by Brian Cain
CHAPTER FIVE
A helicopter touched down at Foulness Island in the breaking light of dawn, a concrete apron complex at the eastern most tip, before the chopper lifted off after only seconds on the ground the two alighting passengers had vanished beneath the ground. The chopper trekked west but suddenly turned and landed exactly where it had previously touched down on the island, again the chopper was on the ground for only a few seconds then lifted off with John Stanton bound for London leaving Bella Fonteyn below ground with Bruce Hurst. The three elite operatives were the only ones that knew of the debrief on a South African incident.
The BBC news covered a road accident in Johannesburg that had killed three members of the apartheid movement linked to the Afrikaner party believed to be lobbying the British government for support, incinerated beyond recognition. The news report added substantial evidence had been unearthed linking the three with a planned attack on the British embassy; the Afrikaner movement rejected the claims. Whilst Afrikaner members attended the accident a mile from their party complex to assist, two heavily armed masked gunmen suspected to be radical militia conducted a raid on their stronghold killing all security staff and leaving the building in flames. The next news report stated a British member of state missing for months presumed dead had turned up at the home office this morning, the thin bearded man said nothing and is currently receiving medical treatment for malnutrition and severe depression, a full report was expected in coming days when the man was well enough to be interviewed by authorities.
John Stanton listened with interest to the news report as he flew towards London tuning his headphones to the BBC news channel undetected; the first attempt to influence media from a new satellite system had been reasonably successful. He also discovered someone down at the BBC needed sorting out; the report in comparison to the leaked information had been edited to avoid suspicion in an obvious area, the cherries began to line up, one more for the jackpot.
In complete stealth below ground at Foulness, Hurst presented Bella Fonteyn with a burning problem. He offered her documentation falsifying her identity with plane tickets to Helsinki. The plan was not exactly as Hollis had requested, Bella would not have to enter Russia, Hurst had sent a coded message to the target whom when receiving the message in Moscow fled to Finland with his booty of plans and microfilm. The chances of success in Moscow were slim but in Finland Bella stood a chance, the KGB lost contact with the target as he unexpectedly made a move and Bella stood an even winner should she leave immediately. Hurst had the location of the target in Helsinki via MI6 operatives in Helsinki Vantaa airport; the target had booked a room in the Hilton Vantaa on Lentajankuja road in the airport complex. The existing MI6 operatives could not be used as transfer of critical information was to higher risk, walls across the globe continued to grow ears, only Hurst and Bella held the secret of why the target should be hit and what must be recovered. The target had also booked a flight to Stockholm the following morning, Hurst made a calculated risk the target had done these things as there was little else he could do.
He was a near bankrupt government minister unwise in the ways of crooked deals or espionage looking for a way out of financial difficulty. His bungling ways had brought his campaign to the attention of not only the British authorities but other countries of power interested in Polaris; this was the negative part of Hurst's preparation.
It was easier for anyone interested to get into Helsinki than Moscow so Bella could be facing several adversaries rather than just the KGB. The KGB believed the target had chosen Helsinki to finalize the deal more in his favour of a clean getaway once the money had changed hands, and Swedish banks were a stones throw away, he also risked her stealth to lever this information from Moscow. Hurst assumed the trick had worked but estimated Bella had only two hours on the KGB, the time KGB operatives had taken to discover the targets change of plan via phone negotiations on his arrival in Helsinki. Hurst also premeditated it would be far more difficult for KGB to assassinate the target once they had located him and cut the deal as common place should the Russian operatives get a chance, they would then pocket the money themselves returning to Russia rich men to which the Kremlin turned a blind eye, this further encouraged success. Considering all these things Hurst very nearly called Stanton, but he bid Bella goodbye on a waiting chopper and returned underground. Hurst just couldn't do it, upon boarding her flight at Heathrow Bella was tailed by two members of the elite