ANTARCTIC FIRE: A Harry Crook Thriller - Conspiracy in the Antarctic

by Chris Geater

  I'm usually indifferent to local shenanigans, they can distract you from your objective but the young mans cries of desperation drew me into the drama. A rusty short length of pipe took care of the one who was first in line but fell apart from the impact with his neck. I resorted to hand-to-throat-and-groin for the second and then crashed my foot hard against the thirds knee bringing his face into contact with my hard up-knee. One of them stumbled to his feet and to his credit had a go, I slid a sharp side kick to his ankle and another to his temple. Silence returned other than the groaning of the young victim. He was unharmed and to his immense relief still a virgin. Introduced as Musalah his gratitude knew no bounds, he swore an oath to repay the debt by faithfully staying by my side no matter what. As embarrassed as I felt, there was no doubting the genuine offer. Sure enough we returned to the High Commission where he gave me his number insisting I call should he not be at the gates waiting each morning.

  This particular day an arrangement led to a meeting with not only a senior minister of industry but also attending was a senior manager who controlled a Kenyan-Chinese mining joint venture. Bert didn't think they would agree and it wouldn’t go ahead which caused me to push for it all the more and in the end he relented and the meeting arranged. The ace up my sleeve of which Bert wasn't aware, as far as I knew, consisted of information regarding the personal debt both men owed to a Chinese owned casino. It was illegal in Kenya for government ministers to gamble in casinos or any public venue for this very reason. Trusty Musalah and I drove to the old Nairobi Serena Hotel where the meeting was to take place. I parked a block away and leaving Musalah near the car walked to my destination. The young man at reception took me to a large ground floor room, grand and fitting for the VIPs present. Old decor, towering high ceilings, tall bright windows, comfortable plush lounge chairs and a table filled with refreshments.

  The two men with whom I was to meet stood by a large bay window drinks in hand looking out over a well kept courtyard filled with tropical greenery and a small water fountain.

  “My Crook from the Australian High Commission,” the young man announced.

  They both turned and greeted me.

  “Ahh Mr Crook, always a pleasure to meet with our Australian friends,” the tall one stepped forward hand extended with a bright smile of wall to wall teeth, his English impeccable.

  “My name is Jasper Iweala, local Minister for Mining and Industry and my colleague is Okeyo Solarin, CEO of Chantec, the largest mineral mining company in the region.”

  We shook hands and they waved me toward some of the comfortable lounges.

  “A drink perhaps, gin and tonic?” Jasper asked.

  “A gin and tonic would be perfect,” I replied, always a good ice breaker the old G&T.

  He mixed a drink for me and we sat, I faced the two from one side of a drinks table.

  “To what do we owe the pleasure Mr Crook, your colleague Jeffery didn't really elaborate?”

  Straight down to business, unusual for the culture of Kenya. Normal protocol in African countries always consisted of a few minutes chatting about the weather, business in our respective countries, some recent current affairs. This was a no nonsense meeting and I wasn't sure just how it would turn out.

  “Gentlemen, thank you for seeing me, I know you are busy men so I won't take up much of your time.”

  They sat back in their chairs, relaxed and in control.

  I continued, “As you know our two countries are fortunate to possess many rich resources of which other less fortunate countries are keen to purchase.” They nodded and smiled.

  “It is in both our interests to ensure that in the selling of these finite resources our countries benefit financially, not just in the current economic climate but also an investment for our future and our children’s future.” They nodded and smiled only with less enthusiasm, I think I was boring them.

  “I understand that The Republic of Kenya’s relationship with The Republic of China is very important and their investment in your country has produced many benefits including improvements in infrastructure and quality of life. However their access to your resources at the current price not only reduces Kenya’s opportunity to accumulate revenue but undercuts Australian competitiveness. At your current prices we cannot compete. For example our cost per tonne just to extract open cut coal is greater than the price you are selling your coal delivered to Chinese ships at your ports. We at the Australian High Commission would request that you consider increasing the prices to your honourable Chinese friends as a favour to Australian industry and to cement our countries friendship.”

  Okeyo sat forward, his face serious. “Mr Crook, our friends from the Republic of China have spent years investing in our country, many such investments were carried out even prior to the development of our rich mineral heritage. Australia has carried out little investment and shown little interest in Kenya. Why would we risk our future in order to benefit Australian industry which as you pointed out is our competitor?”

  “Kenya stands to benefit from increased prices as well as Australia. In fact China’s consumption of your resources would not decrease. Both Australia and Kenya are hard pressed keeping up with China’s demand so really you are in a good position to negotiate better prices and assist us at the same time.”

  “China is our long term friend, they have proven themselves to be of benefit to our nation,” Jasper said. “We see our competitive prices as a trade off for other benefits.”

  Time to wake them up. “Interesting choice of word, benefits. It is not currently common knowledge that both you gentlemen enjoy certain benefits at the Shoylahn Casino here in Nairobi.” The threat didn't go unnoticed. Their faces darkened, They turned to each other and nodded, some sort of agreement passed between them, looked way too confident.

  I continued. “Your influence over the pricing of both coal and iron ore in the region is significant. You could if you chose, increase the prices so that Kenya still remains competitive and simultaneously help Australia remain competitive. My instructions were to encourage you to do just that, rather than allowing some minor indiscretions on your part to damage promising careers.”

  Okeyo leant forward and rang a small bell on the table in between us. Immediately a small group of uniformed and well armed Asian men came in through a door and stood behind and each side of my chair. I recognised the symbol on their black uniforms, a crest of blue, red and black with a sword and lightening. I did not expect these guys.

  Chinese Special Forces or the PLA are Navy special operations. The unit attending Mr Harry Crook were called the ‘Siberian Tigers’. Highly skilled, elite light infantry known for completing difficult missions in hostile environments. The negotiation just changed tack, the question on my mind was, what are they doing here?

  “Mr Crook, we enjoy many benefits due to our relationship with China. As you can see providing us with security contractors is just one.” Jasper looked smug and well he might but Siberian Tigers were not security contractors, they were well trained special operatives. China must take their investment here in Kenya very seriously to send this quality of troops, just a few local police well trained and armed is all you really need to make an annoying Australian cultural attaché disappear, not a bunch of navy seals.

  “I hope you thought this through,” I said. “I’m a member of the Australian High Commission and as such have diplomatic immunity. Assault by foreign security contractors would be considered an international incident. Our High Commissioner is a well respected man by your government.”

  “I think perhaps you should think this through Mr Crook,” Okeyo replied. “Nairobi is a dangerous place, many crimes against foreign workers some of which disappear. This malicious attempt at blackmail to benefit your country is something we will not tolerate. And as for your Ambassador, we know him well. He would not condone your action and we happen to know that he is unaware of our meeting or for that matter where you are at all.”

  How would they kno
w that? It’s standard form to make the Ambassador aware of this type of meeting, not necessarily the full details of the intel we possess or how we plan to use it but certainly the basics. My controller, Bert always reports on our planned operations well before we carry them out, unless of course he didn't. That would explain why they knew about Colin Lea, the Head of Mission or Ambassador depending on who you talked to, and presumably Bert hasn’t briefed him about this meeting which would mean I was in a pickle.

  “Over the top reaction wouldn’t you say, murder a foreign diplomat just over some coal,” I hoped to remind him.

  “Foreign diplomat?” Jasper laughed. “You’re a nasty little spy on a fools errand. We are doing the world a favour, you won't be missed, in fact you will be forgotten in no time at all.”

  He nodded to one of the Tigers, a suppressed QCW poked me in the side of head to indicate I should stand and move which I did. They searched me but as I had come unarmed only my car keys were found and removed. One Tiger moved ahead to cover me as we exited the doorway while the other three followed. All were armed with the silenced QCWs except one officer who held a Makarov in his right hand. We left through a different door than the one I entered placing us in a long corridor that led to a small parking lot at the rear of the building enclosed by tall iron paling fencing.

  Facing a large closed exit gate sat a VW van whose rear doors one of my escorts opened. I spent the walk from the room to the vehicle breathing deeply and preparing my muscles for action should the opportunity arise. Once in the vehicle escape would be more difficult. My thigh and shoulder muscles tensioned as I spun towards the soldier who opened the vehicle door with his weapon shouldered on a strap. Before I had even completed half of my turn the butt of a gun hit my shoulder with considerable force sending me almost to my knees, these blokes had been here before. Professionals are harder to fool than the average foot soldier, this was going to be more tricky than I thought.

  They roughly pushed me into the rear and onto a timber bench seat. Two sat each side and two opposite, no nonsense men with a mission and who would probably succeed. The VW started up, someone opened the gate and we slowly turned our way into thick traffic on the busy road. The loud pop of a hand gun sounded outside the vehicle and we rapidly accelerated straight into the moving stream of vehicles only coming to an abrupt halt when our van ran into a fully loaded truck, the engine still revving loudly.

  I found myself lying on the floor with one of the Tigers on top of me when I heard a faint shout. “Get down Harry?”

  Seconds later the same handgun opened up and peppered the side of the van at waist height inflicting damage to three of my abductors. I took the opportunity to inflict my own damage to the one lying on top who was busy trying to prevent me from doing just that. One of his comrades succumbed to the injuries sustained by our external assailant and slid down beside us squirting a fair quantity of blood all over the place. Our horizontal tango became crowded and slippery but gave me the chance to roll on the now lubricated floor placing my challenger next to me instead of on top. I managed a nice head-butt to his nose followed by a double thumb eye gouge. He reached up with both hands to pry my thumbs free opening the way for my stiffened fingers of one hand to apply two solid blows to his oesophagus. He drove his knee repeatedly into my right thigh inducing some paralysis but the reduction of air due to his damaged throat eventually brought about the desired effect. I dragged myself out from the cramped and bloody position on the floor and worked my way towards the rear doors. Suddenly they flew open and Musalah appeared gesturing and hysterically shouting for me to get out and run. Running was beyond me but I did stumble away from the carnage as quickly as I could. A block away my vehicle sat where I left it as did my spare keys in the magnetic box under the rear passenger door. Several blocks from the motel in the direction of the High Commission I pulled over.

  “Musalah, you have completely paid your debt today, well done and thank you,” I told him as he sat in the passengers seat staring straight ahead contemplating the last fifteen minutes of his short life on this planet, he was only sixteen.

  “Harry boss, I didn't know what to do. I see you and you come out with soldiers and they hit you and throw you into gari, oh man what do I do? Harry boss in trouble. But I have my friend.” He produced the pistol used to assassinate three or four Chinese special operative experts and effect our escape, the odds of which were phenomenally against him yet he pulled it off. Surprise and boldness are certainly powerful allies.

  “I didn't know you were armed Musalah, where did you get that?”

  He held what looked like and old World War One Browning, rusty and ageing yet my favourite weapon from now on, maybe not to use but it would hold a special place in my memory.

  “I buy it from a cousin after my bottom was saved by you Harry boss. I say to me, ‘Musalah, you never gonna get your bottom bared by these type of men ever again, next time you kill these mashoga’. So I tell my cousin Kiyalla and he sell me my friend. Good for you hey Harry boss, you be in big shit without my friend I tell you.”

  That was very true. He waved the rusty antique around like a flag, finger still on the trigger, fortunately it was empty. The adrenalin continued to run though his system, and mine for that matter.

  After some settling and debriefing in the form of Musalah cursing the Chinese, cursing homosexuals or mashoga as the slang goes, we drove to a small local shopping centre set back from the busy main streets. I gave Musalah some money and instructions to buy me some replacement clothes, the thick sticky congealing blood all over my left side was somewhat of a giveaway. Meanwhile I went into the public restroom across the road and cleaned up. Once Musalah returned and I changed we drove back to the High Commission, he hopped out and walked off, spring in his step. I parked the car in the underground carpark and went to find Bert. He wasn't at his desk so I wandered off to the Ambassadors office. Colin looked up in surprise and came around his desk to shake my hand.

  “Harry!” he said surprise in his voice, “Harry! What are you doing here? Boy has the cat been amongst the pigeons over the past few hours.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “We thought something terrible had happened to you. Jeffery said that you had disappeared, rumour was that you may have been kidnapped or worse.”

  “He didn't tell you what I was doing?”

  “No, just that you said you were going out. Then he got word that something might have happened to you. He said that you might have got yourself involved in something a little bit shady, is that right?”

  Good old Bert, set me up just as I thought and probably imagined that it was a fait accompli. Wasn’t he going to be surprised when he returned, seeing old Harry back at the office like a ghost coming to haunt the one responsible for his demise.

  “No Colin, I haven’t been up to anything shady, on the contrary. As you know I just met with a couple of power houses of industry, Jasper Iweala and Okeyo Solarin.”

  “You just met with Iweala and Solarin? What, just now?”

  “Yes, just now.”

  “You can't go around meeting with important figures like those two without proper representation or formal appointments or more importantly, my say so.” He raised his voice in indignation.

  “That’s fine Colin but Bert, Jeffery, authorised it. I can't understand why he didn't brief you, that’s normally what he does when he sends me out ferreting around.”

  “No Harry, he didn't brief me.”

  A knock on the door and a young man raced in. “Ambassador, you need to read this.” He handed Colin a slip of paper.

  “Bloody hell,” he said as his face drained of colour. I think I could guess the information in the message.

  He looked up at me and gave his lips a nervous lick.

  “A number of security personnel have been murdered on Kenyatta Avenue near city square. Apparently a gun fight broke out and some Chinese nationals have been killed with only one survivor who is in a critical condition.”
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  He looked at me with suspicion, people always think I'm involved whenever there’s a gun fight.

  “You don’t know anything about this Harry, please tell me this had nothing to do with us?”

  “Now Colin, this is going to sound a little bit outrageous, but coincidentally I have just escaped a kidnapping attempt by Chinese military special forces.”

  “Ohh God, it was you,” his hand holding the message stared to shake, sweat appeared on his brow as he slumped back against the desk. “I’m finished, we’ve started a war with China, I'm going to be banished from the service.”

  “Listen Colin, you should be asking why the Chinese military is acting as security for Kenyan officials and why they would kidnap an Australian diplomat. They were going to kill me! We were on our way to the killing ground! I’ve been set up, Bert should have told you what was going on.”

  “Jeffery told me you tended towards rouge operations,” Colin said quietly, no wind in his sails.

  Looking up at me he continued, “He was afraid that you would do something to jeopardise all the work we have done to build up trust with the Republic's Government.”

  Bert sure had it all worked out. I must have been close to uncovering something that he desperately wanted to keep covered. The only reason Iweala and Solarin agreed to the meeting was Bert's doing, he set it up so that I could be removed from the scene, eliminated thus allowing him to continue whatever corrupt business he was involved in.

  “Doesn’t it occur to you Colin that while Bert was telling you I had disappeared or had been killed or whatever, I was being kidnapped straight from a clandestine meeting? He knew about the meeting and arranged it, authorised it. These special forces guys were waiting, a prearranged signal to bring them into the room, all orchestrated prior.”