Ashley relaxed and as she did their vice like grips relaxed also. Although only enough to minimise bruising.
“Do you know who I work for?” she asked.
“Yes we do and our orders are to get you back to the US asap.”
“On whose orders?”
“A warrant has been issued for your arrest, your flight details were picked up and we were sent over from the embassy to escort you home.”
Ashley stopped walking and pulled away from both men,
“Arrested for what?”
“Murder.”
“Of who?” she asked in disbelief.
“Brigadier General Robert Jackson.”
Ashley just looked stunned and refused to move. A third man joined the group and motioned for them to enter a doorway near the jetway, a set of stairs led to the tarmac below.
Ashley pulled back harder,
“I’m not going anywhere. We’re not in America, you can’t just pull me off a plane and detain me in a foreign country.”
The third man stepped towards Ashley and made a point of invading her personal space, spittle from his mouth sprayed onto her face as he spoke.
“You forget we’re not anywhere, we’re airside in an international airport terminal. You will be refused access to the UK as you are currently wanted for murder. Now you can come with us quietly or not, it doesn’t bother us.”
Ashley knew resistance was futile. If a warrant had been issued for her arrest and a flag attached to her passport, she would be refused access and deported anyway. At least this way she could clear things up quickly, prove her innocence and help catch Jackson’s killer.
“OK.”
Ashley was led down the stairs and bundled into a van before being driven to a waiting jet. The small jet’s engines were already turning as they boarded and five minutes after they had buckled their seat belts, the wheels were being retracted as the Cessna Citation X made its way back to the US. It was the fastest private jet on the market and would cover the distance in less than six hours. They would land, thanks to the time difference, only an hour after they had left.
***
“Where is she?” asked the agent standing at the immigration desk. “The flight landed over 40 minutes ago.”
“She should definitely have been here by now,” agreed his colleague checking his watch.
The agent walked over to the MI5 liaison officer who had secured their access to the immigration hall. MI5 was the name commonly used for the Security Service, the UK’s domestic intelligence service.
“It seems she’s a no show.”
“Can’t be, she was definitely on the plane,” replied the MI5 officer.
“Look for yourself. The hall’s nearly empty and there’s no one else coming out.”
Nodding, the MI5 officer picked up the phone and talked for several minutes before replacing the receiver.
“It seems there’s been some confusion. The air marshal on the plane has just filed a report about a young lady being arrested as she stepped off the plane. He had gone over to check the disturbance but backed off when the men identified themselves as FBI agents from the embassy and arrested her for murder…”
“Shit!” interrupted the American agent as he set off running to grab his colleague.
“What?” shouted the MI5 agent after him.
“They weren’t the FBI…we’re the only two FBI agents at the Embassy!”
“Oh shit!” mumbled the MI5 agent.
***
Clark checked the time, it was exactly 5.00 p.m. in New York. He dialled a prearranged number but was met by a busy tone. He tried again and the phone rang once.
“Hi, it’s me,” answered Walker standing in the middle of New York’s Union Station at a public pay phone.
“You OK?” asked Clark.
“Yes,” replied Walker. “Everything’s fine. If we kill him, we’re in the clear.”
“Thank God.”
“Thank Sam Baker,” explained Walker.
“I’ve been thinking, what if he asks Rosie how she knows him before we get a chance to kill him?” asked Clark.
“Hmm, good point. Put Rosie on the phone.”
Clark pulled Rosie’s headphones from her ears and ignoring her moans at interrupting her movie, handed her the phone.
Clark could only watch as Rosie nodded almost constantly as Walker spoke to her.
“OK, will do,” she said as she handed the phone back to Clark.
“Hi,” said Clark.
“She knows enough to keep his attention until you get out of the airport.”
“So are you going to tell me?”
“No because the moment you kill him, you need to kill her. The information I gave her would sign your death warrant.”
Clark looked across as Rosie laughed and giggled at whatever inane rubbish she was watching. It was the only time she had shown any emotion since they had met. He had never met a more emotionless person but then professional assassins were a strange breed.
“OK,” replied Clark. Usually, killing an attractive woman would have caused him some anxiety but Rosie’s attractiveness was somehow dulled by her chosen profession.
***
Ernst received the breakthrough almost immediately. Walker was proving very lax following his deal with Baker, mentioning a number of keywords in his conversation with Clark.
The NSA housed more supercomputers and mathematicians than any other organisation in the world. The computers monitored every airwave and electronic communication device known to man while the mathematicians ensured that no encryption device remained unbroken so they knew exactly what was being said. Phones could be tracked by the SIM card alone, meaning the phone didn’t even need to be switched on to be tracked. Crimes were being solved simply because mobile phones were at the scene of the crime. Their owners traced and arrested. Ernst’s call to the Deputy Director of NSA (and soon to be Director) had ensured the priority for key words had been changed. Al Qaeda was no longer top of the list. William Walker, Joseph Clark and Rosie Diaz were now the number one words on the NSA’s watch list. Any communication anywhere in the world with any of those names would automatically be grabbed and analysed.
At 5.05 p.m., the call placed from Gulfstream G550 jet registration G-FRDS had been analysed and placed as a high alert. The flight plan for the aircraft had already been tracked and the LLC company who had chartered it, traced back to Joseph Clark. By 5.07 p.m., the Deputy Director of the NSA had sent an email containing an audio copy of the call and the subsequent flight info to Ernst.
Ernst listened to the call and instantly wished he hadn’t. The reference to death warrant for what Walker had said to Rosie registered immediately. Although how a Scottish guy who had died twenty odd years earlier threatened Transcon, he had no idea. However, to be safe, he called the deputy director and suggested that they both stay quiet about the audio and merely say they had tracked the plane. He agreed without hesitation, even though he hadn’t listened to the audio. After the day’s events, listening and having the ability to listen, were just as lethal.
At 5.09 p.m., just as Ashley was being escorted onto the Citation jet, Ernst walked into Freeman’s office and dismissed everyone in the room with a wave of his hand.
Freeman waited until the door closed before speaking. For Ernst to do what he had just done, something big must have happened.
“Well?”
“I’ve got them and know where they’re going.”
“Where?”
“Kota Kinabalu.”
“Where the fuck is Kota Kina… what?”
“Just off the island of Borneo.”
At the mention of Borneo, Freeman went white and fell back into his seat.
“What?” asked Ernst concerned at Freeman’s reaction.
“It really is him. I kept thinking it’s been some horrible mistake and that it wasn’t him.” Freeman stopped talking.
“But?” prompted Ernst, intrigued by what he was hearing.
“Their boat was sunk off the coast of Borneo.”
“There’s something else. The Secretary of Defence just called. Rosie Diaz doesn’t exist.”
Freeman, recovering from one bombshell, could hardly believe the second.
“What?”
“Rosie Diaz was an alias being used by a Defence Intelligence Agent called Ashley Jones. We’ve just picked her up and are flying her back here.”
“Why’s the DIA involved in this?”
“That’s the thing, they’re not. They have no idea what she’s doing. Officially, she was working on a case involving arms deals by some two bit pimp in Washington.”
“Get Baker on the phone,” instructed Freeman as he divulged the latest information.
Two minutes later Baker was fully up to speed.
“OK, first we need to know everything about this DIA agent. Where she was born, who her parents are, everything. Second, we need to know what this DIA agent knows and whether anyone else knows it. We could torture her but we’d never know it was the truth. She needs to meet our target.”
“But Clark’s going to kill our guy,” interrupted Freeman.
“So stop him,” explained Baker irritated by the stupidity of the question.
Ernst nodded to Freeman, he’d take care of that.
“So how do we get them to meet?” asked Freeman.
“I don’t know, just do it but when we’ve got our information make sure that everybody who knows anything dies. In four weeks I am going to be president and nothing is going to stop me.” Baker hung up.
Freeman looked at Ernst who was already picking up the phone.
***
The Unit’s Citation X had just cleared UK airspace when they received a change of plan. The captain immediately swung the plane around 180 degrees and powered the engines to full speed. They didn’t need to worry about conserving fuel anymore as they’d have to refuel anyway.
Ashley watched her captors carefully as the plane swung around, none offering any reason for the sudden change.
“Where are we going?”
“Change of plan, nothing to worry about,” replied the man spraying spittle as he spoke.
“But we’re not going to America?”
“No. You’ve been cleared of the murder.”
Although innocent, Ashley was still relieved to hear she was no longer a suspect. It was devastating enough to have lost her mentor, never mind being blamed for his murder. At least now she could get to back to Cambridge.
“So where are we going?”
“Kota Kinabalu.”
“Where the fuck is that!? Take me back to London immediately!” she demanded.
“I’m sorry my orders are to take you directly to Kota Kinabalu.”
“Why the hell are you taking me there?” demanded Ashley.
“To meet the man you’re looking for.”
Ashley was surprised by the response. Only Jackson knew where she was going and that she was trying to meet someone. Nobody else other than the policewoman in Cambridge knew that; but she only knew her as Rosie.
“How do you know who I was meeting?”
“I don’t. The orders came from way above my pay grade and told me to get you there asap. They’ve even arranged in-flight refuelling to get us there quickly.”
“In-flight fuelling! How long will it take to get there?”
“The pilot reckons about ten and a half hours. We’ll land just after 4.00 p.m. local time.”
Ashley knew something was very wrong. The only way people knew where she was going was because Jackson told them and he had been kidnapped immediately after their conversation. Alternataively, they had been listening to her calls. However, surrounded by four heavies on a small private jet, she could do little but go along with whatever was happening.
She had known from the moment her arms had been grabbed that these guys weren’t the FBI. FBI agents were all college graduates, impossibly polite and followed procedures to the letter. The three goons who had picked her up were not part of that club. She had guessed CIA at the time, certainly ex-military and assumed they had been called in due to Jackson’s knowledge of American intelligence operations to ensure all leads were hunted down as potential threats. However, none of this related to her activities, although she was beginning to have her doubts. Something at the back of her mind was telling her that Jackson wouldn’t be dead if she hadn’t recognised a young man from a long and distant past.
Chapter 30
Chagos Archipelago was one of the most remote places on the planet. Its location, in the middle of the Indian Ocean over 1000 miles South of India’s most southern point, ensured it would remain so. No commercial aircraft or ship ever came within hundreds of miles of it and to all intents and purposes, the small group of islands simply didn’t exist to the majority of the world’s population. However, that did not stop it becoming one of the most valuable and important assets of the US military. Diego Garcia had proven its worth many times over during the ongoing war on terror. Its location offered an excellent platform for the US military’s strategic bombers.
The island lay within the authority of the British Overseas Territories and had been leased to the US in 1970 until at least 2036. With one of the longest runways in the world, its capabilities were unrivalled when combined with its absolute seclusion. It even provided an alternative landing site for the space shuttle.
The B-1R rolled onto the largest lump of concrete in the Indian Ocean. It was the latest development of the B-1 Lancer supersonic strategic bomber and unlike its predecessor, it only required two crew. The two pilots had had little notice of the last minute training exercise. However, this was not unheard of during the testing stages of prototype aircraft and neither thought anything of it as they powered up the four Pratt & Whitney F119 engines, each capable of over 35,000 lbs of thrust. The new engines allowed them to push through the sound barrier without the use of afterburners. This new development was called supercruise and allowed the B-1R to travel at super sonic speeds for significantly longer. It also meant that their maximum speed had almost doubled to MACH 2.2. As the engines powered the aircraft down the runway, the final orders were still being received. Their target was 3,000 miles away and thanks to a supercruise of MACH 1.5, would be reached in just over 2 hours.
With only ten minutes to their target, the final mission directions came through. A target designation was received automatically by the offensive weapons system and in conversation with the aircraft’s autopilot, the two systems agreed on a slight deviation in their heading to maximise potential success. The pilots, oblivious to the target designation, could only watch as the systems took control.
Five minutes after their change of course, a slight tremor in the airframe alerted the pilots to a weapon being launched. The AIM-120D quickly accelerated and before they could see the intended target for the dummy weapon, the auto pilot had already commenced their turn for home.
The AIM-120D, or ‘slammer’ as it was referred to by pilots, fundamentally changed the role of the supersonic strategic bomber. With a 112 mile intercept capability, the air to air slammer made the B-1R the largest fighter bomber in the US airforce. Although still not capable of dog fighting its way out of trouble, the MACH 2.2 capability more than made up for that deficiency as did the long range capability of the slammer.
As the aircraft settled into its homeward journey, the offensive weapon system alerted them to a successful mission with a ‘target destroyed’ message. Both congratulated themselves although they did wonder why; other than powering the engines for take off and ensuring a safe landing, neither had done very much.
***
A hundred miles away, a Gulfstream G550 registration G-FRDS had ceased to exist. The impact of the MACH 4 missile would have sufficed without the 30lb high explosive. It had been about to commence its descent to Kota Kinabalu and was still some way out over the South China Sea when it literally vaporised. Small sections of wreckage plummeted 35,000
feet spreading themselves across miles of empty ocean, ensuring nobody would ever know the cause of its destruction.
Ernst had certainly ensured that Clark wouldn’t kill their man. Ernst had also left a message for DS Kelly. Asking his secretary to pose as Rosie, she had explained that she was unavoidably detained and would not arrive until 4.00 p.m..
Ernst, for the first time that day, actually felt as though he was in control of the situation.
Chapter 31
Scott and Kelly stepped off the Dragonair Airbus A320 and walked down the steps towards the arrivals gate at Kota Kinabalu International Airport. Scott’s emotions had run wild for the previous few hours. Apprehension, grief and excitement were competing with each other. However, none of them could beat the nerves which had taken hold. Kelly had tried to calm him down but realised that whatever she said would not help. Switching her phone on, a familiar chirp alerted her to two new voice mails.
Listening to the first, she wasn’t sure how to break the news. Scott was going to have to wait another few hours. The second was even less welcome. Her Chief Constable had heard of her foreign junket and had secured her a seat on the next flight back to the UK in less than an hour. He felt sure that a day in Scott’s company was sufficient to glean any potential leads.
Scott could sense something was wrong as he watched Kelly’s expression as she listened.
“Bad news I’m afraid.” Scott’s heart fell. “Rosie’s delayed until 4.00p.m.,” continued Kelly.
“Oh, OK. Well, we’ll just hang about here until then,” replied Scott, hugely relieved.
“There’s more, it seems my Chief isn’t happy with my globe trotting and wants me back. I’m booked on the 3.45 p.m. to Kuala Lumpur and then onto England.”
Scott was surprised at how genuinely disappointed he felt at Kelly’s imminent departure, particularly before Rosie’s arrival.
“Do you have to go before Rosie arrives?” asked Scott.
Kelly blushed at the thought of Scott being disappointed in her leaving so soon. She couldn’t believe the effect he was having on her. Kelly considered the justification for ignoring her Chief’s instructions and reasoned that Rosie was in fact a potential suspect. In fact, it would be remiss of her to leave without checking she was not involved in the attempts against Scott’s life. She knew it was weak but what the hell. She smiled at Scott and dialled Parkside to speak to the Chief.
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