by Tomson Cobb
‘Of course. No way would we have allowed them to leave without that. These new deals now give us exclusive rights to forty per cent of the world’s bauxite and thirty per cent of the total iron ore reserves on the planet,’ Lopez added.
‘Very good, Marcel. Now, what about our American friend? This is our biggest gamble to date you know. If he’s elected, the group will be untouchable,’ Catesby said.
‘We realise that. He’s followed his instructions to the letter. If we are successful, we will have installed him into the most important position on the planet,’ Herman replied.
‘And the journalist? What reason did Kruger give for the change of plan?’
‘He said that the attack by the gang of Albanians left his two guards severely injured. Hale realised that the police might be informed by someone in the village, so he told Kruger that it would be difficult to explain if he joined him on the yacht after they’d all been involved in the fight. Kruger agreed. They agreed to meet again in London or the US,’ Herman said.
‘Hmm. You’re sure that’s the way it happened?’
‘Peter and I both agreed it sounded understandable. We told him he’d taken the right decision under the circumstances. Our people at the airport told us Hale took the first flight back here to London today.’
‘Good. Then we can still use Mr Hale later in the operation,’ Catesby said.
Jago and Shapiro exchanged quizzical glances.
‘Where will our active service force be needed next, Marcel? Did any of the delegates ask for our help in that regard?’ Catesby asked.
‘Nobody asked for military support this week, however we have identified one North African area that could benefit from some. Our people there have suggested to the local warlord that we are willing to support his own forces in return for the usual fees. In return they have to give us exclusive access for our operations at one of their ports,’ Lopez said.
‘It should be very lucrative, Jeremy,’ said Herman. ‘We can negotiate a good deal with the Russians, as they want another Mediterranean option now they’ve secured Crimea and made up with Turkey so they can get their navy out of the Black Sea.’
‘Their navy is not all it’s made out to be. Most of what they have is old, some are laid up as they can’t afford to go out on manoeuvres, and the oligarchs don’t want to dilute their bank accounts by paying for a new one. But I digress, gentlemen. Even so, you must be careful not to tread on the toes of our Russian friends. They have their own mercenaries in theatre,’ Catesby said.
‘There’s room for both, Jeremy,’ Herman added. ‘We can also play them off against China. Our friends in Beijing would love to have us provide them with their first European presence in the Med. Hell, we could even negotiate with the EU to keep them out. It’ll be an auction.’
‘Don’t get carried away, Peter. The group has to be pragmatic. If either side thinks we have taken advantage of them, our position as a trusted partner will be at risk. After all, both players were instrumental in the development of our organisation so we cannot simply ignore that.’
‘I don’t see why not, Jeremy. We have made huge strides in recent months with our own partnerships in many of the areas that we both want influence with. We’ve outgrown our parents and are now building our own lives in our own house,’ Lopez said.
‘Remember this, gentlemen. As far as military muscle is concerned, we are still children when compared to these two superpowers. If, however, we are successful with the plan for Kruger, then I concede we would be in a very different situation. Until then, you have to be more circumspect in your opinions. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Of course, Jeremy,’ said Herman.
Lopez remained silent. That made Jago glance at Shapiro with a quizzical look. He shrugged in return. The dinner conversations continued, as did the scribbled exchanges in Jago’s house. It was almost 11 p.m. before the party ended.
‘Well now. There were quite some revelations tonight, weren’t there Tony.’
‘There sure were. I’ll have my boys on the bikes stand down. I think we’ll leave the equipment in situ on the roof though. It might be useful if we need to listen in to our new friend Catesby on another occasion. I’ll also have a full transcription done of all this conversation between our friends asap. I’ll get a copy over to you as well.’
‘Mucho aprreciato, as Señor Lopez might have said if he wasn’t so arrogant tonight. He sounds as if he thinks this is just about hard cash. Do you have to provide it to Coburn immediately?’
‘I should do. Why. You want me to hold off?’
‘Yeah. If you can, for a while at least. The situation sounds like it might be about to boil over here, so if you and I pass all this gold back to our respective bosses it might filter out to Chetwynd. We don’t know how far they’ve infiltrated us both, they might have more influence than we think. We might even be taken off the case. I don’t know about you, but I want to stay in this game, Tony.’
‘I’m with you on that, Jago. Okay, I’ll delay my report until you and I decide our next move. We’ve done well though. Without your information on these three we wouldn’t have got to first base. Without my boys, we’d just be dependent on guesswork. Coburn will be very pleased when I do give him my report.’
‘When you do, tell him I don’t expect the medal of honour yet. Just the usual benefits in kind. We still have a long way to go yet though, Tony. Six will have to employ a lot of people to take these guys down, so will the CIA. There were about thirty different countries represented at the conference last night,’ Jago said. ‘Only you and I have that information at this moment, so I want to keep it that way for a while longer before we bring any of the agencies in, otherwise they might balls the whole operation up,’ Jago said
‘Yeah, I agree. We have to keep a handle on this. It’ll be the biggest shakedown since… well, I don’t know. We’ve never worked on as big a case as this before so it’ll be a precedent we set. Shit, the implications are huge.’ Shapiro stood to stretch his weary limbs, which woke the dog for a moment, before she decided that it still didn’t pre-empt the promised walk and returned to her previous state of lethargy.
‘Which is why we have to keep this to ourselves, so we can control the next play. Talking of plays, I’m still confused why I’m such a big part of Chetwynd’s plans. How the hell does Catesby plan to use me next?’ asked Jago.
‘I wondered that as well. Except you seem to be their agent provocateur, Jago.’
‘Maybe that’s right. More reason to keep this under our control for as long as possible. If someone fucks this up because they want to raise their career profile, all democratic countries will pay the price. If there are still any such places, that is. With corruption everywhere, it’s hard to know who the good guys are anymore.’
‘We’re still the good guys, Jags.’
‘I hope so, Tony. I hope so.’
Even If they had the number of Belette’s new disposable cell phone, Jago’s question about the Organisation’s plan for him would have remained unanswered. She received the call she’d been expecting in her room at the London Ritz at midnight.
‘You will remain on standby. The next target has been acquired. You will be informed very soon,’ the distorted voice announced.
‘You mean it won’t be the journalist?’ she asked.
‘You’re paid to take orders, not to ask questions.’ The disembodied voice sounded irritated.
‘I am always given a timetable in advance. Like the black cabs here in this city, my wait time charge is expensive,’ Belette said.
‘I understand that. Your additional fees will be met. In this case, recent events mean we have had to modify our plans. Be patient and stay away from him. Do you understand?’
‘Of course,’ she replied. The call ended without further conversation. New reservations now surfaced over whether she should have taken this particular contract in the first place.
Her thoughts were still on the naked body of the Engl
ishman in Majorca. The frustration from the failure to consummate her assignation there meant she needed a distraction while she waited for new instructions.
The potential for undesirable attention precipitated by the arrival of an attractive single woman in the hotel bar was too high. The casino would provide a more discreet alternative, she decided.
Chapter 45
‘Okay, let’s go through it all again once more, so we’re clear on what we know. Or what we think we know,’ Jago said.
It was now close to 2 a.m. Fuelled by a mixture of red wine, brandy and then coffee, they had evaluated all the information acquired from their clandestine surveillance in the last seventy-two hours. Exhaustion was postponed until they had considered all possible options for what to do next.
‘From what we recorded at the conference in Corfu, Chetwynd have over one hundred countries signed up to their organisation. Each one’s leaders have signed over mineral, oil or other commodity rights to them in exchange for a commission paid into personal bank accounts in various tax havens around the world. Correct?’ Shapiro said. It was his turn to walk the room. Up to now, without the need for gum.
‘Correct,’ Jago agreed.
‘The revenue from the rights goes into a central account. Each of the leaders that sign up gets a virtual share in the Organisation, so that they also benefit from a rake-off from funds provided by other states. This then keeps them on side so they don’t think about changing the deal a ways down the track. It also provides a central fund for Chetwynd to invest in legit businesses, like you found on your trip to Japan. Correct so far?’
‘Agreed.’
‘The Organisation also has extensive munitions with a brigade of battle-hardened troops that they offer to the members to provide personal protection, together with added value services such as oil field security or help with local incursions by terrorists or other ambitious states nearby.’
‘I wouldn’t call it a brigade. Between ten and fifty thou max, at the moment. It’s made up of experienced mercenaries. That’s almost as many as the entire British Army though,’ Jago said.
‘Okay. Don’t split hairs. It’s an army. Then we have the tie-ups with the criminal gangs in each region, plus their deals with terrorists or revolutionary groups?’
‘Yeah. This is where I think their weak spot is. When I met the Yakuza guy in Yamada’s house, it wasn’t hard to persuade him he shouldn’t sell his soul to a bunch of Russian hoods. I think that’s where we should focus some of our efforts at least,’ Jago said.
‘I prefer the Al Capone method we’ve talked about. It’s easier to prosecute tax evasion than murder these days, so follow the money I say. The terrorist groups may need a different solution though,’ Shapiro replied.
‘We can argue the tactics later. For now let’s stick with the strategy. What about the principals involved? Let’s go through them again, with the question marks highlighted this time.’
‘Okay. We now have the small problem of a member who’s also a presidential candidate, an international banker, a South American billionaire, and last but not least, a lord of the realm. Anyone I’ve missed?’ Shapiro said.
Jago noticed he hadn’t injected a piece of gum since the start of the eavesdropping. Maybe the adrenalin had provided an alternative distraction to the absence of his usual choice of stimulant. Better not to mention it, however. Jago needed a smoke-free zone to operate in, so he didn’t want Shapiro to slip back under his own previous comfort blanket of addiction.
‘Just the small matter of a freelance assassin who works for one of them. For which one, we don’t know. I wonder if it’s relevant that there was no mention of the Octopus either at tonight’s soirée or in Corfu at the hotel.’
‘That’s true. Why would that be, do you think? Wouldn’t all the main characters know about her?’ Shapiro said.
‘Maybe not. I don’t have a view on why at the moment. You would have thought that they’d know about Hordiyenko being let go from the Organisation,’ Jago added.
‘“Let go.” Hah. I like that. Without a termination bonus to his contract as well, you might have added. I agree. If that was a board decision, it would have come up in conversation. Why didn’t it, Jago?’
‘I don’t know. Perhaps they all work in separate silos. From our conversation with Kruger, I don’t believe he’s any more than a Manchurian candidate.’
‘You reckon he’s been brainwashed?’
‘He didn’t need to be. Money talks loud enough with our Wade. That and power. I got the impression that he’s what’s called a “useful idiot” to the Organisation. I don’t think from our conversation at the bar that he even knew Hordiyenko, or has heard about La Polpo.’
‘You have a devious mind, Jago, I gotta say. So even if you’re right, why wouldn’t our three amigos tonight talk about Hordiyenko’s assassination?’
‘Most likely they all think each other was responsible. Or an internal war maybe, when thieves fall out. That could make sense. To compare with all the money available to the mob families in the US, from the fifties to the late nineties, they could have worked together. Trouble was, each still wanted to be number one, which led to all the bloodshed. While we’re talking about them, you still reckon they’re involved in all this as well?’ Jago said.
‘Oh, they’ve had conversations with the families but I doubt they’d want to take orders from this organisation. We think they inked a deal to stay off each other’s turf. So that means we’ve covered all the main characters except for you and me, Jago. Where do we go from here?’ Shapiro said.
‘We’re both in the same boat, Tony. We have all this information yet we don’t trust the organisations we work for. Coburn knows about your investigation, Toye and GCHQ know about mine. Then we have the complication that Five pointed me at RWA when Frobisher met me at the airport. You remember he told me that Tom Bryan had met Catesby?’
‘Yeah. So?’
‘It’s why I haven’t informed CUP about what we’ve been up to. Frobisher’s information about the link between Bryan and Real World Analysis makes me very uneasy. Bryan’s audiences with Catesby mean I now have reservations about the security of my father-in-law’s operation as well.’
‘I see what you mean. If Bryan’s been on the Chetwynd payroll, God knows what information he’s given them. So we still trust no one then?’ Shapiro said.
‘We can’t. What can just the two of us do without support though?’
‘We can do what we agreed to. Remember, Toye gave you the job of finding the assassin. He didn’t say how you should do it. We both know she’s still in the field. All we have to find out is who her next target will be.’
‘When you put it like that it’s straightforward, of course. You’re right though, Tony. Okay, let’s presume I can still call on the resources of GCHQ through my contact there. We now have to work out who she works for, then we can eliminate the other three of the four to end up with Greenstreet.’
‘Four?’
‘The three tonight plus Macblane. We’ve presumed that Lopez works hand-in-glove with him, but maybe he doesn’t. Maybe our Argentinian oligarch suspects his protégé has gone rogue?’
‘Makes sense. That would explain why Belette is still on station. She’s waiting for orders.’
‘Then we stake out all three. We get her before she makes the hit. We know from what Catesby said that all three will meet again tonight for dinner at Boodles, before Lopez and Herman leave for Buenos Aires together tomorrow. She has to hit one of them tonight.’
‘What type of restaurant is that, Jago. If it’s Italian, count me in. We can go join them.’
‘It’s not a restaurant. It’s an exclusive gentlemen’s club. Members only. It so happens I’m a member. Frank proposed me, in fact. A little out of my league but tonight I’ll make an exception. I can take you as a guest. We’ll have to take a chance that Herman doesn’t make me, so I’ll change my appearance. We can go in the bar and stay out of the way of our three f
riends. We’ll have to find a suit for you to wear though. I don’t have any that’ll fit you,’ Jago said.
‘Leave that to me. It happens I have friends in London that I stay with. They let me leave some clothes there.’
‘Very useful. Right. You and I will go straight there. We’ll need your boys to cover all three from now till then. After the dinner as well, in case we lose one when they leave.’
‘I’ll organise that now. I’ll grab a cab and be back here tonight to pick you up. Shall we carry?’
‘I don’t like shooters, Tony. Besides, it would blow my cover. If I got caught with one on home soil I wouldn’t have any protection from SIS. I’d get ten years if I got arrested. More, maybe, if I had to use it. I’ll stick with my usual methods I think.’
‘I’ve got a diplomatic licence so I’ll have a little comforter in my pocket. I don’t have your athletic abilities either, so I need some reassurance,’ Shapiro said.
‘Whatever you think, my friend. Don’t be too keen to use it though. The mire will hit the fan if you do. It’ll be the end of both of our careers at the least.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Now I have to go. I’ll catch some sleep, then I have to put in a call to Coburn this afternoon. I won’t tell him much, or any details about tonight. Remember, I do have to give daily reports, so if I don’t report in he’ll get mad. I don’t want him to pull the plug at this stage.’
After Shapiro had left with his equipment, Jago found the dog at attention by his side. He put a lead on her and opened the front door.
‘Chobi, you’ve been patient and I need some air, so let’s go for that walk I promised you hours ago.’
When they got back to the house an hour later Jago was still wide awake, his thoughts jumbled, his brain hyperactive.
‘You came back with half a dozen other items we don’t need but forgot the birthday card. It’s Dad’s birthday on Saturday, so now I’ll have to go out myself to get one. That means I’ll have to break off this damned report. Jago, that was the one item I asked you to get and you came back without it. You’re the pits.’ She stood up from the laptop in full fury mode, ready to storm into the hall for her coat.