'What can I do for you Mr Lockwood?' The Ambassador asked.
'I have a message for your President, from our Prime Minister.'
'I was expecting this; I was advised that dialogue had been opened by our President.'
'Well our PM is closing it, as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has no intention of discussing the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, which are a British overseas territory and will remain so, consider this matter closed' Lockwood said firmly.
'I understand and I will relay your message, thank you for coming to see me' The Ambassador replied standing up to shake Lockwood's hand.
Lockwood left the embassy and got back in to his car to take him back to the Foreign Office. As Foreign Secretary, Barnaby Lockwood had top secret clearance and was privy to all goings on with diplomatic matters, however on this occasion, he was not aware that the Prime Minister had directly contacted the chief of the Air Staff to issue the order for surveillance of the reported oil platforms within the exclusion zone in the South Atlantic. The PM had decided to take action himself, as he knew how cunning the Argentines could be, especially since he had been briefed by Lockwood about Javier Ramos and his dealings with four British men in relation to selling drilling permits in the south Atlantic, he wanted to make sure that the Argentines were not planning to use these platforms for an invasion, he also knew that only British companies could drill within the exclusion zone, but that was another matter for another day. What the PM did not know was that, not only were Lyndon Powell and his associates selling the permits for drilling they were selling the entire company, a British registered company. This would enable Ramos to drill and explore as he pleased in the south Atlantic. The Foreign secretary knew all of this but had not divulged the information to the Prime Minister, he had faith that MI6 would get things done in Spain.
FORTY-TWO
The digital hands on James Shaw’s Apple watch moved to 1200hrs, he was now dressed in the clothes that he had purchased the day before and he stood looking out of Lawrence Sharif's room window, which overlooked the main entrance to the hotel. They figured that Ramos's men would suggest to him that somebody go ahead to check that everything was secure for the meeting. Not to be outdone, James had suggested that John sit at one of the bars opposite the tram stop, as the view from the window was partially blocked by the palm trees that lined the perimeter of the hotel.
Two minutes later James spotted a tram approaching from the direction of Prado de San Sebastian, he tracked it until it stopped at the station but his view was obscured of who was getting on or off. His watch buzzed and it showed a message from John.
Two of them.
James spotted them with his own eyes about ten seconds later as they walked through the gate to the hotel.
'We got two goons coming in' James said to Lawrence who was sitting in a chair doing something on his iPad.
'Right on time, we will stay up here, there is no point in us getting involved now, let them check the place over, they will walk back out in around twenty minutes and will return about half an hour before the meeting is scheduled to start.'
'Shall I call John back?' Shaw asked.
'No leave him there for now, call him back around 1345 so he can be in the lobby when the goons reappear' Sharif replied.
'No problem, what are you doing anyway?'
'Typing up a report.'
'For what, I thought this was all hush hush, a black bag job' James said.
'It is, but it never stays that way for long, this is to cover our arses in case things don't go our way or worse the government find out and launch an inquiry, we know how they love an enquiry at the minute.’
'That could well be the last time you write a first-person report for field work.'
'I would rather do this than be the one reading and signing off on them and then hiding them away forever, or at least until some new government starts wanting to know what we have been getting up to over the years, they are always suspicious of the intelligence agencies.'
'You can't really blame them, why are you taking the job if you are going to miss doing this type of stuff?' Shaw asked.
'It is a young man's game now, and the same reason you are a Wing Commander soon to be Group Captain and not a Flight Lieutenant, time moves on and you have to move with it, and our time has come to sit behind desks shuffling paper, reading reports and offering words of wisdom to younger men and women' Sharif answered.
'I guess you're right, drink? James asked pulling two cans of Fanta from the minibar.
'You know I am right. Thanks, you can pay for those, I can't believe people actually still use those things, I have paid less for a bottle of wine.'
'That isn't that hard out here is it, I have seen bottles for one euro' James said taking a seat next to Lawrence drinking his Fanta, awaiting the text from John saying that the Argentines had left the hotel.
James and Lawrence said nothing to each other for the next half an hour, they were used to waiting around so they both just relaxed, no point using up energy when there is no need to.
Lyndon Powell, Mike Williams, Chris Hampshire and Jack Reuben left their hotel in a taxi with a nervous excitement about them. Ten minutes after leaving the taxi dropped them off at the rear of the hotel Alfonso Xiii, they decided to walk around to the main entrance.
'We need to make an entrance, show that we are ready' Lyndon said.
'Let's do this' Chris said.
'We still have half an hour' Mike interjected.
'Well, we will check in and see if the room is available, we can then get everything set up before Ramos gets here' Powell said to the other three.
Chris spoke to the man at the reception desk, who said that the room was available and he asked concierge to show them to the conference room, as they walked through the lobby area they were taken through the courtyard and past the fountain that was in the centre, in the corner to their left, James Shaw and Lawrence Sharif sat at a table drinking what looked like water, the six men nodded at each other. As Powell and his associates were shown in to the conference room, James Shaw left Lawrence to use the toilet which conveniently was past the conference room, he walked past and glanced in to the room but did not go inside, he carried on towards the toilets and past display cases of various artefacts from the old Spanish Empire.
Stuck in traffic on Paseo de las Delicias which ran alongside the Guadalquivir river was the Ferrari California which belonged to Javier Ramos, he sat in the driving seat and alongside him was his head of security. Ramos was growing inpatient sounding his horn in annoyance and edging his car in to the oncoming lanes to try and get around the cars in front, but to no avail. Eventually the traffic eased off and Ramos managed to arrive at the Hotel Alfonso Xiii with ten minutes to spare before the scheduled start of the meeting with Lyndon Powell and his associates.
Ramos's men who were on point at the hotel had failed to spot John Shaw sitting in the lobby, he had however spotted them and alerted his brother and Lawrence. As the Argentine special force's soldiers walked around the courtyard and not through it, they failed to notice James Shaw and Lawrence Sharif sat in the corner as their view was blocked by a corner post for the support of the glass sliding windows which surrounded the courtyard. The two soldiers stood guard outside of the door to the conference room as Javier Ramos approached with his head of security.
James and Lawrence sat looking at each other bewildered that the Argentines had walked right past them.
'How did they not see us, the fools!’ James said.
'As you well know, the best place to hide is in plain sight, either they have gotten complacent and do not think we are here or they have decided to deal with us after the meeting so as not to upset their paymaster.'
'I wouldn't upset him either, he sounds like a piece of work.'
'Right, twenty minutes starts now, as of my watch.'
'Roger' James said checking his own watch.
Both men were dressed in the
new stone coloured linen suits that they had bought the day before, inside their jackets they had their silenced Beretta M9's, hoping that they wouldn’t have to use them. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Three thousand one hundred miles away on Ascension Island the E-3D sentry that had left RAF Waddington at dawn that morning was preparing for the second leg of its journey, the flight crew swapped over and the new captain opened his orders on the flight deck. Squadron Leader Kent showed the orders to the other crew members in the main compartment of the aircraft, their role was to monitor the images and footage from the onboard cameras. They had been instructed to survey and monitor a series of oil platforms that were under construction, one hundred miles to the North of the Falkland Islands. After completion they were to land at Mount Pleasant Airfield and await further orders. The E-3D was scheduled to arrive on target at 2100hrs Zulu which was 1800hrs local.
Javier Ramos extended his hand to Lyndon Powell and said 'Pleased to meet you at last Mr Powell, how are you enjoying your stay in Sevilla?'
'Pleased to meet you too, very much it is a wonderful place' Powell replied shaking Ramos's hand.
'Excellent, shall we get down to business' Ramos said.
'Indeed, if you don't mind, I would like to introduce Jack Reuben our head of research and technology, who will go over in detail what the company consists off assets wise and what we have found so far in the south Atlantic.’
'Thank you, Mr Reuben, I am sure you have prepared a well detailed presentation designed to wow me and convince me to hand over fifty-six million euros, but I have a better idea.'
'What is that?' Powell asked.
Ramos motioned for his head of security to bring the bag over that he had brought with him. Lyndon Powell motioned for the others to stay calm. Javier Ramos pulled an iPad from the bag and began touching the screen, he handed the iPad over to Lyndon and said to him.
'Please enter your account details here then hand the iPad back to me.'
Lyndon typed the details in and he handed the iPad back to Javier Ramos, he motioned to Chris to pass him the briefcase, which he did. Lyndon opened the briefcase and took out a stack of papers, he separated them in to two piles.
'Transfer complete' Ramos said as he looked up from his iPad.
'Excellent, now if you could just sign here and here' Lyndon said pointing to two separate boxes on the pile of paper closest to him. Ramos signed and then asked if he needed to sign anywhere else, Lyndon said that he did not.
'These belong to you now, these are the drilling permits, in the document is all the access codes to the company systems, accounts and files. Congratulations you are now the proud owner of South Atlantic Oil and Gas, these guys said you were the right man for this and I have to agree.'
'A pleasure doing business Mr Powell, Mr Williams, Mr Hampshire and Mr Reuben' Ramos said as he passed the paperwork to his head of security, who put it into the bag with the iPad. As the men were shaking hands and congratulating each other, the door to the conference room swung open.
The Foreign Secretary Barnaby Lockwood was sat in his office, in the Foreign Office on Whitehall awaiting a phone call on his pay as you go mobile, that had been given to him by the head of MI6 for the sole purpose of being able to contact him without anybody listening in to their conversations down at GCHQ, as they both knew their personal mobiles and office phones were more than likely being monitored, they knew this as they both had been strong voices in favour of all government departments being monitored. Lockwood kept looking at the phone, urging it to ring but for some reason it did not.
Have they been delayed, what is happening he said to himself, he stood up and walked over to his coffee machine to pour himself a fresh cup, telling himself to stay calm.
'They are professionals, doing things properly. I will call him if I don’t hear anything in an hour' he said aloud.
Four Spanish police officers filed in to the conference room with their pistols drawn. Lyndon, Mike, Chris and Jack stood frozen to the spot, unsure of what was happening. Ramos's head of security stepped forward towards the lead officer to ask what the problem was, he was told not to speak by the officer. The lead officer signalled with his free hand to one of his colleagues, who stepped over to Ramos handcuffed him.
The lead officer said 'Javier Ramos, estas bajo arresto por el asesinato de Vicente Garcia. Usted tiene dercho a permanecer en silencio.' (Javier Ramos, you are under arrest for the murder of Vicente Garcia. You have the right to remain silent).
'No puedes hacer esto.' (You cannot do this) Ramos's head of security said to the police officers.
The officers said nothing in return and dragged Javier Ramos out of the conference room to the van waiting outside the hotel entrance, Ramos’s head of security followed.
'The bag?' Chris said to nobody in particular.
Lyndon reached in to the bag that Ramos had put back on the floor and relieved the paperwork from it before handing it over to Jack. One of the officers returned for the bag and asked Lyndon if anything else belonged to Mr Ramos.
'No, that is everything, what is going on? Lyndon replied.
'Mr Ramos has been arrested for murder, please leave the hotel as Mr Ramos will be detained for some time.’
They did not need telling twice and they headed for the door.
'Gracias' Lyndon said as he walked past the officer.
The policeman closed the door and squeezed past the four men in the corridor to re-join his colleagues. Javier Ramos was thrown in to the back of the van and onto the floor, he shuffled himself to sit upright which was no easy task with his hands cuffed behind his back. The officer with the bag climbed in behind him and closed the doors. Ramos smiled to himself when he seen the bag.
This will all be over in a few hours once my lawyer explains everything and I will be on my way to Buenos Aires he thought to himself.
He did not say anything to the officers, as the police had a way of hearing things that were never said and twisting things that were.
That bitch did this to me he said about his wife to himself.
Ramo’s head of security ran out of the hotel to the Ferrari so that he could follow the police van to the station.
In the courtyard as the twenty minutes were up Lawrence Sharif said to James Shaw.
'This is us, let's go.’
As he finished that sentence, four police officers ran through the courtyard in the direction of the conference room where Powell was meeting with Ramos. Sharif decided not to follow so as not to get himself arrested for possession of a firearm, which would lead to questions that they could not answer. Around four minutes later they watched Javier Ramos being led through the courtyard in handcuffs, everybody who was sat in the courtyard turned their heads to see what was going on. The fourth officer followed with a bag a few minutes later, who in turn was followed by Lyndon, Chris, Mike and Jack who joined James and Lawrence at their table.
'Well gentlemen, did you get your money?' Lawrence asked.
'We did indeed, he was very happy to pay us, then his face changed when those police officers stormed in, murder he has been arrested for' Lyndon replied.
'Really' Lawrence said surprised.
'Have you got the permits?' James asked.
'Yes, here you are' Lyndon said as he pulled them from his own bag and handed them over to James Shaw.
'Thank you, now get out of here, go home and don't let me see you again.'
'Yes Sir, and thank you' Lyndon said as he shook James’s hand and then Lawrence's, as did the other three, they hustled out of the courtyard and the hotel to look for a taxi to take them back to hotel Ayre to collect their luggage. They were going to board a train to Madrid from where they would stay overnight and fly back to Liverpool the next day.
Lawrence caught a waiter's attention and ordered three beers as John Shaw had just joined them from the lobby.
'What was all that about then?' John said.
'He was arrested for murder apparently' S
harif answered.
'Murdering who?' John asked.
'Vicente Garcia, the man who was in the position Javier Ramos is in now, it would appear he removed him so he could take his place' James answered.
Lawrence looked at him with a half concerned half smiling expression and asked James Shaw.
'How do you know this?'
'Lyndon Powell told me the other day.'
'How, we met them together.'
'I met them on the train on Sunday, I said to them to act as if they had not met me before when we met again, they did very well actually.'
'So, they called the police? Did they have any proof?' Sharif asked.
'No, it was me that called them, I thought let's make this easy for ourselves. Yes, they had a mobile phone trace that puts Ramos in the same place at the same time of Vicente Garcia’s death, it is only circumstantial but it will be enough for the police to ask some questions and make him confess hopefully. Well that is not our problem now is it.'
Lawrence sent a text to a number from memory saying Done.
Barnaby Lockwood received a text from the director of MI6 on his pay as you go mobile saying All clear, I told you they would get it done.
He smiled and replied Good.
He took the back off the phone and took the sim card out of its holder before snapping it in two and putting it in the confidential waste bin at the side of his desk, he put the phone in his top left desk drawer and locked the drawer. Lockwood was relieved that this secret mission had succeeded, he would inform the PM in the morning.
No need to bother him now he said to himself.
Putting their empty beer glasses on the table, James and Lawrence lit a cigarette each, they exhaled and tilted their heads back.
'What now then?' John asked.
'I say we get out of here, no point in hanging around' James answered.
'Same here' Lawrence said in agreement with James.
Cigarettes were extinguished in the ashtray, then the three of them stood up and James picked the papers up off the table, he reached into his jacket pocket with his free hand and pulled out the car keys and said to John.
One Last Time Page 19