by Matt Hammond
“I’m fine, just severe jet lag,” David replied, not entirely untruthfully.
Chapter 3
David decided to take the hotel shuttle bus, determined not to be unsettled by the possibility of the same taxi driver for a third time, but this did not stop him scanning the faces of all the taxi drivers overtaking the bus.
The departure lounge swarmed with people preparing to fly throughout Asia and beyond. David was trying to work out a way he could re-check the card balance. “I was just thinking maybe we should change our Singapore dollars for New Zealand ones. Give me your Singapore cash and I’ll go and find somewhere to do it.”
Katherine agreed. “OK, I’ll be sitting over there by the magazine shop. DON’T wander off too far, DON’T get lost and be back in ten minutes.”
There was an ATM next to the bureau de change. He was confident he could accomplish both tasks and Katherine would be none the wiser.
He completed the exchange transaction, stuffing the crisp new notes unfolded into his wallet. Now he began to feel nervous. So far each time he had used the card no-one else was anywhere near the ATM. The concourse was loud and bustling with people. Two young backpackers were already in front and he was soon sandwiched by others as they queued behind. He considered walking away but the temptation to know if someone else had used the card in the last few hours was too great.
Pulling his wallet from an inside pocket and keeping it protectively within the lining of his jacket, he took out the card. He had memorised the PIN, torn up the paper and thrown it into the hotel waste bin.
David pushed the card into the slot. Just as he was about to enter the PIN he felt a sharp pain in both his ankles and fell against the machine, dropping his wallet. “OW!” David’s heart quickened and he turned to defend himself against …. an ancient oriental lady peering over the top of several very large, shiny leather suitcases perched on top of the trolley which she had just rammed into his legs.
“So sorry, thought you had finished.” She smiled benignly, gesturing to the small boy next to her to retrieve the wallet from next to David’s foot. The child pounced and offered it to David, smiling. “Sorry you carry on, no rush.” She said as he turned, ankles still throbbing, and entered the PIN, standing close to the machine, shielding his actions from anyone watching from behind.
Sorry your transaction cannot be completed at this time. Please try later.
David took the card and walked back to Katherine, intending to hand her half the newly exchanged cash. Opening his wallet to pull out the notes, he saw that they had gone. In the space usually reserved for his credit cards, there was nothing but bare black leather. The clever little bastard had managed to rob him in front of his eyes. “Oh shit!”
“What’s happened?”
“I was just checking the balance on our credit card and some kid managed to steal it.” He looked back hoping to spot the old lady and her young accomplice. Now he could not even see the machine through the crowd which had seemed to close in behind him.
“That’s all we need. We’ll have to report it”
“NO!” David almost shouted. ‘We, er, can’t do that right now. We need to get on the plane. The police won’t be interested and they’ll be long gone already.”
“No, I meant the credit card company, otherwise by the time we get to Auckland half our money could be gone.” Katherine was right. “I’ve still got my card.” She felt in her handbag . The contents were untouched but her credit card was also missing. She still had the credit card holder. “There’s an international help number on the back. You wait here David. I’ll find a phone, give them a call and sort this out. Don’t move!”
David felt his face flush hot and his stomach tense. Something weird was definitely going on and somehow he was being inexorably drawn into it. Things beyond his control were happening around him and to him. Too much out of the ordinary had happened in the last thirty-six hours.
The flight was to depart in ninety minutes. As soon as Katherine came back from using the phone, he would find a policeman and ask to see someone in authority. He wanted no more sleepless nights trying to ignore the wild scenarios in his head.
Katherine was walking back towards him, zigzagging through islands of people and baggage. Her head was turned and, as she rounded a trolley, a man in a suit met her in front of it. David found himself sizing up the approaching stranger - tall, close-cropped dark hair, European. Police? MI5? They were talking. For a moment he considered walking away, disappearing into the crowd. But then, they were both in front of him. “David, this man is from British Customs. He wants to talk to us about credit card fraud.”
Credit card fraud, not murder, David reassured himself. Katherine’s face showed the concern of someone whose credit card had been stolen, nothing more. Another man and a woman joined them. “Mr Turner, my name is Tony Burton. I’m with British Customs. We need to talk to you about your stolen card. There’s a bit of a racket here at the airport, and we need to get a description from you. It won’t take long. Please follow me. The other officers will look after your wife.”
A fleeting image of a dank, dark cell, dripping water and electric shocks flashed through David’s mind before reassuring himself Burton was British. He had absolutely nothing to hide. In fact there was plenty he was just dying to get off his chest. He just expected Katherine would have been the first to hear it.
They walked towards a door adjacent to the baggage security desk. David went over his story, deciding whether he ought to change anything or leave anything out. At least for now Katherine was taken in the opposite direction. Burton calmly reassured him “Don’t worry about your wife. You’ll be boarding the flight together.” There was no reason to doubt him.
It was a small windowless room. Against the opposite wall three men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, looking a little uncomfortable to have found the size of the room offered them less personal space than they would have liked. There was a table between them and David. Burton clicked shut the door gently behind them.
“Mr David Turner?”
David nodded, his vocal chords momentarily dry beyond use.
“Mr Turner, I’ll be as brief as I can. We don’t have much time. You have to be on that plane in just over an hour. Firstly, this is about your credit card, or rather the card you currently have. To get straight to the point, there’s a group moving large amounts of money around the world at the moment. They’re doing it using legitimate credit cards and travellers as mules. They monitor the card and wait for a foreign travel booking to occur.
Just before the unsuspecting cardholder travels to the holiday or business destination, a large sum of money is placed on the card account. Local operatives then steal the card and remove the money. As far as the cardholder is concerned, he has just had his card stolen and is totally unaware of the free courier service he has provided. Are you with me so far?”
“But that doesn’t explain … ” David stopped before implicating himself in something they may not even be interested in talking to him about.
“This is where it gets interesting. We’ve been trying to second guess these people for a number of months now. A pattern has been emerging of the kind of people they are targeting, people like yourself and your wife, planning to live permanently overseas, for example. We’ve been liaising with a number of overseas agencies, including the New Zealand High Commission in London, and you were, or rather are, a likely profile. We were able to track your internet usage and made other, er, enquiries.” Burton hesitated looking at the three others standing opposite.
The middle one continued. “Unfortunately they suspected we were onto them, so they began trying to conceal their targets, intercepting them at the last minute, right at the point of departure in your case. They then plant the card personally on the unsuspecting subject in a kind of reverse pickpocket. The courier’s details are pre-printed onto the card. That way, if they find it, and decide to buy themselves a decent camera or watch at the duty-free, they wo
uld be less inclined to discard it or report it. For the criminals, it’s a small price to pay to ensure the card reaches its final destination where they can retrieve it.”
David was trying work out how all this fitted in with his own recent experiences. But it just raised more questions.
“We found out who their contact at Heathrow was, and we also found out when you and Mrs Turner would be leaving the UK.”
David had come to the conclusion the four men in the room with him were not British Customs. This was not a simple case of smuggling or duty evasion. It was criminal activity and someone had died. So far that fact had not even been mentioned. So he said it. “What about the dead bloke?”
Burton folded his arms, self-consciously attempting to present a casual persona before talking about the murder only one person in the room did not know the truth about. “David, their man had a card with your name on it. We know the card carries a considerable amount of money, possibly the largest amount they have yet tried to move. We need to stop this now. We need to find out who is responsible. Like I said, we don’t have much time. This has all happened very fast. As far as they are concerned, their man tried to place the card on you as you were locking your car. You noticed, thought you were being mugged, and there was a struggle. He unfortunately fell and you walked away from what you thought was an attempted mugging, but with the card successfully placed in your wallet. Sadly life is cheap to them. Losing their Heathrow operative is a small price to pay for successfully getting the money on that card you are now carrying into New Zealand. They seem to have temporarily lost track of you in the confusion and, because you haven’t yet made a purchase on the card, they can’t pinpoint your current location but, when you do, which you will because we arranged to take your other one, they will be back on your trail, and we will be on theirs.”
David leaned against the table, next to Burton. “So just so I know where I stand, just to confirm, you fellas aren’t exactly Customs, then?”
“Not exactly no, but you don’t need to know any more at this stage, other than that our knowledge of what really happened to you in London, coupled with the fact that we have watched and protected you all the way to that door over there, confirms our credentials.”
“So you killed that guy on the roof?”
“Unfortunately he struggled and fell.”
David had a very clear recollection of what he had seen two nights ago. He had forced himself to remember it. There was no struggle. An unconscious man was deliberately tipped over the edge of the car park wall to his death. “And you just had that kid steal my only credit card?”
“Yes, we arranged that little scene. The only way to get them back on your trail is to ensure you use the card they planted on you. Once the card was safely inside the ATM machine, the means of accessing your own personal funds was denied to you.”
“You mean you stole my credit card?”
“Let’s just say we’re protecting the assets of an innocent party at this stage. Your own card was cancelled as soon as you left the hotel. You would’ve found out soon enough anyway. They’re watching the cash machines here in the airport, so we just assisted in your identification. They’ll simply believe you were accosted by one of the many gangs that operate in this terminal, and the incident was picked up on the airport security CCTV. We, as Customs, have intercepted your wife making her call back to the UK to report the card stolen and invited you to make a statement to us. In fact, as far as your wife is concerned, she is doing just that right now.”
“So she knows nothing about all this?”
“For both your sakes, no, not unless you decide to tell her when you leave here.”
David had already spent enough time wrestling with whether or not to tell Katherine. This latest incident had left him even more confused and undecided, but he would have to give her some kind of explanation as to why he was not particularly worried about losing his credit card since he happened to have a spare she knew nothing about. “So what happens now? You guys have basically robbed me so you can set me up as bait for God knows what.”
“Do what everyone else does, Mr Turner. Walk out of here with a clear conscience and get on your plane to Auckland. As far as your wife is concerned, the British Consulate has furnished you with a temporary emergency card. When you get to New Zealand, we will contact you at your hotel - the Cedar Stars, isn’t it? We will arrange replacement cards and you can tell her you’ll reimburse the Consulate for any money you spend in the meantime.”
“That all sounds very simple and convenient but you won’t actually be giving me another card here will you?”
“No, use the one planted on you at Heathrow. Spend little and often in the next three or four days. Maybe withdraw small amounts of cash as well. They will soon pick up your trail again. You may find the card disappears quickly. They have an excellent pick-pocketing team in Auckland. Don’t worry if they break into your room or hire car. They only want the card, so don’t try to protect it. If it appears that you are in any kind of physical danger, my team will be watching.”
This didn’t sound reassuring. Burton was clearly saying David was being deliberately set up as a target. “So, they’ll be watching as I get mugged or will they jump in and help?”
“As I have made clear, you are an unwitting and innocent party in all this and you have my assurance that we’ll do everything we can to ensure no harm comes to either of you.”
There was a knock at the door. Burton spoke as he leant forward to open it. “As soon as you clear security, I suggest you head straight to duty-free and buy yourself a bloody good camera and some expensive perfume for your wife.”
Katherine stood framed by the doorway, flanked by two airport staff carrying their hand luggage. “These people,” she indicated the two on either side, “have been so helpful. They’ve explained about the gang operating in the airport and how the police are onto them. Detective Chow said that Mr Burton has given us an emergency card to use until we can get replacements in Auckland, then we can arrange to pay them back. They seem to have everything well organised.”
If only you knew, David thought. Katherine was satisfied by the lies she had been led to believe in the short period of their enforced separation. The lightness of her mood was now in direct contrast to the wave of anger that was suddenly washing over David as he realised the ease with which she had just been totally deceived.
He felt he had lost control of his own destiny, or at least of the immediate future, and with it came the overwhelming realisation that this included losing his ability to protect Katherine. Someone else was assuming this responsibility for him.
At least now he partly understood what was happening to him. Katherine, on the other hand, was entirely oblivious to the deceit, seeing instead only the kindness and humanity of her deceivers. As soon as they were out of that room, he was going to tell her.
David had been given no choice but to be manipulated into an increasingly serious and potentially dangerous situation. It was time he had an ally. More mundanely, he could think of no plausible excuse why he should suddenly want to spend hundreds of dollars in the duty-free shop, something he was now looking forward to doing. Some retail therapy would take his mind off what was happening and would help distract Katherine after the speech he was about to give her.
“Right then, Mr and Mrs Turner, we had better let you continue your holiday. Enjoy your trip to New Zealand.”
Liar, David thought. He knows we are emigrating. That was purely for Katherine’s benefit.
As she turned to lead them both away, Burton looked straight at him. “Take care.”
He nodded and winked, patting his own jacket pocket;
“Remember, enjoy yourself, David.” He offered his hand and David found himself being drawn closer as Katherine wandered away, oblivious. Burton spoke in a lowered tone. “We’ll be in touch, and don’t worry, we won’t let you out of our sight.”
The door clicked shut once more and Burton was go
ne. David hurried after his wife. “I need to talk to you about something you were told back there.” He tried shifting the blame. “They haven’t been entirely honest with you.”
She stopped, allowing him to catch up. “In what way exactly not honest with me?”
“Well, this whole thing is a bit more complicated than just my credit card being stolen. In fact, I don’t really know the whole story myself. Lets just clear security and I’ll tell you what I know so far.”
So far? David had implied, not least to himself, it was not over. Not only had Burton successfully manipulated their entire journey so far, he had also controlled the meeting that had just taken place to the extent David was actually really none the wiser. Any opportunity for questioning on his part had vanished as soon as Katherine had re-appeared and in the urgency to get them onto their flight. They had cleared security with David’s mind elsewhere and now were walking towards the departure gate, with any opportunity to use the card gone.
“You may not believe me, but this is the real story so far. Remember when we were waiting to get on the plane at Heathrow and I went off to the loo?”
“Yes.” She raised her eyebrows, not expecting any explanation to begin at that particular point.
“Well, whilst I was standing there, someone came up behind me. They must have drugged me. The last thing I remember is a hand over my mouth.”
“So you were mugged for your credit card. Why didn’t you say so?”
‘No, that’s not what happened. They lied to you just now. They wanted to leave it to me to decide whether to get you involved in all this, whatever it is.” Katherine had turned to face her husband. He was staring back, looking into her eyes, seeing the word ‘lie’ in one and ‘truth’ in the other. “I was unconscious on the top floor of the car park and when I woke up a man was being murdered.” Finally saying it out loud sounded overly sensational and implausible. It also sent an unexpected wave of emotion through David.
