his view.
Roy spoke into his Codetta, “eagle-4 to all teams keep eyes on the target area, we wait until the vehicle comes back out.
He turned to Tracy and said, “go to our vehicle and have it ready, you and me will follow the car when it comes out.”
Inside the warehouse, Sydney Carter and Sean McFaul were again watching Sun-Yung.
They had collected her from her hotel; it had been seven days since Sun-Yung had checked the device and it was felt prudent to have her recheck it to ensure its stability.
Prior to joining the Korean military she had studied nuclear physics and having then entered the wide world, found that being a female even with her qualifications was extremely difficult in a mainly man’s world of Korea.
Therefore, her direction turned to the military where even there, there was male chauvinism.
However, during her training she discovered she had a natural talent with weapons and hand-to-hand combat and she quickly earned the respect from her male counterparts.
Sun-Yung was given access to nuclear weapons systems to develop her knowledge and skills to complement her years studying the subject.
It was during this time that a senior officer took a liking to her, at first it was harmless banter mainly from him, however it then turned to the man trying to grope her when no one was around.
On the last occasion the officer went much further, she was working on a rocket weapons system when he came up behind and reached around to her breasts.
Sun-Yung was startled and taken completely by surprise and she reacted instinctively, she was holding a screwdriver in her right hand as she turned quickly around at a lightning speed in a clockwise rotation her right arm was bent as she drove the screwdriver into the neck of her attacker.
The officer had already released his hands from her breasts as she had rotated and immediately fell to the floor with the screwdriver protruding from his neck along with blood spurting from the wound.
He looked up at her and just managed to say with his dying breath, “Sun-Yung!”
Sun-Yung looked down at the dead man, then immediately around the area, no one was about and panic set in, she realised that no one would believe her story.
She immediately dragged the offices body and hid it under a tarpaulin cover.
An hour later, she had exited the camp and two days later had made it to Chechnya.
In the last year, she had been approached by the Russian KGB and threatened with deportation back to Korea, unless she placed her skills at their disposal.
Sun-Yung knew that would be a sentence to certain death and she had agreed and was placed under Ivan Balagula the local Russian KGB officer for Chechnya.
It had taken her twenty minutes to check the two systems and she was now back out of the containment area and had walked over to the two CIA men carrying a rucksack and said, “everything is in order.”
Sydney Carter said, “Okay, we will take you back to the hotel, give Sean the rucksack.”
Sun-Yung handed Sean the rucksack and he placed it in the trunk of the vehicle and a few minutes later the car was emerging out of the warehouse and out onto the road.
Tracy and Roy were parked on Williamsburg Avenue just back from a large rig enough to keep them out of site but able to observe the junction.
They spotted the SUV emerging from the junction and turn left away from them Roy said to Tracy, “Okay nice and easy now, we don’t want to spook them.”
Tracy turned and gave him a knowing smile and replied, “sit back Roy; I do this for a living.”
Tracy shifted the vehicle into drive and slowly rolled out from the kerb around the truck and dropped in a distance behind the car.
Roy spoke into his Codetta, eagle-4 to team head back to the safe house, out.”
Back at the safe house Max had been keeping abreast of the Comms chatter and picked up his Codetta and spoke into it, “eagle-3 to eagle-4 over.”
Roy replied, “Go ahead eagle-3.”
“Roy, Stay on the vehicle all night if necessary, give me a SITREP every fifteen minutes, over.”
“Roger that Max, eagle-4 out.”
Roy said to Tracy, “you heard the man, looks like we have each other’s company for a little longer tonight Tracy.”
Tracy replied, “I couldn’t ask for better company Roy.”
48
‘ICIS’
Saltbox Hill
Biggin Hill, Kent
Lat = 51 degrees, 19.7 minutes North
Long = 0 degrees, 1.2 minutes East
Tuesday 19th September 1989 (same day)
Fifteen fifty-eight hours BST
GAIL had been managing the satellite coverage over Virginia however; her systems were constantly scanning other sources of Intel when one of them alerted her.
She quickly linked into it and then phoned Vince whom was in the rest area, Vince picked the phone and GAIL said, “Vince remember the IRA man whom escaped the US Marshall and is suspected of the Oxford street bombing?”
Vince replied, “Yes, the Police are searching for him, have they got him?”
GAIL replied, “no but I have located him!”
Vince said, “I am on my way to you,” he hung the phone up and made his way to the Intel room.
Vince entered the Intel room and always had a sense of pride, as he looked at his creation, “so what have you got GAIL?”
The large Plasma screen came to life with the image of a man carrying a holdall style bag, GAIL said, “This is Patrick O’Rourke the man the Police are looking for Vince.”
“Where is the image from GAIL?”
“On the platform of Kilburn tube station,” the image quickly changed to moving footage as Vince looked at the screen a train arrived at the station and O’Rourke boarded it.
“That was fifteen thirty-nine on the southbound tube Vince.”
Vince looked at his watch, sixteen zero three hours and said, “Do you know where he is now GAIL?”
GAIL replied, “One moment Vince, unfortunately not all the stations have CCTV.”
Her remarkably systems took eleven seconds scanning all the available London underground CCTV footage before another image appeared showing O’Rourke walking along a platform.
“This is the Embankment underground station Vince one minute ago, wait one whilst my systems check for a
nymore footage.”
The image faded and the screen came alive with real time moving footage of O’Rourke, Gail said, “This image is from a CCTV system on a building just outside the station showing him now on the Embankment walking in the direction towards Westminster Bridge.”
Vince’s high IQ quickly surmised where O’Rourke was probably heading and he uttered “the Houses of Parliament. GAIL contact MP, give them an update, I will advise Major Strayker.”
49
Victoria Embankment
Westminster
City of Westminster
London SW1
Lat = 51 degrees, 30.3 minutes North
Long = 0 degrees, 7.4 minutes West
Tuesday 19th September 1989 (same day)
Sixteen eleven hours BST
O’Rourke had decided on his target whilst travelling on the tube there were many to choose from, he wanted the Brits to pay but he also valued his freedom and life, he was not out for a suicide mission.
He had come off at the Embankment tube station and was walking down Victoria Embankment to Westminster tube station. He could have stayed on the underground and transferred directly onto the Circle line, but decided to get back on top to street level and walk the short distance down to Westminster tube station to pick up the circle line to Victoria.
He quickly clocked a uniformed Police officer standing across the road alongside the RAF Memorial listening into his radio.
He continued down Victoria Embankment and was opposite the Police officer when he noticed the officer giving him the eye.
Police Constable Andy Bebbington was patrolling the Victoria Embankment on foot and had been with the Metropolitan Police nearly three years having completed his two years’ probation stationed on the ‘A’ division at Cannon Row Police station just off Whitehall.
He had served in the army prior to joining the Metropolitan Police Force, with two tours in Northern Ireland under his belt.
He had recently received a Police commendation for bravery, following his intervention several weeks earlier when he had disarmed a Russian SPETSNAZ who had launched an RPG attack on the British Prime Minister.
Red Mercury Page 16