by Brian Cain
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Tuesday the 5th of October, Stanton watched the sunrise on the surface of the island and then hastily scaled the shaft back to the lair. All of his time and resources had been on tracing Tali Mahir; some disturbing and confronting facts had emerged. Tali Mahir was an Israeli national; he had several aliases one being Tali Mahir. His real name was Kadeem Levi. Stanton was familiar with this person, a young radical ousted in 1979. Levi attempted to form a branch party in the Israeli Parliament to fight the agreements of Camp David from 1978 in the US and expand the state of Israel to as far as Iran and had links to the Wahabi in Saudi Arabia. The British government was aware of the threat and forced the government of the time to oust the radical and he was exiled, hunted by Stanton and eventually ending up in Pakistan where he had family and contacts. What had transpired now was murky but obviously he had changed his identity, acquired Pakistani citizenship and was now in a position to cause some major problems for the west.
Information from MI6 and CIA files listed Mahir as one of the Middle East's most watched and distrusted men. He had been in contact with General Jahangeer Mashir of the Afghan army on a regular basis for at least two years; this man was definitely in the centre of the missing arms deal, only one letter difference in their second names. Why had MI6 and the CIA not already acted? If you needed six numbers to win a lottery then Mahir would have the numbers lined up for Stanton years ago. Jahangeer Mashir was going to be of no use to Stanton as he had been found hanging in a Kabul street by the neck two days ago, seems Jacob’s father was quick to take advice. The task was clear for Stanton; access Tali Mahir, interrogate and eliminate him. This was easily said.
Stanton's normal mobile rang and he answered but said nothing; after a few seconds an American voice was heard. "Stanton I know you’re there, I will leave my phone on for two minutes. I think I'm close, we need to talk." Stanton scrambled to his keyboard and activated a search for the signal. It was from a tower in Newcastle near Queens Wharf. The phone was about to go dead when Stanton replied.
"Sit tight," and he hung up.
Stanton thought for a while, had his leak paid off? This could be anything so he traced the number to be CIA, Conrad Wayne, this did not ring a bell but the person wanted to be identified signifying he wished to talk in their creed. The mobile tower was on the top of the Newcastle Crowne Plaza along Queens Wharf, Stanton moved.
The Stamford was adjacent to the Newcastle Harbour the back of the complex and had a generous pontoon access suitable for boats and amphibious aircraft, so Stanton used the Marie Celeste. She cut a huge wake as she powered up the Newcastle breakwater access past Nobby's Head. The massive power launch drew a crowd as she pulled up at the Stamford and Stanton tied her up. Stanton stood by the bow looking in the water and had been there for a few minutes when an American voice spoke beside him.
"Nice boat, yours?" Stanton looked around to the tall American in casual floral shirt and grey slacks. His gold rim Ray-Ban sunglasses hugged his face, hiding his eyes and matching the colour of his well tanned face.
"Yes, looking for someone?"
"Yeah you wouldn't know a Joe Blow would you?" Stanton started laughing.
"You didn't really buy that did you; would you be Conrad Wayne?"
"Yeah, you're well informed. People who have satellite communication systems generally are."
"Tali Mahir, heard of him?"
"Oh yeah."
"Get on board and I’ll show you round."
"The dark guy and woman in the police car, you know them?"
"I do."
"They've been watching me for the last hour."
"They have been watching you for the last two hours, you need to sharpen up."
"Do I need my things?"
"No they will watch them for you, they know what room you're in."
"I hear people who go fishing with you rarely return."
"Were not going fishing, we’re looking for rats; big ones."
Wayne climbed aboard the Marie Celeste; Stanton cast off and powered towards the open sea. He dropped anchor just off the entrance to the lair, cranked up his computer system monitoring for any eavesdroppers; he had said little to Wayne and informed him of why.
"We’re now pretty safe, not much chance of being heard now. Tali Mahir, what do you know of him?" said Stanton.
"We’ve had him on radar for two years now, nearly had a guy who works for him called Hadar Mukum but he got himself killed here a few days ago. We hoped to have extracted some information from him. We don't know how Mukum got out of Kabul without us knowing, too late now anyway."
"Mukum had his arse covered by powerful people here, one being Tucker who I sure you would know."
"Yeah Marshall Tucker's family rolled back up in Florida recently to his brother’s place, we haven't seen Tucker."
"You're not liable to, he committed suicide last night; gassed himself in his garage in Canberra."
"Mm… Look we think we have a big problem, Tali Mahir isn't what he seems."
"Correct, his real name is Kadeem Levi, he was an Israeli political activist in the late seventies. I was supposed to have taken care of him but I missed him. Linked to the Wahabi he was and still is a hard target."
"Hot shit, that's the kind of stuff we’ve been looking for. This Tali Mahir is real good friends with a lot of people he shouldn't be."
"Like Jahangeer Mashir."
"How do you know all this?"
"Okay. Tali Mahir we’ll call him. Looks like he's got some unfinished business; he had a vision of certain parts of his empire stretching further than it did, a lot further. Maybe he’s still looking at the task and rustling up a few friends to assist him. I could give the threat names but that may cloud the issue. Whoever or whatever they are is not important, the fact we have stumbled upon them and what they are up to is. I may need some help."
"Can we trust you John?"
"I trust no one and you should be the same. Going into Pakistan after Tali Mahir is no picnic for anyone; the only ace I have is they don't know I'm coming and I want to keep it that way. Send someone in, I don't want to know about it, I'm making sure the British act as well; one of us is likely to succeed. If any of us fail they can't get information from people that don't have any." Wayne thought about what Stanton had said for a while. He stood up and looked over the bow of the Marie Celeste then turned back to Stanton.
"If we get information others need to know we must share it," quoted Wayne.
"I've done alright so far," replied Stanton.
"Agreed, only one other CIA operative knows of this lead, Dirk Truman." Stanton looked up with a stern face. "That's why I'm here, Dirk realises things could be better with you."
"If I take out one of your people you'd know about it because there would be a reason. If you can’t find a reason look elsewhere. I don't take out people because they are American, British, Swahili or whatever; they are sanctioned due to threats to western democracy and or my family."
"Can we trust this Joe Blow guy in Hawaii?" Stanton cracked up laughing. "Joe Blow could be anyone, Australian slang for any ordinary person who doesn't exist. Just the average Joe Blow; I had to risk the communication outlet in Hawaii to get to you. The place has no one there and is wired should it be infiltrated; no chance of any leak."
"You mean if anyone tried to access the place it's wired and would blow?"
"If I don't use the correct access codes and procedure I’d end up with some alien kicking my arse around the moon somewhere."
"Holy shit." Wayne fumbled with his phone and appeared impatient when the answer took a while. Dirk Truman responded although it was the middle of the night in Hawaii. He could see it was Wayne and he was busy creeping through a yard in Black Beach about to force entry to a dwelling.
"This better be important Conrad," whispered Truman in the quiet black.
"If you are near the house in Black Beach disengage, it’s wired."
"What are you talking about; I'm here nex
t to the garage, no one’s home, I'm going in."
"And I'm here with Stanton, otherwise known as Joe Blow, try and access the place and you'll end up with your arse on the moon, it’s wired." Truman looked at the ground and shook his head.
"Phew… that was close," whispered Truman. "I owe you one. How do I get in this place?"
"You don't, it’s Stanton's, just used for holidays so to speak. Now I think we've said enough.”
"Okay, heading back," Truman hung up and Wayne put his phone in his pocket.
"Any more surprises Stanton?" asked Wayne.
"If you get a message from normal civil means I wouldn't go busting the places they come from, could be terminal even if it's right under your nose."
"We know you have four satellites."
"You don't know how many I got, just what I want you to know and that's the safest way to go. Contacting you wasn't a gamble it was a calculated risk."
"Okay, we’ll be going in for Mahir."
"Sounds good," said Stanton as he weighed anchor and cranked the Marie Celeste into life. Stanton returned Wayne to the Stamford and had a casual conversation with him en route. Stanton heard a story he heard so many times of a broken home mainly due to the pressures of Wayne's work. Conrad Wayne stuck with it because he knew too much and thought losing touch would leave him and his family vulnerable.
