by M G Leslie
Pete already knew that, so he and Price had a quiet discussion with May who was still extremely shaken up from the night’s events. However, she finally agreed to take a mild sleeping pill to calm her nerves and then they all walked over to a small accommodation block attached to the side of the embassy.
It was normally reserved for visiting dignitaries or emergencies, but had also been used by SIS operatives in exceptional circumstances like these on a few occasions.
As they walked in, Pete couldn’t help making light of the situation, and said, “Will you and May be needing one bedroom or two?”
Price, with a barely noticeable smile, just said, “Two.”
So Pete retrieved keys to the rooms and they all turned in for the night – what little was left of it.
CHAPTER 5 – Fire Drill
In Club One, the mama-san could not believe what she had witnessed and was still partly in shock.
She didn’t know for certain that Price had anything to do with the shooting – but given May’s disappearance and his conversation about Mike and Lucy the previous night, he was certainly the prime suspect. So she accessed the club’s security cameras and sent a picture of Price over to a local team she normally used for debt collection – she told them to get to the Mandarin Oriental, find him and bring him back to the club by any means possible.
She was still trying to contact them, when she heard a report on the radio of a shooting between four men in a 4x4 and a taxi driver. The news report had said that four men plus the taxi driver had been found dead.
Realising the worst, and in desperation, she went back to the office of the club and called the Caucasian man in Hong Kong that she had spoken to the previous night – this time being sure to call his mobile phone. After recounting all the events that had taken place, he eventually said, “For now, I want you to sit tight. Just manage the club and nothing more – no clever business and certainly no chasing people across Manila and drawing attention to you. Assume your every move is being watched and our conversations are being listened to. The operation is only a few days away, so just stay calm.”
Three hours later, Price was woken by the sound of his mobile phone ringing. He picked it up and simply said, “Yes?”
It was Pete, “Restaurant for a late breakfast in 15 minutes,” then he hung up.
Price leapt out of bed and just over 15 minutes later was walking over to the restaurant when he bumped in to Pete and said, “Tell me some good news.”
“OK, in order of our requests, there’s no record of Mike or the girl, Lucy, flying anywhere. But that means nothing in reality because you and I know we arrange travel documents all the time, so if a foreign government was behind this, they could be anywhere or worse still, never be seen again. Your girl…”
“Steady on – she’s not my girl,” interrupted Price.
“OK, May, the girl we picked up last night – she checks out clean. There’s nothing on her, she’s just a person earning money from the oldest profession in the world.”
“She’s in sales,” Price joked.
“I’ll take your word for it,” replied Pete, “However, the good news is, yesterday GCHQ intercepted a phone call from the club to the Grand Tower Hotel in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, it went to voicemail so we couldn’t get the voice at the Hong Kong end, but the caller was an elderly lady – so probably the woman from the club.”
“That’s excellent, so we have the room number?”
“We do, so you need to get packed, as there’s a flight later this morning and you’re booked on it,” said Pete before adding, “If there’s a chance we can locate her Hong Kong contact, then we have to look in to it.”
As they sat down to a full English breakfast, Pete continued, “SIS conservatively estimate from your photo, that the safe in the club contained in excess of 20 million dollars – assuming the notes were the same throughout and went all the way to the back, as you said they looked like they did. And the paperwork you copied supports your money laundering theory even more. The guys in London think they probably get lots of working girls to open accounts in various banks and countries and then someone uses all those accounts as destinations for these dodgy transactions we’ve seen. Then the girls withdrawal the money and take it to the club where it’s seen as income from the oldest profession – sorry – I should correct myself, ‘Sales’. It’s a huge amount of cash mind you, but they probably have a lot of girls – and maybe a lot of clubs, who knows.”
“10 million dollars is a lot of sex by anyone’s standards!”
Pete laughed, “It’s a good night out certainly! But as I say, the current thinking is that much of this may have originated from those dodgy transactions – there’s no way in hell that a club like that in a place like this can make that kind of cash.”
“Did the pictures of the guys from the 4x4 lead us anywhere?”
“No,” Pete replied, “They’re still checking with all the relevant agencies, but those guys were most likely just local guns for hire. They’ve never been seen outside of the Philippines as far as we can tell. They’re probably just a bunch of local thugs.”
As they finished eating their breakfast, Pete looked at his watch and said, “Let’s move, you have a flight to catch. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the girl.”
“Oh yes?” replied Price with a smile on his face.
“Behave! You know what I meant – get your bags,” Pete said dismissively.
With that, Price went and picked up his bags and met Pete at the exit where an embassy car, a Range Rover with blacked out windows and diplomatic number plates, took them to the airport.
During the ride to the airport, Pete handed Price his travel documents and a small pouch containing a black box with a computer connector on one side and an aerial on the other. “We don’t know what the guy looks like, but if you can get this box attached to the computer systems that handle hotel security, we’ll check everything remotely from London.”
Price just nodded, then a few minutes later they rolled in to the departure area of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, not needing to stop for the usual security check on the way in, due to the car’s diplomatic number plates.
“Good luck, and have a safe flight,” said Pete, as Price got out the car and walked over to the building with his bag, heading for the 2-hour flight to Hong Kong.
As soon as the car was back on the move, Pete picked up the phone that was built in to the centre console between the two rear seats of the Range Rover, “Get me Lee,” he said, “It’s urgent.”
The voice at the other end said, “OK, hang on,” and the line went quiet.
Then a couple of minutes later he heard, “This is Lee.”
“Lee, this is Pete in Manila. I have a man flying to Hong Kong as we speak and I need him met please,” then he went on to explain some of the history of the case along with Price’s flight number and expected arrival time.
“Not a problem, I’ll be there to meet him. Will you pass on my details to London in case anything else turns up?” replied Lee.
“Consider it done,” replied Pete.
“Thanks,” said Lee, who was already smiling to himself and wondering how Price had managed to arrange yet another business trip to Hong Kong – he seemed to get there at least two or three times a year.
“Good luck,” said Pete, as he dropped the call and contacted London to ensure Lee was kept up to date with any new developments. Then he called the Chief of Staff who thanked him and immediately called the Chief on his personal line, “Sir, Price is following a lead – Pete in Manila just called me – Price is on his way to Hong Kong as we speak.”
“Hong Kong,” repeated to the Chief.
“Yes Sir. What do you want me to do?” asked the Chief of Staff.
“Get Lee on the line – we need to brief him,” said the Chief.
A couple of seconds later, Lee was conferenced in to the call and the Chief spoke, “Lee, I don’t want to alarm you, but every ti
me Price visits Hong Kong, there’s gaps in his schedule that cannot be explained. He goes ‘off air’ as it were and when questioned puts it down to poor signal quality on his mobile phone or a flat battery. Anyway, I want you to keep an eye on him for me. This is strictly between the three of us though. I know you and he are friends and have worked together before, but this has to remain with us and nobody else – is that completely clear?”
Lee was stunned as he’d known Price for several years and had huge respect for him – not only as a decent person, but for his abilities and, as the Chief had said, as a friend. However, this was an order from his Chief, so he just said, “Got it Sir – we’ll track his movements – no problem. How would you like me to report any suspicious incidents Sir?”
“Report via the COS,” replied the Chief – COS was how he always referred to the SIS Chief of Staff.
“Will do Sir. Thank you,” Lee answered and then they dropped the call – with Lee still in a state of shock as he checked the arrivals on the Internet and made his way to the airport.
Price loved Hong Kong. He liked the huge variety of food, particularly the Dim Sum, the amazing view from Victoria Peak, the floating restaurant in Aberdeen, the bars of Lan Kwai Fong and the cultural mix of the west and the east. However, he also knew, he’d have little time to sample the local sights, so whilst on the flight, he familiarised himself with his new travel documents.
Since the owners of Club One in Manila had clearly identified him, he was now travelling as Elliot Smith and adorned a pair of sunglasses. He knew that would be no good if he bumped in to someone from Club One, but a stranger looking for someone on the basis of a telephone description alone, might be fooled – if he was lucky.
As Price walked in to the arrival hall of Hong Kong’s International Airport on Chek Lap Kok Island, he immediately recognised the man who walked towards him and shook his hand, whilst saying, “Welcome to Hong Kong Mr Smith. I’ve been sent to meet you. You’re going to the Grand Tower Hotel I believe?”
“Yes, thank you,” replied Price, as he followed the man out of the arrivals lounge and got in to the passenger seat of a private car.
As soon as the doors were both closed, Price said, “Lee, it’s great to see you again. How the devil are you?”
The driver glanced to his left and smiled, “I’m very well thank you Price. It’s good to see you again as well, and I must say, you’re looking very prosperous.”
“Prosperous!” Price exclaimed whilst laughing, “You cheeky sod! That’s a euphemism for fat if ever there was one. Actually, I’ve been getting quite a bit of exercise in Manila – or should I say ‘Sexercise’, given where I’ve been going over the past week or so?”
They both laughed this time, until Price’s face changed to a serious expression and he said, “So what’s the plan Lee?”
“London gave us permission to do a fire drill. I know it’s a little anti-social, but we don’t know what the man looks like, so we need to go through every camera and every recording in the building – and we can only do that from London.”
“OK,” replied Price, “So we think he’s still there?”
“No, sadly not. In fact we are reasonably certain he’s moved on,” said Lee, “In fact that’s the good news. In addition to the landline call to the hotel yesterday, a few hours ago GCHQ traced a mobile call from someone located near the club in Manila to another mobile in Hong Kong.”
“That could be anyone,” said Price.
“Ordinarily, yes, but we know the same person who received the call in Hong Kong was the same person who used the number to call Manila on a separate occasion some hours earlier. And on that occasion, they were very close to, if not inside, the Grand Tower Hotel. Looking at the cellular data, we can see where the individuals carrying the phones travel to/from – obviously not accurately, but within a ‘cell’ or so. Well, looking back at past mobile calls, we see other pre-paid SIM cards following the same pattern.”
“OK,” said Price, “I see where you’re going with this I think – cut to the chase, give me the conclusion.”
“So,” said Lee, “We have two individuals – for the sake of argument, let’s call them Tom and Dick. Tom’s in Manila and Dick is in Hong Kong. They have both changed their numbers several times, but call each other regularly – we know it’s Tom and Dick because they generally call from the same locations and travel around the same places in their respective cities at roughly the same times. So, armed with that information, we know Tom, in Manila, was in the same mobile cell as Club One when the landline call to Hong Kong was made – and we know Dick, in Hong Kong, was in the same cell as the hotel we are about to arrive at, when he called Tom back later on. So, trust me – this is not a coincidence – it could not have been any one. Tom is probably your mama-san in Club One, although that really IS just a guess at this stage – and Dick is the man we’re looking for now.”
“Very good,” said Price, “The guys in London said you could nail people with this stuff. So we’ll do the fire drill to try and retrieve the photos of the guy in Hong Kong and then we know what he looks like – but where is he now?”
“Stanley Bay,” said Lee. “He goes there regularly and always switches off or goes somewhere without a signal whilst he’s there.”
“Stanley Bay,” said Price, repeating back what Lee had said. “Where does he go that doesn’t have a mobile phone signal – underwater? This is Hong Kong! There’s a signal everywhere – which means he presumably switches off, which in turn means he could actually be anywhere.”
“I know,” said Lee, “That’s the problem. We don’t know where he really went yet – that’s what the fire drill is for,” and with that he handed Price a diagram of the hotel with one room marked with an “X” and another shaded green.
“The X is where we believe the hotel security systems are based. Once you’re in the hotel, hide in the washroom on the ground floor shown there in green. Once the fire alarm has gone off, they’ll wait for the fire brigade and check all the rooms. So give it 10 minutes, then get yourself in to the security room, attach the remote access router that Pete gave you and get yourself back to the washroom fast. Based on past experience, you’ll only have 5 minutes before the fire brigade arrive. However, once they have arrived, it will take them at least 30-60 minutes before the public are allowed back in. That gives London enough time to erase the images of you going to and from the washroom before and during the fire drill, so you don’t get caught when they examine the security camera videos later and start downloading the CCTV images. So the bottom line is – don’t hang around!”
“Understood,” replied Price, “I always enjoy a fire drill, but you do see some strange people,” and with that he started to relate a story of a previous event where someone had actually left the building during a fire drill without any clothes on and stood in the street stark naked.
The car went silent as they reached Hong Kong Island. Price smiled to himself as he looked out of the window at the bustling streets, the bright signs sticking out from the side of buildings, the red taxi’s and the double-decker buses that were so reminiscent of the famous London buses.
Very soon they arrived at the hotel. Price got out of the car and walked to the check-in desk whilst his luggage was taken to his room. Five minutes later, he entered his hotel room on the 22nd floor overlooking Causeway Bay and Kowloon on the far side.
Having carried out his usual security checks of the room, Price picked up the telephone and ordered room service, “A club sandwich and a pot of filter coffee for two with cold milk please.” He was told that it would arrive in about 20 minutes, which was fine – the fire drill had been scheduled for 3am, so that gave him time to get something to eat and have a couple of strong coffees before preparing himself for the night’s events.
Aside from places like Las Vegas, the early hours of 2am to 4am are almost always a quiet time in hotels. The night shift will have started around midnight and the staff will be expecting
nothing more than the occasional room service call from people who can’t sleep, or someone who’s been out partying all night and is returning to their room.
After resting for a while, at precisely 2:45am Price walked out of his room, and took the lift downstairs. Fortunately for him, the lobby of the Grand Tower Hotel in Hong Kong is a very large imposing room. So aside from the bell ringing with a ‘ding’ as the lift arrived at the ground floor, Price was able to quietly enter the washroom next to the restaurant, which was of course, closed by this time. As with many buildings these days, the ceiling was actually a ‘false ceiling’, in that it was made of square tiles of plasterboard that were resting on a series of metal strips fixed to the real ceiling two feet above.
Price entered one of the toilet cubicles, climbed up, slid one of the plasterboard tiles out of the way and levered himself up in to the space between the false ceiling and the real ceiling. Once settled, he replaced the tile so that he couldn’t be seen, but leaving a slight crack so that he could just about view the room and see if someone had entered.
At five minutes to three in the morning a taxi pulled up to the front door of the hotel and a man got out. He appeared to be struggling to walk in a straight line and was muttering something to himself as he made his way in the front of the hotel, clearly holding his hotel key in his hand. His grey hair hung down over his eyes and by the looks of a graze on his face and scuff marks on his suit, he had fallen over – probably more than once. Seeing he was dressed in a suit and holding a key, the hotel staff didn’t stop him, they just opened the door and watched him walk precariously through.
They had seen it a million times before – he had been out all night and was drunk – although he still seemed to be able to carry a small rucksack on his shoulder, which surprised the receptionist, who joked to her colleague that, “He couldn’t look after his face, but his laptop is fine!”