MERCURY'S SECRET

by Tobias Roote

  I shimmied down the side of the pontoon and found a wooden rail running parallel that I could use to pull myself along. It would mean partial submerging, but this was the only way I could approach the vessel unseen. My rucksack was waterproof although heavy it would probably float, albeit partially submerged. I removed it and attached it by a cord to my wrist where I could lose it quick if I needed to.

  I went to transfer my phone into a waterproof compartment when it vibrated. I quickly shielded it from any view and pulled up the message. There was just one word. 'BUTLER' I had my answer. It vibrated again, what the hell? Another message. 'TOBLER – DUBIANKO??'

  Shit! I thought wondering just how Brett had uncovered that last little gem. Russia and Dubianko with agents in place in our top teams. We were riddled. My mind wondered back to my last operation before retiring. We were compromised then, was this the reason why? Was it Tobler, or Butler?

  I put the phone away and climbed into the water. Pulling on the rail until I was close to the boat I heard talking. Two men came out of the cabin, a small amount of internal light reflecting on them making them black shadows with no distinguishing features. I watched as they split up, one going to the rear, the other forward to the bow. I was close to the bow at this moment and heard the voice say, “I'm up to relieve you, Tobler says to go for your break at the warehouse and watch out for this rogue agent, Charlie, he seems to think he will come soon.”

  I recognised the voice as the one who had shook my hand. Good, that should make my job easier.

  I watched as the two relieved operatives moved off down the gangplank, neither of them paying any attention to anything in the water. I saw this so often, relieved from sentry duty on an operation and the first thing they did was switch off their brains and senses. These two would be dead real quick in a live operation with deadly enemies.

  I waited until they had gone and then quietly pulled myself out of the water using just my arms until I was hanging under the gangplank. I waited for things to settle then pulled up my legs and hooked them under the quay. I was now completely in shadow and edging toward the bottom end of the gangway.

  Fore and aft shouldn't be a problem, but that didn't mean I could be careless. I had stopped dripping water now and pulled my rucksack onto my shoulder. Timing my move perfectly with the slight swell of the marina I pulled myself onto the gangplank and in a crouch moved quickly up onto the boat.

  I had the advantage of knowing the layout. I also knew there were few places to move about in there so I decided that Alice would be in the bedroom, probably tied up and Tobler would be fiddling around in the main cabin. Space was at a premium so it would be unlikely there was room for more than three people down there. I guessed Fletcher, Tobler and one other.

  I stood and walked into the main cabin. My gun was silenced and it went in first. I could see three people, two with their backs to me and the one facing me, luckily, was Fletcher. He saw me, but didn't flinch or give any indication I was there. Instead he looked down as if distracted by something giving me time to make my move and still appear surprised. I moved into the cabin until I could see the whole area.

  Tobler was sitting there drinking a whiskey. The other was holding a pistol loosely in his lap, relaxed, but ready. Wrong! I quickly walked the two paces necessary to get behind him and using the gun butt, hit him hard on the back of the head putting him out like a light.

  My gun came up again as Tobler leapt to his feet and it was in his face pointing at his right eye before he could utter a word. The whiskey in his hand had spilt all over his sleeve, the glass now holding only a few dregs.

  “Wasting my good whiskey Tobler?” I pushed forward so the gun was pressed against his cheekbone.

  “Sit Down!” I ordered.

  “Charlie, so good of you to join us,” he said nervously sitting back down and trying to sound affable, his eyes darting a look at Fletcher and his brow questioning his apparent lack of response to my arrival.

  “Where's the girl?” I demanded. Tobler glared at me silently and then looked at Fletcher as he moved.

  Fletcher stood slowly and carefully not giving me any reason to doubt his action. “She's sedated heavily Charlie, in the bedroom. I checked on her when I got here and she seems fine, tied to the bed, but fine.”

  I looked at him, and said “Thanks, I owe you.” I moved towards Tobler and before he could react I chopped him on the neck and he slid down unconscious in his seat. Fletcher caught the whiskey glass as it slipped out of his hand and put it onto the table.

  I pulled out some cable ties from my rucksack and within two minutes he was trussed. I placed a foam gag in his mouth and taped it. I also blindfolded him.

  I walked to the bedroom and could see Alice tied up and sleeping, drugged. I saw the used syringe and wrapper on the side, looked at it, there was still five cc’s of light yellow fluid, so perhaps she had already been given five cc’s.

  There was nothing I could do for her immediately except untie her and make her comfortable. I left the syringe on the side for now. I might need it for Tobler, yet.

  Fletcher was peeping through the blinds towards the warehouse where the men were keeping watch for me. He wasn't concerned about the two above decks they would see or hear nothing until he told them otherwise.

  “We don't have much time and before we do anything I need to tell you something incredibly important.” I said quietly.

  He pulled away from the curtain blind and came back into the seating area. We both sat down.

  CHAPTER 30

  “You need to get your men off the boat as I'm taking Tobler. He's dirty, we think he was the mole.”

  I had decided that it was important not to have the wrath of the British Empire down on me just yet so I needed to give Butler a feeling of security. If he felt personally threatened with being uncovered as a soviet mole, then he would use everything against me and I wouldn't stand a hope in hell of getting this resolved.

  Fletcher sneered, “Tobler hasn’t got the sense to play that game, he must be someone’s patsy.” He was right, but I didn’t let on. If I told Fletcher what I knew, it would affect his behaviour with Butler. I couldn't afford for that to happen, at least not yet. I felt bad about that, but I also felt that Fletcher would be better able to protect himself and his men. I had what I wanted.

  I had Alice back, and more importantly, I had Tobler. If Tobler was part of Dubianko’s network I might be able to use that to get to him. If I neutralised Dubianko the others might back off.

  “Nonetheless, he is a player and may well have compromised my last mission so I have a score to settle. Until I know just what, and who is compromised, he stays with me.”

  Fletcher gave me that same look he had given me in the car. Deciding which way to fall, I think.

  “What are your intentions with Tobler?”

  “He will probably not see the light of day, I haven't decided yet. His boss, Dubianko, is of particular interest to me and I intend to follow through until I can get this vendetta against Alice and her parents lifted. Will you report what you have seen to Butler?”

  “Only if you want me to.” I knew he was appreciative of the fact that I had managed to distance his men from this so would probably go a long way in accommodating any request.

  “Yes, run it as close to the wire in terms of facts that you can. Butler needs to know that Tobler was a double, and that I’m going after Dubianko.”

  Fletcher nodded approvingly, he could see the pressure easing on his team and knew it would probably mean they would be told to back off while the Department and Butler had a chance to absorb the impact of that discovery. It would cause ructions within the Section as the news spread, just enough, I thought, to give me a breather.

  “If you need help, so long as it doesn't put us at odds with the Department...” he began leaving the statement unfinished.

  I nodded. “Thanks!”

  “You know our call frequency. We will monitor it. Otherwise someone can brief me
if it needs greater security.”

  He meant Brett who would right now be backtracking his information and checking out every operation since both Butler and Tobler had joined the Department. He would be busy, but also at high risk if they got a whiff of his investigations. Still, he knew the dangers better than I did and had his own backup plans and security.

  This ‘Tobler affair’ might make Butler wonder how the information came to light. He knew Brett and I went way back, it had always been a thorn in his side. I decided to warn Brett when I spoke to him next.

  “I'm going to leave by sea in about ten minutes, I would appreciate if you can otherwise occupy anyone watching the boat and ensure we get a quiet departure. Take all of your men.” I looked down at the unconscious agent as I said this. He was still out cold, I thought that I really needed to try to use a gentler approach; he wouldn’t be feeling very friendly towards me come the wake-up.

  “Make sure they are all in the picture, I will try to keep you in the loop.” I put my hand on his shoulder and put out my hand.

  He nodded and shook it, stepped back, turned and walked out of the cabin. I heard him call his men who came in for the unconscious agent, looking at me thankfully as they realised it was all over without any serious casualties, then they all moved off down the gangplank and off into darkness.

  I gave them five minutes to clear the area. As the engines started I heard the familiar chuckling noise from the stern as the exhaust bubbled out the vent, then busied myself removing the moorings and the gangplank. A quick look around to check for any potential interceptions and ten minutes later I sailed out of the marina and into open seas.

  As soon as I was clear of the inner buoys and any potential collision I put it onto Automatic Pilot and set the radar proximity alarms. I didn't expect to be intercepted, at least not for a while, and I needed to organise things below.

  I went straight to Alice, she was breathing easily and it seemed a lighter sleep. I was hopeful she would pull out of it shortly. I wished I still had Mercury to watch over her, but he was back at the cottage with Aillie. I left the door to the bedroom open so I would be able to see Alice from the cockpit.

  I went to check on Tobler, he would be conscious soon. I made sure he could breathe, but left him where he was.

  I called Brett. He answered on the first ring his voice sounding as if he was sitting on top of the boat it was so clear. He really had a brilliant system. Its a shame it couldn’t be used on a wider level, but it would become highly discoverable at a certain point and then it would lose its edge, as well as potentially being blocked by the operators.

  “Hello Trouble! I guess from your call that all is okay your end, especially as I intercepted a report that you had not turned up at your cottage, and now news just in is that Tobler and the girl are missing, nothing of course to do with you.” He chuckled.

  “Hi Brett, Yes! we have one Double Agent, and Alice is now free and with me although she is still sedated. Fletcher and his team are running interference for me to keep Butler from wondering what's going on. We are currently heading out to sea on our boat, destination undecided.” I said with more gusto than I actually felt.

  I brought Brett up to date.

  “Fletcher doesn't know about Butler, he thinks Tobler was the only mole and we need to keep it that way or the hand we have will fold. I must admit your revelations do explain a few things, historically speaking. Anyway, do we know yet which of them blew the Mexican op?”

  I gave him a chance to respond while I walked back towards the cabin, I could see Alice beginning to stir and I wanted her to see me first before she panicked. She wasn't quite with it yet so I stayed in sight of her.

  “No, its not what I’m concentrating on at the moment, believe me this is turning into a hornets nest with every buggers department buzzing around. I’m getting some serious questions coming my way and I don’t have answers, yet.”

  He barked down the phone “You need to neutralise Butler. He will sic the whole of M branch on you as well as the Special Forces if he even sniffs that we’re aware of his links with Russia.”

  I knew what he meant and I had an idea, but first I needed to deal with Tobler.

  “I can’t take on Butler right now, I need to deal with Tobler, he is my one and only link to Dubianko. I need you to keep following his henchmen from Frankfurt until you run him to ground, if you can.”

  I was pensive, the very idea of trying to deal with both of the agencies backing Butler and Tobler at the same time was a scary thought. I needed a better plan than I currently had, which was no plan at all, so far.

  It did explain why we were the main targets, both of them knew how good I was and probably thought I was the greater danger. They might not be wrong on that, but I still wanted, no, needed to contact Abbey and John.

  “Brett, I need more background on both him and Butler, can you email it to me securely when you get it?”

  “Yes, can do, Charlie” he sighed, sounding tired. If like me he had been on the go non-stop, then his blood sugar level must be at rock bottom.

  “And get some food inside you before you go hyper...oh! and you had best check the mail, I sent you something...... and keep an eye out for any other drops in the next week, or so.......and Brett, walk backwards on this, okay?”

  I knew he would do everything I told him, we had been through all this kind of shit before. He always listened to me once we went operational. He was my brain, eyes and ears, I was his tactician and defender.

  “Sure Charlie, you too, Buddy.”

  I hung up, walked over to Tobler and kicked him hard enough to jolt him. He responded groggily, and I wondered if he knew about Butler being a Russian spy, probably. I suspected Tobler was more aware than he made out. No matter, he wasn’t going anywhere.

  I thought about Brett. To walk backwards was our trip saying of watch your back because attack never comes from where you expect it. Brett himself would now be in a very precarious position if anyone knew he had access to the information he was getting via the mail. The data he was getting was going to make him a very influential player in the espionage game.

  Not that he needed any help in that quarter. Still, having access to it put him at an advantage, I just hoped he got to use it before they put out the hammer to flatten his operation. I stopped worrying, he had a great backup plan and they would get a pyrrhic victory if they burned his operation.

  In all the years I had known him he had never once failed to extract the necessary information from a computer, or network, once he had been given an objective or target. His obsessive talent came directly from his craving to know stuff. He had more than just a leaning towards Aspergers, he was more obsessive compulsive than anyone I had ever known.

  Once you got his attention it would extend into everything and anything. No stone left unturned; his thoroughness was what made him such an important player in the espionage business.

  The Department didn’t know it, but his skills accounted for much of the intelligence that we had on people and organisations. He hoarded data like people hoarded junk, never knowing when something would prove useful. Brett had an uncanny knack of pinning stuff down and he had a spectacular command of the software code that ran everything. There was nothing he couldn’t achieve.

  He had personal contacts and channels into everything, everywhere; maintaining confidentiality was his stock in trade. If the enemy ever got hold of his mind, they would probably know everything.

  A groan bought me out of my reverie. I looked over at Tobler, he was conscious. I sat him up as his eyes focused, he glared at me; I could see pain reflected in his eyes, I bet his head ached. Good!

  I walked into the bedroom to find Alice sitting up. She was looking decidedly shaky and I knew it would be a while before she came around fully. I took it easy, people coming out of drug induced sleep were often flaky, they might feel they were hallucinating until their grip on reality hardened.

  “Hi.” I sat beside her and took o
ne of her hands. “You're going to be okay, the drugs will wear off completely in another hour, or so. Just take it easy until they flush out of your system.” I reached over and handed her a bottled water from the bedside table.

  She tried to remove the cap, unsuccessfully, so I took it from her again, broke the seal and handed it back. She guzzled greedily then handed it to me, I placed it on the bedside table. Looking up at my face she smiled wanly, she mouthed a thank you, her lips all dry and pupils heavily dilated.

  I could see she was in no shape to talk yet but I couldn't decide whether to get her to sleep it off, or leave her sitting there to come around. I knew from experience there was little point in talking or saying anything at this stage, the brain and body are so disconnected that coherent thought isn't possible until the effect of the drugs wears off.

  I sat and hugged her to me and she responded by pushing her face into my chest and her arms came around me as she groaned, “Oh God! I feel awful!”

  “Try sleeping for a little longer until the effects have worn off a bit more,” I said as I pushed her back down onto the bed. “I will be out in the main cabin, I'm not going anywhere. We are at sea and I need to check the boat's direction.”

  She nodded and her eyes remained closed as her face relaxed. I left her and as I went back into the main room closing the door, I grabbed Tobler and dragged him to the front away from the bedroom so that I didn't disturb Alice resting.

  I squatted down in front of Tobler, pulling off the gag as I did so. I knew he wouldn't talk to me, not yet at least and I didn't have the time to try and make him. I wasn't about to deep six him as he might yet be useful. He didn’t need to know that, though.

  “OK, Tobler, I don't need anything from you. I intend to use you as a bargaining chip either with the Russians or with the British Intelligence, either of whom are going to be very interested in knowing what you can tell them about Dubianko and his operation.” I smiled as malevolently as I could, which considering everything was pretty bad.