The Shadow's Code

by Miles Goodson

  “Who’s your good friend?” she asked.

  “A guy called Chris, he lives nearby my lodge, ex-SAS,” Lindon said, picking up a napkin.

  “The airline?” Stephanie asked. Lindon chuckled; it was a fair guess considering the national airline was called SAS.

  “No, the British military elite. You must have heard of them,” he said.

  “Oh yeah,” Stephanie lied.

  Fifteen minutes of conversation passed. The tables were covered in a stripy plastic cover and Lindon had started to use his index finger to follow the lines as they talked. An hour passed and Stephanie noticed the man serving behind the counter was staring at them. The lunch trade had come and gone around them and they now wanted to close for a few hours before the dinner trade.

  “I think we may have overstayed our welcome.” Lindon pulled up at his sleeve and checked his watch.

  “Oh yeah, they probably want to close… maybe we could do this again?” he suggested.

  “I’ll think about it” Stephanie answered.

  They hurried out and a man clicked the latch on the door behind them and turned off the lights before disappearing behind the counter to help his wife with the till receipts. The snow had returned and it was now dark outside. It was quiet as the snow on the road muffled the sound of cars driving by. Stephanie unlocked the Volvo. Lindon tried to reach around her to grab the door but he couldn’t quite reach. Stephanie misconstrued the move as an embrace. She opened her arms and hugged Lindon around the body. He realized what was happening and squeezed with one arm around her shoulders.

  “So, a second date?” Lindon asked with a clear hope in his voice. Stephanie paused with one hand on the driver’s door handle.

  “So this was a date. I thought it was a catch up between friends,” she said.

  Lindon wasn’t going to be deterred “Date, catch up, it’s all the same to me.” he shrugged.

  “OK,” Stephanie replied.

  “To another date?” he asked.

  “I guess,” she said, getting into the car.

  “Great, well, I’ll call you.”

  As Lindon said the words Stephanie felt a rush of emotion. It was the last thing she had heard him say before he left years ago. “NO! This time I’ll call you,” she said. Some of the hope of seeing him again faded and she reversed out of the space. She looked over at him, smiled and then pushed the throttle. The four-wheel stability control kicked in and hurled Stephanie down the road. A tear appeared in her eye as she drove away.

  She felt like this might be the last time she would see him.

  Chapter 37

  Kioshi had been stewing for weeks. None of his operatives dared to speak to him unless he asked them a question. Everyone worked quietly with their heads ducked down out of Kioshi’s sight.

  Kioshi hadn’t heard from the American contact since London. Compounding Kioshi’s misery was the knowledge that with every day that passed the Americans may finally snag their man and once they had him Kioshi’s job of killing Lindon would become much more difficult. Kioshi had dispatched several of his team to the UK. They had been hunting for clues for over a week. At 4.30am a call came in from one of the men on the ground. Team members rushed to Kioshi’s bed and shook him vigorously.

  “We’ve found the car!”

  Kioshi leapt to his feet and snatched the phone. After scouring the cold city streets of Edinburgh the operative had found the Range Rover. Police had seized it and were keeping it in a small yard that was surrounded by security cameras and razor wire. Kioshi was excited by the news but his operative couldn’t find out any details about the vehicle. The vehicle may have left them with a dead end but they had been cunning. The team had hung around local pubs and takeaways trying to gather information. One of them had overheard some men talking about a boat that hadn’t returned, an old fishing vessel with a mystery owner. They couldn’t be sure that it was Lindon but it was their best lead. Kioshi threw the phone at one of personal assistants and sprang into action. He shouted orders across the room.

  “Get every camera within a mile of the marina. I don’t care if it’s a private shop owner. I want eyes everywhere.” The team started to mash buttons on their computers. “Tell them to search the docks for everything and anything. Bribe and threaten whoever they need to. Just get me something to work on,” he barked at his assistant, holding the phone.

  Roger sat in the Oval Office with the president. He ran through different parts of the day’s schedule as the president signed documents and nodded. Roger dictated to an under-secretary who the president would and wouldn’t see in a commanding fashion as several meetings conflicted. He growled his orders “strike that one” “move that one an hour later”. “Leave me time for lunch, Roger,” said the president whilst he squeezed a foam ball that was styled as a globe; the stress ball had been getting pulled out of the top draw a lot recently.

  A knock was heard at the door and a soldier quickly entered. He shut the door and stood arrow straight.

  “Three guests here to see you sir.”

  “Yes, OK. Let them in, Daniels,” was the instruction from Roger but the soldier didn’t flinch. He moved on the president’s order only.

  “Thank you, Daniels, please see them in,” were the softly spoken instructions from the president.

  “Yes sir” came the response.

  James, Bill and Warren filtered through the door; pleasantries were quick.

  “Well, gentlemen. I hear so little these days, anything new?” the president asked with his arms spread out on his desk.

  Bill was first to answer. “We’ve aligned our search and are continuing to track down Kioshi but so far, no luck.”

  Roger frowned. “Forget Kioshi. What about Lindon?” he demanded.

  “James and I have agreed that Kioshi is a greater threat right now, but a small contingent of my team is still trying to chase Lindon,” Bill said, looking at the president. Roger leaned forward and looked at Bill.

  “You’ve agreed? Lindon is the man you need to be chasing. We made ourselves clear!” Roger fumed.

  James turned to the president. “With all due respect, sir. We are securing this nation from an attack. We will decide who to prioritize. We are following who we believe is most likely to attack America, that is our job, and it is not Roger’s place to tell us otherwise. You are Commander in Chief and if you insist then we can drop our search for Kioshi, then I will speak to my superior.”

  James’s heart began to pound quickly with anticipation of a response. The president was desperate not to engage in another battle with the head of the CIA – who would have happily marched to the Oval Office in defense of James’s decision.

  “OK, well I’m sure you’re doing what is necessary. So how far have you got with Kioshi and with Lindon?” the president asked. James looked over to Bill. Warren stared at his fingernails. Bill cleared his throat then looked directly at the president.

  “We have made several breakthroughs as a team. James and I believe that Lindon headed for Scotland and the latest, but I must stress unconfirmed, information is that he may have taken a boat from there, but we don’t know where. The local police interviewed a few men at the marina and a boat that has been docked for some time hasn’t been seen for over a month.” Roger leaned back in his chair and remained quiet.

  “What’s the name of the boat?” the president asked.

  Bill looked to James who answered, “The Nordak. It’s an old fishing boat that was purchased by a private buyer a few years ago.” Roger and the president paused and thought about what to ask next. Warren was bored with being dragged into these meetings. He rarely spoke and knew everything that Bill and James reported already.

  “How about you, Warren?” the president asked while darting his eyes to Warren, who froze.

  “I err…. well... Bill and I have been working on a program to try and track Kioshi. I’m trying to find out where he’s been, using the facial recognition of cameras across other nations that allow
us access to their surveillance footage at major hubs like airports. I’ve compiled over 200 hours of recordings and about fifteen different identities that he travels on.” Warren stopped speaking and the room went quiet.

  “So you believe that we really need to be chasing Kioshi instead of looking for Lindon?” the president asked as he pressed his index fingers together. Warren hesitated and Roger jumped at the chance to speak.

  “One man has nothing but a crazy plan to attack America like a thousand other lunatic terrorists that blow themselves up before doing any damage and the other is the key to unlocking a nuclear weapon. Not just any weapon but one that is untested and that we may remove of our own accord at any time. Should the Japanese allow us to. Personally I can’t see why the program to imprint codes in the memory of our soldiers was given any traction. It would have been much safer kept in a vault as it had been.” Roger thrust his hands in the air as he spouted his unsolicited critique of national security.

  “Yes, but one is inert without the other. Lindon isn’t our enemy here!” Bill replied.

  “He could be. You should be taking his threat more seriously,” Roger said, looking towards the president.

  Bill and James looked at each other with the same hate for Roger. The meeting ended after five minutes. They would let the president know if they began to get close in on Kioshi or Lindon. Roger sat scribbling in his pad. He was angry that no one was taking the threat of Lindon more seriously.

  Thirty minutes later two secret service agents carried a letter into the Oval Office. They interrupted a meeting with the ambassador of Senegal.

  “Sir, you have a SIP delivery.” SIP stood for Special Independent Post. Only UPS’s presidential service could deliver the letter under their fixed agreement with the White House. The ambassador frowned at the interruption.

  “Oh, OK. Thank you,” said the president. He then turned back to the ambassador. “Sorry. These letters are very rare. In fact I don’t think I’ve received one before.” He smiled and the ambassador nodded. He then continued talking as the secret service walked out. A SIP letter was exceptional; it had to be delivered straight to the president, bypassing security screening and the White House postal room. A wax stamp with a code and two figures set it apart from all other post. The president gave stamps to only a handful of highly trusted officials. The director of the CIA and FBI had one each and four others were given to special contacts of the president.

  After the Senegalese ambassador left the president turned his attention to the letter. He ran his fingers across the wax on the back. It was Stone Age communication with Stone Age security. No encryption, no computer firewall, just paper, pen and a stamp. The letter was from Lt Donald Felix.

  I hope this note finds you in good health

  It appears my time to become a ghost is here,

  I have intelligence that my file has been checked twice

  during the last week from outside the country

  Best guess,

  Japan,

  I think Kioshi may be marking me as the next target and so,

  It’s time for me to disappear,

  I am going to officially die tonight,

  I drift away in my sleep, nice story huh, anyway,

  some buddies of mine have the resources to give a small but

  dignified funeral service,

  I’m planning to head for the West Indies tomorrow

  It would be good if you could make the service,

  The two women who have been taking care of me will be there,

  They are highly trained,

  I’ve taught them everything I know,

  Wendy is especially skilled,

  She passed top of her class at MIT and top in her class in

  military training, I think she thought she had struck out when she

  was assigned to take care of me,

  Anyway I’m rambling too much,

  Please meet her and Sasha at the funeral,

  They would be an asset to the secret service,

  I would assign one of them to keep an eye on Roger,

  He’s a snake with clipped fangs

  Before I go I feel I

  Must get something off my chest,

  You may not expect to hear me say this, but I think it’s important you understand that I am not the cold hearted robot that I appear. I have given my adult life to the service of protecting this country and that leaves me hard around the edges,

  I love my country and I would die for it,

  but I cannot help but feel a sense of sadness over our past

  The recent events with this Kioshi character and his ambition to inflict pain and suffering upon this nation has made me think about the event of over seventy years ago, both in my heart and in my head, my heart seems to take over these days,

  When we attacked the Japs,

  When we dropped the bombs,

  We were high on emotion and we had the weaponry that put us at the top of

  the food chain,

  Japan was an opportunity, after Pearl Harbor we needed to show the

  world America is not to be messed with

  The Russians would have done the same if they had gone nuclear first,

  The decision to strike was always to show power,

  We say it saved our men and shortened the war,

  and that is true, but it was a consequence not a goal,

  We could have crushed the Japs with our conventional weapons,

  But we didn’t

  We wanted to show the world who was boss, and we succeeded, I was a boy when it happened,

  I remember my Dad first pumping the air when the radio reported the strike,

  and then the chanting “USA!USA!”

  I went to Nagasaki aged 23,

  Told the locals I was Canadian,

  Everyone seems to like Canadians, the advantage of quietly living

  in the snow freezing your balls off and staying out of everyone’s business is that everyone seems to like you,

  but then again who wants to be liked by everyone,

  anyway,

  I met a local woman, who spoke English,

  I asked her if she lost anyone in the bombing

  “Everyone” she replied

  Her mother and father perished immediately,

  Her sister died 3 years later of cancer,

  Her brother survived until aged 15,

  He died in her arms,

  It made everything very real when I listened to her story,

  I’m not sure what an apology would really mean to them,

  Over 70 years have passed,

  I think at some point, for the history books,

  we should give an official apology,

  With great power comes great responsibility,

  We now have the power to blow up the earth and kill everything on it,

  how mankind lives with such power is beyond me,

  We will not see an official apology to the Japs in my lifetime, or yours

  I’m sure of that, but I like to think that… one day.

  But not today, the past is nicely buried,

  They attacked our boys in Pearl Harbor first,

  They awoke a sleeping giant and paid the consequence,

  but I’m sorry it was the everyday people that paid the highest price,

  Soldiers fight and die for their country, that is our job,

  Civilians merely get caught in the crossfire,

  I thought it was important for you to understand

  My gravest of concerns is that is that our great nation may one day look back and wonder whether its conscience is too much to bear, I do not want to see a separated or divided nation, we cannot go back to the dark days,

  Too many of our people gave their lives fighting against each other to unite us for us to ever risk straying towards division.

  America is the Greatest Nation on Earth, there is no doubt in my mind,

  We must keep our national secrets hidden,

&n
bsp; what happened in Japan, well... it happened,

  It is your duty to make sure the code and ‘Parasite’

  stays a secret

  do whatever you can, use every resource,

  catch Kioshi and kill him

  and keep our boy Lindon safe, he’s one of the good ones

  The world must see us as a great but graceful nation, you must keep that image,

  If not we may march towards something that I shudder to think of - another global war.

  Take care, it’s in your hands now, Commander in Chief

  Yours,

  Felix

  Chapter 38

  James rubbed his eyes and squeezed the telephone receiver between his shoulder and cheek. He had spent twenty minutes on the phone with his friend John at the FBI who couldn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know with the exception of how well whatever he was working on had been insulated from all the agencies. The NSA was too young to be involved and the FBI didn’t have a single file on either Kioshi or Lindon. James had thanked his friend and hung up, another dead end he thought. Bill called several minutes later. The clock behind James struck midnight.

  “Yes, but do you have any evidence?” James asked.

  Bill shrugged on the other end of the line. He had his shoes up on his desk and his tie was loosely pulled away from his neck. “James, who else could it be? Kioshi must have been tipped off.”

  James and Bill had spoken many times about the possibility of an insider telling Kioshi where to find Lindon. It was the only way they felt that Kioshi could have stayed one step ahead of them. There were two suspects, after themselves.

  “Look, the guy’s a national hero. Why would he help Kioshi?” James said in a skeptical tone.

  Bill had suggested Lt Felix was the one tipping off Kioshi. “Yes, but the old guy’s seen a lot of things. Maybe his conscience finally caught up with him and he thinks that helping the Japs will even things out?” Bill said.