by PETE DAVIES
“Go and pay his mother a visit. Leave a calling card to let this Bookseller know that we know where he lives and I think we need a distraction for the cops too. Who was the last one on the list from the scammers?”
Alex checked his phone. “Patterson, Boss. A Bill Patterson, lives alone. Villa is also south of the city, not far actually from the Martínez place. Estimated value €2-3million.”
“Okay, get a team around to Patterson’s place. I don’t care if he’s there or not, do the usual and take what’s of value, but trash the place as well,” said Sonny.
“Will you be coming to the Patterson place Boss?” said Alex.
“No, I have plans for dinner tonight,” said Sonny.
*****
Anna suggested they try to get a table at the Marc Fosh restaurant for lunch. It was one of her favourites. Luis used to take her there for dinner for special occasions, but they would sometimes lunch there too. Even with a Michelin star rating, they had a three course lunch menu for less than thirty euros.
They had walked from the Bookshop to the restaurant, which was only a few minutes’ walk away in Carrer de la Missió, just exchanging small talk about Sir John Woodward.
They sat down and ordered the sea bream with the recommended bottle of Albariño.
“Anna, how old is Sam?” said Greg.
“Why do you want to know?” said Anna.
“Why the hell do you think?”
Anna went quiet. “Look, I told you ‘no strings, no ties, no commitments’.”
As soon as he had stepped through the door to the Bookshop, she had known the time would come when Greg would start asking questions about Sam. It was funny, but she had been dreading it, but since spending time with him this morning she had remembered the feeling she had when she was with him when they first met. For the first time since Luis had died, she felt alive. It wasn’t Greg, in as much as she knew she didn’t have the same feelings for him as she had all those years ago, but it was him who had reawakened her and she felt good and so it was right to tell him about Sam.
Greg continued.
“If the answer is what I think it might be, then I understand why you didn’t tell me. Or at least, I’m trying to understand. So let me just ask this straight. Am I Sam’s biological father?”
He was careful in phrasing his question, as he knew he had no right to suggest he was Sam’s father.
“Yes, you are,” said Anna.
She came out with it so quickly, without hesitation and that took him a bit by surprise.
“Bloody hell, I mean, does he know? I guess not,” he answered himself before she did. “Do we tell him? Do you tell him? God, I’ve sent him out with his half-sister for dinner! We’ll have to tell them,” he was gabbling.
Anna took his hands.
“Greg, calm. I know you have Terri, but you haven’t actually ever been an everyday parent have you my love?”
He stopped and smiled.
“You just called me ‘love’.”
“You will always be my love you idiot. I loved you so much during that week together, so you will never lose that place in my heart,” said Anna. “Both of our children are grown adults you know, so they will cope with what we have to tell them.”
“You’re right, of course,” he paused, “so this is probably a daft question, but why didn’t you tell me?”
“Yes, it’s a daft question, because you know the bloody answer is the Final Lesson I gave you. ‘No strings, no ties, no commitments.’ You were just being deployed on a really tough assignment and it would have messed with your head too much and you must know what happened when you found out about Terri. How long was it before you retired out of the field?”
She was right of course.
“I managed five years, but I probably only lasted that long because she was in Australia with her mother,” said Greg. “You’ve done a fine job bringing him up Anna. He seems like a great guy and does you and your husband proud.”
“Thank you and yes he does. Now that was much easier telling you than I thought it might be, but telling Sam?” she paused, “I just need to do it don’t I? He’s just found out I’m an ex-spy, so I might as well throw this at him as well,” said Anna. “And you’ll tell Terri?”
“Yes, just so we don’t have any mishaps, as they seem to like each other.”
“Maybe they sense a connection?” said Anna.
They spent the rest of lunch talking about old times, enjoying the time together. Greg was relieved that she felt like an old friend and that nothing was being compromised by any suggestion of there being anything else between them. Just as they were finishing their meal, Anna’s phone buzzed. ‘Expect a call in 30 minutes.’
THIRTEEN
“What have you guys been up to,” said Greg.
“We grabbed a bite to eat and then Sam has been showing me around,” said Terri.
“We also took a look at the club where Lori and I met up with Sonny. I was hoping we might be able to ID his Porsche, as it would be handy if we could find out where he goes,” said Sam, “but there was no sign of it, or anything that looked like one of theirs either.”
“Trackers. Good thinking. But have we got any? Should’ve thought of that before. Terri, has Tommy left yet?”
“Chill Dad, it’s already in hand.”
“What would I do without you?” said Greg.
“Not just a pretty face then?” she smiled.
“We got the text, so we should be getting a call shortly,” said Anna.
“What do we hope to get from this?” said Greg.
“Let’s start with the basics. If we can get a location on Intertech beyond just India, I’ll feel we’re getting somewhere. After that I want to narrow this down to city, area, street plus the people side of things, who is running it, where the money is going and so on,” said Sam.
“Not much then mate,” said Terri.
“Don’t ask, don’t get.”
“Fair enough,” said Terri.
*****
It was a blocked call. A soft Scottish accent, male. He called himself Rob.
“Okay Anna, what do you need help with?”
No pleasantries, no engagement. She briefly told him about the scam.
He listened, no interruptions and then said, “I’ll need what you have so far on Intertech. That will give me a good start.”
“Great, can I pass you to Terri and she can tell you all about it.”
There was a pause and then Rob spoke.
“Anna, it needs to be just you okay? I’ll only speak to you. That was my agreement with Carruthers. It’s not that I don’t trust Terri, whoever he or she is, but I do trust you based on what he’s told me. Just give me the basics of what Bill told you, okay?”
Anna knew better than to argue the point. He was clearly very protective of himself and she understood why. She wasn’t all that au fait with the internet, but it was pretty clear that people like Rob could do as much damage, if not a lot more, than any highly skilled field agent. Therefore, it stood to reason that the people they were after would be very keen to identify the likes of Rob and any subsequent interaction would not be a gentle affair.
He took some brief notes as she told him about Bill’s credit card payment to Intertech, including the payee details, Bill’s personal details and his address. Then, as she finished he seemed to lighten up.
“Well, this should be fun then. I’ll call you in an hour.”
There was no reason to ask for his number. As well as zealously guarding his own personal security, he would be masking his digital presence with multiple phones and sim cards constantly being changed.
Anna briefed them on the call.
“He said he’d call back in an hour.”
“Okay great. I’m going to go and see the MacDonalds and bring them up to speed,” said Greg. “Terri, can you drop me off at your place and I can pick up the van?”
“Sure, I’ve got the guys coming in from London, so I need to ge
t them sorted with a vehicle and settled in at the finca. I’ll get them looking around the clubs tonight, to see what they can spot,” said Terri, “and don’t forget, you’re taking me out for dinner tonight Sam.”
“Yes, looking forward to it. Tapas at one of my favourite places. Pick you up at around eight?”
“Good for me,” said Terri.
Greg and Terri left leaving Anna thinking of the best way to tell Sam about Greg.
“Mum, what’s up? Look, I’m not angry or anything about you not telling me you were in MI6, honestly. I’m in awe actually, so proud of you.”
“Thank you my darling son. But there’s something else, something I’m not sure will make you so proud,” said Anna.
“What do you mean Mum? I’m sure you may have had to do things whilst undercover that you might not be proud about, but it was a long time ago and things were different. I get it Mum, I’ve run U/C jobs and I know the lines can get crossed and blurred sometimes. Look, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”
“It’s not what I did in the Service Sam,” she said quietly. “It’s about your father. I mean your biological father.”
“What’s that got to do with this, with you being in the Service? You told me my father, rather my biological father, was someone you cared for, but who was a short lived fling.”
Sam tailed off and looked at his mother, who looked back at him, she had tears in her eyes.
“I wish now I had told you, but I never thought I would see him again.”
“It’s Greg isn’t it?” said Sam.
“Yes. We had a very special time together and I loved him very dearly, but it couldn’t last, I couldn’t let it because he was being deployed.”
“Did he know?”
“No, he had no idea. It was just too dangerous to tell him something that could potentially put his life in danger.”
“I don’t understand. How could knowing about me put his life in any sort of danger?” said Sam.
“I know you’ve managed U/C officers Sam, but being one, especially those officers we put deep under cover with no support or back up, was so high risk that I couldn’t afford for him to have any distractions of any sort.”
“How long were you together?” said Sam.
“Just a week, straight after his training. After that I never contacted or saw him again until he walked through the door of Sa Petita Llibreria.”
“Wow! What a story. I don’t know what to think at the moment Mum. I mean Dad adopted me, so I suppose it doesn’t alter anything, but even so, it’s been quite a day and tonight I’m going out with my half-sister.”
“I’m sorry Sam. Maybe I should have told you all of this before, I honestly don’t know, but as long as you know that your father brought you up as his own. He didn’t know about Greg and he never asked. He was so kind to me and taking you on as his son was just like him, so caring and so loving.” The tears in her eyes returned.
“I miss him too Mum. I wish I’d been here more in recent years, but work seemed to take over.”
“Oh Sam, he absolutely understood, never think other than that. We both did. His parents had let him go and find a life in Madrid and he was so proud you did the same, going to London and doing so well in the police,” said Anna.
It had thrown him. That was for sure. But he couldn’t and didn’t want to judge his mother on decisions made over thirty years ago. He smiled. Good job he found out Terri was his half-sister though, as he had been going to text Jimmy that he’d found a tall blonde Aussie bombshell to go out with. Actually he thought, still smiling, ‘I’ll still text him and then tell him later.’ Then he looked at his mum and gave her a hug.
“Love you Mum.”
“Love you too Sam.”
*****
Rob flexed his fingers and set to work. An on-line scam vigilante, Rob had set up Digital Counter Action three years ago. A team of highly skilled scammer jammers, who work in isolation across the globe, with the purpose of identifying scam websites with a view to seriously disrupt the activities of those involved.
Some worked because of a deep sense of righting the wrongs of the scammers, whilst the others just took obscure pleasure from seeing the scammers squirm and run into chaos.
Rob fell on the side of those who really didn’t like anybody being taken advantage of. He was happy to pass on his intel to law enforcement agencies and this had led to him connecting with Martin Carruthers. He had never met Carruthers because he retained a deep distrust of all things linked to authority, but he also knew where his influence ended and where people like the intelligence services and the police could take things further with the low lifes he was trying to take down.
Many of the scammers were clever, but they often employed people who were careless and who unwittingly left virtual doors open to those who, like Rob, knew what they were doing. Anna had given Rob the phone number Bill Patterson had dialled. It was a simple task to then phone the number and start the process of pretending to be someone who had just seen a pop-up appear on their computer screen.
“Hello, this is Raj at Intertech Support, how can I help you today?”
The call taker sounded genuine and Rob both smiled at the simplicity of the scam and then inwardly winced that people like Bill, who was the same age as his grandad, could be taken in by the concerned voice at the end of the line.
He allowed Raj to gain remote access to his dummy computer by typing in the URL, the unique reference link, into the address box. Rob played along, half listening to Raj with his calm and helpful comments, although it was something he had heard hundreds of times before, whilst at the same time putting his technology into action and reverse accessing Raj’s computer.
‘Okay,’ he said to himself, ‘Let’s see what we can find out about you and your scamming friends.’
“Hello Sir, are you still there?” said Raj.
“Yes, still here.”
Rob had missed the last thing Raj had said, but he wasn’t worried as that was often what had happened to real victims as they were usually so disorientated with what was going on.
“Sorry Raj, I’m in such a state about this. I think I’ve lost some really important files and so I’m not really functioning.”
“Don’t worry Sir, or may I call you Steve?”
“Yes, Steve is fine,” said Rob.
He had set up the dummy account in the name of Steve Hobs of 15 Apple Tree Close. It never failed to amuse him how often the scammers missed the irony of the names he chose. Raj took him through what was often the usual precursor check of the Windows Event box. This was designed to show him, Steve the victim, a list of faults and errors on his computer. Rob had made sure he had showed his parents how the Windows Event checkbox worked and that they knew all computers will show faults and errors and bugs, even when working perfectly. He let Raj go through his explanation about what the faults meant and how he would need to put a fix into his computer.
“Okay, so how do we fix this and how much will it cost?”
“We have a special offer on at the moment Steve and I can offer you the fix and a twelve month support package for a one-off payment of £899.”
Rob waited. Mostly for effect to make Raj think he was taking all of this in, but also because his software had gained reverse access and he had just managed to open up the CCTV cameras the scammers had in their building. So he wasn’t now just listening to Raj. He could see there were about twenty call takers in the room and by restarting the conversation he was able to identify which one was Raj, whilst all the time Raj was completely unaware of what was happening. Raj was a young guy, maybe about twenty five thought Rob. He was sitting with one of his legs hooked up over the side of his chair. Every now and then Rob could see him making signs to the guy sitting next to him. He seemed to be telling his neighbour that he had hooked a good one. Rob smiled.
“Oh my god Raj, I don’t have that sort of money to hand, but I need my computer back up working quickly. I’m
self-employed and can’t do without it.”
Rob waited for the next line in Raj’s script and he wasn’t disappointed.
“Listen Steve, I shouldn’t do this, but,” and Raj paused for effect.
‘Good touch,’ thought Rob.
“Let me give you an additional ten percent introductory offer and you can do it on your credit card for no additional charge. Will that help?”
Rob had to hand it to Raj. Even though he could see him laughing with his neighbour, presumably at the soft touch he thought he had on his phone, Raj was managing to sound very sincere as he tried to scam him for nine hundred quid. Rob then kept Raj talking as he downloaded a section of files he had found on Raj’s computer. He had found them quite easily. No password or any sort of protection. ‘They are so bloody confident that nobody can touch them,’ he thought. He had been looking for anything with a Mallorca address and these looked like they had the details of the people they had scammed, together with the payment details.