The group gathered around the conference table fell silent as they watched the progress of the satellite images on the screen. It moved along the coastline and then slowed as it approached the surface of the planet, and then Dan hit a key to tell the computer to stop the zoom. He punched in a series of commands and a list of data appeared on the left-hand side of the screen. It provided coordinates, date and time information and temperature data.
‘Right,’ said Dan. ‘This is the first in a series of historical images, gathered daily for the past three months. We know it would have taken the freighter at least four weeks to get to Severnya Zemlya from Busan, so we can discount those dates.’ He typed in a search string of data and hit the ‘enter’ key.
‘Starting from the middle of January,’ he continued, ‘we’ll work our way along the coast until we see the ship. We’ll then plot its course. David – can you hand everyone one of those library images of the freighter so they can see what we’re looking for?’
David reached across the table to a manila file, flipped it open and distributed an eight-by-twelve inch photograph to each person.
Dan looked at the familiar image in his hands. He felt like he knew every corner of the ship already. He wondered where in the cargo hold the black sedan was parked. He turned his back to the screen and addressed the familiar faces in the room.
‘This isn’t going to be easy, I know. However, we believe that even with the unusually warm winter sea temperatures we’ve been seeing recently the freighter will still need an ice-breaker as an escort through these waters. There’s no way Delaney’s going to risk losing this freighter just to cut corners. So keep your eyes open for anything which looks remotely like our ship – just call out and we’ll zoom in to get a better look and see if it’s got an escort in front of it.’
‘Alright, let’s get on with this. Starting in January, we’ll concentrate on the shipping lane north of the Kara Sea – they have to go through there so we can’t miss them,’ he said and hit a key. Six faces stared intently at the screen as the satellite images slowly changed from date to date.
Barents Sea, Norway
Brogan checked his watch and looked out to the starboard side of the freighter. He shivered and instinctively pulled up his collar around his neck.
As far as he knew, no-one had found the transponder he’d fixed to the wheel arch of the black sedan. If they had, he knew he’d have joined the rest of the crew. Now they were safely out of the Arctic waters, he realised his time was limited. He felt angry, frustrated he couldn’t do anything more. And alone. Despite risking his life placing the transponder, it seemed no-one had heard his call for help.
When they had docked briefly at Severnya Zemlya to re-fuel and leave their escort behind, Brogan had been shocked to see the man with the glasses being led on board. He had grinned when he saw Brogan’s expression.
‘How’s my car?’ he had asked, before stepping into the cargo hold with the leader the other men called Terry.
Brogan had feared the worst then – surely they would check the car and find the transponder. But the man with the glasses and Terry had seemed pre-occupied with something inside the car instead and had appeared an hour later looking satisfied.
The ship had left the port half an hour later, the man with the glasses taking over one of the old crew member’s cabins for the remainder of the journey.
Brogan risked a glance at the hijackers’ leader, who was bending over the chart table, intent on making sure every step of the journey went to plan.
He jumped involuntarily as the man spoke.
‘How long until we reach the target?’
Brogan looked at his watch again and did the calculation in his head. ‘We’ll be there late afternoon on Saturday if we maintain this speed. We’ll have to slow her down approaching the coastline, then it’ll take about an hour to get to the dock.’
Terry grunted, satisfied. ‘Good. Right on schedule.’
‘Are we going through the lock?’
Terry nodded. ‘And it goes without saying you don’t say anything to the pilot when he gets on board.’ He smiled maliciously. ‘Just remember your daughter.’
Brogan shivered and turned away.
London, England
Dan walked around the conference table and looked at the handwritten plans the team had been drafting up. Philippa had located where the ship had been. Now all the team had to do was try to find it, predict where it was going, and when it would arrive at its destination.
‘Given the current speed it’s been keeping since leaving the Russian ice-breaker behind, the freighter should arrive in the North Sea very soon.’ Dan paused.
He held up his hand to silence the sudden murmurs. ‘Let’s keep this focused – I don’t want to miss a single suggestion.’ He paced around the table, five heads turning to follow his progress. ‘What’s his target?’
Dan stopped and looked at each person individually. ‘Think about it. What’s Delaney’s objective? What’s he trying to prove?’
He continued to pace, thinking out aloud.
‘We know he’s organised a like-minded group of people to finance all sorts of research to counter scientific studies into global warming. We know he’d do anything to protect his organisation, and anything to stop anyone investigating their current project. And we know it’s going to culminate in some sort of demonstration of power which could have catastrophic consequences.’
He reached his own chair, sat down and placed his hands on the desk before looking at each of the attendees in turn. ‘So – what’s the target, and how is he going to get to it from the ship?’
One of the analysts raised his voice. ‘We’ve got the Olympics coming up at the end of July. That would get everyone’s attention, if he attacked that.’
Dan turned to David. ‘What do you think?’
The other man shrugged. ‘There are a lot of security measures in place given the high potential threat status of the event. But Delaney doesn’t fit the profile of the sorts of organised terrorism we’ve been watching, so an attack like that would definitely make us sit up and take notice.’
Dan frowned. ‘He’s going to have to hide the ship somewhere for the next four months. I can’t see him risking bringing it all the way here now.’ He turned to the analysts in the room. ‘Get onto your colleagues bordering the North Sea. Find out if they’ve got anything they can give us.’
He watched as the agents hurriedly began filing out of the conference room back to their desks. He waited until they’d gone, walked over to the door and closed it, and then looked at the others. ‘You realise we’re grasping at straws?’
David nodded. ‘Part and parcel of the job, Dan. Get used to it.’
***
Forty minutes later, they all jumped as an analyst burst through the door, waving a fax at them. ‘Found it!’
He handed the document to David. The others watched anxiously while he read the fine print. And then began to smile. ‘Our friends in Norway have located the World’s End in real time,’ he grinned.
‘How did they manage that so fast?’ asked Sarah.
The analyst spoke. ‘We gave them the coordinates of the last historical data Philippa obtained. They’ve got a satellite system which can track automatic identification system transponders – the same the captain must’ve placed on the ship.’
Philippa nodded. ‘That makes sense – Norway has the largest sea area to manage in Europe.’ She looked at the fax David passed to her. ‘Even with the transponder going flat, it looks like they’ve perfected the software so it can trace the signature of the ship,’ she explained. ‘With the system they’ve got, they can give us the position, course and speed of the freighter.’ She smiled. ‘We’re back in business.’
‘The captain must’ve been the one who activated the tracking device,’ said Dan. ‘He’s obviously worked out for himself that Delaney’s up to no good and someone, somewhere will be looking out for that ship.’
‘Not
to mention the fact he knows what happened to the crew will probably happen to him once the ship reaches its destination,’ said Sarah.
The room fell silent.
David stood up. ‘Well, he’s taken one hell of a risk, so let’s not waste the information.’ He turned to Philippa. ‘If we continue to plot where we know that ship’s been, and what its current position is, we might be able to clarify where it’s going and give ourselves some more time.’
Dan stood up and pulled one of the maps of the North Sea towards him. ‘Okay – let’s plot those coordinates on here and see if we can work out where it’s heading.’
He and Philippa moved quickly, Dan tapping in the information as Philippa read it out. When they were done, he hit the ‘enter’ key and everyone looked at the screen on the wall.
Sarah gasped.
After hours of searching, they’d found the World’s End. It was a lot closer than any of them had thought possible. After losing its ice-breaker escort at Severnya Zemlya, it had maintained a frantic pace through the northern Norwegian waters and was now heading straight towards England.
David looked at the others in turn. ‘Based on what we know to date, we have to assume that ship is headed for the Thames Estuary.’
Dan zipped up his jacket and walked out through the reception doors. A bitter wind blew down the dimly lit street and the occasional car splashed through water-logged potholes in the bitumen.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and started to walk. He had no idea where he was going – he just needed to get away from the conference room for a while to clear his head.
He set himself a brisk pace and soon began to warm up. He focused on the pavement in front of him, occasionally glancing around to take in his surroundings. He missed the warm weather and wondered if he’d ever return to the city again after this. It all seemed so depressing and grey. He smiled as he thought of his father – now he understood why the man had spent so much time overseas, exploring far-flung places.
For so many years he thought his father had turned his back on him. Now he realised it was just a bad case of wanderlust and a need for adventure. They were more similar than he’d ever realised.
Dan reached a set of traffic lights and turned left. The wind died down and Dan slowed his pace a little. He heard a flapping sound and looked up, startled. Then he relaxed. A poster hung from the street-lamp ahead of him, advertising some sort of festival. He lowered his gaze and continued on.
Frustrated, he ran through the scenarios in his head. It just didn’t feel right. They were still missing something. He slowed down as he approached the steps to David’s offices and pushed open the reception door. Nodding at the security guard, he made his way over to the elevators and stepped in.
When he reached the conference room level, he walked slowly along the corridor, then stopped and leaned against the wall next to the water cooler. He closed his eyes. He could hear the faint sound of voices from the conference room. He rocked his head from side to side, stretching his neck muscles and rolled his shoulders. He had left the room for some fresh air and some time out but hadn’t got any closer to a reason for Delaney’s attack.
If Delaney’s plan was to create an impact at the Olympics, why send the freighter now? It would be months ahead of schedule. In shipping lanes and ports as busy as those bordering the North Sea, there was no way Delaney could hide the ship or the car until the time came to detonate a bomb. And given the required effort to keep the white gold powder stable… it could blow at any time, and not in a controlled way.
Dan opened his eyes. Something was bothering him. He frowned, re-tracing his steps. Then it hit him. The advertising banners hanging from the lamp posts!
Five faces turned as he burst through the conference room door.
‘It’s not the Olympics,’ said Dan, striding across to the conference table and sweeping photos and documents aside. ‘Where’s that plan of the freighter’s route so far?’
‘Here,’ Philippa said, pushing a copy of the printed map towards him.
Dan spun it around and beckoned David closer. ‘Based on its current speed, and presuming it’ll maintain that, what date would it get to the Thames Estuary?’
David picked up a permanent marker and wrote some calculations on the map before drawing a line from the Norwegian coastline to Tilbury. He threw the pen on the table when it was done and looked at Dan.
‘Twenty-seventh of March.’ David looked back at the satellite map. ‘That’s this Saturday.’
Dan nodded. ‘It’s not the Olympics – he’s too early.’
Sarah looked at each of them in confusion. ‘Then what is it?’
Dan looked at her. ‘Earth Hour.’
A shocked silence fell on the room.
‘Earth Hour?’ asked Sarah. ‘Where did you get that idea from?’
Dan nodded to the door. ‘I went for a walk to clear my head – the posters for it are hanging from the street lamps outside.’
‘Why Earth Hour?’ asked David. ‘What’s your thinking behind that?’
‘The impact would be immense,’ said Dan. ‘If Delaney uses a bomb derived from powdered white gold, he’ll put back alternative energy research fifty years or more.’
‘How?’
Dan sat down and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I thought he was transporting the bomb using a car because the white gold powder was so unstable. It is, but I think the car is meant to look like it is the bomb. This white gold powder stuff is already being incorporated into fuel cell technology in vehicles and companies are spending a lot of time and money researching its potential on a large scale as a future wonder-fuel.’
David nodded in agreement. ‘So if Delaney stages an ‘accident’ using this technology, it’s back to using oil and coal until the supplies run out for good. Not to mention his shares in European gas companies will skyrocket in value.’
Dan nodded. ‘That’s it exactly. What better way to get the impact he wants than by using an environmentally friendly fuel source and detonating it during Earth Hour?’
David rocked back in his chair. ‘We’re going to have to let them come to us – there’s no way we’re going to be able to board the ship in the middle of the North Sea.’ He turned to the two analysts. ‘Get your reports finished and have them on my desk within the hour.’
The two men nodded, gathered up the notes and scurried from the room. David watched them go then turned to Philippa. ‘Get assault teams organised. Dan can lead one.’
Dan looked at him in astonishment. ‘Really?’
David smiled. ‘Yeah, really – think you can remember how?’
Dan nodded. ‘You bet. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.’
‘Good. We’ll need three land-based teams and one aquatic team to make sure no-one tries to leave the ship when we board her.’
Philippa made a couple of points in her notebook then rose from the table. ‘We’ve only got a day to prepare,’ she said, ‘so I’ll speak to Steve and see who’s been in the field recently. I’ll want experts – there’s going to be no room for error.’
David stood up. ‘Right – let’s get on with it.’
Terry looked out the window of the freighter’s bridge as it powered slowly up the Thames. In the distance he could see the top of familiar landmarks of England’s capital – the Tower Bridge, the Telecom Tower, the Millennium Wheel.
He snorted, turning to Charles. ‘You know, there used to be a time in history when great cities were defined by their churches and cathedrals,’ he said, pointing out the window. ‘Now they’re defined by how big their hamster wheel is.’
Charles managed a nervous smile, unsure how to react to Terry’s confidence and humour.
Terry gripped the railing and stared out the window. ‘Soon,’ he promised himself. ‘Soon.’
***
Dan looked around the ops centre as the assault team began to prepare to leave. He looked over to the conference room and saw Sarah watching him from the doorway. He
smiled and walked through the small crowd towards her.
‘You’re loving every minute of this, aren’t you?’ she said.
He looked back at the assault team and smiled. He turned back to her and nodded. ‘It feels familiar. And I want to stop Delaney’s bomb.’
David joined them. ‘Time to saddle up, Dan,’ he said. ‘Sarah – you can go in the helicopter. I’d rather you stayed here but I know you’ll just ignore that advice so I might as well put you somewhere where I know you won’t get into trouble.’
Sarah grinned and began to gather her things together.
Dan laughed. ‘You’re going to have to travel light – there’s not a lot of room in the chopper. It’s not like the ones you journalists are used to swanning around in.’
Sarah grimaced and placed her laptop bag back on the table. Dan watched her glance back at it wistfully, then he pushed her out the door and into the main ops room where David was gathering his team together for a last-minute overview of the assault on the freighter.
‘Okay people. Listen up. Dan will lead the assault from the bow of the ship, my team to the stern. The aquatic team won’t be boarding. They’ll provide cover if we need it and stop anyone from leaving the ship. The final team will cover the wharf to make sure no-one escapes down the gangways once we’re on board.’ David turned to make sure he addressed every person in the room. ‘We know the crew, apart from the captain, are already dead so we’ve only got him to worry about. Okay, let’s go.’
David began herding the assault team out of the ops room. As they made their way down the stairs to the underground car park, Dan pulled Sarah to one side. He nodded as David walked past them. He waited until they were alone, and then lowered his voice.
‘I know it goes against your nature but you really have to do as I say tonight. This is real, Sarah. Someone’s going to get hurt. I really hope it’s one of Delaney’s lot, not ours.’
White Gold: (A Dan Taylor thriller) Page 22