Gray Vengeance

by Alan McDermott

  Still, he knew, he had to get the proof first; deciding what to do with it would come later.

  He got up and went to Gerald Small’s office, knocking before walking in.

  ‘Did you manage to get into Harper’s phone?’

  ‘Not yet,’ Small said. ‘None of the usual methods worked, which is no real surprise. I’m still trying, though.’

  ‘When you get a second, could you look into something else for me?’

  ‘Sure. What is it?’

  ‘When I was at Haddon Hall, I logged into my MI5 profile. Will our logs have a record of that?’

  Small nodded. ‘Of course. We’ll have all the details, including the IP address you logged in from, date and time, and the files you accessed.’

  ‘Do you think you could use that to get onto the machine I used there? The one at Haddon Hall?’

  ‘I’ll certainly be able to identify it,’ Small said. ‘Whether or not I can get access is another matter completely.’

  ‘I’d like you to try,’ Harvey said.

  Small turned to his computer and his fingers danced over the keys. ‘It’ll take some time,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘I’ll come and get you if I strike gold.’

  The taxi dropped the trio off outside the British Consulate on Emir Palace Road, and Ackerman showed the armed guard his credentials. The plastic bag was inspected, the soldier eyeing the bottle suspiciously, but when Ackerman explained that it was for one of the senior staff, he was allowed to take it in. Ackerman led Smart and Gray into the foyer, and all three were pleased to discover that the place was air-conditioned.

  ‘Kyle Ackerman to see Dennis Engle,’ he told the woman behind the Perspex shield at the reception booth. ‘He’s expecting me.’

  She asked him to take a seat and picked up the phone.

  ‘So who’s this Engle guy?’ Smart asked. ‘Another spook?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Ackerman said. ‘All I got from the Pretoria office was that he likes his bourbon, hence the token of appreciation.’

  He held up the plastic bag just as a portly man appeared in front of them, sweating despite the near-frigid air. His face was almost beetroot-red, and Ackerman wondered if it was just hypertension or something alcohol-related.

  Probably the latter.

  ‘Dennis Engle,’ he said, holding out his hand, though his eyes were fixed on the duty-free bag.

  ‘Kyle Ackerman. Is that for me?’

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ Engle said, handing over a bulging manila envelope before wiping his face with a handkerchief. ‘I had to pull a lot of strings to get this from the airport authorities. You mentioned . . . .’

  Ackerman took the hint and handed Engle the bag, watching his eyes light up at the sight of the sour mash.

  ‘We just can’t get this over here,’ Engle said. ‘Yet another reason to hate this shit-hole. That, and the bloody heat. And don’t even get me started on the sodding terrorists . . . .’

  As the rant continued, Ackerman opened the folder and checked the first few pages. Each entry had a passport photo, which was a lot more than he’d expected. It would certainly make their job a lot easier.

  He shook Engle’s hand again and thanked him for his help, then made a beeline for the exit, closely followed by his companions. When they looked back, Engle was already heading back to an office, and Ackerman guessed he would be unavailable for the remainder of the day.

  ‘We need somewhere quiet to go through these,’ Gray said. ‘Let’s get back to the hotel before Sonny and Mack turn up. I want to try to find Farrar before they get back.’

  Smart flagged down a taxi, and once inside Ackerman handed them both a few sheets, which they studied on the short journey. By the time they reached the hotel they’d managed to get through a dozen each, but that still left a couple of hundred pages to trawl through.

  Once back in Gray’s room, they locked the door and Gray dug out a photo of James Farrar that he’d printed out prior to leaving England.

  ‘This is who we’re looking for,’ he said to Ackerman.

  They divided up the papers, which contained ten passport records apiece. It helped that the majority of profiles were for African nationals, meaning they were able to skim through until they came to a Caucasian face.

  Fifteen minutes into the exercise, Smart held up the piece of paper he’d been scanning.

  ‘Got ’im!’

  Gray took the printout and ran his finger down the list until he came to a very familiar face. The smug expression he remembered even adorned Farrar’s new passport photograph, although the name—Harold Ericson—was obviously new.

  He checked the flight details, and saw that Farrar had left the country on the fifteenth, four days earlier. His EgyptAir flight to Cairo appeared to have been the final destination, but Gray suspected Farrar wasn’t stupid enough to telegraph his final destination by buying a through-ticket.

  ‘Now that we’ve identified your man, what do we do?’ Ackerman asked.

  ‘Get Andrew on the phone,’ Gray said. ‘Ask him to follow the trail, and tell him the original plan remains in place.’

  Ackerman made a quick call, giving Harvey the flight and passport details, and told him to expect a text message in the next hour, per their earlier plan regarding Mackenzie. He listened for a moment, then hung up.

  ‘Andrew says Hamad can get into the Egyptian airline database, so we should have news soon.’

  ‘Great,’ Gray said, gathering up the sheets of paper. He stuffed them back into the envelope and handed it to Smart. ‘Take this somewhere and lose it. Kyle, when Sonny and Mack get back, make your excuses and send that text to Andrew. I’ll tell Sonny and Mack that we couldn’t get the list and that the guy in the hospital is our only lead. Andrew should get back in touch while we’re developing a plan, and then we just have to wait for Mack to squirrel away and make his move.’

  Smart took the envelope and left, returning ten minutes later. The trio had to wait another hour before Sonny walked through the door, Mackenzie in tow.

  ‘How does it look?’ Gray asked.

  ‘Shouldn’t be a problem,’ Sonny said. ‘His room is at the back of the building and there’s plenty of tree cover.’

  ‘Good. Then we go in tonight. Kyle, can you see if you can rustle up some food?’

  Ackerman took his cue and left the room, and Gray asked Sonny for details of the layout and any equipment they’d need. Sonny told him that there was access via a drainpipe, so no need for a rope. All he really required was something to force the window with.

  ‘I saw a stall in the market that sells knives,’ Smart said. ‘Sonny and I can go and get a couple.’

  ‘Do it after lunch,’ Gray told them. ‘We might need to add more to the list before you go.’

  Ackerman returned a few minutes later and dropped a large paper bag on the table. ‘I got bread, cheese and what could either be lamb, goat or horse, though the man assured me it was beef.’

  The men tucked in, most of them enjoying their first bite of the day. Gray pressed Sonny on the layout of the hospital and Ackerman about the number of staff he’d seen during his visit.

  When Ackerman’s phone beeped twice, all eyes turned to him. He unlocked the handset and checked the message before handing it to Gray.

  Gray studied the phone with all the dramatic flair he could muster. Then he clicked off and faced the team.

  ‘Harvey says he’s found Farrar. We’re to head home.’

  ‘Where is he?’ Smart asked.

  ‘He didn’t say. He just told us to grab the next flight home, job done.’

  ‘Sounds good to me,’ Smart said, throwing his piece of dried meat into the bin.

  ‘Okay, guys, pack your gear and meet back here in fifteen minutes. Kyle, book us some tickets.’

  Sonny and Smart retreated to their room, Macken
zie to his.

  ‘I guess we’ll find out soon enough if Mack’s playing us,’ Ackerman said to Gray once they were alone. ‘Have you decided what to do if he is?’

  ‘We’re going to leave him here, but first, I want you to go shopping again.’

  Andrew Harvey stood over Gerald Small as the technician’s fingers flew over the keyboard. While it was great news that Gray had confirmed Farrar’s involvement, it didn’t leave much time for him to get access to the home secretary’s phone. The only concrete proof he could envision would be capturing a conversation between Harper and Farrar, and he expected it to happen soon.

  That’s because Mackenzie and Sarah Thompson had engaged in a rapid-fire text conversation moments ago:

  Harvey has found Farrar

  Are you sure?

  Certain. He just told Gray. Ordered team to come home

  Thompson had since been in touch with Harper, though only to pass on the message, and what the home secretary had done from that point was anyone’s guess.

  Hamad Farsi stuck his head into the room and handed Harvey a piece of paper.

  ‘We have a flight to Cuba, but the trail ends there.’

  Harvey took the single sheet and read the brief details. It seemed a strange destination for Farrar, whose profile suggested he hadn’t exactly enjoyed his other stints in hot climates. In most of the reports Farrar had submitted from his assignments in Belize and the Philippines, the humidity had been mentioned at some point. It was this knowledge that had helped him shape his original search for the man, but it appeared that decision had been flawed.

  On the flip side, the Cubans were known to offer political asylum to wanted men, especially those with a background in intelligence.

  ‘Good work so far, Gerald. Keep trying.’

  Harvey followed Farsi back to their bank of desks. He unlocked his computer and opened up the Maps application. He saw that Cuba was roughly six hundred kilometres long, though it was a relatively thin island. The capital, Havana, was located in the northwest, near a major town whose name caught his eye.

  ‘Wouldn’t it be ironic if he was staying here?’ he asked Farsi, pointing to a town called Moron.

  ‘Yeah, I saw that, but knowing the man as I do, he’d more likely be here.’ Farsi moved his cursor over a place named Colon, and they both had a chuckle.

  ‘Time to get serious,’ Ellis said as she strode over to them. ‘I just got off the phone with Harper.’

  ‘What did she say?’

  ‘She wants everything we have on Farrar with a view to sending a team in.’

  ‘I’m guessing that team won’t involve us,’ Harvey said.

  ‘Correct. At least, it won’t involve me. I’ve been relieved of duty, effective immediately.’

  ‘She can’t do that!’

  ‘No, but she can have a quiet word with the person who can. My counterpart at Six, Martin Evans, will run both units until my replacement can be found. He’ll be here in the next fifteen minutes.’

  ‘So that’s it? She wins?’

  ‘Perhaps not, Hamad. You still have a quarter of an hour, maybe twenty minutes, to get what you need before you head out.’

  ‘Where are we going?’ Harvey asked.

  ‘Cuba. I suggest you start by checking their real estate websites for recent rentals and purchases, notably high-end properties. Farrar likes his comfort, so forget about the poorer areas of the island. Andrew, get on to Doug Wallis at the CIA and see if he can help. They should have people in-country who can call in a few favours.’

  ‘Is all this really necessary? I mean, if Harper and Farrar are working together, one phone call from her and he’ll be long gone by the time we get there.’

  Ellis offered a grim smile. ‘Not if she thinks we’re looking in the wrong place. I told her we’d tracked him to Cairo, then on to a place in Indonesia. I think her priority is to get me out of the picture so that the investigation stalls, so I need you to create some evidence pointing to Farrar landing in Jakarta with no onward travel.’

  ‘She must realise you weren’t doing this alone,’ Harvey pointed out. ‘Thompson, for one, knows that Hamad and I were looking for him, too. Add the fact that my workstation is probably being monitored and she’ll probably know everything we do.’

  ‘I thought we agreed that Hamad would handle the searches. What digging have you done?’

  ‘Nothing, really, but I did just search for Cuba online.’

  ‘Then I suggest you book a package holiday to Havana in the next five minutes to throw them off the scent. A week in April should do it. Once you’ve done that, arrange to meet Agent Wallis for a late lunch. Hamad, you were looking to see who owns the flat Thompson is living in. What did you find?’

  ‘It’s owned by one of a dozen firms run by a holding company that has its headquarters in the Cayman Islands. That’s as far as I could get.’

  ‘Then after you’ve tried the real estate websites, look into each company and see if any have property in Cuba.’

  ‘That’ll take a lot longer than fifteen minutes,’ Farsi said.

  ‘You can do it remotely. As of now, you are both on leave. Good luck, gentlemen.’

  Ellis returned to her office and began clearing out her drawers, and Harvey went back to Small’s station to pass on the news.

  ‘You’re just in time. I managed to get into your terminal at Haddon Hall.’

  ‘That’s great. The only trouble is, I have to clear the building in the next ten minutes. I’ll be working remotely for the next few days at least.’

  Small turned to his keyboard and tapped out a series of commands, and Harvey soon recognised his own desktop profile on the screen. ‘I’m putting a shortcut to the Haddon Hall server on your laptop. You’ll be able to access it from anywhere, just as long as you log into our network first. The username and password are already configured.’

  Harvey gave a long, low whistle at the hacking job his colleague had performed. ‘That’s remarkable. Nice work. But I’ve got a feeling my account is going to be locked out pretty soon. I’ll need a way to get back in if that happens.’

  Small scribbled something on a slip of paper and handed it to Harvey. ‘I’ll create a new profile with that username and password. If you get locked out of your normal account, try that one. I’ll put the shortcut on there, too.’

  ‘Thanks, Gerald. I need you to buy a burner cell and text me on this number.’ Harvey jotted down the number for his own anonymous phone. ‘Just in case I need your help again.’ He smiled. ‘And you know I will.’

  He left Small to finish up and went to Ellis’s office.

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said as he walked in. ‘If we do go to Cuba and find Farrar, then what? We’re not exactly equipped to bring him home. I mean, it’s not as if we can just knock on his door and ask him to come with us.’

  Ellis put a silver pen in her cardboard box, followed by a photograph of her Alsatian puppy. ‘I thought about that, too, but there’s nothing I can do. You’ll have to go with what’s already available.’

  ‘You mean Gray and his team?’

  ‘You’re the one who wanted your friend on board. Now it’s up to you to make it work. Go and give him the good news.’

  She sat down heavily in her chair, surveying the empty desk. ‘Keep me in the loop,’ she told him. ‘I’m not sure I can help much, but . . . .’

  Harvey looked at the dejected figure before him. Only now that she was being forced out did he realise what a special person she was. They’d had their share of disagreements, but she’d always been fair and had the team’s best interests at heart. To be dismissed for wanting to see justice done was an absolute travesty, and he was determined to make it right.

  ‘We’ll get him, Veronica. I’ll see to it personally.’

  Chapter 36

  19 December 2014
/>   Tom Gray looked up as Ackerman entered the hotel room. He’d been gone for fifteen minutes, and had a serious look on his face as he walked through the door.

  ‘Well?’ Gray asked.

  Ackerman handed over his phone and Gray looked at the screen. ‘The tickets are booked. We leave here at seven this evening.’

  Gray scratched the side of his head, and Smart took his cue to walk over to the window, directly behind Mackenzie.

  ‘So what do we do until then?’ Sonny asked.

  ‘Maybe Mack can tell us a bit more about himself,’ Gray suggested. ‘For starters, who’s this girl you told me about? What’s her name?’

  ‘Helen,’ Mackenzie said. ‘Why do you ask?’

  Gray cocked his head. ‘It’s funny. I just don’t picture you with a Helen. Now a Sarah . . . .’

  Mackenzie’s expression didn’t change. ‘Trust me, she’s unlike any Helen you’ve ever known.’

  Gray hit a couple of buttons on the phone and kept his eyes on Mackenzie as he waited for it to ring. He noticed a slight twitch as the call connected, but otherwise Mackenzie remained calm.

  ‘Aren’t you going to answer that?’ Gray asked as Smart wrapped a powerful arm around Mackenzie’s neck.

  ‘What the hell’s going on?’ Sonny asked.

  ‘If you feel inside his trousers you’ll find a phone on vibrate,’ Gray told him. ‘It was the one used to notify MI6 that we were here and looking for Farrar.’

  Sonny did as instructed and soon came across the mobile. ‘And you were going to tell me about this . . . when?’

  ‘I didn’t have the chance,’ Gray said, ‘but now you know. Mack here is also the one who told Six where to find my daughter. Isn’t that right?’