***
The basement of the BIB HQ building was not an unpleasant place to visit or operate in from an operative’s perspective. But to BIB ‘guests’ (and other persons brought there by other law enforcement agencies), the basement could be viewed as and be made to feel lonely, uncomfortable, in-hospitable, daunting and so frightening. Deliberately being left alone to ‘stew’ in a locked, windowless room was definitely intimidating. But Castille was not someone who was easily intimidated.
He was the latest BIB guest to be placed in a locked, windowless room in BIB HQ’s basement. He had been ‘fed and watered’ by BIB operatives before being left alone with his thoughts. Castille was unsure what would happen next as his interview had not yet taken place. If that went badly for him, how long might he end up having to spend in Barbados? Being cooped up like a bird in a cage or a dog in a kennel was not to Castille’s liking. He was starting to feel some pressure, having worked out that his return to the USA that afternoon was now looking highly unlikely. That meant that his boss would not see him show up for their meeting that evening back in Miami. She would know that something was up, as it was not like him to miss any of their meetings.
What was meant to have been a quick and easy assignment in Barbados had obviously not panned out the way he or his boss had anticipated. Where did he or it all go wrong? Well, he had made a few errors since his arrival for sure, including being too patient with Power and Wharton perhaps? Castille’s mind was working along negative lines, but he remained cool and started to ponder how he might still get out of this well-fortified place.
Be positive. There’s always a way out of any jam, he was thinking to himself.
Castille’s problem was that he knew of no one or organisation in Barbados (except the Embassy of the USA) that might be willing to pull a string or have some influence to work quickly to get him out of the predicament he was in. As this was unlikely, the realism that he could be stuck in Barbados for a while started to sink in.
***
Following her earlier discussion with Castille, Pilessar realised that he would now also be on the same afternoon AA flight to Miami as herself. She hoped they would not see each other during pre-flight, the flight itself or the post-flight period in Miami International Airport’s Arrival hall. If they did bump into each other, they would ignore each other and simply keep moving. Explanations about why she’d visited Barbados at the same time as Castille could come later when they met in that down-town bar.
Pilessar placed Castille out of her mind as she was given a whistle-stop tour of Barbados’ east and west coasts over the next two hours by Shepherd, the same ‘very tall, dark and handsome figure’ who had met her at the airport the previous afternoon. Pilessar enjoyed the experience – the sights of large and sprawling private homes, chattel houses, varied hotel and villa properties, and above all the spectacular views of the placid Caribbean Sea and more energetic Atlantic Ocean. She could understand why her host retreated daily to a place overlooking Barbados’ quietest but most scenic coastline.
There wasn’t time to see much more of Barbados on this brief visit. Anyhow, she did not want to venture anywhere near to the capital city of Bridgetown. Nor did she have the desire to visit shopping malls, supermarkets or the more public areas where she would surely have been captured on CCTV networks that were seemingly in place everywhere. Being inadvertently photographed by a local or visitor was also not on her ‘bucket list’ for this or any of her previous overseas business trips, given her line of work.
Shepherd dropped Pilessar off at GAIA at 1:25 p.m. After removing her pull-along from the trunk of the vehicle and placing it on the sidewalk, he wished her goodbye.
“Well, it’s been nice having you here ma’am, short though it was. Come again. Safe flight home.”
“Thank you for so safely moving me around, Benedict. Goodbye.”
With that, Shepherd and Pilessar parted company. She did not respond to Shepherd’s invitation about returning to Barbados, though she felt that she might well do so one day.
It was still a good couple of hours before her flight to Miami was scheduled to depart. She checked herself in at the AA first-class counter and secured her boarding pass before proceeding to the security officer. He checked her passport details against her boarding pass and directed her to the Immigration officer in the Departure hall. Soon, Pilessar’s departure from Barbados was formalised by a young female officer who stamped her passport.
Once through inner security, Pilessar walked through into the Departure area and looked around the airport shops. In one of them, she purchased a large bottle of water. She had nobody to buy anything for. A few minutes later, she sat comfortably in the upstairs area of the Departure lounge, sipping her water reflectively. She felt she had completed the business she’d come to Barbados to do in the twenty-four hours she’d spent on the island. Her host had been gracious and friendlier than she’d ever expected. More professional too, which was not always the case in her experience of working for The Organisation.
The only thing Pilessar wanted to do now was to hear her flight being called, get through the four-hour journey to Miami without incident, spend the obligatory thirty minutes passing through US Immigration and Customs, before being picked up and driven to her down-town high-rise apartment.
Pilessar suddenly became conscious of three men approaching her. She looked around to notice other men who appeared to be trying to blend in with the departing passengers but she knew otherwise as they were also looking in her general direction.
That was when she heard her name being spoken.
It was the commanding voice of a woman who was standing beside her. “Miss Emma Pilessar?”
Looking up sharply, Pilessar wanted to see what the woman looked like.
“Excuse me…who are you and what have I done?” asked a puzzled Pilessar.
“I am Kylie Callendar of the Barbados Intelligence Bureau (BIB). With me are three fellow BIB operatives and two Royal Barbados Police Force officers. We’d like to ask you a few questions ma’am, so please come with me,” said Joe, showing Pilessar her BIB badge.
Reluctantly, Pilessar rose slowly from her seat, hand bag in hand. She reached for her pull-along but realised that one of the officers had already picked it up.
“Miss Colinder –” started Pilessar.
Joe corrected her. “It’s Callendar, ma’am. Please follow me,” said Joe leading the way.
“If you insist, but you should know that my Embassy will hear about this, especially if you make me miss my flight. Your treatment of me will not do your country’s reputation for tourism any good back in the USA.”
“Perhaps not. This way please, Miss Pilessar,” said Joe, descending the stairs from the upper area of the Departure lounge and heading towards one of the rooms in the airport’s Immigration department area.
On arrival in the room, the senior Immigration officer in charge of the 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. shift at the airport held out a phone in her hand to Joe.
“Miss Callendar, for you.”
Joe took the phone.
“Thanks. Hello, Callendar here.”
“Colonel Burke. Please bring Miss Pilessar to BIB HQ as soon as you can,” he ordered.
“On it chief, if that’s what’s required.”
“It is. Goodbye.”
Joe spoke to her fellow operatives. “Listen up fellas, we’re to take her to BIB HQ.”
Morris, Forde and Rogers nodded in acceptance of their changed duty. Turning to Pilessar, Joe explained. “A change of plan. We’ve been asked to take you to our headquarters office. It’s not far away.”
“Look, this isn’t funny. You haven’t told me why you are stopping me from getting on my flight. I’ve done nothing wrong since arriving in Barbados for what, twenty-four hours –”
“Miss Pilessar, all I can promise is that I’ll do is my best to get you to our headquarters quickly. I’m unable to tell you how long you’ll be there. That will depend on my
boss and what he needs to discuss with you. Can we get moving, please?”
Unhappy and concerned, Pilessar turned around and started to follow Joe out of the door, with Morris, Forde and Rogers in tow. The two RBPF officers also tagged along behind them.
***
After consultation, it was unanimously agreed to push back the planned 3:00 p.m. re-convening of the Operation ‘Fishhook’ mission debrief. The tentative new time was set for 5:00 p.m. Jeremie had been particularly strong about a delayed start because he wanted to learn what Castille and Pilessar might say in their simultaneous but separate interviews that would hopefully shed light on Power’s escape, George Telford’s murder and The Organisation’s activities, current and proposed, in Barbados and other Caribbean countries.
Colonel Burke had decided that, for completeness (some would say wickedness but hell, why not) that he would find a way for Castille and Pilessar to at least see each other, perhaps even get them to meet up once their separate interviews had been completed.
***
Castille was interviewed by Chief Superintendent Vickers, Inspector Moss and Fred in Interview Room 1 (IR1). His forty-five minutes interview had focussed primarily on what he had come to Barbados to do and why, plus the murder of George Telford. Castille kept his cool, speaking little. He never admitted hearing about or ever meeting anyone named Telford.
When Vickers asked, “How then do you explain your hotel room key being found inside Mr Telford’s vehicle?” Castille simply shrugged his shoulders and stared directly ahead.
Moss followed up. “We know that you did not return one of your two room keys to the hotel’s reception on checking out. Why was that sir?” Again, he did not speak, continuing to stare at one of the walls inside the room.
“Don’t worry, Mr Castille. I expect our forensics boys will find some fingerprints on the room key. Who knows, as the last person allocated that key by the hotel, don’t be surprised if yours appear on it,” stated Vickers before ending the interview by formally charging Castille for Telford’s murder.
Unknown to Castille, Wharton had earlier confessed at RBPF HQ to having been engaged by and meeting with him on more than one occasion in recent days, with their last meeting being that morning at the airport. Contacts had initially been about engaging Wharton’s Pressure Group gang to undertake Power’s escape from legal custody on 18th April. Wharton confirmed receipt of payment from Castille for that job and sharing such with fellow gang members. He also admitted that his Pressure Group had tried to assist Castille with finding out Power’s location after he had left Barbados’ jurisdiction.
Finally, Wharton had answered a seemingly innocent question. “Did Mr Castille request anything else from you in exchange for the payment you received?”
Wharton had quickly answered, “Yes, and I guess you want to know what it was?” before realising his mistake.
“I would indeed, Mr Wharton. Please tell me what ‘it’ was,” quickly answered Inspector Gray.
He had then admitted to providing Castille with a firearm during their first Barbados meeting on the afternoon of 18th April. Wharton did not make the connection between his provision of that item to Castille and Telford’s death up to that point, but Gray and her colleague RBPF interviewers did and had quickly passed that information onto Vickers and Moss.
Castille did not know that two of his interviewers now had this information prior to the interview’s start. His plan was not to cooperate with his interviewers. He reasoned that his lost room key could have been found by anyone, and of course, it would have his fingerprints on it. Tying me to Telford’s murder was going to be difficult without real evidence (i.e. the weapon used), having earlier disposed of it in pieces in different parts of the airport after having received word of Power’s recapture.
So Castille was not concerned about the murder charge. He remained confident that, somehow, he would eventually get himself out of this jam he was in.
***
Pilessar’s interview commenced in Interview Room 6 (IR6) shortly after Castille’s had commenced in Interview Room 1 (IR1) at the opposite end of the corridor. Her interviewers were Colonel Burke, Jeremie and Joe.
Pilessar’s interview lasted thirty minutes. In response to questions about Power, Castille and The Organisation’s general activities, particularly any activity taking place in Barbados, she was unsurprisingly bland and non-committal in her answers. It was as if she was speaking about matters which meant nothing to her.
Asked by Jeremie why she did not stay at the private home she had placed on her Immigration/Custom form on arrival, she’d shrugged her shoulders.
“Why did you make what amounts to an overnight visit to Barbados?” asked Colonel Burke.
“Tourism. I attended the LP concert last night,” Pilessar stated.
“Have you any proof of your attendance?” asked Colonel Burke.
She did not answer so, on a whim, Joe asked Pilessar, “Where did the concert take place last night? Do you have your ticket stub?”
Again, Pilessar did not respond. Perhaps she did not know the venue or have her ticket stub.
Prior to the interview’s end, and after more questions which got similar non-responses, Jeremie charged her as an accessory to murder.
That statement definitely got Pilessar’s attention. She knew Castille was in Barbados but was unaware of everything he had gotten up to since his arrival. Having only been in the country from the previous afternoon, Pilessar was unaware of what had happened in Barbados in the previous days. During their conversation that morning, Castille had not mentioned any ‘incidents’ (code to them for a killing having been done). Pilessar wondered why Castille would not have told her of such if indeed it had taken place. So that’s where the accessory charge is coming from…these people aren’t bluffing was her line of thought.
A quick-thinking woman, Pilessar began to get an inkling as to what might have happened. This realisation caused her to slowly sit upright in her chair as the gravity of the charge hit home. Her facial expression also changed from ‘can’t touch me’ to one of ‘how the hell did I get myself involved in this’. She shook her head. What specific evidence do they have to link me to Castille’s actions? she pondered but at this stage, did not know.
Neither Colonel Burke, Jeremie or Joe knew whether Pilessar’s response was out of anger, fear or disappointment. They assumed that she might not have known who Telford was, or of his murder.
With both sets of interviews completed, it was time for Colonel Burke’s engineered ‘accidental sighting’ of each other by the two interviewees. He wondered how that might play? Would sparks fly?
***
Mohammed Car and Jayne Bixley had been alerted to Colonel Burke’s thinking and ploy and so were casually sitting around a table in the recreation room in the basement area awaiting the end of both interviews.
They looked up when one of the doors opened. Castille was brought out of Interview Room 1 (IR1) by Vickers, Moss and Fred. The plan was to take him upstairs where he would be transported to RBPF HQ for processing. Pilessar was also brought out from IR6 by Colonel Burke, Jeremie and Joe. Neither interviewee was handcuffed, that would be done once they were upstairs and prior to being placed into the RBPF vehicle that would take them on the twenty-minute journey to RBPF HQ where they would be formally charged and photographed. As they were US citizens, the US Embassy would be informed at that stage.
Castille was looking down, so did not see Pilessar. She, on the other hand, had her head up and was looking straight ahead. She was thinking about how she might get herself out of this predicament. Who in Barbados did she know beside her host and Shepherd? No one else. She certainly was not going to call her host. Having always been a positive person, Pilessar believed that as an US citizen, someone from the Embassy would have to be notified of her arrest and that should lead to her release. As easy as that.
It was then that a sharp message was transmitted from her eyes to her brain – one of the four pe
rsons ahead of her she recognised. Castille! No, it couldn’t be.
What was he doing here? Though shocked, Pilessar had sufficient control not to shout his name or otherwise show any recognition of him. The first group of four persons stopped to speak with Mohammed and Jayne. It was only then that Castille casually looked around him and saw his boss, Emma Pilessar coming towards him in the midst of three other persons.
Castille and Pilessar’s eyes met, but neither spoke.
Colonel Burke’s group stopped just short of Vickers’ group as Joe conversed with Mohammed and Jayne. Once their conversation had ended, Mohammed called someone on his phone. Speaking softly, he alerted his BIB colleagues that they were about to come upstairs with the two packages, so ask the driver of the police transport vehicle to be in place and to prepare the appropriate sets of restraints Shutting off his phone, Mohammed nodded to Colonel Burke who now moved forward towards the lift that would take his group with Castille up to the ground floor.
Though the lift could carry up to ten persons at a time, BIB In-house Protocol #15 had long established that no more than one ‘package’, along with their escorts (four in each case here) should be moved in the lift at a time. Therefore, it was Vickers, Moss, Fred and Castille, along with Jayne who used the lift first. Once the lift had returned to the basement of BIB HQ, Colonel Burke, Jeremie, Joe and Pilessar were joined by Mohammed for their ride up to the ground floor.
***
Giles Archer had duly organised the promised 4:00 p.m. media conference at Hon. Sebastian Smith QC MP, Attorney General and Minister of Residential Affairs’ Wildey, St Michael office. Jeremie was not available, so had sent AC Smith as his representative. Superintendent Innis, Head of the BPS (including the HMP Dodds facility), was also there to support Attorney General Smith.
Once Smith had read an opening statement, the media were informed that little new information could be shared on Power at this time, except that he had been recaptured and was safely locked away in HMP Dodds. The other immediate security matters of concern to the country were resolved. Prime Minister Motby would be making a Ministerial Statement on the country’s overall security and the recent security challenges to Parliament when it re-convened at 10:00 a.m. the next day.
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