by Alan Wade
Hussein responded, “It also means the Turkish authorities and the British; as they were the ones who boarded the ship, will be looking for any links with Amdarni. Now I know you and I have met him, therefore we need to cover our tracks well. Do you have any electronic or written documentation involving him?”
Shan shook his head and smiled, “No, none, our English colleague, Alan Johnson would not allow it.”
“What about telephone communication?”
“Yes, there was some of that between me, Onar and Amdarni but Amdarni always used a mobile pay phone which I hope he discarded before he was killed.
Hussein replied, “He was ordered to do that in case of capture and I have put into action six calls from around the world to his mobile, none of which have been connected to a person or voice mail, therefore I think we can assume he did indeed dispose of his mobile,” he looked at Shan and continued, “are you absolutely sure there was no other communication?”
“None, I’m absolutely sure, the only link I have is with Onar Ibsick who is in charge of the factory.”
“What kind of link?”
“We have made some phone calls and I have transferred monies to his factory from our Swiss bank accounts.”
“Does he have an exit strategy?”
“Yes, he has a second identity, sufficient funds in Syria, and can leave at a moments notice. He is a very valuable ally and we will need him again if we are to continue to use WMD.”
“And you, Shan, do you have an exit strategy,” Hussein whispered.
“Yes I do, I have more than one.”
“Then I suggest you use one of those strategies immediately unless you have a good reason to remain Shan.”
“I have no reason to remain Shan Binal Shid. I have transferred sufficient funds to Onar and my contact with Alan Johnson in England can be made using a new identity. The only thing I now need to do is to warn Onar and transfer the monies left in the Swiss bank account into the Middle East.”
“May I suggest you do that from here?”
He nodded and patted his pockets feeling for his mobile. He found it and pressed the key for Onar’s speed dial number; then the phone, which seemed to ring for quite some time, was eventually answered.
“Onar, is that you?”
“Yes it is, how can I help?”
“This will be my last call to you because our friend Amdarni has been killed and his ship impounded. However we believe the goods are in place and therefore available but we need to know when you will need access because it may be dangerous?”
“Not for at least another few weeks, I have enough of the product in containers on site.”
“Good, then continue as you are doing for the coming weeks because by that time the authorities may have either found what they are looking for or called off the search. Whatever you decide to do please ensure you are able to use your exit strategy should it be needed. I will contact you again, perhaps in Syria. Goodbye Onar”
“Goodbye Shan, see you again soon.”
“I hope so,” he ended the call and pressed a second speed dial number for the Swiss bank.
Chapter 14
April 11th, Olu Deniz, Turkey.
Onar had manufactured and exported hundreds of tons of fireworks to the UK in the months of January, February and March, but now needed access to more WMD from the second container. However he was aware the Turkish authorities would be searching for the container and anything out of the ordinary around the coast of Olu Deniz.
The task to locate the second container would not be difficult but to dive and retrieve the anthrax would be time consuming and dangerous.
The moonless night of the 11th gave cover to the small fishing boat which set sail at 02.00 and moored twelve miles out to sea. Two fishermen could be seen working their pots and lines, while Onar was busily retrieving oxygen tanks from the container. By 08.00 the boat had returned to the shore at Olu Deniz and the exhausted crew began the slow process of moving the tanks from ship to shore to factory. The operation of the 11th of April went without a hitch and gave Onar enough WMD to fulfil his order book for April. However, the high risk involved in obtaining the WMD would need to be undertaken again if he was to continue to fulfil all the orders.
May 10th, Olu Deniz, Turkey.
Shipments for April and May would be made but more was needed for June and onward. Therefore Onar decided to make a further dive on the first moonless night in May. The two fishermen and Onar again set out at 02.00 to rendezvous with the container and he was lowered into the depths to begin to retrieve the WMD. Above the water the two fishermen went about their business lowering empty and raising full oxygen cylinders; until at 03.55 a searchlight picked out their profile from a fast deployment coastguard boat.
A pre-arranged signal was sent down to Onar to cease work immediately but not to surface and the two fishermen began dropping oxygen cylinders over the side of the fishing boat. Nets were released and as the coast guards came nearer the fishing boat’s engine spluttered into life and the two men tried to make their escape. However they were no match for the coast guard boat and within a few minutes they were ordered to stop engines and prepare to be boarded. The fishermen complied with this, stopping their engine and waiting until the coastguard were alongside and preparing to board. Then without warning both fishermen opened fire with machine pistols, killing three sailors immediately and injuring two others. One of the fishermen then started their engine and moved off at speed while the second continued to fire at the coastguard boat.
Within seconds their small arms fire was returned with heavy calibre machine gun fire and when the spot light again lit up their boat it was raked from stem to stern with machine gun bullets killing both fishermen instantly. It took the coastguards a further 35 minutes to secure the fishing boat and bring on board both the dead fishermen and the dead coastguard crew. They then set sail for port, having left three marker buoys to triangulate the location of the incident.
Less than a few hundred yards away Onar surfaced, looked around him to see the lights of the coastguard boat and those from the coast twinkling on the horizon. He trod water thinking about what the coastguards would do and what choices he had. “Surely they would retrace their steps and search the ocean before leaving the scene,” he thought; but he was unaware of the injured sailors and therefore was surprised to hear the engines spurt to life and see the boat disappear into the distance.
Now he had real problems. He was miles from land and had no idea whether his colleagues had been captured or had escaped, but he was sure the coastguards would be back and so decided to swim for shore as best he could.
It would take him 5 hours to reach shore, aided by the incoming tide, in which time a second coast guard boat had retrieved ten oxygen cylinders floating in the sea and had located two large metal objects on the ocean bed.
He eventually walked out of the sea onto the beach at Olu Deniz, purposefully using this beach to blend in with the many tourists swimming, scuba diving and snorkelling in the area. He removed his wet suit and flippers and walked off the beach in swimming trunks. Fortunately he had enough money on him to purchase a T shirt, shorts and sandals and thus attired sat in a bar, drank tea and listened to the local gossip. From what he could ascertain a coast guard boat had been attacked and three coast guards had been killed. The coast guards had returned fire and killed two fishermen and many cylinders had been recovered containing drugs.
With this information to hand he decided to return to his factory and work the next few days to complete as many orders as possible before disappearing into Syria.
May 13th, Secure Port Location, Fethiye, Turkey.
Major Rock had been invited to work with the highest authorities in the Turkish Republic. Their task was to establish what was concealed in the containers and oxygen tanks and he had taken with him a team of British s
cientists to help recover the contents of the sealed containers. The recovered oxygen tanks had been found to be adapted and had a removable inner casing which in three tanks contained sealed test tubes of weapons grade anthrax. A square kilometre of the port area had now been sealed off and all personnel who had access were inoculated with Anthrax antibiotics.
Both Rock and Inspector Farouk listened intently as Doctor Brooks outlined the plans for opening the containers.
“We believe that one container has been emptied and the second container remains part full, as there is a slight weight difference between them.”
“How much?” enquired Rock.
“Just a few kilograms,” replied Brooks, “but if it is weapons grade Anthrax, it could kill half the population of Europe.”
“Who the hell has been making this stuff and placing it at the bottom of the sea?” growled Rock.
“Perhaps a more worrying question is who has been removing it from the seabed and what are they planning to do with it?”
“I’ve an idea of the ‘who’, but I’ve no idea of the ‘what’,” replied Rock, shaking his head.
“Well that’s your province, my task is to get into the damn things.”
“And how will you do that?” asked Farouk.
“We know the locking system is a Gurteknik 6 digit electro-mechanical system, it’s quite old actually, and we’ve contacted the manufacturer who has been of some help. Evidently the locking bolts have some movement after the third, fourth, fifth and sixth digits are entered, but we only have three attempts at all six digits before the whole system deadlocks.
“And then what do we do?”
“In that case; we run for it,” asserted the doctor who turned slightly, grabbed a satchel and pushed it toward Rock saying, “In here are the instructions on how to open the container, or containers to be precise, because inside this outer skin there are two more containers each with a locking system. If these are incorrectly opened the whole system will go into deadlock mode which will explode a bomb in the centre of the container. This explosion is designed to spread the contents,” here the doctor splayed out his arms in a wide gesture, “who the hell knows where.”
Farouk nodded, “And if the contents are the same as the oxygen tanks, then we have weapons grade Anthrax falling to earth over many square kilometres.”
“And blown by the wind to almost anywhere,” added Brooks, “so it is important we get it right in just three goes.”
“Rather you than me,” quipped Rock.
“We do have a few things in our favour, one of which is time and the truth is that no locking system or safe has ever been built that man cannot open, given the right equipment, skill and time; so I’m pretty sure things will be OK. However, to ensure even less risk we are going to open the empty container first so that should there be an explosion very little of whatever had been in there will be blown out into the atmosphere and of course we’ll do it all under cover.”
“What about you Doctor?” enquired Farouk.
“If I’m in the container at the time, I don’t think I’ll be in a fit state to worry, however I think we will be OK because we have at our disposal x-ray and listening devices and also the ability to micro analyse the key pads. You see each time a person pushes a key on the key pad they leave behind micro deposits from their finger tips or gloves; something like a finger print. So that if on a key pad with ten digits a person presses six different digits they will have on them micro deposits from that person, and as each digit is pressed a smaller deposit will be left. Therefore our micro technology will fairly quickly tell us the keys which hold the code. If there are six keys with deposits and four without then we will have the six digits and our only task then is to place them in the correct order. If we have less than six keys with micro deposits we know they have used one digit more than once; but it does make it a little tricky to identify in which order they have used them,” the doctor smiled then concluded, “but, what the hell, we have time on our side.”
Rock pushed back the satchel and replied; “But not too long though, we’re under pressure to get to know what is in there as soon as possible.”
“I know Major, I know,” said Brooks who rose from the desk and clutching the satchel stood to leave retorting, “we’d better get on with it then, gentlemen.”
It took four teams working six hour shifts over 38 hours to fully open both containers, but by May the 15th they would confirm the worst fears of Rock; that both containers had indeed held large quantities of Anthrax. The first container had traces of its existence and the second container still held 50 kilogram’s of weapons grade Anthrax, held in rows of test tubes.
May 16th, 15.00, a factory near Fethiye, Turkey.
Onar had spent the last four days motivating and driving his workforce to build and deliver the orders for May and June. He had personally added the Anthrax and watched the loaded trucks leave for their destination in the UK. At 14.00 he had assembled the workforce and informed them the order for the UK was now complete and they had each earned a substantial bonus. However production would now stop for the summer months and not begin again until October. He had also offered each employee a reduced but significant monthly wage to tide them over until October and each employee had shaken his hand warmly, promising to return on the first Monday in October.
He sat alone in the factory, he knew he had not completed the full order, but without more WMD and access to further supplies it would be stupid to remain. He opened the safe in his office and took out money, an ID card and passport in the name of Vernna Parrla and shredded the ID and passport of Onar Ibsick. He drove his car through the gates of the factory, stopped to lock them; then began his long journey into Syria.
May 17th, SBCTH HQ, St James, London.
Admiral Sir Hugh Fraser chaired the meeting which included members from all departments in the secret service, the CIA and Colonel Walton’s American group.
Admiral Fraser cleared his throat and announced, “Gentlemen, my task here today is to lead a briefing regarding the most recent information coming from our Turkish desk. We have with us today Commander Bagshaw and Major Rock who is in charge of the Turkish desk and who has just returned from Fethiye, Turkey. Major, will you please debrief us.”
The Major opened his laptop, pressed a key and displayed a picture of the steam ship Afyon on each of the individual terminals around the desk then began, “gentlemen, on the 3rd of February this ship set sail from Malta with two containers on her foredeck.” He pressed another button on his laptop then continued, “here you can see her on the 4th of February with three containers and later on the 5th she is steaming away from the Turkish coast with just two containers.”
He looked at his audience, saw their full concentration and said, “But the ship never docked gentlemen and its log book stated it had only two containers aboard. On the 6th of February HMS Bristol was ordered to board her and after a brief fire fight the ship was boarded. The Captain had killed himself and the crew were of little help in telling us where the third container had been; first raised and then displaced. However, the belief was that it was sunk close to the coast of Turkey near a resort called Olu Deniz.”
He continued, “The Turkish Coastguard, working with British Intelligence began a systematic search of that coast and on May the 12th they came across a small fishing boat, which when approached tried to escape. Once again there was a fire fight which resulted in the death of three coastguards and two fishermen, however the area was then trawled and on the 12th divers located two submerged containers.”
The Major stopped talking to take a sip of water and again look at his audience. He then continued, “I will be brief now gentlemen, on May the 15th both containers were finally opened, one was empty and one contained 50 kilos of weapons grade Anthrax.”
For the first time there was noise from the audience as people whispered t
o each other and gasped.
Colonel Walton shouted out, “Where the hell did that much WMD come from?”
Rock raised his hand and his voice to regain control of the meeting, “Gentlemen, we believe the Anthrax was made in and exported from Iraq under the direct orders of Saddam Hussein. We also believe the two containers contained a total of 1000 kilos of Anthrax, therefore our most urgent problem to solve is to find out where 950 kilos of anthrax has gone.”
“Sir,” a hand was raised from a member of the JTAC team, “how deadly is this stuff?”
The Major turned to him, “We estimate that 1000 kilos of Anthrax could kill millions of people if spread over a wide enough area. If it were exploded in a crowded city such as London it would be devastating because not only would millions die but the city would be uninhabitable for many years to come.”
Admiral Fraser rose to his feet, looked at Rock and interrupted the proceedings, “may I have the floor for a few moments?”
The Major nodded and returned to his seat.
“Gentlemen, I have been briefed by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State and these are the top priority issues we have to solve. One, where is this estimated 950 kilos of anthrax. Two, who is intending to use it. Three, where and how will it be used, then finally and perhaps the most perplexing task, how much more of it is under the sea?” he paused, took a sip of water, then continued, “I can confirm that we are now at security Level Code Red and I want all available resource put into this operation. Do you understand?”
There was total agreement around the room as Walton raised his hand.
“Sir, have we any leads at all into who may be behind this?”
Fraser turned to Bagshaw and Rock, “That’s your department I think.”
”Yes sir,” nodded the Major in response, “however we have very little to go on. The only people arrested so far are the three crew of the SS Afyon and they know very little.”